“Racist Dentist” is New GOP Vice Chair
The Alaska Republican Party has been trying desperately to get its house in order while undergoing a civil war. And they’ve been doing just about as well as you might expect. The latest brilliant strategy move was voting in the man known as the “racist dentist” to hold the #2 spot in the Republican Party of Alaska.
A coup of sorts took place when long time party chair Randy Ruedrich retired. The Ron Paul/Tea Party crowd overtook the convention and installed newcomer Russ Millette as Chair. The old guard panicked and rerouted the treasure chest to a Republican group in Juneau. Then Millette was ousted for “not raising enough money.” So, Vice Chair Debbie Brown of the same ilk took over. Then she was ousted for “not raising enough money.” The Ron Paul wing of the party was furious.
Peter Goldberg, the fourth Chair in a year and a half, was installed, and so was a new Vice Chair. You might remember his name – Dr. David Eichler. If that’s not ringing a bell, let me refresh your memory.
Governor Sean Parnell had proposed Eichler’s appointment to the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) back in April of 2012. He was one of four names submitted by the Alaska Republican Party. Eichler, a dentist from North Pole, had been the head of the Alaska Dental Society back in 2006, and while in that role had let loose with the following screed about the dental problems of Alaska Natives.
“Any culture that allows such disease will soon disappear and rightfully so,” he wrote. He also urged the end of federal assistance to America’s indigenous peoples, saying that doing so would “allow their integration into American society as dignified citizens.”
But despite the fact that Dr. Eichler was too much of an insensitive racist to get on to the APOC board, the Alaska Republican Party still has the love, and now he is the number two guy in the state party. There was no pesky “vetting” by legislators, and they were determined to put this guy in a position of authority somewhere, somehow. So, he got voted in. Because apparently “ignorant and insensitive” plays well with that crowd. Way to go, Republican Party of Alaska. Nicely done.
“The Alaska Republican Party should remove David Eichler as a party Vice-Chairman immediately. Alaska has no place for the racist view expressed by Eichler that Alaska Native cultures will ‘soon disappear and rightfully so,’” said Mike Wenstrup, Chairman of the Alaska Democratic Party.
So, if Alaska Native groups had any doubt about the sentiments of Republican party leadership in the state, they can put those to bed. Most Alaska Natives already vote Democratic, but this should help clean up the stragglers.
Another interesting fact to ponder is Eichler’s relationship with Schaeffer Cox. I watched Eichler assist my neighbor, another of Schaffer’s tinfoil hat wearing, compound living minions, move load after load of weapons and other arsenals, from my neighbor’s property. This was in an effort to avoid prosecution on my neighbor’s part and to get Schaeffer’s guns and munitions cache sent to a place investigators couldn’t find it.
FYI: Just to let you know his only opponent in that race was a guy who supported the Occupy Movement last year and started recording the Republican Party meetings for holding their officers accountable.
First Americans elsewhere are also getting the shaft (again, and again, and again) from the sequester:
http://www.alternet.org/education/sequester-guts-native-american-education
The Republican party continues its quest to follow the Whig party into irrelevancy. Of course, a lot has changed in the last 125 years, and money may keep the party alive for a while. But unless party leaders stop giving legitimacy to racists and idiots, its days are numbered. At least I hope so as the alternative is the end of democracy and freedom in this country.
Maybe the once-respectable GOP should change their name to Dregs of Humanity.
“Most Alaska Natives already vote Democratic, but this should help clean up the stragglers.”
Seems to me that these (alaska natives) are the folks that got Lisa elected over Scott and Joe. And when she comes riding into town for AFN, wearing her white Kuspuk, everyone forgets to ask her the hard questions. Maybe most voters just don’t realize she is a republican, that she votes squarely on the republican side of the ticket. Maybe most women in the villages forget (or don’t know about) her disastrous “confusing vote” on the VAWA, leaving village and native women without protection. Surely everyone has forgotten her stunt during the BP blowout, protecting oil companies from liability.
I would think that rural Alaskans would have abandoned the Republican party years ago. But regardless of how much fun it is to watch the party structure implode, they still have a message that resonates: The world is a scary place, but you do not need to be fearful, we will take care of it for you by making sure the big, bad, government can’t take away your ______________.” (fill in the blank)
The Republicans squashed the gun control debate by pushing BenGhazi into the news. They have stalled infrastructure repair and jobs bills by repeatedly blaming economic problems on “Obamacare”, villifying the President and voting to repeal HCRA. In this state, they gerrymandered the voting map and pushed through a gift to the oil companies instead of anything constructive.
We can roll our eyes and watch these antics with glee, but we must be careful, because they have a strategy and they are advancing it by distracting everyone with this kind of in-fighting. Grandma used to have a description for people like this: “Crazy like a fox”. Beware. They may be more organized than they look.
I’m not sure they are more organized than they look but “crazy like a fox” fits very, very well.
One thing to remember about LM’s win is AST’s influence and success in reframing the election as between Ms Murkowski and Mr Miller. Mr McAdams was steadily rising in the polls previous to LM jumping in as an independent and AST’s blanketing the state with their message.
I was entering data in Dem votebuilder database and could tell you the moment the shift came.
Mr Miller’s attitude about Alaska Natives is at least as reprehensible as Mr Eichler’s and quite frankly Mr McAdams’ scared a specific portion of Native leadership- so LM, with her tilt towards to 8(a) reform favored by Reg Corps and similar federal business became the “choice”
Mr Eichler is disgusting. The Fed abandoned assimilationist policies towards American indigenous peoples during Nixon’s terms and has built on the notions of limited self government for tribes ever since then. Progress has been excruciatingly slow and people like Mr Eichler getting in a pissing match with AK Native health orgs over dental techs have made it even more of a flap than need be.
The State of Alaska barely recognizes tribes exist, let alone that they have some sovereignty in some areas.
The Eichler’s of Alaska are numerous. Sad but true. He is not lacking for company…
Out of curiosity, what are Mr. Miller’s views/attitudes surrounding Alaska Natives?
For the record, many people (myself included) left the Alaska Repugnican Party as a result of the 2012 delegation’s majority voice (of which I was part of) being ignored and negated by a combination of backhanded, fraudulent tactics by the State Central/Executive Committee over the past year+ to remove Russ Millette and Debbie Brown from offices they essentially were never allowed to ascend to, despite being duly elected. So the decision to appoint Eichler is one that resonates with the corrupt party rule-makers, not the delegation. Millette has revealed that during Reudrich’s reign of terror, for 12 years, the ARP’s financial records did not receive a single internal audit. Those who have given money to this embarrassing political organization have no way of knowing where it went once it was received by party hucksters. The theory is that money may have been/is currently being funneled to party executive/central committee members for “consulting services”. Who knows.
My 6-month stint as a Republican was a wonderful learning experience that affirmed by decision to never join another political party ever again.
Eichler clearly has never been to a village…where often it’s an awful lot easier to find a “clean” can of soda to drink than a glass of clean water.
I don’t much care about the flap within the Alaskan Republican Party , except as to how it ends up affecting candidates supported by the Party that the rest of us have to deal with.
Mr Miller avoids overt and nasty racist remarks like those of Mr Eichler but make no mistake, he is of the class of folks who practice institutional racism whilst purporting to stand for everyone equally.
Tribal authority makes a lot of non-Native Alaskans very nervous . The seperatist aspect of Native sovereignty , as it relates to civil and political rights of Native peoples, feels at odds with the we-are-all-Alaskans dealie so common here. It is reconcilable but we have yet to work that through.
Mr Miller showed an abysmal lack of understanding of Federal law and policy as relates to the Indian Self Determination Act as well as a pie-in-the-sky notion of the how the state operates when it comes to issues facing Native communities when he Pffft!ed Mr Begich’s introduction of the Safe Villages act. In some ways this is worse than overt racism, if for no other reason than it is harder to tease the underlying values out into the open to be dealt with.
Pi, not sure about everything in your post-but one thing I agree with 1000%. Better to have a racist up in your face and up front- than patting your back while holding a knife up his sleeve!
fishing mamma i comments are right on, about the Native corporations buying themselves a senator Lisa Murkowski has supported the native corporations racist segregation restrictions the same as her Father Frank the Bank all of this corruption was controlled and implemented with the Native leaders along with their attorneys and consultants by the late Senator Ted Stevens. The Sarbanes/Oxley act was established because of the The Enron corruption Stevens introduced an amendment to exempt the Native corporations from this act and Lisa Murkowski Supported and voted for this amendment . The native corporations have a license to steal.