Gov. Sarah Palin’s husband, Todd Palin, was a registered member of the Alaskan Independence Party for 7 years from 1995 to 2002. The party was officially recognized in 1984. The Alaskan Independence Party was formed with the ultimate goal of seceding from the U.S. Its current short-term goal is winning a vote on whether to secede from the United States.

LA Times reported:

But back home, she has cheered the work of a tiny party that long has pushed for a statewide vote on whether Alaska should secede from those same United States. And her husband, Todd, was a member of the party for seven years.

“Keep up the good work,” Sarah Palin told members of the Alaskan Independence Party in a videotaped speech to their convention six months ago in Fairbanks. She wished the party luck on what she called its “inspiring convention.”

The AIP initially claimed Palin was also a member in the past, but has since said she was not. The Associated Press reported: “Voter registration records show Sarah Palin registered in May 1982 as a member of the Republican Party and has not changed her affiliation.”

From the Web site of the Alaskan Independence Party:

The Alaskan Independence Party can be summed up in just two words:

ALASKA FIRST!

Until we as Alaskans receive our Ultimate Goal, the AIP will continue to strive to make Alaska a better place to live with less government interference in our everyday lives.

The Alaskan Independence Party’s goal is the vote we were entitled to in 1958, one choice from among the following four alternatives:

1. Remain a Territory.
2. Become a separate and Independent Nation.
3. Accept Commonwealth status.
4. Become a State.

According to the AIP’s Web site, the founder of the party Joe Volger said, “I’m an Alaskan, not an American. I’ve got no use for America or her damned institutions” and “The problem with you John Birchers’ is that you are too damn liberal.”

The John Birch Society is a right-wing group that has opposed the Civil Rights Act, the United Nations, and evolution, and describes itself on its own Web site as “ultraconservative.”

Daily Kos, a liberal political blog, provides transcripts and links to audio interviews between Volger and the Yukon-Charley Oral History Project here.

Transcript:

Volger said, “I am an Alaskan. They know it. I’ve told them to go to hell in every way I can in a nice way. I took a case to the Supreme Court believing in the Supreme Court, but I’d rather be tried in a whorehouse with the madam as the Judge. There is more Justice in a whorehouse than in the Supreme Court. And if they don’t like they know where they can go; ..... and if you think I am ever going to forget that, the fires of Hell are glaciers compared to my hate for the American government, and I won’t be buried under their damn flag.”

Palin made a video saying she was “delighted” to welcome delegates to the 2008 convention and praised the AIP for playing “an important role” in Alaska’s politics. She told the AIP delegates, “Good luck on a successful and inspiring convention, keep up the good work and God bless you.”

Here is Palin’s video address to the 2008 convention: