Month: March 2016

I got started in Alaska politics in 1974, right after I took the bar. A Bircher, C. R. Lewis was running against Mike Gravel.  I wrote a letter to the Anchorage Times calling Gravel a fork tongued politician.  In 1976 I organized Spenard for Reagan, and we took over the district convention.  Ted Stevens’ personal secretary thought she was entitled to be a delegate.  I agreed to let her attend as the fifth alternate.  Reagan lost the State Convention by one vote.  In other districts controlled by Reagan they were more accommodating than I was, and it cost Reagan over twenty national delegates.

In the summer of 1980 nothing more needed to be done in the Reagan campaign, and I agreed to work for Murkowski for Senate as deputy campaign manager at $4,000 a month.  It was the first, and last, money I ever made in politics. Frank’s opponent, Clark Gruening, had sponsored an idiotic bill in the legislature to give the environment standing to sue.  Bill McConkey had been sent to Alaska to run C. R. Lewis’ campaign, and had stayed, getting work as a political consultant.  He was now running Murkowski’s campaign and nobody had figured out how to use the “Environmental Bill of Rights” against Gruening.  Dittman had the race dead even.  I figured it out, Frank had a press conference, and the Anchorage Times ran a banner headline, “Murkowski Brands Gruening as Environmentalist”.  Frank immediately took a ten point lead, which wound up being his victory margin.

Frank knew I wanted to take his seat whenever he decided to make his run at the job he really wanted   –Governor.  When I was elected to the State Senate two years later, I figured I was in a good spot. But Ted Stevens couldn’t stand me, and he didn’t want me anywhere near Washington.

I met Lisa on Frank’s campaign.  She was a pleasant, if empty headed, young woman.  I couldn’t understand why she ran for a seat in the State House sixteen years later.  Then it dawned on me.  She was being groomed for an appointment to the United States Senate.  When she ran for reelection in 2000 I knew the fix was in, and Babbie and I began making plans to leave the state.  She was getting herself qualified so that Frank could appoint her to his seat when he was elected Governor in 2002.  Babbie and I left in 2001 before it all went down.

I’ve done a lot in politics.  The only money I ever got out of it was that $12,000 I earned on the 1980 Senate campaign.  I’ve become so involved in the last two years that I have neglected my investments, and have lost 40% of my retirement money as the price of oil went down.  I didn’t have the time or energy to figure it all out.  Now Babbie says she can’t afford a cleaning woman any more, so she’s going to start cleaning the toilets herself.  She worked so hard in my law office that she literally wore the fingerprints off her typing fingers.  She’s 68.

So it’s back to the stock market for me.  I knew what the market reaction to the Cruz victory in Alaska would be, and I have profited accordingly.  I’m going to have to do a lot more of that to make Babbie feel more comfortable.  Either that or get a job.

I’m suspending my work for the Task Force, have nothing to show for what I’ve done for the Cruz campaign, and no longer have time to think about Alaska politics.  I feel like a sucker.

When Frank Bickford texted me the results from the caucuses early Wednesday morning, I had a sense of great satisfaction.  I had done something truly remarkable.  It was my finest moment in politics, and I”ll remember it until the day I die.

As a political volunteer, it was my final act.

Joseph got a promotion and a badly sprained ankle.  They have to roll him onto an airplane in a wheel chair, but he’s still at it.  There’s a warrior for you.  He told me titles don’t mean much, and I said he was wrong.  They mean a lot.  My title is Chairman, Reagan for President, Alaska.  It’s the best one I ever had, and I’m keeping it.  Joseph said he’ll probably be in California in a few weeks.  I hope to be able to meet him.

I am not part of the Cruz campaign and I intend to keep it that way.  Right now, I’m a Co-founder of the Reagan Project with sons Darren and Brendan, and I’m a Co-founder of the BBA Task Force.  We’re a little loose with the term “co-founder”, since it implies you were present at the creation.  Joseph is the newest Co-founder of the Task Force.  So I’ve got all the titles I need.

And I don’t need any money or the responsibility that goes with it.  Too much stress.  A younger man, like Joseph, can handle it.  If I don’t slow down I’m going to have a stroke.  So I’m not looking for a job, a title, or any other damn thing.  I’ve got everything I need.

I have to admit I’ve been getting a little teary every once in a while lately.  I guess that’s what old men do, and I’m feeling old right now.  After the Nevada caucuses, where I saw with my own eyes Ted Cruz go to Elko, the birthplace of the Sagebrush Rebellion, and campaign on the return of the land to the people, I knew I had to do something.  This is what Alaska has been waiting for since Statehood, and even though I’m physically in California I still consider myself an Alaskan.

I looked up at the campaign calendar on the wall of my office, and, sure as hell Alaska’s caucuses were less than a week away, on Super Tuesday.  I had to get the word out.  To make a long story short, in the most stressful five days of my life, I did.  My buddy Frank Bickford was texting me the results as they came in.  At 11:30, with 21% in, it was Trump 35, Cruz 33.6.  Twenty minutes later, with 31 % in, it was Cruz 35% Trump 33%.  I went to bed. I slept for five hours and got up to see the final count.  We won by 627 votes.

Sometimes I wonder, how could my moment have come at a more perfect time?  It was, like, providential.  I am one of the very few men, if not the only man, who could have pulled this off. I did it with Sen. John Coghill, Speaker Tom Fink, Rep. Dick Randolph, Frank Bickford, David Cuddy, Michael Chambers and Mike Porcaro.

I’ve been out of Alaska politics since I left fifteen years ago.  I was pissed.  Babbie and I went up there with the intention of getting me elected a United States Senator, and my archenemy Ted Stevens had beaten me. It wasn’t going to happen.

It took me a while, but I cooled off.  I talked to David Cuddy about it.  I’m getting back in.  There’s work to do.

 

Paul Krishnamurty is the Political Gambler.  You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but he knows more about politics than any man alive.  He tells us when to hold ’em, and when to fold ’em.  He moves his money around, constantly, picking up the easy money from the schmucks.

I decided to try my hand at this game, so I called my law school buddy Tom Pitaro in Vegas.  Tom and I used to go down to see the Friday night fights at some boxing arena in downtown L.A.  There weren’t too may Anglos there.  Tom was from Brocton Mass., the home of the Brockton Blockbuster, Rocky Marciano.  He retired undefeated.  You can see why Tom liked to go to the fights.  I was a  big fan of Marciano.  I saw him fight some Englishman, who was an excellent defensive boxer.  Marciano couldn’t get through his defenses, so he just started hitting his arms.  This guy was such a powerful man that he broke all the blood vessels in the Englishman’s arms, and he finally let his guard down.  Then it was over very quickly. Marciano’s knockout rate was 88%.

I asked Tom if he could lay a legal bet on the Presidential race for me.  I’d pay all the taxes if I won.  He called back and said no dice.  It’s illegal in this country, which makes sense.  The last thing we need in our politics is gambling money.  He said he’d heard a rumor that there were these guys called “bookies”, but he wouldn’t recommend using them for the bet I wanted to make, which was a 50-1 shot.  I wanted to put down some serious money, and might not get paid off on a bet like that.

Tom’s a criminal defense lawyer, who accepts appointment by the federal court to defend indigent criminal defendants.  The feds don’t have a federal public defender.  They like to appoint Tom because they have confidence that he will provide an adequate defense.  He fights like hell, but he fights within the rules.  He thinks Cliven Bundy will be brought in for arraignment soon, and will ask for a “public defender”.  This is the kind of high profile case that calls for an experienced, competent defense lawyer.  Not many will take such an appointment because the compensation is below market.  Tom may well end up defending Bundy.  He said he’d bring me in as co-counsel if he’s appointed. Wouldn’t that be fun?

I wanted to bet that Ted Cruz is the next President.  This morning it was 66-1, now it’s down to 50-1.  It’s like money laying in the street, but I can’t pick it up.

When I passed the Alaska bar exam in October of 1974 I couldn’t get a job.  All the guys I studied with got jobs, but not me.  So I accepted appointment to defend criminal defendants, just like Tom does.  They paid $20 an hour, and I was glad to get it.

You’ve got to start somewhere.

 

 

The contact Lew Uhler gave me wasn’t with the NRA.  I’ll make another run at them tomorrow.  It was with a reporter in D.C. who I’m somewhat familiar with.  I told him about Trump/Christie being a threat to the Heller decision, and he agreed, but wasn’t interested in that.  He wanted to learn more on the transfer of federal lands issue, and the effect that may have had on the caucus vote.  So I said I’d email him, and then I realized I had to get out of the way on this.  This reporter should be talking directly to Senate Majority Leader John Coghill about it.  So I sent John (who I always want to call Jack) this guy’s phone number and email, and asked him to tell the guy that that’s the story of the 2016 Alaska Presidential caucuses.  Cruz won on this issue.  I think that’s news.  I haven’t watched any news today, so I don’t know what they’re saying about Alaska.  Probably nothing.  None of them have any idea.  And if we do get a story out of it, John, make sure you show it to your dad.

The funny thing is, when I called this guy I thought he was a big wig in the NRA, so I was really pitching the 2nd Amendment thing hard.  He seemed kind of mystified.  He had no interest in it. The call was almost over before I realized this guy isn’t with the NRA.  He’s a reporter.

Progress in Virginia.  There’s still hope.  Guldenschuh is off to West Virginia, where it’s time to show some off his skills.  He got CoS through Georgia, no mean feat.  But he had a falling out with those people, and I reached out to him and brought him into the inner circle of the Task Force.  Let’s see what you’ve got, David.

Idaho’s stalled.  I’ve asked the Cruz campaign to have STC (as they call him) take the BBA issue up while he’s in Idaho.  Fruth came up with some amazing information on the national debt.  Bill knows all this stuff cold, and this is a scandal.  If someone on the Cruz campaign would talk to Bill, I’m convinced they could work it into a speech.  A speech in which he’d call on the Idaho legislature to pass our BBA Resolution, and introduce the subject of the Balanced Budget Amendment into the national campaign.  Not our Article V movement.  Just the BBA. It all looks good to me.

I usually start blogging at 4:00, right after skimming through Special Report on my DVR.  Lately the only thing I’ve been watching is the discussion panel , with Brett Baier and Charles Krauthammer, who I used to like.  But I despise them now.  They’re part of the Rupert Murdoch Roger Ailes cabal plotting to keep the borders open.  Larry Kudlow and Conrad Black are in on it.  R. Emmett Tyrell Jr. may be in on it too.  There are a lot more that I don’t know about. It’s like a political conspiracy, working to undermine the will of the American people.  If they wind up getting us Trump instead, they would have delivered the American Mussolini.  That’s hell of a risk to take.  In 1933 the leaders of the political right took a chance on Hitler, thinking they could control him.  But they couldn’t and the world paid the price.  I really don’t like what these people are doing.

Only one man can expose them  — Ted Cruz.  That’s the speech he should give.  Expose the conspiracy.

I’ll settle down tomorrow.  I’ve had a little stress in my family, which I finally resolved today.  My high hopes for yesterday’s walk were rewarded.  The first shoots of the valley sunflower.  There will be hundreds of them in the meadow.  The small sunflower like bloom is about the size of a plum, a big wildflower, for the meadow.

Spring is not acomin’, it’s here.

It’s 4:30 in the morning where I live, and Alaska’s in. Cruz won  by 600 votes.  He also won his native Texas and adjoining Oklahoma.  He lost the other nine states.

The lesson of Nevada came from Elko, the birthplace of the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 70’s.  It was the only part of Nevada where Cruz won.  Elko, and Alaska, are proof of the political potency of the lands issue in the Far West.  This issue, if properly exploited, should win Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.  It will do a lot of good in western Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.  This is something Cruz will be talking about, as he already has in Elko.

Arizona Senate President is running in a contested Republican primary for an open seat in Congress.  He may look at this result in Alaska, and wonder what happened.  He’s bright enough to understand what explains this.  I, personally, would love to get the federal government out of Alaska.  In honor of my Uncle Fritz.  I bet Andy feels the same way about Arizona, and all the land the feds own there, for no good reason in the world.  I may reach out to Andy, and encourage him to run on this issue.   It would help him win his primary.  He’d be a great addition to Congress.

I got a call yesterday from Ron Somerville, who I haven’t spoken to in 20 years.  He said Sen. John Coghill talked to him, and said he should get in touch with me.  I explained the threat Trump posed to the 2nd Amendment.  He understood, and said he’d spread the word.  Ron’s been a leader in the 2nd Amendment movement in AK for a very long time.  This issue turned some votes.

Lew Uhler has arranged for me to talk to one of the big guns at the NRA today.  That’s the story I’m going to tell him.  If Trump can be identified as anti-gun, it will cost him everywhere.

This is a good way to start the day.