Alaska’s RINO Establishment: Tearing Out Liberty and Integrity from the Republican Party

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Strengthening our party should be a major priority, especially after the devastation of our recent national elections. Not only does the GOP need to increase numbers, but revamp itself. A recent Scott Rasmussen poll shows that, nationwide, almost two thirds of party members feel leadership is out of touch with its base. Prior to the poll, but affirming its revelation was the election of fresh, new leadership at the 2012 Alaska GOP convention.

We should be striving to attract people of conservative values, outstanding character and action. However, our national and state-level old guard continually demonstrates behavior that, out on the street, causes distrust, disgust, and disdain. That well-earned “dissing” distances people of character, for what upstanding citizen wants to get anywhere near the dirt of self-serving manipulations and Boss Tweed-style despotism generally associated in the public mind with our entrenched leadership?

Past and acting Alaska GOP head, Randy Ruedrich and his associates play right into the hands of the leftist news spinners and editorialists. His arbitrary flexings of power and skilled, but underhanded procedural manipulations are magnified by the liberal media, assuring a lot of wonderful potential new Republicans that, “Yep, it’s just as I thought: Alaska’s Republican leadership is corrupt. I either need to stay clear of organized politics altogether or find a cleaner group”.

I ask these questions: was the Republican State Convention registration and vetting—right while Mr. Ruedrich presided—carried out according to party rules? If so, did all attendees have the right to run for office? Under his close watch, did everyone running have the same opportunity to work the convention crowd and stump from the stage for votes? During his oversight, was the voting conducted in an orderly and by-the-rules manner? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Where, then, is his legitimate gripe?

Did not the voting reflect that folks were sick and tired of the old guard and its ways? Does not Mr. Ruedrich’s low-handed, sore loser, take-my-ball-and-go-home backlash prove those voters’ very point?

There isn’t enough cheese in all of Wisconsin to go with the post-voting whine being poured and passed around by Mr. Ruedrich and his cronies. In my humble opinion, the very mongers of all that is bad about the Alaska Republican Party, those skilled political connivers who needed to be ousted, were ousted. And the ones were voted in who give strong indications they will prove to be people of integrity who’ll play by the rules and keep their word and obligations.

As a convention delegate I feel Randy Ruedrich has already slapped me in the face by so much as threatening to overturn voting results. Mr. Ruedrich and his fellows obviously have two sets of rules. There’s the set available for all to examine and go by. Then there’s his own under-the-table set he pulls out when play by the open set fails to deliver results according to his will. That he would so arbitrarily disenfranchise half a thousand delegates by willingly robbing those like me of the time, energy, and money we trustfully invested disgusts me to a degree beyond polite description. But what he is doing to tear down liberty and integrity within the party—and ultimately the state and nation—draws even more of my ire because of its broader ruin beyond effects to my own person or to other individual delegates singly.

Surprise, Surprise: Murkowski Opposes Spending Cuts In Exchange For Higher Debt Ceiling

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Breaking with the GOP, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in an interview published Tuesday that she does not think the debt ceiling should be political leverage to cut government spending.

“If you incur an obligation, you have a responsibility to pay for that,” Murkowski told The Fairbanks-Daily News Miner.

The paper stated that Murkowski “doesn’t think the debt limit should be used for political leverage,” but the paper did not quote her directly beyond that on the subject matter. A Murkowski spokesperson confirmed that the story was accurate to POLITICO on Tuesday.

Read more from this story HERE.

LA Times Interviews Alaska Militia Leader About Informant Fulton and FBI

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The Los Angeles Times is continuing its coverage of the FBI’s involvement in Alaska politics via its leftwing informant, Bill Fulton.

In its article last night, the Times interviews an Alaskan militia leader, Norm Olson, who claims that Fulton “was used by the FBI to wreck Joe Miller’s bid” for the US Senate.

But most of Olson’s vitriol seems directed at Fulton’s efforts to infiltrate Alaska’s Citizens Militia, based out of Kenai, Alaska. Olson lambasted Fulton for trying to play “the big man in Anchorage, boasting about this and bragging about that, how he was ex-military intelligence.” He told the Times that the Obama supporter had “tried to target his militia as well, supplying him with a ‘barn full’ of military gear,” suggesting the type of entrapment others close to Fulton have previously complained of.

But Olson, the streetwise founder of the Michigan Militia prior to his move to Alaska several years ago, was “wary of Greeks bearing gifts.” Claiming he knows a little bit about the FBI, Olson explained that, “anybody comes up to me with fancy toys or gift items, I’m always a little bit wary of what’s going on. I tell people, if you really want to give me something, give me cash, and make it anonymous.”

One member of the Kenai’s Alaska’s Citizen Militia forum suggested that the FBI might have Fulton killed and then try to pin it on the Alaska militias: “If he does get whacked it will be used to label Alaska militia men and women as dangerous terrorists. I would not put it past the FBI to grease him themselves in order to set up a false flag against the patriot movement up here.”

Olson seemed to agree stating, “They’ll paint the [Alaska] militia much like the mafia: you can [get] out, leave feet first. They can use his ‘passing’ as a message to anyone who affiliates with the militia that they are the savages that the central government paints us out to be.”

He concluded that the FBI would use Fulton’s death as a way to eliminate “any hope for a political comeback” for Joe Miller, stating that “Joe’s support for the militia, the Constitution, state Sovereignty and the Rule of Law is well known. Placing him in a controversy about the suspicious nature of Bill Fulton’s death would absolutely disable Joe.”

Fulton, who is in hiding Outside, apparently has gotten the message: “I don’t think the militia guys in Alaska are so happy about me right now,” he told the Times.

Read more from the Los Angeles Times article HERE.

LA Times: Why Did the FBI Have an Informant in Joe Miller Campaign?

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fultonThe Los Angeles Times reported today that, “Now that the mole who helped bring down the leadership of the Alaska Peacemaker Militia has talked publicly, the big question on some minds in Alaska is: Why was federal FBI informant William Fulton involved in political campaigns?”

The LA Times interviewed not only Fulton, but also Joe Miller and 2010 Lieutenant Governor Candidate Eddie Burke who hired Fulton as his campaign manager. Fulton’s FBI handler also commented for the article.


During Joe Miller’s interview, he was asked about the impact of the handcuffing and what he thought about an FBI informant working in Alaska politics:

The widely reported arrest of a journalist at a town hall meeting “absolutely” was detrimental to his campaign, Miller said Monday in an interview with The Times.

“I’m a strong supporter of the 1st Amendment, and I had close friends that had been supporters of my campaign question, ‘Why would Joe Miller handcuff a journalist?’ For crying out loud, I wasn’t even in the building,” Miller said. “It was utilized as a political weapon against us in the state.”

Miller said he is now troubled that Fulton, whose personal politics turn out to be not at all aligned with the far right, was injecting controversy into his campaign and was also working on the campaign of Burke, another right-wing candidate who lost — all during 2010, when he was a paid informant for the FBI.

Miller recalled the well-publicized election of 2008, when longtime U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens lost his bid for reelection after being convicted of failing to report gifts from an oil industry lobbyist at the end of a long investigation waged by the FBI in Anchorage. The charges were dismissed in 2009 on the U.S. Justice Department’s own motion when it was learned that potentially exculpatory evidence had not been turned over to the defense. But by then, Democrat Mark Begich had won Stevens’ seat.

“This is the second U.S. Senate race in Alaska that the FBI has had some involvement in,” Miller said. “I’m certainly not expressing any type of conspiracy theory about the FBI causing any kind of trouble to my campaign, but it’s conceptually troubling to me that you have a paid informant working on multiple campaigns answering to the FBI, being debriefed by the FBI, and I really think it’s incumbent on that agency to come clean about the scope of this individual’s employment and the level of involvement the FBI had in that.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Washington Times: Political Power Struggle in Alaska is Fight For the GOP’s Future

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WASHINGTON, January 14, 2013 — Those who follow the emerging blood sport of Republican Party internal politics know that much goes that doesn’t get much coverage in the major media, but may have a profound effect on the political future of the nation.

Events in far off Alaska are significant in what they show about a struggle which may be coming to your state GOP in the next few months.

The latest battleground in this struggle is the harsh political tundra of Alaska, where we saw the fight between establishment and reformers played out in a very public struggle between Joe Miller and Lisa Murkowski for the Senate in 2010. Grassroots Republicans supported Miller in the GOP and he defeated incumbent Murkowski.

Unwilling to accept the loss, party insiders and leaders then supported Murkowski in a successful independent campaign against their own party’s nominee.

In that contest the establishment demonstrated a willingness to cast aside the desires of party members and even engage in blatant manipulation of the electoral process to get their way. Despite its physical size, Alaska’s political landscape is one of small towns, local powerbrokers, and more than its share of corruption.

Read more from this story HERE.

Federal Informant Admits Working for the Left During 2010 US Senate Handcuffing: “I was working for you, you sons of bitches, and nobody knew it”

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The liberal Huffington Post reported today that Bill Fulton, the individual responsible for the handcuffing of the Alaska Dispatch editor Tony Hopfinger at a Joe Miller for US Senate event, “was a federal informant at the same time.”

And, as it turns out, Fulton was also masquerading as a conservative the whole time, not only while volunteering for Joe Miller, but while acting as the campaign manager for rightwing lieutenant governor candidate Eddie Burke as well.

Fulton told the Huffington Post that he was a real honest-to-goodness liberal, bragging that he not only voted for Obama – twice – but that also, “he was working for you [the liberal press], you sons of bitches, and nobody knew it.”

And it appears Fulton is continuing his leftwing jihad. He claims that Miller wore a bullet proof vest the night of his primary victory because he “was a paranoid guy with a bunch of guys with guns that like to hang out with him.” What Fulton leaves out is that he followed Miller around at convention central, warning him of threats against him and insisted that Miller put on Fulton’s personal vest.

Fulton concludes his interview saying that his federal informant business is “booming this year because of Obama and gun control, man. If you look at the right wing, the growth in the militia organizations, the growth in the border organizations, the amount of firearms, the type of rhetoric that is now used, we have a major issue.”

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

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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”

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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.

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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

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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

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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.