Militia Trial – Day 1
Day 1 I showed up at the Federal courthouse at about 8:15 this morning, and was met outside by an armed officer who told me that there would be 100% screening today. That meant everybody, and there was a line. I counted six uniformed guards, and two dogs. It was an interesting, although not totally unexpected way to start Day 1 of the Scheaffer Cox, Coleman Barney, and Lonnie Vernon trial. I dutifully removed my jacket, and put my stuff on the conveyer belt. I could bring my laptop and phone into the courtroom as long as I didn’t turn…
The Schaeffer Cox Trial – Day 1
Day 1 I showed up at the Federal courthouse at about 8:15 this morning, and was met outside by an armed officer who told me that there would be 100% screening today. That meant everybody, and there was a line. I counted six uniformed guards, and two dogs. It was an interesting, although not totally unexpected way to start Day 1 of the Scheaffer Cox, Coleman Barney, and Lonnie Vernon trial. I dutifully removed my jacket, and put my stuff on the conveyer belt. I could bring my laptop and phone into the courtroom as long as I didn’t turn…
Election Commissioner and Poll Worker Clash at Assembly Meeting – “That’s a lie!”
Tensions ran high at last night’s Assembly meeting, held to certify the badly botched Municipal election of April 3, 2012. The most intense moment came when Gwen Mathew, the Anchorage Election Commissioner, testified to the Assembly about the issue of broken security seals on the Diebold AccuVote machines on the day of the election. Mathew stated that she had received no report “at all, anywhere, of a seal being broken.” Wendy Isbell, a poll worker who had reported a broken seal multiple times in testimony, in writing, and by interview, to the Assembly, her precinct chair, and the Election Commission…
Anchorage Moves to Certify, but There is Still Time
By Shannyn Moore Remember standardized testing when you were a kid? You’d fill in those ovals with that Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 until your eyes bugged out. Schools provided “smart snacks” of carrots and apples on testing days. Now imagine if they let you grade the tests. I’m sure you’re good, honest folks, but what a horrible position to put you in. “Oh, I knew this answer, I just forgot.” That’s basically what Anchorage Assembly chair Ernie Hall and the “election commission” appointed by Mayor Dan Sullivan, did this week. They graded their own performance on a debacle of…
WAR Defends Ted Nugent for Illegally Hunting Bear in Alaska
*sniff* I’m sorry… I just get all choked up hearing Ted Nugent talk about the mystical circle of existence, and how nature is in balance, and how the Palins and all the good people of Alaska live off the land as God intended, and how when we kill stuff, we’re all joined together in this interconnected web of the miracle that is life, and… Wait. What? Activist and musician Ted Nugent has signed a plea agreement with federal prosecutors admitting he took an illegally shot black bear in Southeast Alaska two years ago, according to the agreement. Ted Nugent? A…
Assembly Delays Independent Investigation – Election Commission Begins Investigation of Self (UPDATED)
More Questions Than Answers As we march ahead, trying to make sense of the Anchorage Municipal election of April 3, and as more citizens step forward to testify, we find that the questions and concerns have multiplied. Any one of several factors is cause for concern: Polling places running out of ballots, voters being turned away from their polling places, disenfranchisement of unknown numbers of voters, deliberate misinformation from a conservative group to cause chaos at the polls, naive confidence by the Election Commissioner regarding equipment widely known to be problematic, instructions to ignore or replace broken security seals on…
Baked Alaska: Yet Another Election Crashes and Burns on the Last Frontier
By Brad Friedman [Read the entire excellent article at BradBlog.com. Extensive excerpts below] …And then there are the election officials of Anchorage, Alaska, where, on April 3rd, there was another disastrous election, held on Diebold op-scan systems, in a state becoming known for its disastrous elections. “Those are amazing machines – utterly amazing,” Anchorage Election Commissioner Gwen Matthews told members of the Anchorage Assembly last Friday night during a working session as they tried to unravel the latest disaster. “It is impossible for them to go haywire,” she misinformed the law makers. “They are highly accurate. I think that I could…
Open Thread – Important Things
1) Take a look at the sidebar. Have you seen that guy? He was acting in a threatening manner to Mudflats editor Shannyn Moore in Anchorage Thursday night. Please help us identify him. 2) If you are an Anchorage resident, please sign this online petition which will be forwarded to the Anchorage Assembly. It demands the retention of independent counsel to investigate our disastrous election. 3) If you are able, attend the Assembly’s work session Friday from noon to 2:00, or however long you can. It will be held in the Assembly chambers downstairs at the Loussac Library, and the…
Anchorage’s Election Disaster Goes to the Assembly
~Lennie Moren and Jane Darden speak volumes at the Assembly meeting By Jeanne Devon and Linda Kellen Biegel First things first. If you have not yet signed the online petition asking the Anchorage Assembly to call for a fair and independent audit of the Anchorage election of April 3, 2012, then please do so HERE. It will give you the option to share it on Facebook, to your email list, and on Twitter. You are encouraged to do so. Tuesday Night at the Fights (aka the Anchorage Assembly meeting) was important this week. This was one of only two meetings…