Good news over a thousand women who have been raped in Alaska, somebody might actually start to investigate your case now.

Courtesy of KTUU:  

The state of Alaska is getting a $1.1 million federal grant to test backlogged sexual assault evidence in possession of state troopers. 

Gov. Bill Walker's office announced Tuesday the U.S. Justice Department funds will be used to process more than 1,000 sexual assault kits. 

Officials say that altogether law enforcement agencies across the state are in possession of about 3,000 unprocessed kits. Amanda Price, Walker's senior crime policy advisor, says the Anchorage Police Department is among those exploring options on processing their backlogs of sexual assault kits. 

Officials say the trooper kits will be transferred to the state crime lab for processing.

I've heard of justice moving slowly, but seriously WTF?

Actually I know what the fuck because I asked about this several years ago.

What I heard then was that the state simply did not have the resources to process the unusually high number of rape kits that come in seemingly every month. Because of that the chances of a woman's rapist being prosecuted in Alaska was incredibly low unless they actually killed her or there were numerous witnesses.

Some of these 3,000 unprocessed rape kits date back as far as 1984, which means that some women who were victimized have lived with the repercussions for thirty years without seeing justice done, or even seeing an attempt to locate their attacker.

And since many of these women live in villages that means that they could literally be living next door or even in the same house as their rapist knowing that they remain untouched by the law and free to prey on them again anytime they see fit.

So for any of you who wonder why so many women do not report rape in Alaska, I think you now have your answer.

So this what it looks like when Hell freezes over.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

The Alaska Senate late Monday passed legislation converting the Permanent Fund into an endowment and setting dividends at $1,000, a move designed to help reduce the state's $4 billion budget gap. 

The 14-5 vote, which supporters described as a necessary step to head off a financial collapse, came quickly after months of discussion and debate about Senate Bill 128. The vote came about 8:30 p.m. on the same day the bill emerged from the Senate Finance Committee. 

The legislation still must pass a more skeptical House before it could head to Gov. Bill Walker for his signature. And a House vote is unlikely to come before next week, with lawmakers taking a five-day break from Juneau starting Wednesday, with most of the city's hotel rooms booked for a festival of Alaska Native culture.

I think the word to describe me right now is flabbergasted.

I don't think there is any way that I can adequately explain to those in the Lower 48, how jealousy Alaskans guard the PFD.

We refer to it as the third rail of Alaska politics, and those who suggested capping it or taking money from it to fund the government did so while packing their bags fully aware that their polticla career had just come to an end.

So for this legislation to have made it this far is a testament to the courage of Governor Bill Walker and our state senators.

Personally I hope that the House demonstrates the same courage, because this needs to happen. And in fact it really needed to happen over twenty years ago.

Alaska's economy is essentially in free fall right now.

Courtesy of Bloomberg:  

America’s Last Frontier is in trouble. The 40-year oil boom that turned Alaska from a frigid backwater into one of the nation’s richest states is over. Not only have petroleum prices crashed, but Alaska’s supply of crude is running out. Thirty years ago the state was pumping 2 million barrels a day, a quarter of all U.S. output. But over the past decade, the Prudhoe Bay oil field, once the largest in North America, has started to reach the end of its life. Alaska’s output has fallen to 500,000 barrels a day, enough to fill only one-quarter of the capacity of the state’s main economic artery, the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. 

With 90 percent of the general fund revenue tied to oil, the collapse has been devastating. Alaska, facing a $4 billion budget deficit, is one of four energy states that have slid into recession over the past year because of cheap oil. The state’s rainy day fund is burning through $11 million a day. If that keeps up, it will be out of emergency funds within two years.

The article goes on to point out that Governor Bill Walker is stuck with the unenviable tasks of trying to fix a problem that the last two governors Parnell and Palin pretended did not exist. 

To do it Walker will undoubtedly have to tap into the Permanent Fund account, the recognized third rail of Alaska politics. And possibly reintroduce state income taxes, which might lead to an open revolt within the state.

Whatever Walker does it will no doubt signal the end of his political career in Alaska. And that is really a shame because he is now making the hard choices that his predecessors should have made years ago, and simply refused. 

Our friend Walt Monegan gets a do over.

Courtesy of ADN: 

Gov. Bill Walker’s public safety commissioner is retiring and will be replaced by Walt Monegan, the former Anchorage police chief and public safety commissioner who was ousted in former Gov. Sarah Palin’s Troopergate scandal. 

Gary Folger, appointed commissioner in 2014 by Sean Parnell and kept on by Gov. Bill Walker, said he’s retiring at the end of May because of health problems — he has multiple myeloma. 

Monegan will be the replacement, according to Walker’s office. He’ll oversee a department with a $195 million budget and 900 employees, including the Alaska State Troopers. 

It will be Monegan’s second time as public safety commissioner, following his firing by Palin in 2008. A legislative report subsequently found that Monegan’s dismissal was partly because he wouldn’t fire a state trooper who was an enemy of Palin’s husband.

Of all of the people wronged by Sarah Palin that I have talked to over the years, and there have been many, Walt Monegan remains one of my favorites.

The guy is extremely humble and simply bursting with integrity. 

Governor Walker and Alaska are lucky to have him.

By the way for those who want to know more about Walt I sat down with him back in 2009, when he was running for Mayor of Anchorage, for a lengthy, and I hope interesting, interview which you can read here.

Alaska cuts loose incredibly expensive natural gas pipeline consultant.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

A highly paid attorney who earned more than $850,000 working on Alaska’s proposed gas pipeline project no longer works for the state and is unlikely to return, Gov. Bill Walker said Friday. 

Rigdon Boykin, a commercial attorney, earned up to $120,000 monthly working as a negotiator for the state before his contract with the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. was terminated Nov. 30. 

Boykin was paid $750,000 by the corporation, plus another $100,000 by Walker’s office under a separate contract. 

In an interview Friday morning, Walker said the state had “changed up the team a bit.”

The article goes on to quote Walker's defense of Boykin's work, and his claim that the state "got it's money's worth" out of  Boykin

Bullshit!

The evidence for that, according to Governor Walker, is a commitment from BP and ConocoPhilips that IF a pipeline were constructed they would negotiate sales of the gas. That's like promising to build a stable for my unicorn once I capture it.

Never gonna happen.

I have been hearing about this fabled natural gas pipeline for almost forty years now.

I have also heard that Jesus is coming back.

I assume both of these events will take place on the same day.

Our dearly departed friend Joe McGinnis wrote perhaps the definitive argument for why there will never be a gas pipeline in his article Pipe Dreams:

The first thing I learned about the pipeline was that the reason nobody had built it in 30 years was that nobody could have made any money by doing so. Here’s how it works: You decide to build a pipeline to carry gas from Point A to Point B, and you spend a couple of years scoping out a route and putting together a cost estimate. Then you have what in the gas business is called an open season, when you try to persuade whoever has gas to commit in advance to shipping it through your pipeline for, let’s say, 25 years. Once you’ve signed up your shippers, you go to a bank, and the bank loans you the money you need to build the pipeline. Once you have your financing, you go to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington and ask for a permit. They check your shipping commitments, your financing, and about a zillion other things, and if they like the way things look, they issue the permit. Then you build the line, and the gas starts to flow and keeps flowing for 25 years or more, and everybody makes a ton of money. 

But with natural gas selling for less than $2 per million British thermal units, or MMBtu—which it had been for about 50 years—there was no way to make money building a $40 billion pipeline to carry it all the way from the North Slope of the Brooks Range in Alaska to Chicago, or Green Bay, Wisconsin, or Burnt Chitlin, Louisiana. Only in the past 10 years did the price climb above $3 per MMBtu, the lowest possible number at which an Alaskan pipeline might be feasible, according to experts in the natural-gas sector. (After spiking to more than $12 last summer, by February gas was down to about $4.75.)

Currently natural gas prices are at around 2.8 and the market is essentially saturated, which means there is NO demand for more natural gas pipelines.

That is just a lie they tell to the Alaskan men, much like "Yes I think back hair DOES make you look sexy."

Well I for one am tired of hearing this particular line of bullshit, and now that I hear how much this Boykin guy earned from sitting on his ass thinking up reasons to get paid, I am even MORE tired of it.

The return of Walt Monegan!

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch News:  

Gov. Bill Walker announced Monday that he had accepted the resignation of Alaska’s corrections commissioner after the release of a scathing report detailing widespread failures and dysfunction that may have led to deaths in Alaska jails. 

Walker said he received the resignation of Ron Taylor on Sunday. At an 11 a.m. Monday news conference following the report’s release, Walker said Walt Monegan, the former Anchorage police chief and state commissioner of public safety, would temporarily take over Alaska’s prison system during a search for a replacement. 

Walker had ordered the outside review in August after a string of highly publicized prisoner deaths that stirred public outcry and drew some lawmakers’ attention. 

“It’s clear as a result of this that the system is broken,” Walker said at the news conference. “And we’re going to fix it.”

Well if Governor Walker wants the prison system in Alaska fixed, he could probably not do much better than putting Walt Monegan on the job. 

For those of you who have been reading here since 2008, I do not need to explain who Walt is, and why this is a big deal.

For those of you who have not heard of Walt Monegan, here is his Wikipedia page, and at the bottom of the Dispatch link there is an explanation as well.

However for those looking for a brief synopsis, it goes like this:

Then Governor Sarah Palin hated Trooper, and former brother-in-law, Mike Wooten.

She and her husband tried to convince then Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire him.

Walt could find no reason to do so, and explained that their personal vendetta against the guy was not just cause.

In retaliation, Palin fired Monegan.

There was an investigation into the firing, which after much public pressure was finally released as the Branchflower Report.

That report exonerated Monegan of any wrong doing, and instead revealed the pettiness, and retaliatory nature of Palin and her husband.

And yes all of this happened WHILE Palin was running as John McCain's VP.

On a personal note I once interviewed Walt when he was running for mayor of Anchorage, which you can read here, and when I was being threatened and harassed after my now notorious Splitsville post I reached out to him and he gave me some good advice.

In short Walt is an incredibly honest and ethical man, who I have no doubt will serve our Governor well, just like he once tried to do for a certain half term loser too ignorant to take his advice.

Alaska Governor Bill Walker steps into dangerous territory.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

A new plan from Gov. Bill Walker’s administration to broadly restructure Alaska’s finances would convert the Permanent Fund into an endowment-like fund that absorbs oil income and generates billions of dollars in annual revenue for the state’s treasury, Attorney General Craig Richards announced Wednesday. 

The sweeping changes would insulate state government from swings in the price of oil, Richards said in a briefing with reporters, and also likely reduce the Permanent Fund dividend to around $1,000, slightly below the roughly $1,400 average it has been for the past decade. 

Future dividend checks — termed “Royalty Dividends” in place of “Permanent Fund Dividends” — would be tied to Alaska’s slowly declining oil production, though the hoped-for construction of a natural gas pipeline could provide a boost.

Anybody who pays close attention to Alaska politics knows that ultimately something like this is almost certainly going to happen.

However those of us paying attention also know how incredibly unpopular the idea of touching the dividend is to Alaskans.

After all there is a reason we call it the "Third rail of politics."

And you can get a sense of that from this response by Alaska Senator Bill Wielechowski:

One Democratic senator, Bill Wielechowski of Anchorage, said Walker’s plan is “not where I would have gone,” and pointed out that its projected dividend would be a sharp drop from this year’s $2,072 check. “You’re asking for $1,000 from every Alaskan,” Wielechowski said. “I think there are better ways to do it.”

As an Alaskan who really enjoys that annual check I hope they don't mess with it.

But as a realist who knows that the alternative may be the state not being able to pay its bills, or a return of state taxes, I am not sure there is any real choice.

Personally I think in many ways we Alaskans have been more than fortunate, and like many good things, it simply cannot last forever. 

Alaska changes "Columbus Day " to "Indigenous Peoples Day."

Courtesy of Time Magazine:  

Alaska has officially renamed Columbus Day “Indigenous Peoples Day,” joining a growing body of local governments moving in that direction. 

In an executive proclamation, Gov. Bill Walker wrote that “Alaska is built upon the homelands and communities of the Indigenous Peoples of this region, without whom the building of the state would not be possible.” He pointed out that 16% of Alaskans have indigenous heritage, and that “the State opposes systematic racism toward Indigenous Peoples of Alaska or any Alaskans of any origin and promotes policies and practices that reflect the experiences of Indigenous Peoples, ensure greater access and opportunity, and honor our nation’s indigenous roots, history.”

You know just yesterday  I was bitching about Bill Walker trying to open ANWR for oil drilling, and then he does something awesome like this. 

Hard to get a bead on that guy.

Gee not celebrating a guy who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of indigenous people, real tough call there.

Just when I thought Alaska Governor Bill Walker might be one of the good ones.

Courtesy of the BBC: 

Expanding the search for oil is necessary to pay for the damage caused by climate change, the Governor of Alaska has told the BBC. 

The state is suffering significant climate impacts from rising seas forcing the relocation of remote villages. 

Governor Bill Walker says that coping with these changes is hugely expensive. 

He wants to "urgently" drill in the protected lands of the Arctic National Wilderness Refuge to fund them. 

Alaska has been severely hit by the dramatic drop in the price of oil over the past two years. 

The state is the only one in the US that doesn't have an income or sales tax, getting 90% of its day-to-day expenditure from levies on the production of oil and gas. 

But the halving in the price of crude over the past year has seen Alaska's financial health deteriorate.

Yes which is why we need to aggressively diversify into other income source, including renewable energy, and step away from big oil's teat.

You know there are a lot of reasons to admire Governor Walker, not the least of which was the Medicaid expansion.

But this is a big step in a really bad direction.

And what's more it is a waste of time because, as EVERYBODY already knows, there is no way we will ever open ANWR to drilling.

Alaska Republicans are planning to spend $450,000 of tax payer money to stop Governor Walker from expanding Medicaid.

"No seriously, what in the hell is wrong with you people?"

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch: 

The Alaska Legislature on Tuesday said it will sue Gov. Bill Walker to block his move last month to expand the public Medicaid health care program without lawmakers’ approval. 

Following a private discussion Tuesday morning, a Republican-controlled House-Senate committee voted 10-1 to spend up to $450,000 on two law firms to represent the Legislature in a suit against the governor. 

In a news conference after the committee vote, Republican leaders framed their decision to challenge the governor as a constitutional one. They’re seeking an injunction to stop Medicaid expansion from going into effect Sept. 1. 

“This is not a policy issue — we’re not discussing whether we should or shouldn’t expand Medicaid,” said Senate President Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage. “This is a question of authority and process and our constitution.”

Okay that last part is complete bullshit.

The Republicans, originally lead by ex-Governor Sean Parnell, have been trying to keep Alaskans from receiving the benefits of Obamacare ever since the program was initially put in place.

So here is Governor Walker finally helping those of us who cannot access affordable health care any other way, and the Republicans are going to spend OUR tax dollars to stop him.

You know sometimes I really hate living here.

Walker administration to review Alaska corrections department policies in wake of inmate deaths.

Palin appointee Joe Schmidt, Commissioner of Corrections in Alaska.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker says his administration will review the state corrections department’s policies and its safety measures following a string of inmate deaths last year. 

Dean Williams, a top Walker assistant who used to run a youth corrections center in Anchorage, will lead the review along with Joe Hanlon, a private investigator and former FBI agent, Walker's office announced Monday. 

A prepared statement from Walker said the review would “look for ways to improve department policies and ensure inmate safety,” and aims to “address the concerns that have been raised about the Department of Corrections.” 

Walker’s spokeswoman Katie Marquette said inmate deaths would be one element of the review.

Okay let me just tell you that this is a MUCH bigger story than this tiny article at the Dispatch would suggest.

There was abuse of prisoners, abuse of staff, abuse of the system in general, and let's just say that money changed hands to quiet the whole thing down.

Taxpayer money.

And at the center of it all is Palin's butt boy Joe Schmidt, who quite literally should never have been allowed to run a kennel for dogs, much less be responsible for human beings serving time in Alaska.

Governor Walker will use executive order to bypass obstructionist Republicans and expand Medicaid in Alaska.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

Gov. Bill Walker said Thursday he would use his executive power to expand the public Medicaid health-care program to newly cover as many as 40,000 low-income residents. 

The decision comes after the Alaska Legislature earlier this year rejected Walker’s efforts to expand the program through the state budget process, then adjourned without allowing a vote on a separate expansion bill. 

Walker’s move makes Alaska one of 30 states to approve Medicaid expansion, a key plank of the federal Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," that was aimed at cutting health-care costs and giving more Americans insurance. 

And that my friends is why we elected Walker even though he was tainted by support from Sarah Palin. 

Just speaking for myself this is hugely important, as I do not qualify for insurance even under Obamacare, without this expansion.

I have never in my life had health insurance, and used to joke that my insurance was a gym membership. However folks I am in my mid-fifties now and that's just not going to be enough anymore.

Thanks Governor Walker.

So apparently Alaska's going broke.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Alaska Governor Bill Walker issued layoff notes on Monday to more than 10,000 state employees, serving notice of a partial government shutdown that would begin on July 1 unless state lawmakers can agree on a budget for the forthcoming fiscal year. 

Alaska is facing a $3 billion budget shortfall, worsened by a global oil price plunge, and lawmakers have been fighting for more than four months over how to fund day-to-day operations. 

"The amount of difference right now being argued in the legislature is really about 1 percent of the problem," said Walker, an Independent who last year defeated incumbent Republican Sean Parnell. "We want to focus on the 99 percent opportunity we have to solve this." 

The state House and Senate have differed on how much they can cut without hurting services to the 750,000 residents. 

If no agreement is reached, some 10,000 workers doing a range of jobs from communications to issuing permits and certain non-emergency road maintenance would be laid off temporarily, though some personnel could be recalled for emergencies, according to government statements.

Can't say this is terribly surprising.

We all know Sean Parnell was a terrible manager, and we also know that Alaska is deeply affected by changing oil prices. After all, taxes and royalties from the oil companies make up the majority of the state's budget.

Many of us have been arguing for years that Alaska needs greater diversification, but there are a number of lawmakers who are perfectly content to suckle at the oil company teat apparently with no realization that it is going dry.

Sarah Palin was able to take advantage of higher oil prices to buy Alaskan's adulation for an extra $1,200.

But those days are over. Probably forever.

Alaska Dispatch has a list of the jobs and services that could be affected by the partial government shutdown.

Newly elected Alaska Governor Bill Walker brings back several of Sarah Palin's top officials. Oh that doesn't sound good.

Courtesy of Alaska Journal of Commerce:  

New Gov. Bill Walker took office Dec. 1 and ordered immediate changes in top echelons of state government. Walker brought back several top officials from Gov. Sarah Palin’s administration for senior positions in the natural resources and revenue departments.

These include Marty Rutherford, who was deputy Natural Resources commissioner under Palin and one of the architects of the ultimately failed Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, or AGIA, project.

Walker named Rutherford as acting resources commissioner and as permanent deputy commissioner, a position she held before.

(Marty Rutherford was a close Palin confidant who is widely quoted in this 2011 ADN article on Palin's decision to quit her job.)

Another former Palin official, Marcia Davis, was named acting commissioner of Revenue. She was deputy Revenue commissioner for tax under Palin.

I thought that getting rid of Parnell would signal an end to Palin's influence over Alaska and its policies, but now I wonder if I was a little too naive in my thinking. 

This does not necessarily mean that Palin is pulling any strings, but if there are puppets to be manipulated I think we know the puppeteers quite well.

 Fuck.

Well this is troubling.

Sean Parnell concedes!

So last night Captain Zero conceded the election to Bill Walker, making Walker Alaska's new Governor.

This from Parnell's Facebook page:  

It has been an honor to serve as Governor of Alaska for more than five years. Sandy and I will always remain thankful and humble that we could work for you to create opportunities for every Alaskan. After Friday’s vote counting by the Division of Elections, it became clear that while a win for the Parnell-Sullivan ticket was numerically possible, it is highly improbable. Where Alaska’s swearing-in date this year for the governor-elect is December 1st and where some ballots still must be counted, I deemed it in Alaskans’ interest to begin coordinating transition activities now with the Walker-Mallott ticket in the event the vote count holds. 

I met this morning with Bill Walker to pledge an orderly transition. In line with this pledge, I offered office space for transition activities to the Walker-Mallott ticket as well as resources to accomplish the transition. We had what I believe to be a very productive discussion about how to work together for the benefit of Alaskans in this time of change in administration. 

It is my fervent hope that Alaska’s trajectory for economic growth and individual safety and opportunity will be maintained. From bringing the Alaska LNG Project further than ever before; to creating Alaska Performance Scholarships for our young people; to being on track for natural gas to Fairbanks by 2016; to a Cook Inlet gas and economic resurgence; to reforming Alaska’s oil tax system to bring more North Slope investment and job activity than we’ve seen in decades (and more state revenue at these lower oil prices); to resolving the Point Thomson dispute and gaining first production there by 2016; and to leading our state in fighting the epidemic of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and sex trafficking – we have achieved a great deal for our state. 

We respect the will of the voters, and offer Bill Walker, Byron Mallott and their families our sincere congratulations. Again, I want to thank our citizens for the honor of a lifetime.

Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out. 

I could NOT be happier to see this creepy little POS leave office, I only hope that Walker proves to be the Governor that Alaska needs right now and is not yet another socially conservative toady of the oil companies masquerading as a moderate in order to garner votes, who will now rip off his mask of reasonableness to reveal the slathering wolfish grin beneath.

(Well great now I have THAT image to get out of my head before bedtime.)

So THIS is how former reality stars/half term governors are dressing for political rallies this year. Update!

So this is how Palin dressed for Unity Rally part deux held in a luxury airplane hangar in Louisiana.

As you can see the candidate Bill Cassidy and Rob Maness decided to go with the non-street walker style of ensemble for the event.

You have to hand it to Palin, some people might be worried about what some people might think of them. But oh no, not her.

More photos here, and here.

Palin also posted this today.

 Just to rub my nose in it probably.

Update:

WTH?

Don't you hate it when Grandma breaks into the liquor cabinet?

Alaska has a new Governor!

Sean Parnell out, Bill Walker in.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

Independent gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker maintained his lead after thousands of additional votes were counted Friday, leading the Associated Press to declare the race for Walker over Republican Gov. Sean Parnell. 

Walker, running with Democrat Byron Mallott on an independent ticket, held a narrow advantage for the entire race starting on election night Nov. 4. 

At the end of the counting on Friday, Walker led by 4,634 votes or 1.7 percent, with about 270,000 total votes counted. 

The ticket is expected to become the state's first non-party team to win a gubernatorial race. 

I have to admit that this is not nearly as satisfying for me as I hoped it would be. And that is for the simple reason that Sarah Palin also endorsed Walker in this race over her former Lt. Governor, Sean Parnell.

I cannot remember a time when Sarah Palin and I both wanted the same candidate to win an election, and not that one has done exactly that it fills me with concern.

No matter how you look at it Bill Walker is the superior choice to Sean Parnell. However is he a good choice for Alaska?

Walker is a strong supporter of public education, against the Pebble Mine, and for allowing the expansion of Medicaid.  He also advocated the increase in minimum wage and is by all accounts a much more reasonable person than Parnell ever was on anything.

Still, did Sarah Palin endorse him simply because she is the quintessential mean girl punishing her former friend after he dismantled her tax on oil companies? Or is Bill Walker her candidate of choice even if he had NOT been running against Parnell?

It was reported that Todd was sitting with Walker's family during a recent debate, so it certainly appears that they are chummy.

All of which makes me want to keep the celebratory champagne on ice until I get a better idea of exactly who we just elected to run our state.

Did Sarah Palin send a bribe to the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center right after she quit as Governor? Could be.

The Alaska Dispatch published an article yesterday ostensibly about Bill Walker and how Palin's recent endorsement has hurt his candidacy in the minds of many Alaskans. (I hate to say I told you so, but....)

However buried within the article was this previously unknown little tidbit:

Palin’s endorsement, announced Oct. 22, prompted the Alaska Federation of Republican Women, representing 600 women across the state, to publicize a letter comparing Walker to Palin. 

The organization had supported Palin during her bid for governor in 2006, even raising about $100,000 for her campaign, said president Rhonda Boyles. But Palin turned her back on the Republican Party. 

“She wasn’t very principled in how she dealt with the Republican Party,” Boyles said. “She went on that ticket but she was never part of the Republican establishment and in fact worked against that.” 

When Palin left office, she had about $100,000 in her bank account that she could have given to a political entity such as the Republican women’s group. Instead, she gave it to the Mat-Su hospital where she gave birth to Trigg, Boyles said.

Say what?

And here I thought I knew just about everything about Sarah Palin, Mat-Su, and the "birth" of Trig.

So just for a moment let's try and think of a logical reason for Sarah Palin, who is notoriously stingy with money, to give $100,000 to a hospital instead of shoring up her political clout in a state, and with a political party, that was now quite upset with her.

And what is more HOW does she justify giving political donations to a non-political entity like a hospital anyhow?

Yeah, I think something smells a little fishy here.

Republican women in Alaska have officially kicked Sarah Palin out of "Only Girlz Allowed" clubhouse.

Of course I disagree with all of that about Bill Walker, as well as any description of Sean Parnell as being competent, but the part about Palin's need to be seen with a winner is certainly spot on.

Which once again begs the question, just WHY has she still not endorsed her former AG Dan Sullivan?

(H/T to my friend Syrin.)