Did Governor Sean Parnell appoint an Evangelical time bomb to the Alaska Supreme Court?

Parnell announced his choice of Judge Craig Stowers on Wednesday, citing his "character, legal experience, his strong work ethic, his intellect, and his record of service to Alaska's people."

Stowers is president of the board of Anchorage-based Christian Health Associates, a nonprofit involved in medical care for low-income people and "pastoral and clinical counseling

Absolutely NOTHING wrong with a person of strong faith doing good works in the name of Christianity. A lot of people give to the community in this way. MY only concern is the "pastoral and clinical counseling" which sounds very much like proselytizing under the guise of providing psychological counseling. I am not a fan of untrained individuals providing such counseling based on their biblical beliefs and not on years of therapeutic training.

"I care deeply about people, families, Alaska and law. I have an abiding love of theology and strive to follow Micah 6:8," Stowers wrote in his application to the judicial council.

That Bible verse says, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

He put a bible verse on his application to the judicial council? Who does that? I mean it is little presumptuous to assume that quoting from the bible will garner support from council focused on the law of man, and not God's law.

Stowers, 55, also wrote to the council that growing up in Yorktown, Va., "imbued me with a deep respect for American history and the principles upon which our country was founded."

Oooh that sounds a little "teabaggy" to me.

Parnell's choice has the approval of the Alaska Family Council, a Christian group that lobbied hard against then-Gov. Sarah Palin's choice of a former Planned Parenthood board member to the Alaska Supreme Court earlier this year.

"We're very pleased with that, (Stowers) was what we were hoping for," said Jim Minnery, president of the Alaska Family Council. "He seems to have been someone that's followed the more constructionist viewpoint of interpreting the Constitution, and we'd like to think his track record shows he's not going to legislate from the bench."

Well if Stowers is the choice the Alaska Family Council was "hoping for" that is a pretty big red flag in my humble opinion. After all the AFC is "all anti-abortion, all of the time" and they would not be "hoping" for a candidate that they were not confident shared their agenda.

On the other hand Stowers WAS the judge who demanded that the state preserve Palin's e-mails until Andree McLeod could successfully sue for access. Of course Stowers was also the judge who recused himself from Andree's case when he was first under consideration for appointment to the Supreme Court, at that time by Sarah herself, back in June of this year.

On yet another hand HE was a founding partner of Clapp, Peterson and Stowers, which is now known as Clapp Peterson Van Flein Tiemessen & Thorsness, and is the law firm that represents Sarah Palin. (I believe I received a threat from Van Flein that featured their letterhead. If I am not mistaken.)

So is this an appointment that should concern progressives in Alaska? Let's look at the evidence. Palin lapdog appoints him, the Alaska Family Council salivates over him, and he seems to view the world, and the law, through a biblical prism. So yes we should be concerned.

Remember, just because Sarah Palin is gone does not mean her agenda is not continuing forward. Sean Parnell is easy to overlook because, well frankly, watching him is like watching paint dry. But the guy is cut from the same wacky cloth as Palin and we do ourselves a disservice not to keep a very close eye on him.