Today's New York Times has a front page article titled, "For Gov. Palin, A Rough Return To the Day Job":
Before Tina Fey and “Drill, baby, drill,” there was mud season here in the Alaskan capital. This soggy, socked-in spring has been no exception, but it sure has been different in other ways. For Gov. Sarah Palin, Republican meteor, getting back to governing has not been easy.Her job got a lot rougher today. Palin's nominee to be the next Attorney General, a real Neanderthal named Wayne Anthony Ross - his license plate is his initials, WAR, and he in the past defended a KKK statue and called gays "degenerates" - was just rejected by the full legislature today:
The Alaska Legislature today rejected Wayne Anthony Ross as attorney general.The House is controlled by Republicans. The Senate is controlled by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans. There are more Republicans in both bodies.
Meeting in joint session, lawmakers voted 23 for and 35 against confirming the Anchorage attorney, who was nominated by Gov. Sarah Palin to replace Talis Colberg, who resigned earlier this year.
Ross was quoted in that NY Times piece on Palin. You get a sense of what kind of guy he is:
The governor recently nominated Wayne Anthony Ross, a board member of the National Rifle Association, to be Alaska’s attorney general. Mr. Ross, who is expected to be confirmed, has told lawmakers that he opposes many federal efforts in Alaska like increasing protections for polar bears and beluga whales and limiting resource development. Years ago, he described gay men and lesbians as “degenerates.”The Legislature provided more than a mild critique to the Governor today. This was a body blow.
As a private lawyer, Mr. Ross said, he lived his initials. “My license plate says, ‘WAR,’ ” Mr. Ross said in an interview after a recent confirmation hearing. “And my wife’s license plate says, ‘MRS WAR.’"
Yet even Mr. Ross offered a mild critique of the governor. In the hearing, he said he had urged her “to open better communication between the Legislature and her office.” He said he thought Ms. Palin risked appearing that she had been cowed by critics — “treed by Chihuahuas,” as he put it — and that “she needs to smile more.”
UPDATE 6:11 PM: The Anchorage Daily News has added more to its initial "breaking news" story, to which I linked. This says a lot about Palin's relationship -- or lack there of -- with the legislature:
Among the Republicans who voted against Ross were House Speaker Mike Chenault of Nikiski and Senate President Gary Stevens of Kodiak.
