Photo Credit: dmcdevitThe State Central Committee (SCC) of the Alaska Republican Party will be meeting in Homer Alaska on Saturday May 25th for their quarterly leadership meeting. It should be a lively one.

This saga all began back in April of 2012 at the Republican State Convention where the state delegates elected Russ Millette as the new chair and Debbie Brown as the new vice chair. This represented a tremendous values shift away from the established party leadership that has ruled for over a decade.

From that moment on, the old guard has been working feverishly to nullify the state convention election results and keep their established leadership cabal in power indefinitely. Back in January, chair-elect Russ Millette was ousted by the smaller State Executive Committee (SEC) on the charge of failure to raise money just two hours before he was to be seated. Debbie Brown then advanced to party chair. She was likewise purged in a similar manner in April on the charge of failure to raise money. Both are appealing their removal from office at the upcoming SCC meeting in Homer.

In the meantime, a few of the individual political districts such as Districts 8 (Palmer), District 10 (Big Lake), and District 12 (Eagle River) have rejected this leadership usurpation by issuing individual district resolutions pledging to follow their duly elected leadership despite the noise and political machinations of those that have dug into the political system like Tennessee ticks.

As the meeting in Homer rapidly approaches, a new twist has been added in the form of an individual district resolution from District 30 (Kasilof & Homer) that proposes that the SCC confirm Peter Goldberg (or someone else) as interim chair until the September SCC meeting, at which time a new chair and vice-chair would be elected by the SCC. While on the surface this may look a lot like a compromise to promote unity within the Alaska GOP, in reality it would divide it like the Colorado River cutting through the sandstone of the Grand Canyon.

First of all if this resolution is adopted, the SCC would legitimize the coup d’état by confirming Peter Goldberg or someone else interim party chair. Secondly, this would disenfranchise the several hundred elected state delegates who voted at the 2012 Republican State Convention. Thirdly, this would sanction a “do over” election in a much smaller and controllable SCC venue. Lastly, this would upend and go-around any appeal that may be made by Russ Millette or Debbie Brown to keep their elected positions.

The crux of this issue really exceeds intraparty personality bickering. This is about something much larger and scarier that can affect every Republican and eventually every American. This is about the sacred respect for the succession of political power by majority vote. The U.S. Constitution and our Republican form of self-government are all built on the same foundation stone — the respect by both the winning and losing parties for the results of free and fair elections. In the past this mutual respect has provided for the orderly transfer of political power and has prevented many civil wars. The ARP is about to set a horrible precedent by nullifying a statewide election that if left unchecked, could spread like a cancer throughout our entire political system and eventually threaten the very foundation of our republic itself. We cannot allow this to happen.

The Republican State Central Committee (SCC) is composed of all of our elected state and federal legislators, the governor and lieutenant governor, as well others such as district chairs and bonus votes. Make your voice heard as to which direction you wish the Alaska Republican Party to go. It is my firm belief that the despite our current challenges and individual drifting, the Republican Party platform still rings closest to that of our Founding Fathers proclamation of individual liberty and limited government. It is up to us — you and I as rank and file Republicans, to dip our torch back into the pitch of freedom, relight it, and use it to guide the path of our footsteps much as it successfully guided our ancestor’s through two centuries of the darkest and stormiest nights into the green valleys of the greatest prosperity the world has ever known.