He's Back...

Jasper is resting quietly on the couch. I picked him up last evening and he will be boarding with me through the weekend. Joan is visiting friends in Sitka for the 4th of July holiday.

It's a drop-dead gorgeous morning and the forecast for the next week is quite encouraging. Lots of hiking and golfing are also in the forecast. YIPPEE! And of course parade watching tomorrow.

In fact, we will kick-off the fun in about two hours when I go pick-up Dougie to meet Eric and his hounds for a hike up the Montana Creek trail.

On a much less favorable note, this morning's Anchorage Daily News is carrying a story about the sacking of the Director of Public Health and resignation of my old department's Chief Medical Officer. http://www.adn.com/palin/story/852044.html

Apparently the director, Beverly Wooley, was given the heave-ho by Governor Palin for her failure to show sufficient enthusiasm for a parental consent for abortion bill sponsored by Fairbanks House Republican John Coghill.

I see the story has already been picked-up by The Oregonian and I suspect it will likely get a fair amount of national play.

Also, Alaska's Lt. Governor yesterday certified a petition to put a parental consent measure on next year's election ballot. The measure is being sponsored by former Lt. Governor Loren Leman and the Alaska Family Council among others. The Alaska Family Council is described by the Anchorage Daily News as a "Christian pro-family anti-abortion group" and is the local affiliate of the national Focus on the Family organization headed by Dr. James Dobson.

Governor Palin and Commissioner of Health and Social Services, Bill Hogan, declined to comment on the dismissal of the public health director citing the confidentiality of personnel matters and on the advice of the Department of Law.

Sigh...

As the legislative liaison for the Department of Health and Social Services for many years I am the veteran of many legislative battles over the abortion issue. And since I worked for both "pro-life" and "pro-choice" Administrations, I have had the pleasure of articulating various Governors' positions on both sides of all facets of the issue - including parental consent, late-term abortions, and public funding for abortions. It was never fun. But I always tried (more or less successfully, I believe) to shield the public health professionals from having to compromise their personal or professional integrity on these matters. Better to have a flak like me take the political heat...than to run the risk of compromising the integrity of the public health system which we ALL depend upon to protect us from the myriad of public health threats from influenza to HIV.

The public health system can function effectively ONLY when it is regarded as strictly science-based and non-political.

While tension between the Governor's Office and the Division of Public Health is nothing new, this is, to my knowledge, the first time a director has ever been sacked in mid-term for failure to toe the party line on the abortion issue... I don't like it one bit.