Anti-Palin rally draws about 1,000 protesters
By KYLE HOPKINS - Anchorage Daily News
Published: September 27th, 2008 05:35 PM
A protest rally blasting Gov. Sarah Palin's handling of the state's so-called Troopergate investigation -- and calling for the attorney general to resign -- drew 1,000 or more people to the Delaney Park Strip in Anchorage on Saturday.
Protesters chanted "recall Palin!" as organizers told the crowd to push state legislators to keep after their investigation into the governor's firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.
The investigator hired by the Legislature is scheduled to present his report on Oct. 10.
"This report needs to be released. Not just for us ... it needs to be released for all those people in the Lower 48 who are going to make a decision on Nov. 4," Democratic blogger Linda Kellen Biegel told hundreds of protesters gathered on the Park Strip grass.
Earlier, hundreds of people lined I Street, waving signs that said "Steady on her heels, wobbly on her words" and "Tina Fey would do a better job" at passing cars. A group calling itself Alaskans for Truth organized the event, which at times resembled a Barack Obama campaign rally.
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Anti-Palin rally draws about 1,000 protesters
Please check out the new Mudflats blog for a first hand account of the rally:
http://www.themudflats.net
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Anti-Palin rally draws about 1,000 protesters
NYT: McCain and Team Have Many Ties to Gambling Industry
McCain and Team Have Many Ties to Gambling Industry
By JO BECKER and DON VAN NATTA Jr. - NYTimes
Published: September 27, 2008
Senator John McCain was on a roll. In a room reserved for high-stakes gamblers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, he tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table. When the marathon session ended around 2:30 a.m., the Arizona senator and his entourage emerged with thousands of dollars in winnings.
A lifelong gambler, Mr. McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party’s evangelical base, opponents of gambling. Mr. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of Mr. McCain.
The visit had been arranged by the lobbyist, Scott Reed, who works for the Mashantucket Pequot, a tribe that has contributed heavily to Mr. McCain’s campaigns and built Foxwoods into the world’s second-largest casino. Joining them was Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s current campaign manager. Their night of good fortune epitomized not just Mr. McCain’s affection for gambling, but also the close relationship he has built with the gambling industry and its lobbyists during his 25-year career in Congress.
Read the rest of the story:
McCain and Team Have Many Ties to Gambling Industry
By JO BECKER and DON VAN NATTA Jr. - NYTimes
Published: September 27, 2008
Senator John McCain was on a roll. In a room reserved for high-stakes gamblers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, he tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table. When the marathon session ended around 2:30 a.m., the Arizona senator and his entourage emerged with thousands of dollars in winnings.
A lifelong gambler, Mr. McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party’s evangelical base, opponents of gambling. Mr. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of Mr. McCain.
The visit had been arranged by the lobbyist, Scott Reed, who works for the Mashantucket Pequot, a tribe that has contributed heavily to Mr. McCain’s campaigns and built Foxwoods into the world’s second-largest casino. Joining them was Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s current campaign manager. Their night of good fortune epitomized not just Mr. McCain’s affection for gambling, but also the close relationship he has built with the gambling industry and its lobbyists during his 25-year career in Congress.
Read the rest of the story:
McCain and Team Have Many Ties to Gambling Industry
Palin's Endorsement of Mine Leaves Many Feeling Burned
Palin's Endorsement of Mine Leaves Many Feeling Burned
By Alec MacGillis - Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 28, 2008
For months, the confrontation mounted, a face-off that arguably held in the balance the fate of two of Alaska's biggest industries. On one side were companies hoping to open Pebble Mine at a huge gold and copper reserve adjacent to one of the world's largest salmon runs, Bristol Bay. On the other side were fishermen and environmentalists pushing a referendum that would make it harder for the mine to open.
The two sides spent more than $10 million -- unprecedented for such efforts in Alaska -- and throughout it all, the state's highly popular first-term governor, Sarah Palin, held back. Alaska law forbids state officials from using state resources to advocate on ballot initiatives.
Then, six days before the Aug. 26 vote, with the race looking close, Palin broke her silence. Asked about the initiative at a news conference, she invoked "personal privilege" to give an opinion. "Let me take my governor's hat off for just a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop. 4 -- I vote no on that," she said. "I have all the confidence in the world that [the Department of Environmental Conservation] and our [Department of Natural Resources] have great, very stringent regulations and policies already in place. We're going to make sure that mines operate only safely, soundly."
Palin's comments rocked the contest. Within a day, the pro-mining coalition fighting the referendum had placed full-page ads with a picture of Palin and the word "NO." The initiative went down to defeat, with 57 percent of voters rejecting it.
Three days later, Palin was named Republican Sen. John McCain's running mate, throwing Alaska into a media frenzy. But the fallout has lingered from an episode that may stand as one of the most consequential in Palin's 21-month tenure. The state ethics panel is examining whether Palin's comments violated the law against state advocacy on ballot measures, after having already ruled that a state Web site was improperly slanted toward mining interests.
Read the rest of the story:
Palin's Endorsement of Mine Leaves Many Feeling Burned
By Alec MacGillis - Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 28, 2008
For months, the confrontation mounted, a face-off that arguably held in the balance the fate of two of Alaska's biggest industries. On one side were companies hoping to open Pebble Mine at a huge gold and copper reserve adjacent to one of the world's largest salmon runs, Bristol Bay. On the other side were fishermen and environmentalists pushing a referendum that would make it harder for the mine to open.
The two sides spent more than $10 million -- unprecedented for such efforts in Alaska -- and throughout it all, the state's highly popular first-term governor, Sarah Palin, held back. Alaska law forbids state officials from using state resources to advocate on ballot initiatives.
Then, six days before the Aug. 26 vote, with the race looking close, Palin broke her silence. Asked about the initiative at a news conference, she invoked "personal privilege" to give an opinion. "Let me take my governor's hat off for just a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop. 4 -- I vote no on that," she said. "I have all the confidence in the world that [the Department of Environmental Conservation] and our [Department of Natural Resources] have great, very stringent regulations and policies already in place. We're going to make sure that mines operate only safely, soundly."
Palin's comments rocked the contest. Within a day, the pro-mining coalition fighting the referendum had placed full-page ads with a picture of Palin and the word "NO." The initiative went down to defeat, with 57 percent of voters rejecting it.
Three days later, Palin was named Republican Sen. John McCain's running mate, throwing Alaska into a media frenzy. But the fallout has lingered from an episode that may stand as one of the most consequential in Palin's 21-month tenure. The state ethics panel is examining whether Palin's comments violated the law against state advocacy on ballot measures, after having already ruled that a state Web site was improperly slanted toward mining interests.
Read the rest of the story:
Palin's Endorsement of Mine Leaves Many Feeling Burned
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