Dennis Zaki Blog - AlaskaReport

I can’t believe it. I expected to be blown off. Yesterday I got a notice from the Committee on Arrangements for the 2008 Republican National Convention.

Dear Media Credential Applicant:

Thank you for your interest in covering the 2008 Republican National Convention and applying for Special Press Credentials.

This letter is to inform you that Alaska Report has been approved to receive one (1) Special Press Credential for the purpose of covering the convention.

On June 19th the Democrats credentialed me to their Convention.

PS I’m the only news guy from Alaska going to either convention. How bout them apples. I’ll get to see George and Dick up close and personal. If I go missing, send help to Guantanamo!

And so the Vic Kohring saga ends

I went out to the side of the road near the Eklutna exit along the Glenn Highway early this morning to see Vic Kohring off in a bizzare fashion. Kohring spent three hours waving goodbye to Alaskans from alongside the highway that he used to campaign from. As Vic waved to the morning commuters on a cool and blustery day, a lot of people honked, quite a few gave him the one finger salute, and one taunted him for over an hour via bullhorn with “Go to jail!” and “F*** you Vic!”

After surrendering himself to federal marshals around 10 am, Vic is now a federal prisoner locked up in a dingy cell in Anchorage. He’s now awaiting a trip down south for three and half long years at Taft prison in California.

Kohring was convicted in November of bribery, conspiracy and attempted extortion for his involvement with Bill Allen, the former owner of an oil services company that bribed several Alaska lawmakers including Senator Ted Stevens and his son. Kohring will have to serve at least three years of his sentence with good behaviour before he could be considered for early release.

Vic has delusions that he’ll be exonerated by an appeals court. No chance on that. They got him, it’s over. “I’m feeling confident,” Kohring claimed, “My legal prospects are very good.” No he wasn’t, and no they are not.

Vic was talking confident, but you could hear the doubt in his voice. I’ve interviewed Vic around 6 times in the past year, this was the first time he seemed beaten. I think he finally gets it.

Tidbit: Vic’s “Thanks Alaska” sign was made with an old campaign sign from Lyda Green. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!

KTUU’s Bill McAllister rips convicted criminal Victor Kohring in his latest blog post.

Kohring says reporters are “bloodthirsty jackals” who “savaged me throughout my years in the Legislature.”

“They obviously picked up the pace when my office was raided by five armed FBI agents in 2006 and did their best to try and convict me before my trial even began, regardless of the truth.”

Well, now. Talking about venomous attitudes, Kohring issued a news release in 2002 in which he described state government employees uniformly — not by job classification, by agency or by any other sub-set, but uniformly — as “parasites Josef Stalin would be proud of.”

…As Kohring plays out his final act — with food stamps, a public defender and perhaps other government hand-outs — it’s all about him, and none of it is his fault.

A tip came in from a trusted reader this morning that Victor Kohring’s divorce is going down because Vic “fell in love” with his step daughter, Valentina.

Looks like the Republicans are taking “Family Values” literally. PS She’s 28 years old.

Chimpy and the flag.

The Republicans are losing candidates non-stop due to scandal, arrests, and Bush worship. Voters are finally waking up to the fact that the Republican message is flawed.

Paul Kane at the Washington Post explains:

Democratic leaders have stopped tamping down expectations and instead have set a new goal for the November elections of establishing a long-lasting majority that could dominate the chamber.

Independent analysts agree that a loss Tuesday would leave Republicans with no excuses. They blamed poor candidates in races in Louisiana and Illinois, where the GOP lost a special election for the seat long held by former House speaker J. Dennis Hastert.

“When you connect three dots in anything, that’s a bad thing. This connects the dots. At that point, everybody’s got to come together and have a come-to-Jesus meeting” said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.)

“The Republicans would be ignoring reality if they try to explain away this race,” said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the Rothenberg Political Report.

UPDATED - Found this story on Politico about the impending massacre:

In case you’ve been too consumed by the Democratic race to notice, Republicans are getting crushed in historic ways both at the polls and in the polls.

At the polls, it has been a massacre. In recent weeks, Republicans have lost a Louisiana House seat they had held for more than two decades and an Illinois House seat they had held for more than three. Internal polls show that next week they could lose a Mississippi House seat that they have held for 13 years.

In the polls, they are setting records (and not the good kind). The most recent Gallup Poll has 67 percent of voters disapproving of President Bush; those numbers are worse than Richard Nixon’s on the eve of his resignation. A CBS News poll taken at the end of April found only 33 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the GOP — the lowest since CBS started asking the question more than two decades ago. By comparison, 52 percent of the public has a favorable view of the Democratic Party.

I know this is hard to believe, but this is a sex story about Republicans NOT involving a young boy.

Mr. “Family Values” Vito Fossella shreds his phony image.

WASHINGTON - Embattled and embarrassed by the confession he fathered a child from an extramarital affair, New York Rep. Vito Fossella is facing public calls for his resignation. Secluded with his family, he must decide if he wants to keep his job badly enough to grapple with the lingering questions and fallout from the scandal.

In admitting the affair and a secret child Thursday, the Republican lawmaker indicated he planned to stay in Congress for months to come…

Fossella’s personal life came apart at the seams after police stopped him for running a red light last week and charged him with drunken-driving. The arrest fueled scrutiny which led to revelations of an affair with a former Air Force officer, and a 3-year-old daughter with her.

More from the AP

Sorry about the delay but the Wi-Fi wasn’t working in the courthouse. Here’s a couple of quick hits.

Kohring had to hitchhike to court today. A friend loaned him a beater and it died near his home. Vic put out his thumb and a local Wasillian gave him a lift. Classic!

Quick quotes. Vic’s lawyer said “He’s Andy Griffith, he really is”

Prosecutor Joseph Bottini replied “I don’t remember any episode of that show where Andy Griffith took cash from anybody.”

Vic Kohring “I was a little naive, I’ll admit that.”

I forgot to ask Vic about his hair.

As Phillip Munger writes in a blog posting, The Conference to Nowhere….? you can’t make this stuff up. Alaska’s taxpayers are funding a study to debunk global warming and its affects on polar bears. I posted a story on AlaskaReport also.