From the AP:

The Republican National Committee on Friday sued the Federal Election Commission in an effort to raise unlimited cash like super PACs do. The central committee, chairman Reince Priebus and Louisiana Republicans filed a joint lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asking for permission to set up an independent account that could raise and spend potentially enormous sums of money to help federal candidates. Under the current rules, the RNC may only accept $32,400 each year from donors, and local-level parties are capped at $10,000.

First thoughts: If the challenge is successful, much of the money that’s going into super-PACS might go into parties, resulting in more party control and party discipline. Or not. The rich who give to super-PACS might have already gotten a taste of what it feels like to circumvent party hierarchy and bureaucracy and opt for direct message control. So, it might just mean that even more money will go into politics.

The Alaska Democratic Party sent out yet another press release, warning Alaskans that Outside interests and Outside money is trying to buy Alaska’s Senate seat for GOP candidate Dan Sullivan. This while U.S. Sen. Mark Begich’s campaign itself is awash in Outside money.

“Outside groups are attempting to force Ohio Dan Sullivan on Alaskans, but their Outside funding hasn’t translated into local support,” the statement said. The release followed on the heels of an announcement that Karl Rove’s group Americans Crossroads has reserved $5.5 million of post-primary TV time in Alaska. The NRSC’s independent expenditure arm booked another $2.2 million for September and October.

These announcements themselves followed an announcement that Begich’s super-PAC, Put Alaska First, was planning a $4 million media buy for the last eight weeks leading up to the election. Put Alaska First is nearly completely funded by the Senate Majority PAC. Recently the PAC reported it had receipts of $5.7 million from April 17th through April 30th. The major donor was the California environmentalist billionaire Thomas Steyer, who put $5 million in the PAC. Another noted, big name donor to the PAC is former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is leading the charge for gun control.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com 

The Inspector General of the Army sent a letter to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Wednesday concluding that Alaska’s National Guard Adjutant General Tom Katkus and other Alaska National Guard officials followed protocol in dealing with allegations of sexual assault in the Guard.

The IG “did not identify concerns regarding sexual assault or sexual harassment reporting,” and Guard officials “did not cover up any reported sexual assault incidents.” The Department of Defense concurred. (Read the letter here.)

The letter said that the Guard had received reports of 11 alleged assaults and that it “promptly coordinated referrals of all incidents to Alaska law enforcement officials,” as protocol dictates. The letter says that Katkus took action in “only two cases upon which he could act.” One person was discharged as a result. Katkus “initiated the subject’s separation,” in the other.

Last June, Sen. Lisa Murkowski asked the Department of Defense inspector general to investigate after Guard chaplains had asked her to look into sexual harassment and assault in the Guard. The chaplains had also spoken to Gov. Sean Parnell, and later state Sen. Fred Dyson and independent gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker.

The letter was released by her office. However, the full report has not yet been released.

In recent months, allegations of sexual abuse in the Guard have swirled. Gov. Sean Parnell has asked another federal investigative arm of the Guard to look into the allegations. That report is expected to be forthcoming in the fall.

Here’s a statement by Murkowski on the IG letter she received on Wednesday.

Last June, two Alaska Army National Guard Chaplains asked me to look into some troubling allegations that the Adjutant General and other senior leaders were turning a blind eye towards the possibility of sexual assault within the National Guard.  I immediately relayed their concern in a letter to the Department of Defense Inspector General, calling for a review. The allegations were then forwarded to the Army Inspector General, who investigated them and informed my office that the accusations could not be substantiated following a diligent investigation including extensive interviews.

The Defense Department Inspector General reviewed and concurred with the Inspector General’s conclusion. My office has not received the full investigation report, so I am withholding from further comments until the Army provides it and I have the opportunity to fully review it.

Marty McGee, the tax assessor that Gov. Sean Parnell fired in January, has filed to run for Mia Costello’s House seat in West Anchorage. He switched his party registration from Republican to Democrat to do so. Liz Vazquez, David Nees, and Sherri Jackson have all filed letters of intent for the Republican primary.

McGee is not an oil industry ally and they will be watching this closely. Before being fired, McGee chaired the State Assessment Review Board and pushed for a much higher valuation of the pipeline, which resulted in the oil industry paying millions more in taxes than they would have otherwise. He’s also supporting the oil tax repeal. For more, read both KTVA’s Rhonda McBride and APRN’s Alexandra Gutierrez stories.

As expected, GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan’s role in the controversial bill HB 77 is the subject of a new attack ad by Put Alaska First, the pro-Begich super-PAC. Sullivan, as DNR commissioner, was one of the authors of the bill. Had it passed last legislative session, it would have revised Alaska’s water and permitting process to benefit mining and other commercial interests and would have given the DNR commissioner substantially more authority to issue permits on public lands. And while it’s true that Alaska’s permitting system is notoriously arduous, it’s also true that some in Alaska like it that way. The bill was killed amid public outcry. That said, there is nothing in the bill that related directly to hunting, said Deputy Director of DNR Wyn Menefree. He called the tie between the bill and moose hunting, “a stretch.”