U.S. Sen Mark Begich received a handful of endorsements in his bid for reelection from current and former North Slope mayors, including the following:

• Charlotte Brower, North Slope Borough Mayor (Current)
• Robert Harcharek, Mayor of Barrow (Current)
• John Hopson Jr., Mayor of Wainwright (Current)
• Eugene Brower, North Slope Borough Mayor (Former)
• Edward Itta, North Slope Borough Mayor (Former)
• Rep. Benjamin Nageak, North Slope Borough Mayor (Former)

Also recently, Begich received the endorsement from the board of directors of the Sealaska Corporation, which has 21,600 Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian shareholders throughout Alaska. The Arctic Slope Regional Corp’s board recently endorsed GOP Senate candidate Sullivan.

From a Begich campaign press release: Continue reading →

Politico, a D.C. based publication, isn’t above overplaying narrative tension. However, a piece today about the increasing strain between Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich as Begich’s reelection campaign begins to heat up, appears to be understated, if anything, I’ve heard.

To set up the story, Murkowski is quoted as saying that she wants a “Republican partner,” and that Begich, according to her “needs to run on his record — and not mine.”

Politico recounts a recent instance where she requested her name Continue reading →

The super-PAC Alaska’s Energy/America’s Values, supporting GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan, is going on air on Wednesday with the following ad. Anchorage-based ad man and political operative Art Hackney, who runs the super-PAC, said that the ad will begin to run 10 times a day on Fox, and is the beginning of a series of ads leading up to the GOP primary on August, 19. This one features Athena Fulton, who Hackney says is a born and raised Alaskan, a single mom and a Sullivan supporter.

Campaign reports for those running for state office were due on Monday. They’re commonly called 30 day reports, because the reporting period runs from February 2 and ends July 18, 30 days before the primary race.

Money doesn’t mean everything in politics, but it means a lot, and the numbers so far do give you a sense of the depth and reach of a candidate’s support, and how candidates are spending what they raise.

A few surprises: The money in the governor’s race was interesting (see that story here). But the real shockers were in two Anchorage races—one House and one Senate–where two Democrats substantially outraised the Republican incumbents: Continue reading →

I said last night that I was going to write about the 30 day APOC reports from state House and Senate candidates which were due yesterday. However, the APOC website has been acting twitchy and I can’t get the information. This isn’t new. Since I’ve been covering politics, the agency’s website always seems to go down during times of high traffic, which is ironic considering one of the main purposes of the agency is transparency. Here’s the agency’s mission statement:

To encourage the public’s confidence in their elected and appointed officials by administering Alaska’s disclosure statutes and publishing financial information regarding the activities of election campaigns, public officials, lobbyists and lobbyist employers.

I’ll continue to try, and maybe in the future APOC can try to encourage the public’s confidence in their state agencies by ensuring that the publication of financial information regarding the activities of election campaigns, public officials, lobbyists and lobbyist employers, is done in a timely manner that doesn’t involve wanting to throw your computer across the room. 

Below is the entire 2.5 hour GOP Senate candidate debate that took place in Homer last Tuesday, courtesy of the Joe Miller campaign. If you can’t find time to watch the whole debate, the intros, which start at about minute 3, will give you a pretty good feel for the candidates. Joe Miller, as he always is, is more articulate than his reputation would lead you to believe. Mead Treadwell is the newly minted, staunch tea party conservative—an ideological turn that’s designed to appeal to primary voters and for which most of the media has given him a free pass–and Dan Sullivan tries to save something for the general election.

Leave a comment and let me know what strikes you, particularly those who have time to watch the whole thing.

Big news from the Washington Post:

A federal appeals court panel in the District struck down a major part of the 2010 health-care law Tuesday, ruling that the tax subsidies that are central to the program may not be provided in at least half of the states…. The three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with plaintiffs who argued that the language of the law barred the government from giving subsidies to people in states that chose not to set up their own insurance marketplaces.

This could be the biggest blow yet to ObamaCare.

Hours later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit unanimously upheld the subsidies, which likely means the case will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Alaska is one of 27 states that opted out of creating its own exchange. That decision was made by Gov. Sean Parnell, along with the decision not to accept federal money to expand Medicaid. Because of Parnell’s decision, if the ruling is upheld, which is unlikely, thousands of Alaskans will become ineligible for subsidies, and across the country, tens of billions of dollars of federal money will be forfeited by the states.

Since As of April, 12,890 Alaskans have signed up for healthcare under ObamaCare. If you make less than 400 percent of the poverty level in Alaska– $57,400 a year for a single person or $117,760 for a family of four—you will qualify for subsidies. Continue reading →

Gov. Sean Parnell didn’t report as much money as at least one of his challengers in the governor’s race, but he spent less during the period than his other two opponents. All told, Parnell raised $285,000 during the latest reporting period, which runs from February 2 until July 18, which is 30 days before the primary. That number included $100,000 that was given to Parnell from the state Republican Party. However, given that Parnell is the incumbent, his numbers looks less impressive when compared to the other two candidates in the race, Democrat Byron Mallott and independent Bill Walker. But compared to them he was relatively frugal. Parnell’s campaign only spent $170,000 during that period and still has $450,000 cash on hand going into the general election.

Mallott reported receipts of $297,000 during this reporting period. However, $48,000 of that was his own money.  The Alaska Democratic Party gave him $59,000, He spent $277,000 in the same period.  Continue reading →

Gov. Sean Parnell raised more than $285,000 during the latest reporting period, which runs from February until July. That number includes $100,000 that was given to Parnell from the state Republican Party. In total, the campaign has raised $693,295 since it’s inception in May 2013 and has about $450,000 cash on hand.

“As we travel the state, Sandy and I are humbled by the strong and deep support we see,” Parnell said in a release. “We are especially grateful to all our volunteers, contributors and event hosts. Together, we will continue to build Alaska and ensure more freedom and opportunity for all Alaskans.”

I’ll update when I get the numbers of the other two main candidates in the race: Democrat Byron Mallott and independent Bill Walker.

As of 4 p.m. on Monday, the website of the Alaska Public Offices Commission was down, as it tends to be during high traffic times.