It appears that the old guard power mongers of the Alaska GOP will stop at nothing to maintain control of the organization. In a move to disregard the results of the 2012 convention, Chairman Ruedrich ally, Frank McQueary, has filed internal charges against Russ Millette, the legitimately elected party chair, and other Republican Party officials.

The charges, (you can see them in their entirety HERE) consist mainly of inflammatory rhetoric, distortions, and baseless allegations. In fact, no actual party rules are cited in the allegations.

The one allegation against Mr. Millette that may have a shred of validity is his failure to raise money for the party. However, this is easily mitigated by the fact that with men like Ruedrich, Clary, and McQueary controlling the money, there is serious concern for how any money deposited in party coffers will be used. In fact, since Ruedrich became chairman, the ARP has ceased conducting annual audits required by party rules.

Another accusation is that Mr. Millette only recently registered as a Republican. This is a distortion of the truth. In fact, Mr. Millette campaigned for Barry Goldwater in 1964. If that isn’t indicative of a life-long Republican, I don’t know what is. Many life-long Republicans have unregistered at points in their life due to the dissatisfaction that they have felt with party leadership. With behavior like the current efforts against Millette, who can blame them.

Moreover, the point of registration is moot as the ARP rules only require that a person be a registered Republican to hold office, they do not specify a requirement of ANY prior registration.



Allegations against others in McQueary’s complaint include being tied to Occupy Wall Street (OWS). This is a fabricated and irrelevant accusation designed to use emotion and detract from legitimate points.

Further, it is interesting that Mr. McQueary is the one bringing up these allegations. Mr. McQueary himself has a long history of violating and disregarding party rules. In 2010, he while chair of the rules committee, he opposed the Republican nominee, Joe Miller, and actively supported independent candidate Lisa Murkowski. A search of FEC records reveals that he donated funds to Murkowski, post-primary.

Mr. McQueary has also consistently abused his position to defend Ruedrich in prior attempts to remove Ruedrich from his post. Mr. McQueary failed to properly address a legitimate complaint filed with him in regards to the College Republicans being wrongly disenfranchised from representation on the SCC, in direct violation of the rules. Mr. McQueary further failed in to perform his duties by refusing to address charges filed against Mr. Ruedrich, charges that actually had merit under the rules.

Mr. McQueary’s obvious lack of integrity calls into question all charges brought by him. He is obviously acting as a crony to Mr. Ruedrich, and not in the best interests of Alaska Republicans.

This witch-hunt is clearly just an attempt by the Machiavellian Alaska GOP establishment to subvert the will of the 2012 convention delegates. In fact, nearly 70% of the convention delegates voted against Ruedrich’s pick, Bruce Shulte, voting for either Russ Millette, or fellow reform candidate, Judy Eledge. And I thought that Republic-an Party arose from the words Constitutional Republic, not Banana Republic.

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Sean Godfrey is the Assistant Director of Communications for the National Right to Work Committee and was a delegate to Alaska’s 2012 Republican State Convention.