JOE MILLER AIMS, COULD GET A HOLE IN ONE
At least three different efforts have been launched in the Facebook universe to recall Gov. Bill Walker.
Only one has the star power to actually accomplish it.
Joe Miller has more than 42,000 followers on Facebook and has a web site that he populates with conservative content. He has a following.
Gov. Bill Walker has 14,400 followers on Facebook, and many of them are just there to keep an eye on him.
This week, Miller launched his recall effort: #SavethePFD at his website.
And who would not be tempted to sign the petition? After all, Miller is a lawyer who could probably manage the details of such a campaign, which would no doubt mean doing battle with the attorney general over the legality of the petition. He’s a West Point graduate who has been through some gnarly political battles and who would relish running into this particular firefight. And he has been successful at moving the needle in the public arena.
But for Republicans, fiscal conservatives, and nonpartisans, we have a word of caution. Before you sign that petition, consider that every blue-blooded Democrat in Alaska will also sign the petition, because recalling Walker would bring Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott to the fore.
Mallott is as partisan as they come.
Every Alaska Native would also sign the petition, because, well, Mallott.
Every red-blooded Republican would also sign the petition out of frustration with our hyper-fake-independent governor.
If Alaskans recall Walker and get Gov. Mallott, they also get Craig Fleener as lieutenant governor. You’ll recall that Fleener ran as Walker’s running mate before Big Labor Bossman Vince Beltrami put together the Walker-Mallott ticket.
Miller argues that Alaska statutes (AS 15.45.510) allow voters to recall a governor who is (1) no longer fit for office, (2) incompetent, (3) have neglected their duties, or (4) are corrupt.
“Walker’s idiocy with the PFD, his lies about what he’d do as governor, and slavish devotion to big government on the People’s dime, fall squarely within the recall parameters,” Miller says.
That, no doubt, would be challenged by the governor’s new attorney general.
ON THE OTHER HAND, SIGN IT ALREADY
All that said, let’s move on to why Alaskans may want to sign the recall petition.
First, it would galvanize the conservative electorate and get it ready for 2018, when it needs momentum to regain the Governor’s Office.
Second, it’s a disruptive force that might slow Gov. Walker in his reckless attempt to go it alone on a gas line.
Third, at least Alaska would have a governor who is what he says he is — a partisan Democrat. Alaskans tell us they’ve no longer buy the nonpartisan line. They simply prefer the old-fashioned value of honesty.
Could it be a set up for a 2018 run by Mark Begich for governor? But of course; that’s already in the works. Mallott would retire gracefully. But that fight is in front of us anyway.
Alaskans, go ahead and sign the petition, and let’s give Joe Miller the opportunity to go big, because we’ve never seen buyer’s remorse like we see it now among people Walker fooled into voting for him in 2014.