ALASKASCREED

Jam with that?

2010-10-27T11:40:00.002-08:00

Just 'cuz I like to be on the record with these things, I'm going to lay it out.

I'm going with the conventional wisdom here. Nobody - NOBODY - has ever won as a write in candidate in Alaska. If Wally Hickel (probably the state's most well-known and popular politician) couldn't do it, I just don't see how Lisa Murkowski could. Insofar as they are reliable (and perhaps we should ask Ms. Lisa about that), the polls show her and Joe ("I am not a loony") Miller quite close, and there will be at least three effects pushing downward on Ms. Lisa's numbers: (1) the higher barrier to voting (some people will just decide it's not worth the trouble to fill in AND write in); (2) mistakes leading to rejected ballots (this will be a big deal, and we can be certain Miller will be very aggressive about them), and; (3) Republican brand loyalty ("I wish I could vote my conscience, but I must vote as the Party requires!").

In short - I think Lisa is toast, and is sharing her toastiness with Scott McAdams.

2008-10-23T09:56:00.000-08:00

I'm a bit behind the news cycle on this, but what struck me in watching McCain's ">performance in Pennsylvania (as he stumbled all over himself trying to tar Obama by association with John Murtha's "racist" comments) was not so much his Bush-like dyslogia as the moment before. He described Murtha's comments and then paused, with that odd and uncomfortable-looking smile frozen on his face, to soak in the crowd's reaction. And what he got was precisely what his campaign has been aiming for - a chorus of loud and angry jeers, that went on for a disturbingly long time. That to me will be the signature image of McCain 2008: stoking the fires of division and basking in their angry glow ….

A jury of his peers?

2008-09-25T10:36:00.002-08:00

Interesting jury for the Ted Trial ... a bit more professional, educated, and law-enforcementish than usual or expected.

Regardless, this is a tough row to hoe for the feds. Ted's got an army of lawyers ready to bring a sh!%storm of motions, and making the feds' top witness - Bill Allen: admitted felon, stroke victim, underage-girl admirer - look bad shouldn't be too much of a stretch. I still predict an acquittal with a Ted victory in November ...

It's Ted Time!

2007-06-20T10:58:00.000-08:00

These scandal investigations may end up amounting to something, but the polls showing Ted with low approval ratings? Just so much chin music, I think.

Of course, it has long been an open secret that Senator Ted's fingers are in many tills. The LA Times did some fine reporting a while back on Ted's remarkably lucrative investing relationship with Anchorage property don Jon Rubini of JL Properties and his remarkably lucrative mutual backscratching with lawyer/lobbyist Bill Bittner of Birch, Horton, Bittner & Cherot. Richard Mauer of the Anchorage Daily News also did some good digging into Ted's paternal generosity toward his son Ben (our own George W. Bush), related to Ben's "work" for various fishing concerns (recall that Ted arranged for a lucrative pollack quota to be assigned to a Native Corp. subsidiary that had Li'l Hulk on its board, who then arranged for the quota to be assigned to a company for which he held an ownership option).

This is just the stuff that broke in the last couple of years of a long and highly remunerative Senate career, and does not even involve Veco or Holland America (he arranged a multi-million dollar intermodal transport facility for them a few years back using federal dollars - it's so nice that the local high schoolers rent it out for proms).

People know about this.

People don't care.

See, Ted shares the wealth. Losing him from the Senate will be like losing the oil or tourism industries - he brings hundreds of millions into the Alaska economy each year. Sen. Lisa (R. Who'syerdaddy) held her own in the face of Gov. Dorkowski's (R. "Duh") massive unpopularity and gross nepotism, all because Senator Ted took over.

In short, Ted Stevens will be dragged out of office in a box or in handcuffs (though maybe he will resign if his health takes a turn for the worse). He will never - repeat NEVER - be voted out.

Don Young, though ... now there's an intriguing thought ....

... it was a long time coming ...

2007-03-27T16:01:00.000-08:00

After a long, melancholy hiatus, I's back doing this stuff again.

... and glad about it, too

Whew!!

2006-04-06T09:31:00.000-08:00

Ah, all that fretting, useless in any event, was groundless as well. Praise be, and all that.

But poor ol' Mr. Frost doesn't have to go home empty-handed. His groundless, muddle-headed anti-tax demagoguery at least helped to kill several significant bond issues. I'm sure he'll sleep better at night knowing that he is in large part responsible for ensuring that our kids remain in sub-standard school facilities, that our parks remain ill-kept, and that our public safety systems remain state of the art, circa 1980. Heckuva job, Frostie!

The Fear

2006-04-04T09:36:00.000-08:00

So I cast my ballot today ... and I did so with mounting fear. Fear that the good voters of our fair city may well just be stupid enough to select a vapid sloganeer with no ideas and no clue over an incumbent who has proven he can manage the city in a way that is frugal, focused, and effective.

Then again, this has been proven before.

And if we find ourselves dealing with the inevitable incompetence and croneyism of a Frost administration, I will mostly be wondering what the heck happened to the Begich Campaign over the last several weeks. Why do I hear and see 4 Frost ads to every 1 Begich ad? Why is Begich only answering specific (and demonstrably false) charges with slogans ("we're headed in the right direction!")?

... the Fear ...

The Straw Man

2006-03-02T16:09:00.000-09:00

Perhaps the worst thing ... er, scratch that

One of the many awful legacies of the disastrous, failed presidency of GW Bush is his undermining of the potential for moral considerations to play a significant role in US foreign policy. His many apologists (hypocritically) and the bumptiously macho Tom Friedman type rubes who went along with them (moronically) asserted the "Saddam's a bad guy" argument for invading Iraq. Now they assert the asinine "would you rather have Saddam" defense against those who point out the ongoing disaster that the Bushies have made Iraq.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but that is utter bs.

First off, Saddam Hussein is, clearly and unequivocally, evil. There is no other word for a man who looks to Stalin for inspiration on how to run a country. And of course, he certainly wanted WMDs (though he did not have them), and was potentially (though not actually) a danger. All conceded.

None of this, however, answers the question of whether the world (and the Iraqis) are better off now.

Fact is, the right and responsible answer is the one Gerorgie's dad came up with years ago: Better to have a contained and impotent Saddam (which we unequivocally had) than a chaotic, anarchic breeding ground for anti-americanism and terrorism (which we unequivocally have). Granted, what we have wasn't the inevitable result of an invasion. It was, however, the inevitable result of an invasion run by our present gang of irresponsible incompetents.

And by f---ing up so massively, they have probably erased the lesson of Bosnia and Rwanda - that sometimes it is right, necessary, and constructive to confront the bad guys militarily.

... and the world will be paying the price for a long time.

Hizzonadamayah

2006-03-01T09:53:00.000-09:00

Admittedly, I don't get out much. I can't say that I have my finger on the pulse of Anchorage, or that I can even comprehend the world view of a citizenry that could elect mean-spirited buffoons like Tom Fink or Chris Birch to any public office.

So I'm nervous about this mayoral election. We have in Mark Begich a clearly competent, public-spirited guy - political to be sure, but he's slashed budgets, improved city services, and focused on the infrastructure necessary for the long-term economic growth of the city. And on the other side is Jack Frost - callow ad-man with no public management experience and a bag full of recycled sound-bites that substitute for ideas. Who will this city choose?

I'd like to think the choice is easy and clear ... and then I see all of those Jack Frost yard signs [Gulp!]

There is no question but that Frost would be an absolute disaster as mayor. His lack of any real nuts-and-bolts ideas about how government should do its job (as opposed to ideological opinions about what that job is - which I'm sure he has in spades) combined with the lack of real management experience and good-ol'-boy business experience will lead to pure croneyism. Services that are "essential" to his type (things that involve manly toys, like big trucks and welding equipment) will increase in cost and decrease in efficiency, leading to cuts in services that are not "essential" (things that actually improve quality of life, like park maintenance and social services). To distract people from this, there will be a lot of chest-thumping about divisive social issues that have nothing to do with running a city.

La Firma

2006-01-05T15:23:00.000-09:00

There are so many things one could pick, but to my mind the Bush Administration's Signature Moment has to be this (now successful) attempt to move Jose Padilla from military to civilian custody. It's got everything: it's utterly unprincipled, entirely lacking in concern for real American values, incompetently executed, and it exists solely for political effect. Heckuva job, Bushie!

Sunnis and Shi'a and Kurds, O My!

2005-12-30T10:43:00.000-09:00

There has been a lot of talk lately about Iraq splitting into three states, so, just for the record, I'd like to remind everyone that this has been my prediction for a nearly inevitable outcome from the beginning.

Iraq is not, and has never been, a cohesive nation-state. It was created arbitrarily at the end of WWI by the European colonial powers, and lumped together three ethnic/religious groups with thousands of years of bloody conflict and mutual antagonism behind them. Saddam "kept the peace" by enforcing a Tito-style totalitarian, secular "national unity" government.

But we have seen what happens when such a ridgid totalitarian structure is abruptly removed. Peaceful self-government is a tricky business - it requires a set of strong social institutions that various interest groups can and do trust to produce fair and reasonable compromises. But there are no viable social or governmental institutions in Iraq, and there has been no form of real civic involvement for over a generation. The Iraqi people simply have no means to peacefully interact and govern themselves, and the only social structures that exist are the aforementioned, mutually antagonistic religious/ethnic/clan structures. Those who were not fools (Thomas Friedman), knaves (Dick Cheney), or the ideologically blinded (Paul Wolfowitz) could (and did) predict that, in such an environment, sectarian and ethnic violence was inevitable.

The second stage - civil war - is certainly less inevitable than the first. If the initial throes of violence were well managed, so that organic civic structures could emerge in a context free of violence and antagonism, it could be possible for a unified federal government to emerge. This always was a difficult proposition, however, as the natural tendency of such interest groups is toward mutual distrust and violence. Only careful and competent management of the situation could yield any different result. My own prediction that civil war would, in the end, occur was based on my understanding that those managing the reconstruction effort were not competent - indeed that they were (and are) incompetent, corrupt ideologues, more concerned with imposing a flat tax than maintaining social order. The flow of reports from Iraq regarding the tenure of Paul Bremer, the lack of effective management plans and troops on the ground, and the widespread scamming of billions of dollars by reconstruction contractors has more than borne out this understanding. [There is certainly much more to say about the difficulties such a group was bound to have in successfully managing such a project - which inherently involves a belief in and understanding of government (i.e. what it can do and why it is so vital that it does that) - but I will leave that for another post]

So here we are, on the cusp of civil war. There is still some chance this can be avoided, but this chance is small, and would take extraordinarily effective management of the diplomatic situation - something of which the present administration is simply incapable.

The real questions at this point are whether this situation can be managed so as to avoid a longer, drawn out period of sectarian violence in Iraq, and, more importantly, whether we can avoid a larger, regional conflagration involving Iran and Turkey.

My prediction regarding the first question is that a long period of violent civil war is the most likely outcome, for the same reason as the breakup of Iraq was likely: the Bush Administration is simply incompetent to deal with the matter properly. Beyond this, the necessary enforcement of civil order by foreign troops (as was required in Yugoslavia) is not practicable at this point. There is tremendous war fatigue in the US, and nobody else trusts the US enough to pledge the necessary amount of troops. Throw in the fact that control of tremendous oil wealth is part of the game, and it's clear that nobody will give up easily.

The possibility of a larger regional conflagration presents a different question. Clearly the Kurds are doing what they can to prepare for managing their own independent state, which they want to include the oil-rich region around Kirkuk. The Turks, however, loathe the notion of an independent Kurdistan, especially one empowered by oil money. Nor does Iran have any desire to allow Iraq's oil to be controlled by any group other than its Shi'ite puppets in Iraq. The Saudis are too weak to get actively involved in any regional military action, but would certainly support and fund guerrilla actions by the Sunni/Baathist minority against both of the other groups. This does not necessarily pit Iran against Turkey, by any means - they would both be allied, in a sense, against an empowered Kurdish state. It does raise two possibilities for more widespread regional conflict, however. The first is that a potential Sunni/Kurd guerrilla alliance might engage in guerrilla activities in Iran and Turkey, sparking increased militarism in those countries. The second is that an extended period of civil war would create tremendous opportunities for "failed state" terrorist groups to take hold and export violence.

So remember, you read it here first.

And, heckuva job, Georgie!

2005-12-21T10:28:00.000-09:00

So much contradiction in the news today.

So the Dems managed to defeat the ANWR drilling provision that Sen. Hulk (R. Anger Management) tacked onto the defense appropriations bill [and whatever you think about drilling in ANWR, this was a grossly inappropriate way to try to cram it down everyone's throat]. And a conservative Republican district court judge in PA accepted reality, deciding that "intelligent design" was nothing more than a subterfuge for inserting the judeo-christian version of creation into public school science curricula [and whatever you think about natural selection, this Q&A and article clearly show that the judge's conclusions in this case were simply inescapable], and thus unconstitutional. So, small amounts of responsible behavior and sanity ...

and then there was the rest of the paper ...

Dick Cheney (R. Hell's Half-acre) growling that warrantless spying on citizens within the US was perfectly acceptable, and indeed necessary, because even thinking about going to the Court that granted 99.98% of warrant applications was too great a burden ("we had to destroy the democracy in order to save it").

And our local dumbassembly members determining that the last thing we want is an aesthetically pleasing city, or one where people are in any way encouraged to get out of their cars ...

simply put, the nutjobs are in charge

Is this a rebound??

2005-12-19T12:57:00.000-09:00

I have always had faith in the steadfast ability of the Democratic Establishment to screw up just about anything, and it seems, as we head into 2006, that its just about time for them to start screwing up the mid-term elections. What gives rise to excited anticipation on my part, though, is the question of just how they're going to do it. I mean, I still can't really answer that as to the '04 election ... just how did they manage to screw that up? It's really quite an amazing feat ...

It brings to mind an old "Hogan's Heroes" episode, where Hogan has to defuse a bomb. It comes down to a choice of which wire to cut, so Hogan asks Col. Klink. Klink definitively picks one, and Hogan proceeds to cut the other one, successfully defusing the bomb. "Why did you ask me to pick if you already knew which wire to cut?" asks Klink. "Well," says Hogan, "I wasn't sure which wire was the right one, but I was sure that you would pick the wrong one."

So, I betting that Frank is going to win another term, that control of the house and senate will remain firmly in Wakjoblican control ... (sigh)

2005-12-06T11:39:00.000-09:00

This James Wolcott post has an interesting view behind the veil of the Right Wing Power Elite's angry expressions of piety, appearing on schedule right about the Christmas season.

Wolcott quotes with approval from John Derbyshire of the National Review, who skewers the hypocrisy moving many conservative intellectuals to support "Intelligent Design."

Saith Derbyshire (of neo-con Irving Kristol):

"Here we have a guy who plainly doesn't believe in God, but who thinks that well-padded intellectual elitists like himself ought to evade the issue in public for fear of demoralizing the proles and perhaps jeopardizing some padding thereby. I can't think of anything nice to say about that; and in fact, the only things I CAN think of to say would not be suitable for a family website...
"These are the people who are pushing 'intelligent design' in the conservative movement. Not only am I glad and proud to have spoken out against this preposterous hoax, I wish I had done so more forthrightly. These are people filled up to their meritocratic nose-holes with contempt for ordinary people. That's conservatism? Ptui, I spit."

Yes, John, spit long and hard.

Walcott sees the same hypocrisy in the "War on Christmas" meme pushed by various Fox News blowhards, and he too is correct. But it goes further and deeper than that - this theme of the "noble lie" is the essence of the modern "conservative" political movement.

It ties back into a theme raised in some discussions at TPM Cafe regarding a new book, "Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of American Democracy." It is truly the age of politics-as-marketing - and it's marketing with no rules. It's all about perception, not truth, and you can say what you want about the other guy. That is what all of this "culture war" crap is all about. Feed people disinformation about what your policies do, then distract them by pounding on divisive, negative, and irrelevant themes. "Yeah, more tax cuts will be great for the economy ... AND THOSE LIBERALS HATE CHRISTMAS!!!!! ... AND GOD!!! ... IN FACT, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS JUST A COVEN OF LESBIAN ATHEIST TRAITORS!!!!!!!!! AND WE HAVE PICTURES!!!"

Spit long and hard, John.

Panderrific!

2005-12-01T17:26:00.000-09:00

So our very own Sen. Hulk (R. Anger Management) holds hearings where the "stakeholders" for tv smut get to hash it out. And who's invited? Industry execs and two right wing religious astroturf groups whose sole interest appears to be censorship.

You know, I'm somewhat disturbed by the easy availability of smut on tv, but that's not the real scandal. The real, and huge, scandal is twofold: 1) the FCC has, over the course of 25 years, absolutely gutted its enforcement of regulations requiring educational programming for children, and 2) over the same period of time, PBS has been forced through funding cuts to commercialize its own children's programming to attract sponsors. The problem is not that there is a lot of inappropriate tv out there - the problem is that there is not a lot of appropriate tv as an alternative. Remember, SchoolHouse Rock and the Cosby Kids were on commercial tv - now there's nothing but crappy animation based on Hasbro action figures (they're NOT dolls, ok!)

But, of course, the real problem involves a market failure, which Republicans are, through a unique mental defect, unable to discern. So, better to pander to the christian fascists, who, as usual, present a bad answer to a non-problem ...

The tyranny of the oppressed

2005-11-30T10:33:00.000-09:00

This editorial contains perhaps the greatest concentration of classic right wing spin-based reasoning and phony "victimization" memes I have seen in a long time. The deal is, the Wisconsin Republican party (once home to Joe McCarthy, now under the control of his evangelical soul mates) has stuffed an anti-gay marriage amendment onto the ballot.

If the backers of this amendment were honest, they would say that they believe homosexuality is a "lifestyle choice," and that homosexuals thus cannot be a "class" of people subject to the "equal protection" provisions of the constitution. They would further say that homosexuality is a moral failing, and revolting to them, and that they do not want the state to recognize or legitimize this "immoral lifestyle choice."

Of course, the problem with this is that, although it has the benefit of being honest, it is an awful argument, interpreting constitutional protections through a filter of religious bigotry. Gays don't have the same fundamental right to get married as other people because ... well, because they're gays, and God hates that.

Realizing that this is a losing argument on all fronts, these folks do what they always do - they dissemble. And so it is that Mr. McIlheran fatuously avers that the real issue here is the right of God Fearin' Folk to disagree with that darned PC Thought Police!! Jiminy, it's gettin' so a guy can't blatantly discriminate against an oppressed minority anymore without being taken to court!

What a yutz.

They can't run a gummint for s***, but they shore can campaign ...

2005-11-22T09:56:00.000-09:00

So, just why is curl rove sitting in the White House ... I mean, he's a campaign guy, not a policy guy, and he's never actually run a gummint agency

The answer, of course, is that these guys aren't actually interested in running a government - because they don't believe in government. They do, however, believe in power, and so have honed their skills at achieving power - i.e. running campaigns.

And that is how the Bush administration is best understood - as a permanent campaign.

An insightful TPM reader noted this in discussing the "ferocity" of the attack on John Murtha, the PA Congressman and former Marine who called for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

"Instant response is what you do in a modern election campaign (unless you are way, way ahead). Discrediting a critic's argument isn't enough, because it takes too much time in an environment when time is everything. Campaign politics are the primary frame of reference for politicians in Washington today. Republicans of late have practiced this trade more aggressively, though I doubt that most of them are any more insensitive to non-campaign considerations than their Democratic colleagues."

And, of course, this is not just any sort of campaign - its a bushrove campaign, nasty, brutish, and apparently everlasting ...

"Another factor, I think you'd agree, is that a lot of politicians tend to take cues from Presidents of their party. Reagan led a generation of GOP politicians to speak with sunny optimism; Clinton influenced Democratic politicians to project empathy in a somewhat ostentatious way. Bush, being more than a little insecure, tends to want to lash out at critics even when this is not politically necessary or productive, and this tendency has radiated downwards through his administration and outward to some Republicans, particularly in the House. Karl Rove's influence on GOP political operatives may be even more profound, and GOP political operatives have vast influence in Republican politics."

Perhaps most significantly, this style has been tremendously effective - and the fault for that must be laid squarely at the feet of the Democrats ...

"Finally and very frankly, Democratic politicians tend to be wimps. Anyone can see how easily they get pushed around by interest groups in their own party; when criticized aggressively, they tend to seek sympathy rather than hitting back. This encourages Republican political operatives to use rough tactics."

Even the Dems agree ...

"There is a perception that Democratic politicians run when attacked that is rooted in a good bit of reality. My observations of the Kerry campaign (fairly up close) suggest that pusillanimous and risk averse consultants run campaigns. The are constantly polling the current situation and reacting. They rarely test how reframing the debate might change perceptions. You do not see ads attacking a messenger, attacking a message, using humor, using emotion and doing so on a sustained basis to build a brand."

As I've said before, FIRE THE CONSULTANTS!!

Funny

2005-11-18T09:09:00.000-09:00

From WaPo (via Constructive Creativity)

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stop bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.
10. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these reallybad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, serious bummer.
11. Decafalon (n.): The gruelin event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
12. Glibido: All talk and no action.
13. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
14. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
15. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
17. Congloomeration: when too many concurrent mishaps create a period of prevailing gloominess.

Well, yeah

2005-11-18T08:56:00.000-09:00

This is part of a larger point I eventually want to make about Republicans and the lawyerization of politics. From TPM

"The real answer, I think, is as banal as it is devastating: I don't think they ever gave it much thought -- not in the sense of trying to get to the heart of the matter. A lawyer assembles a case. Whether his client is innocent or not is sort of beside the point. He's trying to get him acquitted. Very similar here. The point was to invade. Non-conventional weapons made it a real possibility. A connection to 9/11 would make it a slam dunk. Some of each might get you just past the goal line. And if that didn't something else might."

What's Wrong With These People

2005-11-14T14:45:00.000-09:00

Where do you live when vicious insanity becomes the mainstream? From The WaPo ...

"As the Senate prepared to vote Thursday to abolish the writ of habeas corpus, Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jon Kyl were railing about lawyers like me. Filing lawsuits on behalf of the terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. Terrorists! Kyl must have said the word 30 times.
As I listened, I wished the senators could meet my client Adel.
Adel is innocent. I don't mean he claims to be. I mean the military says so. It held a secret tribunal and ruled that he is not al Qaeda, not Taliban, not a terrorist. The whole thing was a mistake: The Pentagon paid $5,000 to a bounty hunter, and it got taken.
The military people reached this conclusion, and they wrote it down on a memo, and then they classified the memo and Adel went from the hearing room back to his prison cell. He is a prisoner today, eight months later. And these facts would still be a secret but for one thing: habeas corpus.

...
In a wiser past, we tried Nazi war criminals in the sunlight. Summing up for the prosecution at Nuremberg, Robert Jackson said that "the future will never have to ask, with misgiving: 'What could the Nazis have said in their favor?' History will know that whatever could be said, they were allowed to say. . . . The extraordinary fairness of these hearings is an attribute of our strength."
The world has never doubted the judgment at Nuremberg. But no one will trust the work of these secret tribunals.
...
[My] heart begins to ache ... for the country I thought I knew."

Fix the problem, not the symptom

2005-02-22T15:47:00.000-09:00

So, would it prevent another Renkes fiasco to make the AG an elected position? Hmm ... to avoid potential politicization and conflicts of interest, we'll make it an elected position, so the AG candidates will have to raise funds from the same people they'll be overseeing ....

The problem was never just Renkes, and the problem was never just the system ... it's the guy who appointed Renkes and is controlling the system. When we stop electing croneyist partisan hacks like Gov. Dorkowski, we'll stop having the ethics problems.

The nipster

2005-02-22T15:34:00.000-09:00

So, just as I wax annoyed about the uninformed ramblings of Jack Frost, I find the KUDO web site has a forum on the same topic - "Why Jack Frost?" indeed.

Many folks who have the time and inclination to post on such fora have a tendency to get wrapped around the axle. Such was the case there - in the heat of the argument, they forgot what they were arguing about. The point still remains, though. Frost is opinionated, but offers little in support of his opinions other than half-baked spin. Although he may be a very pleasant fellow to BS with, his arguments are neither prinicipled nor informed, so why do his opinions matter? And why is a "progressive" radio station offering him its airwaves?

BTW

2005-02-22T10:59:00.000-09:00

I noticed that I hadn't gloated yet about the Renkes affair ... so, neener neener, and all that.

Of course, Renkes was just a malignant outgrowth - the cancer still rages unabated. Gov. Dorkowski fronts a group that believes that the purpose of government is to protect and aid the wealthy and connected. These croneyists have made various arrangements of convenience with idealogues of various stripes, but they are not idealogues themselves - they are power junkies. And they have been allowed to preside because they are willing to play on our divisions and prejudices, and because they have turned the media into a hazy and confusing shouting match, and we have lost the capacity to see them through that haze.

Nipping at my brain ...

2005-02-22T10:31:00.000-09:00

I had the unique displeasure of tuning in to KUDO ("a voice for change"), and, instead of being soothed by angry progressives, hearing the nonsensical faux-folksy ramblings of Jack Frost, former mayoral candidate and ubiquitous pitchman.

Of what possible use can it be to disseminate the insipid and asinine cliches that a man like Frost uses as a substitute for thought? And on the issue of social security no less .... Example: Frost is pitching Bush's "crisis" meme, and tosses out the startling notion that the social security "trust fund" is being plundered by those dastardly Big Gummint types (still insidiously controlling things despite being out of power for the last 5 years), and when it comes time to start using the "trust fund" to pay benefits, we'll find that "there's just a bunch of IOUs in the vault!"

Egad! Stock up the root cellar and bury your gold!

In reality, the government has been spending social security funds indirectly, because those funds have been invested in government securities (T-bills, that is). Treasury bills are, of course, the most conservative and secure investment into which these funds could have been put - a judgment revisited and reaffirmed by every Federal Reserve Board since Eisenhower. This investment is backed by the full faith and credit of the US government, which is constitutionally bound to honor it. If T-Bills become risky, our problems are a lot deeper than social security.

In short, Frost is either an idiot who doesn't understand the way the system works, or he is deliberately misleading people into a false sense of alarm. Either way, he is not to be listened to ...

Which raises the question - why is he on the air?

If you're not good enough to be a judge ...

2005-02-10T11:41:00.000-09:00

... then being named Attorney General is a nice consolation prize.

Scott Nordstrand, you may recall, was the spark for one of Gov. Dorkowski's earlier ham-fisted, croneyist power grabs. Mssr. Nordstrand, a longtime Murkowski loyalist, put in for a judgeship, but didn't make the Judicial Council's list of "qualified applicants." Gov. Dorkowski was outraged. "What is this BS about 'qualifications?' Don't they understand that government exists to reward the connected??!!" (The thoughts coursing through the alcohol-smoothed contours of Gov. Dorkowski's brain were probably less coherent, but you get the idea). This was a matter of Principle - and not just any Principle, but THE Principle: I get to give good stuff to my buddies. Gov. Dorkowski would stand stout and firm.

Unfortunately, Gov. Dorkowski didn't have a leg to stand on, as the constitutional appointment scheme was specifically designed to prevent croneyist hacks from completely undermining the justice system.

But now there's a consolation prize, and he doesn't even have to get it past his co-religionists in the legislature. A balm it must have been to his little heart to have this little gift to give his faithful servant ....

Now, all this having been said, I'm sure that Mr. Nordstrand will do just fine. He's a decent big-picture guy, has actually been a practicing lawyer (and thus understands little niceties like "ethics"), will have taken note of what happened with Renkes and Ruedrich, and is certainly likeable enough - plus, he's a Packer fan. Certainly there are more qualified people out there, but if Gov. Dorkowski has succeeded in anything, it's in lowering our standards. From this group, "not crooked, arrogant and incompetent" will do just fine.

Back in the Saddle

2005-02-10T11:33:00.000-09:00

So much happening, so little commentary. As I've mentioned before, I've been suffering a Shrum-induced depression that rendered me incapable of offering anything other than dark-roast, gloomy opinions topped with a froth of rage. I'm adjusting, though, to the new reality, and am seeking the shafts of light that occasionally pierce the gloom of our public discourse ... there might be something worthwhile to do after all.

And, yes, the Renkes Affair has quite a bit to do with this.

New Convention Center Prevents Baldness, Promotes Natural Male Enhancement!!!!!

2005-01-12T10:18:00.000-09:00

Are the figures in this study of the proposed new convention center exaggerated? YES!!

Of course they are. This is, after all, the age of Politics As Marketing. [It's part of the creeping commidification of society and the consumerization of all aspects of life, about which I have many strongly held opinions that are useful for clearing the space around me at cocktail parties] Public policy today is packaged and sold like soap flakes ... well, I suppose that's too quaint; like drugs is probably the better example ("ask your representative if New Convention Center is right for you!"). Is it possible that the convention center could create 1900+ jobs and add millions to the downtown economy? Yes. Is it likely that the hyper-optimistic forecasts that support these figures will turn out to be correct? No. But it's not the job of the public officials who are touting this white elephant to tell you all that negative crap ... caveat emptor and all that.

Does this mean that the convention center is a bad idea? Not necessarily. (Is this getting too Rumsfeldian? Absolutely). Either God or the devil (or both) is in the details, and we're not likely to hear a lot about those from the Conventionistas. It just seems a pretty lousy way to go about things.

Maybe this particular complaint is just too highfalutin'. Of course it would be nice if people would get lots of sound information on such issues by watching a local version of C-SPAN and have productive, fact-based discussions of the merits of various proposals by the water cooler. "Reality TV", however, is far more interesting, and sound bite politics are here to stay.

There are different kind of salesmen and different kind of products. My trouble is, this system plays into the hands the snake oil peddlers. Better ideas don't win - better marketing does, and the people (cough murkowski cough) to whom government is about what you can get away with know this.

Who among us does not love Bob Shrum?

2005-01-11T13:07:00.000-09:00

Amy Sullivan gets it about right in this post - Fire The Consultants!!

Sighs

2005-01-07T14:09:00.000-09:00

"Gloom, despair, and agony on me
Deep dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all
Gloom, despair, and agony on me"

- Buck, Roy, & the boys from HeeHaw

I was in the car yelling at my radio the other day when I realized that the next four years are going to be extremely difficult for my family unless I limit my exposure to news and opinion. I appear to have no room for any reaction other than deep depression or fuming anger.

The bad, the worse, and the ham-fisted

2004-12-14T10:21:00.000-09:00

Jim Clark tried his fumbling hand at the old Karlrovian "Straw man outrage" trick. It goes like this: Those politically-motivated scoundrels calling for a full investigation of the Kfx scandal, including the governor's role, are really just undermining the Bob Bundy's investigation ... and how dare they malign a fine, upstanding individual like Bob Bundy!!

This is pure PR, hoping to confuse public opinion until the scandal blows over. The Waste of Times will echo it as forcefully as it can, and it may get some traction ...

But it means they're a little desperate. There's something there, I think. At the least, it's a good scandal, and these buffoons were too arrogant and foolish to cover their tracks ...

more press conferences, please! More grandstanding! Now is no time to turn down the heat. How about "Coal Miners for Truth" running some ads or ginning up a state FOIA request or a lawsuit?

The crushing weight of irony

2004-12-14T10:14:00.000-09:00

The headline says it all: "Renkes is Narrator of Ethics Video"

R-Whipped

2004-12-14T10:05:00.000-09:00

James Walcott, ever elegant and eloquent, takes down Bernard Kerik better than the many others that are having a field day - but the contest is still rolling! Pile on, baby! Every black mark on Kerik is a black mark on Giuliani, and the less we see of that particular self-aggrandizing bloviator the better.

Of particular note in Walcott's column, though, is the following, which addresses a theme close to my heart:

I'm glad the press is having a dance party with this, because God knows the Democrats are frozen at the steering wheel. I just saw a segment on MSNBC (which has been all over the Kerik story today, bless Rick Kaplan's cyborg heart) pitting a Republican strategist against a Democratic one, and the Democratic spokesman--who goes by the name of Michael Brown--seemed to have washed down his weeny pills with warm Ovaltine. Instead of kicking Kerik and Giuliana between the uprights for three points, Brown fretted that vetting process for cabinet candidates was "going to far," and that we were in danger of discouraging people from public service. Oh no, we wouldn't want to discourage philandering, pocket-lining, deadbeat no-show bully-boys like Bernard Kerik from having the opportunity to muck around with our civil liberties in the name of "national security" and hold bigshot press conferences. I mean, if that sort of thing were to continue happening, people might start mistaking the Democrats for an opposition party and thinking that the press has an adversarial role to play, and we don't want that to happen, it might actually lead to signs of life in that mausoleum we call the nation's capital.
This Michael Brown wouldn't even criticize Alberto Gonzalez for botching the background check and vetting of Kerik. I don't understand the self-emasculation of so many Democratic strategists, what they're afraid of, why they concede so much in advance. Give them an opening, and they close it like a silk kimono, ever so demure. What are they in politics for, the professional grooming tips?

I am convinced that Bill Clinton won the White House because he had few DC Democratic operatives in his politburo, and that Al Gore managed to lose the White House despite winning the election because of his fealty to that hopeless eunch Bob Shrum and a coterie of other spineless insiders. The same is true for Kerry. It's time to clean house.

2004-12-10T15:58:00.000-09:00

From that same comments section, a good take on the annoying gutlessness of DC Demcrats, whom I presently detest as a bunch of spineless professional losers:

You know, I find all this SS stuff really phenomenal. Really, really, phenomenal. We have no reason to trust this White House (What happened to the monthly terror alerts? How safe is our food supply? Where are the Iraqi nuclear weapons stockpiles?), yet from today's Post, the Democrats appear to be in a defensive--already! This is an opportunity, same as the Clinton Healthcare plan was for Repubs, to go on the offensive I think. The Dems ought to be starting to run commercials, sending feeders out to senior groups, even handing out flyers on the street to get the public's attention and grab the debate. The bottom line is that as the economy and dollar stand now, as our foreign affairs stand now, we have absolutely no reason to be taking on such an expensive endeavor as privatizing a portion of SS. None.
I realize we took a beating in the elections, but come on. If voters didn't trust Kerry enough because of his so-called wiffly-waffley ways, how are they going to feel about a party that bends over and takes it in the back end even before the Repubs have started their full frontal media assault on the SS program? And, what's going to be the result once the media assault starts and the Dems have not prepared the country intellectually for the outright garbage that's going to be sold as reform?
I guess we all have our issues, but having studied SS for years, I'm now feeling thoroughly disgusted with the Democratic Party. And I was already disgusted with the party for allowing Gore to use the "shore up" SS issue in the 2000 presidential campaign to get elected. I knew what the Repubs would do with the issue then, we're seeing what they're doing with it now. So much for good Dem political strategies, right? Excuse my language, but we're f'cked.

Amen.

HA!

2004-12-10T15:54:00.000-09:00

From the Comments on "Political Animal" re: CBS recent decline as a purveyor of news:

"They're as relevent as tits on a boar. And it's a goddamn shame."

Now, that's good.

The giant sucking sound known as CBS, on the other hand, grows only more sucky. Kevin Drum has the details.

"We had to destroy the program in order to save it ..."

2004-12-07T09:31:00.000-09:00

As usual, Paul Krugman deftly hits the nail on the head. There is not now any "looming fiscal crisis" that endangers Social Security, nor has there been for the last 20 years (since the Alan Greenspan-approved payroll tax hike). There is, however, a politcal crisis. See, it's a government program that pretty much works. This is something the ideologically-obsessed bufoons who control our government simply cannot accept. And so they will engage in their usual well-practiced game of political three-card monte to deceive people (and themselves) into destroying it.

I've never believed that Social Security would be there for my generation, but only because I have always understood that our political leadership would simply, in the end, prove too irresponsible to keep a good thing going. I had some renewed hope during the Clinton years, but responsible management has not quite proven to be a hallmark of the Bush Administration.

WWAFYOD

2004-11-22T16:38:00.000-09:00

The secret to understanding the foreign policy of the Bush Administration is contained in these 7 letters: WWAFYOD ("What Would A Five Year Old Do").

Break Mom's expensive vase? Easy! Put it back together with Scotch tape and pretend nothing's wrong!

Same answer goes for Iraq - tape it back together and pretend it's ok.

I want to be on the record with this. As soon as possible after whatever "election" they can put together in January, the Bushies will begin a massive pullout of Iraq, no matter what state it is in.

As shown by this Boston Globe article, they're already laying the groundwork of excuses and head-spinning rationalizations ... the most massively irresponsible administration in history clearly has bigger fish to fry (Iran! Syria! France!).

I'm willing to take bets ... heck, I'll give odds. We'll see massive cuts in forces ASAP after whatever kind of election they can get together in January.

The See-Saw

2004-11-16T11:30:00.000-09:00

So, that was a wierd little episode. But very interesting.

For years now the defining characteristic of the national Republican party - and one of the keys to its success - has been its iron discipline. This is best characterized by the House leadership (although I hate to use any non-pejorative term to describe anything about him) of Tom DeLay. Central control is complete, even down to statements of dissent - MOCs from districts where particular DeLay-Authorized [TM] policies or positions are unpopular routinely clear their statements through him, and are allowed to vote against the party line only when it will not endanger DeLay-Authorized [TM] legislation. Such Delay Authorized [TM] dissents are parcelled out as gifts, as are lobbying positions for former staffers, etc. Punishments are severe and certain, and control is complete. This attitude of discipline is consistent throughout the Republican community, including its media arms.

The Alaska Republicans, on the other hand, have always been notable for their lack of discipline. The wacky hijinks 0f Wally Hickel and Jack Coghill come to mind, of course, as do any number of Anchorage mayoral races, where multiple wingnut candidates tore themselves apart, allowing a moderate to take office.

So what does this weekend's Velvet Revolution in the legislature have to say about the state of the Republican majority?

Well, clearly the party discipline message worked in the end, and the punishments will be severe enough so that there is unlikely to be any more seesawing, at least for a while. There is such a thing as too much discipline, though - especially when the folks giving the marching orders are incompetent idealogues. There is a growing sense of pressure to find a long-term fiscal solution to our annual budget "crises," and a growing lack of confidence in the Majority's ability or willingness to do so. Legislators' willingness to toe the party line will start to wane quickly if there is no fiscal plan adopted this session - they'll have their own hides to save.

Emergence

2004-11-16T11:24:00.000-09:00

A two-week hiatus, for reasons obvious and sundry. Much has been said, and I would likely add little to it. So I won't, at least for now.

But there are still reasons for hope, and many more reasons to get active and stay aware.

And so I will.

What's the call??

2004-11-01T17:05:00.000-09:00

The R's have been pushing the results of a poll that supposedly have Lisa up by 7. That much of a sudden spread in a race that has been so close simply doesn't seem credible. More likely they're simply trying to create some astroturf momentum.

So what's the call? The "Vote for Ted" campaign was desperate, but seems to have been effective - Tony wasn't able to counter it well (I think he should have gone on the indirect attack on this during the debates, and gotten some public pressure against Stevens to back down. Unfortunately, everyone is afraid of the Hulk). Still, Tony's ground game is much better, and that's where the money is.

My (spin free) prediction is Tony in a squeaker ... and we won't know for sure until the last dog is hung.

After which, the real work will only be beginning ...

VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE

2004-11-01T17:01:00.000-09:00

This is it. MAny have called it the most important election of our lifetimes. It may be true. Whatever your thoughts on this, though, there is no excuse for turning your back on the right that so many have died to protect.

Go vote!!!

(For Tony, of course)

Why we endorse the Preznit

2004-10-29T09:41:00.000-08:00

This pretty much says it all. From babelogue:

We are facing unimaginable challenges and dwindling opportunities in the
next four years, and to confront those challenges, invent new
ones, and squander those opportunities requires a dangerous,
unscrupulous moron in the White House, a man of monumental ignorance and
insincerity who can lead America to previously unimagined depths of unremitting
despair. We believe George W. Bush to be an uncompromisingly daft
nimrod who remains uniquely qualified to guide this country into the broken
teeth of the most hair-raising fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, and who
can steer America through the End Times even as he aggressively herds
the legions of infidels to their appointed place of eternal torment in
Sheol.

Thanks to PM for the tip

A plague of locusts!!!

2004-10-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy, busy time for us here at the Institute, and blogging has been embarrassingly light. Still, I like to consider this a blog of substance, and so much of our local dialogue has been vapid rhetorical excess ...

which brings me to this ... Uncle Ted seems to have lost his sense of humor on this one (if he ever had one), but he really doesn't have any standing to complain. He has inserted himself forcefully into the Tony/Lisa race, in a manner marked by unfettered hyperbole and ferarmongering. He deserves to be made fun of and ridiculed (I thought the whole "bees will attack your privates!" bit was especially good), because his performance is beneath him, and is nothing short of embarrassing. More importantly, Stevens' and especially Young's efforts for Murkowski are at least close to the line, legally - when does all of this effort amount to an in-kind contribution? When does a Don Young campaign ad become a Murkowski campaign ad?

Knowles is getting triple-teamed, because these guys all know Murkowski can't win on her own merits. It may be effective for them, but it's unethical politics - a further sign of the creeping infection of DC partisanism into Alaska politics.

Not too strong ...

2004-10-22T22:40:00.000-08:00

In a disturbing Atlantic Monthly article last month, Josh Green analyzed the thoroughly despicable career of Karl Rove, and concluded that this election was headed exactly where Rove wanted it - just close enough to steal.

Am I being too harsh with this? I don't believe so. The news reports we have been getting from swing states across the country indicate a massive, coordinated effort at voter intimidation, vote suppression, and electoral fraud that have been tied directly to the Republican National Committee and to local Republican officials.

Ohio voter intimidation efforts. South Dakota operatives under indictment - not just accused, but under indictment for voter fraud are transferred by BC04 to spread their love in Ohio. An RNC official is fingered in a Justice Department investigation for a number of felonies related to voter suppression activities in New Hampshire in 2002 - so BC04 puts him in charge of the whole New England region, and has the DOJ put the lid on the case. A "voter registration" group hired by the RNC is accused of shredding and trashing registration forms of Democrats only in Pennsylvania, Oregon, Nevada, and West Virginia.

And this is only the stuff we've heard about.

Just close enough to steal ...

Nerviosity

2004-10-22T22:36:00.000-08:00

Democrats have historically been better at GOTV efforts than Republicans. Democratic pollsters note this as a reason to discount LV polls that show a seemingly disproportionate Bush lead.
That wasn't the case in the 2002 midterms, however. Karl Rove took the lesson from Gore's 2000 effort, and spent a lot of time and money on his "72 Hour Project," which many credit with the R's surprisingly sound victories.
This year, Rove's efforts make '02 look like chump change - the R's have spent unprecedented millions in organizing their ground game, including both their standard voter suppression/intimidation efforts and the D's standard phone banks and other GOTV efforts.
I'd be interested in hearing some thoughts about how this might effect the standard curve re: high voter turn out - as the D's are spending more too, will things be the same as in 2000?

Yegods, this makes me nervous

The Ground Game

2004-10-21T15:36:00.000-08:00

I generally find thoughts that are preceded by the phrase "In ____, as in football ..." to be unpersuasive, but here's one that's true:

In politics, as in football, the key to success is a good ground game. The "ground game" here is the last-minute, grass roots, get-out-the-vote effort that has been a fundamental part of electoral politics since our country was founded: you can't win if you don't get your voters to the polls. George Washington inspired his voters with free food and sour mash whiskey. Al Gore's GOTV effort allowed him to come back from a 13 point deficit to win the 2000 popular vote. Karl Rove saw the success of Gore's project and started the RNC's "72-hour project," which assured a Republican sweep in the 2002 midterms.

You know Karl has his eyes on this again - that's why he's sponsored such a concerted effort (e.g. the RNC's contract with Sproul & Assoc., Jeb Bush's felon list shenanigans, etc.) to suppress Democratic turnout in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, Oregon, etc.

At this point in the election cycle, there is nothing more important than the ground game. And the ground game is all about volunteer effort. Wherever you live, there is an important election, and there is a campaign or GOTV group that can and will use your help. Do it. Join a phone bank, volunteer to drive people, stand on the street corner and ask people to vote .... This is not just a big deal - at this point, it's the whole deal. Call your local Kerry campaign office, call your local congressional candidate's campaign office, call your state's senatorial candidate's campaign's office, call your alderman, call MoveOn, it doesn't matter which.

Do it.

It's not too much to say that the fate of the free world is literally riding on people like us, and whether we're willing to get out and do this one small thing.

The Daily Blah

2004-10-19T14:13:00.000-08:00

I cannot have been alone this Sunday in thinking that the ADN has fallen from its already low perch as Southcentral Alaska's paper of record. From running the "Team Alaska" advertisement for Stevens/Murkowski/Young on Page 1 (cleverly disguised as a "news" story) to the usual arrogant, inane ravings of Craig Medred, there was just so little of worth in what used to be, by most measures, a decent local paper.

The cruellest blow, of course, was reading the vacuous "opinion" column by Beth Bragg. With Mike Doogan, love him or hate him (and I - as most - did both, often at the same time), you had a reporter - a real reporter - who had a good idea of what was going on and how things worked in both the city and the state. What's more, he wrote clearly and forcefully (if not elegantly), and had real opinions on issues of real public import. On the other hand, Ms. Bragg, his "replacement," can't seem to find anything more significant to write about TWO WEEKS BEFORE A MAJOR ELECTION than some asinine thoughts about how our kids will all grow up to be sissies because of purple pens and bowling alley gutter guards.

Egad, that stank ....

Civility?

2004-10-15T14:52:00.000-08:00

The Senatorial debate yesterday hearkened back to a bygone era - pre-Limbaugh, pre-Fox News ... pre-Jimmy Carter, actually, when opponents took each other on vigorously, but in a civil and substantive manner. It was what I knew we would get from Tony, and what I hoped and expected from Li'l Lisa.

Tony hasn't really disappointed me - Lisa truly has. As more of her campaign strategy has been turned over to the shrill partisans of the Republican majority, the airwaves are filled with more crap.

As we watch her be nice in person (as I'm sure she truly is), let us not forget that the nattering nabobs of negativism in DC really own her vote.

Vic at home

2004-10-13T13:43:00.000-08:00

Shocked, shocked I was to find that Rep. Vic Kohring may actually be residing in Portland, OR ... I had always assumed he was from Planet Moronius in the Galaxy Ideologia.

Of course Kohring doesn't really live in his district - he spends half the year in Juneau and the other half with his family in Oregon, and his "rental" of a room from his parents is a ludicrously transparent ruse, and always has been. The most disturbing about this is that he hasn't had the ethical wherewithal to simply admit this and move on.

Far more disturbing, of course, is that the voters of his district continue to send this mental marshmallow to Juneau. Kohring is the worst kind of idealogue ... he has no grasp of the reality of government - what it is for and what it really does. He just became enamored of these theories, and now blunders about Juneau trying to put them into place ... it's like something out of Candide, only the 3d grade comic book version. And he's doing real damage to the State's ability to actually provide public goods - monitoring the environment, law enforcement, education, infrastructure development all have suffered because Kohring imagines Alaska as a beautiful free market utopia.

And finally, the Dems get somebody with some gumption to challenge the guy.

About time!!

Just when you think you can't be shocked anymore...

2004-10-13T09:14:00.000-08:00

According to this report from a TV news outfit in Nevada, a private voter registration company funded by the Republican National Committee has been destroying Democrat's registration forms:

Voter Registrations Possibly Trashed
By George Knapp KLAS TV
Tuesday 12 October 2004
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms were thrown in the trash.
Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government building may be affected.
The I-Team has obtained information about an alleged widespread pattern of potential registration fraud aimed at democrats. Thee focus of the story is a private registration company called Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes.
The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations.
Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats.
"We caught her taking Democrats out of my pile, handed them to her assistant and he ripped them up right in front of us. I grabbed some of them out of the garbage and she tells her assisatnt to get those from me," said Eric Russell, former Voters Outreach employee.
Eric Russell managed to retrieve a pile of shredded paperwork including signed voter registration forms, all from Democrats. We took them to the Clark County Election Department and confirmed that they had not, in fact, been filed with the county as required by law.
So the people on those forms who think they will be able to vote on Election Day are sadly mistaken. We attempted to speak to Voters Outreach but found that its office has been rented out to someone else.
The landlord says Voters Outreach was evicted for non-payment of rent. Another source said the company has now moved on to Oregon where it is once again registering voters. It's unknown how many registrations may have been tossed out, but another ex-employee told Eyewitness News she had the same suspicions when she worked there.
It's going to take a while to sort all of this out, but the immediate concern for voters is to make sure you really are registered.
Call the Clark County Election Department at 455-VOTE or click here to see if you are registered.
The company has been largely, if not entirely funded, by the Republican National Committee. Similar complaints have been received in Reno where the registrar has asked the FBI to investigate.

I mean ... holy crap!!! This is so shameless, so vile, so anti-American, so ... Bush/Roveian

Fishy Fishy

2004-10-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

It's Tony's fault!!!

There's a good rallying cry for the Murkowskistas. Alaska Seafood International ... hmm, the Legislature pushes through a foolish business deal for a Republican connected developer a year before Tony even takes office ... and ...

ITS TONY'S FAULT!!!

Li'l Lisa clearly has some DC-based, Rove-trained help up here now, and we can expect more of the same shrill, content-free negativity in the weeks to come.

Welcome to Nastytown, Rovetopia, Tony. Three things: stay on message, stay positive, play offense. This only means they're getting desperate.

The 9/12 President

2004-10-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

What I would truly like to see out of John Kerry is for him to take some time in this last debate and explain, in a gracious but firm manner, exactly why people shouldn't - can't - vote for George W. Bush. It's something that people understand, I think, but need to have expressed ...

Remember 9/12? Not 9/11, with its shock and sadness and anger, but the day after, when the dust began to clear and the shock began to subside and we began to wonder "what do we do now?" I looked to President Bush, as we all did, because he was who we had - not simply for direction, but for leadership.

It was an historic moment, the likes of which we hadn't seen in over 50 years ... the kind of moment when America could have shaken off the torpor that accompanies peace and prosperity and assumed once again the mantle of its greatness. We were ready to join together, to sacrifice together, to work together, to put aside our divisions and reach as one, to lead the world, toward a higher purpose. Out of the ashes of that tragedy came the opportunity not just to heal and unify ourselves, but to lead the world in a real effort to defeat a great evil. And I was ready to follow George W. Bush.

How did we get from there to here? At home, we are now more deeply divided than we ever were before. Abroad, our credibility has been destroyed by deceptions about WMDs, our ability to lead compromised by arrogance and bullying, and our moral standing squandered by apparatchiks intent on winning battles by undermining the very principles we're fighting for.

Think about that for a moment ... try to remember where you were on 9/12, and think about what could have been done with that. More than any President since Roosevelt, George Bush had the opportunity to lead us together into greatness. But he is simply too small a man to even understand such an opportunity, much less to grasp it. Instead, he told us to go shopping, and used that moment to grab control of the Senate, squelch political dissent, and push through more regressive tax cuts.

And now that moment is irretrievably lost ...

and that's is why George Bush does not deserve to be President.

Please say it, John.

Undecided??!!

2004-10-11T10:43:00.000-08:00

I read Frank Gerjevic's column this weekend about being an undecided voter ... what about this man qualifies him to be a columnist? Mediocre writing, a bland world view, no opinions worthy of the name, and all the intellectual power of an avocado ... by gum, sign him up!!!

I suppose, at some point in the distant-seeming past, there were real reasons to be undecided in the presidential election. But this time it just means that you're not paying attention. And that's not something that should be celebrated in a newspaper column ... it's just lame. Gerjevic and the ADN should be ashamed.

Serendipity!

2004-10-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

Wow, what luck for Lisa ... just weeks before the election, when things are looking bleak for the R's chances to keep the Senate, she gets an unexpected boost - the White House drops its "principled opposition" to incentives for the Alaska gas line, and it sails through the House in 20 minutes.

This kind of play says a lot more about the WH than it says about Li'l Lisa, but if she manages to pull this election out of the hat, she'll be so deeply in hock to the Republican leadership, she won't be able to cast an independent vote for years.

I don't think she's going to get the kind of mileage she was hoping for out of this one, though ...

Run out of reasons to support Lisa? Try Age Discrimination!!

2004-10-08T15:28:00.000-08:00

This op-ed in the News-Gopher sez you should vote for Lisa cuz Tony's too old.

No, seriously, that's what it says - there's "no difference" between the two, and starting Lisa young will, 25 years down the road, yield untold benefits under the Senate seniority system that has allowed Ted to fatten us up with untold barrels of pork over the years. Plus, if those mean ol' Dems get control of the Senate, Ted won't be appropriations chair anymore.

Part of the "Team Alaska" argument, I guess. Two thoughts: (1) it seems odd for the Don and Ted squad to be trumpeting youth and vigor, and (2) this kind of sophistry is a bottom of the barrell argument. In other words, Sign 536 that Lisa is Getting Desperate.

The Gift

2004-10-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

A while back I had a post about the AK Democrats longstanding inability to field a decent slate of candidates. It's not just that they had Theresa Obermeyer running for statewide office (although that was a terrible embarassment on a statewide scale, which reflected very poorly on the party - on the other hand, it verified the old saw that one would have to be nuts to run against Ted Stevens), it's that they field weak candidates in many races and can't even find candidates to challenge for a number of seats. This is the kind of organizational weakness that feeds on itself - it's a serious problem.

Just how serious may be shown by this election. Team Dorkowski has handed the AK Dems a gift they are not likely to see again soon - through a combination of their incompetence, their lack of ethics, and their tin political ear, Team Dorkowski has alienated a conservative electorate from the Republican Party. This is the Dems' best chance to pick up seats in years, and they likely will pick up some, but they won't take the legislature ... and they could if they were well-positoned to do so. ... them ol' grass roots need some fertilizer, it seems to me...

Ouch, that slap on the wrist really hurt!!

2004-10-08T11:13:00.000-08:00

It's been a light week for posting, for which I apologize ... scheduling, blahblahblah ...

And it's been hard to think of something new to say about Team Dorkowski's week ... I mean, talk about shooting fish in a barrell ...

Gov. Dorkowski did make a shrewd move in appointing Bob Bundy to investigate the matter. As a former Dem. US attorney and prosecutor, he has a reputation as a straight shooter and the appearance of not being in bed with Team Dorkowski.

Indeed, this move is more shrewd than may be generally suspected. Bundy's mandate for investigation is limited, and he has no subpoena power. He'll simply be interviewing people who are not under oath and can only ask them a limited scope of questions. In the end, his report will be very narrow in scope and conclusions because of this. Bundy also undertook the Cynthia Cooper investigation a few years back, in which he cleared the former head of the DA's office of wrongdoing, despite the fact that she had twice been caught lying under oath, and that Judge Holland had remonstrated her for it in a published order. So he doesn't exactly conduct Ken Starr style inquisitions.

The most important thing, though, is that Alaska's public ethics laws are toothless. The likely result will be that the report will determine that there may have been a violation of the ethics laws, but since Renkes gave any possible earnings to charity, no harm, no foul.

I would hope to see a different outcome, but I can't imagine it will work out that way. Which is really unfortunate.

In a society that truly valued public ethics, Renkes' head would roll for such obviously improper behavior. I mean, really, folks - it just can't get any more clear than this. He was using his public office to actively promote the interests of a company that he had a personal financial stake in at the same time as he was actively trading stock in that company ... have we so lost our societal ethical compass that this sort of behavior can be acceptable?

MacKay

2004-10-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

So, why is it that the MacKay Building simply cannot seem to die? The thing has blighted downtown for 30 years ... tear it down!!!

KFX

2004-10-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

Well, Gov. D. was right about one thing in this article - Bob Bundy is a good choice for an attorney to investigate YesMan General Renkes' ties to Kfx, the money-losing coal technology firm. We'll see if Frank is right about Mr. Renkes.

The scope of the investigation is limited, of course, as is the scope of Bundy's authority (he can't subpoena anyone) - reflecting that there is a limit to what folks really want to find out.

That having been said, this particular problem is clear. Renkes has been a paid advisor to, and owns and actively trades stock in a company with an unproven technology - at the same time, he has been pushing for the State to make a deal with Taiwan that would call for a massive investment in this unproven technology. Is this a conflict of interest? Does the Pope wear a funny hat? I mean, really, what question could there possibly be about this?

I've discussed this before - the problem is that these folks are so closely wedded to the extractive industries that they really don't know where industry ends and the Republican Party begins (and they don't have any idea where government begins, but that's a different story). They don't understand the difference between lobbying and governing.

That somebody could miss so glaring an ethical problem can only suggest that they have no understanding of what an "ethical problem" actually is in the first place.

Renkes' defense, of course, is that this proposal is a win-win - if the State gets a deal with Taiwan, there will be more jobs and income, and both Alaska and Kfx will be better off.

That's a lobbyists argument, though. And it's only true if the technology works, if the State doesn't have to pour too much cash into this project, if the other costs aren't too high (tax breaks, environmental problems), and if any profits actually made won't just fly out of state.

And these judgments should be made by somebody without any financial stake in the project - a servant of the people, not a lobbyist for the coal industry

The debate

2004-09-30T22:14:00.000-08:00

The initial take is that Kerry took it. Bush did better on radio, where you couldn't see his angry gestures and expressions. Let's see where the spin migrates in the next few days ...

The hackinator

2004-09-30T22:05:00.000-08:00

So Loren Leman loses in court again ... shocked, shocked I am.

The man has no ethics. Now he's trying to blame the sponsors of the "Trust the People" initiative for the fact that he made politically motivated misleading statements on the ballots, because they "waited until the last minute" to point it out. Of course, the fact that he did not disclose his change of the initiative description to its sponsors, or announce that a changed version had been placed on the state's website could not have had anything to do with that.

Men like Loren Leman are the reason that we need a vigorously independent judiciary. He has no qualms about abusing his office for political advantage, and the courts are the only place he can be brought to heel.

Bush v. Hoover

2004-09-29T11:48:00.000-08:00

Sean Cockerham has big news - the governor should not really take credit - or blame - for job creation numbers on his watch.

Watch out! Once you let out a big secret like this, you never know when they're gonna get you.

This is one of those odd things, though ... of course it's the overall state of the economy that controls job creation and loss, in the larger sense. If you're riding a boom, that's good luck, not good management.

At the same time, though, good government, especially on a local level, does play an important role in job creation. Not in the way that most Rs like to go on about (low wages, low taxes, no unions, no environmental regs, etc.). If you look at the States that have followed that plan (especially in the South - Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana), you'll see that they have high unemployment, low wages, and high job instability. Real job creation takes place in cities and states with a good quality of life index. Good education systems, so you have smart, trainable and flexible workers; good land use planning, so that it's a pleasant place to live; moderate taxes that are stable, so that you can count on services and plan your expenses ...&c.

When the economy starts moving, job creation happens in places that are primed for it.

Ol' King Coal

2004-09-28T21:24:00.000-08:00

So Gov. Dorkowski says that Taiwan may be our next economic salvation ... a willing market for Cook Inlet coal.

I remember reading an article years ago ... Forbes was interviewing the new President of Honduras, who was touting his brilliant new economic development plan it was to ... ready? ...

Increase exports of raw goods!

"We want to be a banana republic in a positive way," he said. "We want to produce the world's best bananas!"

And now we here in Alaska have the same kind of visionary leadership! Gov. Frank Dorkowski, following the models set out by such econonomic powerhouses as West Virginia and Honduras, will lead us down the path to prosperity!

And if it turns out it's too expensive to produce, that's ok! We'll just gut the environmental laws, forego any tax revenue from coal-related activity, and subsidize the necessary infrastructure! Heck, otherwise that coal's just sittin' there!

Yessiree ... it's forward thinking like this that got Frank out of the banking industry ...

El Hacko

2004-09-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

As I said, if you want Loren Leman to do his job, you have to sue him. And Eric Croft understands this guy ... always watch him, never trust him, never be afraid to call him into court for his BS ...

The ol' 180 redux

2004-09-27T16:02:00.000-08:00

Much as I'd like to take credit for Gov. Dorkowski's reversal on the judicial appointment issue, all credit is due to the (very appropriate) hard line taken by the Judicial Council.

Now let's see Gov. Dorkowski's response - my guess is we'll see some attempts to punish the JC in the next legislative session - cutting its funding, allowing the Gov. to stack the board with his own appointments ... things of that nature.

This will test my theory of Gov. Dorkowski's nature - ethics, the law, and his responsibility to the public are meaningless to him. Everything is political, everything is partisan. and its all about him and his team getting theirs.

The ol' 180

2004-09-27T14:53:00.000-08:00

Fall has returned, for now. Enjoy it whily you havethe chance.

September?!!??!!??

2004-09-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

I know we live in Alaska, but snow at sea level on Yom Kippur seems a bit ridiculous.

Bridge over troubled locals

2004-09-24T11:04:00.000-08:00

I like bridges - they're just cool. I love watching water flow underneath them, I love the way they look from a distance, I love the metaphors that flow from them ... they're just cool.

But I've never thought the Knik Arm Bridge was a particularly good idea. Are we really going to be able to build a safe bridge in an earthquake zone, on notoriously unstable soils (volcanic sandy silt), over water with enormous tidal shifts and icebergs 6 months out of the year?

And, if so, why? For a quicker trip to Wasilla? I thought we were spending millions on the new Glenn/Parks interchange for that same purpose.

The real reason Don Young (Anger Management Poster Child for All Alaskans!) wants to build this bridge, of course, is to open up the Susitna Flats to development. And the boon, of course, is to developers and land speculators. Is this really worth the many millions we would spend on such a bridge? Not to mention the other social costs that such sprawl would bring ...

Now, if there is any group whose positions on making land use policies should be taken with a truckload of salt, it would be the developers and real estate investors. They do not care what a city looks like or whether it is pleasant or safe to live in - they want to make money. This is not bad, of course - quite to the contrary, there has to be an incentive for such beneficial economic activity to take place. But their energies have to be directed in a way that makes what is good for them good for us as well. We need plentiful parks, attractive houses that provide some opportunity for communal interaction, good energy efficiency and construction standards, trails connecting various neighborhoods and commercial districts, streets that discourage traffic congestion, areas of concentrated development that reduce sprawl, redevelopment of blighted areas to reduce sprawl, enough open space to allow wildlife to live in the city and to allow healthy watersheds. The market incentives that developers respond to will provide none of these things.

Developers will tell you that all of this simply drives up the cost of housing - raw land development with fewer of the requirements described above is much cheaper, and allows for affordable housing. But, do you really believe they're interested in saving you money? When multi-millionaire developers cry that you're taking bread off their tables ... well, use the salt, folks.

Anyway, like I said, when these folks are pushing for a big government project, it's appropriate to ask a lot of questions. Sometimes there are good answers. Sometimes there are not.

Seems like some G-Hill residents have some questions - good ones, too. And it doesn't seem like there are any answers at all ...

Please go back under your rock

2004-09-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

Why is it that Loren Leman always has to be sued to get him to do his job? Why is he unable to separate his ethical responsibility to the public from his political point of view? Why is he, in short, such a schmuck?

Leman's ballot initiative hijinks continue, this time with the "Trust the People" initiative - AGAIN. The same as it was with the marijuana initiative, and pretty much else he's done since he's been in office.

Leman is a hack. He is a hack because he always thinks of his party first, and his responsibility to the integrity of the political system last. He thinks only of his personal views on morality, and never of his ethical responsibility as a servant of the public.

Bare Country

2004-09-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

This story got me thinking - it sure seems like there've been a lot of fatal bear encounters this summer. Maybe it's just that it's been a dry, sunny summer with lots of trail use, maybe bears are just getting more and more accustomed to people around here. But I use the trails a lot, and, though I've seen plenty of bear sign, I've never had any kind of trouble ... anyway, I'm glad this fellow's alive, and I'm sorry for the bear.

And if you elect me your Friend-in Chief ...

2004-09-20T16:13:00.000-08:00

My Dad was a master of the splenetic catch phrase - it was his preferred vehicle for imparting his collected wisdom. And now, having reached my own crabby middle age, it seems I am doomed to repeat some of these gems to my own children because ... well, they're just true.

The one that comes to mind whenever I read a Richard Cohen column is: "The world is not a meritocracy." (Actually, the political ascendency of one G.W. Bush is the quintessential exemple of this particular truism, but that's not the point today). As a muddleheaded purveyor of establishmentarian fluff, Cohen is unsurpassed ... well, I certainly can't put it better than James Walcott does here.

Another topic I wish I had time to discuss more fully - the infantilization of politics. In Washington today, the pundits tell us that it's all about the "personal qualities" of the candidates, getting to know them "as a person," establishing an "emotional connection," blah blah blah, like it's some big encounter group.

Listen, folks, I don't hate President* Bush - I don't know the man, and I'm never likely to meet him, so I can't say I have any personal feelings about him at all. I don't make any personal or moral judgments here - I make political and ethical ones. And the fact that our political media can't tell the difference anymore is at least close to the root of the impoverishment of our national dialogue.

The American Kleptocracy

2004-09-19T16:08:00.000-08:00

The ADN front pager on State Republican Party Chair (and ethicist extraordinaire) Randy Reudrich only scratches the surface of the ethical bankruptcy at the heart of the RPA. This is a group of people, after all, who purport to believe that government is incapable of effective action in any field of endeavor - why do you think they are so eager to be in the driver's seat of such a jalopy?

Of course, it's not just Alaska. Ed Kilgore of NewDonkey has a good take on the rotten heart of the RNC as well. The ascendency of this particular group bodes ill not just for our government now, but for the future of our society at large. As we've seen, kleptocracies are very difficlut to dislodge once they've taken hold.

And anyone who thinks that thugs like Randy Reudrich, and, on the larger scale, Tom DeLay and Rick Santorum, are not worth worrying about ... well, they're simply not paying attention.

But, to end on a brighter note, while you'd have a long search finding something that Sarah Palin and I agree about, policy-wise, I have to salute her actions - both while in office and in resigning from it. Political disagreements are one thing - unethical (not "immoral" - that is a private matter) behavior is entirely another. I am heartened to see that at least one "rising star" of the RPA understands her ethical responsibility to the public, and is willing to live up to it.

Feelin' the love ...

2004-09-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

This editorial and this article seemed to strike a chord together.

The editorial, by Steve Haycox, posits a question that has been dogging me for months - by any honest, non-partisan measure, the presidency of GW Bush has been a miserable failure, yet he receives the unwavering support of a distressingly large percentage of the electorate. How can this be?

The article, I believe, dances around the answer. A community council meeting about whether a fence around a military reservation could be moved to accommodate some pre-existing trails apparently degenerated into an angry confrontation when one participant said that the real motivation of those who wanted to save the trails was anti-military sentiment. How could they argue about a trail, one person asked, when soldiers were dying in Iraq? You don't support our troops! You hate the military!

Where the heck did THAT come from?

I'll have a lot more to say about this issue, but this is related to what Juan Cole has termed the "Partisan Epistomology" that seems to dominate public discourse today. In plainer terms, for many people, truth itself emanates from a partisan viewpoint. What President* Bush says is right, because President* Bush says it. Those who disagree are not only wrong, but entirely wrongheaded ... indeed, evil. And the emergence of facts that don't support your view are simply proof of the bias and partisanship of those who state them.

It seems to me this approach has been tried before ...

What he said ...

2004-09-17T13:23:00.000-08:00

Sen. Elton's editorial has the right take on the efforts by Jimmy C. and Gov. Dorkowski to unravel the Constitutionally-mandated judicial appointment scheme. I had thought about posting Jimmy C.'s earlier editorial about it, but his arguments were simply so lame that I couldn't think where to begin.

So, if any of you are tempted at all to take Jimmy C. at his word, please don't be such saps. This is not about a more democratic system (or he would support the amendment calling for direct election of replacement Senators who are not his daughter), or any other principle of note. It is simply about cronyism and the arrogance of power.

I just hope the JC has the fortitude to stand up for itself.

That Grassy Knoll Thing

2004-09-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

So it looks like CBS is backing offof its earlier statements on the Killian memos. They may be forgeries, they may be reproductions of documents that actually existed, they may have been beamed in from outer space ... who knows? Certainly not Dan Rather.

While this is certainly a bizarre little episode, and if they are forged documents, the forger deserves the scorn heaped upon him, let's try to keep our eye on the ball here. As I said earlier, not even the White House or the Bush campaign denies the substance of what is in the documents, and what the other released documents unequivocally show is that President* Bush simply blew off major portions of his last two years of TX ANG duty, and has been lying about it ever since. If there is anything relevant about this debate, that is it.

and the continuing ability of RoveCo to spin his blundering charge out of any sort of trouble is simply uncanny ...

and that's all I have to say about that.

Killian on the Grassy Knoll

2004-09-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

Well, the Trolls are out, now trying to discredit the new documents released from President* Bush's military files after a FOIA request from the AP. The argument is that they must be forgeries, because ... well, because of some incomprehensible mumbo-jumbo about IBM Selectric typewriters and typefaces, etc.

First question: Where was all of this concern for strict accuracy when the Swift Boaties were making things up about John Kerry?

Second question: Are you people nuts? Wait ... on second thought, don't answer that.

Anyway, knowing that the standards are higher for telling the truth about Bush than for telling lies about Kerry, CBS did its homework on this. Note also that the White House is not questioning the veracity of the documents.

They're real, folks. Not that they tell anything about George W. Bush that anybody who has been paying any attention didn't already know.

Jets and Terror

2004-09-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

So now there is apparently some sort of "debate" about whether this site and others gave Gov. Dorkowski a raw deal in criticizing his (for he is, unfortunately, the Chief Executive of the State) proposal to use federal "homeland security" funds to purchase a new luxury jet.

Let me be clear. I don't oppose this because I oppose everything Gov. Dorkowski proposes, or because I don't like the idea of him (as opposed to future or past governors) getting a nice ride. It's got nothing to do with Gov. Dorkowski per se.

I oppose this because it is an egregious misuse of limited federal homeland security funds. For two million dollars, you could hire 20 cargo inspectors to police our harbors, or security guards to watch over nuclear powerplants, or Arabic translators to tell us what is going on in the Middle East, or just more cops on the street. Make no mistake, I am uncomfortable with the perqs that government officials have been giving themselves at any level (why can't the Gov. fly coach with the rest of us?).

But this is pork barrel spending of a whole different order, an it is exponentially more vile. Terrorism is a real issue. There are real homeland security needs going unmet, and that money is needed. This isn't a game. If there is another terrorist attack, are we to tell the widows, widowers, and orphans, "Well, we let this bomb slip through the ports, but the good news is that the Governor of Alaska has a real nice jet."

Let's try not to miss the big picture here, folks.

Big Mark

2004-09-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, when I get discouraged about the national political scene, I am able to calm myself down by focusing on the local. Not that I agree with everything Mark Begich does, but his general approach to government is a spot-on model of New Progressivism: it's results-oriented, focused on providing infrastructure to improve local quality of life; it seeks to be efficient and frugal; and it's non-ideological.

Big Mark has been hampered - and significantly so - by the bumblings of previous mayors, particularly by the inexcusable pandering of the insufferable Rick Mystrom, which unnecessarily impoverished future governments for years to come. But, for the first time I can recall, city government actually has direction - a philosophical (as opposed to ideological) template based on an understanding of what good government actually is. Here's hoping he can stay at it.

For plunder!

2004-09-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

Well, you can't accuse Gov. Dorkowski and his boys of lacking gall. The ADN's report on Chief of Hacks Jim Clark's meeting with the Alaska Judicial Council makes clear that Dorkowski has decided to "draw a line in the sand" on the judicial appointment issue we discussed earlier. Again, cronyism is the one principle a man like Dorkowski is willing to defend - state appointments should be nothing but a cronyist requards system, unhindered by any girlie-man BS like "the Alaska Constitution" or "qualifications."

Right on, Frank - this state really needs to model itself more after Louisiana of the Huey Long era.

Clark's not-so-veiled threat was to send the entire issue to the Legislature - that hotbed of impartiality - to "re-examine" the nomination process. I can see Jimmy C in his pinstripe suit, cracking his hairy knuckles: "Ya know, dat's a nice little nomination process ya got der ... I'd just hate to see anyting happen to it, yanowuddimean?"

Problem is, Jimmy C. and the Dork don't have a leg to stand on, and Alex Bryner knows it. The nomination process is specifically outlined in the Constitution, and the Constitution gives the Judicial Council the authority to write its own bylaws. So the only way to force a change in the JC's bylaws is by Constitutional amendment. The legislature can propose such a change, but they can't enact it into law - that takes a popular vote.

And what do you think the people would have to say about giving Gov. Dorkowski more power to appoint his cronies (or relatives) to powerful state jobs than he already has?

Of course, the danger here is that the JC also has its politically-appointed members, and they may simply capitulate to the Dork's threats. But I think there is some real concern in that body for the integrity of the process - and rightly so. I also think that Justice Bryner has the backbone and the necessary level of disdain for Dorkowski's croneyism to shame the JC into doing the right thing.

At least I hope so ...

False Patriots

2004-09-02T15:49:00.000-08:00

I was at one of Alaska's fine military bases today, in line to get some paperwork done, when one of the MPs felt compelled to tell a woman standing in line in front of me that he "took exception to" her window sticker. She looked non-plussed for a moment, and then, trying to salvage an uncomfortable moment, brightly said "yeah, but that's what great about this country - we can all say what we believe." To which the MP groused, "yeah, well this freedom of speech thing goes too far, in my opinion."

I was sure this window sticker had to say something offensive about the military, but I was wrong. It simply said "W is for Warmonger." A pure political opinion - nothing about the military, just criticism of a politician. And this is free speech "going too far."

Then I ran into this column by William Saletan of Slate. It's worth reading the whole thing, but here's my money quote:

"In a democracy, the commander in chief works for you. ... Not every country works this way. In some countries, the commander in chief builds a propaganda apparatus that equates him with the military and the nation. If you object that he's making bad decisions and disserving the national interest, you're accused of weakening the nation, undermining its security, sabotaging the commander in chief, and serving a foreign power—the very charges Miller leveled tonight against Bush's critics.

Are you prepared to become one of those countries?"

Clearly Sgt. Hofstadter is not only prepared, but welcomes the opportunity to become one of those countries. I just hope a lot of people are more sensible, and know that patriotism is much greater than the cramped partisanship of fools like him.

Homeland Pork

2004-09-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

Borealis has the scoop on the feds' rejections of Gov. Dorkowski's most egregious peaen for pork (i.e. the oh-so-necessary "homeland security" luxury jet). This one isn't just about Gov. Dorkowski playing games, though. This is just a small chapter in the ongoing saga of the Bush Administration's grossly inappropriate and foolhardy mishandling of homeland security generally.

This is a real issue - harbor and port security funding is laughably inadequate, security funding for chemical plants, nuclear power plants, and the water supplies of our major population centers is virtually non-existent ... the list goes on. Yet Bush's homeland security funding is nothing to him but another political tool - Colorado (an election battleground state) gets more money than New York; per capita funding for homeland security efforts in Montana outstrips that of NYC by 4:1 (thank goodness all of Ted Turner's buffalo will be safe ... wait, he's a Democrat ... mebbe give it to that Yogi Bear fella).

The man is just dead set on turning America into a Third World country ...

2004-09-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

So the ADN finally gets the scoop on Cheryl Heinze, several months late. The existence of an FBI investigation certainly raises questions about what else may be lurking in Heinze's file. Regardless, if a legislator doesn't recognize that its inappropriate for her to "hint" that a company with a significant legislative proposal that falls under her influence should give her a "consulting" job ... well, then you've got a real problem.

It's not just Ogan ... it's not just Heinze ... there is an entirely unethical culture in Alaska politics right now, and the Republican leadership is at its heart. It's not even "what's good for business is good for Alaska" anymore - it's "what's good for us is good for us ... and screw you."

Best ADN Quote

2004-08-31T16:27:00.000-08:00

This has to be an all time best, from ADN's front page story on Alaskans at the RNC:

"Isaacson ... had never been in New York before. From what he had heard, the town was full of Democrats and muggers, the kind of place where crazy people lived."

Democrats and muggers ... indeed, NYC is a modern-day Sodom.

2004-08-31T15:38:00.000-08:00

In an earlier post, I bemoaned the lack of Democratic candidates (who are not wackos) on the primary ballot. A Knowles staffers fielded a theory that the Democrats don't field a good slate of candidates because the legislature is essentially a political "farm system." As relatively few Democrats have been elected in the last ten years, goes the theory, relatively few Demoncrats have learned the ropes as Legislative Aides, and we see that reflected on the ballot.

I can't say I agree with this explanation. First, we had a Democratic governor for eight years, with plenty of opportunities for young Ds to "learn the ropes," and, more importantly, to get some statewide name recognition.

More significantly, the whole "farm system" idea does not seem quite on point to me. Sure, LA positions allow young future politicos the chance to cut their teeth on government jobs, but these people are learning skills and making connections not to support future runs for office, but rather to be included in future campaigns and thus to be part of the field of candidates for the patronage jobs that go with elective office. I don't have hard numbers on this, but my guess is that relatively few LAs go on to elective office, but you'll find a lot in, say, the Dept. of Administration.

This is not to say that it is unimportant for the Dems to have a group of people who know how the game is played - to the contrary, it is very important.

But it doesn't explain why nobody reasonable is willing to run against Don Young (Anger Management Poster Child for All Alaskans!), or why so many Rs are running unopposed.

This is a significant issue. As we saw in the primary, there is a real sense of anger growing in this state against the arrogance of the Majority. (I'm referring to Bob Lynn's primary battle, by the way). People - Alaskans especially - don't like government operating behind closed doors. They don't like blatant cronyism and nepotism. The Rs have simply let the arrogance of power get hold of them, and they aren't even bothering to hide it. It's an incredible opportunity for the Democrats - beneficial districting combined with the voters' "throw the bums out" anger - and they can't even field a candidate - ANY candidate - in some races.

This is a problem with the party's organizational structure. They need to get out recruiting and supporting candidates for EVERY OFFICE - from Senator to School Board.

If you're not talking, you can be sure nobody's listening.

Stand up for Your Cronies!

2004-08-31T12:57:00.000-08:00

A Screeder writes in on Gov. Dorkowski's latest:

"This is just another indication that the governorship really is just about plunder for Frank Murkowski.

We have had a judicial appointment system that has worked in this state for over 35 years. Now he apparently wants to revise it so that he can appoint one of his cronies to a judgeship. To do so, he is apparently willing to make the argument that Alaska doesn't need the "most qualified" candidates for judgeships - we only need "qualified candidates." In other words, the best is too good for this state if it will interfere with Frank's "rewards" system.

I wonder if this is another signal of Frank's DC alienation from much of the rest of Alaska Republicans. Several of the judicial committee members are Republicans, but they apparently failed to see the urgent need to provide Frank with a wholly partisan slate of candidates.

Has anyone ever explained why Frank wanted to be governor? Was it simply to appoint his daughter and give her a head start in the race against Knowles? Will he really live in Alaska when he retires?"

Right on the money. Indeed, cronyism seems to be the only principle Gov. Dorkowski is willing to stand up to protect.

Now, for the record, Scott Nordstrand (the Dorkowski partisan to whom the Gov. wanted to gift a judgeship) is a nice guy, and an experienced attorney, and I was surprised that he didn't make the cut. This is nothing against him.

But he didn't make the cut, and that's the judicial council's call. Frank's already had plenty of input onto the JC - he's appointed members, he's bullied it by threatening to cut its funding, blah blah blah. His present fit of pique is just a childish show of disrespect for the public and for the existence of an effective, non-partisan process. Because nothing is non-partisan with a man like Dorkowski ...

Trust dem folks

2004-08-27T14:06:00.000-08:00

The AK Supreme Court's decision on the "Trust the People" initiative has been released (warning: .pdf). Clearly underscoring the decision, and never given any real play by our local "Liberal Media," is the absolute poverty of Lite Gov. Leman's and Political Shill General Renkes' legal position.

I'll have more to say in a later post about the Republican Party's lawyerization of politics, but, simply put, the notion of serving the public interest and of respect for the rule of law seem to have less than no meaning for these people - it is the Party's political interest that they serve, first last and always. They've never had any plausible argument to keep this initiative off the ballot. And if Gov. Dorkowski didn't want to have this argument, he never should have appointed his daughter in the first place.

2004-08-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

A big couple of days, with surprising political news.

First, a hearty congratulations to the Republican primary voters in Kenai and the Talkeetna area. Their votes have rid us of those political carbuncles, Bev Masek and Jerry Ward - two very commendable results.

If I don't seem to be leaping for the sky in celebration, well, I'm not. Sen Waggoner will likely remain in the Kenai seat as a reliable vote for Gov. Dorkowski and the reactionary boobs in charge of the Majority, and the leader in the Talkeetna race is a fellow who's claim to fame is having been hand selected for Dorkowski's phony "Conference of Alaskans" - although I don't know much about him, that is hardly a high recommendation. Nonetheless, Masek and Ward represent the worst of Alaska politics: reactionary, thuggish, ill-informed, and, most importantly, corrupt. We're a better state without them involved in government.

As for Sen. Ogan's (R - Evergreen) resignation - I must admit to being somewhat shocked. I had, frankly, judged him as a man incapable of recognizing the public's best interest if it bit him on the ass (see my earlier post on Ogan), but perhaps I was wrong. Whatever his reasons (and I can't help but think that his poor health did not have something to do with this), it was a stand-up decision, and the right thing to do. A recall campaign could only have been devisive and bitter, and a successful recall would have cast a long shadow over the State's elections for years to come. So (gulp), well done, Mr. Ogan. You should be proud of yourself.

Back in the Saddle

2004-08-24T14:48:00.000-08:00

After a two-week hiatus, I am refreshed and ready for ... er ... for whatever this is.

It's primary day in Alaska. Will the Democrats ever be able to field a full slate of reasonable candidates? I often wonder how the collection of reprobates in our legislature ever got elected, and then I look at the competition ... and I stop wondering.

The Party Gasline

2004-08-04T16:25:00.000-08:00

It's always surprising to me when I speak to relatively intelligent people who have accepted the notion that opening ANWR to exploration will be this huge economic boon to the state (and thus rank political candidates according to their stand on the issue), but give no thought to the natural gas pipeline.

NPRA has been open for some time and is geologically similar to ANWR, yet there has been no rush to exploration there, nor any major discovery ... the majors have all announced that they will not be spending resources on new exploration anywhere in Alaska, including ANWR ... where exactly will this "ANWR boom" come from? ANWR is, for the most part, a political fiction - a red meat issue for both sides.

The gas, though, is there, and we know it. The market for the gas is also there, and we know it (in Alaska and the lower 48 for the gas, and in Asia for LNG). Whether you're for or against it, this is the only resource issue where real money is in play for Alaska right now, and any public figure's position on the gas line has a lot to say about them.

One such figure that comes to mind is Scott Ogan (R - Evergreen), but Borealis has the take on this one already.

2004-08-03T11:08:00.000-08:00

When Scott Ogan (R - Evergreen) was first accused of ethical improprieties in relation to his "consulting" work, he was steamin' mad, lashing out at those ne'er do wells who dared accuse him. Soon thereafter, though, he adopted a tone of resigned patience, as of a parent with a troublesome child. In the midst of the original burst of pubicity, he appeared on Nellie Moore's "Talk of Alaska" with the stated goal of "educating" people about why it should be just fine that a company involved with a highly technical and controversial resource extraction technique should want to hire him - a rural cabinetmaker - as a "consultant," when that company had a major financial incentive in legislation crossing his desk. Hard to say which was the better choice, PR-wise.

I won't spend much time undermining Ogan's half-baked reasoning in defense of his position, or making the obvious points that his work gave rise to a clear conflict of interest and an appearance of impropriety. I really want to look at two other points.

The first is that Ogan really seems to believe that all this is and should be perfectly acceptable (just like Baby Hulk does on a much larger scale). Ogan even acknowledged that he was being paid for his "knowledge of the way the system works;" in other words for his insider connections and know-how. But that's what lobbyists do. It's bad enough that lobbyists get trained on the public's dime in the first place - but doing it while you're in office? And not seeing that it's a problem? I guess that's what happens when a political party becomes too closely aligned with an interest group - the distinctions among the Alaska Republicans, the Legislature, and the extractive industries are just not clear anymore, even (or maybe espeially) to those in the mix.

The second point is that I'm nonetheless uncomfortable with the whole recall effort - call it the Gray Davis Blues, but I'd rather see Ogan go down the same exit ramp as ol' Jerry Sanders.

Timing is Everything

2004-07-29T15:45:00.000-08:00

This month's New Republic contained a story that high-ranking intelligence officers in Pakistan had reported that, after two years of ignoring the issue, the Bush administration had begun to put enormous pressure on them to capture a high value al Qaeda target - and that they were adamant that such a capture should take place so that it could be announced during the period between July 27 and 29 (i.e. the Democratic National Convention).

Surprise, Surprise! It seems their dreams came true! I mean, how lucky can you get!

I just can't stay cynical enough to keep up with these people.

The Crusaders

2004-07-29T15:39:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned recently that Frank Murkowski is full of crap? He could have won his election without lying, but his tremendous lack of respect for the democratic process and voters in general simply would not allow this.

This is, of course, nothing but an attempt to mollify the anti-abortion zealots backing his daughter's Senate primary opponent. Look for more kowtowing to that particular constituency on a regular basis as the primary heats up - they'll need the party faithful to show up for Lil' Lisa, and they're not too proud to eat as many buckets of s--t as that requires.

Baby Hulk Redux

2004-07-29T15:31:00.000-08:00

Baby Hulk just couldn't get the word "apologize" out of his mouth, it seems. Well, when you've never known consequences of any sort, you might come to believe you can do no wrong (for most folks, a general lack of ability leads to lack of success - but not for a Baby Hulk!). And if you can do no wrong, why apologize?

Wendell Berry

2004-07-29T10:36:00.000-08:00

Wendell Berry has a positive take on some national election issues that's worth checking out.

"Look Mama, a Baby Hulk"

2004-07-26T14:32:00.000-08:00

So the "Valley Trash" comments of our estimable Senate Majority Leader seem to have become ensconced in the local culture. Good. I hope this particular turd stays in Mr. Stevens' pocket where it belongs, and that people begin to notice its singular stench.

I've thought it odd that the nepotism barb sticks so well to Little Lisa, but not so well to Baby Hulk. Of the two (although this is setting the bar quite low), Little Lisa is clearly the more intelligent and competent. Put differently, Baby Hulk is an obvious mediocrity whose only accomplishment appears to be that he's managed the difficult task of ending up a snarling, mean-spirited jerk, despite having been given every advantage the world could offer. Not to put too fine a point on it, but he's incompetent, ill-mannered, small-minded, and intellectually incapable of even understanding good public policy (much less the meaning of the phrase "appearance of impropriety.") Alaska's own little George W. ... ok, that's enough. Anyway, the point is that, although Baby Hulk is clearly the bigger loser, Lil' Lisa gets tagged much harder with the nepotism label.

Would this be the case if their genders were reversed?

Minister of FEAR!!!

2004-07-23T11:05:00.000-08:00

As always, Mark Fiore hits the nail on the head.

Little Lisa's Fish Slurry

2004-07-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

I'll admit it - I've been (in a very minor way) conflicted about my opposition to Lisa Murkowski's Senate campaign. When the estimable Sen. Lisa was in the Alaska legislature, she was one of the few of that breed I could stand - indeed, she was the kind of Republican I'd like to see more of. She had a genuine interest in policy issues, and seemed to make good faith efforts to actually find solutions to the problems that confronted state government. I did not agree with her some of her fundamental ideological approach, but she was consistent and both interested in and responsive to the facts (as opposed to the dogmatic "government bad, drilling good" bleating constantly emanating from the (unfortunately dominant) Vic Kohring wing of the party).

Of course, it is that very same reasonableness and integrity that now has her in trouble with the party faithful and facing primary challengers ranging from the extremist (Miller) to the unhinged (Shea). And there is a part of me that wonders whether she would have to deal with any of this if she were not a reasonably intelligent, educated, and well-spoken woman. All of this annoys me, and almost makes me want to toss a line of support her way - almost.

In the end, though, Lisa will have no sway with the big boys in the Senate - she's new, she needs their money and influence, and she will owe a lot of markers after this campaign. There is simply no chance that she will be able to stand up to the Senate leadership on any issue of consequence, and little chance that she will be able to steer important projects our way - she'll simply be another vote in the bag for Bill Frist. And, frankly, nothing could be worse for our country than additonal power in the hands of THAT particular venal ideologue.

So, sorry Lisa - you seem nice enough, and I'd like to see more Republicans like you, but it's Tony all the way.

Revealing Comments

2004-07-21T14:32:00.000-08:00

Hot Dang! My very first post and I get to comment on that aspect of the modern Republican party that is the most repugnant; that its complete antipathy toward the poor and underprivileged (i.e. others) is wedded to an obsequious servility toward the wealthy and powerful (i.e. themselves).

Today I read that Murkowski vetoed about $60,000 for Legal Services, the paltry amount that the State was giving that worthy organization, accompanied by some ideo-illogical bloviation about how this was not a "core" service of government. This is simply wrongheaded on every conceivable front.

Nobody can deny that maintaining and effective civil and criminal dispute resolution system is a "core" aspect of government. Nor can it be denied that the legal system is too confusing and intimidating for most people to navigate effectively on their own. This is especially true for the poor and undereducated, yet, because they are poor and undereducated, they lack the means to pay for legal help. So, when the poor are victimized or forced (through divorce or other issues) to go to the legal system, they either get rolled over by the system, clog it up with confusion, or both.

That's where Legal Services steps in - what it does is to provide the poor with meaningful access to the legal system. Without it, many people would simply be cut off from any such meaningful access. What's more, Legal Services helps the system operate more efficiently and fairly through its counseling services. It is, simply put, an indispensible aspect of the legal system, and it is simply wrong to say that it is not a "core" government service.

But it serves the poor, and if you're a modern Republican like Frank Murkowski that paltry $60k would surely be better spent paying a mechanic to keep to keep the Gubernatorial Jet it good working order. Because surely providing wealthy, connected Republicans with the trappings of power and prestige is a "core" governmental function, right?