Alaskan Lawmakers Reject Palin's Pick for AG

Alaska's legislature has voted to reject Sarah Palin's controversial pick for state attorney general, the Anchorage Daily News reports. Nine Republican lawmakers joined Democrats in nixing the nomination of outspoken pro-gun, anti-abortion lawyer Wayne Ross—the first time in Alaskan history the head of a state agency has failed to be confirmed by the legislature.

Ross controversially called gays "degenerates" in the '90s and native groups were fiercely opposed to his nomination, but the last straw for many came this week when he gave Palin what lawmakers called bad—and possibly illegal—advice over a battle for a vacant state Senate seat. Palin labeled the lawmakers "hypocrites" for rejecting Ross when they had unanimously approved a citation last year honoring him on his 65th birthday.
(More Wayne Ross stories.)