Guest Blog Post from Wickersham’s Conscience (Updated)
This is for those of you who have yet to discover WC’s blog and his superb combination of legal wisdom, political humor, birdwatching knowledge and gorgeous Alaska pictures. I thought this was a great summary for the weekend of some Joe Miller articles this past week. I found his last comment the most interesting.
(By the way, in the picture above, it’s not previously been mention but the other man besides Joe in that picture is right-wing Conservative Patriot member and the Tea Party’s personal radio talk-show host, Glen Biegel.)
—————————————————————————-
WC isn’t the only blogger who is . . . unhappy . . . with Joe Miller. For WC’s readers, here a selection of other bloggers’ posts for readers’ amusement and edification:
Paul Jenkins is the Editor of the Anchorage Daily Press. His essay on Joe Miller’s touting his Bronze Star is shattering. If you don’t follow any other links in this post, follow that one and read Jenkins’ piece.
Matt Taibbi, a blogger for Rolling Stone, has a fine piece on Miller in particular and the Tea Party in general.
In a post signed only by “Jerry” at WisePolitics, it’s reported that Joe Miller’s campaign is funded by God, “mostly because he believes that his campaign is in line with what God would like to see in the state.” If Miller actually said that, there’s nothing that WC can add.
Wonkette has weighed in on Joe Miller, too. A lovely line: “Imagine if Paul Bunyan went to Yale Law School, then moved to Alaska and racked up a whole bunch of credit card debt. That is Joe Miller.”
PolticusUSA contributes with this line, “We should all just trust Joe that while he may not be transparent and accountable now, surely after he gets elected to the senate and has all that power, he will be. Cough.”
One last note: Is it true that Glen Biegel, one of the “personalities” on KBYR yesterday afternoon claimed that Miller just spent “five minutes on the computer” and if it were a firing offense, “the entire FNSB would be fired”? Is this the same Glen Biegel who is the Sysadmin for the Alaska Railroad’s information systems? The Alaska Railroad has an ethics policy that provides,
No Director or employee shall use Corporation personnel, facilities, equipment, or supplies for personal benefit, or engage in outside activities on Corporation time without proper authority.
Is he saying that other Borough employees are using their colleagues computers for improper purposes, like stuffing a ballot box. Does he have proof? Does he want to be a witness in Alaska Dispatch v. Fairbanks North Star Borough?
——————————————————————————-
For a thorough take-down of Joe Miller regarding his Fairbanks North Star Borough employment issue, read WC’s previous post “What Miller Did: Law and Ethics.”
***UPDATE***
Here is the latest on a growing conflict within Alaska’s Republican Central Committee regarding Miller’s actions from KTUU:
***UPDATE 2***
WC just wrote a post on revelations made by Joe Miller’s father and other supporters in the Fairbanks News Miner. They confirmed (though not their intention) that the Borough computer activity WAS political and partisan. Wow…it’s amazing what can be discovered when relatives and friends try to be “helpful.”
Every time I see Joe Miller parading around, I remember the old song:
Miller the Moocher
Now folks, here’s the story
Of Miller the Moocher
He was a lowdown slimy creature
He made friends with the Queen of Greedin’
She gave him endorsements that he was needin’…..
Regarding the comment about the Bronze Star.
One way to judge a real war from a political war is now many medals are given out and for what reasons.
Real wars give out fewer medals. The more political the war, and the more likely combatants are to survive, the more medals awarded.
One of many reasons I have grown increasingly to disrespect America’s Military Machine and its highest leadership.
I remember when they hyped up that war, the republicans had all the newspapers jumping in line…we had to “defend America”. I would read that “patriotic” BS, and I couldn’t believe that they put it over on the citizens. I also remember when they showed US soldiers guarding the palace in Kuwait, juxtaposed with the gold bathroom fixtures they had “saved” for Kuwait. Bush, Sr, declined to follow Saddam back to Iraq, so his son used his power for a grudge war, killing something like 100,000 poor souls including 4,000 us soldiers SO FAR. So the US gave out 30,000 medals, and Joe, who was in the war for about 6 weeks, got one and uses it for a prop for running for senator.
Does anyone know if there has been a records request to see if there are any emails between then Governor Palin and Joe Miller during his attempt to oust Ruedrich. Was she orchestrating what she absolutely knew to be illegal activity? (She blew the whistle on Riedrich for doing the same thing.) Andree, Linda??
What a great question! I hope it is seen by someone with some inside information…
Miller’s facebook page is inviting “your friends, colleges, family” to Anchorage town hall meeting tomorrow. Yes, “colleges”, not colleagues. Scarier though is the statement that “Joe is standing in the gap, restoring liberty to our state and nation”. The “standing in the gap” reference is telling. He’s the religious right’s Moses, interceeding with god, saving our nation from godlessness. I”m sort of into separation of church and state, myself.
Speaking of separation of church and state, did you read Wes Keller’s ADN Compass piece?
Scriptures, Constitution say it all: It’s Miller Time
I’m with you, gm, kinda into the whole separation thing.
Sounds like some of those code words that Palin uses in her speeches to connect with her evangelical/dominionist followers. Apparently ‘Miller, Alaskan Ranger’ has been dutifully following the lessons of his mentor.
Scary stuff, indeed.
The reference is to Ezekiel 22:30 – “I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not destroy it, but I found none.”
I live in a VERY red part of Alaska. I drive through town and my eyes bleed from the Murky signs. There are a few signs for old Joe (usually quite large). I know that there are a lot of Joe supporters here. apparently there are a lot of Leasa supporters as well. But what really struck me the other day were two things. I took an out of the way route home the other day, so that I could see the ocean, and I counted the following: 1 small Leasa sign. 6 McAdams (as well as the other Dem candidates) signs. No Joe signs. Verrrrrrry interesting. Some of the McAdams signs were where there had been signs for Bill whatizname for governor (an R). And in town, on the main corner, was a funky looking guy (looked like he was in need of a bath) with a “Honk if you think Joe stinks” sign. Didn’t hear a lot of honking but was laughing so hard I barely made my turn.
The republicans are truely trying to shred each other to pieces around here. Still haven’t met a Dem who isn’t planning on voting (in spite of what the pundits say).
Honk!
Thanks for a great post WC. I follow your blog and enjoy it immensely. You and AKM write with great wit and intelligence, humor and insight! It’s nice to see you team up. I haven’t been able to leave a comment on your post, but be assured you are greatly appreciated!
Also, too — love your photographs of birds! Spend part a lovely afternoon viewing them.
AKM and WC – both great photographers and social commentators. Alaska is lucky indeed!
Ahem that was not a typo – that was a friendly suggestion: do spend part of today looking at WC’s bird photographs. It will be time well spent.
Go, Scott! Go, Alaska, to the polls, and fill in the oval next to Scott McAdams! You’ll be glad you did.
How can Ruedrich defend Miller when he knows Miller and pali tried to oust him? I know some people follow their party off the clift but come on when sone stabs ya in the back (palin and Miller) ya got to know enough to throw them under the bus.
Wish someone would get a BIG Bus right now in Calif. and run over the Witch from Wasilla. She is screeching right now on CNN!!!! Why her speech needs to be heard on CNN is beyond me. If I had a number to call , I would tell them to shut her up.
The site Progressive Alaska has a post by Phil Munger which talks about Joe Miller’s military service. He also note that Joe’s DD-214, his discharge papers are posted on Miller’s website. This is not exactly true. A DD-214 is a detailed record of a serviceman’s entire service, including all dates etc. What Joe has posted is a certificate which shows he was discharged from active duty on September 1, 1992. There is also another certificate which indicates without any detail that he was discharged from the reserves on May 30, 1997. So Joe’s active duty discharge was note as honorable, as opposed to dishonorable or less than honorable. I believe it is possible to leave the military and to have negotiated an honorable discharge despite some questionable activity.
Here is a link to the records. Spend some time looking at them.
http://joemiller.us/about-2/candidate-records/
In addition to the certificates indicating the 2 discharges, there are three performance evaluations, and three awards. This is what can be gleaned from thses items. What may be more important are the time periods which aren’t covered or provided on Joe’s website.
Evaluation #1: 11/23/1989 – 11/22/90.
Evaluation #2 6/22/91 – 11/25/91
Evaluation #3 11/26/91 – 3/22/92
Was there service prior to 11/23/1989?
What about 11/23/90 – 6/21/91
What about 3/23/92- 9/1/92, the period before Joe’s discharge from active duty?
Could Joe have been AWOL and negotiated an honorable discharge due to his combat?
The awards covered:
1/17/91 – 3/6/91 (Bronze Star)
10/22/91 – 11-6/91
1/28/90 – 3/22/92
Most were routine commendations.
Were these his only awards for his entire service?
Alaskans should demand his complete, detailed DD-214’s be made available. The fact that they were not indicates Joe has something to hide!
The site Progressive Alaska has a post by Phil Munger which talks about Joe Miller’s military service. He also note that Joe’s DD-214, his discharge papers are posted on Miller’s website. This is not exactly true. A DD-214 is a detailed record of a serviceman’s entire service, including all dates etc. What Joe has posted is a certificate which shows he was discharged from active duty on September 1, 1992. There is also another certificate which indicates without any detail that he was discharged from the reservess on May 30, 1997. So Joe’s active duty discharge was note as honorable, as opposed to dishonorable or less than honorable. I believe it is possible to leave the military and to have negotiated an honorable discharge despite some questionable activity.
Here is a link to the records. Spend some time looking at them.
http://joemiller.us/about-2/candidate-records/
In addition to the certificates indicating the 2 discharges, there are three performance evaluations, and three awards. This is what can be gleaned from thses items. What may be more important are the time periods which aren’t covered or provided on Joe’s website.
Evaluation #1: 11/23/1989 – 11/22/90.
Evaluation #2 6/22/91 – 11/25/91
Evaluation #3 11/26/91 – 3/22/92
Was there service prior to 11/23/1989?
What about 11/23/90 – 6/21/91
What about 3/23/92- 9/1/92, the period before Joe’s discharge from active duty?
Could Joe have been AWOL and negotiated an honorable discharge due to his combat?
The awards covered:
1/17/91 – 3/6/91 (Bronze Star)
10/22/91 – 11-6/91
1/28/90 – 3/22/92
Most were routine commendations.
Were these his only awards for his entire service?
Alaskans should demand his complete, detailed DD-214’s be made available. The fact that they were not indicates Joe has something to hide!
Oh, please do answer opinion polls! I love getting them. I jot down the questions, and who is doing the poll. And I know that if they have a sample size of only 300 or 400 people, my voice counts a LOT.
And welcome to the Flats WC!
Voters in our county received “absentee ballots” in the mail – replicas of the ones that go out to folk who request them Only catch was, they weren’t from the county and when you read through it, you were being urged to vote republican!
Wow, so are they valid ballots? That would be a twisted web, send out fake ballots encouraging people to vote one way then have their votes not count because they weren’t on the official form. I can see the heads rolling from here.
“right-wing Conservative Patriot member and the Tea Party’s personal radio talk-show host, Glen Biegel”
Any relation, Linda? I’d be surprised to hear that one family could have THAT big of a contrast in political philosophies, but it’s been know to happen!
He’s my brother-in-law.
Must make for interesting holiday gatherings!
In watching KTUU, it is very obvious they support Murkowski. I stopped watching their news program quite awhile ago and moved to Channel 11…they are more balanced in my opinion.
Let’s let Murky and Miller bash each other to bits.
McAdams is out there talking about the really important issues facing out country.
How to make education more effective and meaningful.
How to develop resources and improve the economy while taking care of the environment and promoting green jobs.
How to improve, not repeal, health care reform.
Glen Biegel is an idiot.
A bit off topic, but I just had to share. For the past three weeks, I haven’t answered the phone when the caller I.D. says opinion poll.
Today, I decided to have some fun. I got back to back calls inside of 15 minutes that were republican push polls. I could hear the disappointment when I said I was voting for McAdams. The caller tried to steer me back to a republican by touting the important issues of border security, health care, and cap & trade, but I held my ground.
The order the candidates are listed is interesting. It went Miller, Murky, McAdams. It’s not alphabetical, so I can only assume it’s the republican preference in order.
It must have been painful for him at the end to say this poll was paid for by the republican party of Alaska. Oh snap!
I say, keep ’em on the line as long as possible! Ask them to repeat questions, pause between every word for your answers, ask ’em to hold on a sec so you can let the dog out, get the pollster off-topic by chit-chattin’ about how much they sound like your favorite relative…
THEN say you’re voting for McAdams!
Good idea!!
I’m getting a lot of these polling calls, sponsored by various groups, and it definitely feels like an attempt to keep Lisa’s name in the front row. I wonder how much they are helping her. I bet a lot. A write-in candidate whose name comes up in the opinion polls has a lot more chance than the other candidates like Haas, Carter, and Gianoutsos, (whose name I had to pull the voter’s guide out to get right) who are actually on the ballot but not mentioned by the pollsters.
Gianoutsos’ voter guide page reads like a Match.com profile, by the way.
Sean Parnell is still totally supporting Joe Miller even though Miller has been proven to be untruthful, unethical and a coward. That says loads about Parnell’s (lack of) character in standing by this guy. And it is just a matter of time before Pay-lin becomes implicated in the Fairbanks computer scandal.
To Parnell it is more important to be loyal to his Party than to do what is best for Alaska. This is despicable.
Alaska, remember that at the voting booth!!
Got to give Sean credit for at least supporting the Republican who won the Republican primary.
But what he doesn’t get credit for–and hopefully Alaskans will turn him out of office for are:
His total disrespect for Alaskans who want to improve the balance on the Alaska’s Board of Wildlife (Game) and who want to protect critical fish and wildlife habitat in Alaska.
His refusal to accept federal dollars to improve the health care of many Alaskans.
His refusal to accept federal dollars to build new ferries in Alaska.
It’s clear that partisan politics–aimed to divide us–and not to bring us together and solve problems are what drives the Sean Parnell agenda. Throw the bum out!
Parnell’s character and ethics have been long known. His loyalty is to Sarah Palin and his church, not really the Republican Party, even though its a bit difficult to see where one leaves off and the other starts.
Parnell clearly violated Executive Office Ethics policy himself, for his role in Sarah Palin’s administration and his failure to take formal responsibility on behalf of Alaskans, as his duty to office and position charged him.
Oatmeal doesn’t stand up to anything. When overcooked, it becomes gruel. Even gruel can lay around in a bowl and stuff will stick to it. Guess party loyalty is one of those.
Thnak you Linda and WC !
Have been enjoying WC’s addition and contributions to the conversation about Mr Miller enormously.
hmmm… didn’t come out quite right
Really appreciate WC’s contributions…
not very happy about anything about Mr Miller…
Welcome to the ‘flats, W’s Conscience! You’re in excellent company!
Check newsminer.com. They have a story up, that Joe Miller’s father has confirmed his use of coworkers’ computers in an attempt to unseat Randy Ruedrich!
This demonstrates a complete lack of integrity. He should indeed have been fired.
Jim Whitaker’s statements are now confirmed, and the evidence that has been released so far about Miller’s personnel file is consistent with Whitaker’s statement as well as the statement by Miller’s father.
This is explosive, and should frankly put an end to Miller’s candidacy.