David Mayberry has been appointed to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. He is a lawyer who has represented lots of oil and gas companies for Crowell & Moring, LLP. He’ll have to be confirmed next session.

I wrote earlier about a whisper campaign claiming that GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan has lots of “dirt” on him that will come out if he wins the GOP nomination. Those of us who have seen the oppo file have rolled our eyes. Talk show host Bernadette Wilson, who supports Mead Treadwell, isn’t backing down. “I’m still taking bets theres info laying around on Sullivan if there’s any takers :),” she wrote in an email to a group of “dear friends” which was then passed on to me.

Jim Lottsfeldt, an Anchorage-based lobbyist and the head of U.S. Sen. Mark Begich’s super-PAC, had a fundraiser on Thursday for Forrest Dunbar, the young and inspiring Democrat who’s challenging Rep. Don Young. About 40 people showed, including former Speaker of House Mike Bradner, Jane Angvik, railroad VP Jim Kubitz, Heather Flynn, state House candidate Sam Combs, head of the AK Democratic Party Kay Brown, and super Realtor Bonnie Mehner and her husband Bill.

Stefanie Moreland, Special Assistant to Governor Parnell, is moving to ADF&G where she’ll serve as Deputy Commissioner.

About 40 people showed up to the Petroleum Club on Wednesday evening for a fundraiser sponsored by Arctic Slope Regional Corp. for GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan. Some might have read that ASRC, surprisingly, endorsed Sullivan for the primary and general election, which was likely a shock to Sen. Mark Begich. It apparently surprised board member Eugene Brower, who said that although members were polled individually, a formal vote wasn’t taken. Anyway, among those spotted at the event: Kevin and Tara Sweeney; Doug Smith from Little Red Services; Linda Leary from ACS; Doug Chapados from Petro Star Refinery; and former MLB player and team mate of Hank Aaron, Wade Blasingame.

Sympathy and prayers to Labor Commissioner Diane Bloomer over the loss of her father.

Loose lips in Ketchikan and Wrangell tell me that Rep. Peggy Wilson appears to be supporting Chere Klein-Enright to replace her in the Legislature. Klein-Enright served as a legislative aide to Wilson.

Speaking of Southeast: Democratic lt. gubernatorial candidate Hollis French as of Saturday night was weathered-in in Juneau. He was sleeping on the airport floor, trying to make it back from a whirlwind tour of Southeast, where, among other things, he got some above-the-fold coverage in the Ketchikan Daily News, and was quoted as saying the rumblings about Democratic gubernatorial candidate Byron Mallott dropping out of the race to make room for independent candidate Bill Walker were a “fantasy.” He also compared Vic Fischer to Mahatma Gandhi, and the fight over oil tax repeal to India fighting the British Empire. Whatever you think of the comparisons, it’s probably safe to assume that Fischer will never stay the night at the Taj MaHawker.

Speaking of the Taj MaHawker: Some of you might have seen this one from artist Greg Solomon: 

And now there’s this:

The Ketchikan story about French was written by talented, outgoing reporter Andrew Sheeler, who’s now on his way to cover cops at the Bismark Tribune. Not for the first time recently, North Dakota’s gain is Alaska’s loss.

Another loss for the state’s media: KBBI and KDLL Public Radio News Director Aaron Selbig is leaving Homer at the end of this month to take a job as news reporter at Michigan’s Interlochen Public Radio. He and his wife Nova will be missed, as will Selbig’s reporting. The poetically named Shady Grove Oliver has been appointed to replace Selbig.

Speaking of Mallott: His team is gearing up. And how! The campaign welcomes Amanda Frank as their new Fairbanks coordinator. The campaign’s new communications team consists of: Laury Roberts Scandling who will serve as director; Jordyn Grant, media manager; Ellen Silverman, audio/visual manager; and, Bill Hawthorne, technical manager. Let’s hear it for more communications from the campaign!

After all the lead-up, it was actually more iceberg than arugula at the Anchorage Republican Women’s Club annual salad luncheon on Thursday, where everybody, even Joe Miller and Judy Eledge, behaved. There had been some expectation of tension, mostly because the event was held at the home of Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, who is running for Senate, and some staffers for other candidates thought that it gave Treadwell the home-court advantage. Look no further if you need proof that we’re headed into the silly season. Anyway, more than 100 people showed, among them Joe Miller and Dan Sullivan, as well as Gov. Sean Parnell and the first lady. Legislators attending included: Sen. Cathy Geisel and Reps. Shelley Hughes, Gabrielle LeDoux, Dan Sadler, Craig Johnson, Mia Costello and Lance Pruitt. Lynette Sullivan was there representing the mayor. The colorful couple Tiger Helgelien and his wife, Elizabeth Halseth, the former half-term Nevada lawmaker who posed for Maxim lad-mag, were there. Admin Commish Curtis Thayer and the governor’s legislative director Heather Brakes too. And the Mead Brigade, consisting of a group of young, mostly out-of-state men dressed in blue blazers trying to get guests to wear Treadwell stickers. However, most of the guests were too polite to do so.

There was little love between the Joe Miller supporters and the Treadwell guys in blue blazers the night before, as the two camps were on the corner of Northern Lights and the Seward Highway waving signs. “Ask them where they’re from,” one Joe Miller supporter told me when I walked up with a notebook. “Ask them if they’re getting college credit,” she said. Frankly, the Treadwell boys looked so young and earnest, I didn’t have the heart.

Bill Walker and his supporters were on the Benson corner, too. “Walker Wednesday,” they call it.

Alaska Libertarian Party chair Mike Chambers was on that corner holding a sign for Joe Miller. “I’ll support Joe through the primary,” Chambers said, rather defensively. The Libertarian Party’s candidate in Alaska is Mark Fish, who could likely use some sign wavers about now.

Passing the peace pipe? What issue would draw for a fundraiser a former Republican and Democratic governor, a former executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party, the president of the Anchorage Women’s Republican Club, a pastor at the Anchorage Baptist Temple, and a handful of legislators? Read the Political Daybook for the July 15 event.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com