Sarah Palin has been harshly criticized for her inexplicable decision to resign half way through her term as governor. This has been used to allege she is unstable, that there were corruption charges coming against her and even that she and Todd were considering a divorce. This was all political spin and the lies have not stopped coming. Now we get another glimpse of Alaska politics and an explanation of what happened to force her out.
Joe Miller, a tea party candidate for Senator, won the Republican primary defeating Lisa Murkowski, daughter of the governor who appointed her and almost the last of the Republican machine that ran Alaska for 50 years until Sara Palin beat Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary for governor four years ago. Ted Stevens has died and Lisa is the last of the pork shippers. Her decision to run as a write-in candidate was partly due to her sense of entitlement and partly pressure from the corrupt machine in Alaska that was in a panic that clean politics was about to break out. An article in National Review today explains much of this. Hans von Spakovsky was a member of the Justice Department under George W Bush and has written a number of pieces in support of the two career DoJ lawyers who have attacked the political decision to dismiss the New Black Panther case after it was won. That case is part of a trend that began when Obama was elected and appointed Eric Holder as Attorney General.
The latest shenanigans by Alaskan election officials and the Voting Section of Justice’s Civil Rights Division show a dangerous willingness to bend regulations in furtherance of political objectives.
Here is the background: After Joe Miller defeated Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Republican primary, Murkowski decided to run as a write-in candidate — meaning that her name would not be on the ballot, and thus that ill-informed voters will not be reminded at the polling place that she is an option. But on October 15, the Alaska Division of Elections decided to provide polling places with posters listing write-in candidates and their party affiliations. The list would obviously help Murkowski.
The problem is that posting such a list violates the Election Division’s own regulations, which specifically state that “information regarding a write-in candidate may not be discussed, exhibited, or provided at the polling place, or within 200 feet of any entrance to the polling place, on election day.” That’s why the Election Division has never provided a list of write-in candidates in any election in the past.
Alaska politics has been corrupt since statehood. Republicans have dominated but Democrats are no less corrupt. The other scandal going on over the Miller election has concerned an accidental recording of the staff of a TV station in Anchorage planning a political “dirty trick” on MIller. Miller has been portrayed as a hick and a know-nothing in spite of the fact that he graduated from West Point in 1989 and Yale Law School in 1995. Why is this such a huge focus of the left ? Because he is the Senator who could give the Republicans, not only the majority, but the conservative majority. Lisa Murkowski is part of the corrupt machine of Alaska politics. That corrupt machine was defeated by Sarah Palin and is now facing another defeat by a tea party supported candidate who will not “go along to get along” as Lisa has. They will literally do anything to stop him as they did anything they could to stop Sarah, including filling hundreds of phony ethics complaints that would have bankrupted her family while they stopped the business of the state of Alaska. She has strong opinions about these people and is not shy about expressing them.
Hell hath no fury like a corrupt politician rejected by the voters. Murkowski is now saying she may not caucus with Republicans if elected. She sounds like Charlie Crist, doesn’t she ? How long before Bill Clinton is in Alaska talking to Scott McAdams? If he can remember his name.
Sarah Palin defeated the corrupt Frank Murkowski, renegotiated the gas pipeline contract to get a better deal for residents, and enraged the corrupt establishment in Alaska. When she returned to Alaska after the 2008 election, they made her life hell. Now they are trying to do the same to Joe Miller for daring to interrupt the gravy train and its last engineer, Lisa Murkowski.
In spite of all this, Miller is still winning.
More here. “Out of context” means they got caught red handed.