by Nick on September 2, 2008
Looks like the Alaska Independence Party might be a bigger issue than we first thought. Although the McCain campaign has proven that Sarah Palin was never a member of the AIP, she did attend the convention in 2000 (and in 1994 according to the AIP) and also recorded the message to the AIP convention that I posted about yesterday. Also, her husband, Todd Palin, definitely was a member of the AIP from 1995-2002 (note that 2002 is the year that Sarah Palin first ran for statewide office).
Greg Sargent over at Talking Points Memo has once again done some great investigative work. Turns out the AIP is crazier than I realized.
The AIP founder, Joe Vogler, made the comments in 1991, in an interview that’s now housed at the Oral History Program in the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
“The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government,” Vogler said in the interview, in which he talked extensively about his desire for Alaskan secession, the key goal of the AIP.
“And I won’t be buried under their damn flag,” Vogler continued in the interview, which also touched on his disappointment with the American judicial system. “I’ll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home.”
At another point, Volger advocated renouncing allegiance to the United States. In the course of denouncing Federal regulation over land, he said:
“And then you get mad. And you say, the hell with them. And you renounce allegiance, and you pledge your efforts, your effects, your honor, your life to Alaska.”
I think it’s critical we get to the bottom of this. How deep are Palin’s ties to the AIP and to Joe Vogler? Does she actually support Alaskan seccession? How can she be Vice President of the United States if she advocates seccession for her state?
by Nick on August 29, 2008
In perhaps the most pathetically desperate move of any presidential campaign ever, John McCain has selected Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as his running mate. Apparently he is so desperate to attract some attention (and some Hillary votes? hahaha, not with this one John) that he picked the beauty queen governor. So, who is this Palin person? Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson can’t help us out:
I really don’t know that much about her.
Palin, before her whole year and a half as governor, was mayor of a town of 7,000 people. WOW! Talk about experience. So if McCain, who readily admits he’s old and jokes about his own age, were to die in 2010, then suddenly Palin would be President? Really? Can we really put our country in the hands of someone with absolutely zero experience?
It gets better though! Palin was also a pander to the wackjob religious right. She’s pro-life, anti-gay rights, and a creationist.
Brilliant move McCain.
by Nick on July 30, 2008
ABC News points out that Congressman Don Young (R - AK) is under investigation for dealings with Veco, the same company that Senator Ted Stevens got in trouble for dealing with. Young has also been tied (though not charged) to Jack Abramoff; a former staffer plead guilty in relation to the Abramoff scandal.
The Alaska GOP is not looking so good these days.
by Nick on July 29, 2008
It’s not the crime that gets you, it’s the coverup. Looks like that holds true for Ted Stevens. The indictment is for seven counts of false statements.
Lesson: when you commit a crime, do not lie about it if telling that lie is breaking the law as well. Remember, “you have the right to remain silent.”
Here’s the press release from DOJ:
WASHINGTON – United States Senator Theodore F. Stevens of Alaska was charged today in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia with seven counts of making false statements related to Stevens’ financial disclosure forms, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division announced.
The seven-count indictment charges Sen. Stevens, the former chairperson of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, with engaging in a nearly eight-year scheme to conceal his receipt of more than $250,000 in things of value from VECO Corporation, formerly a multi-national oil services company based in Alaska, and Bill J. Allen, the Chief Executive Officer of VECO at the time. According to the indictment, Stevens concealed these things of value from his publicly filed United States Senate financial disclosure forms. The things of value that Stevens allegedly received included: substantial home improvements to property Stevens owns in Girdwood, Alaska; automobile exchanges in which Stevens received new vehicles worth far more than the used vehicles Stevens provided in exchange; and household goods. The indictment also alleges that Sen. Stevens, during the same time that he was concealing his continuing receipt of these things of value from VECO and Allen, received solicitations for official actions from Allen and other VECO employees, and that Sen. Stevens used his position and office on behalf of VECO during that same time period.
[click to continue...]
by Nick on July 29, 2008
From the NYTimes:
Mr. Stevens, 84, was indicted on seven counts of falsely reporting income. The charges are related to renovations on his home and to gifts he has received. They arise from an investigation that has been under way for more than a year, in connection with the senator’s relationship with a businessman who oversaw the home-remodeling project.
…
Republicans on Capitol Hill were already jittery over a lobbying and influence-peddling scandal related to the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is now in prison. Mr. Stevens’s troubles are not linked to that affair. Instead, they stem from his ties to an oil executive whose company won millions of dollars in federal contracts with the help of Mr. Stevens, whose home in Alaska was almost doubled in size in the renovation project.
Just what the GOP needed, a reminder of how corrupt they are. This will hurt the Republicans far beyond Alaska. As if people needed another reason not to vote Republican this year…
by Nick on July 29, 2008
With Ted Stevens under indictment, things look good for Mark Begich. Kos has some information on how the race will be affected:
Update IIIby kos:
Adam B has found the relevant statute:
AS 15.25.110. Filling Vacancies By Party Petition.
If a candidate of a political party nominated at the primary election dies, withdraws, resigns, becomes disqualified from holding the office for which the candidate is nominated, or is certified as being incapacitated in the manner prescribed by this section after the primary election and 48 days or more before the general election, the vacancy may be filled by party petition. The central committee of any political party or any party district committee may certify as being incapacitated any candidate nominated by their respective party by presenting to the director a sworn statement made by a panel of three licensed physicians, not more than two of whom may be of the same political party, that the candidate is physically or mentally incapacitated to an extent that would in the panel’s judgment prevent the candidate from active service during the term of office if elected. The director shall place the name of the person nominated by party petition on the general election ballot. The name of a candidate disqualified under this section may not appear on the general election ballot.
In other words, the party can replace Stevens if he withdraws within 48 days of the general election. That would be sometime mid-September. Only problem for the GOP — they’ve got no one clean in the state. The Palin abuse-of-power scandal looms even larger today.
Update IV: The 48-days date is September 17. Now looking into whether Stevens can be replaced by his party without his consent. It seems that would be hard to impossible, but much depends on what state law and GOP party bylaws say. Note that no replacement can happen before the primary since there isn’t a nominee. In theory, one of Stevens’ primary opponents might win, but the anti-Stevens vote is split among 2-3 candidates, and none of them are high profile.
Obviously if Stevens stays in this race moves to Strong Democratic. Even with a Stevens withdrawal though I think Begich is highly likely to win this race now. Alaska is not a big state, and it seems pretty much every Republican there is tied to one scandal or another these days.
by Nick on July 29, 2008
Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) has been indicted:
Sen. Ted Stevens from Alaska, the longest serving U.S. Republican senator ever, was indicted on seven counts related to his holding of public office, a federal law enforcement official said on Tuesday.
The U.S. Justice Department has scheduled a news conference for 1:20 p.m. to make an announcement “regarding a significant criminal matter.” The official said the news conference would announce the criminal charges against Stevens that have been returned by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C.
Plenty more on this to come.
