As ethics complaints go, this is pretty picayune
I’m not a Fan of Sarah.
Yes, Alaska, strike me dead now: I repeat, I am not a Fan of Sarah.
The latest real issue I have with our dearly beloved Momma Grizzly is that (according to rumor) she and the state legislators had worked out exactly what the state was going to accept and not going to accept in terms of the federal stimulus package, everyone was in agreement, and then, 24 hours later, she came out with a grand fanfare saying she was going to reject a heckuva lot more–as in 30% of the package offered to Alaska. “In essence we say no to operating funds for more positions in government,” quoth Sarah.
The rumor mill claims that she did this last-minute change of heart at the behest of SarahPAC, the group that is positioning her to run for President in 2012–rejecting gobs of the stimulus money would look good for GOP voters in the upcoming election, as would playing up “rejecting” big government.
Then there’s the fact that it took six weeks of effort from bloggers, local legislators, and eventually some spots on CNN, to move our Momma Grizzly to actually take some notice of the problems that western Alaska villages were facing due to high fuel costs, low fuel supplies, and an intense and long cold snap.
Not to mention the stonewalling on state scientists’ positions on how warming is affecting the polar bear population…
And Troopergate, which really does provide some interesting insights into how the Alaska First Family likes to operate…
And charging the state to provide transportation dollars for her kiddos to trek along with her as she swung around the U.S. “promoting Alaska” and (oh, by the way) promoting her VP candidacy.
So: No love lost here.
But, really, this latest “ethics complaint” just leaves me rolling my eyes.
So, here’s the story: Momma Grizzly’s hunka hunka burnin’ love, First Dude Todd, gets sponsored by Arctic Cat for his IronDog snowmachine competition to the tune of $5,000. And Momma Grizzly shows up at the opening of the race to drop the flag clad in a “Team Arctic” jacket, with the Arctic Cat logo emblazoned on it.
That’s it.
In a nutshell.
WTFOMGBBQ!!!! Strike her down now! Evil, evil woman, accepting money and advertising while acting as governor!
Um.
Excuse me if I’m not prostrate in horror at this egregious lapse of ethics.
I mean, c’mon, folks.
We have better things to rant about.
I’m pretty sure the majority of Alaskans–Sarah Fans or no–can quite easily separate the “excited wife of many-time IronDog winner” from “high-level government official”. In other words, cut Sarah some slack; she wasn’t advertising Arctic Cat–she was advertising First Dude Todd. She wasn’t endorsing Arctic Cat as The Official Snowmachine Of The State of Alaska.
This is a waste of money. On both sides. And a waste of judicial time and energy. On both sides.
In other news, the volcano has simmered down, and the weather has warmed up. It was above 40F today Chez Omega, and the snow is melting swiftly. I’z a happy camper, dudes.
posted in Alaska, Politics | 2 Comments
