Palin vs. Ramras: The Thrilla from Wasilla vs. The Jerk from Fairbanks

Pee Wee Ramras

Fairbanks Republican Rep. Jay Ramas is in a smackdown with the 'Cuda. The ADN reports:

It started with a Ramras press release in which he complained of a lack of state help in getting food out to the village of Emmonak.

"We have Alaskans in a rural area in need of our assistance and have been able to amass needed food but have no way to deliver it to communities," Ramras said. "I am saddened that Governor Palin has created a vacuum of leadership by not making state transportation assets available. Many of the cash donations raised will be needed for transportation instead of being used to purchase necessities for these communities. That is a shame."

Palin fired back with her own press release, saying the state has flown food to the village of Kotlik and "plans on providing additional transportation of bulk foods in the future."

"We are working cooperatively with the communities, many legislators, Native corporations, and other entities to address the needs in these areas," Palin said. "I am disappointed that Representative Ramras failed to express his concerns to my office before issuing a press release with incomplete and misleading information. This is particularly concerning since he knew I would be attending a meeting with his entire caucus that evening. Representative Ramras did not mention the specific issue of using state assets to me personally at the meeting. Instead, I read about it later in the press release. Truly Alaskans deserve better than that kind of 'politics as usual'. It is unfortunate that the representative sees this as an opportunity to play politics rather than help in the response."

Ramras quickly issued a rejoinder, saying he was "shocked and appalled."

Ramras is now trying to get a bill passed that would allow the state to offer "compassionate aid" without declaring an emergency. It's not clear how much this bill will help. It seems that it's essentially aimed at providing state airplanes for food distribution. State planes are already available and are being used, but Ramras feels there is too much "red tape."

Palin's administration is reviewing the bill, and they sound open to supporting it if they feel it has merit.

However, Ramras' manner of proceeding with this bill is pure political theater. Instead of working with the governor, he is deliberately trying to pit himself against her in order to make her look bad.

That's why he didn't speak with her directly about his concerns even though he had the chance. That's why he didn't discuss this with her before issuing a press release, and that's why he made this snide jab at her:

I bet they had a whole lot better dinner at the Alfalfa Club than what they're eating tonight in Emmonak and Kotlik.

Nice, isn't it? Political posturing at it's finest. And when Palin called him out on it, he pretended to be "shocked and appalled."

Who is this "shocked and appalled" Ramras character?

He chairs the House Judiciary Committee and recently grilled Attorney General Talis Colberg over his challenge of the legislative subpoenas in the Troopergate investigation.

And I'm sure he is one of the major voices behind today's worthless bit of grandstanding.

Ramras seems to have first crossed swords with Palin over her plan for taxing oil producers. Her plan is known as ACES, which stands for Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share.

The old tax system, known as the Petroleum Profits Tax or PPT, was devised by the Murkowski administration and was seriously flawed. As James Lucier pointed out in the Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Murkowski's plan turned into a disaster. It depended much on trust, but it lacked the transparency and predictability needed to win public confidence. One year after it went into effect, the Petroleum Profits Tax brought in far less revenue than expected and the state suffered a revenue crunch.

Somehow, the legislature had never properly defined accounting procedures and permissible deductions -- and the deductions came in much higher than expected. Meanwhile, as the shortfall appeared, a number of state legislators were on trial, under indictment, or under investigation for bribery by the FBI. These included some who should have done due diligence for the taxpayer on the proposal they enacted.

Palin's ACES is a brilliant piece of legislation, and it's the reason why Alaska now has a $7 billion nest egg to fall back on in this recession. And it will be the reason why oil producers won't be over-taxed during this recession because, as Lucier noted:

[Palin's plan] ensures the state does well in boom times...when oil prices are high. But it also hedges against low prices in the future by ensuring that oil companies exposed to commodity price swings don't face a crushing tax burden when commodity prices fall. Her plan includes an escalator clause that gives the state a larger share of revenues when oil prices rise. This is common to production-sharing agreements all over the world.

Ramras didn't support ACES. In fact, he ridiculously accused Palin of McCarthyism for pointing out -- however obliquely -- that there was a taint of corruption around the old Murkowski PPT tax scheme because six legislators were indicted for taking bribes from VECO, an oil services company, in exchange for voting in favor of PPT, which benefited the oil producers and shortchanged Alaskans.

KTUU reported on this:

Palin said she has never intended to imply that all legislators are suspect for corruption.

"No, overall, though, the legislature, there should be no paranoia there, in terms of anybody believing that they're targeted, because they're not," Palin said.

Rep. Les Gara said there were enough bad actors in the legislature last year to make revisiting PPT imperative.

"I understand Rep. Ramras' concern that people would think that he's tainted. The point really is that he had six votes in the Legislature of lawmakers who were bribed, who joined his side on the PPT debate," said Gara, D-Anchorage.

Ramras said he has done no wrong, but acknowledges that at least one of his colleagues did, and that's making things difficult for Ramras' political position now.

He seems to cry McCarthyism a lot. He first used the term when the FBI wanted to interview him in 2006.

To be fair, Ramras does not appear to be crooked himself. He just voted the same way as the crooks. But that's not a crime.

Though some in his state are suspicious of his ethics, he seems to have tried to keep himself clean. In 2007, the state's ethics committee issued an opinion that he had violated ethics rules when he introduced a bill in which he had a financial interest. After the ruling, Ramras withdrew the bill. It should be noted, however, that he had requested the ethics committee investigation on himself in order to make sure that his actions were above board.

No, I don't think he's a crook. I think he's simply a jerk.

I know that may sound flip. But read this little excerpt from an Alaska Ear column from March 2008, and you tell me if you don't think this guy is a scummy jerk with a misogynist streak:

Looks like Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, has lost that $50 bet that he wouldn't say anything stupid this session. At least according to an exchange between Ramras and KTUU political reporter Bill McAllister after Sarah's impromptu visit last week to the Legislature.

A version of the exchange is speeding around the state on e-mail. It's supposedly from McAllister's blog, but Ear can't find it there now. This copy comes from the Fairbanks News-Miner Web site and has Ramras dissing the governor's visit as "theater."

"I then suggested that if such is the feeling among the majority, the House is headed toward "a V bomb," McAllister wrote.

"Ramras asked, 'What's a V bomb? Vagina?'

"I said, "Look where your mind is. It's 'vetoes.' "

"Ramras said, 'I'm positive. Vetoes are negative. Vagina is positive and beautiful.'"

A touch of misogyny, you think?

He represents one corner of the good ole boys network in Alaska. And he has fought Gov. Palin's efforts to clean up the Alaska GOP every step of the way. Last spring, Palin started a battle at the state's GOP convention by openly endorsing her lt. governor Sean Parnell over Alaska's life-long Congressman Don Young.

Sean Parnell's announcement followed the governor's speech in which she called for changes atop the party, stopping short of mentioning her nemesis, state GOP Chairman Randy Ruedrich.

"I think we need to call on all of you assembled delegates to rise and, literally even, stand with me if you desire change in our party's leadership," Palin said, and about half of the crowd in the ballroom did, to sustained applause and cheering.

Half the crowd was with Palin, the other half was with the old crooks. Ruedrich, you may recall, is the crook who Palin blew the whistle on while they were both members of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Ruedrich was forced to resign from the commission and pay the largest ethics fine in the state's history. He's still the chair of the Alaska GOP. And you wonder why so many "conservatives" up there hate her?

So which side was Ramras on in this fight? Naturally, he sided with the corrupt good ole boys:

State Rep. Jay Ramras, of Fairbanks, said any effort to force Ruedrich out will create more division.

"I think it's incredibly divisive, distracting and demoralizing because it ignores the process of election cycles. It shows a base level of immaturity; it's not the hallmark of a healthy debate," Ramras said.

"It's not divisive and you're not starting trouble when you're doing something right," countered Nick Stepovich, a Fairbanks delegate. "That's all that's happening here. Let's get the right thing done, get the right leadership."

During the election, Ramras could barely bring himself to say anything nice about Palin. His first reaction to the news of her vp candidacy was to make a statement implying that she's Alaska's answer to Madame Mao:

"It's dangerous up here to do any truth telling -- we all want to have a future and she's going to control the state for the next four years whether she's vice president or governor or senator or turning the wheels from home in Wasilla. I mean she's a powerful woman," Jay Ramras, a Republican state representative from Fairbanks, said in an interview earlier this week.

A few days later, the ADN noted that Ramras had "veered away from any criticism." And this is what he considered non-critical comments:

"Everything that's flitting through my mind right now is better left where it is," Ramras said, in answer to a question about Palin as vice-presidential candidate. He said it's time to rally around the governor, whom he called "the American Idol of politics."

See what I mean? Misogynist jerk.

H/T to Mel, the Oracle, for research