"The conversation (about Ross) in the halls today has changed as a result of the legal advice he supposedly provided Gov. Palin with respect to this Senate vacancy replacement. ... It brings the question back up again as to whether the attorney general ought to be neutral and serve on behalf of Alaskans as opposed to serving at the pleasure of the governor," said Anchorage Republican Sen. Lesil McGuire, who said she will still likely vote in favor of Ross.
Ross's big mouth is legendary. He simply cannot resist expressing his point of view no matter how ignorant it is. And this time it was stunningly ignorant.
But legislative lawyer Pam Finley wrote a memo Wednesday saying "the governor's presenting more than one name at a time to fill a vacancy in the state Legislature does not comply with state law." Ross signed off on Palin submitting multiple names and he raised eyebrows in the Legislature with his reaction to a reporter Wednesday morning when first shown the memo calling it illegal.
"It seems to me the most important thing that can be done by the Senate is not argue with legal or illegal but to appoint somebody to represent Juneau," he said.
Anchorage Democratic Sen. Hollis French gave a speech on the Senate floor calling that a "very troubling suggestion from the attorney general that we ignore the law."
Gee ya think? Wow an AG nominee who believes the law should be ignored if it does not support his point of view! THAT should serve as a face full of cold water for the legislators.
But hey it turns out this whole thing is just one big misunderstanding. Here I will let Governor Sarah explain it to you.
Then, late Wednesday, Palin sent a new letter to the Senate saying she wanted to "eliminate confusion" and make clear that she meant to forward the names of the three candidates in order of her preference -- not as one batch.
Palin said in her new letter that she was re-appointing Grussendorf. And said that, if the Senate Democrats reject him again, then she was appointing Nelson. And -- if Nelson is rejected again -- Palin said she was appointing Wilson.
See Palin was not putting forth three names for consideration, which is against the rules. She was putting forth three names, to be considered one at a time, which is.......still against the rules. Hmmm.
Gee it is too bad that the Governor does not have anybody to give her GOOD legal advice.
Okay as promised I am going to put just a few of the scary pictures of yesterdays teabaggers up so that you do a spit take with your coffee this morning.
WARNING! Some of these are mind numbingly stupid.
There is that sign with the backward "K" I posted about yesterday. It still kind of confuses me.
I heard that the organizers of this rally called various churchs claiming this was an anti-abortion rally. Can you imagine how confused this poor zealot was when she arrived and saw all of the "teabagging" signs?
Okay that is enough. Looking at these signs is making my stomach hurt just like yesterday. If you want to see more then just head on over to Mudflats, Blue Oasis, or Progressive Alaska.)
Now that they have a ruling from the AC that they don't need to follow the law, the legislators should simply go ahead and confirm THEIR original candidate, and tell Palin to shove it.
ReplyDeleteOh I am so ashamed of Crash McGuire. She confused those tricky English prepositions - again! I think she meant 'for' rather than 'at' when saying the AG serves at the pleasure of the Governor. I'm going to call her - again.
ReplyDeleteThe "teabaggers" had NO ideological consistency anywhere. It was all just a sorry excuse for a public display of mostly "white" rage.
ReplyDeleteIn the fall, I saw horrible footage of a McCain/Palin rally shot at a small town in Ohio. Later in the fall, by chance I found myself driving through that very town, and it was meal time. We did not stop at that town, as I refused to give money anywhere such murderous, racist attitudes could be displayed in public and without pause--knowing their attitudes were "acceptable" to their community, and were even acceptable to be filmed without shame. Now I'm sure there are "good" people in that Ohio town, too. But I could not get what I saw captured on film out of my mind.
I suspect others have and will react the same way to some of what they saw the "teabaggers" do, throughout the USA.
I hope W.A.R. goes down, and I hope that the AK Dems get to confirm a candidate while Palin is off speaking to some of the crowd I mentioned above, now gathering in Indiana...who claim to be "right-to-life" while they support many attitudes that bring death and destruction. Ideological consistency eludes them. Anger and hatred from Christians? You betcha.
It just makes you wonder what it would take for Republicans like "Anchorage Republican Sen. Lesil McGuire" to go against their politics, and "do the right thing".
ReplyDeleteCross Posted from Mudflats:
ReplyDeleteWhat Wayne Anthony Ross Thinks About Gay Alaskans.
16 04 2009
Here’s a quick reprint from Bent Alaska. The vote on Ross’ confirmation is scheduled to take place today.
[Sarah Palin's Attorney General Nominee Wayne Anthony] Ross wrote a letter to the Alaska Bar Rag in March 1993 in response to an appeal from “Lawyers Against Discrimination,” a group that opposed the repeal of a non-discrimination ordinance, approved by the Anchorage Assembly, which prohibited the Municipality from employment discrimination on the basis of “sexual preference.”
“It was a big messy battle in Anchorage in late 1992/early 1993,” writes Mel Green. “The ordinance was ultimately rescinded.” Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or preference remains legal today in Anchorage and the rest of Alaska.
This is Ross’ response to Lawyers Against Discrimination:
“Dear LAD: (LAD??? Intentional, on your part? Or merely a Freudian slip?)
I received your letter of 23 February 1993 regarding the Anchorage homosexual rights ordinance. While I am not surprised to see some of the names on your letterhead, I am most disappointed in other names thereon. I had more respect for some of you than I do now.
I am in favor of repeal of the measure. I see nothing involving civil rights in this matter. We all, heterosexual or homosexual, have certain rights. This bill seems to give extra rights to a group whose lifestyle was a crime only a few years ago, and whose beliefs are certainly immoral in the eyes of anyone with some semblance of intelligence and moral character.
It is a shame that you folks don’t have some causes you could become involved in that are of benefit to society in general. Instead, you support degenerates. No wonder the legal profession is treated with less respect than we wish.
If, as you apparently believe, morality is not based on long-standing God-given and God-instilled principles, but is something that changes from time to time based on public perception of right and wrong, then that is even more reason for you to allow this referendum to go to a vote of the people. After all, isn’t it your position that public morality is based upon whatever the public decides?
None of you has done anything publicly (to my knowledge) to attempt to protect the millions of lives of innocent children killed each year through abortion, yet you collectively contribute $5,000 to the cause of sexual perversion. It is quite disheartening to me to see my fellow members of our honorable profession display such a lack of proper priorities.
Wayne Anthony Ross
(from page 7 of the May-June 1993 Alaska Bar Rag)
One last thing on "teabagging." All these people with little kids like at the Wasilla teabagging knew they were being photographed. What are they going to tell their kids years from now, who look back at the photos?
ReplyDelete"Mom, why are we outside with signs in this picture?"
"Oh, son. That's when we were all tea-bagging....and just against things. Remember?"
"But Mom, what did we have against tea?"
"It wasn't the tea. We were against President Obama. And paying taxes. And other things, too."
"But why was Pres. Obama drinking tea? And didn't we just give him more teabags so he could drink more tea? I see a pile of teabags. Wait Johnny is texting me. He says that tea-bagging means something else. Mom! He says that tea-bagging really means--"
"Stop. Okay. We're not those kind of tea-baggers. All right? We didn't know that it meant THAT."
"But now we're all photographed as being for tea-bagging. MOM! The whole world sees us as a tea-bagging family. How could you do this to me?"
My parents brought me to civil rights marches and candidate rallies. The point of those events was very clear.
To paraphrase Paul Krugman of the New York Times,
ReplyDelete"Alaskans [Republicans] have become embarrassing to watch. And it doesn't feel right to make fun of crazy people.
Gryphen, you mentioned "mind numbingly stupid" above.
ReplyDeleteI just noted that there is a John Ziegler-made video on his own website showing what a mind-numbingly stupid person he is.
See the video at http://vimeo.com/4177462
He attempted to crash the Katy Couric Excellence in Political Journalism award ceremony at USC.
The blurb on his own website says, "John Zeigler was detained by the USC Campus Police for simply asking questions about the Excellence in Journalism award being given to Katie Couric at the Journalism building at USC on 04/15/09. He was cuffed and roughed up by campus security after John refused to give up his right to free speech. You have to watch the whole thing to believe what happens."He utilizes classic "protester" tactics by failing completely to acknowledge that he's not on public property but University property without a permit to either broadcast or demonstrate, and by creating a scene where he had to be restrained.
His own camera crew filmed the whole thing -- so that his fans (who are also Sarah Palin fans) can whine about how "badly" he was treated and for the rest of us to see what an attention-seeking idiot he is.
The whole while he had that sappy chipmunk grin on his face -- I'm beginning to wonder if he had cosmetic surgery to make that grinning expression permanent -- and he NEVER STOPPED TALKING.
I hope that all of McGuire's constituents will call or email her office to let her know that when she is next up for re-election her oponent will receive their time & financial support in their campaign against her.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I told my senator & rep!!!!!
SMR
Ross was just voted down. Yipeee!
ReplyDeleteThey just sent him packing! Congratulations Alaskans!
ReplyDelete