Sarah Palin's side issues

Sarah Palin made the following statement regarding WAR's rejection by the Legislature:

“I believed I knew what Alaskans wanted when I selected an individual who is a strong backer of 2nd Amendment rights, a staunch supporter of the state Constitution and a defender of life,” Governor Palin said. “Wayne Anthony Ross supports responsible, ethical development of Alaska’s rich resources. I’m surprised that legislators in this case really did not seem to represent their constituents and allowed themselves to be swayed by side issues. Mr. Ross is a fine Alaskan. He is held in high esteem by many Alaskans. I appreciate his willingness to serve the public.”

According to Sarah Palin, these are side issues:

- Alaska Natives
- Civil rights
- The law

No, Alaska Natives should conform with anti-native initiatives and give up their way of life.

No, the rights of women, children and the gay community are not important. Women are liars and gays are degenerates.

No, what's the law? "I'm the Governor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't."

The real issues, as far as she's concerned, are:

- Guns
- Alaska Constitution as opposed to the US Constitution (AIP?)
- Being pro-life
- The ethical development of Alaska’s rich resources.

Yes, let's have guns everywhere! In schools, bars, government buildings, children's playgrounds.

Yes, let's take away the few protections Alaska Natives have when defending their rights to subsistence and their way of life.

Yes, let's close down all clinics that perform abortions. Let's take away women's rights to choose.

Yes, let's sue the Federal government every time they try to protect endangered species.


Sarah Palin's priorities as governor are very clear.

But they do not reflect the priorities of all Alaskans.

Sarah Palin should take the advice of a loyal supporter on C4P:

"Gov. Palin should NOT run for a second term. Get a good team around you and go national. The time is now."

Yes, yes, yes! SarahPac your bags and leave!

An interesting article with polls about Sarah Palin's prospects in 2012.

(The lovely photo was sent in by Donna. Thanks, Donna!)
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WAR is out! Hurrah! UPDATED

The state legislature voted to reject Wayne Anthony Ross as Attorney General!

The House voted 23-16 and the Senate 12-7 against WAR.

Phew!

UPDATE

How they voted:

Alaska House

(Richard Foster, D-Nome, who caucuses with the largely Republican

majority, was excused)

Yeas - 16

John Coghill, R-North Pole

Nancy Dahlstrom, R-Anchorage

Anna Fairclough, R-Eagle River

Carl Gatto, R-Palmer

John Harris, R-Valdez

Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage

Carl Johnson, R-Anchorage

Wes Keller, R-Wasilla

Mike Kelly, R-Fairbanks

Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage

Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage

Cathy Munoz, R-Juneau

Mark Neuman, R-Wasilla

Kurt Olson, R-Soldotna

Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks

Bill Stoltze, R-Eagle River

Nays - 23:

Alan Austerman, R-Kodiak

Bob Buch, D-Anchorage

Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski

Sharon Cissna, D-Anchorage

Harry Crawford, D-Anchorage

Mike Doogan, D-Anchorage

Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham

Les Gara, D-Anchorage

Berta Gardener, D-Anchorage

Max Gruenberg, D-Anchorage

David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks

Bob Herron, D-Bethel, but member of Majority

Lindsey Holmes, D-Anchorage

Kyle Johansen, R-Ketchikan

Reggie Joule, D-Kotzebue, but member of Majority

Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks

Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau

Pete Petersen, D-Anchorage

Woodie Salmon, D-Chalkytsik

Paul Seaton, R-Homer

Bill Thomas, R-Haines

Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage

Peggy Wilson, R-Wrangell

Senate

Yea - 7

Con Bunde, R-Anchorage

Fred Dyson, R-Eagle River

Charlie Huggins, R-Wasilla

Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage

Linda Menard, R-Wasilla

Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage

Gene Therriault, R-North Pole

Nay - 12

Bettye Davis, D-Anchorage

Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage

Hollis French, D-Anchorage

Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel

Albert Kookesh, D-Angoon

Donald Olson, D-Nome

Joe Paskvan, D-Fairbanks

Bert Stedman, R-Sitka

Joe Thomas, D-Fairbanks

Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage

Tom Wagoner, R-Kenai

Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak

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WAR: "I didn't say that!"

Alaska attorney general nominee Wayne Anthony Ross denies that he advocated that the law should be ignored in filling Juneau's vacant Senate seat.

Wayne Anthony Ross is circulating a letter among legislators saying "I have been advised that there is now a rumor circulating that I have advocated or implied that the law should be ignored when the Senate takes up the issue of approving the governor's appointment to fill the vacant Senate seat for Juneau. ...That rumor is totally false."

But audio files indicate otherwise. Ross told the Alaska Public Radio Network on Wednesday that "the most important thing that can be done by the Senate is not argue what's legal or illegal but to appoint somebody to represent Juneau."

WAR seems a bit desperate.

I'm going out of my mind waiting for the result of the Legislature vote, or tabling, or whatever!

Report from ADN
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Rex Butler, Levi Johnston's attorney

Levi Johnston's lawyer is bristling at suggestions from Gov. Sarah Palin's family that the 19-year-old is a deadbeat dad. "I wish that Sarah Palin's father would get his facts correct, quite frankly," attorney Rex Butler said Wednesday.

Palin's father, Chuck Heath, claims in a story being published Friday in Us Weekly magazine that the unemployed Johnston isn't financially supporting the infant. He said he wishes Johnston would take some money from the interviews and buy diapers for Tripp.

Butler told The Associated Press that Johnston was not paid for the interviews and is tired of the Palin family's characterization of his client.

Heath was "trying to make the young man look like a deadbeat father, and, you know, they may have a rude awakening one day if he tries to get custody," Butler said.

"They don't want to share his child with him like they should," he said.

Palin family spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton responded in an e-mail to the AP by saying, "Bristol is focused on college, advocating abstinence and raising Tripp."

Here's some information about Rex Butler:

Bar Admissions

* Alaska, 1983
* U.S. District Court District of Alaska
* U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
* U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit
* U.S. Supreme Court

Education

* Howard University School of Law, Washington, District of Columbia, 1983
J.D.

* University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, 1977
B.A.

* Florida Junior College, Jacksonville, Florida, 1975
A.A.
Honors: Phi Theta Kappa
Honors: With Honors

Classes/Seminars Taught

* Adjunct Professor, University of Alaska Anchorage, 1990 - 2006
* Adjunct Professor, Anchorage Community College, 1985
* Teaching Assistant, Howard University School of Law, 1981 - 1983

Honors and Awards

* Who's Who in America
* Who's Who Among Practicing Attorneys
* Who's Who in American Law
* Who's Who in the West
* Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award
* Major Tony Knowles, Public Service Award
* Anchorage Equal Rights Commission, Certificate of Appreciation
* Featured in Black Enterprise Magazine, October
* Outstanding Young Men of America
* Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities
* Peer selected, Best Lawyers in America, 2007
* Diploma for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy
* Appointed Lawyer Representative, 9th Circuit

Past Employment Positions

* Rex Lamont Butler and Associates, Inc., P.C., 1985 - Present
* State of Alaska, Attorney General's Office, Assistant Attorney General, 1984 - 1985
* State of Alaska, Legislative Assistant, 1984
* Jesse Jackson for President Committee-Alaska, General Counsel, 1984
* M. Ashley Dickerson, Inc., Associate, 1983
* Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission, Law Clerk, 1982 - 1983
* United States Navy, Hospital Corpsman, 1969 - 1973
* Anchorage Telephone Utility Commission, 1985 - 1986


It looks like Levi Johnston has a much better qualified and respected attorney than Sarah Palin.

WAR is not qualified to shine Rex Butler's shoes.

Go Levi!

Links
Report from ADN
Rex Butler's webpage
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W.A.R.: what's legal or illegal?

State Senate Democrats are refusing to vote on the three names that Gov. Sarah Palin forwarded as appointees for the open Senate seat. They obtained a legal opinion this morning saying it is illegal for Palin to submit more than one name.

“There is nothing for us to vote on, there is no appointment,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat. “The governor has taken an unusual course which is outside the law and leaves us no choice but to ignore what she‘s done.”

The governor’s attorney general appointee, Wayne Anthony Ross, said in response that he needs to review the legal opinion by Pam Finley, revisor of statutes.

"It seems to me the most important thing that can be done by the Senate is not argue with legal or illegal but to appoint somebody to represent Juneau," said Ross.

WAR's approach to the whole thing is absolutely inane. A wannabe Attorney General advising Senators to ignore the law?

It was clear from the start that Sarah Palin appointed WAR for one reason: he would give her permission to break the law and make it look "legal"...

Report on ADN
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Don't miss it! UPDATED

Please read this: "Anti-WAR letter: Opposing Wayne Anthony Ross ". It provides very solid evidence about WAR's unsuitability for the office of Attorney General.

There's very little time left, but the Legislature have to reject this guy. The more I read about WAR, the more depressed I get. Surely Alaskan Senators and Representatives have some common sense and compassion? They cannot leave the women and children of Alaska at the mercy of this man's whims.

Sarah Palin's family values are deeply flawed. Her recent behaviour is not just erratic, it's criminally insane.

UPDATE Extra link: WAR's Anti-gay letter
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Sarah Palin's legal eagle

The following are a couple of paragraphs from the critique of WAR's article "Join A Militia -- Break The Law?", written in 1995.

I highlighted the bits I found interesting.

"One of the things missing from the magazine is information about the author, Wayne Anthony Ross, and his credentials to write such a legal analysis. My source states that he is a colonel in the Alaska State Defense Force, which is a select militia of the State of Alaska. I do not know if he has had any legal training, but his article indicates that if he has, he didn't master his lessons. It is not clear that he has any authority to speak for the NRA, but if he has accurately stated their position, then that position is in error and needs to be changed.

First, Ross misquotes the Second Amendment. He substitutes the word "for" for the phrase "to the security of". This is indicated in the sidebar by surrounding the word "for" in brackets. Ross cannot quote the Constitution correctly."

WAR's education, according to his own website:

Mr. Ross graduated from Marquette University High School in 1960. After attending the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for two years, he transferred to Marquette University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration in 1965, and a Doctor of Law (Juris Doctoris) Degree in 1968.

In 1995 he had been a lawyer for 27 years and had served as the NRA vice president from 1988 to 1991.

WAR's so called areas of expertise are the law and the NRA. I looks like he's below par in both of them. WAR couldn't quote his favourite amendment correctly!

He's already giving dodgy advice to Sarah Palin regarding the appointment a new Senator to the vacant Democratic seat.

If the Legislature approve WAR's appointment to the position of Attorney General it will be a very serious case of the lunatics running the asylum.

Links
WAR's article and critique
WAR's qualifications
WAR's NRA
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Sarah Palin, WAR and the AIP

Todd Palin, the power behind the throne?

Sarah Palin with Walt Hickel and with W.A.R.

I found a very well researched article about Sarah Palin's connections with the Alaska Independence Party, in particular with Mark Chryson. Below are some excerpts, with some words highlighted by me:

In 1994, Sarah Palin attended the AIP's statewide convention. In 1995, her husband, Todd, changed his voter registration to AIP. Except for an interruption of a few months, he would remain registered as an AIP member until 2002, when he changed his registration to undeclared.

Mark Chryson became the AIP's vice chairman in 1996 and its chairman in 1997, a position he held until 2003.

Chryson pursued a dual policy of cozying up to secessionist and right-wing groups in Alaska and elsewhere while also attempting to replicate the AIP's success with Walt Hickel in infiltrating the mainstream political parties. (Hickel was elected governor as a Republican in 1966 and again in 1990 as the AIP candidate)

In 1996, Palin decided to run against John Stein for mayor of Wasilla. While Palin pushed back against Stein's policies, particularly those related to funding public works, Chryson said he and Steve Stoll prepared the groundwork for her mayoral campaign.

Once elected, Palin backed Chryson as he successfully advanced a host of anti-tax, pro-gun initiatives.

Sarah Palin endorsed Chryson's unsuccessful initiative to move the state Legislature from Juneau to Wasilla. She also lent her support to Chryson's crusade to alter the Alaska Constitution's language to better facilitate the formation of anti-government militias. "It took over 10 years to get that language written in," Chryson said. "But Sarah was there supporting it."

She joined in their vendetta against several local officials they disliked, and listened to their advice about hiring. She attempted to name Stoll, a John Birch Society activist known in the Mat-Su Valley as "Black Helicopter Steve," to an empty Wasilla City Council seat. Palin was blocked by the single vote of then-Councilman Nick Carney, who had endured countless rancorous confrontations with Stoll and considered him a "violent" influence on local politics. Though Palin considered consulting attorneys about finding another means of placing Stoll on the council, she was ultimately forced to back down and accept a compromise candidate.

Emboldened by his nomination by Mayor Palin, Stoll later demanded she fire Wasilla's museum director, John Cooper, a personal enemy he longed to sabotage. Palin obliged, eliminating Cooper's position in short order.

"Gotcha, Cooper!" Stoll told the deposed museum director after his termination, as Cooper told a reporter for the New York Times. "And it only cost me a campaign contribution." Stoll had donated $1,000 to Palin's mayoral campaign.

Nick Carney later proposed an ordinance that would have prohibited residents from carrying guns into schools, bars, hospitals, government offices and playgrounds. Infuriated by the proposal that Carney viewed as a common-sense public-safety measure, Chryson and seven allies stormed a July 1997 council meeting.

With the bill still in its formative stages, Carney was not even ready to present it to the council, let alone conduct public hearings on it. He and other council members objected to the ad-hoc hearing as "a waste of time." But Palin -- in plain violation of council rules and norms -- insisted that Chryson testify, stating, according to the minutes, that "she invites the public to speak on any issue at any time."

When Carney tried later in the meeting to have the ordinance discussed officially at the following regular council meeting, he couldn't even get a second. His proposal died that night, thanks to Palin and her extremist allies.

"Every time I showed up her door was open," said Chryson. "And that policy continued when she became governor."

When Palin ran for governor in 2006, marketing herself as a fresh-faced reformer determined to crush the GOP's ossified power structure, she made certain to appear at the AIP's state convention. To burnish her maverick image, she also tapped one-time AIP member and former governor Walter Hickel as her campaign co-chair. (The other was Wayne Anthony Ross)

When Palin delivered her victory speech on election night, Hickel stood beaming by her side. "I made her governor," he boasted afterward. Two years later, Hickel endorsed Palin's bid for vice president.

I couldn't find any direct links between W.A.R. and the AIP, but I found an article he wrote in 1990 which includes these words:

"We still have strong leaders in State government in Alaska of the likes of Walter Hickel."

Sarah Palin appears to have strong ties to AIP members to this day. In WAR's own words to the Legislature in recent days, he clearly stated that he sees the federal government as the enemy. Todd Palin's last known party affiliation was to the AIP and he is extremely influential in Sarah Palin's administration.

From another article:

In the Palin administration, Todd appears to have had an unusually strong role, the extent of which remains unclear. He is not on the state payroll and was never elected -- but the First Dude has crossed over from the standard-issue supportive political spouse to something far more influential, weighing in on policy and political matters in ways that few observers seem to understand.

Considering all these factors together, we have to ask this question:

Who's behind W.A.R.'s appointment for Attorney General of Alaska?

Links
AIP article
Todd Palin article
WAR's article about Hickel
AIP platform
WAR's "Soldier of Fortune" article, including interesting critique which challenges WAR's legal credentials...
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Sarah Palin, pro-native, gay friendly, all American feminist?

Wayne Anthony Ross has quite an interesting history and made a number of even more interesting statements on important issues.

Sarah Palin's choice of Attorney General speaks volumes about her claims regarding natives, homosexuality, real Americans and feminism.

Sarah Palin cannot possibly be against natives. Some native groups expressed concerns about WAR's appointment.

Palin dismissed their concerns, saying her husband and children are part Native.

"I'm not anti-Native and Wayne Anthony Ross is not anti-Native. I would never hire anybody who is," Palin said. (ADN)

Sarah Palin cannot be against homosexuals, because, as she told Katie Couric, one of her dearest and best loved friends is a lesbian.

"But as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships. I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years happens to be gay, and I love her dearly. And she is not my "gay friend," she is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice that I have made. But I am not going to judge people." (Katie Couric interview transcript)

Sarah Palin cannot be against America. She went as far as claiming that real Americans were to be found in small towns like Wasilla, her own homestead.

"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. (HuffPo)

“I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town,” I grew up with those people. They’re the ones who do some of the hardest work in America, who grow our food, and run our factories, and fight our wars. They love their country in good times and bad, and they’re always proud of America.” (Article, The Moderate Voice)

Sarah Palin is definitely a feminist! She said that Hillary Clinton shouldn't whine about the way she was being treated by the media during the primaries, accusing them of being sexist, because that didn't help other women striving for equality, like Sarah Palin herself.



Wayne Anthony Ross said a few things this week.

On protected subsistence rights for natives in rural Alaska:

"But the problem with subsistence is that some people felt that they should have more rights than other people, and instead of sitting down and working out to make sure that subsistence was protected… you can’t have “those who have” and “those who have not” and not develop enemies." (Previous post, palingates)

On the US government:

"You don’t go to Washington D.C. anymore. Washington D.C. is not friends with Alaska. The General’s job is not to cause casualties with its own people. The General’s job is to win the war against the enemy." (Previous post, palingates)

His view on homosexuality:

During a fight several years ago over gay rights, Allison Mendel, an attorney, helped organize Anchorage lawyers in support of an anti-discrimination ordinance.

Ross wrote a nasty (public) letter to the Bar Association newsletter, using words like "immoral", "perversion" and "degenerates". (Diary, Pam's House Blend)

Back in 1991, on women's rights, WAR was overheard saying:

“If a guy can’t rape his wife…who’s he gonna rape?” and “There wouldn’t be an issue with domestic violence if women would learn to keep their mouths shut.” (Shannyn Moore, HuffPo)

There is a very wide gulf between what Sarah Palin says and what Sarah Palin does.

It appears to me that she pays lip service to all the issues outlined above, having a few soundbites for each occasion, but when it comes to the crunch, she shows her true colours.

Sarah Palin is, in her actions, a bigoted anti-native, anti-gay, not too American pseudo-feminist.

Sarah Palin's choice of Attorney General is a good indication of how she really stands on these issues.
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Sarah Palin at W.A.R. with the US

Wayne Anthony Ross, Sarah Palin's appointment to the position of Alaska Attorney General, made some disturbing statements to the Alaska Legislature.

Senator Donny Olson challenged some of WAR's positions regarding subsistence and rural Alaska. Some snippets:

Olson: ...they’ve (rural Alaskans, i.e. natives) had to go to Washington D.C. to get some type of arrangement to continue to do what they’ve done for years? What do I say to them?

WAR: You don’t go to Washington D.C. anymore. Washington D.C. is not friends with Alaska. The General’s job is not to cause casualties with its own people. The General’s job is to win the war against the enemy. Alaskans should be working together.

Instead some people went off to Washington to try to get rights over others which was violative (sic) of our constitution. It wasn’t willing to handle it, in my opinion. And now we’ve got the federal government sticking its nose in the state of Alaska, and we need to realize that we’ve invited a giant to our state and that we need to work together to protect all of us from the giant.

But, you don’t invite the giant into your house, or the bear (if you want to say that) invite the bear in your house and expect not to get eaten up. We’re being eaten up and we need to get together.

Sarah Palin is in the habit of challenging the federal government over endangered species and subsistence matters through costly lawsuits. She also seeks to open up federal lands for oil drilling and resents the fact that there are vast tracts of land under federal control.

She talks a lot about the independent spirit of Alaskans. From a recent speech:

"When Alaska was granted statehood, it was with the expectation that our independent, innovative spirit and rich resources would largely sustain us, rather than depending on federal government."

"Creating more dependence on Washington steers us away from Alaska’s magnificent potential and destiny, and that, to me, is a problem."

"We are up to the challenge. This is the best lesson we can teach our children."

When reacting to president Obama's call for cuts to nuclear programs, Sarah Palin referred to Alaska as "a sovereign state".

Sarah Palin and Wayne Anthony Ross appear to have BIG issues with the US government.

Do they sound a tad secessionist or what? Is Sarah Palin an AIP Trojan horse?

Fuller account about WAR at the Legislature.
Previous AIP posts. Previous WAR post.
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Sarah Palin and environmental racism

Tracy Glynn, in a February 2009 article regarding the treatment of local residents in the El Cerrejon coal mine area in Colombia by the mining giant Anglo American, wrote:

Environmental racism has long been recognized as a problem. It has worsened in many ways as a result of government cutbacks in environmental enforcement and of softening of environmental protection regulation, also known as streamlining or deregulation. The "war on terror" has also been used to shut down groups that confronted environmental racism.

The term "environmental racism" was coined by American Reverend Dr. Benjamin F. Chaviz, Jr. over twenty years ago during a church commission on racism.

Environmental racism occurs when
- racial discrimination is used to determine the level of environmental regulations or enforcement.
- polluting industries are situated in marginalized communities.
- marginalized groups are excluded from decision-making bodies that determine the fate of their environment.

What a coincidence! The group most affected by the Pebble Mine development happen to be Alaska Natives and we can check all three of the above.

-The level of regulations and enforcement have already been compromised with the defeat of Ballot Measure 4, which counted with timely assistance from Sarah Palin.

-The polluting industry is situated in a native area, as already established.

-Alaska Natives are definitely excluded from the decision-making process regarding their future.

The environmental damage caused by Pebble Mine would be widespread because only a huge mine, benefiting from economies of scale, is economically possible at Pebble due to the low-grade character of the ore. The number of villages affected would be greater in a project of this nature than in a more contained one. An open pit mine the size of Pebble would cause major disruption to the area, regardless of the ethnicity of the population. The fact remains that in this case the local population is native.

Pebble and the Governor have been covering their bases quite cleverly. Together they defeated measures regarding the Clean Water Act. Now Pebble has started dispensing beads and trinkets to the native communities under the guise of "grants". And Sarah Palin has appointed an anti-native Attorney General.

Sarah Palin, in usual form, shields herself from criticism by claiming that her husband and children are part native, therefore she doesn't discriminate against natives. Apart from drawing dividends from two Native Corporations, they have very flimsy ties to native communities. They all live in Wasilla, in a nice, warm home and will not be displaced or inconvenienced by any of the mining operations in question.

Sarah Palin's "native" family will never find themselves at odds with her Attorney General in questions of subsistence and economic survival.

Some past governors had a bad attitude towards Alaska Natives. Too many people in Alaska have a bad attitude towards rural, native communities.

Sarah Palin had the opportunity to address many of the problems facing them: low representation in government bodies, exclusion from the decision-making process, inadequate infra-structure in remote villages, inadequate schools, under-investment in their economies, disregard for their subsistence needs and so on.

The way I see it, not only is Sarah Palin anti-native and racist, the "nativeness" of her family is just another political prop.

Tracy's article
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Sarah Palin's war against Alaska Natives

Sarah Palin's record on issues regarding Alaska Natives:

As soon as Palin was sworn in as governor, she set a firm course against Native subsistence rights. One of her very first decisions was to continue litigation that seeks to overturn every subsistence fishing determination the federal government has ever made in Alaska.

The reason is no secret: to diminish subsistence fishing rights in order to expand sport and commercial fishing.

The federal court in Alaska rejected Palin’s main challenge. But that defeat has not deterred Palin.

Palin continues to argue in court that federal subsistence protections are too broad and should be narrowed to exclude vast areas from subsistence fishing in favor of sport and commercial fishing. Palin opposes subsistence protections in marine waters, she opposes subsistence protections on many of the lands that Alaska Natives selected under their 1971 land claims settlement, and she opposes subsistence protections in many of the rivers where Alaska Natives customarily fish.

In her two years as governor Palin has proven herself to be no friend of Alaska Native subsistence.

Palin has also tried to overturn critical federal protections for Alaska Native customary and traditional uses of game, again simply to enhance sport hunting. Palin’s attack here has targeted (among others) the Ahtna Indian people in Chistochina; and although the federal court last year rejected this challenge, too, Palin has refused to lay down her arms. The battle has thus moved on to the appellate courts.

In both hunting and fishing matters, Palin has challenged critical protections that Native people depend upon for their subsistence way of life, merely to enhance sport fishing and hunting opportunities.

At the very same time that she has challenged federal subsistence rights, she has waged a second battle against tribal sovereignty.

While Palin pays lip service to the fact that Alaska tribes are federally recognized, it is an empty statement because she insists they have no authority whatsoever to act as sovereigns despite that recognition unless, she argues, the state first permits a tribe to take some particular action.
From and article on Indian Country Today, by Lloyd Miller and Heather Kendall-Miller, who practice law in Anchorage, Alaska, representing Native interests.

WAR

Wayne Anthony Ross has lobbied Congress over amendments to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. He was co-counsel on the initial subsistence lawsuit, the McDowell case, in which the state Supreme Court tossed out the state's rural-preference law and affirmed equal hunting and fishing rights for Alaskans no matter where they live.

Native sovereignty threatens to create separate classes of Alaskans and would further divide the state, Ross said. ''The idea of Native sovereignty is a 19th-century principle, and we are going into the 21st century.''

Ross, an urban hunter, wants to keep the state constitutional guarantee of equal access to fish and game. ''Rural preference is wrong and not necessary to ensure subsistence foods,'' he says.
From "Who's Wayne Ross?", ADN

I intend to challenge provisions of ANILCA that mandate federal management of our resources, through pressure on our congressional delegation and through court action as well. Alaska’s fish and game resources must be managed by Alaskans and not by the Feds.

The subsistence issue must be resolved. Until that happens, confrontation will continue and politics will rule. The first priority must be protection of the resource. Only in times of shortage of the resource should there be a priority for subsistence use, and that priority should be for those who need the resource to feed themselves and their family. Priority should not be based on an individual Alaskan’s zip code. Once we wrest control of our resources back from the federal government, Alaskans of goodwill can sit down together and resolve the subsistence issue.
From Fish Alaska Magazine, when Ross was trying to run for governor.


Sarah Palin's war on Alaska Natives is out in the open. She has sought to undermine their culture and their way of life every step of the way, with her patronizing attitudes and her attempts to disperse their communities by not supporting their own solutions to address the needs of their people, suggesting instead that they emulate Todd Palin and seize opportunities upon the North Slope, abandoning their villages.

Having the law as her new ally, what's in store for Alaska Natives?

Links
Indian Country Today
"Who's Wayne Ross?"
Fish Alaska Magazine
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Sarah Palin's new Attorney General

Sarah Palin named Wayne Anthony Ross to the post of Attorney General on Thursday, March 26.

Ross, a longtime figure in Alaska politics, twice sought the Republican nomination for governor. He is a former NRA vice president and current director, and an active member of the Alaska Outdoor Council. His position on subsistence is controversial in rural Alaska.

Wayne Anthony Ross was co-chairman of Sarah Palin's campaign for governor.

Full report: ADN
Wayne Anthony Ross: career
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