AKmuckraker who writes the Mudflats blog has had her identity exposed by Alaska legislator Mike Doogan. It’s taken me a couple days to digest all of this but after learning more about Mike Doogan I feel compelled to add my “anonymous” two cents.
Mike Doogan is a member of the Alaska Democratic Party. AKmuckraker is a member of the Alaska Democratic Party. Democrats are in the minority in Alaska but their numbers are growing.
Doogan, however, seems to be far more invested in doing the work of the Alaska Republicans than he does in representing Alaskans and has demonstrated an open hostility to a number of his fellow Alaska Democrats.
In an email response to constituents who had written him about Troopergate, Doogan wrote:
Sorry this response took so long, but I wanted to make sure that all of your often-identical emails had reached me, and to do a little research on a couple of points you made.
First, let me thank you for writing. Citizen participation is important to this process, and I’m glad you took the time to make your views known.
Second, there is not much that can be done to satisfy your requests or demands or whatever they are. More on that in a moment.
It continues with laying out all the reasons why Doogan and the Alaska Legislature are powerless to do anything about the many problems revealed as a result of Troopergate. Unfortunately, Mike Doogan is not familiar with all internet traditions and sent his response to everyone as a group so that anyone who received it was provided with the email address of every other person to whom Doogan was responding.
What was Doogan’s response to people complaining about his carelessness?
Are you people nuts? You send me — and everybody else in the legislature, from the looks of things — Spam and then lecture me on email etiquette — as if there were such a thing? Here’s an etiquette suggestion: Abandon your phony names, do your own thinking and don’t expect everybody to share your obsessions.
And it’s not just on the issue of Troopergate that Doogan thinks the citizens of Alaska are pests. This is how he describes the debate over a bill to make the Alaska Malamute the official state dog.
This is pitting the supporters of that genetically altered freak, the modern sled dog, against a bunch of second graders who favor the Malemute. So far, the second graders are winning.
Mike Doogan clearly has issues which include an inflated sense of his own importance. In the same March 27, 2009 newsletter in which he “outs” AKmuckraker, Doogan describes himself as a “powerful” legislator, a sentiment at odds with the opinion of his fellow legislators.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Poe tells us:
Late last year I had been discussing with a friend how angry and cynical Mike had become. Other Legislators had shared with me that he wasn’t taking on any of the real leadership in the minority or other heavy-lifting tasks that could easily have been available to him.
Could it be that he is finding the work of an Alaska legislator to be more difficult than he thought? Is he suffering from a disappointed expectation of a position of leadership in the legislature, given his years as a “highly-touted” Alaska journalist?
Perhaps he has residual anger from coming in seventh — after “other” — in a poll done by Progressive Alaska asking who Alaskans would like to see replace Don Young as Alaska’s US House Representative in 2010.
I don’t know what unhinged Mike Doogan but it clearly did not begin when he first became aware of the existence of Mudflats.
I have been reading Mudflats since August 29, 2008, the day that Sarah Palin was inflicted on the national political scene. The blog is being described by some as “anti-Palin.” The very phrasing implies that AKmuckraker has a personal vendetta against Palin. That is most certainly not the case. AKmuckraker is quite simply an Alaskan citizen who is justifiably concerned with the way Sarah Palin and the rest of Alaska’s politicians are governing their state.
As a result of Palin’s nomination back in August, Mudflats suddenly became a place to go for people in “the lower 48” to find out who this Palin person was. And go they did. The blog went from obscurity to being read worldwide in a matter of days. After the election, people continue to read Mudflats because it provides information and analysis which one does not find elsewhere.
Akmuckraker writes about all aspects of Alaska politics and life. Her interest is in building a better Alaska for all. Mudflats does not revolve around Palin. Or Doogan. In fact, the first post I can find on Mudflats that even mentions Doogan, AKmuckraker agrees with Doogan.
Does AKmuckraker take delight in exposing the fraud and hypocrisy practiced by politicians? No. Does she use humor when describing their actions and statements? You betcha.
Mike Doogan is uncomfortable with citizens asking questions. In a crude attempt to discredit AKmuckraker after she wrote about his response to citizens in the aftermath of Troopergate, he has worked very hard to put her in a situation which will harm her ability to freely express her opinion. In violation of state and federal law. And by so doing, Mike Doogan has created a situation which puts her and her family at risk.
Let’s hope that no actual harm befalls them.
Mike Doogan is currently serving his first second term as an Alaska legislator. [ED.: A kind citizen of Alaska corrects me on this point.] It’s pretty obvious that it should also be his last.
Politicians who use their office to pursue personal vendettas against private citizens expressing their opinions is wrong, no matter what state you live in. As a Democrat, I call on my fellow Democrats in Alaska to consider whether Doogan represents the values of our party and whether his membership should be terminated.
AKmuckraker has not said yet what she intends to do. Clearly this bell cannot be unrung. But I think we can be pretty sure that Mudflats will continue reporting and commenting on Alaska politics, whether Mike Doogan and Sarah Palin, or anyone else, likes it or not. To do otherwise would be to allow the bullies to win.
dunno which I like better, your words rapping doogan’s knuckles or the historic pictures.
I only ended up here because my long-standing alert for “All Alaska Sweepstakes” was triggered by your photo caption, but once here, I appreciated what I read, and agreed with your analysis, and I’ve bookmarked your blog so I don’t miss any more of your good writing.
Actually, Doogan is in his second term, which just started (2009-2010). But agreed — it should prob. be his last. I just missed having him as my representative when I moved just before his first term began. Not a great loss.
oh, thanks! i’ll correct that.