Bill Fulton

The Strange Case Of The FBI's Second Schaeffer Cox Informant

Jillian Rayfield | November 29, 2011, 12:29PM

Second Amendment Task Force organizer Schaeffer Cox prepares to address fellow gun rights supporters on Thursday, March 5, 2009, at Friends Community Church.

Remember when Republican senate candidate Joe Miller hired a security team for that ill-fated campaign event at a public school last fall? Well, as it turns out, the head of the security team was moonlighting as a confidential informant infiltrating the Alaska militia movement for the FBI, in an effort that eventually helped lead to the arrest of Schaeffer Cox and his followers on weapons charges and an alleged plot to kill state officials.

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Schaeffer Cox

Militia Leader Cox Says FBI Source Pushed Attack, 'Fanned The Flames Of Government Overthrow'

Ryan J. Reilly | November 17, 2011, 6:05AM

Second Amendment Task Force organizer Francis "Schaeffer" Cox

An Alaska militia leader accused in a plot against the government is accusing an FBI cooperating witness of "pushing and pushing" him to mobilize against the government and fanning the flames of government overthrow.

Francis "Schaeffer" Cox recalls in an affidavit filed in federal court on Tuesday that he (accompanied by Jeremy Baker and Les Zerbe) met with gun dealer Bill Fulton in Fairbanks in August 2010. Cox says Fulton was in town to participate in a fundraiser for the Interior Conservative Coalition that was being held at Far North Tactical, which is owned by Fulton "protege" Aaron Bennett.

Fulton is one of the FBI's confidential informants in the case. You may remember him as part of Republican Senate nominee Joe Miller's security detail, who handcuffed and detained Alaska Dispatch editor Tony Hopfinger for trying to question and videotape Miller.

Cox's attorney Nelson Traverso wrote in a motion to dismiss the indictment that Fulton's "complete role has yet to be disclosed."

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Joe Miller

Joe Miller To Join Boatload Of Birthers For World Net Daily's 'Tea Party At Sea' Alaska Cruise

Jillian Rayfield | May 31, 2011, 4:47PM

Candidate for U.S. Senate Joe Miller (R-AK)

So you're a Tea Party star still licking his wounds from being the first person in more than 50 years to lose to a write-in candidate for the U.S. Senate. You deserve a break from it all, a summer vacation -- but where to go? If you're Joe Miller, how about a few days on a boat with a bunch of birthers cruising around Alaska?

"ENLIST NOW," the cruise's site says, "to be on board with the most freedom-embracing and liberty-loving navy at sea: the WND Navy and the Tea Party at Sea!"

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Alaska

The Palin-Loving World Of Alaska Dentistry And The 112th Congress

Rachel Slajda | January 3, 2011, 3:12PM

Rep.-elect Paul Gosar (R-AZ)

As TPM noted earlier, a new Republican congressman from Arizona has hired two Palin-tied Alaskans to run his office in D.C.

The hirings have everything to do with the close-knit, pro-Palin world of Alaskan dentistry.

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Sal Russo

Tea Party Express PAC Keeps Funneling Money To GOP Consulting Firm

Ryan J. Reilly and Melissa Jeltsen | December 21, 2010, 8:15AM

Tea Party Express strategist Sal Russo

For the Tea Party Express, old habits die hard. TPE's PAC, Our Country Deserves Better, continued through the election cycle with its track record of raising money in support of grass-roots tea party candidates and then funneling those donations to the Republican consulting firm that founded it, recent filings show.

In a month-long period surrounding the midterm elections, a whopping 73 percent of funds raised -- totaling $599,377 -- was paid out to Russo Marsh and Associates, the Sacramento-based GOP political consulting firm that essentially founded the PAC in 2008, for miscellaneous costs including travel, consulting fees and media buys.

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Sarah Palin

Alaska Producers Fired Over Jokes About Joe Miller Story

Ryan J. Reilly | November 2, 2010, 9:24PM

Republican candidate for US Senate in Alaska Joe Miller

Two producers for the Alaska television station KTVA are no longer with the CBS affiliate after an internal assessment found that they made comments that were were not in line with the station's standards, the channel said in a press release late Tuesday.

In a recording posted on the conservative website Big Government, individuals could be heard discussing a supposed plan to make up a sensational story on Miller -- in reality, joking that they would find a child molester who was voting Republican to tie him to Miller.

But the station found that contrary to the claims of the Miller campaign, neither the news director, an assignment editor or reporters for the station were involved in the recorded conversation, the station said.

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Sal Russo

Tea Party Express Spent Almost $600,000 To Support Miller In Alaska Primary

Ryan J. Reilly | September 21, 2010, 11:02AM

Joe Miller and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)

When Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced on Friday that she was running as a write in candidate against Tea Party backed GOP Senate nominee Joe Miller, she noted the role that outside groups played in her narrow defeat.

"Alaska is not fair game for outside extremists," Murkowski said, taking a shot at the Tea Party Express and its efforts on behalf of her opponent.

A review of the Tea Party Express' expenditures by Talking Points Memo shows just how influential a role the group played. The Tea Party Express (TPE) -- or as it is known, the Our Country Deserves Better (OCDB) PAC -- spent $592,174.97 to support Miller as of Sept. 17

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