Crisis in Western Alaska - Palin says "Qu'ils mangent de la Pilot bread"

[Blue_In_AK]

Andrew Halcro on the continuing crisis in western Alaska and the dust-up between Republican state Representative Jay Ramras and the Guv.

http://www.andrewhalcro.com/palin_quils_mangent_de_la_pilot_bread

(2/6/09) Let them eat Pilot Bread. In fact let them eat something, anything...however in order for that to happen, the donated food supplies have to get to rural Alaska.

The transportation of critical food supplies to rural Alaska villages and a lack of leadership from the governor appears to be the core dispute brewing between Fairbanks Republican State Representative Jay Ramras and Governor Sarah Palin in their heated press release exchange yesterday in Juneau.

This issue started to unfold weeks ago, when the plight of rural Alaskans who were suffering from a poor fishing season and were scrambling to feed their families and heat their homes became public.

The struggle of residents in Western Alaska villages like Emmonak and Kotlik became both national and local front page news after emotional pleas from villagers and help from bloggers pushed the issue to the forefront which captured public attention.

The dire situation in Western Alaska was not a surprise. Former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, warned of impending problems due to a poor fishing season when he was fired by Governor Palin in July. The Alaska Federation of Natives warned of the looming crisis at their annual convention in October.

In response to a growing crisis in villages like Emmonak and Kotlik, Representative Ramras spearheaded a food drive to help gather donations to help his fellow Alaskans. His efforts have been extremely successful.

So far, the effort has raised well over $15,000 in cash assets and 4,465 lbs of food. Companies and organizations such as Wal-Mart, Safeway, The Fairbanks Community Foodbank, The Food Bank of Alaska located in Anchorage, and dozens of churches in both Anchorage and Fairbanks have helped in an attempt to move 20,000 lbs of food to Western Alaska. Food items, donated included canned fruit and vegetables, plus dry goods such as sugar and flour, Crisco, Pilot bread, Top Ramen and pancake mix.

However once Ramras starting gathering donations, he faced the challenge of transporting them out to the villages.

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"It's unfortunate that the representative sees this as an opportunity to play politics rather than help in the response."

Time to look at the scoreboard and see just who has helped in the response.

Representative Ramras: Organized a cash and food drive from local non-profits, Churches and business. When he was denied help from the Palin administration in transportating the donated supplies to the needy villages, he himself organized transportation to get the 4,500 lbs of donations trucked from Fairbanks to Anchorage and then flown from Anchorage to Bethel. In response to the unintended conflict in state law, Ramras introduced legislation to allow future governors the flexibility to use state assets to transport supplies for compassionate aid.

Governor Palin: After denying the use of a state aircraft to deliver donated supplies from Fairbanks to the villages, Palin relented and allowed DPS to fly supplies from Bethel to Kotlik. At a press conference three weeks ago when asked about Emmonak, Palin offered to fly to the village to see what she could do personally (not from an official stand point but personally). Palin never made the trip and a few days later sent five state officials to the villages to investigate. Two weeks after the officials have returned, the administration has yet to offer any plans.

One of the biggest frustrations about this situation is that while there is a completely legitimate argument that government can't do everything for everybody, this was an instance where caring private citizens and companies responded with overwhelming compassion but were met with bureaucratic malaise.

"Qu'ils mangent de la Pilot bread"...eh guv?

See also http://community.adn.com/adn/node/137638

[Taverner]

1. Wow - she is evil.

And she shoots the messengers!

Damn we dodged a bullet last November!!

[gratuitous]

2. There ya go again, pointin' backwards to the past

Sarah Palin's focusin' on the future, doncha know. Specifically 2012, so she doesn't really have time for all this big government folderol, you betcha.

What are the state law provisions for recalling a governor? Is "Because she's an internationally-recognized vaporbrain" enough of a reason for circulating a petition?

[dbackjon]

3. Heck of a job, Barbie

[Blue_In_AK]

4. Here's AK Muckraker's post on this

http://www.themudflats.net/2009/02/06/ramras-2-palin-0/

Ramras - 2, Palin - 0

Let’s see. (counting on fingers) We had an official press release from the governor complaining about unfair treatment by the media…(next finger)…and then we had an official press release from the governor complaining about unfair treatment from Ashley Judd and the Defenders of Wildlife…(next finger)…and now we have an official press release from the governor complaining about unfair treatment from Representative Jay Ramras. That makes three. We’re tiptoeing very close to having to call this whining.

I have a proposal. Maybe it would be simpler for the Governor’s communications people to just write one generic press release that they could simply distribute to the media to be utilized at will every time Palin comes under criticism. I propose the following:

“The Governor Says ‘Haters are Being Mean to Me and It’s Just Not Fair! Again.”

ANCHORAGE - Governor Sarah Palin today was disappointed and outraged at the unwarranted actions of an individual or group, who obviously have personal and/or political motivation(s) for wanting to smear the Governor’s good name. “It’s real unfortunate that this individual or group stoops to twisting the truth, and tries to misinform and distract hard-working innocent Alaskans,” said the Governor from her home in Wasilla. “Alaskans are tired of politics as usual in the state, and this attack on me just goes to prove that some of those people lack a servant’s heart and have no interest in progressing the state.” The Governor went on to say, “In these difficult times, I would hope that this person or people would find a more constructive use of their time than to attack me and/or my family, staff or associates with these baseless accusations.” In actuality the governor and her staff have been doing exactly the opposite of what this individual or group claims, and they could prove it with specifics at any time, if they chose to do so. The Governor’s office will continue to work hard with relevant entities and state agencies to ensure that Alaskans continue to enjoy all the blessings of living in our great and good state, under the equally great and good North Star.

But while the governor’s office is considering this possibility, (Bill McAllister strokes his chin. “Hey, this is so crazy, it just might work!”) and mulling over my press release above, let’s discuss what actually happened.


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