Sarah is looking for long-term solutions to help Alaska regarding their natural gas consumption, as well as short-term solutions to help with the current cost to consumers. She signed two bills yesterday that call for natural gas to be obtained in-state. The bills come as Alaskans expressed concern over the current high cost of natural gas. These bills will work hand in hand with the energy plan she proposed last year, which was a long-term solution.
Palin files two bills aimed at natural gas development
Fairbanks Daily Newsminer
By Rena Delbridge
Published Saturday, February 28, 2009
JUNEAU — Gov. Sarah Palin filed two bills late Friday that she said are the first steps in a plan to develop in-state natural gas for Alaskans.
The bills won’t be available to the public until the House receives them in a floor session, which could happen Monday.
Many Alaska leaders are calling for in-state natural gas development in advance of a large-diameter, transcontinental line, such as the state licensed TransCanada to pursue under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act last year. Denali, a joint effort of producers BP and ConocoPhillips, also is planning a large line.
But lawmakers and others say the mega-project timelines are too far in the future to help Alaskans suffering high energy costs now. Natural gas also is being looked to as a way to replenish a state treasury somewhat drained by declining oil revenues and production.
Joe Balash, special assistant to the governor, confirmed that the bills address what some in-state gas project developers have said are regulatory and permitting stumbling blocks, and that the bills could rekindle a public-private partnership such as Palin announced last summer.
She said her administration, the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority and Southcentral gas utility Enstar would be working together. Although Enstar and the administration have met since then, Enstar and ANGDA had not jointly pursued a partnership.
Details on Palin’s gas plan will be revealed at a briefing Tuesday, Palin press secretary Bill McAllister said.
“There is going to be a roll-out,” Balash said. “These two bills are part of an overall effort that the Palin administration is making to get an in-state pipeline going.”
He reiterated what Palin said when signing the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act license to TransCanada last summer. “She said we are confident that AGIA is the right way to go. But if for some reason a big project isn’t going to happen, we have to make sure Alaskans still get access to their gas,” he said. “It’s not that any decision has been made on how that is going to happen. It’s just that we’ve never lost sight of that.”
The bill addressing the Right of Way Leasing Act will lay out conditions a company receiving state leases must meet, including commitments to Alaska hiring and contracting; negotiating labor agreements; committing to future expansion; and providing distance-sensitive tariffs that could make gas more economical for in-state use, Balash said.
The first bill expands ANGDA’s role beyond its legislative mission of advancing a pipeline carrying North Slope gas to export.
The second bill alters statutory language so an in-state developer leasing state right-of-way could serve not only as a common carrier, but as a contract carrier. That means a company shipping gas could make “firm service” commitments to customers, instead of facing state rules to allow all new gas shippers in on line capacity.
The bill allows the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to issue a conditional certificate to a pipeline builder.
“This allows a pipeline developer to go to the RCA before they have their gas commitments or their financing in place,” Balash explained. “It helps create a little more certainty and predictability.”
That could cut down lengthy lead-time for projects.
Few legislators in Juneau have actually seen the bills.
Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, based his re-election campaign on a call for natural gas for Alaskans. He said he was briefed by people in Palin’s administration on the bills.
“I’m elated that all the choirs seem to be singing off the same sheet of music,” he said. “I’m very happy with the signals we’re getting from Governor Palin.”
He lauded natural gas as a way to change Alaska’s economy.
However, he said he doesn’t anticipate Palin’s bills will accomplish much, at least until the “stakeholders that are part of the demand and supply chain are all joined up.”
A common criticism of current natural gas development proposals is that few projects have suppliers and markets lined up.
Enstar spokesman Curtis Thayer said he’ll be anxious to see the legislation next week.
“We had some positive meetings with the governor’s office when we started this process,” he said. “But, we haven’t been a participant in the bill she has introduced. We would hope that it would not be controversial, that it would be a step forward.”
He said government has a role in moving along the processes in Enstar’s proposal to build a $4 billion in-state gas bullet line between the North Slope and Southcentral.
“What the governor envisions, I’m not sure,” he acknowledged. “We’re a private company. We know how to build pipelines. Permitting and regulating are a function of government. Hopefully, the two can work together.”
Ramras said he was glad to see Palin following the lead set by the House recently when lawmakers passed four resolutions he sponsored advocating Palin’s active participation advancing in-state gas development.
“We’re seeing a common direction between the legislative branch and the executive branch, which is precisely the intent of the four resolutions,” he said.
The resolutions were approved by the House and on Friday passed through the Senate Energy Committee.
Sarah Palin support
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Bobby Jindal's response
I've been thinking about Bobby Jindal's response to Obama ever since I saw it. I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I liked the message and most of the content. On the other, I hated the delivery. I've heard Jinal numerous times on TV and the radio and he doesn't sound like he did the other night. He was over-produced, over-coached and it was an epic fail in my opinion. MSM is going to have a field day with him - SNL skits, rampant undeserved ridicule, etc. Already, Chris Matthews has attacked him twice. Once, when he said "oh god" as Jindal was about to speak. And the second, when he accused Republicans of "outsourcing" the response to Jindal, who is Indian. What Matthews said had racial/racist undertones.
I was disappointed that he didn't come out strong with an enthusiastic, pro-conservative, anti-stimulus/bailout/big government speech. I wanted him to just light the Republican conservative fire. You know, like Palin did. Palin is someone who continues to steal Obama's thunder with whatever she does and says. How many people can do that? Obama is a hard act to follow and we need someone who can stand up to him and hold the public's attention and get them enthusiastic - Jindal doesn't look like he can do that.
The other thing I have mixed feelings on is I was listening to Mark Davis or Hannity (I can't remember which it was) on the radio the following day, and Jindal was a guest. He sounded awesome, not like a cartoon character during his speech. He's extremely smart and has great conservative beliefs. However, when asked about the stimulus he repeated a catch-phrase that got worn out really fast - "The President and I are just going to have to agree to disagree." He said it about eight times in the five-minute segment.
Don't think for a second Jindal isn't going to run for POTUS in 2012. He's been coached and has cutesy catch phrases. He immediately went on morning talk shows and afternoon radio shows the day after his response speech. He's grooming himself to run, mark my words.
Previously I was thinking if Palin ran in 2012, Jindal would have been/be a great pick for VP, one of many strong possibilities. Now it looks like the only way he could do it would be if he lost in the primaries to her.
I was disappointed that he didn't come out strong with an enthusiastic, pro-conservative, anti-stimulus/bailout/big government speech. I wanted him to just light the Republican conservative fire. You know, like Palin did. Palin is someone who continues to steal Obama's thunder with whatever she does and says. How many people can do that? Obama is a hard act to follow and we need someone who can stand up to him and hold the public's attention and get them enthusiastic - Jindal doesn't look like he can do that.
The other thing I have mixed feelings on is I was listening to Mark Davis or Hannity (I can't remember which it was) on the radio the following day, and Jindal was a guest. He sounded awesome, not like a cartoon character during his speech. He's extremely smart and has great conservative beliefs. However, when asked about the stimulus he repeated a catch-phrase that got worn out really fast - "The President and I are just going to have to agree to disagree." He said it about eight times in the five-minute segment.
Don't think for a second Jindal isn't going to run for POTUS in 2012. He's been coached and has cutesy catch phrases. He immediately went on morning talk shows and afternoon radio shows the day after his response speech. He's grooming himself to run, mark my words.
Previously I was thinking if Palin ran in 2012, Jindal would have been/be a great pick for VP, one of many strong possibilities. Now it looks like the only way he could do it would be if he lost in the primaries to her.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sarah's letter to the editor at ADN
I love it when she fights back against the media and the "good ol' boy" politicians who try to take her down.
Letters to the editor (2/24/09)
Published: February 23rd, 2009 06:40 PM
Last Modified: February 23rd, 2009 06:40 PM
Begich stimulus claims incorrect
Now that the federal stimulus bill is signed into law and the money is being offered to states, our administration is analyzing the various funding streams to determine how Alaskans can benefit without creating new or expanded programs that eventually we can't pay for.
Suddenly, though, Sen. Mark Begich has raised the specter that I would reject all of the stimulus money and hurt Alaskans in the process. Alaskans should rest assured that where the stimulus money will help our private sector economy and provide a genuine safety net for individuals, we won't hesitate adding it to a fiscally sustainable spending plan.
I must also set the record straight on Sen. Begich's false claim that he has not been informed about my stance on this bill. I wrote to our congressional delegation twice on this subject, the first time solo on Jan. 7, and later joined by House Speaker Mike Chenault and Senate President Gary Stevens. My D.C. staff was in frequent communication with the senator's staff, including face-to-face meetings and written communications.
Furthermore, Sen. Begich did not solicit our comments about the final package, and some of the changes he helped broker actually reduced federal spending in areas where we would have preferred increases -- for example, a $70 million reduction in highway funds.
Alaskans expect the delegation and the administration to work together.
-- Gov. Sarah Palin
Palin's office defends per diem payments
Admittedly, I haven't been able to keep up with this Palin back-tax story. I've been swamped on all fronts so I'm posting some information I gathered this morning. It looks like she's fighting back.
At her official Office website, she posted two items:
Governor's travel expense report from 1999-2008
A comparison of expenses between herself and her predecessor, Murkowski
She also issued a defense of her per diem payments that was picked up by the AP:
Gov. Palin's office defends per diem payments
By ANNE SUTTON – 13 hours ago
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Sarah Palin's office on Monday defended the governor's practice of collecting per diem from the state while living at her home in Wasilla, saying she was costing the state a lot less than her predecessor.
Spokesman Bill McAllister held a press conference comparing Palin's expenses with those of fellow Republican, former Gov. Frank Murkowski.
During her first two years in office, Palin charged the state almost $18,000 for meal allowances while living in Wasilla and commuting 40 miles to her office in Anchorage. But McAllister said Palin spent $100,000 less than Murkowski spent living in the governor's mansion in Juneau, the state capital, during his last two years in office.
"It's a different kind of expense. It hasn't been calculated this way before because previous governors have not spent that much time away from the mansion. But the fact of the matter is in terms of the amount of money, she is charging the state much less," McAllister said.
Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, said the governor's staff was comparing "the $17,000 apple to the $100,000 orange."
"First I want to see how that $100,000 adds up and secondly, I guess I'm skeptical about whether she would be living in the mansion if she weren't able to collect per diem at home," Elton said.
"Yes, $17,000 is less than $100,000 but $17,000 is a lot higher than zero. And if she's going to work out of her home in Wasilla, the choice is between zero and $17,000 and not $17,000 and $100,000."
Palin's practice of charging the state per diem became known after she was named John McCain's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket late last August.
It became a campaign issue after she was presented to the nation as a fiscal conservative.
McAllister said Palin has been frugal in other ways as well. He said expense reports for per diem, lodging and travel for the governor and her husband, Todd Palin, in 2007 and 2008 show a savings of more than $900,000 compared to Murkowski's last two years in office.
Over two-thirds of that amount was attributable to Murkowski's use of the state jet. Palin had the jet sold when she took office and travels either on commercial flights or in the Department of Public Safety's 1980 twin-engine King Air.
At her official Office website, she posted two items:
Governor's travel expense report from 1999-2008
A comparison of expenses between herself and her predecessor, Murkowski
She also issued a defense of her per diem payments that was picked up by the AP:
Gov. Palin's office defends per diem payments
By ANNE SUTTON – 13 hours ago
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Sarah Palin's office on Monday defended the governor's practice of collecting per diem from the state while living at her home in Wasilla, saying she was costing the state a lot less than her predecessor.
Spokesman Bill McAllister held a press conference comparing Palin's expenses with those of fellow Republican, former Gov. Frank Murkowski.
During her first two years in office, Palin charged the state almost $18,000 for meal allowances while living in Wasilla and commuting 40 miles to her office in Anchorage. But McAllister said Palin spent $100,000 less than Murkowski spent living in the governor's mansion in Juneau, the state capital, during his last two years in office.
"It's a different kind of expense. It hasn't been calculated this way before because previous governors have not spent that much time away from the mansion. But the fact of the matter is in terms of the amount of money, she is charging the state much less," McAllister said.
Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, said the governor's staff was comparing "the $17,000 apple to the $100,000 orange."
"First I want to see how that $100,000 adds up and secondly, I guess I'm skeptical about whether she would be living in the mansion if she weren't able to collect per diem at home," Elton said.
"Yes, $17,000 is less than $100,000 but $17,000 is a lot higher than zero. And if she's going to work out of her home in Wasilla, the choice is between zero and $17,000 and not $17,000 and $100,000."
Palin's practice of charging the state per diem became known after she was named John McCain's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket late last August.
It became a campaign issue after she was presented to the nation as a fiscal conservative.
McAllister said Palin has been frugal in other ways as well. He said expense reports for per diem, lodging and travel for the governor and her husband, Todd Palin, in 2007 and 2008 show a savings of more than $900,000 compared to Murkowski's last two years in office.
Over two-thirds of that amount was attributable to Murkowski's use of the state jet. Palin had the jet sold when she took office and travels either on commercial flights or in the Department of Public Safety's 1980 twin-engine King Air.
Monday, February 23, 2009
My email exchange with Jerry Taylor
As I posted last week, I emailed Jerry Taylor regarding his Palin smear post on the Corner. He actually responded very quickly, and from there we had a nice little email exchange. I won't post his emails but I'll summarize them.
He actually had real, valid reasons why he doesn't like Palin, and listed them at length for me - which I found refreshing. I found it refreshing because his post on the Corner was like a drive-by hit piece with no purpose except to tarnish Palin's image. In a way, I was glad that he had some reasoning behind his hit.
I told him that I wished he would have put those reasons in his post; it would have made his post credible and opened the floor to a civilized discussion or debate on Palin's validity as the Republican 2012 nominee. Instead, he decided to tear her down with no apparent reason and readers got enraged. I also said that posting a very anti-Republican piece on a Republican news blog was harmful to readers and would cause many to stop reading NRO.
He seems consumed with dislike for Palin so much that he still doesn't see anything wrong with the fundamental aspect of posting an un-researched hit piece about her on the Corner. He can't see past his dislike to actually think about the harm it could do to the Party, and the inherent hypocrisy in criticizing MSM for being un-researched and biased one day, and to do the same thing yourself the next day on your own news site.
I appreciated his responses and he seems like a nice person. But Jerry Taylor is no fan of Palin and if he's still writing for NR in the coming years, we'll have to watch him and take his posts with a grain of salt. We also need to keep an eye on NRO if they still keep guys like him and other RINOs on staff.
He actually had real, valid reasons why he doesn't like Palin, and listed them at length for me - which I found refreshing. I found it refreshing because his post on the Corner was like a drive-by hit piece with no purpose except to tarnish Palin's image. In a way, I was glad that he had some reasoning behind his hit.
I told him that I wished he would have put those reasons in his post; it would have made his post credible and opened the floor to a civilized discussion or debate on Palin's validity as the Republican 2012 nominee. Instead, he decided to tear her down with no apparent reason and readers got enraged. I also said that posting a very anti-Republican piece on a Republican news blog was harmful to readers and would cause many to stop reading NRO.
He seems consumed with dislike for Palin so much that he still doesn't see anything wrong with the fundamental aspect of posting an un-researched hit piece about her on the Corner. He can't see past his dislike to actually think about the harm it could do to the Party, and the inherent hypocrisy in criticizing MSM for being un-researched and biased one day, and to do the same thing yourself the next day on your own news site.
I appreciated his responses and he seems like a nice person. But Jerry Taylor is no fan of Palin and if he's still writing for NR in the coming years, we'll have to watch him and take his posts with a grain of salt. We also need to keep an eye on NRO if they still keep guys like him and other RINOs on staff.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Update on Palin's trip to Western Alaska
From ADN:
Palin and Graham off to Russian Mission (Updated)
Posted by Alaska_Politics
Posted: February 20, 2009 - 1:32 pm
From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --
As we waited for the clouds to break at Wasilla Airport this morning, Gov. Sarah Palin talked about traveling to the Yukon River villages of Russian Mission and Marshall and evangelist Franklin Graham circled above in a King Air propeller plane.
Finally, one of the planes from Graham’s international Christian relief group landed and we all watched for Graham to emerge. He flew out with Palin. Parnell and Anchorage Baptist Temple Pastor Jerry Prevo took a second King Air.
The charity, Samaritan's Purse, is spending roughly $65,000 on food for Western Alaska villages. They plan to deliver boxes to 1,000 families.
I’m working on a video of the scene, and Palin’s comments on the trip. Look for it here later today.
Here are a few excerpts from the Q&A before the flight:
What are your goals for the trip? How would you describe the purpose of the trip for you?
PALIN: Really, it's to show that it's the public-private partnerships are the key here. The solutions to meeting a lot of the challenges in Alaska, government's not going to be the solution. Can't be entire answer that is sought for those who are in need.
But it's working with the faith-based community, with other non-profits, with charitable individuals who know that Alaskans and others, you know we all pull together when people are in need and this is going to illustrate that."
Another purpose of the trip today, is not just delivering food for a short-term solution, but to remind those, especially young people, in rural Alaska of the job opportunities that are available, albeit it requires in some cases leaving the village for a short time. Perhaps for seasonal work or with shift work, either on the slope or in mining operations, or in the fishing industry, or state service. We're going to look for those who would perhaps want to become VPSOs or troopers or teachers in their own community, remind people of job opportunities, because it is a cash-based society right now.
We can help with providing food and providing fuel, but in a cash-based society, there needs to be income, also, in the community. There needs to be some economic vitality. The only way that that happens is for people to know that there are job opportunities to get to work, and make sure that that is part of the solution here.
...
Can you tell us just how this trip came about ...
PARNELL: I can do that. Dr. Graham contacted me on Saturday and said, 'I understand that we've got some villages in need. Understand that that there have been some hoops that have been hard to jump through for state transportation purposes,' even though we have been able to get to Kotlik and Emmonak and Dillingham.
He made a very generous offer, saying that Samaritan's Purse would be willing to offer their airplanes to transport food and then that turned into Samaritan's Purse also buying substantial quantities of food and groups like Carlisle here offering to truck the food and volunteers in the Valley who have boxed the food from the faith-based community ... So it's just become kind of an all-community, all hands on deck effort to move this food to Western Alaska.
...
Q: How would you respond to people who said that you should have made this trip, you know, a month ago or six weeks ago? Why wait until now?
PALIN: Well from the day that Sean Parnell and I got elected, our efforts have been to make sure that we have a revitalized economy in Alaska. And that job opportunities would be seized by all Alaskans. Especially those in rural Alaska to recognize that instead of importing our workforce as we do today, to such a large extent, we want the young people in rural Alaska to get these jobs. That has been our effort from the day we got elected.
Now, as for personally what Sean and I have done as individuals to help in rural Alaska, in faith-based communities, you know I think, well I think Matthew 6:3 says it best. It’s a scripture that says, 'let not your right hand know what your left hand is doing.' If you’re going to do a personal charitable effort ... what we do personally to support and tithe and offer assistance to some of these missions, I’m going to keep that to myself.
Q. But just as governor, why not go to the region, to the lower Yukon earlier, to see if things are as bad as they’re being described?
(Palin and Parnell looked at each other.)
PARNELL: Frankly, the first weekend that this particular regional hardship hit the web from Emmonak, both the governor and I tried to get our there and we were hampered due to weather. But a team did go out there, as you know, and in fact this whole week a team has been out there that includes state officials. (A) food bank official. The director of advocacy is out there, they have helped determine that Emmonak and Kotlik have the food they need. They are looking for jobs and economic opportunity now. We want to give the same hope to Russian Mission and Marshall now.”
…
(Later, we talked about whether the Palin administration is discussing plans for these villages a year or 10 years from now.)
Q: Is it possible for these communities that you’ll be visiting, the communities that we’ve been hearing about, to sustain their population that they have now 10 or 15 year from now?
PALIN: It is certainly a possibility.
Some of these areas … they may need to see some change in leadership within the community, also. For the leaders whom are looked to for guidance with the young people, that these leaders show them where opportunities are also. So they can, as I just mentioned, seize opportunities for jobs, at the same time being able to be such a strong part of their communities still. It is possible.
Q. What makes you say that? How do you see a lack of leadership?
PALIN: I’m not saying it’s a lack of leadership, I’m just saying with new ideas, with new energy in some of these communities, with people not being afraid at all to just call it like they see it and let people know perhaps what their own experience has been in terms of finding success and being a part of the community, at the same time, having income -- there’s nothing wrong with that. And in some of the communities I would say that perhaps new leadership would help provide solutions.
(Note: I asked for clarification later. Palin said she wasn’t necessarily calling for new elected officials in the region.)
"I'm not talking about anybody specifically. I'm just talking about young people who are desiring those who will help them see what the opportunities are in Alaska and not just seek government to provide solely for all the needs in rural Alaska."
Posted by Alaska_Politics
Posted: February 20, 2009 - 1:32 pm
From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --
As we waited for the clouds to break at Wasilla Airport this morning, Gov. Sarah Palin talked about traveling to the Yukon River villages of Russian Mission and Marshall and evangelist Franklin Graham circled above in a King Air propeller plane.
Finally, one of the planes from Graham’s international Christian relief group landed and we all watched for Graham to emerge. He flew out with Palin. Parnell and Anchorage Baptist Temple Pastor Jerry Prevo took a second King Air.
The charity, Samaritan's Purse, is spending roughly $65,000 on food for Western Alaska villages. They plan to deliver boxes to 1,000 families.
I’m working on a video of the scene, and Palin’s comments on the trip. Look for it here later today.
Here are a few excerpts from the Q&A before the flight:
What are your goals for the trip? How would you describe the purpose of the trip for you?
PALIN: Really, it's to show that it's the public-private partnerships are the key here. The solutions to meeting a lot of the challenges in Alaska, government's not going to be the solution. Can't be entire answer that is sought for those who are in need.
But it's working with the faith-based community, with other non-profits, with charitable individuals who know that Alaskans and others, you know we all pull together when people are in need and this is going to illustrate that."
Another purpose of the trip today, is not just delivering food for a short-term solution, but to remind those, especially young people, in rural Alaska of the job opportunities that are available, albeit it requires in some cases leaving the village for a short time. Perhaps for seasonal work or with shift work, either on the slope or in mining operations, or in the fishing industry, or state service. We're going to look for those who would perhaps want to become VPSOs or troopers or teachers in their own community, remind people of job opportunities, because it is a cash-based society right now.
We can help with providing food and providing fuel, but in a cash-based society, there needs to be income, also, in the community. There needs to be some economic vitality. The only way that that happens is for people to know that there are job opportunities to get to work, and make sure that that is part of the solution here.
...
Can you tell us just how this trip came about ...
PARNELL: I can do that. Dr. Graham contacted me on Saturday and said, 'I understand that we've got some villages in need. Understand that that there have been some hoops that have been hard to jump through for state transportation purposes,' even though we have been able to get to Kotlik and Emmonak and Dillingham.
He made a very generous offer, saying that Samaritan's Purse would be willing to offer their airplanes to transport food and then that turned into Samaritan's Purse also buying substantial quantities of food and groups like Carlisle here offering to truck the food and volunteers in the Valley who have boxed the food from the faith-based community ... So it's just become kind of an all-community, all hands on deck effort to move this food to Western Alaska.
...
Q: How would you respond to people who said that you should have made this trip, you know, a month ago or six weeks ago? Why wait until now?
PALIN: Well from the day that Sean Parnell and I got elected, our efforts have been to make sure that we have a revitalized economy in Alaska. And that job opportunities would be seized by all Alaskans. Especially those in rural Alaska to recognize that instead of importing our workforce as we do today, to such a large extent, we want the young people in rural Alaska to get these jobs. That has been our effort from the day we got elected.
Now, as for personally what Sean and I have done as individuals to help in rural Alaska, in faith-based communities, you know I think, well I think Matthew 6:3 says it best. It’s a scripture that says, 'let not your right hand know what your left hand is doing.' If you’re going to do a personal charitable effort ... what we do personally to support and tithe and offer assistance to some of these missions, I’m going to keep that to myself.
Q. But just as governor, why not go to the region, to the lower Yukon earlier, to see if things are as bad as they’re being described?
(Palin and Parnell looked at each other.)
PARNELL: Frankly, the first weekend that this particular regional hardship hit the web from Emmonak, both the governor and I tried to get our there and we were hampered due to weather. But a team did go out there, as you know, and in fact this whole week a team has been out there that includes state officials. (A) food bank official. The director of advocacy is out there, they have helped determine that Emmonak and Kotlik have the food they need. They are looking for jobs and economic opportunity now. We want to give the same hope to Russian Mission and Marshall now.”
…
(Later, we talked about whether the Palin administration is discussing plans for these villages a year or 10 years from now.)
Q: Is it possible for these communities that you’ll be visiting, the communities that we’ve been hearing about, to sustain their population that they have now 10 or 15 year from now?
PALIN: It is certainly a possibility.
Some of these areas … they may need to see some change in leadership within the community, also. For the leaders whom are looked to for guidance with the young people, that these leaders show them where opportunities are also. So they can, as I just mentioned, seize opportunities for jobs, at the same time being able to be such a strong part of their communities still. It is possible.
Q. What makes you say that? How do you see a lack of leadership?
PALIN: I’m not saying it’s a lack of leadership, I’m just saying with new ideas, with new energy in some of these communities, with people not being afraid at all to just call it like they see it and let people know perhaps what their own experience has been in terms of finding success and being a part of the community, at the same time, having income -- there’s nothing wrong with that. And in some of the communities I would say that perhaps new leadership would help provide solutions.
(Note: I asked for clarification later. Palin said she wasn’t necessarily calling for new elected officials in the region.)
"I'm not talking about anybody specifically. I'm just talking about young people who are desiring those who will help them see what the opportunities are in Alaska and not just seek government to provide solely for all the needs in rural Alaska."
Palin not focused on Alaska? I think not!
(photos by Photo by MARC LESTER / Anchorage Daily News)Instead of attending the National Governors Association Meeting in DC this weekend, she's traveling to rural Western Alaska bringing food to families in need. She's been receiving a lot of criticism because locals perceive that she's not focusing on Alaska, and instead on national issues, but that's not the case. Even though she's been completely focused on Alaska, the perception is still there.
Palin, Parnell to Travel to Western Alaska
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-33 - Office of the Governor
Governor, Lt. Governor to Travel to Western Alaska
February 19, 2009, Juneau, Alaska - Following up on several trips to Western Alaska by multi-agency state personnel, Governor Sarah Palin and Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell will travel with Franklin Graham, President and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, to the communities of Marshall and Russian Mission on Friday. Samaritan's Purse is a nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid across the world. Working with private sector and nonprofit resources, an estimated 10,000 pounds of food will be distributed to more than 200 Alaska families in need.
continued...
Palin Reduces FY2010 Spending Plan
Hey Mr. Taylor, check this out. Further proof that Palin is a fiscal conservative. From her official Governor's Office website yesterday:
Palin Reduces FY2010 Spending Plan
Overall $445.5 million in GF reductions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-32
Governor Palin Reduces FY2010 Spending Plan Overall $445.5 million in GF reductions
February 18, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin submitted a package of FY2010 budget amendments to legislators today that reduces general fund spending by $445.5 million.
The Department of Revenue also issued a February 2009 interim forecast today based on an FY2010 average price per barrel of $57.78 and estimates revenues of $3.18 billion, which is down $2.1 billion from the fall forecast based on an average of $74.41 per barrel.
“Given current market conditions and oil prices, we have made reductions in the proposed spending plan for next year,” Governor Palin said. “We are continuing our efforts to provide important public services, while cutting back on areas that can certainly wait until we see improvement in our revenue stream.
“Even with the drop in oil prices, our goal is to continue to provide needed public services, and to keep Alaskans employed and the economy moving. We have proposed responsible reductions in the current year and also in the FY2010 budget. These changes will reduce the draw on reserves needed at the end of the fiscal year.”
The operating budget is reduced by $382.3 million in general funds. Significant operating reductions include $166.5 million for the additional payment against the unfunded liability for public employee (PERS) and teachers (TRS) retirement systems. There is $284.7 million remaining in the budget to fully fund the state’s obligations to public employers and school districts, and leave PERS and TRS employer rates unchanged. Also, there is a $100 million reduction in authorization to pay exploration tax credits to mirror the funding authorization requested in the current year. A $73.5 million general fund reduction is proposed and is also offset by the new federal reimbursement rate for Medicaid under the economic stimulus package. These funds are made available to states specifically to provide relief from state revenue shortfalls and also to prevent states from eliminating care to people in need.
There are also some proposed operating increases in the amendments including $8.4 million in Public Safety for Alaska State Troopers and Village Public Safety Officers, $2.3 million for the Inlandboatmen’s Union bargaining unit agreement, and $6.0 million for the Department of Law to proceed with oil and gas and Endangered Species Act issues. Many of these increases were offset by other reductions in the operating budget.
Proposed capital spending reduces $63.2 million in general funds and increases $139.7 million in federal and other funds.
The federal and other fund changes include $100 million to finance statewide financial and tax revenue management system replacements. Also, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs will receive $17 million in federal funds for environmental clean-up at National Guard facilities.
“We are providing for high-priority capital projects including transportation, schools, deferred maintenance and energy,” Governor Palin said. “The legislature’s recent approval of $100 million for renewable energy projects, plus $25 million in the FY2010 budget will allow us to continue progress in the very important energy area. With our proposed funds, healthy capital budgets of the past few years, and infrastructure dollars in the federal economic stimulus package, we will see increased job opportunities and construction activity across the state.
“We worked with lawmakers to put substantial dollars into savings over the past two years, so we have more than $8 billion in various reserve accounts. We share the legislature’s desire to extend the life of our savings.”
The estimated draw on reserves for FY2009 is $1.36 billion and FY2010 is approximately $1.2 billion.
“Responsible reductions and prudent use of reserve funds that we had set aside for tougher times will help us weather the storm,” Palin added. “I am committed to working with the legislature to make wise budget decisions and continue to invest in infrastructure that will help develop our resources and our communities.”
The budget amendments and more detailed information on the budget are available on the Office of Management & Budget website at: http://omb.alaska.gov/
Thursday, February 19, 2009
My email to Jerry Taylor
Here's the email I sent to Jerry Taylor regarding his smear post at the Corner. His email address is here.
Mr. Taylor,
I'm sure I'm not the first person to email you about your post on the Corner yesterday regarding Sarah Palin.
I would expect a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute to do research before posting such an inflammatory statement about Sarah Palin.
Of course Palin has earned her affection and love from the Right because of her proven fiscal conservative record and history (I copied some helpful links below). Your post was inflammatory, childish and did nothing to contribute to the political discourse. It reminded me of a temper tantrum. Mr. Ponnuru's post that you responded to came out of nowhere and it wouldn't surprise me if you planned this little "hit and run" together. Mr. Ponnuru has a history of bringing negative Palin stories from the MSM to the Corner.
Your last sentence - "But has she done anything to warrant this love she gets from some quarters on the Right besides her demonstrable ability to play the Merle Haggard card against the cultural Left?" So are you saying that Republicans only care about tearing down the liberal elite? Do you think that we might have some educated opinions about how our country should be governed and Palin represents those philosophies with her proven record (and that we might be "elite" too)? The "Merle Haggard Right" and the "Cultural Left" are simply campaign rhetoric. As you may know, both sides engage in campaign rhetoric. As voters, we must look past the rhetoric and to actual candidates' performance to make our decisions.
I didn't know who you were before your post, but I certainly know who you are now. Was that your tactic - to piggyback off of Palin's fame to make a name for yourself? I wouldn't think someone as accomplished as your biography shows would do that, but I can't explain another reason why you post something like that on a Republican news blog. Perhaps you can give me a better explanation?
I understand if you don't like Palin, many don't. But to write negative posts without research, and to engage in the same tactics as the Left - to essentially say that anyone who supports her is a brainwashed rube - is not doing anything to further the conservative Republican movement, and further divides us. Our Party is currently in a crisis and we should not be divided. We should be supporting all conservative Republicans (not just Palin) who embody our goals and ideas.
Since you did not do research, I copied below some articles and facts supporting the fact that Palin is a fiscal conservative:
Palin further reduces spending as budget gap grows - February 3, 2009
Quotes from her State of the State Address - January 23, 2009
"At a time when other state legislatures are staring at multi-billion-dollar deficits, and when our federal government proposes a deficit in excess of a trillion dollars this year alone, we have all the cautionary examples we need in the virtues of living within our means. With less revenue, we have an obligation to spend less money.""Two years ago at this podium, I urged spending restraint. I asked that billions of surplus funds be deposited in state savings. This struck me as a simple precaution against, as I described it, massive single-year cuts down the road, if and when we faced tougher times. You legislators agreed, so we can now meet our challenge in a stronger position."
Palin the Fiscal Conservative Reformer - November 14, 2008 Highlights below:
July 1st, 2007 - Massive line item vetoes (lopping almost a quarter-billion dollars off of a $1.8 billion capital budget).
Dec. 11th, 2007 - Palin's proposed budget slashes earmark requests, and dramatically slows growth of government.
March 23rd, 2008 – More vetoes in the "supplemental budget". Palin also demands that legislators explain their pork projects to her personally before she signs off on any of them. This issue was particularly hilarious because the budget was for "emergency spending" and it included (among other things) the construction of batting cages and gun ranges.
May 24th, 2008 – Second consecutive year of huge line-item vetoes in the state's capital budget (over a quarter-billion dollars this time, 10% of the total capital budget):
Thank you for your time.
National Review - No Support for Palin
Palin bashing, with a dose of elitism thrown in, too. Sounds like a CNN or MSNBC feature on Palin. But wait, this is NRO. Yesterday's late afternoon post by Jerry Taylor at The Corner is classic liberal bashing of Palin. It really sickens me that on NRO, where they're supposed to be supporting conservative Republican politicians, and furthering the Republican agenda, they are attempting to divide Republicans against each other over Palin. They fell for MSM's tactic perfectly. It was always MSM's goal to portray Palin as polarizing and divisive, even though she received mass support from true Republicans and conservatives.
I'm not familiar with Jerry Taylor, but I would like to question his intelligence with this post. He asks what she's done to deserve praise from the Right. Has he been asleep for the past six months? He even quotes an NY Times article. As an aside, why does he say Merle Haggard isn't "cultural?" Doesn't Merle Haggard embody his own type of culture?
I'm going to respond to his question "what has she accomplished?" later.
To their credit, no one at NRO responded to his post - although the day's not yet over. It's not like NRO to openly ridicule Republicans like this (they've done it subtly). I can't remember seeing them do that to anyone, so this surprising to me. I hope this doesn't become part of their standard procedure when it comes to Palin.
Are we ready to divide ourselves again with hard line Republican vs. RINO? I thought we were done with that.
I'm not familiar with Jerry Taylor, but I would like to question his intelligence with this post. He asks what she's done to deserve praise from the Right. Has he been asleep for the past six months? He even quotes an NY Times article. As an aside, why does he say Merle Haggard isn't "cultural?" Doesn't Merle Haggard embody his own type of culture?
I'm going to respond to his question "what has she accomplished?" later.
To their credit, no one at NRO responded to his post - although the day's not yet over. It's not like NRO to openly ridicule Republicans like this (they've done it subtly). I can't remember seeing them do that to anyone, so this surprising to me. I hope this doesn't become part of their standard procedure when it comes to Palin.
Are we ready to divide ourselves again with hard line Republican vs. RINO? I thought we were done with that.
Sarah Palin — The Great Conservative Hope? [Jerry Taylor]
Ramesh, I'm sure you've shown your cards somewhere on this matter, so at the risk of asking an ignorant question, do you think our lady up north is worth conservative embrace? Your post hints that you might. If so, what exactly has she done as governor to warrant this affection? As far as I know, her main accomplishments up there are two-fold. First, she taxed and regulated the oil companies out of virtually all remaining marginal plays in Alaska and then crowed endlessly on the campaign trail about how she faced-down the "special interests." Then, she signed into law a stunning array of renewable energy subsidies that would be the envy of any blue-stater.
Sure, she delivers a great speech (not sure if she can write one though). But has she done anything to warrant this love she gets from some quarters on the Right besides her demonstrable ability to play the Merle Haggard card against the cultural Left?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
WaPo article on Palin
Michael Leahy wrote an article about the current state of Palin's career in the WaPo today. He does the expected negative spin, and attempts to use this article as a tool to further destroy Palin's reputation in MSM.
I hate to beat the already dead horse, but this continues to show how scared MSM is of her. This article just reeks of desperation to muddy her name and her image. It's almost comical now. For instance, at the end of the article, Leahy notes that Palin reads from a teleprompter. He's implying that despite her dynamic personality, intelligence and great speaking abilities, she's just like every other politician using teleprompter. The more cynical side of me even thinks that he's implying that she's stupid for using one. However, not only is that implication not true, but hello, take a look at our President. Without a teleprompter he's completely lost and says "uh" every other word like someone who needs to take an intro public speaking class.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the more MSM does this, the more we defend her and like her. Their articles and reports aren't reflective of the public's opinion of her. They're creating a fantasy land of hate for Palin, just like they create a fantasy land where everyone believes Obama is the Messiah. It backfires on them every time.
I hate to beat the already dead horse, but this continues to show how scared MSM is of her. This article just reeks of desperation to muddy her name and her image. It's almost comical now. For instance, at the end of the article, Leahy notes that Palin reads from a teleprompter. He's implying that despite her dynamic personality, intelligence and great speaking abilities, she's just like every other politician using teleprompter. The more cynical side of me even thinks that he's implying that she's stupid for using one. However, not only is that implication not true, but hello, take a look at our President. Without a teleprompter he's completely lost and says "uh" every other word like someone who needs to take an intro public speaking class.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the more MSM does this, the more we defend her and like her. Their articles and reports aren't reflective of the public's opinion of her. They're creating a fantasy land of hate for Palin, just like they create a fantasy land where everyone believes Obama is the Messiah. It backfires on them every time.
Back Home in Alaska, Palin Finds Cold Comfort
by Michael Leahy
Washington Post Staff Writer
February 18, 2009
JUNEAU, Alaska -- A couple of weeks before the Alaska legislature began
this year's session, a bipartisan group of state senators on a retreat a few
hours from here invited Gov. Sarah Palin to join them. continued...
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
What America Risks in Venezuela
This isn't Palin-specific, but it's a very important issue and this article by Michael Rowan on the Corner this morning is very good. This is exactly what I studied in college - Democratic legitimacy, the tactics dictators use to get to power and how dangerously close we could be to experiencing it.
This is about Chavez, his rise to power and the threat of it to the United States. Since we're so dependent on their oil, our hands are somewhat tied to do anything. This is a very dangerous situation that we all need to be aware of. The scary thing is we can see it unfold before our eyes.
This is about Chavez, his rise to power and the threat of it to the United States. Since we're so dependent on their oil, our hands are somewhat tied to do anything. This is a very dangerous situation that we all need to be aware of. The scary thing is we can see it unfold before our eyes.
What America Risks in Venezuela [Michael Rowan]
Since 2004, Chavez has had the capability to rig the elections. That capability includes control over the voting roll, the electronic voting machines, and the centralized count, none of which has been independently audited in five years (while the roll increased from 10 million to 17 million names); direct or indirect employment of five million jobs; direct threats to fire employees who do not vote for him; using billions of dollars of government funds to buy votes — openly; using, sometimes with plausible deniability, the police, military, and roving gangs to intimidate or murder opposition or media nuisances; and restricting freedom of speech and assembly of the few remaining opposition groups, e.g., gassing the students or denying their permits to march.
This has happened elsewhere (Zimbabwe, etc) where the U.S. declared sanctions. But the U.S. does not sanction Chavez for anti-democratic behavior for the same reason it does not declare him a state sponsor of terror when all the intelligence on the FARC, Iran, Hezbollah, & Hamas requires them to do so: because of the oil. The U.S. is a lily-livered chicken. The OAS is a purchased coward. The EU is all words and no action. And the U.N. is controlled by forces that want the war against America to succeed: Russia, China, the Muslim world, and some in the "bottom billion" living in failed states that Paul Collier writes about.
The U.S. does not appear to realize what is at stake here. Our American Founders had a great distrust of executive power and placed checks and balances everywhere so that dictatorship would not reappear here (they might be surprised at how presidents can conduct war through executive privilege, I suspect). Likewise, we must be extremely wary of dictators who use democracy as a cover for their violence against it, as occurs in Russia and Iran, for example.
By accepting the results of sham elections because of fear or cowardice in the face of an oil bully, the U.S. is showing to the world that it does not know or care what democracy is, according to its own Founders. No achievement in prosperity will counterbalance that fatal flaw. While the media (the New York Times is typical) accepts Chavez as a legitimate democrat and while the U.S. government looks the other way, the fundamental raison d'etre of America itself is put at risk. This story is not about Venezuela and Chavez, or Zimbabwe and Mugabe, it has always been about democracy — our democracy. What America is risking here is itself. How President Obama comes down on this issue is profoundly important.
— Michael Rowan is a political consultant with experience in most of the states (for Democrats) and in 14 nations in the last 30 years. The former president of the International Association of Political Consultants, he lived in Venezuela from 1993 to 2006. He was the strategist for Manuel Rosales in the 2006 Venezuelan presidential campaign and with Douglas Schoen authored The Threat Closer to Home — Chavez and the War against America.
02/17 09:30 AM
Monday, February 16, 2009
What Sarah Palin must do next
h/t Northern Exposer at Conservative Jedi
What Sarah Palin must do next
Telegraph.co.uk
Saturday, February 14, 2009, 07:49 PM GMT
By Tim Shipman
It has been a busy month for Sarah Palin. The Alaska governor celebrated her 45th birthday last week and continued to feature in a raft of news stories despite what now seems a calculated effort on her part to minimise publicity.
According to Republicans I've been talking to, this is the best strategy for her if she is to establish herself as a serious contender for the party's presidential nomination in 2012.
At present she is a pop culture phenomenon, rather than the serious political force that her admirers thought she would become. But that can change.
Last week she found herself still embroiled in a long-running spat with the actress Ashley Judd about her support for the aerial execution of wolves.
At the same time two screenwriters expressed interest in making a film of her life. Dustin Lance Black, who wrote the Oscar-nominated film Milk, told Variety: "I'm always down for politics as humour. I'm also interested in great characters."
If they want some material on her remarkable emergence on the American stage, these filmmakers could do worse than to read Yuval Levin's recent analysis of the Palin phenomenon. It's strong on the anger that the emergence of a socially conservative female political figure unleashed among left-wing feminists.
Rightly, it points out that this was in some regards a caricature that was thrust upon Sarah Palin; certainly it was not the way she was seen in Alaska before her emergence on the national stage. Here's the key section:
"Palin's social conservatism had never been the core of her political identity in Alaska. She always expressed general support for traditionalist views in interviews and debates ... but Palin never went out of her way to raise abortion or other social or cultural issues, and in her first two years as governor had not sought to change state policies in these areas. She was a good-government reformer with social conservative leanings, not the other way around."
Mrs Palin's best prospects of future advancement will force her to walk a more elegant path between the conservative grassroots, who she needs if she is to win the Republican nomination, and political independents who were put off by the popular view of her as a gun-toting, god-fearing culture warrior, but whose support she would need to become president.
What she really needs is for Alaskan Sarah to hunt down and exterminate running mate Sarah like one of those hapless wolves.
Mrs Palin is already working to improve her image as well as cement her future.
Earlier this month she attended the Alfalfa Club dinner, a prime opportunity to rub shoulders with the Washington elite she spent much of the election campaign deriding. This is sensible. She has also set up a personal political action committee so she can dole out cash to fellow Republicans and build a nationwide network of loyalists. She laughs off claims she has been offered $11m for her life story.
I recently had a conversation with Jim Nuzzo, a Republican strategist and consultant who worked as a senior policy adviser in the first Bush White House. He was the first Republican I came across who was touting Mrs Palin's credentials as a running mate for John McCain. Indeed he phoned me to predict that she would be selected three months before Mr McCain had even met her.
Mr Nuzzo is a fan of Mrs Palin and genuinely believes she can reinvent herself as the new Margaret Thatcher, or a female Ronald Reagan, depending on your preference. But he thinks she now needs to hunker down and get out of the public eye and prepare for a dramatic and persuasive relaunch in the year before the next election.
Here's what he said when I spoke to him a week ago:
"She needs to be enough in public and elite opinion so she doesn‘t fall off the radar screen entirely but she also has to step back and allow Obama his time on the stage and not get worn out herself, not become a figure that the public gets bored of.
"The second thing is to get together with a number of experts and basically do the heavy lifting of learning all the minutiae of what Washington government is all about, with the idea that she produces a book of her ideas in three years time.
"Most presidential candidates do that. It's critical for her. She has to have a book that says: ‘These are the problems of America and this is how we solve them.' And they have to be intellectually sound enough and deep enough that people will give her a second look, while maintaining her no nonsense personal approach to politics. She has to be slightly off the stage to do that."
Mr Nuzzo is keen to stress that this does not mean Mrs Palin should take tutelage from the wise old McCain campaign sages who filled her head with nonsense during the election campaign. And he stresses that she has been the victim of both sexism and class based prejudice. But he added:
"She's got to be that much smarter and that much more in tune than her rivals. What is clear is that she is very bright and a very quick study. In a short period of time a set of advisers can get her to the stage where she is thinking creatively about the solutions to the nation's problems.
"The McCain campaign came in and treated her like an idiot and demanded that she memorise and regurgitate.
"What she needs are people who recognise that she is a brilliant woman and want to give her understanding, which is completely different from giving her a set of facts. She doesn't need someone who is going to hand her an atlas and say: ‘Memorise every capital city and spit it back at me.' What she needs is someone who is willing to work with her so she develops her own understanding of these things, that it becomes Sarah Palin's ideas, owned by Sarah Palin. It requires someone who respects Sarah Palin's intelligence."
Some of these ideas have already been offered by Newt Gingrich, who told The Hill recently that Mrs Palin could become "very formidable" in the coming years as long as she "seeks out a group of sophisticated policy advisers".
But it sounds to me like Mrs Palin should give Mr Nuzzo a call. There is evidence that they are already on the same page with Mrs Palin's decision last week to pull out of the annual CPAC conservative jamboree later this month.
Marc Ambinder has an interesting take here.
During the campaign, Mrs Palin made herself the Republican cheerleader in chief. Whoever would have thought that silence would now be a similar statement of intent.
What Sarah Palin must do next
Telegraph.co.uk
Saturday, February 14, 2009, 07:49 PM GMT
By Tim Shipman
It has been a busy month for Sarah Palin. The Alaska governor celebrated her 45th birthday last week and continued to feature in a raft of news stories despite what now seems a calculated effort on her part to minimise publicity.
According to Republicans I've been talking to, this is the best strategy for her if she is to establish herself as a serious contender for the party's presidential nomination in 2012.
At present she is a pop culture phenomenon, rather than the serious political force that her admirers thought she would become. But that can change.
Last week she found herself still embroiled in a long-running spat with the actress Ashley Judd about her support for the aerial execution of wolves.
At the same time two screenwriters expressed interest in making a film of her life. Dustin Lance Black, who wrote the Oscar-nominated film Milk, told Variety: "I'm always down for politics as humour. I'm also interested in great characters."
If they want some material on her remarkable emergence on the American stage, these filmmakers could do worse than to read Yuval Levin's recent analysis of the Palin phenomenon. It's strong on the anger that the emergence of a socially conservative female political figure unleashed among left-wing feminists.
Rightly, it points out that this was in some regards a caricature that was thrust upon Sarah Palin; certainly it was not the way she was seen in Alaska before her emergence on the national stage. Here's the key section:
"Palin's social conservatism had never been the core of her political identity in Alaska. She always expressed general support for traditionalist views in interviews and debates ... but Palin never went out of her way to raise abortion or other social or cultural issues, and in her first two years as governor had not sought to change state policies in these areas. She was a good-government reformer with social conservative leanings, not the other way around."
Mrs Palin's best prospects of future advancement will force her to walk a more elegant path between the conservative grassroots, who she needs if she is to win the Republican nomination, and political independents who were put off by the popular view of her as a gun-toting, god-fearing culture warrior, but whose support she would need to become president.
What she really needs is for Alaskan Sarah to hunt down and exterminate running mate Sarah like one of those hapless wolves.
Mrs Palin is already working to improve her image as well as cement her future.
Earlier this month she attended the Alfalfa Club dinner, a prime opportunity to rub shoulders with the Washington elite she spent much of the election campaign deriding. This is sensible. She has also set up a personal political action committee so she can dole out cash to fellow Republicans and build a nationwide network of loyalists. She laughs off claims she has been offered $11m for her life story.
I recently had a conversation with Jim Nuzzo, a Republican strategist and consultant who worked as a senior policy adviser in the first Bush White House. He was the first Republican I came across who was touting Mrs Palin's credentials as a running mate for John McCain. Indeed he phoned me to predict that she would be selected three months before Mr McCain had even met her.
Mr Nuzzo is a fan of Mrs Palin and genuinely believes she can reinvent herself as the new Margaret Thatcher, or a female Ronald Reagan, depending on your preference. But he thinks she now needs to hunker down and get out of the public eye and prepare for a dramatic and persuasive relaunch in the year before the next election.
Here's what he said when I spoke to him a week ago:
"She needs to be enough in public and elite opinion so she doesn‘t fall off the radar screen entirely but she also has to step back and allow Obama his time on the stage and not get worn out herself, not become a figure that the public gets bored of.
"The second thing is to get together with a number of experts and basically do the heavy lifting of learning all the minutiae of what Washington government is all about, with the idea that she produces a book of her ideas in three years time.
"Most presidential candidates do that. It's critical for her. She has to have a book that says: ‘These are the problems of America and this is how we solve them.' And they have to be intellectually sound enough and deep enough that people will give her a second look, while maintaining her no nonsense personal approach to politics. She has to be slightly off the stage to do that."
Mr Nuzzo is keen to stress that this does not mean Mrs Palin should take tutelage from the wise old McCain campaign sages who filled her head with nonsense during the election campaign. And he stresses that she has been the victim of both sexism and class based prejudice. But he added:
"She's got to be that much smarter and that much more in tune than her rivals. What is clear is that she is very bright and a very quick study. In a short period of time a set of advisers can get her to the stage where she is thinking creatively about the solutions to the nation's problems.
"The McCain campaign came in and treated her like an idiot and demanded that she memorise and regurgitate.
"What she needs are people who recognise that she is a brilliant woman and want to give her understanding, which is completely different from giving her a set of facts. She doesn't need someone who is going to hand her an atlas and say: ‘Memorise every capital city and spit it back at me.' What she needs is someone who is willing to work with her so she develops her own understanding of these things, that it becomes Sarah Palin's ideas, owned by Sarah Palin. It requires someone who respects Sarah Palin's intelligence."
Some of these ideas have already been offered by Newt Gingrich, who told The Hill recently that Mrs Palin could become "very formidable" in the coming years as long as she "seeks out a group of sophisticated policy advisers".
But it sounds to me like Mrs Palin should give Mr Nuzzo a call. There is evidence that they are already on the same page with Mrs Palin's decision last week to pull out of the annual CPAC conservative jamboree later this month.
Marc Ambinder has an interesting take here.
During the campaign, Mrs Palin made herself the Republican cheerleader in chief. Whoever would have thought that silence would now be a similar statement of intent.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sportsmen's group supports Palin on wolf control issue
Several groups of Sportsmen are coming out in support of Palin regarding this controversial wolf issue. These are the people affected, they do the research, they hunt in the area and rely on wildlife for food. They are who we should be listening to, not Ashley Judd.
The article correctly shows that Palin is in support of the program - she isn't the one actually hunting the wolves. The program was started by her predecessor, not her. But in Judd's video she states "It's time to stop Sarah Palin," which is a mischaracterization.
The article correctly shows that Palin is in support of the program - she isn't the one actually hunting the wolves. The program was started by her predecessor, not her. But in Judd's video she states "It's time to stop Sarah Palin," which is a mischaracterization.
Sportsmen's group supports Palin on wolf control issue
Group criticizes Defenders of Wildlife ads as 'a public relations blitz'
By Mary Pemberton The Associated Press
Juneau Empire.com
Sunday, February 15, 2009: Story last updated at 2/15/2009 - 10:33 am
ANCHORAGE - A national sportsmen's group has come out in support of Gov. Sarah Palin now that the opposition has movie star Ashley Judd in its corner arguing against a state program allowing the killing of wolves.
The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance does not plan to use Hollywood glitz and glamour to gets its message across. Instead, it has chosen a low-key approach: sending Palin - the former Republican vice presidential candidate - a one-page letter that says "we want to publicly endorse your wolf management policy."
The letter describes Defenders of Wildlife's campaign as "a public relations blitz" that "grossly mischaracterizes" the state's predator control program.
While the approach is low-key, the more than half-dozen groups signing the letter are some of the hunting world's heaviest hitters. They include the Boone and Crockett Club and the Dallas chapter of the Safari Club. Other signers include the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the Archery Trade Association and Bowhunting Preservation Alliance.
The two sides of the predator control issue in Alaska have a fundamental difference of opinion on whether sound science is being used to manage wolf and bear numbers in several areas of the state.
"It is an emotional appeal," said U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance spokesman Greg R. Lawson of the Defenders campaign launched last week. "We felt it was very important for another side of the story to get out there."
Lawson said what is getting lost in the debate is how important predator control is in the proper management of game populations. He said in the areas where the program is being conducted in Alaska, moose and caribou numbers had seriously declined before the program was initiated.
"One of the primary reasons is the predation of those animals," he said.
Alaska launched the program in 2003 to respond to complaints by people living in the Bush that wolves and bears were eating too many moose and caribou, leaving them with fewer to hunt for food. The program, which has survived numerous court challenges by animal rights and conservation groups, allows private permitted citizens to shoot the wolves either from the air or in what is called land-and-shoot, depending upon the area.
In the past six years, more than 800 wolves have been killed and far fewer bears.
Some of the challenges have come from groups that maintain the program is not based on sound science but instead caters to the needs of big game hunters, many of them from out-of-state.
Lawson said the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance can't answer that claim, but what it does know is that the program is "a rigorously regulated, scientifically based system" operating in specific, targeted areas.
Palin is a strong supporter of the program instituted under her predecessor, former Gov. Frank Murkowski. She called the Defenders' campaign "reprehensible" in the way it uses her and her administration to raise money.
In the campaign, Judd appears in an Internet video in which she says, "It's time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery."
The video provides a link for people wishing to make donations.
Palin spokesman Bill McAllister said the governor is pleased when anyone points out the scientific underpinnings of the program.
A lot of times when people talk about the killing of wolves involving airplanes, they think it is unsportsmanlike, he said. Predator control is not a sport and that is a concept some can't grasp, "Judd being one of them," McAllister said.
"I don't know that people necessarily base their views on these issues on what celebrities say," he said.
Wade Willis, Defenders' Alaska chapter spokesman, said Palin is "anti-science," adding that her positions often rebuke the scientific community. Every leading scientific organization in the country opposes the Alaska program as it is conducted, including the state chapter of The Wildlife Society, he said.
Willis accuses the state of failing to conduct the necessary scientific research to ascertain how many moose and caribou can be reasonably sustained in the predator control areas. He said the state bases its estimates on twinning rates - moose that give birth to two calves - to evaluate the health of the population. Then, it drives the harvestable numbers to the maximum, he said.
"What you got is crisis management which is so nonscientific," he said.
Bruce Bartley, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, defended the program, pointing out that the same arguments have been made unsuccessfully before.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Palin's warning was accurate
I found this interesting post on The Weekly Standard blog regarding Palin's warning during the campaign of reading terrorists their rights and Obama's plans on that issue. It appears that her apprehension was true, as Obama's administration is planning to review Miranda rights.
Reading Terrorists Their Rights
The Weekly StandardThe Los Angeles Times reports:
The administration has launched a review of the individual detainee cases, aimed at determining who can be prosecuted in federal courts.
"Miranda is an issue -- it is a potential issue in prosecution," said a senior Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the review is ongoing. "The purpose of the review is to see how much of an issue and to see in what cases it is possible to proceed."
The administration is also reviewing whether the controversial military commission system instituted by President George W. Bush should be retained in some form for detainees who cannot be tried because of Miranda or other legal hurdles.
When Sarah Palin accepted the Republican nomination in Minneapolis, she was criticized for saying of Obama that, "Al-Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights." Obama didn't deny the charge, but instead focused on the habeas issue that had gotten so much attention over the summer. Obama said that the right to habeas "says very simply: If the government grabs you, then you have the right to at least ask, 'Why was I grabbed?' And say, 'Maybe you've got the wrong person.'" He went on, "We don't always catch the right person. We may think it's Mohammed the terrorist, but it might be Mohammed the cab driver. You might think it's Barack the bomb-thrower, but it might be Barack the guy running for president."
When I heard Palin read that line at the convention, I thought it was an exaggeration for rhetorical effect. Obama had never called for terrorists to be read Miranda rights on the battlefield. Now, if the Los Angeles Times is to be believed, his administration is considering doing just that. The obvious consequence of such a decision: terrorists would now have the right to remain silent.
Posted by Michael Goldfarb on February 10, 2009 12:26 PM
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Interesting McCain news
Oh boy. I received this email on Tuesday from Friends of McCain. I was on the McCain/Palin email list so this is where they probably got my address:
"Being the Republican nominee for President was one of the great honors of my life and an experience I will never forget. Some have wondered, after my hard fought presidential campaign, if I plan to run for re-election to the United States Senate.
I want you to know that I do intend to seek re-election. The magnitude of the financial crisis that many American families are facing makes it clear to me that I want to continue to serve our country in the Senate.
The economic challenges currently confronting our nation are immense and unfortunately, the Democrats in Congress propose addressing these challenges through increased spending that wastes billions of taxpayers dollars and saddles our children and grandchildren with a staggering debt. Their proposals will not stimulate economic growth or create jobs. While the leader of the Democratic Party, President Obama, has pledged to change business as usual in Washington and spoken of bipartisanship, I have been saddened to watch as Congressional Democrats try to use their majority to advocate more of the same failed policies and wasteful spending of the past. With so much at stake, now is not the time to step away from my work in the Senate. As always, I anticipate a tough re-election challenge. But with your help, we will counter those efforts and put forth an aggressive campaign by registering new voters, reaching out to Democrats, Independents and Republicans, and again earning the support of Hispanic and Native American voters in Arizona. I am honored to serve the people of Arizona as their United States Senator. I would be most appreciative of your support of my re-election efforts and hope you will click here to join my re-election team. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
John McCain"
Believe me, I'm grateful that he chose Palin as his running mate last year. At the time, I thought his main reason for picking her was because that was his last shot at running for President and therefore wasn't as scared of picking a bold choice. I was proud of him for doing that. But now, after everything that happened during the campaign and after, it seems like he's buying into the idea that Palin is the reason he lost. I don't know for sure; it just seems that way to me. I can't forgive him standing idly by while she was attacked by his people. And I certainly won't forgive him for running a lousy campaign and "reaching out to Democrats." I've had enough of that.
I'm grateful for his sacrifices and life-long public service, but I wish he would just focus on his Arizona constituency now.
"Being the Republican nominee for President was one of the great honors of my life and an experience I will never forget. Some have wondered, after my hard fought presidential campaign, if I plan to run for re-election to the United States Senate.I want you to know that I do intend to seek re-election. The magnitude of the financial crisis that many American families are facing makes it clear to me that I want to continue to serve our country in the Senate.
The economic challenges currently confronting our nation are immense and unfortunately, the Democrats in Congress propose addressing these challenges through increased spending that wastes billions of taxpayers dollars and saddles our children and grandchildren with a staggering debt. Their proposals will not stimulate economic growth or create jobs. While the leader of the Democratic Party, President Obama, has pledged to change business as usual in Washington and spoken of bipartisanship, I have been saddened to watch as Congressional Democrats try to use their majority to advocate more of the same failed policies and wasteful spending of the past. With so much at stake, now is not the time to step away from my work in the Senate. As always, I anticipate a tough re-election challenge. But with your help, we will counter those efforts and put forth an aggressive campaign by registering new voters, reaching out to Democrats, Independents and Republicans, and again earning the support of Hispanic and Native American voters in Arizona. I am honored to serve the people of Arizona as their United States Senator. I would be most appreciative of your support of my re-election efforts and hope you will click here to join my re-election team. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
John McCain"
Believe me, I'm grateful that he chose Palin as his running mate last year. At the time, I thought his main reason for picking her was because that was his last shot at running for President and therefore wasn't as scared of picking a bold choice. I was proud of him for doing that. But now, after everything that happened during the campaign and after, it seems like he's buying into the idea that Palin is the reason he lost. I don't know for sure; it just seems that way to me. I can't forgive him standing idly by while she was attacked by his people. And I certainly won't forgive him for running a lousy campaign and "reaching out to Democrats." I've had enough of that.
I'm grateful for his sacrifices and life-long public service, but I wish he would just focus on his Arizona constituency now.
No disappointment
Earlier I expressed disappointment that Palin isn’t going to attend CPAC. This isn’t disappointment in her, rather my disappointment that CPAC will not be as good without her. I believe she’s the future of the Republican Party and I would like anyone in her position and with her ideas, delivering a key-note address at CPAC. I was interested to read her speech and listen to what she had to say. I’m sorry I can’t do that, but I have absolutely no disappointment in her at all.
Palin doesn’t need CPAC. Her turning down the invitation just proves how dedicated, loyal and dependable she is to her constituency. At her heart, Palin serves the people of Alaska. That’s her job and she knows it. She’s not a career politician trying to climb the ladder to national power. She’s someone who really believes that she has a responsibility to Alaska. Even when she attended the Alfalfa Club Dinner, she left after work on Friday and before work on Monday, so she wouldn’t miss one day on the job. She was elected to do this job – so it’s a good thing! This makes her all the more qualified for 2012. Compare her behavior with that of Obama’s over the past two years. She’s turning down invitations to national political events to work hard at being a Governor – while Obama spent the past two years campaigning and voting “present” in the Senate. He also admittedly showed up late to many Senate sessions. Who would you rather have as President? Palin, that’s for sure!
Alaskans also have a lot to do with this decision. Whenever I read comments from the locals on Alaskan news websites (linked on the right) they’re mostly the same: they express disappointment that Palin left the state to go campaigning with John McCain last year. They lament that she was gone for three months, that she had to do long-distance governing and the Lt. Gov had much to do in her absence. Remember she had such a high approval rating in Alaska before the campaign. They loved her – and why not, the American public loved her too, when we got to meet her. Those same qualities we love in her are the same reasons why Alaskans didn’t want to “share” her. They finally had a Governor who was doing some good hard work for Alaska and they wanted her to keep doing it! I feel for them. If Palin were my Governor I wouldn’t want to share, either. I felt the same way when George W. Bush decided to run for President when he was such a great Governor for my state, Texas.
I think this could be a signal that she’ll seek re-election as Governor in 2010, which is what I was hoping she would do. No matter what, she’ll be a great Governor for Alaska. But I think her being a Governor, head of state, a true leader, will help her chances in 2012.
Palin doesn’t need CPAC. Her turning down the invitation just proves how dedicated, loyal and dependable she is to her constituency. At her heart, Palin serves the people of Alaska. That’s her job and she knows it. She’s not a career politician trying to climb the ladder to national power. She’s someone who really believes that she has a responsibility to Alaska. Even when she attended the Alfalfa Club Dinner, she left after work on Friday and before work on Monday, so she wouldn’t miss one day on the job. She was elected to do this job – so it’s a good thing! This makes her all the more qualified for 2012. Compare her behavior with that of Obama’s over the past two years. She’s turning down invitations to national political events to work hard at being a Governor – while Obama spent the past two years campaigning and voting “present” in the Senate. He also admittedly showed up late to many Senate sessions. Who would you rather have as President? Palin, that’s for sure!
Alaskans also have a lot to do with this decision. Whenever I read comments from the locals on Alaskan news websites (linked on the right) they’re mostly the same: they express disappointment that Palin left the state to go campaigning with John McCain last year. They lament that she was gone for three months, that she had to do long-distance governing and the Lt. Gov had much to do in her absence. Remember she had such a high approval rating in Alaska before the campaign. They loved her – and why not, the American public loved her too, when we got to meet her. Those same qualities we love in her are the same reasons why Alaskans didn’t want to “share” her. They finally had a Governor who was doing some good hard work for Alaska and they wanted her to keep doing it! I feel for them. If Palin were my Governor I wouldn’t want to share, either. I felt the same way when George W. Bush decided to run for President when he was such a great Governor for my state, Texas.
I think this could be a signal that she’ll seek re-election as Governor in 2010, which is what I was hoping she would do. No matter what, she’ll be a great Governor for Alaska. But I think her being a Governor, head of state, a true leader, will help her chances in 2012.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Palin not attending CPAC?
I guess Palin is not going to attend CPAC this month. The schedule listed her as "invited" but not "confirmed." I wasn't really concerned about that because several attendees were listed that way. But I suppose that really was the case, because I read this morning on CNN that she is not going to attend and didn't give a reason. She has been removed from the official CPAC agenda online as well. I'm disappointed.
Palin won't be making CPAC appearance
Posted: 10:31 AM ET
February 11, 2009
From CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand
(CNN) — Sarah Palin will not be attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington later this month, her office confirmed to CNN Tuesday.
The Alaska governor had been expected to serve as the headline attraction at the three day event, which is also scheduled to include conservative icons like Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter. The presidential straw poll conducted at the annual Washington gathering is widely viewed as a reliable bellwether of conservative support. Several of the GOP’s past — and potentially future — presidential hopefuls are also slated to address the gathering, including Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.Palin spokesman Bill McAllister did not give a reason for the governor's decision, but did agree with one organizer's explanation that it would be difficult for the governor to visit in the middle of the state’s legislative session.
The former Republican vice presidential candidate, who recently launched SarahPAC to assist conservative candidates and cultivate a national network of supporters, visited Washington late last month to attend the exclusive Alfalfa Club dinner and several private events.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Palin invited to CPAC, scheduled for speech
Palin has been invited to speak at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC this month. The conference is a great opportunity for the leaders of the party to organize and plan for the future. I'm thrilled that Palin was invited and scheduled to speak.
Along with Palin there are many other big names scheduled to speak at the conference: John Bolton, Mike Huckabee, Joe Scarborough, Michael Steele, John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Glenn Beck, Tim Pawlenty, Mark Steyn, Bill Bennett, Ann Coulter, Mitch McConnell, David Horowitz, Rush Limbaugh and many more.
Palin's speech is scheduled for Thursday, February 26 at 4:30. You should check out the rest of the schedule here. The discussion topics are awesome and I'm absolutely ecstatic that Palin will be involved in them as well.
Along with Palin there are many other big names scheduled to speak at the conference: John Bolton, Mike Huckabee, Joe Scarborough, Michael Steele, John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Glenn Beck, Tim Pawlenty, Mark Steyn, Bill Bennett, Ann Coulter, Mitch McConnell, David Horowitz, Rush Limbaugh and many more.
Palin's speech is scheduled for Thursday, February 26 at 4:30. You should check out the rest of the schedule here. The discussion topics are awesome and I'm absolutely ecstatic that Palin will be involved in them as well.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Washed-up brainless actress tries to decide what's best for Alaska
Ashley Judd, a washed-up actress, is part of the Hollywood idiotti that spouts their political views to anyone who will listen. In Judd's case, it appears to be an attempt to generate pub for herself, in order to remind movie makers that she's still alive and needs to make money. I can't remember any recent movie she was in, and I won't be bothered to look up this twit on IMDB.
A new website launched this week called "Eye on Palin; Her Anti-Wolf, Anti-Wildlife Agenda," and Ashley Judd made a video slamming Palin for her "anti-wolf" policies. It's clear that Judd is uninformed and didn't do any research on this issue. Also, this is clearly an attempt by the Left to release a "shocking" video to fear-monger voters against Palin.
The bottom line is, a washed-up uninformed Hollywood actress has no business telling the people in Alaska what's best for them. The practice she's speaking of is brutal but there may be a good reason for its use. This affects such a small group of Alaskans. I will never know what it's like to rely on moose and caribou meat for my family. This practice deeply affects Alaskans and their livelihood - far be it for me, or anyone else not familiar with the situation, to condemn them. I'm not the one living there and dealing with wildlife on a daily basis, and relying on it for food. If I feel it's an important issue then I will research it thoroughly and make a decision, not simply watch an Ashley Judd youtube video. Please.
And what we may find, after research, probably is that Palin isn't even the one in charge of making these decisions.
This is Palin's response to the video:
One bright spot from this stupid video is that this issue was previously discussed at length, ad nauseam, during the presidential campaign last year. The Left decided to bring it back up - again. The reason? There's nothing left for them to vilify Palin with. They're just going to keep throwing these baseless accusations at her again and again because there's nothing there. This makes me happy because if something were there, it would have been found out by now.
So instead of fostering a discussion or debate about her political views, the Left demonizes her and vilifies her, and uses fear-mongering tactics to turn people against her. The problem with that is people aren't stupid - no matter what MSM tries to do the public still can't get enough of Palin. They want to hear what she has to say. It's backfiring on MSM big time.
A new website launched this week called "Eye on Palin; Her Anti-Wolf, Anti-Wildlife Agenda," and Ashley Judd made a video slamming Palin for her "anti-wolf" policies. It's clear that Judd is uninformed and didn't do any research on this issue. Also, this is clearly an attempt by the Left to release a "shocking" video to fear-monger voters against Palin.
The bottom line is, a washed-up uninformed Hollywood actress has no business telling the people in Alaska what's best for them. The practice she's speaking of is brutal but there may be a good reason for its use. This affects such a small group of Alaskans. I will never know what it's like to rely on moose and caribou meat for my family. This practice deeply affects Alaskans and their livelihood - far be it for me, or anyone else not familiar with the situation, to condemn them. I'm not the one living there and dealing with wildlife on a daily basis, and relying on it for food. If I feel it's an important issue then I will research it thoroughly and make a decision, not simply watch an Ashley Judd youtube video. Please.
And what we may find, after research, probably is that Palin isn't even the one in charge of making these decisions.
This is Palin's response to the video:
"It is reprehensible and hypocritical that the Defenders of Wildlife would use Alaska and my administration as a fundraising tool to deceive Americans into parting with their hard-earned money.This reminds me of farmers and ranchers who have to kill prairie dogs because of their digging holes in the farmland. Livestock break their legs tripping on the holes, resulting in death. The holes also destroy massive amounts of crops. People not familiar with the situation are shocked that prairie dogs would have to be killed but it's a necessary part of raising livestock and growing crops. If fringe groups tried to stop the removal of prairie dogs, then the agriculture business would suffer greatly. So, this is another case in which people who don't have to live and die by the business should keep their mouths shut.
The ad campaign by this extreme fringe group, as Alaskans have witnessed over the last several years, distorts the facts about Alaska’s wildlife management programs. Alaskans depend on wildlife for food and cultural practices which can’t be sustained when predators are allowed to decimate moose and caribou populations. Our predator control programs are scientific and successful at protecting vulnerable wildlife. These audacious fundraising attempts misrepresent what goes on in Alaska, and I encourage people to learn the facts about Alaska’s positive record of managing wildlife for abundance.
Shame on the Defenders of Wildlife for twisting the truth in an effort to raise funds from innocent and hard-pressed Americans struggling with these rough economic times."
One bright spot from this stupid video is that this issue was previously discussed at length, ad nauseam, during the presidential campaign last year. The Left decided to bring it back up - again. The reason? There's nothing left for them to vilify Palin with. They're just going to keep throwing these baseless accusations at her again and again because there's nothing there. This makes me happy because if something were there, it would have been found out by now.
So instead of fostering a discussion or debate about her political views, the Left demonizes her and vilifies her, and uses fear-mongering tactics to turn people against her. The problem with that is people aren't stupid - no matter what MSM tries to do the public still can't get enough of Palin. They want to hear what she has to say. It's backfiring on MSM big time.
Palin trying to cut costs in AK - $268 million
Another example of Palin's fiscal conservatism in Alaska, while the democratic majority in DC is trying to push the stimulus on us. Quite a contrast.
Palin further reduces spending as budget gap grows
by Rebecca Palsha
KTUU.com
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Gov. Sarah Palin is asking lawmakers to shave spending and tap into savings to deal with a worsening budget situation, caused by a big drop in the price of oil.
The governor gave lawmakers a supplemental budget Tuesday that reduces general spending by more than $260 million.
She's also asking them to tap into the state's savings account to balance the budget.
"The price of a barrel of oil has plummeted so we had to be even more prudent of course in budgeting public dollars," Palin said.
Even by reducing spending by $268.6 million, the state is still facing a budget shortfall of about $1.36 billion.
Palin also wants to use money from the state's $7 billion savings account, but needs permission from lawmakers to make it happen.
"I think they are taking it serious, and we are also going to take it serious, and we'll scrub those numbers and work together with the administration," Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, said. "Because not only this beast to deal with, we have an even have a bigger issue (fiscal year 2010)."
But some lawmakers say they need more information before coming to any decisions.
"I think that the administration needs to look at the budget and be more specific, because that is how the administration sets its priorities," Rep. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, said. "Without an unallocated reduction it does not give us that insight."
Currently there's a state hiring freeze. To shave off more spending state departments are not filling vacant positions and delaying purchases.
But some lawmakers feel those aren't really cuts.
Rep. Mike Hawker said in statement, "We're going to be looking for a specific statement of policy from the governor, and where she intends to actually take those reductions as we complete the supplemental budget."
"We've got to make sure we're streamlining, finding efficiencies -- we're going to continue to do that in these next weeks and months, also suggesting to lawmakers were more efficiencies will lie and what we can do about it," Palin said.
Changes are sure to be revealed over the next few weeks.
Monday, February 2, 2009
"Let them eat cake," Congress says
Please watch this news clip from Fox News. Congress tried to sneak this in over the weekend hoping no one would notice.
Everyone in DC is telling us to cut back, tighten our belts and try to survive the economic crisis. Obama even blasted Wall Street execs for receiving bonuses.
In the midst of all this, Congress gave itself a $93,000 petty cash increase for each Congressman. This is on top of their already-over $100k salary.
Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNRt9R7S8aM&eurl=http://minx.cc/?blog=86&post=282109&feature=player_embedded
h/t Ace of Spades
13 days into this Administration and this is what's going on?
If we're in an economic crisis then act like it, Congress!
Everyone in DC is telling us to cut back, tighten our belts and try to survive the economic crisis. Obama even blasted Wall Street execs for receiving bonuses.
In the midst of all this, Congress gave itself a $93,000 petty cash increase for each Congressman. This is on top of their already-over $100k salary.
Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNRt9R7S8aM&eurl=http://minx.cc/?blog=86&post=282109&feature=player_embedded
h/t Ace of Spades
13 days into this Administration and this is what's going on?
If we're in an economic crisis then act like it, Congress!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Palin joins nation's elite at exclusive dinner
Palin was invited to the prestigious Alfalfa Club dinner last night, an annual gathering of the nations elite in DC. The dinner is a night of excellent food and frivolity. Many attendees share the stage to tell jokes, including this year, President Obama. Palin herself was the subject of a few jokes (surprise), but they seemed to be told in good fun.As this beautiful article written by Erika Bolstad says, Palin's invitation to this dinner shows that she's "made it." She was very respectful during her visit to DC and kept a low profile. In my opinion, she did everything right this weekend. Congratulations to her being invited to this exclusive event.
Palin joins nation's elite at exclusive dinner
EXCLUSIVE: Palin's higher profile got her into the annual dinner.
By ERIKA BOLSTAD
Anchorage Daily News
Published: January 31st, 2009 08:29 PM
Last Modified: February 1st, 2009 12:27 AM
WASHINGTON -- Mere months ago, Gov. Sarah Palin was introduced to the world as a hockey mom who hunts and fishes, remains grounded in small-town values and is married to her blue-collar, snowmachine-loving high school sweetheart.
Saturday night, Palin was whisked into the governors-and-Cabinet-members-only section of one of the capital's most exclusive parties: the Alfalfa Club dinner. Wearing an elegant black satin evening gown and a matching wrap, hair loose to her shoulders, Palin was about as far away as anyone can get from field-dressing a moose.
The dinner was held in the heart of Washington, D.C., at the Capital Hilton within sight of the White House. Palin's invitation to the Alfalfa Club was "a coup," said Letitia Baldrige, who served as the White House social secretary and chief of staff to Jacqueline Kennedy.
"It's something that everybody who's anybody in politics wants to be invited to," Baldrige said.
If a roasting by the most powerful people in America is a sign you've made it, then Palin had clearly arrived. Or, at the very least, was acknowledged Saturday night as one of the most interesting women in American politics.
The outgoing president of the Alfalfa Club, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, teased Palin in a way allowable only by a fellow veteran of the vice presidential campaign trail.
"I was seriously being considered to be McCain's pick for vice president," said Lieberman, Al Gore's 2000 running mate and a former Democrat who campaigned for Sen. John McCain this year.
"But then John called me," Lieberman said. "As he always does, he got right to the point. He said, 'Joe, I can't do it. I need more than just a pretty face.' "
"I was so close. As close as Alaska is to Russia. You could almost say that from my doorstep I could see the vice president's mansion," he said.
The club's roots are deep in Washington. While it has a prestigious guest list these days, it was a drinking club first and foremost when it was founded in 1913, said Donald Ritchie, the associate historian of the U.S. Senate. That's where Alfalfa comes in -- the alfalfa plant "put down deep roots and could always get a drink," Ritchie said. The plant would "persevere to get a drink, and so would they."
ultra-exclusive
The Alfalfa Club was so prestigious that in the 1920s and '30s, Washington newspapers would print the names of attendees, Ritchie said. The annual dinner remains an enduring tradition that few besides insiders are allowed to glimpse.
Because its founders were Southerners -- and in 1913, Washington was a Southern town -- they chose Gen. Robert E. Lee's birthday for the date of their annual celebration. The dinner continues to be around Lee's birthday, Jan. 19, although the club's origins appear to have little other connection to the Civil War general.
The guest list is the embodiment of the old question: If you could have a dinner party and invite anyone, who would be on your guest list? Did we mention that President Barack Obama was there, telling jokes?
"I know that many of you are aware that this dinner began almost 100 years ago as a way to celebrate the birthday of Gen. Robert E. Lee," Obama said. "If he were here with us tonight, the general would be 202 years old. And very confused."
The governor's office wouldn't say who invited Palin, but by tradition, each member is allowed two guests.
Her host could be among any number of famous, powerful or once-powerful members, including Palin's fellow Alaskan, former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who also attended Saturday's dinner.
Palin's presidential running mate, Sen. John McCain, is a member. So is the man whose job she wanted: Vice President Joe Biden.
ted in the spotlight
According to accounts of the dinners of the past decade, the event retains the air of a 1950s fraternity banquet. Typically, the club's members pick an honorary "president" each year -- and do little else officially. In 2003, the Washington Post's account reported that Stevens accepted the Alfalfans' presidential nomination wearing a fur hat, sealskin vest and mukluks, and brandishing an oosik, a walrus penis bone.
Stevens laid out his health care platform, which, according to the Post, was to find a cure for frostbite. "When it comes to frostbite," said Stevens, then 79, "what you have to worry about is nose, toes and something that at my age may as well be froze."
Former first lady Barbara Bush had this comeback, according to the Post: "Ted, this is the third time you've brought one of those walrus things to this dinner. I hate to think what went on here before women were admitted."
The Alfalfa Club did not allow women as members until 1993. But Saturday night, dozens of powerful women streamed in, some members, some guests: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell on the arm of her husband, Alan Greenspan. And Palin.
palin keeps low profile
The governor's weekend itinerary wasn't limited to the Alfalfa Club. It included a Friday night dinner at the home of Fred Malek, who headed McCain's campaign finance committee. She also was scheduled to meet with her Washington staff and attend a luncheon at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Palin has kept a low profile on this trip. She turned down all requests for interviews, including the other invitations that indicate one's arrival in Washington: appearances on the Sunday morning talk shows. She also didn't attend any events that could be perceived as partisan, including the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee, also this weekend.
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