The slow vote count in Alaska

Posted on by Fritz Pettyjohn

Thanks to the extended time to count all the ballots, Republican David Nelson beat the incumbent Democrat by 23 votes in House District 18, JBER in East Anchorage.  The same thing happened about 40 years ago, allowing my friend Rep. Terry Martin to squeak out a reelection victory.

The margin of victory in both cases was due to overseas absentees, most of them military.  The Division of Elections allows extra time in order to allow all these late arriving ballots to be counted.  For Republicans, it’s worth the wait.

These are mostly men and women who established Alaska residency while they were stationed here.  When they’re transferred overseas, they maintain their Alaska residency.  Many of them do this in order to continue their eligibility for PFD’s.  They all vote in order to bolster their claim to Alaska residency.

Their main issue, unsurprisingly, is the PFD.  Since Republicans have always been the champions of the PFD (initiated by Republican Governor Jay Hammond in 1980), and Democrats largely hostile, they all vote Republican.

Representative-elect Nelson should send them all a thank you card.

So, let’s stop with all the carping about the long wait.  It’s only a problem if the good people at the Division of Elections need the extra time to steal an election.  I don’t believe this has ever happened.

Some old-timers claim Jay Hammond stole the Republican primary election from Wally Hickel in 1978.  He only won by 98 votes.  His Attorney General, Av Gross, was a little slippery, but I don’t believe the election was stolen.

All of us who worked on Hammond’s campaign (including me – I was Chairman of “Hands for Hammond”) like to think that our efforts were responsible for his victory.

And the PFD.

Occupy Mars

Posted on by Fritz Pettyjohn

From Trump’s second inaugural, if Musk could write it:

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on Mars, and returning him safely to the earth.”

John F. Kennedy, in an address to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, said the exact same thing, substituting the moon for Mars.

I think that this, above all, explains Elon Musk’s attraction to Trump. He wants Trump’s support in his quest for Mars. NASA has a budget of $20 billion a year, much of it duplicative of what SpaceX is doing. Some of this money is being spent unnecessarily. Musk wants that money.

Musk has a prettygood idea of the massive amount of money the mission to Mars will cost. He may become the world’s first trillionaire, but he doesn’t want to bear this burden alone. I think he hopes some of the money he and Vivek Ramaswamy will save with DOGE can be directed to the Mars program.

If all goes to plan, President Trump will see the SpaceX Starship launch from Texas today. It will be a sight Trump will never forget. This is the rocket Musk plans on sending to Mars. Perhaps it will inspire him to dedicate his administration to the glory of going to the red planet.

Re-elect Nick Begich

Posted on by Fritz Pettyjohn

Alaska has always been dependent on the federal government, so we like our Congressional delegation to build up seniority, and power. It’s in our own self-interest. We had Representative Don Young for 49 years as a result.

His enemies had to indict and convict Ted Stevens to end his forty run as one of our Senators. It’s true that his replacement, Mark Begich, only served one term, but he was a Democrat in a Republican state.

Democrat Representative Mary Peltola’s win two years ago was a carefully engineered fluke, enabled by the vanity of former Gov. Sarah Palin, who split the Republican vote. Our new Congressman, Nick Begich, will have the great advantage of incumbency as long as he wants it.

Which brings us to Lisa Murkowski. Any advantage her seniority might give her is canceled by her behavior toward Republican Presidents. She hates Trump, it’s mutual, and her representation of the state for the next four years is a liability, not an asset. She’ll be ripe for the picking in 2028. It’s not as though she has a record of accomplishment to run on. Far from it.

Gov. Dunleavy leaves office in two years, and his plans are unknown. He may take a job in Washington, or he may head up an effort to build a gas line from the North Slope. Or he may go fishing. In my humble opinion, if he ran against Murkowski he’d beat her.

Which brings us back to Nick Begich. He should be able to stay in the House as long as wants. Running against Murkowski would be taking on an unnecessary risk. On the other hand, I’m sure Nick will never forget, or forgive, Murkowski’s last-minute endorsement of Peltola.

If Dunleavy chooses not to do it, Nick Begich would be doing not only the State of Alaska, but the entire country, a favor by retiring Lisa Murkowski.

In the meantime, congrats to Nick and his campaign team for running an outstanding campaign.

Cuba Libre! Go, Marco, Go!

Posted on by Fritz Pettyjohn

When Rubio was a kid, growing up in Vegas, his grandfather, a refugee from Castro, told him all about communism and Cuba. It turned young Marco into a flag waving American patriot, which he remains.

My doctor is a liberal, and a Cuban immigrant. He has family, including his mother, is still back on the island. He says he wishes the US would just invade Cuba and get rid of the communists.

There are a lot of Venezuelan refugees in Florida, and they’re like Rubio and all the Cuban Americans. They hate the leftist regime in their native country and want to see it overthrown.

I hope Marco is given a free hand in Latin America. As our Secretary of State, he can work for regime change in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

We eventually want regime change in China and Russia as well, but those are tougher nuts to crack. So let’s start with Cuba. I hear it’s a beautiful island, and a natural tour destination for Americans.

Maybe Marco’s got the right stuff to pull it off. It will be fun to watch.

Gaetz

Posted on by Fritz Pettyjohn

Lisa Murkowski is itching to vote against firebrand Matt Gaetz as Attorney General.  She may not get the chance.  If the new Senate leadership recesses the Senate for three days, Gaetz can take office as a recess appointment, circumventing the confirmation process.  It remains to be seen if Senate Majority Leader Thune will play ball.

The Gaetz appointment is a giant middle finger to those in the Justice Department who have harassed Trump since before he took office in 2017.  It started with the Russia hoax, and it’s been going on, nonstop, for eight years.  The final straw came when the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, including searching Melania’s bedroom, purportedly looking for evidence of a crime.    

Trump will not allow this invasion of his wife’s privacy will not go unavenged.  Heads will roll down the entire change of command which was responsible for this travesty.  If these people are smart, they’re already packing their bags.

If Thune refuses to allow a recess appointment , it’s highly unlikely Gaetz can be confirmed.  If that’s the case Trump’s replacement appointment, regardless of who it is, will look reasonable by comparison.  

Gaetz also serves to distract attention from other controversial appointments, such as Hegseth for Department of Defense.  

The Department of Justice is infused with arrogance.  These people think their loyalty is to their ideas about the law, not to the democratically elected President who appoints them.  As the execrable James Comey put it in the title of his book, they have “A Higher Loyalty”.

But the courts decide the law, not the Department of Justice.  They are the President’s lawyers and are obliged to advocate for him.  President Trump, with his appointment of Gaetz, is putting these people in their place.

It’s pleasant to think that this is just the beginning of four years of fearless leadership.