Sarah Palin in a cage match with Rep. Jay Ramras over relief efforts for Alaskan villages. GET READY TO RUUMMBLE!

I just received this juicy bit of news from my friend Dennis Zaki of the Alaskan Report.

First this from a State of Alaska press release:

Governor Sarah Palin today lauded the work of the multiple state agencies, nonprofits and faith-based organizations that have worked in a cooperative effort to deliver supplies to Lower Yukon River communities affected by high fuel and food prices. ("Thank you so much, if you had not been so generous I may have been forced to do my job and risk missing an opportunity to bask in the national spotlight. Here let me check my two Blackberry's and see if there is an opening of a theme park I can attend or something")

The governor also expressed concern about inaccurate comments made to the media by Representative Jay Ramras that the state has failed to make state assets available to deliver supplies to communities.

“We are working cooperatively with the communities, many legislators, Native corporations, and other entities to address the needs in these areas,” Governor Palin said. “I am disappointed that Representative Ramras failed to express his concerns to my office before issuing a press release with incomplete and misleading information. This is particularly concerning since he knew I would be attending a meeting with his entire caucus that evening. Representative Ramras did not mention the specific issue of using state assets to me personally at the meeting. Instead, I read about it later in the press release. Truly Alaskans deserve better than that kind of ‘politics as usual’ (God she loves this phrase!). It is unfortunate that the representative sees this as an opportunity to play politics rather than help in the response."

What? Sarah Palin did something for the villages in the Yukon Delta and we did not know about it? How is that possible when we have been searching every news outlet in Alaska for weeks for some sign that she even knows how bad the problem has become?

Well if this is true then I owe the Governor an apology for all of my blogging which condemned her administration for not providing an adequate response to this crisis. Well, when I am wrong, I am wrong, so here it goes.

"Governor Palin I would like to sincerely apo....wait, what is that Rep. Ramras?"

From an Jay Ramras press release:

"I am shocked and appalled that Governor Palin would stoop to making derogatory statements about me," Ramras said. "My question to her during our caucus last night was 'where is the food?' In my interactions with her own administration I have spoken with Lieutenant General Craig Campbell from the Department of Military & Veterans Affairs; Commissioner Joe Masters from the Department of Public Safety; Commissioner Emil Notti from the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development; her Deputy Chief of Staff Randy Ruaro, and numerous others since we first learned of the hardships in Emmonak and Western Alaska. In my press release, I acknowledged that DPS, after much pleading, provided a small plane for transport from Bethel to Kotlik.

"That the governor would accuse me of politicizing the current economic situation in the Lower Yukon strikes me as fool-hardy and Clinton-esque," Ramras added. "I introduced House Bill 114 yesterday. That was the subject of the press release. And I am offended that the governor would call my service into question. I have been organizing food and supply drives for needy Alaska communities and groups for years, and spoke on the House Floor yesterday about the success we've seen thanks to the many groups that have come together over the last few weeks to help. I pointed to her lack of leadership on this issue; I didn’t do it politically, I did it because it's true: she has been too silent and her administration has taken too long to help in relief efforts. We are already weeks late."

Yeah Governor, about that apology? Don't hold your breath!