Today is May 1, and the filing deadline to run in the November election is June 1, which means Alaskans have 30 days left to file as a candidate. One of the reasons they should do so is to provide primary opponents for the RINO legislators down in Juneau. Unfortunately, as of yesterday’s report from the Alaska Public Offices Commission, none of the RINOs has a Republican primary opponent yet. This is a disappointing critique of the Alaska Republican Party. The four RINOs up for reelection this year desperately need a primary opponent, if for no other reason than to show that their treachery will not pass unnoticed.
When some of the Republicans joined with Democrats to form governing caucuses in both houses, it thwarted the conservative governance that the citizens of this state voted for.
When this first happened, the AKGOP should have been quick to respond, but did nothing. Other states faced with a similar situation have taken punitive action against their party members, including political banishment and recruiting primary opponents to run against them. The AKGOP’s inability to do so signals just how weak their party is.
The AKGOP’s failure to find primary opponents to run against the RINOs will embolden them to again steal part of your PFD … whittling it down over time until it becomes a distant memory.
It isn’t as if this needs to be some symbolic effort with no chance of success. Representative Louise Stutes has decided to run for the seat currently held by retiring RINO Senator Gary Stevens, representing District C. Stutes is not a sure winner of this race, and a recent analysis showed how she would face a serious challenge from a candidate in District 6. An effort from the District 6 AKGOP to find a strong Republican primary challenger against Stutes could have had a real chance of success. Unfortunately, as of today, the AKGOP has done nothing to find one.
That same criticism goes for the district GOP leadership in districts represented by the other RINOs as well. It has been nothing but crickets from the local GOP district leadership teams. When this is discussed with them, they cry crocodile tears, saying they don’t support the RINOs and want conservative Republicans to run, but then do nothing to find the candidates.
This does not change; it means the four RINOs up for election this cycle will do so without a Republican challenger in the August primary and will sail through to the November General Election. If that happens, it will leave conservative Alaskans in their districts with a Hobson’s choice. We will be forced to vote for a Democrat, a Democrat pretending to be non-partisan, or hold our nose and vote for a liberal Republican who votes like a Democrat. That isn’t much of a choice.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
Besides their defections, Alaskans certainly have valid reasons to be upset with the performance of the RINOs in our legislature. They plead both lack of funds as the reason to take the majority of your PFD check, then claim that, despite the Iran war giving us increased oil revenues to the state, there are pressing financial needs that require them to spend the additional funds on their pet projects. While the budget has not been finalized yet, based on the proposed budgets from both sides of the legislature, they plan to increase education funding, yet again, after having already done so last year. They are trying to enact another guaranteed benefit retirement program for schoolteachers, like the one that failed in 2006. They plan to spend a capital budget of $2.43 billion, and to pay for all of this, but to do so, they plan to take at least $2,000 of your permanent fund check.
That PFD confiscation adds up to $8,000 for the average family of four, which is a very substantial amount of money that most of us can’t afford to lose. Back in 1773, our ancestors started a revolution and defeated the British Empire because they raised the tax on tea by 3 cents. Today, it looks like the legislature will be taking eight grand from the average Alaskan family, and nobody is yet motivated to do anything about it.
Alaskans should be outraged, and there should be lines at the Division of Elections offices with people lined up to file to run against the RINOs. Since it hasn’t happened yet, behind closed doors, the RINOs are probably laughing at all of us, believing that they are free to keep stealing our PFD to give to their supporters. The AKGOP’s failure to find primary opponents to run against the RINOs will embolden them to again steal part of your PFD in the next legislative session, whittling it down over time until it becomes a distant memory. Every one of the four RINOs running for election this fall deserves multiple challengers in the Republican primary election, if for no other reason than to hear the voice of the voter saying, “We’re as mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.”
The views expressed here are those of Greg Sarber. Read more Sarber posts at his Seward’s Folly substack.
