Joe Miller, Schaeffer Cox, and the FBI Informant who handcuffed Tony Hopfinger

With the conviction and sentencing of Fairbanks Militia Leader Schaeffer Cox several days ago, the left leaning media organizations have again resurrected speculation about Joe Miller’s connections to not only Mr. Cox but also to the federal informant who was largely responsible for Cox’s demise, Bill Fulton.

Joe’s spokesman reports that in the last two days he’s fielded contacts about this from reporters associated with the leftwing Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, and Salon.

These extremely biased outlets should have directed their inquiries to me. I’ve known Joe Miller for ten years. I’ve gone on a medical mission trip to a communist-controlled island in the Philippines with Joe. And, in interest of full disclosure, I’m a longtime business partner and friend of Joe’s.

So it should come as no surprise that I’ve been closely involved with Joe’s political activities. From his first legislative run in 2004, to his 2008 attempt to rid the Alaskan Republican Party of Randy Ruedrich, through his 2010 U.S. Senate run, I worked with Joe to effect political change.

Joe’s 2008 effort to unseat the Republican Party Chair and replace him with a conservative took place about a year and a half after Sarah Palin was elected governor of the State of Alaska. As one of Alaska’s six Republican Party regional chairs, Joe was one of the few Republican Party officials to genuinely support Sarah Palin in her run for Governor. Governor Palin and Joe maintained contact after this and jointly shared the goal of reforming the Alaska Republican Party.

In 2008, I suggested to Joe that he make an attempt to remove Randy Ruedrich as chair of the ARP during the state convention that year. We knew that the effort would be challenging as removal would require a vote of two-thirds of the delegates at the state convention.

Joe went for it and, in his typical fashion, devoted 110% of his energies toward the effort. He contacted the Governor and secured her support. We then sent out mailers and contacted delegates throughout the state.

Upon arrival in Anchorage, we suspected we had a majority of the support of the delegates but were unsure if we had the necessary two-thirds to remove Ruedrich. So the effort continued on the ground.

I invited Schaeffer Cox to several meetings that Joe Miller, Bill Fulton, and many others attended during the convention. Unlike Joe, I had met Schaeffer previously and knew he was helping organize the Ron Paul supporters going to the convention. Schaeffer was about my age and, like me, was involved in construction. He had no known connections to any militia groups and, at the time, was new to politics.

Neither Joe nor I, however, knew anything about Bill Fulton prior to the 2008 state convention. He was a delegate there and sought out Joe directly. He expressed grave dissatisfaction with the leadership of the Alaska Republican Party and volunteered to help in the effort to organize other delegates who were opposed to Ruedrich. As I recall, he attended virtually every meeting the anti-Ruedrich faction had during that convention.

While we were working to organize and convince delegates, a number of troubling things happened to our volunteers. One, Joe’s former clerk from his U.S. Magistrate Judgeship days, had the lugnuts on her vehicle loosened while parked outside the convention and, had she not noticed this prior to driving away, could have been severely injured. We also discovered that private investigators had been employed against the delegates that were leading the efforts against Ruedrich.

Fulton sprang to action. He immediately insisted that he provide security to the core volunteers who were working to unseat Ruedrich. And he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He represented that he owned a security firm and knew the ropes of a security operation. So he, and other delegates that were associated with his firm, started to watch volunteer’s vehicles and keep an eye out for other shenanigans.

After the convention ended, Cox decided to run for the legislature. He made an impressive showing in the primary against an incumbent legislator, winning over 36% of the vote in a three-way race.

Joe had a few conversations with Schaeffer at the convention and during Schaeffer’s campaign but after Cox lost his election to the State House, Cox started going radical. Joe had nothing to do with him at this point, presciently warning a number of us, including me, that Cox was headed down a self-destructive path.

Fast forward to 2010. Bill Fulton hit the political scene again, not only as a delegate to the 2010 Republican convention, but also as the campaign manager for Lieutenant Governor-candidate Eddie Burke. After Burke lost the Republican primary, Fulton made a bee-line for Joe Miller again, as early as the evening of primary night, August 24, 2010. He also followed Joe around at the Glenn Beck event the next month.

But it wasn’t until the ill-fated town hall meeting in October that Fulton made his mark on Joe Miller’s senate campaign. One of Joe’s supporters who knew Fulton from the Eddie Burke campaign, called him to provide security as required by the venue’s contract. At the conclusion of the town hall, Tony Hopfinger, who had earlier followed Joe into a restroom, questioning him while Joe was relieving himself, was handcuffed by Fulton after Joe had already left the building.

The handcuffing almost immediately hit the headlines. And, even though Joe had had nothing to do with Fulton’s presence at the town hall and in no way directed or condoned the handcuffing, the damage was done.

Several months later, Schaeffer Cox was indicted by the federal government for his militia activities. Shortly thereafter, it was discovered that one of the government’s lead informants in the Cox case was none other than Bill Fulton. It was also discovered that Fulton was working and being paid as the federal government’s confidential informant during the exact same time frame that he was handcuffing blogger Tony Hopfinger at Joe Miller’s event.

I have no idea what makes people like Bill Fulton and Schaeffer Cox tick. But I do know this: Joe Miller has an extreme love for this country and its people and will continue to fight selflessly to restore Liberty.

Too many have become weary in their efforts against increasing regulations and decreasing rights. William Wilberforce did not give up after all his years of failure in Parliament and because of it slavery was abolished in England.

Joe Miller and I believe in a limited government that stays out of the way of its citizens freedoms. I hope you will join the cause of Liberty and support the people who champion her cause.

“The Old Guard Power Mongers of the Alaska GOP Will Stop At Nothing to Maintain Power”

It appears that the old guard power mongers of the Alaska GOP will stop at nothing to maintain control of the organization. In a move to disregard the results of the 2012 convention, Chairman Ruedrich ally, Frank McQueary, has filed internal charges against Russ Millette, the legitimately elected party chair, and other Republican Party officials.

The charges, (you can see them in their entirety HERE) consist mainly of inflammatory rhetoric, distortions, and baseless allegations. In fact, no actual party rules are cited in the allegations.

The one allegation against Mr. Millette that may have a shred of validity is his failure to raise money for the party. However, this is easily mitigated by the fact that with men like Ruedrich, Clary, and McQueary controlling the money, there is serious concern for how any money deposited in party coffers will be used. In fact, since Ruedrich became chairman, the ARP has ceased conducting annual audits required by party rules.

Another accusation is that Mr. Millette only recently registered as a Republican. This is a distortion of the truth. In fact, Mr. Millette campaigned for Barry Goldwater in 1964. If that isn’t indicative of a life-long Republican, I don’t know what is. Many life-long Republicans have unregistered at points in their life due to the dissatisfaction that they have felt with party leadership. With behavior like the current efforts against Millette, who can blame them.

Moreover, the point of registration is moot as the ARP rules only require that a person be a registered Republican to hold office, they do not specify a requirement of ANY prior registration.

Allegations against others in McQueary’s complaint include being tied to Occupy Wall Street (OWS). This is a fabricated and irrelevant accusation designed to use emotion and detract from legitimate points.

Further, it is interesting that Mr. McQueary is the one bringing up these allegations. Mr. McQueary himself has a long history of violating and disregarding party rules. In 2010, he while chair of the rules committee, he opposed the Republican nominee, Joe Miller, and actively supported independent candidate Lisa Murkowski. A search of FEC records reveals that he donated funds to Murkowski, post-primary.

Mr. McQueary has also consistently abused his position to defend Ruedrich in prior attempts to remove Ruedrich from his post. Mr. McQueary failed to properly address a legitimate complaint filed with him in regards to the College Republicans being wrongly disenfranchised from representation on the SCC, in direct violation of the rules. Mr. McQueary further failed in to perform his duties by refusing to address charges filed against Mr. Ruedrich, charges that actually had merit under the rules.

Mr. McQueary’s obvious lack of integrity calls into question all charges brought by him. He is obviously acting as a crony to Mr. Ruedrich, and not in the best interests of Alaska Republicans.

This witch-hunt is clearly just an attempt by the Machiavellian Alaska GOP establishment to subvert the will of the 2012 convention delegates. In fact, nearly 70% of the convention delegates voted against Ruedrich’s pick, Bruce Shulte, voting for either Russ Millette, or fellow reform candidate, Judy Eledge. And I thought that Republic-an Party arose from the words Constitutional Republic, not Banana Republic.

_______________________________________

Sean Godfrey is the Assistant Director of Communications for the National Right to Work Committee and was a delegate to Alaska’s 2012 Republican State Convention.

Alaska RINOs Attempting Coup: Effort Underway to Remove Constitutional Conservative Chair, Others from State Party

It appears that the Murkowski-RINO wing of the Alaska Republican Party has taken its cue from allies in DC and is attempting (again) to destroy the state party.

Yesterday, the Chair-Elect of the Alaska Republican Party, constitutional conservative Russ Millette, received a copy of a letter charging him with violating the rules of the Alaska Republican Party. It seeks his “removal from office.”

The letter was written by the Rules Chair of the party, closely aligned with outgoing Chair Randy Ruedrich, who overtly opposed – in direct violation of party rules – the Republican-nominee for US Senate in 2010.

These charges followed a similar effort commenced last week by Chairman Randy Ruedrich himself, also designed to remove another newly-elected ARP officer, Vice Chair-Elect Debbie Brown.

With respect to Chair-elect Millette, the most serious charges are that he misrepresented his life-long affiliation with the Republican Party (he was “undeclared” in his party affiliation for a period of time) and failed to raise money for the party over the last several months.

The letter also contends that the ARP convention where the ARP’s new chair and vice-chair were elected was taken over by “an organized group of political activists registered as Republicans … with the express purpose of ‘taking over’ Republican party operations and disrupting the normal candidate selection process.” The ARP official’s letter continues, “These activists had no prior history of positive conservative political activity or support for the Republican Party Platform or Republican candidates.”

Of course, the letter is a not-so-masterful effort to use Hitler’s “Big Lie” technique – telling a lie “so colossal” that no one would believe that the author would “have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.”

Those who know Russ Millette recognize that he has far more allegiance to the ARP platform than the majority of the ARP’s governing body, many of whom overtly violated party rules in opposing the 2010 Republican nominee even though he was nominated by the largest turnout of GOP primary voters in state history.

Now that there is a sudden focus on compliance with Party rules, perhaps the ARP will also examine last year’s illegal transfer of tens of thousands of dollars of party funds to the Juneau so-called Republican Club, infiltrated by Sealaska’s cronies and other crony capitalists, more concerned about their liberal social issues and corporate welfare than the party platform.

Or how about the ARP’s officers – when they’re required to promote party events – openly advocating for delegates to stay home from the convention last year so that a quorum would not be reached?

Or advocating candidates for office that openly disagree with the party platform?

Or the repeated refusal to vote on the Murkowski censure (a sitting member of the Central Committee who – even when she was running against the nominee – was not removed from the Committee)?

Or the age-old questions regarding financial improprieties with VECO funding of the ARP?

Or the failure to fully disclose how donated funds were used on direct mail campaigns?

Or taking sides in contested primaries?

Or the current Chair’s efforts against the Party’s nominee, including public statements and the filing of a questionable affidavit against him?

And the list goes on and on.

What’s really going on here is that in Alaska, like the rest of the country, the RINOs are being exposed for what they are: big government, corporate welfare hypocrites who don’t support the party platform and who will compromise any moral code to accomplish their aims.

Grassroots activists must demand that these RINOs remove the massive logs out of their own eyes before being permitted to criticize whatever specks they imagine in others’ eyes.

Militia Leader, Shaeffer Cox, Sentenced to Nearly 26 Years

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A boyish-looking young man with a soft voice who spewed anti-government rhetoric and amassed weapons in a plot to kill federal law enforcement officials will spend nearly 26 years in a federal prison.

Schaeffer Cox was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court on nine felony counts, including conspiracy and possessing illegal weapons. The 28-year-old is the third and last member of the Alaska Peacemakers Militia to be sentenced after authorities used an informant to infiltrate the group.

Cox came off at times as arrogant during his trial last spring, but he spoke with a very different demeanor during the two-hour sentencing hearing.

“I put myself here, with my own words,” he said, choking back tears. “And I feel horrible about that. And I hurt my family, and that’s who is really paying.”

Federal prosecutors portrayed Cox as a dangerous militia leader who helped stockpile a huge cache of illegal weapons while plotting a strategy to one day kill judges, state troopers and other government officials.

Read more from this story HERE.

The Shell Oil Grounding: Is the Arctic Telling Oil Companies to Stop Drilling?

It must be bad. A Shell oil drilling rig named the ‘Kulluk’ slammed into the Alaska coastline prompting a ‘unified command center’ to invade the Anchorage Marriot with hundreds of persons each day to coordinate the response to this disaster. It prompted US Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), the top Democrat on the Natural Resources committee to release a statement saying: “Oil companies keep saying they can conquer the Arctic, but the Arctic keeps disagreeing with the oil companies…Drilling expansion could prove disastrous for this sensitive environment.”

Enough of this drivel and spin, lets get a little perspective on this incident. What really happened? A vessel that was being towed broke loose from the tug boat and was finally grounded on a sand/gravel beach on Sitkalidak Island (near Kodiak Island) during a series of strong North Pacific storms about four days later. No diesel, hydraulic fluid or any other hydrocarbon escaped from the Kulluk. In fact, if this was not an oil rig, it would have been a one sentence mention buried in the national news section on the day it went aground.

These are the facts, so why all the fuss? In the words of Chicago’s Mayor and Obama’s BFF Rahm Emmanuel: “Never let a crisis go to waste.” Of course this applies in a non-crisis as long as one can convince the masses a crisis exists.

Could there have been a bigger problem if diesel fuel or oil leaked? Of course, but it didn’t. This was not a rig drilling in an arctic environment when it broke loose in a storm. This was a vessel secured for transport and being transported not in the Arctic, but the North Pacific. This incident occurred 800 miles away from the Bering Strait, the Southernmost part of the Arctic Ocean in Alaska. That is approximately the same distance New York City is away from Jacksonville, Florida. This past summer the Kulluk had been exploring in the Beaufort Sea many hundreds of mile farther north than the Bering Strait. For Representative Markey (or is it “Malarkey?”) to even refer to this as an Arctic environment is at best ignorance, and more like just a bald face lie.

Heck, this large storm that produced wind gusts to 70 KT and seas of 35 ft (and swells to 50 ft) the night this towed vessel went aground was a warm North Pacific storm. It was rain that fell during the whole time from the initial engine failure on the tug boat (the tow cable later broke) through the time the vessel went aground. And no, Rep Malarkey, it is not global warming. This part of the Pacific never freezes and it is normal for the precipitation to be rain there.

Now let’s take a look at the part of Markey’s statement that says “Drilling expansion could prove disastrous for this sensitive environment.” Let’s state the obvious again: THIS OIL RIG WAS NOT DRILLING! It was being transported from Dutch Harbor to Seattle across the North Pacific ocean. This could have just as easily happened along Vancouver island and this geographically-challenged clown would probably still proclaim this as being an Arctic incident.

Following this ‘sensitive environment’ logic, the environment in the North Pacific is so sensitive that no tow barges or even cargo ships should be allowed to traverse the great circle route between North America and Asia. No supplies to any Alaska coastal communities by barge since the environment too ‘sensitive.’ Pure Malarkey!

Back to Shell now. Why have they put on such a show in the Mariott? For show. This could easily be handled in a large conference room somewhere, but it would not display how concerned they are. They must play the game and show their contrition to the Obama administration lest their leases in the Arctic be revoked. Logic says that assistance from the Coast Guard, the Alaska Marine Pilot Association, and a few other groups is prudent to ensure the Kulluk can be transported to safe harbor, but this is ridiculous.

Why does it matter? Because a large number of these command-center participants are federal government employees from government agencies working on YOUR tax dollar to attend this show. Is this really a good use of tax dollars?

Shell has spent $292 million dollars since 2006 getting the Kulluk modified and set up for work in the Arctic ocean and they want a return on this investment. No problem in that. It was also money well spent as there was not a drop of oil or diesel that spilled from the Kulluk. Naval architects have inspected it and found the fuel tanks intact and proclaimed it “sound and fit to tow.” Should they have known better that to try a weeks long tow from Dutch Harbor to Seattle in December across the treacherous North Pacific? Probably, but that is admittedly said in hindsight.

Governor’s Plan for Emergency Food Stockpile Hits Bump

Alaska’s plan to stash stockpiles of emergency food in case the state is cut off from supplies by a disaster has hit a bump.

The state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs this week canceled its solicitation for proposals after receiving just one response, which was rejected. Department procurement officer Jolund Luther said Friday that the company that responded could not come up with a performance bond, which would have ensured the project was seen to its completion if the contractor went bankrupt or out of business.

Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the state’s emergency preparedness division, said officials remain committed to the plan and will look for ways to improve the solicitation before moving forward again.

Read more from this story HERE.

Massive, Very Shallow Earthquake Hits Just 66 miles from Craig, Alaska; Tsunami Warning Issued



At just two minutes before 12 a.m. this morning, Alaska time, a massive earthquake hit only 66 miles west of Craig, Alaska.

Initially, the United States Geological Service measured the quake at 7.7 magnitude, but this was later adjusted to 7.5 magnitude.

According to the United States Geological Service, the earthquake was at a very shallow depth of 6.1 miles. However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported the earthquake’s depth at 3.11 miles.

Although the earthquake struck 212 miles south of Juneau, one resident – Alicé Leuchte – stated that it “scared the hell out of me.” Ms. Leuchte added that the people she knew in Craig “are OK.”

So far, there are no reports of serious damage.

The 7.5 magnitude earthquake is apparently related to the Queen Charlotte fault system that apparently spawned the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck near Metlakatla last October.

The Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska stated at 12:30 a.m. this morning that a “Tsunami warning remains in effect . . . for the coastal areas of British Columbia and Alaska from the north tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia to Cape Suckling, Alaska.” Cape Suckling is just 75 miles southeast of Cordova, or almost 250 miles southeast of Anchorage.

UPDATE: The tsunami warning has been lifted.

Rep. Issa Threatens Congressional Subpoena Over EPA Pebble Mine Review

photo credit: donkeyhotey

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has threatened subpoenaing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for documents regarding a potential Alaska mine.

Issa, along with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), said he wants to know more about the intentions behind a water impact test EPA is conducting near a discussed mine site in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

The lawmakers said in a Thursday letter that EPA’s actions have “bordered on the absurd” by since the committee’s initial May 10 inquiry about the matter.

“It strains credibility that EPA has been unable to provide a full response to the Committee more than seven months after the initial request,” Issa and Jordan wrote to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

“If EPA fails to provide the documents as requested, the Committee will consider use of the compulsory process.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Storm Impedes Salvage of Shell Drilling Ship Grounded in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – High seas and strong winds prevented crews from boarding an oil drilling ship to check for any damage after the large vessel went aground off an uninhabited island in the Gulf of Alaska.

A Coast Guard plane and a helicopter flew over the Kulluk on Tuesday, but severe weather did not permit putting marine experts on board the drilling rig, which had grounded on a sand and gravel beach in stormy seas.

Federal on-scene response coordinator Capt. Paul Mehler said the Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig is carrying about 143,000 gallons of diesel and about 12,000 gallons of lube oil and hydraulic fluid, and appeared stable.

“There is no sign of a release of any product,” Mehler said during a news conference.

A team of company, Coast Guard and local officials said they were mobilizing spill response equipment and preparing a plan in the event of a spill in the Partition Cove and Ocean Bay areas of the island. The area is home to at least two endangered species, as well as harbor seals, salmon, and sea lions.

Read more from this story HERE.

Anchorage Daily News Fears Miller Run in 2014? Columnist Starts the Lies All Over Again

This weekend, longtime Anchorage Daily News (ADN) columnist and mouth piece of Alaska’s corrupt political establishment, Paul Jenkins, wrote a piece on the potential contenders for Alaska’s 2014 Senate race.

Besides a gratuitous, but hardly unexpected hit on Sarah Palin, much of the column was the typical ADN gushing about candidates likely to perpetuate the big government handouts for Alaska’s ruling class.

One candidate is described as the chairman of a “prestigious” federal commission, another one is praised as “almost too good to be true,” still another is declared a successful city manager.

Jenkins, of course, reserves most of his establishment-vitriol for 2010 Republican Senate nominee Joe Miller.

It would have been bad enough had he resurrected any one of the numerous fabricated stories from 2010 to justify his suggestion that Joe is at the “bottom of the [2014] barrel.” But he didn’t do that. Instead, he made up an entirely new lie stating that a “few days back, [Joe] trashed the National Rifle Association as a threat to gun liberty and called its top executive a charlatan.”

Never mind the well-known fact that Joe has been a life member of the NRA for his entire adult life. Or that he and his wife have given thousands of dollars to the organization and are currently NRA Benefactors, the highest level of NRA membership. We’re quite sure it wouldn’t matter to Jenkins either that Joe also received an “A” rating from the NRA as a legislative candidate.

That doesn’t mean that Restoring Liberty agrees with everything the NRA does, such as its endorsement of many big-government incumbents, and its failure to get behind constitutional conservatives. But Joe has never described the organization as a “threat to gun liberty” or its top exec as a “charlatan.” On the contrary, Joe has been a strong supporter of the NRA.

What Jenkins is apparently referring to is an article that appeared HERE at Restoring Liberty, authored by Adam Bates. Bates had some harsh comments about the NRA’s response to the Newtown massacre that has generated a healthy debate at Restoring Liberty.

Obviously, the fact a story appears at Restoring Liberty does not mean that Joe Miller endorses its contents. Rather, the intent is to post stories that inform and encourage thought, especially stories we are unlikely to see in the mainstream press. And as our readers are undoubtedly aware, Restoring Liberty doesn’t shy away from articles critical of anyone who may be straying from constitutional principles.

So either Jenkins is ignorant, or he’s just plain lying.

Fortunately, Alaskans are on to the establishment goons in the Alaska press. And that’s why Alaska’s conventional media is being abandoned in favor of sites like Restoring Liberty, the second-most read Alaskan Internet news site.