Four members of the Alaska Republican Party faced a leadership hearing to address complaints filed by fellow members Thursday.
A bulk of the time at Thursday's hearing was spent addressing a complaint filed against vice-chair elect Debbie Brown regarding the redistribution of funds from district 34, now defunct due to redistricting. After impassioned debate and comments from Brown and her husband Jack Brown, the treasurer of District 34, a motion was passed to postpone the hearing until the first of February.
Soon after the motion to postpone Brown's hearing was passed another motion to postpone hearing statements from two other members, Daniel Palmer and Daryl Lanzon.
The remainder of Thursday's hearing was spent addressing a complaint filed against incoming chair-elect Russ Millette by Republican Party Rules Chairman Frank McQueary. McQueary accused Millette of being "not that interested in actually working as the chair of the party."
Among the items McQueary mentioned in his filed complaint were a lack of fund-raising and campaigning for the Republican Party during the 2012 election. There were some at the hearing who suggested Millette may not be a supporter of the party.
Millette reacted harshly to the criticism, telling those present that he's never been been registered to vote as a political opponent to Republicans.
"I've been an independent or undeclared," Millette said. "I've never been a Democrat. I've never been in the Green Party. I've never been in (the) Reform Party. I've never been in the Libertarian Party. I wouldn't join any of those parties -- I'm a conservative Republican."
No resolution was reached by the hearing's deadline and the complaint against Millette was also postponed until Feb. 1, at which point both he and Brown will have officially begun their elected terms as chair and vice-chair respectively.
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