Tea Party wild card Joe Miller (R. AK) keeps on making the news:
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/...
On Friday, Alaska Superior Court Judge Stephanie Joannides ordered Miller to pay more than $85,000 of Alaska Dispatch’s attorney fees and costs stemming from the news organization’s 2010 lawsuit to make public Miller’s employment records during his time as a part-time government lawyer.
Alaska Dispatch had already won the suit, arguing that Miller’s records -- which detailed episodes of misconduct for which he was punished and barred from rehire for three years -- should be available for Alaska voters to review. At the time, Miller was a Republican candidate in a three-way race for the U.S. Senate. In the wake of the election, Miller -- a Yale Law School grad -- dragged out the litigation for nearly two more years.
“Miller’s conduct, which included taking inconsistent positions, failing to disclose information during discovery, and his procedural filing, which the record did not support, all caused unnecessary delay and costs for both Alaska Dispatch” and the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the judge wrote in her ruling.
Reached via email Sunday, Miller spokesman Bill Peck said Miller and his staff had yet to see the judge’s ruling.
In seeking the release of Miller's records, Alaska Dispatch spent more than $112,000 in legal fees and costs, expenses Dispatch sought to recover from both Miller and his former employer, the custodian of his employment records -- the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Miller and the borough each now owe the news site some level of reimbursement, though Miller's share is much higher.
John McKay, a longtime Alaska media attorney who represented Alaska Dispatch throughout the quest to release Miller’s employment records, called the judge’s award an important vindication for news organizations and ordinary citizens seeking to enforce their rights to access public records.
“The fact that Mr. Miller was not allowed to keep these records secret from voters before the election was the most important thing,” McKay said. “But it is also critical to send a message that government agencies and individuals fighting disclosure can’t make the public bear the entire financial burden of opening public files to the light of day.” - Alaska Dispatch, 5/19/13
Ouch. It's no wonder the Alaska GOP doesn't want Miller to run against Senator Mark Begich (D. AK) in next year's election. They would rather have her be the nominee:
http://blogs.phillymag.com/...
The Tea Party’s dream candidate is Sarah Palin. The Tea Party leadership commissioned a poll of Alaskan Republicans and Palin came out on top, albeit narrowly. The former governor and vice presidential nominee is favored by 32 percent, followed by current Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell with 30 percent, and attorney Joe Miller (the candidate the Tea Party favored in a 2010 run against Alaska’s senior GOP senator Lisa Murkowski) has 24 percent. If Palin runs, Miller probably would not, and she could count on the majority of his support making its way into her camp.
There is no question who the national Tea Party wants in this race. A petition to “Draft Sarah Palin” is supported by Tea Party groups across the country and has been emailed to millions of their members with “Do the words Senator Palin excite you?” written in the subject box. Those same people will be counted on to finance Palin’s run, assuring her a hefty campaign treasure chest filled with the kind of national interest that no other race in Alaska has ever attracted.
So she has the poll numbers, the support and the money. The only thing missing from the Sarah Palin campaign is Sarah Palin. The Tea Party leadership admits they haven’t talked with her and don’t even know if she is interested in running. Palin seems to still be enjoying “going rogue,” a term coined when she decided to stop listening to the advisors running the McCain-Palin campaign and do things her own way. Since losing, she has done a reality TV show, and left Fox News as a contributor when her contract was up. She recently turned down an offer to star in her own talk show. - The Philly Post, 5/20/13
The Alaska GOP took a hit when Governor Sean Parnell (R. AK) decided to focus on re-election instead of run against Begich. Parnell was considered their strongest candidate. Lt. Governor Mead Treadell (R. AK) is heavily speculated to run against Begich. You can read more about him here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
While Alaska Republicans scramble to find their candidate, Alaska Democrats are all getting ready to help Begich win re-election next year:
http://www.ktuu.com/...
Alaska Democrats have endorsed U.S. Sen. Mark Begich for re-election.
The endorsement is somewhat unusual in that the party typically doesn't announce its support for any one candidate in a primary.
Party spokesman Zack Fields says the party can endorse in limited circumstances. He says Alaska Democrats felt it important to get their support for Begich on the record early, given the flood of outside money that's expected in the race. - KTUU, 5/9/13
In other related news, Begich is happy to hear that Alaska will be one of the five states to receive money for tsunami relief:
http://www.ktuu.com/...
After months of waiting, the State of Alaska and four other west coast states will soon receive $250,000 to help with tsunami relief.
Last fall, the Japanese government issued a $5 million grant to the United States to help with the monitoring, recovery and cleanup of an estimated 1.5 billion tons of marine debris after the 2011 tsunami.
The money will be dispersed by NOAA, with the remaining funds expected to be issued based on an application process.
Alaska officials say the state applied for an additional $750,000, a number they say is merely a drop in the bucket, due to the challenges cleanup crews face here in Alaska.
"In order to effectively deal with this, it's going to take money,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. “It's going to be far in excess of $1 million as we attempt to deal with the tsunami debris that has come to our shore."
“I think this is a step in the right direction, but it's still clearly not enough,” said Senator Mark Begich, D-Alaska. “It's really like a prolonged disaster and we won’t see the full results for years to come.”
Gulf of Alaska Keeper has spent the last 12 years cleaning marine debris from Alaska's pristine coastline and just last summer cleaned more than 250 miles of coastline. - KTUU, 5/20/13
if you would like to donate or get involved with Begich's campaign, you can do so here:
http://www.markbegich.com/