Author Archives: Amanda

Bipartisan sportsman bill dies in U.S. Senate, a.k.a. ‘Camp Gridlock’

A bipartisan bill that would have opened up more public lands for hunting and fishing got trapped in partisan muck on Thursday as Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid lost Republican support for the bill by not allowing it to be amended, which has become a pattern for Reid.

The Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act was sponsored by 26 Republicans and 20 Democrats and had the support of the National Rifle Association, Safari Club International, the American Sportfishing Association, Ducks Unlimited, the National Wildlife Federation, and Trout Unlimited.

Because Reid refused to allow amendments, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of the prime sponsors of the bill, voted to allow it be filibustered, which basically killed it. Continue reading →

Begich raises $1.25 million in 2nd quarter, his biggest fundraising haul yet

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich had his personal best fundraising quarter, raising more than $1.25 million from April until the end of June. According to his campaign, 700 new Alaska donors gave this cycle, bringing the total Alaskan donor-count to more than 5,000, the campaign said. Official FEC reports aren’t due until July 15. The last two quarters, Begich was outraised by GOP contender, Dan Sullivan. In the last quarter, Begich brought in $1.05 million and had $2.8 million in the bank, while Sullivan raised $1.3 million and had just under $2 million on hand. No word yet on what the other candidates have raised, nor how much Begich has on hand.

Here’s the release from Begich’s campaign: Continue reading →

Put Alaska First goes after Sullivan again for HB 77

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If the only thing Alaskans were voting on in the Senate race were television ads, Democrats and Mark Begich would win hands down. Below is the latest attack ad against GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan from Put Alaska First, the pro-Begich super-PAC, featuring Dillingham fisherman and lawyer Joe Faith. Once again, the ad goes after Sullivan for his role in HB 77, a controversial bill that gave unprecedented powers to the DNR commissioner to issue permits. At the time of its drafting, Sullivan was the DNR commissioner. Those who helped draft the bill, including Sullivan, said that it cut through red-tape that was impeding development. The public came out in droves to testify against it and the bill died in the Senate. This is the fourth ad Put Alaska First has made featuring HB 77. The first featured a moose hunter—the claims of which were a ‘stretch’—and the second featured well-known former Democratic lawmaker Sam Cotten. Beth Northlund, the executive director of Anchorage Park Foundation, played a lead role in the third ad. The issue is custom-made for good attack ads. If Sullivan or any anti-Begich super-PAC has found a similiar issue to use against Begich, they’re keeping it a secret.

Hawker under fire from opponent over Anchorage LIO furniture vote

The Alaska Legislative Council on Wednesday voted to authorize $500,000 to furnish the new Anchorage Legislative Office building. The expenditure, proposed by Committee Chair Rep. Mike Hawker, passed the committee 10-2. Reps. Bill Stoltze and Max Gruenberg voted against the measure.

Hawker came under fire for his vote by his Democratic opponent Sam Combs, who called it an “appalling example of fiscal mismanagement.”

“How on earth can he justify spending a half million on furniture–a 500% increase–while the state is in deficit spending and Anchorage teachers are being laid off,” Combs, an architect, said. Continue reading →

Begich cosponsors anti-Hobby Lobby bill

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich co-sponsored a bill that takes a direct shot at the Supreme Court’s recent decision to allow corporations such as Hobby Lobby, which brought the case, to opt out of the ObamaCare birth control mandate for religious reasons.

Begich’s bill makes it illegal for any company to deny its workers specific health benefits, including birth control, as required to be covered by federal law.

“Because of the Hobby Lobby case, more than 60,000 Alaska women could be denied access to birth control and reproductive care,” Begich said. “This bill will make sure that these types of health care decisions stay between a woman and her doctor – not her boss.” Continue reading →

Loose Lips: Drop outs. A girl and her chainsaw. Who’s been sleeping at Treadwell’s house?

A cautionary tale for federal primary contenders, courtesy of Politico: “Eric Cantor’s stunning primary defeat is leaving his campaign in a financial bind…Under federal law, Cantor would also have to repay any funds meant for the general election spent during his unsuccessful primary campaign battle against fellow Republican Dave Brat. Since he lost and has no general election in November, Cantor would be required to return those general-election contributions to the donors.”

In federal elections, donors are allowed to give up to $5200 to a candidate: $2600 for the primary and $2600 for the general. GOP candidate Dan Sullivan has quite a few $5200 donations, but his are said to be segregated. Just in case he doesn’t win, let’s hope Treadwell’s $5200 donations are likewise segregated. BTW: State candidates aren’t going to have this problem. Alaska law doesn’t have the primary-general donation distinction. Donors can only give candidates $500 per calendar year. Continue reading →

New ad from GOP Senate candidate Sullivan focuses on guns and hunting

Here’s the latest ad from GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan. It’s not very subtle, but probably effective in helping to establish his Second Amendment creds, which have been under fire recently over the “Stand Your Ground” bill that was passed last legislative session. The woman featured is Elaina Spraker, an icon in the largely male-dominated hunting world. She’s married to former Board of Game member Ted Spraker, a well-known, outspoken hunting rights advocate in the Kenai.

Lt. gov. candidate Bob Williams goes up on air

The ad below from Wasilla teacher and lieutenant governor candidate Bob Williams will begin airing statewide on KTUU Channel 2 beginning Wednesday. Williams and Alaska state Sen. Hollis French are both running for the seat in the Democratic primary. Whoever wins will join gubernatorial candidate Byron Mallott to run in the general. Williams, a first time candidate, doesn’t have the name recognition that French does, but he’s worked tirelessly to try to change that. The ad, much like the candidate, has a homegrown, compellingly earnest quality. To my knowledge, it’s the first one released by a lieutenant governor candidate.

Little talked about governor hopeful J.R. Myers also has music video

A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece about candidates making music videos for their campaigns. I said that as far as I knew, Forrest Dunbar, the Democrat running for Rep. Don Young’s seat, was the first candidate of this season to use a music video as a campaign tool. I was wrong. Alaska Constitution Party candidate J.R. Myers, a counselor from Haines, was the first, as he reminded me in a comment on the music video post. Neither Myers nor his party get a lot of media attention, as third party candidates tend not to. But he’s interesting, in a greeny, lefty, tea partesque, pro-development kind of way. He’s a pro-life Christian with a deep environmental streak, and aside from Gov. Sean Parnell, Myers is the only gubernatorial candidate that I know of who is against repealing the oil tax legislation. “Alaska needs to present a stable and disciplined fiscal environment,” he said recently. “We have had enough economic chaos and reckless spending. We need to stabilize the tax structure.” Go figure. And then there’s this video:

Controversial blogger has sights set on Alaska Senate race

Below are some recent tweets from the controversial blogger Charles C. Johnson, who has worked for Senate candidate Mead Treadwell’s campaign and who is currently at the center of the Mississippi Senate race mess. As I wrote earlier, Johnson worked on Treadwell’s campaign to help prepare him for the debates this summer. I also wrote that it’s unclear how much more Johnson would be involved. From his tweets, it’s clear that he intends to be very involved, particularly if he continues to raise money. Read some of those tweets below:

The more $ I get, the more I can bring the research skills to #aksen #arsen #lasen #kssen. We aren’t stopping with #mssen.

— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) July 7, 2014

Continue reading →

Blogger at center of Mississippi madness worked for Treadwell Senate campaign

A conference call organized by U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran’s Mississippi campaign broke down and turned into chaos last week when supposed tea party activists began asking racially tinged questions about “picking cotton” and if it was “okay to harvest the votes of black people,” and playing clips from “Animal House” on the call.

Cochran, the “establishment” candidate, narrowly beat tea party favorite Chris McDaniel in that state’s June 24 primary. Legal challenges are imminent. Conservative blogger Charles C. Johnson has been at the center of it all. Johnson, who is supporting McDaniel, and who has also worked on Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell’s Senate campaign, urged his twitter followers to crash the call. They did. Continue reading →

Loose Lips: Three Amigos! Walker gaining steam. Sen. Barrasso gets warmer reception.

This week, Byron Mallott’s campaign issued a series of fundraising emails related to the opening of their Fairbanks office. One asked for a contribution to pay the rent, another to keep the lights on. Gimmick? Those of us who are hoping for a vital governor’s race with good representatives from both parties hope so.

Speaking of the governor’s race: As most readers of this blog have probably heard, there’s a push among some to get Mallott out of the governor’s race, so that independent candidate Bill Walker might stand a chance against Gov. Sean Parnell. It’s unlikely however. Continue reading →

Assistant AG who penned ‘Stand Your Ground’ letter confirms Sullivan’s account

I got some pushback this morning about the piece that I published earlier on GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan’s support, or lack of support, for the ‘Stand Your Ground’ bill that was introduced while Sullivan was the state’s Attorney General, and passed last legislative session. The issue is being used against him to imply that he’s soft on gun rights.

At issue is an impassioned letter written by Assistant Attorney General John Skidmore, detailing concerns with the bill. The letter said that as written, the bill was dangerous and could lead to loss of life. As is standard procedure, Dan Sullivan’s name is on the letter, but Skidmore signed it. Sullivan has claimed that he always supported ‘Stand Your Ground,’ but that letter called those claims into question.

Sullivan said that he didn’t have knowledge of that letter. A reader suggested that I call Skidmore to check if that was true. I did. Continue reading →

Sullivan stands up for his support for ‘Stand Your Ground’

An ad that Senate candidate Dan Sullivan recently released making the claim that he “successfully fought to protect our Second Amendment rights and pass Stand Your Ground,” is under fire by Sullivan’s opposition and now by the fact checking group Politifact, which has fact-checked a handful of ads so far in the Alaska Senate race. Politifact is a project operated by the Tampa Bay Times and its verdict on whether or not an ad is true or false carries weight.

Politifact said Sullivan’s ‘stand your ground’ claim was “false.” Continue reading →

New poll shows a tightening in Senate race, oil tax repeal winning

Anchorage-based pollster and political consultant Mark Hellenthal released a wide-ranging poll on Wednesday, which shows, among other things, that if the election were held today, SB 21, or the oil tax legislation that was passed by the Legislature, would likely be repealed by a slim margin. It also showed that while Dan Sullivan has the lead in the U.S. Senate primary, it might not be as wide a lead between Sullivan and Mead Treadwell — the two leading candidates — as Sullivan’s internal polling has suggested. Continue reading →