John McCain’s campaign has sent out a press release that includes a copy of Sarah Palin’s voter registration in early 1982, shortly after she turned 18 on February 11, 1982. She registered “Republican.” However, the Alaskan Independence Party was not a qualified party at that time, and it was not listed as a choice on voter registration records. It won a lawsuit on March 4, 1983, called Vogler v Miller. The decision, from the Alaska Supreme Court, struck down the old Alaska definition of “political party” (a group that had polled 10% for Governor). The state then recognized the Alaskan Independence Party and began letting voters register into it.
It is not known if Palin later changed her registration from “Republican” to “Alaskan Independence”. Old-time leaders of the Alaskan Independence Party say she was a member before 1996.
Wouldn’t Alaska keep records on this sort of thing? Someone’s changing party affiliation?
Interesting. So she was a Republican, then sometime later on — possibly in the 1980s — she switched to the AK IP and then became a Republican again when she ran for mayor and gov?
They might.
But I’d guess they wouldn’t release that info without permission of the person.
The thing about bringing out her 1982 voter registration is that she spent fall 1982 in Hawaii, and then a few years in college in Idaho. So basically she’s not likely to be voting in Alaska during this time.
The Buchanan ties seem to suggest some flirting between the Palins and another populist-right party (The AK-IP). But we’ll see if anything exists on paper there.
ETJB ,
My guess is she became a member of the AIP in the 90s when Walter Hickel was governor on the AIP ticket. Many Alaskan Republicans were dissatisfied at the time with the Repu8blican candidate.
Fun note: Jerry Ward, who was mentioned in the 1999 article on Buchanan’s stops in Alaska.. was the guy who stepped aside to let Hickel run with the AK-IP in 1990.
The Buchanan stuff would have more potential. If Buchanan had been relevant in the last decade (sorry 2000 Brigaders, but let’s face it). Didn’t McCain strongly oppose Buchanan being in the GOP back in 1999?
Oh, my bad.. Ward was the running-mate for Lindauer on the original AK-IP 1990 ticket.
Apparently, the McCain campaign has documented her being a registered Republican since 1982. She attended the AIP convention in 1994, while she was mayor of Wasilia, where the convention took place that year. The McCain campaign denies she was ever a member of the AIP, although Bob Bird told IPR that she was at least quite friendly with the party.
Ignoring for the moment the question of why we should even care, there is a very simple answer possible….
DEFINE “MEMBER”!
1. A person who has registered with the government as a legal voter in a particular organization…
2. A person who has paid money or other consideration to be considered part of a particular organization…
Unless a particular group has special rules, there is NO connection between definitions one and two… There is also no restriction of a person having multiple instances of definition two at the same time…
Example Ron Paul is a currently a member of the Republican Party (Definition One, definitely, I assume definition two as well, but have never asked…)
Last I heard, Ron Paul is a current member of the Libertarian Party (Definition two)
I can correctly and accurately describe Ron Paul as a “member” of either party…
Currently not all the members of the LPMA State Committee are “registered” Libertarians according to the voting rolls, but all are “members” of the LPMA under our current constitution and bylaws…
I would think the same might well apply to Palin if she were at some point Registered as a Republican (Definition one) but had given money to the AIP, qualifying under definition two…
No idea if it is the case or not, but it explains the conflicting stories w/ no problem at all…
ART
Comment #7: “Paul is a currently a member of the Republican Party (Definition One, definitely…”
Texas is one of the 21 states that does not register voters by party.
Justice Lewis Powell once wrote, “The act of voting in the Democratic primary fairly can be described as an act of affiliation with the Democratic Party.” Under this definition, Ron Paul has affiliated with the Republican Party.
Gov. Palin is a lifelong Republican. The confusion may come from the fact that she has apparently attended some AIP meetings.
Texas effectively has party registration. It doesn’t have permanent party registration – but neither does any other state.
#10: What do you mean: “Texas effectively has party registration”??