Articles in Anti-LGBT
Public Input Needed Today on WAR as Attorney General
UPDATE: The House Judiciary Committee hearing is on Friday April 10, and they will take public testimony at 5 p.m. 1-800-295-4546. Listen live on Gavel to Gavel. The full Legislature is scheduled to hold a confirmation vote on April 16.
UPDATE 2: Read Leah Burton’s testimony on WAR’s family values: “There wouldn’t be an issue with domestic violence if women would learn to keep their mouths shut.”
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The Senate Judiciary Committee is taking public testimony for the Attorney General Confirmation Hearings for Wayne Anthony Ross on Wednesday, April 8 at 5:30 p.m.
The call in number is: 1-888-295-4546. You can also walk in to your local Legislative Information Office to testify. The Anchorage office is on 4th Ave.
“Does he have the qualifications, ethical standards and temperament to be the state’s top law enforcement official and run such an important, politically sensitive department?” asked an ADN editorial.
Qualifications
- Ross has been up for two separate Judicial advancements in the past two years, for the Alaska Supreme Court in 2007 and the Alaska Court of Appeals in 2008. He was not nominated by the Alaska Judicial Council either time. His mediocre Alaska Bar Association scores were cited as the reason he did not receive a nomination.
- In response, he wrote a letter to the Bar Association newsletter complaining about the judicial selection process and the negative comments made about him in the anonymous Bar Survey used to rate the applicants.
Ethics and Temperament
There is an extensive written record on Ross from his two unsuccessful runs for governor and his long history of political activism. His zealous support for a host of controversial causes and his insulting public statements about those who believe differently show intolerance, bad judgement and the inability to seek common ground. He has a long list of enemies, and even his attorney peers and NRA buddies don’t want him in positions of power.
- He called on the governor to fire an Assistant Attorney General for her participation in a peaceful animal rights demonstration. (“Animal Activists Real Enemy”)
- He threatened to sue the Permanent Fund Dividend division because they denied a check to his son Brian, who had not lived in Alaska for 14 years.
- During a talk on domestic violence, he said that the women’s movement emasculated men and was the cause of domestic abuse.
- He promised to fight the federal law requiring rural subsistence, and opposes tribal sovereignty saying, “If the state wants to deal with tribes, it should treat them as it treats fraternal organizations rather than as governments.”
- He did not support Mayor Wuerch for re-election because Wuerch refused to help Ross’ friend get into the Anchorage Fire Department after the friend failed a required psychological test.
- He publicly stated that pro-choice people are “baby killers,” and called gays and lesbians “degenerates” in an open letter to the state Bar Association.
- He endorsed Rick Mystrom for mayor in 2003 “because he fights the unions.”
- He represented without fee, and personally supported, a man who twice poured buckets of water from a passing pickup onto anti-war demonstrators.
- He was a founder of Alaska Right to Life and has provided free legal services to anti-abortion activists since 1972.
- He blamed moderate Republicans for the state’s fiscal problems saying, “Moderates are mush.”
- He is a former vice president of the National Rifle Association and was in line to become president, but was voted out of office by his peers.
- He is frequently described as “arrogant,” uncompromising and attention-seeking.
Do we trust an arrogant political activist with mediocre professional ratings, zealous positions on sensitive state issues, and openly expressed prejudice against groups of Alaskan citizens to be “the state’s top law enforcement official and run such an important, politically sensitive department?”
Give your public testimony on Wednesday, April 8 at 5:30 p.m. The call in number is: 1-888-295-4546.
Palin’s AG pick called gays "degenerates"
Update: I posted this on Pam’s House Blend and the intro was picked up by the Huffington Post! They want to know what Alaskans think of Ross, so please join the conversations at HuffPo and the Blend – and be sure to tell your legislators what you think of WAR as our AG.
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Gov. Sarah Palin named Anchorage lawyer Wayne Anthony Ross as her new attorney general on Thursday. We did not expect her to pick a gay-friendly AG, however his blatant prejudice expressed in a public letter to the state Bar shows that he is a poor choice for our top attorney:
“During a fight several years ago over gay rights, [Allison] Mendel helped organize Anchorage lawyers in support of an anti-discrimination ordinance. Ross wrote a nasty letter to the Bar Association newsletter, using words like “immoral”, “perversion” and “degenerates.” The language went way beyond reasonable disagreement, Mendel and others said.” [Wayne Anthony Ross never a quiet force, Anchorage Daily News]
Other interesting facts about Wayne Anthony Ross:
- He was a founder of Alaska Right to Life and represented, without fee, anti-abortion protesters charged with trespassing. “I feel I have a good relationship with the good Lord (but) if I could overturn Roe vs. Wade, I figure I got my ticket,” he told a reporter.
- He was the defense lawyer for former Rep. Vic Kohring, who is now serving time in prison.
- He opposes Native subsistence rights and was the lead lawyer in the case that got Alaska’s subsistence law declared unconstitutional. When running for governor in 2002, he said he would hire a band of “junkyard dog” assistant AG’s to challenge the federal law that requires a subsistence preference, or seek changes through Congress.
- He wrote for the old Anchorage Times, then for the Voice of the Times in the ADN, with titles like “KKK ‘ Art’ Project Gets’ A’ For Courage” listed on the publications page of the Ross & Miner law offices.
- He represented Palin in her ethics case against state GOP chair Randy Ruedrich when both were on the Oil and Gas Commission, and became the co-chair of Palin’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign. He was hoping for an appointment to the Department of Health and Social Services so he could “stop the department from interfering with families when they should not be interfering and get them interfering with families when they should be interfering” but he was passed over.
- He defended a Soldotna man who twice poured buckets of water from a passing pickup onto peaceful demonstrators in the rain and snow. His client was convicted of harassment and violating constitutional rights.
- He was the co-chair of Alaskans for Phil Gramm. (Gramm is one of the people responsible for the current economic crisis, and as co-chair of John McCain’s presidential campaign he called us “a nation of whiners.”)
- He is a former vice president of the National Rifle Association and was in line to become president, but was voted out of office.
- He ran for governor in 1998 and 2002. (Think he’ll use the AG position as a stepping stone to the governor’s mansion?)
The state House and Senate Judiciary committees will hold confirmation hearings on his appointment.
Trying to Blame Us for the Church Fire
A suspicious fire on Dec. 12 at the Wasilla, Alaska church attended by Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin was instantly blamed on gay arsonists, though no evidence exists at this time that the fire, if deliberate, was set by gays.Nor is there any evidence that the church was targeted, as right-wing religious publications have speculated, because of its having promoted an “ex-gay” event in Anchorage.
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Just Say No to Mike Kelly
“Make no mistake, provision of benefits to homosexual pairs will be just the beginning. Bets are on that the next lawsuits will come from shacked-up heterosexuals and common-law marriage folks who will claim the Supremes have treated them shabbily when compared to homosexual pairs.”
1) Sarah Palin endorses him,
2) His campaign ads are just as offensive as he is,
3) he is part of the lawsuit to stop or delay the abuse-of-power investigation of the Palins,
4) homophobic gay basher doesn’t even come close to describing him,
5) he, along with Palin and other homophobes in the Lege, spent 1.2 million to hold that nasty, discriminatory advisory vote on whether or not the constitution should be amended to prohibit same-sex couples from receiving the same benefits as hetero couples (which thankfully failed),
6) he’s Pete Kelly’s brother,
7) During his tenure as CEO of GVEA, the Intertie was conceived and permitted – the latter occurring without a Best Interest Finding made by the State- thanks to legislation sponsored by his bro,
8) he makes little effort to hide his disdain for the “little people” (i.e. everyone else except his bizness cronies),
9) he holds everyone else to a different energy standard than himself (we should all turn off our lights and conserve fuel, while he flies all over in his private plane),
10) he has a low opinion of Natives (although I am sure he would righteously deny it), and indeed of anyone who is not white, Christian, conservative, and hetero,
11) he writes vituperative, mean opinion pieces as a state legislator,
12) he’s buds with the sewer mafia and Seekins – need we say more?
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