Alaska Republicans take steps to stop another Tea Party takeover.

Sarah Palin and Joe Miller, the faces behind the insurgents who terrify the Alaska Republican party.

Courtesy of Alaska Public Media:  

The Alaska Republican Party has taken measures to prevent a political takeover, like one that was instigated by Tea Party activists in 2012. 

The new rules say a person has to be registered as a Republican for at least four years before seeking a top leadership position, and they require all candidates for the party’s statewide offices to be vetted by a special committee before they can run. The rules were adopted on Saturday, at the Alaska Republican Party’s biannual convention. They come in response to a coup staged by a group of Ron Paul supporters at the 2012 convention. 

“Two years ago, people that were not Republicans were registering to become Republicans on the day of their district conventions and participating,” says Goldberg. “That’s really not appropriate.” 

The insurgents elected a libertarian-leaning chair and vice chair, but the Alaska Republican Party’s old guard removed them from office last year. 

Very few of those insurgents were present at this year’s convention, which was held in Juneau. But the 2016 convention will happen in Fairbanks, making an influx of dissidents more likely.

As many of you will remember I covered the 2012 Tea Party coup in between trips to the store for more popcorn.  Including when the establishment Republicans began wrestling back control.

Ultimately I think this is mostly about keeping Joe Miller from being selected as the candidate to run against Mark Begich, as well, of course, to protect the party from anymore of his takeover attempts.

I still think it is too late for the Alaska GOP to get their act together and launch a reasonable campaign against Senator Begich, as attested to by the fact that virtually ALL of the ads for the establishment choice Dan Sullivan appear to be paid for by the Koch brothers, and not by the Republican party in Alaska.

The Republicans up here may have found a way to protect themselves from any more coups, but they may also find it much harder to repair the reputation that was damaged so badly by the events of 2012 orchestrated by Joe Miller, while following Sarah Palin's old playbook of course.

P.S. It looks like the Alaska Republicans are not the only ones seeking a way to keep the Teabaggers out.