Hitting the hanging curve ball

March 11, 2010: My blog posting on Tuesday, regarding the hiring of a well known outside slash and burn political consultant by the Parnell for Governor campaign prompted a response that was - to put in spring training terms - a slow hanging curve ball.

Time to swing.

On Wednesday, Parnell's campaign manager Michelle Toohey sent an email to Alaska's mining executives denying any relationship between their hired consultant Jon Lerner and a group called Americans for Job Security. 

"Jon Lerner has never done any work for Americans for Job Security.  He has no association with them whatsoever. He has never spoken to them. AJS was even asked about it and they said they have never had any relationship with him," Toohey wrote in an email. (emphasis and bold mine)

First let me point out the obvious; that's a whole lot of "never" in one paragraph. Three times in four sentences raises the spectre of protesting too much.

Second and more importantly, the fact that AJS would not acknowledge any relationship with Mr. Lerner should surprise no one, including the Parnell campaign.

AJS along with Parnell's consultant Jon Lerner and his close association with the Club for Growth (who dumped tens of thousands into Parnell's 2008 congressional campaign) are nothing more than a collection of Washington political insiders for whom covering their tracks is a matter of business as usual.

Back in 2008, when AJS was attempting to destroy the mining industry they denied in the media any connection to the Bob Gillam-funded anti-mining campaign, instead saying they were speaking up for Alaskans and Alaska business owners. 

Later, after an extensive APOC investigation, AJS was caught red handed as the money launderer for the illegal millions that was being funneled into the campaign to support Ballot Measure 4, the mis-named clean water initiative. 

Ironically, the fact that Parnell's campaign would lean on a proven liar such as AJS to offer a defense of Lerner is exactly why I wrote the blog to begin with.

The blog wasn't questioning Parnell's commitment to the mining industry, it was questioning his judgement.