As he’s done from the beginning of this race, GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan generally spoke in platitudes at Tuesday’s Senate debate in Kenai. He spoke about federal overreach, about the EPA, and of course about Obama and ObamaCare. Sen. Mark Begich, as he’s done from the beginning of the race, localized the issues. He spoke about the Magnuson Stevens Act, about the number of people in Alaska that have been helped by ObamaCare, and about his work on the VA system. Joined by Libertarian candidate Mark Fish, who salted the debate nicely, they both did a pretty good job speaking to their respective bases.

If any candidate will be hurt by the debate, it’s Begich for declining to rule out voting for Sen. Harry Reid to be the next Senate Majority Leader if the Democrats stay in power. Begich’s super-PAC is almost entirely underwritten by Reid’s Senate Majority PAC, which puts him in an awkward position.

Not 10 minutes after he said it, GOPers across the state and the country were retweeting the segment.

Is it fair? Here’s what Reid told a reporter in 2006 about his fight to keep ANWR closed: “ANWR will not happen. I am opposed to it. That was one of the joys of my life was when we defeated that legislative initiative of Sen. Stevens to drill in ANWR.”

That Reid quote is new to me, and likely to many Alaskans too. It could be devastating.

Listen to Begich here:

• Ebola politics have officially hit Alaska. TribTown reports that U.S. Sen. Mark Begich has called on the president to implement more screens at more international airports while the Fairbanks News-Miner reports that U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has expressed concern, and that the president might consider banning/restricting travel from African countries fighting Ebola. Just in time too because The Hill is breaking with news that Ebola travel restrictions have just now been imposed.

• Onto the East Anchorage races. Who’ll win in the LeDoux/Hummel battle for State House 16?

• A recording of Gov. Sean Parnell talking to the National Guard troops was leaked to the Dispatch. Apparently, Parnell can have a potty mouth when not in church, which is actually a relief to some.  In that same story, the Dispatch reports that three in the Guard brass were fired, two of the officers who were fired before, then rehired, or something.

• APRN’s Alexandra Gutierrez reports on how the gasline is increasingly becoming the campaign issue in the governor’s race. Nobody is disputing that the project is farther than it’s ever been, and Bill Walker vows not to tear up what’s been done. However, he wants fundamental change, which to some, sounds like he wants to over..

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Senate District H is located in East Anchorage centering in Muldoon and stretching onto the military base, JBER-Elmendorf. It’s an ethnically diverse, transient district. Because of its constantly moving population, local pollsters will tell you that it’s probably the most difficult district in the state to survey, which also makes it a bear to run in. The Senate seat in this district is held by Democrat Sen. Bill Wielechowski, who is extraordinarily popular and won’t be up for reelection until 2016. And, the House race in one of the two House districts–District 15—is almost sure to stay with the Democratic incumbent Rep. Max Gruenberg who is running against Republican challenger Don Hadley. However, the race in House District 16 between two smart and capable women–Republican incumbent Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, and Democratic challenger Laurie Hummel—is a nail biter.

Here’s a little about the candidates running, and my take on the current status of these races, for what it’s worth. Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, President Obama sent a thrill up the legs of Republicans when he said during a speech that while he wasn’t on the ballot on Nov. 4, his policies were. Cue the attack ads.

In an interview with Rev. Al Sharpton on Monday, Obama gave them an even bigger leg-thrill when he spoke about red-state candidates, like presumably Sen. Mark Begich, who are keeping their distance from him on the campaign trail.

“The bottom line is, though, these are all folks who vote with me. They have supported my agenda in Congress,” Obama said. “These are folks who are strong allies and supporters of me. I tell them — I said, you do what you need to do to win. I will be responsible for making sure that our voters turn out.”

Cue the attack ad.

Watch the clip here, clipped lovingly courtesy of the GOP:

I know enough people whose lives have been damaged from the legal consequences of smoking pot, that I’ll likely vote to legalize marijuana. (If I had any faith that the Legislature would decriminalize it, I’d take a wait-and-see approach. But now that Sen. Fred Dyson retired, courage on this issue is barely existent in Juneau.) That said, if there was one thing that would convince me otherwise, it’s that Charlo “’f*ck it, I quit” Greene is a spokesperson for it. Here she is talking to High Times about how “over the moon,” she was when she visited Colorado and was able to buy weed with a credit card, about her favorite strain of pot, and about how kids aren’t walking around Colorado, with a joint between their lips, walking out on their jobs, embarrassing their colleagues, offending their viewing audiences. You know, that kind of thing.

The U.S .Senate race has scarred both candidates running, but judging by approval ratings, Begich’s scars are deeper than are GOP challenger Dan Sullivan’s. The only way to try to heal those are positive messages, like those in the most current ad that the campaign is running. The campaign is likely to come out swinging against Sullivan again soon. For now, however, we can feel good for at least a little while:

From the Fairbanks News-Miner:

On Sunday afternoon, Gov. Sean Parnell held a closed-door meeting with soldiers in the Alaska National Guard in Anchorage…It’s certainly a good idea to involve front-line Guard members in reforming their organization, presuming they aren’t completely distrustful of the command structure after years of abuses. But it seems like a poor move by Gov. Parnell — who is already under fire for his office’s stonewalling of requests for documents relating to the scandal — to once again shut the door on the public and the press as he deals with the fallout.

Here’s what Rep. Don Young’s long-time campaign manager had to say about the meeting:

• Politico partnered with SocialSphere Inc. to conduct their latest survey from 840 likely voters in states with competitive Senate (yes, including Alaska) and/or House races across the U.S. The intent of the survey was to track opinions over the final six months of the 2014 election cycle.   The overall nuggets of interest show that 44% of those polled were going to vote for the Democratic candidate and 41% for the Republican candidate. On a current hot topic: 43% likely Republican voters and 81% of likely Democratic voters polled felt “a lot” or “some” confidence that the U.S. “is doing everything possible to contain the spread of Ebola.”

• Read all about who’s more interested in walking holes into the soles of their boots than watching “Kinky Boots.”

• TalkingPointsMemo declares that St. Paul Island is going to be the remote part of Alaska that determines the fate of the U.S. Senate. How much smaller and remote are future articles going to get in the battle over the Senate? I say that the patrons of Skinny Dicks Halfway Inn are going to decide the fate of the world.

• Meet the other two U.S. Senate candidates, whose names will be appearing alongside U.S. Senator Mark Begich and main challenger Dan Sullivan. KTUU’s Grace Jang has an article detailing Mark Fish and Ted Gianoutsos’ background and their individual campaign focus issues.

• The Hill is reporting that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell intends to use the last of the lame duck session to pass necessary legislation so the assumed 2015 GOP led Senate has a “clean slate” to begin their new legislative agenda.

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We don’t hear a lot from Carolyn “Care” Clift, who’s running for governor on the Libertarian ticket, and one of two women running for statewide office. (The other is Maria Rensel, who’s running for lt. gov. on the Alaska Constitution Party ticket.) So I thought I’d ask her a few questions.

First some background:  Clift moved from Arizona to Alaska with her husband Rob in 1979 to Aniak, where, while raising three children, she held various jobs, mostly in the education field. In 1996, Clift was hired by the Anchorage School District to teach special education, which she did for 17 years. Clift was always a libertarian, but became more involved with the Alaska Libertarian Party in 2010, after she retired from full-time teaching. While teaching part-time, she served as the communications director, treasurer, and now secretary of the Alaska Libertarian Party.  When the question of who could run as governor came up, Clift volunteered.  She feels that her background in organizational skills in both rural and urban settings gives her the insight to meet Alaska’s needs.

How are you different from the two major party candidates running for governor? Continue reading →

Here’s a nominally edited comment from a reader who gives some background on a previous National Guard investigation, which I looked into some. I couldn’t come up with much except for this story, and this Administrative Order, signed by Gov. Tony Knowles. Anybody else know about this? (Note:  After I published this, someone sent me this article from the Seattle Times about the investigation. It’s an interesting read.)

I am a former Alaska Guard Member who left the Guard in disgust after an extensive investigation that had been conducted in 1994 came to light in 1995. This was called the Hightower investigation and it produced more than 100 allegations of racial bias, official misconduct, theft of government property and misuse of government property. All of the allegations were highly credible and well substantiated.

When the report from this investigation became public, Gov. Tony Knowles established the Alaska National Guard Board of Inquiry with Administrative order 151 and then amended the board’s scope and duties with Administrative order 153. The Board was to investigate the allegations and develop a course of action and report their findings and recommendations to the Adjutant General (Jake Lestinkof) the Governor (Tony Knowles) and the leadership of both houses of the Legislature: House Speaker Ramona Barnes and President of the Senate Lyman Hoffman.

I at first thought Continue reading →

Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan wrote a strongly worded letter to U.S. Sen. Mark Begich on Friday, admonishing him for putting union negotiations at risk by entering a closed door meeting with Municipality of Anchorage negotiators and IBEW mechanics at the IBEW union hall Wednesday, Oct. 15. (The letter says that it was Oct. 18. In an interview on Friday night, Sullivan said that it was a typo.) Sullivan, it should be noted, is the candidate running for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket, not the Dan Sullivan who’s running for Senate.

Begich’s campaign said that he hadn’t yet received the letter, and declined comment. They did confirm that Begich visited the union hall this week.

Although Sullivan wasn’t in the room, he heard from muni negotiators that Begich only stayed briefly. However, Begich’s very presence in the room, “put the negotiations at risk,” all the more so because Begich made “disparaging remarks about the current administration,” Sullivan wrote. He also wrote that Begich “attempted to discredit and intimidate the Municipal bargaining team.” Continue reading →

Here’s a Q & A with Lt. Col. Candis Olmstead, public affairs director for the Alaska National Guard, following David Holthouse’s story in the Anchorage Press about three National Guard recruiters who, according to internal documents, committed “sexual assaults and numerous cases of sexual harassment targeting fellow soldiers, new recruits, and civilian women, including high school JROTC cadets,” perpetrated by the three between 2007 to 2011. Holthouse’s story is based on the results of an internal investigation, called a 15-6, that were leaked to him. The questions are in bold.

Are they (the three recruiters) still members of the guard?

Without identifying or confirming specific names, I can tell you that recruiters who have been investigated are all still members of the Alaska National Guard until their boards are final, any appeals processes have been finalized, and administrative paperwork is completed.

When did the in investigations start, end, and who ordered it?

The first allegation of an improper relationship was reported to the organization in mid-Dec 2012; the accusation came into the organization at BG Bridges’ level and he dealt with it immediately.  A commander’s inquiry was started within 72 hours to see if the information necessitated a 15-6 Investigation.  When the veracity of the information was confirmed, a 15-6 was directed and an investigator was designated as the 15-6 investigating officer. The investigation revealed additional misconduct by other personnel, so concurrent investigations were directed and initiated within 60 days of the allegations coming into the organization. The investigator performed them all due to the interrelated nature of the circumstances.  As the investigation progressed, personnel changes occurred with Recruiting and Retention Battalion staff pending administrative actions and final determinations. All investigations were complete by February 2014. Continue reading →

Earlier this week, I posted an ad featuring labor leader Joey Merrick pitching voters to join him in voting for Mark Begich for the U.S. Senate. Evidently, not everyone with a union background feels likewise.

Former Alaska Teamster Local 959 head Jerry Hood, who is also Rep. Don Young’s long-time campaign manager, appears in this ad sponsored by the pro-Dan Sullivan super-PAC, Alaska’s Energy/America’s Values. The ad begins airing in Fairbanks today and later in Anchorage.