Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell (R-AK)

Alaska’s Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell is currently “exploring” a campaign for the 2014 Republican nomination against Sen. Mark Begich (D). With a history of working in the oil industry and a record of support for drilling at will, he would likely be one of the most extreme and environmentally irresponsible members of the Senate.

His far right conspiracy theories are eerily reminiscent of another Alaskan politician he has wholeheartedly embraced — former Gov. Sarah Palin (R).

Here are eight things voters should know about Treadwell:

1. He loves drilling. A founding member of the Yukon Pacific Corporation, the company that began the Alaska gas pipeline project. His 2010 campaign for Lt. Governor focused on a platform of “fighting the feds” to get more oil into Alaska’s pipeline, building a gas pipeline, and expanding exports. He complained that the federal government denies Alaskan drillers legal access to oil and gas sources purely because of “visual impact.”

2. He denies climate-change science and dismisses its dangers. In seeking the endorsement of the Conservative Patriots Group (an Alaskan Tea Party organization), Treadwell said he is unconvinced CO2 emissions drive climate change: “I challenge the argument that man made CO2 emissions are causing significant global warming and I will oppose any costly new regulations that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices and weaken the nation’s global competitiveness.” Treadwell cheers the “accessible arctic” that would come from melting ice and suggests that declining cultural traditions are a bigger concern — telling a Republican group: “If you think climate’s changing in Alaska, glaciers are receding, sea ice is opening up, and all of that, one of the things that to me is very dramatic is that there are many, many Alaskan native youth today who do not speak the language of their grandparents.”

3. He opposed Obamacare and student loan reform, because he believed they created “death panels.” Echoing Palin’s widely-debunked claim, Treadwell widely mischaracterized President Obama’s health care reform law and student loan reform. At a 2010 debate, he argued: “Government’s job is to protect our liberties and to protect our property, not to take our rights away. It’s also to our job to come in and tell you, if you’re a doctor ‘you’re now a utility and whatever you charge and decide to do is subject to government regulation.’ Some other things in that bill [were] entirely nuts. They had a plan to try to reduce the cost of student loans by getting the banks out of the way, as middlemen. Instead they said, ‘no, let’s keep the same price, throw the banks out of business, and use that as a tax to help pay for this thing.” Noting his late wife’s struggle with brain cancer, he said “thank goodness there were not death panels… Sarah Palin was right on blowing the whistle on that issue.”

4. He opposes not just marijuana legalization but even medical marijuana. Though he claims to be an advocate of privacy and a “liberty agenda,” Treadwell takes a hard line on even medical marijuana. At a 2010 debate — two years before Colorado voted to legalize and regulate marijuana — Treadwell criticized it and other states that allowed those with a medical need to access the drug. “I believe we should have solid drug laws,” he argued, “I don’t like the situation in CO and CA right now that has basically meant you can get pot in a store as easily as you can get a pizza. I don’t think that makes sense.”

5. He opposes all new revenue, but pushed for more government spending. Treadwell signed Grover Norquist’s iron-clad oath against ever increasing taxes of any kind. In a 2010 debate, he pushed other candidates to do the same. While he opposing ever seeking new revenue, he boasted of his efforts to “dramatically” increase Alaska’s infrastructure through “joint federal and state investment in sanitation, health, and energy facilities.” Last month, he actually criticized the draconian Paul Ryan House Republican budget plan for not balancing the budget quickly enough.

6. He opposed an bill that made ballot initiative funding more transparent, citing his support for parental notification legislation. In 2010, Alaska’s Republican-controlled legislature enacted HB 36, the Open and Transparent Initiative Act, to make it easier for votes to know who is behind ballot initiatives and who is paying for them. As a 2010 Lt. Governor candidate forum, Treadwell explained that he would have opposed the law. His reasoning was that “the constitution did set up a process that hasn’t really happened with the legislation. You go around, get lots and lots of signatures, they made it harder to get the signatures, and the legislature is supposed to respond.” He then complained, “I’m also very sad and upset that we have to go to a ballot initiative to keep the rights of parents to know what their daughter is doing,” as the legislature did not enact a law preventing pregnant minors from obtaining an abortion without parental notification.

7. He loved the late Sen. Ted Stevens because he was “anti-Communist” and brought home pork. In a memorial post for the National Review, Treadwell wrote that the late Senator was a hero: “Stevens was labeled a big spender; conservative circles hung a “bridge to nowhere” around his neck in the year or so before he left. But he was a staunch anti-Communist when it counted, and he supported Ronald Reagan’s efforts to bring down the Soviet Union. He constantly pushed back against environmental extremism, but was a realist about supporting science and technology to address environmental and health problems. … Even conservatives fail us sometimes: Stevens’s natural allies in pushing to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, for instance, were often the same folks who broke with him when he sought to replace a national icebreaker fleet that can hardly handle the reduced conditions of the Arctic. Thus, in his latter days, just as he’d accrued the seniority to guide appropriations, Stevens’s practice of ‘earmarks’ became a target. Since Congress wouldn’t let us drill for new oil, we were told, we had decided to ‘drill’ in the federal budget.” Treadwell, who once served as a page for Stevens, continues the late Senator’s push for federal money for icrebreaking ships.

8. Like Palin, he has connections to the controversial Alaskan Independence Party. In 1990, Alaskans elected Gov. Walter Hickel and Lt. Gov. Jack Coghill on the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) ticket. Hickel, who had served a term as a Republican in the 1960s, was Treadwell’s “longtime mentor and close friend.” Coghill, who went on to chair the AIP, headlined Treadwell’s 2010 Fairbanks campaign kickoff event. The platform of the AIP under Coghill called for “privatization of government services,” “complete abolition of the concept of sovereign or governmental immunity, so as to restore accountability for public servants,” and “the rights of parents to privately or home school their children and to provide them individually the right to access to a proportional share of all money provided for educational purposes as an unrestricted grant for such purposes.” Historically, the AIP has advocated for a referendum on whether the state should secede from the United States.

Watch Treadwell repeat Sarah Palin’s “death panels” myth:

Treadwell received the Conservative Patriots Group’s Tea Party endorsement in 2010, but lost it when the group discovered he had contributed to Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R) re-election campaign.

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA)

Over six terms in Congress, Gingrey has:

1. Defended former Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO)’s infamous rape comments. Though Akin’s 2012 suggestion that victims of “legitimate rape” were unlikely to become pregnant drew virtually universal criticism, Gingrey boldly took the opposite position. Contradicting medical science, Gingrey said last month that Akin was “partially right,” as “all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate.”

2. Opposed President Obama’s stimulus — then claimed credit for it. Gingrey voted against the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, calling it a “non-stimulus stimulus plan” for spending “money that we do not have.” Despite his objection to the “trillion dollar debt” bill, he boasted of obtaining a $625,000 stimulus grant for Cedartown, Georgia’s Streetscape project. Gingrey’s hypocrisy was on full display when he personally presented a giant over-sized check to city officials for the “shovel-ready” project.

3. Denounced minority outreach — by Democratic campaigns. Though political candidates of both parties have long organized “Minority Group for Candidate” outreach efforts, Gingrey denounced the practice as “worse than sad.” Asked on a right-wing radio show about the African-Americans for Obama, he complained: “To use that and to go out and try to create divisiveness or one race against the other, it’s not just that, it’s one gender against the other, male versus female. I’m sick of all that and I think the American people are too.” He and his office said nothing when Mitt Romney launched Latino (Juntos Con Romney), women (Women for Mitt), and even African Americans (Black Leadership Council). More amazingly, his own 2008 campaign had a “Women for Gingrey” outreach group.

4. Pushed for wasteful military spending the Department of Defense doesn’t even want. Despite claims that he is “committed to finding ways to reduce” government programs that are “bloated” and “riddled with waste,” Gingrey demanded additional funding for the Marietta, Georgia-built F-22 stealth fighter. His claims that his effort wasn’t “just for the sake of home-cooking, but also for the sake of the country,” were contradicted by then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and bipartisan Congressional leaders, who agreed there was “no military requirement” for more F-22s. Gingrey’s financial disclosures indicated that he owned stock in the company that makes the planes.

5. Compared Democratic clean energy legislation to the North Korean and Iranian governments. When the House Democratic leadership proposed a rule for a clean energy bill that did not allow minority amendments, Gingrey ranted: “Americans are watching as from Iran to North Korea, the forces of darkness are attempting to silence the forces of democracy and freedom. The irony is on this day, the Democratic process and the nation’s economic freedom are under threat not by some rogue state, but in this very chamber in which we stand.”

6. Dismissed pre-existing medical conditions as nothing more than hang-nails. When a 2011 report by the Department of Health and Human Services estimated that up to 129 million Americans have some sort of pre-existing medical condition that could subject them to discrimination by insurance companies, Gingrey was incredulous. Though the report included people with a history of heart disease, cancer, asthma, high blood pressure, arthritis, and the like, he opined: “One hundred and twenty nine million people with pre-existing conditions! They would all have to have hang nails and fever blisters to have pre-existing conditions and if you believe those statistics, I’ve got a beach to sell you in Pennsylvania.”

7. After criticizing sexist radio host Rush Limbaugh for irresponsibly ginning up controversy, quickly begged for forgiveness.. In 2009, Gingrey accurately noted that Limbaugh and other conservative media personalities can “stand back and throw bricks” instead of offering “real leadership.” A day later, Gingrey went on Limbaugh’s show to offer a “very sincere” apology for his criticisms. “I clearly ended up putting my foot in my mouth on some of those comments,” he explained, “I regret those stupid comments.”

8. Blamed wounded Walter Reed veterans for the deplorable conditions at the hospital. After a 2007 Washington Post investigation revealed that many soldiers were recuperating from war wounds in moldy rooms infested by rats and cockroaches, Gingrey laregly dismissed the problem. He said at a House Armed Service Committee hearing: “It’s not a five-star hotel, make no mistake about it, but it’s not a flophouse. It’s not a dump. It’s not a dive. It needs some work, no question about it. I’m not making excuses, of course. And when I read the Washington Post report I was glad to know that those cockroaches were belly up. It suggested to me that at least someone was spraying for them, Mr. Chairman. And, of course, if you leave food around in a motel room or a dorm room at a college, you’re going to get some mice show up at some point in time.”

9. Demagogued Obamacare. Gingrey didn’t just oppose the Affordable Care Act — attacked it and spread misinformation about it. Though it was clearly constitutional, Gingrey called the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding it’s constitutionality “one of the worst decisions in Supreme Court history.” He called the law’s long-term care provisions “Dracula,” in need of “a stake through its heart.” Worst, he spread the false claim that the Independent Payment Advisory Board created by the health care law would drive a “wedge between physicians and their patients,” would be able to “operate in secret,” and could “accept unlimited donations of services or even property from lobbyists,” including “cash, meals, cars, vacations and even homes.”

10. Flipped on increasing tax revenues in 67 seconds. When asked by ThinkProgress in December about a possible deal that let tax cuts for the wealthy expire, Gingrey was initially open to the idea: “I hate to make a commitment on anything.” He didn’t want to rule anything out before consulting with constituents in his district. But when reminded that he had signed Grover Norquist’s ironclad oath never raise taxes, Gingrey abruptly shifted his position and agreed to abide by it, confessing: “I don’t take that pledge lightly, so I won’t say that I don’t feel bound by it.” In 2010, he liked his commitment to low taxes for the rich to “God’s covenant with Moses.”

In 2010, Gingrey acknowledged that he did not think the Republican Party would “ever be as big a tent organization as the Democratic Party.” Now, he will have to hope the Georgia GOP primary will be a small enough tent to embrace his right-of-right views and record.