— Randy Ruedrich isn’t the official chair of Alaska’s Republican Party anymore. But everyone knows that he’s still highly involved, if not still in charge. An email from him is as good as getting an email from the party itself. Anyway, a reader alerted me to the following:
At 5:42 pm, Randy R sends out an email endorsing local candidates in the muni race. In that email, he says, ‘Your votes for Dean Williams and Don Smith will remove liberal Democrat spenders from the School Board.’ At 10:53, he sends out the same email, except now it says, ‘Your vote for Dean Williams will remove a liberal Democrat spender from the School Board.’ Wanna bet that he didn’t hear about Smith’s comments until after 5:42 p.m. and then retracted his blessing?
Most know by now that Don Smith said some offensive things about refuges, people of color and those with special needs during an Alaska Public Media interview. He might have survived to get the Republican’s endorsement even after that had he been contrite. He wasn’t. He came back swinging and blaming liberals.
— It appears Sarah Palin is up to her old tricks of getting media attention by criticizing all the attention the media gives to certain issues and politicians, not so much her these days. In a Facebook post on Saturday, she slammed the media for “ridiculous overkill” in covering Gov. Chris Christie, who she initially called “Chris Christy.”
Good Lord, media — distract much? The Middle East isn’t a tinderbox today? Our economy isn’t in the tank today? Scandalous liberal politicians aren’t getting busted in rapid succession today?” she wrote.
And Palin herself has a new reality show that involves guns and people who aim them at animals and call themselves patriotic for doing so.
— Rep. Bob Lynn’s cat had a birthday. Lynn is my favorite legislative Facebook poster and a cat lover to boot. Who knew? Read all about Dexter on Lynn’s Facebook post here.
— GOP Senate candidate Mead Treadwell’s last fund raiser of the quarter will be held Monday evening at the Embassy Suites from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. His host committee is: David and Connie Morgan, Lynne Curry, Patricia Kriendler, and Dr. Adrian Ryan.
— Insiders say DNR Dan Sullivan continues to rake it in and that he’s on track to be the first second candidate in the state’s history to have back to back seven figure totals. FEC reports are due April 15th. The first one was Begich in 2008.
— Going into the final weekend before the local elections in Anchorage, Sen. Mark Begich has doubled down in his support of D.C. Ward 6 candidate Darrel Thompson., according to CQ’s Roll Call. Read more here.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
I am disappointed and sad that Begich has jumped into DC politics and is a supporter of DC statehood. This is bad for Alaska as it would yield 2 additional D seats in the senate and Democratic leadership seems to always be at odds with Alaska’s interests. Does Begich do everything that Harry Reid tells him to do? He’ll engage in DC local politics yet refuses to tell Alaskans where he stands on SB 21. Maybe he should ask Harry Reid what his stand should be.
Great column. Dexter, at the moment, is probably more relevant than Treawell’s derailed campaign. Surprised that Begich is getting as engaged as he is in D.C. Ususally he is more politically cautious than this. Sullivan continues to be like a shop+vac sucking up the campaign cash. Don Smith is probably toast. And on a final thought, does anyone in Alaska still like Sara Palin? Of the bunch discussed in this column, I’d say Dexter is probably the only one I would enjoy hanging out with.
What does Treadwell do as Lt. Gov.? 100K+ a year for what? He’s campaigning on the state’s time and dime, since his campaign has only pennies. If Treadwell claims to be a true conservative, he should call for the elimination his own position from state government and stop the waste.
Ancorage deserves better than Don Smith. Our children deserve better than Don Smith. Despite what he said or might have meant, he offered no expanation or showed any remorse when the community expressed theoir outrage at what theyu viewed as his insensitivity and openess to diversity. Iif anything, he only confirmed his political incorrectness and what I felt were racist views. A community as ethnically diverse as Anchorage needs school board members willing to embrace the challenges as opposed to criticizing them. Please vote Tuesday.
Well said.
Mark, say it isn’t so. Tell us you were misquoted. Make us think you remember that you’re from a state far away from the 495 beltway. Usually you are a better, smarter politician than this. This type of carelessness is not your standard operating procedure. I guess when Harry Reid calls, you just have to jump and shouldn’t even ask how high. Instead of ‘doubling your efforts’ in the Warrd 6 District of Coumbia race, why not double down to open ANWR? Why not double down against the EPA? Or fight harder to convince DOI that the King Cove road is more important than habitat. But, if you’re too busy doing errands for Harry Reid, I understand. It’s nice that you get to be the Majority Leader’s lap dog.
I thiink this is the first time that GOP Randy and I ever agreed on anything. I guess there is such a thing as miracles. Let’s hope a majority of Anchorage residents that vote on Tuesday agrees with us.
Who are these people that are sponsoring Treadwell’s campaign event? I recognize Ms Curry’s name. Who are the others?
The article about Begich “doubling down” in the DC city council race is interesting. Can’t quite figure it out unless he’s doing it for Harry Reid. Just wish he got something back for Alaska for his efforts supporting the Ocama-Reid-Pelosi agenda.