Alaska Politics Blog : (UPDATED) And now...SarahPAC

Alaska Politics Blog

This is the place to talk about Alaska politics, state, local, national. Public life in the Last Frontier has rarely been more interesting -- a full slate of federal and state elections, the influence of former Gov. Sarah Palin, the usual hardball Alaska politics. Come here for news, tidbits and information, and join the discussion. We encourage lively debate, but please keep it civil and stay on point. Don't use profanity, make crude comments or attack other posters. Posts that violate the Terms of Use will be deleted. Repeat offenders will lose their ability to post comments.

Contributors

Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He's worked for the ADN in Anchorage and Juneau, covered the legislature for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and covered Washington state politics for the Tacoma News Tribune. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers rural affairs, general assignments and politics for the ADN. He covered the 2006 campaign for governor, has blogged extensively about Alaska politics, covered Anchorage city government and was a reporter based in the Mat-Su. He grew up in Southeast Alaska and previously wrote for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com and also find him on our rural Alaska blog, The Village.

David Hulen

David Hulen, the ADN's state and local news editor, is responsible for political coverage. He has been an editor and reporter at the ADN for more than 20 years. E-mail David at dhulen@adn.com

Features

SECTION

Alaska political corruption

When the FBI raided state legislature offices in Aug. 2006, it publicly launched an investigation that ultimately reached the highest levels of Alaska politics, and continues to this day.

(UPDATED) And now...SarahPAC

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Anchorage Daily News

Posted: January 27, 2009 - 7:14 am

Also see the story Palin opens political action committee

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

The report by the New York Post’s gossip column is true: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has formed her own political action committee to support like-minded aspiring politicians.

The PAC has a website, sarahpac.com, which says that the goal of the committee is to "make it possible for Gov. Palin to continue to be a strong voice for energy independence and reform. … SarahPac will support local and national candidates who share Gov. Palin's ideas and goals for our country."

The political action committee registered with the Federal Election Commission Monday night.

These PACs are pretty common -- Rep. Don Young has one and former Sen. Ted Stevens had one. They’re a way for elected officials to funnel money to other candidates they want to support, often from donors who have already maxed out on the amount of money they can give to the candidates.

Palin’s PAC joins that of many former vice presidential and presidential contenders with higher aspirations, like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had HillPAC. Gen. Wesley Clark, himself a former presidential candidate, has WesPAC. And then there's one that might be in competition with Palin in 2012: HuckPAC.