Forty-one years in Alaska and two runs for the U.S. Senate myself against Ted Stevens and Mark Begich have provided me abundant opportunity to see what is at play with our politics. Even as we speak, many Alaskan legislators and most citizens are unaware of the betrayal by our congressional delegation in the statehood act’s mandate for a 90/10 split in federal oil royalties, selling our birthright for a mess of 50/50 pottage. They have not read about Ted Stevens’ role in deforming our birth prior to statehood as an Interior Department lawyer, then his “heroic” rescue of our state through titanic infusions of federal monies. Not surprisingly, this continued the same dependency and control by the federal government from whose liberation was the entire reason behind statehood. Ernest Gruening certainly knew that in his famous 1955 speech.
Lisa Murkowski, part of this betrayal, was already a suspected RINO while in the state legislature, a reliable and scandalous vote for abortion “rights” that was never addressed by Alaska’s Catholic bishops, whom have always toed the line of the left wing of the Church. The Murkowski Family Fix that was perpetrated by Governor Frank Murkowski, appointing his daughter to his own seat, provided a bad taste in Alaskans’ mouth that even the Republican legislature tried to address shortly thereafter.
When Lisa was on the hook to keep that seat against Tony Knowles in a race that every pollster knew would be close, the media packed itself outside the headquarters of Alaska Right to Life for more than three hours. That supposedly uninfluential group of right wing extremists had to weigh the bad options. “No endorsement” was what emerged, with a statement that while Knowles would certainly never vote for any future Republican supreme court nominee, Lisa might. Alaska RTL’s prescience was spot-on, as Lisa voted for Neil Gorsuch, whose seat would not change the balance of abortion votes on the court, but certainly knew on what side her bread was buttered when it came to Kavanaugh. The sexual accusations were a mere red-herring for the real issue at play.
For Alaskans wondering about the true reason for Lisa’s “No Vote” for Judge Kavanaugh, it was abortion first and foremost. While I myself might not have voted for Kavanaugh (see below), and his commitment to returning states rights and overturning Roe v. Wade is utterly suspect, Lisa was not taking any chances, which apparently Maine RINO Susan Collins was willing to do.
Part and parcel of this mess have been Alaska’s Catholic bishops, past and present. They have never uttered one word of either admonishment or explanation regarding Lisa, her fellow Catholic Mark Begich, or any other local “Catholic” legislator who panders to the Crown Jewel of the radical left: abortion-on-demand all nine months of pregnancy. Head-patting assurances that they have been working behind the scenes ring as hollow as their commitment to rooting out the homosexual mafia that is increasingly seen as controlling the Catholic hierarchy worldwide.
But just how committed to Constitutional principles is Kavanaugh? It certainly is not from his non-defense of the 4th Amendment, which the Patriot Act flies in the face of, nor in his dutiful work for the Clintons in the Vince Foster “suicide” case. The proper questions to have directed at Kavanaugh should have gone there, as well as the following: “Where in the constitution does the federal government derive its power to interfere with the states in regards to legislating social issues? What is your opinion on the legitimacy of the 14th Amendment’s passage in 1868? What is your opinion regarding the expansive use of the 14th as it interferes with freedom of religion?”
Lisa owes her seat to a controversial appointment from Daddy, a non-endorsement from the pro-life movement in the face of someone even more radical than herself, and a suspected Machiavellian write-in election whose legitimacy has never been properly investigated, an investigation that might have turned the integrity of Alaska’s election system on its head. Alaskans would do well to pressure her to resign if Dunleavy is elected this fall.
Bob Bird is a radio talk-show host for KSRM radio.
