- Sunday was momentous for many Alaskans because of the U.S. District Court judge’s ruling that officially overturned Alaska’s ban on same sex marriage. Gov. Sean Parnell was quick to issue a press release that Alaska will appeal the decision and Bill Walker issued his own something-for-everybody press release. Many however, were too busy celebrating to worry too much about the politics. The media was on it. Read SFGate, Fairbanks News Miner, the Mudflats, The Hill, MSNBC, CNN, Reuters, Human Rights Campaign, and many more.
- Rothenberg Political Report has moved the U.S. Senate race from “pure toss-up” to “toss-up/tilt Republican”. Stuart Rothenberg says it’s President Obama’s fault.
- Becky Bohrer with the AP has an article covering U.S. Senator Mark Begich’s Saturday speech to Juneau volunteers along with fellow U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Summation: the Alaska Senate race is about the state’s future, not about Obama.
- Alaska Peninsula Corporation’s President and CEO, Mary Jane Nielsen and Illiamna Development Corporation’s CEO, Lisa Reimer, wrote a piece for the Seattle Times that outlined why they believed Native people’s voices regarding Pebble Mine are being left out of the discussion on the mine’s future.
- The Washington Post digs into how money is being spent by Republican Outside groups compared to Democrats. The gist? Republican spending is relatively chaotic compared to Democratic spending, leaving donors on the Right to have more say in how the money gets spent. For good and for bad.
- The Huffington Post digs into “fishy” money that has gone into the pro-Mark Begich super-PAC, put Alaska First.
- With the consensus being that Roe v Wade will not be overturned anytime soon, The Los Angeles Times digs into the real battle behind the abortions wars that’s going on in the states. “Since 2011, states have enacted 230 abortion restrictions, more than in the entire previous decade,” the paper writes.
- Politico has the breakdown on the 11 U.S. Senate candidates and their respective races that will determine the fate of the Senate come November. Politico takes it on faith, rather than by crunching the numbers, that Alaskan Natives could be the key or “X Factor” to a Begich win.
- The National Republican Senatorial Committee is investing another $1 million in media buys in support of Dan Sullivan according to The Hill. Also in the works the InfluencerExplorer reports that Americans for Prosperity has bought another $20k in media buys opposing Sen. Mark Begich via web ads.
- The Juneau Empire reports that Alaska Regional Hospital will acquire a Medicare clinic starting November 1st. The clinic is one of the few options available for 65 and older patients that rely solely on Medicare.
- The Hill reports that the Democratic Leadership has a new message for the 2014 Battle for the Senate: Don’t trust the polls.
- The Consumer Energy Alliance conducted a poll in three states (Alaska, Louisiana and Georgia) regarding support for offshore energy exploration and support for their gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidates. With a margin of error of 4.9%, the results are pretty interesting.
- The Fairbanks News Miner reports that Former Alaska National Guard Lt. Col. Kenneth Blaylock told KTUU that he reported Guard misconduct to his chain of command over seven years before the Federal DOD report was published. “He [Blalock] was labeled a crackpot by adjutant general Maj. Gen. Thomas Katkus.”
- According to recent FEC filings, SARAH PAC spent roughly $11,000 on copies of Going Rogue as “donor gifts.” Those combined with some rolls of duct tape and a few socks full of pennies have the makings of another memorable Saturday night out with the Palins.
- While Alaska might have the cleanest environment, our state is one of the least engaged in states in the Union. The Washington Post ranked each state on a variety of issues and came out with regional winners and losers. Some surprising, others, not so much.
- Remember the game show 20 Questions? The Dispatch had their own version, but shortened it to 10 for U.S. Senator Mark Begich and his opponent, Dan Sullivan.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
This poll also shows Gov. Parnell leading 46 – 38 Walker
http://consumerenergyalliance.org/offshore-energy-poll/
@Michele. I looked into that and it was too old to be useful.
Amanda, the Rothenberg Report also has the Governor’s race leaning Republican. You didn’t report that.
http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.com/ratings/governor
Reading the account of Lt. Col. Blaylock’s efforts to expose corruption indicates further that the repair to the Alaska National Guard is not going to be accomplished by a couple of visiting General Officers holding the Alaska version of “A Truth and Reconciliation Commission”. What is needed now is to instill the fear of the law into these career Guard personnel who never have to leave the local Armory during an entire military career. A unique problem with the guard is the old military adage “familiarity breeds contempt”. These soldiers spend careers with each other and a serious problem arises when they fail to act like soldiers and began to act like civilian workers.
What now must happen if they want a permanent fix is that the legislature must finally integrate the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) into State Statues to allow the crimes unique to the military to be prosecutable under state law and also clearly end undue political influence from the Guard and separate the civilian control of the Guard from the military command by not allowing the next Commissioner of Military and Veteran’s Affairs to be a uniformed National Guard member.
Anyone remember whe the Ear pulished the photo of Sean Parnell wearing a dress? Amanda, you should post that picture. I bet the part of Sean that likes wearing dresses is happy with the decision today.
The Native people in the Bristol Bay region are overwhelmingly opposed to Pebble. It is the Native corporate types that are usually out for their own enrichment. To say that our voices have been unheard is wrong.
Reading the comment submitted by the Peninsula Corporation CEO and the individual from Iliamna — it is not the Alaska Native voice that is being left out of the debate over Pebble Mine but perhaps a smaller subset from the Iliamna area who’s voice is a distinct minority in Bristol Bay. Peninsula Corporation is a conglomoration of several village corporations in the Bristol Bay region and not all of the people who are shareholders agree with the pro-Pebble stance the board of Peninsula has chosen to take (without a shareholder vote).