The Alaska Republican Party has a big problem. For some reason, it tolerates disloyalty from its elected politicians, and worse yet, it appears unable to do anything about it. The seven Republicans who will join with Democrats in the incoming legislative session are getting away with political treason. The AK GOP needs to hear that Alaskan voters are unhappy about it and are demanding action from the GOP leadership to correct this problem. If they don’t act, voters have alternatives, and I don’t mean voting for Democrats.
The situation for conservative Alaskan voters is analogous to a hostage situation. Every two years, we are given the choice of voting for liberal Democrats or RINO Republicans. So, we hold our noses and vote for the best Republican candidate, hoping things will work out this time, but they never do. The Republicans in Juneau get together and either marginalize their most conservative members or, worse yet, become party traitors who join with the Democrats to loot our state coffers to pay for their own personal agendas. This pattern is repeated in election after election, and the public is forced to go along with it.
The GOP leadership may not recognize it, but this is a crisis point for them.
This year looked to be different. In the November election, Alaskans overwhelmingly chose Republicans to lead us. We voted in large numbers for Republican Donald Trump to be president. The voters also elected Republican Nick Begich to replace Democrat Mary Peltola. They even elected Republican majorities in both houses of our State Legislature.
This should have been a resounding Republican victory for our state, but it wasn’t. For some reason, seven local Republican legislators became turncoats, like modern-day Benedict Arnolds. They joined with the enemy Democrats to form liberal governing coalitions in both houses of the Legislature.
Since the announcement of their betrayal, there has been nothing but silence from the leadership of the AK GOP. They have done nothing to police the disloyalty of these individuals. They haven’t even given a comment of condemnation in the newspaper. Even worse, I have heard some Republican Party members say they are helpless, and that there is nothing they can do to punish these individuals. Someone needs to tell them the Seward’s Folly first rule of leadership. Maybe it should be printed on a large poster and hung on the wall at the Republican headquarters in Anchorage.
For years, Alaskans have put up with this situation, hostage to a system where two political parties dominate, with not a dime’s worth of difference between them. Voters have had to shut up and accept whatever feckless RINO we got stuck with because of the weakness of the AK GOP, but not anymore. The world is changing, and there is an excellent example in the UK of what happens when conservative parties abandon their voters.
The British Conservative Party, sometimes known as the Tory Party, is the oldest political party in the world. It was founded in 1834 but may soon come to an end, thanks to former member Nigel Farage.
Mr. Farage was a member of the Conservative Party and once served as the UK representative to the European Parliament in Brussels. Disillusioned by what he saw as a member of the EU government, he left the Conservatives and became a prominent leader of the Brexit movement in Great Britain. For those unfamiliar with Brexit, it was a grassroots political movement that worked to get Britain to leave its membership in the European Union. When the idea was first brought up, nobody thought this proposal had any chance of success, but Mr. Farage’s team persisted and won the vote on this issue in 2016.
While the Brexit movement was successful, the voters did not get the results they wanted. The Prime Minister at the time was Boris Johnson, a member of the Conservative party. Johnson botched the job of managing Britain’s exit from the EU. So, in June of last year, the voters elected a new Labor government led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Liberals, of course, called this a great victory for their Party, but it was more a repudiation of the Conservative government than an endorsement of the left wing.
Then, Mr. Farage threw another monkey wrench into British politics.
Although he retired after the Brexit vote in 2016, last summer, Mr. Farage decided to rejoin politics as a member of the Reform UK Party. This new political party had been created from what remained of his original Brexit grassroots group. In June of 2024, Farage and four other Reform UK MPs were successfully elected as Members of Parliament. Since then, Farage claims that voters have been flocking to his new party because of the ineffectiveness of the Conservatives. Farage says his new party now has more members than the established Conservative Party. Should this be true, and if Reform UK can elect Mr. Farage as Prime Minister in the next election, it could signal the end of the Tories as a significant political party in the UK. This is a foreshadowing of what could happen here in Alaska.
When the AK GOP does nothing about the seven traitors in Juneau, they are telling the voters that they are weak and ineffective. Voters understand that by their silence, the Alaska GOP leadership has tacitly endorsed the Democrat-led caucuses in the Alaska legislature. The GOP leadership may not recognize it, but this is a crisis point for them. The voters are not going to tolerate a weak and impotent GOP for much longer and will be looking for alternatives. Should anyone want to start a conservative “Make Alaska Great Again” party to replace the Alaska GOP, I will be the first to donate to help them get started. As the old saying goes, Republicans, you either lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.
The views expressed here are those of the author. Read more posts at Seward’s Folly substack.
25 Comments
Merrick and Murkowski need to go.
I agree 100% Greg. So many republicans in this state from our governor to our AK GOP leadership and those under them and our local governments are all bending to the pressure from the left to get along with them, play their game or else. Look what is happening in the Mat-Su Valley! The borough is planning on asking for grant money from the DOT to make our “streets safer.” How will those streets become safer? The plan is to make roads more narrow so that people HAVE TO slow down. Recommendations to put cameras everywhere to track people from point to point, at intersections, at mobile spots on the roads. The plan is focused on “equity” for everyone. The plan also includes a VISION ZERO goal – NO highway/street fatalities or serious injuries. A serious injury could even be a person opting to ride in an ambulance to a hospital to be checked after an accident. The Safe Streets plan is not going to make streets safer. We are going to be forced to “drive safer” by making our roads skinnier, adding cameras everywhere to have Big Brother keep an eye on you and track where you go, when you go, and how fast you drive. It is amazing that the world is waking up to this crap and our state is falling deeper and deeper into this crap. People behave like there is nothing they can do about it. Wake up people. Get involved and tell your community leaders, your reps, your governor and your president that we are not going to do this here in Alaska. It has to stop. We are the Government. The People are the Government for the People and by the People.-
MSB Safe Streets For All (SS4A)
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I’m in. One way or another the darkness in our state due to this corruption has to give.
Politicians like Stutues and Stephens from Kodiak have to go. They desperately need a well funded primary opponent.
Been saying this for years. GOP Alaska needs a “litmus test” for vetting politicians and candidates. Failure to pass the litmus test means NO support for a politician or candidate. GOP Alaska staff should also be required to take the litmus test as well. The party staff have not done us any favors either. We’re tired of GOP Alaska show-piecing a turd and exclaiming “This is the best we can offer!”.
Alaska state government continues to betray all of us via the current one party cabal. Disloyal Republican party officials and elected RINOs must be jettisoned, and replaced with honest stewards to restore a second party .
Years of malignant democrat policy in CA is on display in LA. We’re on the same bearing, and it’s time for AK to change course.
What are the names of the 7 RINOs that you referenced in this article?
Here are the names of the RINOs in the Alaska House and Senate that joined with Democrats to form governing caucuses; Louise Stutes, Chuck Kopp, Bert Stedman, Gary Stevens, Jesse Bjorkman, and Cathy Giessel.
You also missed Merrick
Uh, correction Mr Sarber. I have never, ever voted for a politician to “lead us”. We the People lead. At least in concept. But one thing is sure; I do not need to be led anywhere by any politician. Period they work for us. Supposedly.
A few critical items to consider:
The Dems had $100 MILLION DOLLARS to spend in Alaska. A number never considered, never imagined, never witnessed, never withstood.
We withstood this onslaught. Yes, they won the House and Senate due to traitors to their party, but we, as citizens, have the right to vote for who we want. The Republican Party has a role to organize against these traitors, but we are not allowed to remove folks from the ballot, and we are not allowed to prevent folks from voting for someone who the people feel represents them.
Here is what the Party can do – keep finding candidates to run against the traitors, keep raising money to defeat the traitors, and keep stiffening spines of Republican’s who will some day represent the true majority of common sense Alaskans who do not trust or want the Government to solve our problems by taking from resource developers, and destroy the civilization that they continue to transfer money to.
This article is right in that we are in a critical action window. Capitalize on this next election. Turn this State back to common-sense. Defeat our Democrat and traitor Republican electors. Retake this state for the common people who want a check from an employer, not a bureacrat. This upcoming election is the time to speak with one voice against traitors, and find and support a single candidate to run against them in their districts. This is the time to work together, put our money where our mouth is, and find a way to do the hard work to defeat these traitors to their party.
THE VERY OBSERVANT SYNIC DECLARES YOUR ADVICE IS STUPID! THE ELECTIONS ARE CORRUPTED! TRY AGAIN!
A few more critical items to consider:
Mr. Biegel suggests the Party should organize against traitors, but the only Republican the ARP actually organized against was Eastman in Wasilla.
Mr. Biegel points to Democratic money as the problem, but the real issue is the Democrats in Drag representing us in the Alaska House and Senate, and a Party leadership that enables them.
The Party ‘has a role to organize against the traitors’, but can you tell me which traitor the Party organized against?
No, you cannot, because there are so many traitors IN the party, as Mr. Sarber asserted.
The problem isn’t the Democrats’ money, but the Democrats in Drag that represent far too many of us in the Alaska House and Senate.
When you look at how the ARP and its cabal of Women’s Clubs spent their money, the only person IN the party they organized against was Eastman in Wasilla.
The party – led by Shelley Hughes – went scorched earth, replacing Eastman in D27 with a Republican whose positions and record are less conservative than his.
Say what you will about Eastman, spending tens of thousands of dollars to replace a Republican with a Republican while neglecting winnable races to either keep or gain seats in Anchorage and Fairbanks makes no sense – unless sacrificing the majority in the House out of spite for Eastman is part of the Party Platform.
When you look at the record – District 27 voted 11 to 2 to endorse Eastman, exclusively. Yet in violation of their own rules, the ARP took D27’s money and used it exclusively AGAINST Eastman. So much for being a grassroots political party!
By directing our attention to the money Democrats spent in the 2024 races, we might forget to ask where the Republicans spent their money – or where they didn’t.
Why didn’t the ARP spend any money supporting the repeal of Ranked Choice Voting?
The answer reveals another layer of betrayal: the party leadership actively benefits from RCV while claiming to oppose it. Under RCV, Democrats can now influence – or even decide – races in strongly Republican districts, something impossible under the old, closed primary system. This benefits exactly the kind of moderate Republicans (RINOs) who later betray the party platform in the legislature.
The party’s inaction on RCV isn’t just negligence – it’s strategy. Instead of fighting the system that undermines conservative representation, they spent their money attacking conservatives like Eastman in D27. Had they redirected those funds to support RCV repeal in just a couple Valley districts, the repeal likely would have succeeded. ARP leadership priorities show where their true loyalties lie.
Speaking of traitors TO the party, what is the standard by which we assert that a politician is a traitor TO the party?
Can we agree that standard is or should be the Party Platform?
If so, is funding abortions part of the Party Platform? Republicans in both chambers have supported abortion funding amendments to the budget for the past 20(+) years. Amend the Party Platform or hold Republicans in leadership accountable for paying for babies to be killed.
Is funding transgender hormone and cross-sex surgery ON CHILDREN part of the Party Platform? All but 2 House Republican Majority Republicans voted FOR this evil funding 4/10/2024.
Is voting for Democrats to control powerful committees part of the Party Platform? I am speaking of the House Republicans sale of the Finance Committee to the Democrats in 2023/24 (see the Committee on Committees vote 1/19/2023).
Is voting for a Planned Parenthood kill pill expansion bill part of the Party Platform? The controversial bill (HB 17) would not have passed except that Republican leadership in both chambers advanced the bill and voted for it, while several pro-life bills died without a single committee hearing.
If the Party Platform is the standard by which one is considered loyal or a traitorous Republican, then we have far more traitors TO the Party than Mr. Sarber asserts.
If the Party Platform is the standard by which one is considered loyal or traitorous, then it’s clear we have far more traitors IN the Party than Mr. Biegel would have you believe.
Why? Well, how could we have so many traitors TO the party (the Party Platform) if there weren’t at least as many traitors IN the party protecting and supporting them?
Mr. Biegel got one point right: ‘we are in a critical action window.’ But if that action fails to recognize the threats – the traitors – IN the Republican Party, then how much money the Democrats spend won’t matter at all.
Only by defeating the traitors IN the Party can we stop the traitors that they’ve been protecting for far too long.
But here’s the hard truth: Wrestling control of your district from the RINOs isn’t easy, nor does it guarantee the representation you want. D27’s experience proves this – despite endorsing Eastman by an 11 to 2 vote, the ARP and Republican Women’s clubs from across the state overrode the district’s choice with their own candidate.
While regaining control of Republican districts is critical, but it’s only the first step.
Until we remove the entrenched leadership that betrays both district voters and the Party Platform, we’ll keep fighting – and losing – the same battles. The choice is clear: clean house now, or watch our party continue to serve Democrat interests while wearing Republican badges.
This is a serious problem. Georgia and Texas have it also. It is correct that, WE ARE THE BOSSES. When legislators like Stutes and Stevens, Stedman, Merrick and Murkowski (on the national level) keep lying and those lies are not exposed, The legislators have no incentive to care. They are taking advantage of us and want the state money for personal purposes and not for the good of Alaskans. We need to make them care. Right now every one of them need to be reprimanded, fined and on paper, kicked out as a Republican. A formal letter to that effect should be written to them. Their vote which they are selling should not be for sale. A barrage of complaints should expose them in all media. These are robbers who cannot be trusted. Their names should be publicly pointed out until the Alaskans are very familiar with them. What is going on in Juneau is an extension of the DC swamp. We voted in two different elections to have the capital moved to the mainland. These legislators do not want the capital moved to the mainland because of their abuse of power. No integrity there. These are NOT MAGA REPUBLICANS. They have flunked over and over again and are trying to use the coattails of the MAGA movement for selfish purposes. We are going to contact Charley KIrk, Benny Johnson, Steve Turley, and Ben Carson and whoever we can think of to tell that Juneau is an extension of the THE DC SWAMP, including lobbyists and justices legislating from the bench. We plan to email Juneau weekly with a goal of having them and all their helpers familiar with our first names known to the reprobates and their helpers and make a copy to the good guys who have integrity in Juneau, and any of the above national leaders we can think of. We are MAGA Patriots and will expose this in any way possible. Forming a different party is one idea but the Tea Party did not work out.
There is a problem of many citizens not knowing the problem that is happening. We will pray about all of this meanwhile. We talked to our representative to Central Council and she said many central council members do not want to do anything about the turncoats. The GOP state chairman when asked about censoring Murkowski, answered “we need to have that discussion…” and then the discussion has not taken place. All newspaper and media outlets need to hear from the state GOP publicly and often. We will not be silenced. Perhaps Lara Trump could help. We need to lift up the Juneau carpet and watch the cockroaches scurry away from the “Light.”
The other problem is our mainstream journalists who should be exposing the reprobates but these journalists are NOT journalists but are liars and leftists also.
I moved to Alaska in 1973 as a 21 year old Democrat. I never felt politically hopeless until I became a Reagan Republican. We openly inserted globalists into our federal government and Rinos into the Alaska State government. If you’re state is slow to get in their vote, take a look at the tally and see if their vote will can a bill to return us some of our freedoms. Politically, the Dems must vote liberally; because that way the Rinos can act like Republicans and just vote the other side on rare occassions. That’s how it works, folks. That’s why Pres. Trump caused such a stir in the Republican Party. So far, he’s mostly constitutional. (I thought Murkowski was an Independent.)
Ever since I moved here I believed Alaska could be the wealthiest, most amazing place to live. Sadly I was mistaken as the land has been taken by the federal government and the minerals sold to the state for a slashed pfd. I proposed a solution for a sovereign Alaska, but not to many people were interested. Maybe now is the time for a political shift in this State. I have an itch for freedom and have some ideas for solutions to problems and I love to talk about them. I agree Lets make Alaska Great Again, maybe it’s time for a new party.
I am very interested in a sovereign Alaska. I too have not found much support when I talk it up.
Yet….
Let’s keep talking about it.
Greg, your frustration is 100% understandable, makes sense, clock’s ticking, Republican voters are ticked off, something’s gotta give.
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Problem with creating a third party, no matter how catchy its name and purpose, is that it finishes what Ranked Choice Vote advocates wanted in the first place: a three-party mashup permanently splitting the GOP vote which, combined with Alaska’s easily corruptible election system, guarantees a Democrat Dynasty for longer than any of us’ll be around.
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Maybe not the best option?
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Why not try this first, Greg… get on the horn with Alaska’s GOP leadership, ask what they learned in D.C., did they ask Lara Trump and Michael Whatley for help to fix the problem with turncoat RINO’s, could the fix be as simple as some sort of binding contract agreement with R candidates that they won’t jump in the sack with D’s as soon as they’re elected? If they didn’t ask, why not? Maybe share with GOP leadership your willingness to ask Whatley and Trump for help, since state leadership apparently can’t or won’t do anything about it for some stupid reason known only to them?
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Thanks, Greg, for caring enough about this problem to say something about it.
Most of the problem legislators are long-term veterans of many years of service. And that is the problem. With no term limits except for the governor, these people become good friends and stay with their friends. The first order of business is to get term limits applied to both houses of the legislature. Nothing will really change until them.
AND KICK THE DUNLEAVY CAN OUT OF OFFICE AND DOWN THE road!!!
It’s a bit disingenuous for Republicans to be complaining when the Party owns the White House, the Senate, House, judiciary and media.
Republicans are but one faction of the coalition in power and they are a minority faction within that coalition.
I guess. You’ve got yer 1500 convicted criminals willing to do any damn thing for President Convicted Felon. Got yer religious extremists like the Christian Nationalism crowd. Nazis are big in the coalition. Billionaires too. The racism lobby is hugely influential. The thing that ties them all. together is hypocrisy.
Hey Jeff Buttler,
I suggest that your doctors write you a prescription consisting of only Red Pills! Take them morning noon and night and for all of our sakes change your news sources. Real America’s Voice and several other rising sources will replace legacy media which may have caused your mental condition. Recovery can happen!
Excellent article and spot on. Murkowski, is at the top of my list. She is and embarrassment to the State, and has no right to call herself a republican! Yes, an excellent article.
How about a recall? Research available at the Alaska Division of Elections.
From the site:
The recall petition is the procedure by which the people may remove the governor, lieutenant governor, or members of the state legislature from office.
The grounds for recall are (1) lack of fitness, (2) incompetence, (3) neglect of duties, or (4) corruption.
View or print the Recall Public Information Packet that summarizes the statutes and regulations. This packet includes frequently asked questions, common errors, sample pages for application signature gathering and the number of signatures required.
The recall petition procedures appear in Article XI of the Alaska Constitution, Alaska Statutes 15.45.470 through 15.45.720 and Title 6 Alaska Administrative Code 25.240.