TIME'S UP ... Well, the shoe finally dropped. Sen. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage, has filed for divorce from former Anchorage Rep. Tom Anderson, currently doing five years in a federal prison in Oregon for political corruption. The case was filed Jan. 21 in Palmer Superior Court
Palmer? What's up with that? Doesn't everybody involved live in Anchorage? Do we not have two big courthouses here? Or did someone imagine no one would notice if they filed out in the boonies? Judge-shopping maybe? Whatever.
Wayne Anthony Ross is representing Tom, and Pam Sullivan has Lesil. It's a divorce, not a dissolution, so earwigs assume one of the parties doesn't want it to happen. Ear can't check, because Lesil asked that the case be closed and Tom agreed. Judge Eric Smith ordered it sealed on Wednesday.
Divorce is always a stressful thing, but word is Lesil, who is president of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region, a U.S.-Canada economic promotion group, will be part of a state-paid junket to the Olympics in Vancouver, where she can chill.
SPEAKING OF EX ... Bush 2 was in Anchorage Tuesday on a refueling stop from Asia and met with Mayor Sullivan out at the airport. The two sons of old Republican warhorses chatted about this and that for about half an hour. Sullivan spokeswoman Sarah Erkmann reports she got "a hug and smooch on the cheek" from the former president, and "almost swooned."
WHAT GOES AROUND ... Sometimes it really comes around with a vengeance, doesn't it. Now that Joe Griffith is no longer "interim" boss out at MEA, he's hired long-time family friend Cheryll Heinze on contract to do public relations (heaven knows, they need some).
Earwigs who hold grudges will remember that now-ex MEA officials, especially ex-MEA lobbyist Tuckerman Babcock, tried to get Cheryll charged with something five years ago for talking to MEA about a possible job when she was a legislator. Ear seems to remember a complaint to the FBI and someone wearing a wire on her. It all came to nothing, although she resigned her seat under the pressure. And now she has -- well, not Tuckerman's job exactly, but close enough to say viva la femme.
Doncha just love Alaska?
TWITS ... The reaction of earwigs who caught the Twitter battle Thursday afternoon between KTUU- Channel 2 and KTVA-Channel 11 over the interview with hospitalized APD Officer Jason Allen bounced between ridicule and disgust. Allen, shot and seriously injured in a drive-by, met the media for the first time in a standard pool camera-reporter deal. That means one reporter and one photog do the interview and share it with everyone. In other words, everybody got the same stuff.
The twitting started when Channel 2 apparently thought Channel 11 promos for their newscast suggested it had an exclusive and replied in kind. Both newscasts clearly wanted viewers to think it was "their" interview.
Ear has two questions: Who cares? And, when it gets used this way, is it called anti-social media?
KUDOS ... Paul Olson, who has been laboring as a judge temp longer than some real judges have been on the bench, has been appointed to an Anchorage District Court seat by Gov. Parnell. It's about time. Paul may hold the record for most recommendations from the Judicial Council for an appointment before actually getting the job. Ear always figured they liked having him work without paying all the benefits, etc.
Parnell also named long-time Palmer Magistrate David Zwink to a District Court seat there.
TO PROTECT AND SERVE ... From the ever-popular Unalaska/Dutch Harbor police blotter:
• Mon 1823 -- A taxi driver complained because another driver passed her as she moved leisurely along the roadway.
• Mon 2122 -- A man called to complain that his prospective employer was requiring him to sign an employment contract, which he did not wish to do. While the man was talking to an officer, he was fired from his job.
Compiled by Sheila Toomey. Find Ear online at and.com/ear. Contact Sheila at 257-4341 or ear@adn.com.