PAT HIGGINS ATTACKS AN IRAQI WAR VET OVER THIS? EW.
Candidate Josh Revak, running for House District 25, has seen a lot in his life.
He nearly lost his leg in war, after enlisting in the U.S. Army shortly after Sept. 11, 2001 and volunteering for battle.
He has what’s called a salvaged leg, held together by equipment he must strap on on each morning after recovering from the injuries caused by enemy mortar fire in Ramadi, Iraq. He has a Purple Heart, and is active in the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
He’s also a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, having struggled with self-medicating after returning home in a wheelchair. Revak has been upfront about his past struggles, and now is raising a family and is involved in his community as a volunteer and a role model.
Pat Higgins doesn’t care.
He and the Alaska Democratic Party have sent out several last-minute mailers blasting Revak for his two DUI convictions and minor fishing violations.
DEMOCRATS LOVE REP. IVY SPOHNOLZ FOR THE SAME THING
Curiously, the Democrats have nothing bad to say about Rep. Ivy Spohnholz, also a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, and also a recovering alcoholic.
She, like Revak, has been public about her struggle with alcohol.
And curiously, the Republicans have nothing to say about Spohnholz’ alcoholism either. The party that supports Revak in District 25 supports Spohnholz’ opponent Stanley Wright in District 16, but doesn’t beat her up over her battles with booze. The attacks are on her stances on an income tax and crime, and the fact that she is a hard partisan for big government.
Mailers that the Democrats are sending to District 25, however, show they’ve seen the polling on the Revak-Higgins race and they are worried.
Revak was a former military aide for Sen. Dan Sullivan and before that was an aide to Congressman Don Young. But before that, he volunteered to defend our nation.
John Stark, who served with Revak in Iraq and who is now a Foreign Service officer, gave him this recommendation:
“I served with Josh in Iraq 2006-2007. The man is a legend among his peers and I wish I could vote in Alaska for him!”
In June of 2006, Revak was part of a combat escort for a group hauling concrete barriers to build an outpost in Ramadi, Iraq.
As they arrived and began to climb out of their Humvee, a mortar shell fell nearby. Revak and his roommate scrambled, then another explosion hit.
The concussion effect from the explosion hit hard, and dazed him — but he was also hit. He could see that a piece of shrapnel had gone through his right ankle, leaving a hole the size of a quarter. His achilles tendon was shattered, and he had to wrap his wounds with the laces from his boot. His roommate and fellow gunner died in the blast. The man was his mentor and his first sergeant.
Revak was just 25 and heading for a lifelong disability — if they could keep the leg at all. And he’d just lost his best friend.
The callousness of his opponent Pat Higgins and the Democrats attacking Revak, who sought help and worked to recover from his post traumatic stress, is nearly unparalleled in Alaska politics.
But Must Read Alaska is reminded of the overseas service of Pat Higgins, where the most danger he faces was being stabbed by the toothpick in his umbrella drink.
While serving on the Anchorage School Board, he phoned into the meetings from his gig in the Marshall Islands — for 11 months.
In fairness, the Alaska Republican Party had fun at Higgins’ expense for phoning in his school board duties while pulling down $28,000 a year as a school board member.
MRAK found this memorable photo in the ARP Facebook archives:
HIGGINS UNCENSORED
Pat Higgins was caught on tape recently describing Josh Revak’s children as stupid and saying that an income tax will be necessary, and he has a lot to say about how it’s the right way to go, but on this tape says he cannot talk about that during the campaign because if he does, he can’t win. Don’t miss the part where he describes women as emotional:
They are our teachers, engineers, police officers, famous athletes, mentors. They are our doctors, lawyers, counselors, pastors, chefs, and civic leaders. They are moms and dads. They are clerks and students. They are teens. They are black, they are white, they are native. They are soldiers. They are alcoholics.
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Millions of Americans fight this disease. It does not discriminate. If you think it cannot happen to you, think again. It is a progressive, insidious disease. I too am an alcoholic and a productive member of this community. I have been sober for years. I remember the dark years. Do alcoholics wake each day wanting to be an alcoholic? Of course we don’t…No more than a person with any other disease. I remember those that were compassionate and I remember those that were cruel. Even after I achieved sobriety, the cruelty continued. I know no other disease where a person would be treated this way.
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Politics is a dirty game. No surprise. However, this is a new low. Shame on you Higgins. I’m sure your fellow Dem Ms. Spohnholz is disgusted as well. If she hasn’t dressed you down already, I am a sure a dose of stink-eye is on the way. Josh Revak has suffered the horrors of war followed by trying to survive those horrors. He has literally pulled himself from the bowels of hell to where he is today and you had to reach to this. Wow. You have shown EXACTLY what kind of person you truly are.
Well said Garner!
Josh deserves an award for sheer determination & resilience, not to be bashed like this . There’s no doubt in my mind Josh will win!
Seems to me that Democrats should all be running under the slogan “Do as I say, not as I do”
I recently went to a few AA meetings, the first time in 20-25 years I’ve been to one. They are so militantly apolitical that this may very well backfire. This also reminds me of the 1996 elections, when advertisements appeared dragging my father, Brian Porter and other Republican candidates through the mud over old DUIs and other old offenses. The state government (read: Knowles administration) employees who improperly used the Alaska Public Safety Information Network to obtain that information were never punished. Instead, the general public wound up being punished when DPS responded by restricting access to the network. Before, certain agencies could perform a background check for free. Afterward, you had to go to a trooper post and pay $20 for a printout.
I am a recovering alcoholic. I have been sober for 40 years as of January 10, 2018. I took my last drink on January 10, 1978. My sobriety is thanks to the grace of God and AA. I have never made a secret of my alcoholism or my recovery. I have done so in hopes of helping others recover.
Pat Higgins is both ignorant and opinionated. He does not deserve to be in elected office. His criticism of a wounded veteran who sought help and got sober is evidence of his unfitness for any public position.
I hope Josh Revak kicks Higgins B…tt and we hear no more from him.
My mailbox is stuffed full of these political mailings everyday now. I read none of them, don’t even give them a second glance before tossing them into the round file. Judging by how full the Post Office round files are with all those same mailings I doubt this one card or any of the other 6 million have any real effect. I suppose the only winner in all this is the US Postal Service and the Printing companies that produce them.
Pat Higgins and his Democrat operative consultants waited until the final weekend to smear. They could not bring this attack earlier because it is ridiculous, insulting and easily dismissed by the exemplary Josh Revak. Mr. Revak’s life is an open book and he has been up front about his struggle, his bravery and where he was and where he is. Where he should be is in the State House of Representatives and the craven and smarmy Pat Higgins should crawl back into his hole. No excuse for final hour smear that could not survive the light of day.
I met P.Higgins son once, he is a Republican who thinks the Dems are a joke
He told me his dad did nothing but complain about AK while he was growing up,
Mr Higgins is from Texas, he hates AK & has no use for winter, so vote him out once & for all; maybe he’ll finally go away for good
It would help with tapes if you could find someone to clean out the background noise so we could hear better – this particularly in regard to Pete Higgin’s tape.
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