Governor Palin getting more work done

Last week Palin signed legislation that protects Alaskans' 2nd Amendment Rights, as well as made some significant Board appointments.

She signed House Bill 201 and resolutions HJR 17, SJR 10, HJR 27 and SJR 3, that all have to do with gun ownership.

“The right to own guns and use them responsibly is something I and many other Alaskans cherish,” Governor Palin said. “We have to be vigilant to protect the rights of individual Alaskans to own and use guns. I appreciate the work of our legislature in standing up for the Constitution.”

Governor Palin also: announced appointments to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute Board of Directors, the Alaska State Council on the Arts, the Alaska Workers’ Compensation Board, and the State Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors.

Palin's hard work this week

Let's talk about some of the work Palin's been doing in Alaska this week and last, sandwiched around her trip to Kosovo. From her website:

Governor Safeguarding Student Loans: Signed Legislation That Will Avert Disruption

“This bill ensures Alaska’s students will not be left out in the cold despite the current economic downturn,” Governor Palin said. “Without this legislation, no Alaska student loans could be made this fall.”

Governor Opposes Waxman-Markey Energy Bill

“This bill does not offer enough flexibility to states to meet national standards and goals,” Governor Palin said. “Flexibility is particularly important for Alaska. Our cold climate and rural populations make it difficult for Alaskans to implement technologies that work elsewhere. Again, this is a case of one size doesn’t fit all.”

Governor Makes Board Appointments

Governor Sarah Palin today announced appointments to the Advisory Council on Libraries, the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation Board of Directors, and the Water and Wastewater Works Advisory Board.

Palin visits the Alaska National Guard Troops in Kosovo

Palin is in Kosovo this weekend on a tour to visit Alaska National Guard troops in Kosovo. From her website:

A part of Governor Palin’s duties while she is in country is to inspect the troops and ascertain how the experience in Kosovo will better prepare these service members for missions within Alaska and future deployments overseas.

“As commander-in-chief, Governor Palin is the one we look to for leadership and inspiration while serving and defending the sovereign boundaries of Alaska,” said Lt. Gen. (AK) Craig E. Campbell, Adjutant General of the Alaska National Guard. “We thank the commanding general of the Multi-National Task Force East for the invitation to visit and for his hospitality while in country.”

I love that. As commander-in-chief, Palin oversees the National Guard troops for her state. That's what's great about Governors, they have commander-in-chief experience they can use when they're POTUS.

The trip is supposed to last through the weekend, where she'll also visit other troops in other countries. Stay tuned for details.

Sarah and Todd visited the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier last Monday

Here are some photos from their visit; all of them are from ADN.

Senate vacancy finally filled ending standoff

From the AP:

Palin's state Senate pick ends standoff with Dems
By ANNE SUTTON – 10 hours ago

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A weekslong standoff between Gov. Sarah Palin and Alaska Democrats over a vacant Senate seat has ended with her appointment of former Juneau Mayor Dennis Egan to the job.

The governor's office announced Egan's appointment Sunday afternoon about six hours before the deadline for adjournment of the 2009 legislative session. The 62-year-old Egan was sworn in by Senate President Gary Stevens shortly before the Senate adjourned.

Palin Stresses Need for Missile Defense

From the Governor's website

Palin Stresses Need for Missile Defense
Importance of Fort Greely

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-75

Governor Palin Stresses Need for Strong Missile Defense Capability

April 6, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – Responding to the missile test by North Korea, Governor Sarah Palin today reaffirmed Alaska’s commitment to protecting America from rogue nation missile attacks.

“I am deeply concerned with North Korea’s development and testing program which has clear potential of impacting Alaska, a sovereign state of the United States, with a potentially nuclear armed warhead,” Governor Palin said. “I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that we continue to develop and perfect the global missile defense network. Alaska’s strategic location and the system in place here have proven invaluable in defending the nation.”

Governor Palin stressed the importance of Fort Greely and the need for continued funding for the Missile Defense Agency. The governor is firmly against U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ proposed $1.4 billion reduction of the Missile Defense Agency. Greely’s isolated location in Alaska as well as its strategic location in the Pacific allows for maximum security and development of the country’s only ground-based missile defense complex.

“Our early opposition to reduced funding for the Missile Defense Agency is proving to be well-founded during this turbulent time,” Governor Palin said. “I continue to support the development and implementation of a defensive missile shield based in Alaska. We are strategically placed to defend the critical assets of the United States and our allies in the Pacific Theater.”

Governor Palin also requested stimulus funding for the Kodiak Launch Complex. The Kodiak Launch Complex is a commercial rocket launch facility for sub-orbital and orbital space launch vehicles owned and operated by the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation, a public corporation of the State of Alaska.

Palin makes board appointments

Time is limited for me this week. I apologize but I'm just going to post some Palin news in the next few days as I don't know what my schedule will be like.

Palin makes board appointments
Source: Office of the Governor
Updated: 04/02/2009 08:59:51 AM AKDT

Juneau, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin today announced appointments to the Board of Fisheries and the University of Alaska's Board of Regents.

University of Alaska Board of Regents

Governor Palin appointed Ashton Compton to the University of Alaska Board of Regents.

The 11-member Board of Regents governs the statewide University of Alaska system; formulates university policy, and appoints the University's president. By law, one member is a full-time student of the University, appointed by the governor from a slate of candidates selected by student election at each of the university's campuses. Student regents serve a two-year term, compared to the eight-year term of other regents.

Compton, of Fairbanks, is a junior political science major at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). She has worked as a program assistant for UAF Student Organizations since 2008. Compton has also worked as a page and assistant sergeant-at-arms for the Alaska State Legislature from 2005-07.

Compton is a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and the Two Rivers and North Star Grange organizations. She is co-founder and president of the Red Cross Club of UAF, and performs volunteer service with the Fairbanks Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and the Alternative Spring Break and Youth Service Opportunity programs. She was born in Fairbanks, and attended schools in Alaska and Idaho. Her appointment represents the first time the Board of Regents has included a student from the UAF campus since 2002.

"It is a pleasure to appoint to the Board of Regents an outstanding young woman who was not only born in Fairbanks, but who has returned home to pursue her education at the leading campus of the University of Alaska system," said Governor Palin. "Ashton Compton's dedication to service is manifested by her involvement in university organizations, her service in the state Legislature, and her volunteer work in her home town. I have every confidence she will represent her campus and community well as a University regent."

Board of Fisheries

Governor Palin appointed Brent G. Johnson, and reappointed Karl S. Johnstone, to the Board of Fisheries.

The seven-member Board of Fisheries is responsible for conservation and development of the state's fishery resources by setting seasons, bag limits, methods and means for the state's subsistence, commercial, sport, guided sport, and personal use fisheries. The board sets fishery management policy, and makes the allocation decisions which the Department of Fish and Game must carry out through its management of fishery resources.

Johnson, of Clam Gulch, is a lifelong commercial fisherman who has been a salmon setnetter for most of his life. He has worked as a salmon and herring seiner and halibut longliner in Cook Inlet, and as a salmon seiner in Prince William Sound. Johnson has been active in fisheries management issues, having served more than a decade on the Kenai-Soldotna Fish and Game Advisory Committee from the early 1990s to 2002, the last two years as chairman. He was a member of the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association board of directors from 1988-2001, and rejoined the board as president in 2005. Johnson is a past president and board member of the Kenai Peninsula Fishermen's Association. His appointment represents the first appointment of a Cook Inlet commercial fisherman to the board since 1975.

Johnson has served on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Planning Commission since 1997. He has also been president of Kasilof Regional Historical Association since 2005, and president of the Kenai Peninsula Historical Association since 2008. Born in Seldovia, he graduated from Ninilchik High School in 1973. He was appointed to a public seat.

Johnstone, of Anchorage, is a retired Superior Court judge who has been an active sport fisherman in Alaska since 1967. He fished commercially for salmon in Bristol Bay and herring in Prince William Sound and Southeast Alaska in the 1980s. Johnstone earned a bachelor's degree in business and a law degree from the University of Arizona. He practiced law until 1979 when he was appointed Superior Court judge. Johnstone was appointed presiding judge of the Third Judicial District in 1990 and served in that position until his retirement in 1996. He has since had a limited practice as a lawyer, mediator and arbitrator. Johnstone was reappointed to a public seat.

Palin appoints Christen to Alaska Supreme Court

Do you get the feeling that Palin gets work done at warp speed? I do. She does so many things at once and makes so many decisions that it's hard to keep up. Great for Alaska - she's doing a ton of hard work for them.

Palin fills Alaska Supreme Court vacancy
KTUU.com, by Channel 2 News staff
Wednesday, March 4, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Gov. Sarah Palin appointed Anchorage Superior Court Judge Morgan Christen to the Alaska Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Christen, 47, is the 20th justice appointed to the court.

"I have every confidence that Judge Christen has the experience, intellect, wisdom and character to be an outstanding Supreme Court justice," Palin said in a statement.

According to the press release, Christen has been a presiding judge since 2005 and was named as a superior court judge in 2002. After earning a law degree from Golden Gate University in 1986, Christen clerked for Anchorage Superior Court Justice Brian Shortell from 1986-87.

She joined Preston, Gates and Ellis in 1987 and became a partner in 1992.

Christen will replace Justice Warren Matthews, who has served on the Supreme Court for 22 years -- including six years as chief justice, from 1987-1990 and again from 1997-2000. State law bars judges from serving past 70, and Matthews will turn 70 on April 5.

Under current judicial selection procedures, the Alaska Judicial Council received applications from six Alaska attorneys, winnowed the list to two names, and forwarded them to the governor, who made the final decision.

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.