Kim Murphy, 49, has been a foreign and national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times for the past 15 years
Posted on 09/21/2008 7:36:03 AM PDT by Zakeet
Queries are directed through the McCain campaign machine. Her political capital at home is eroding.
Jerry McCutcheon went to Sarah Palin's office here last week to request information about the firing of former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, the scandal that for weeks has threatened to overshadow the governor's role as Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate.
McCutcheon was given a phone number in Virginia to call: the national headquarters of the McCain-Palin campaign.
Why, he wanted to know, did he have to call a campaign office 4,300 miles away to find out what was going on in Alaska government? The longtime civic activist phoned his local state representative, Les Gara, who quickly filed a protest.
These days, many such queries about Monegan -- or anything else involving Palin's record as governor -- get diverted to McCain staffers. A former Justice Department prosecutor from New York flew in recently to advise the governor's lawyer and field reporters' calls about Monegan. Soon after, Palin's willingness to cooperate in the Legislature's probe of the affair ended.
In stubbornly independent Alaska, the sudden intrusion of a political campaign into so many corners of state government -- not to mention Wasilla, where a dozen or more campaign researchers and lawyers have also begun overseeing the release of any information about Palin's years as mayor -- has touched a raw nerve. McCain staffers have even been assigned to answer calls for Palin's family members, who have been instructed not to talk.
"Why did the McCain campaign take over the governor's office?" the Anchorage Daily News demanded in an editorial Saturday. "Is it too much to ask that Alaska's governor speak for herself, directly to Alaskans, about her actions as Alaska's governor?"
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Oh ya, I was supposed to tell ya Elliot got a moose up this way a week or so back; downriver on the Kandic.
I just hope America gets to see the Palin that Alaska has seen over the last dozen or so years; they'll like what they see. I'll be just as happy if she still is just our governor too. I really do believe that Palin will be the first Women Pres in America.
IIRC, according to some other articles on FR, he insisted upon taking a junket to DC when Gov. Palin told him not to, and he used the junket to solicit support for a program that Gov. Palin had vetoed. The governor has the authority to require that a person in Monegan's position not try to undermine her authority. That Monegan tried to undermine Gov. Palin is perfectly legitimate reason for his dismissal.
Kim Murphy, 49, has been a foreign and national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times for the past 15 years
Jerry McCutcheon is an *ss who doesn’t want drilling in Alaska...1996 meeting
http://www.mms.gov/alaska/ref/PublicHearingsArctic/1996%20Northstar%20Anchorage.pdf
Who was the mysterious guy?
December 5, 2006
Anchorage retiree Jerry McCutcheon, who doesn’t believe there are enough gas discoveries on the North Slope to justify a pipeline.
Jerry McCutcheon is the Theresa Obermeyer of the gas world. He has been proven wrong over and over again on his various crackpot theories
One person's story becomes "Alaskans Angered..."
And the one person is usually a partisan.
-PJ
They're still trying to figure out what he's actually done besides voting 'present'.
From left, Sen. Joe Thomas, attendee Jerry McCutcheon, Sen. Johnny Ellis and PetroTel engineering adviser Anil Chopra confer during a break in the Legislature's special session on the proposed gas pipeline Tuesday June 17, 2008 in Anchorage.
Minutes for Special Meeting of October 28, 2003
JERRY McCUTCHEON read fund balances and questioned why they existed. He thought they should be spent. He felt the Municipality should get rid of the street sweepers and use the high-powered water trucks the city used 40 years ago. Mr. McCutcheon felt the city could produce a cottage industry like Montana, to make box trucks for snow removal.
HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE April 29, 2006
JERRY MCCUTCHEON, ANCHORAGE, related that there is no urgency in passing the gas pipeline contract because it has no connection to the PPT. He termed the gas contract meaningless. He said it makes no sense to construct another gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay. He suggested that there would be litigation if PPT passes.
******
JERRY McCUTCHEON opined that [HB 294] will not accomplish a lot. He suggested that a method to spur gas production would be tostart taxing leases on which seismic information has not been collected and/or drilling has not occurred. He also suggested that if an operator is not drilling on a lease, he/she should let another operator take over the lease to begin drilling. His motto is, “drill it or lose it.”
Hooray for Elliot. I hope he didn’t have to pack it too far. I told him, “Rule #1. Never shoot a moose in the water.”
Yes, this is exactly right. He wasn't fired for the Wooten mess, but for the unauthorized travel.
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