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Dear Alaska Eagles and Friends:

February 5th will be Super Tuesday in Alaska. Registered Republicans, and those willing to register Republican, will be allowed to pledge their vote for their favorite candidate or vote unpledged (undecided). What this will do is determine how many votes each candidate gets at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN September 1-4.

Polling places will be set up around the state of Alaska on February 5th and the voting will be from 5-7 pm. To find out where the nearest polling place is to you, log on to www.alaskarepublicans.com or call party headquarters at 276-4467. In addition to the presidential preference poll, districts will be holding their district conventions. To get the specifics of YOUR district convention go to www.alaskarepublicans.com and scroll down to your district number. It should tell you a date, location, time and delegate fee if there is one. Attend you district convention and let the person in charge, either the District Chair or District Secretary, know you want to be a delegate to state convention and to national if possible. They may ask you to pay your state delegate fee at that point, it is $225.

One reason that many good people don’t get involved in the party nomination process and conventions is that they have never done so before and feel they would be in over their heads. At every convention fully half of the delegates (or more) are participating for the first time. You would not be the only first timer. Being a convention delegate at the district or state, or even national level, is not as complicated as you might guess. This year more than ever the final outcome of the presidential nomination process is in flux.

I know some of you have decided to distance yourselves from the party because of the scandals caused by some legislators and some of the party leadership. I must point out that leaving the party will not fix what is wrong. No, if you believe the Alaska Republican Party needs to be purged of corruption and scandal, and you believe in our conservative party platform, you need to attend your district convention and volunteer to be a delegate at the state convention. This will accomplish several things:

1. By attending your district convention/presidential preference poll, you will have a voice in deciding how many votes each candidate receives at the Republican National Convention Sept. 1-4. Delegates from Alaska will be apportioned according to the percentage of votes their candidate received February 5. For instance, if Giuliani receives 50% of the votes on February 5, then half of the delegates to national convention will have to be pledged to vote for Giuliani. Voters will also have the option of voting “unpledged.” If 50% of the votes are unpledged, then half of the Alaska delegates to the National Convention will also be unpledged and able to vote for any candidate they choose at the national convention. Voters will be able to choose from the seven candidates who have paid their fee and registered to be candidates in Alaska. Presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul, Fred Thompson, and Duncan Hunter have qualified for the Alaska ballot by collecting petition signatures and submitting a filing fee.

2. If you attend your district convention on February 5 you will be eligible to vote for your district chair and other district party officers. The district chair represents your voting district on the Alaska Republican Party State Central Committee (SCC). In districts where the elected Representative is also a Republican, the district also elects a “Bonus Vote” to sit on the SCC. These officers are very important; they conduct party business at the district level and represent their districts at the state level. They are also involved in promoting candidates for the legislature and putting together a list of names for the Governor to choose from when there are vacancies in the legislature.

3. Last but not least, you will be eligible to attend the Alaska Republican State Convention held in Anchorage March 13-15 at the Captain Cook Hotel. Delegates will vote for National Committeeman and National Committeewoman and conduct other party business including updating party rules and platform. Currently the party platform is pro-family, pro-life and a document conservatives can be proud of. That can change if good conservatives fail to show up at the state convention.
   

Working for the family,

Debbie Joslin
http://alaskarepublicans.com/index.php