Author Archives: Amanda

Sarah Palin, patriots and Sean Parnell

OK, admit it. You’ve missed Sarah Palin. Her exasperating relationship with the truth. The clan-like sense of justice. The malapropisms. Those mysteriously acquired Midwestern vowels. The smile as she’s reaching for the dagger. The voice, which has within it a piercing dog whistle that, for those who hear it, beckons like an abandoned swing set during a windstorm. Come back and play, kids!

Sarah Palin called into KWHL-FM’s Bob and Mark show, her go-to boys of yesteryear, and blew hard. Gov. Sean Parnell? An oil lackey, “bless his heart.” Repealing the oil taxes and reverting back to the system she created while governor? You betcha. Bill Walker? Right on! He’s got his “thumb on the pulse,” of Alaska, she said.

I caught Walker on the phone a few hours after it happened. He was in the airport in Sitka, heading back to Anchorage. He was as surprised as the rest of us. Apparently he didn’t have his thumb on that particular pulse.

The oilies I spoke to aren’t overly wee-wee’d up about Palin’s ability to draw the votes to repeal. They’ve adopted the Lower 48 attitude of Palin fatigue. Mistake number 1 million and two.

Palin would have felt right at home on Thursday night as about 15 people showed for the tea party-esque Conservative Patriots Group meeting on oil taxes. Ray Metcalfe was the invited speaker. Metcalf was an Anchorage legislator in the late 1970s and spent much of his time dancing at one of the clubs in Juneau. Disco Ray, he was dubbed. In the last years he been an oil industry gadfly with a mission and a calculator.

He showed charts and graphs about oil tax regimes across the world. Newspaper clippings. Lease agreements from obscure and unpronounceable oil fields in Iraq. Much of the presentation was out of focus on the screen and the segments that weren’t were all scrunched up and difficult to read. Internal rates of return. Multiplication. Long division. He came up with all of this on his financial calculator, which he held up in the air.

Bottom line: When the oil companies talk about profits in Alaska, “I urge you, when you hear these numbers, get out your calculator” he told the group, at least three of whom were packing side-arms.

There is nothing that should scare sensible businessmen more than gun-packing Alaskans armed with financial calculators.

A former BP executive was there. He worked on the Iraqi oil fields. He actually understood lease agreements. At one point, he held his shaking head in his hands.

Alaska Libertarian Chair Mike Chambers was also there. Under his leadership, the party appears to becoming as sensible as the Libertarians will allow. Expect a big announcement in the next few days about one of them running for the U.S. Senate seat. Also expect speculation that he or she will be acting as a place-warmer for Joe Miller, were he to lose the GOP primary race. The prospect has the Republican Party regulars chewing their neckties. If he did so, it would make it nearly impossible for anyone to beat Begich.

In other words it appears that Miller, bless his heart, has set himself up as the kingmaker in the upcoming race. The pro-Begich super-PAC Put Alaska First is said to be prepping to take advantage. Word is it’s poised to dump more than $4 million (!!) into locking up air time for the last eight weeks of the election.

More on the race: For the first time since 1990, the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce has called off the only Senate primary debate that will focus exclusively on fisheries issues. All of the candidates were invited in mid-January. Sen. Mark Begich and Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell responded immediately. Miller’s invite got lost in the tubes.

And Dan Sullivan? The former DNR commissioner, not the mayor, claims a prior military training commitment. And that may be just as well.

Sullivan proved to know nearly nothing about fisheries during a recent KTUU forum, and there’s talk in hostile groups that he’s avoiding other debates. Apparently, forums are more to his liking. Do you blame him? You’ve got Joe Miller on one side, who can likely recite nearly everything Milton Friedman has written on conservative economic theory, and Treadwell on the other, who dreams in Alaska topography.

Forums, though, can prove to be dangerous battlefields. Just ask the other Dan Sullivan, the Anchorage Mayor, who stepped in it last Monday when he compared union membership to slavery during a lieutenant governors forum. None of the candidates on stage raised an eyebrow. Even Sen. Hollis French let the faux pas pass.

The NAACP didn’t let it pass. It demanded an apology. Eventually, Sullivan did so, but it took a while. In the meantime, dubious Outside websites ran headlines implying that the Senate candidate in Alaska is advocating a return to slavery.

Finally, Gov. Sean Parnell appears to be playing a version of peek-a-boo. Put your hands over your eyes and everything magically disappears! But real people don’t. Real women say that they were abused while serving in Alaska’s National Guard and appear to have been treated by Parnell and his administration as ignorable apparitions.

If she chose to, Palin could really blow her whistle loudly on that one. No niceties or blessing of hearts required.

This piece was first published in the Anchorage Daily News

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Pro-Begich super-PAC said to be making a more than $4 million media buy

A reliable source says that Put Alaska First, the pro-Mark Begich super-PAC, is spending more than $4 million dollars, and as much as $4.6 million, on television ads throughout the state for spots in the last eight weeks of the campaign. If true, it will be the single biggest media buy in Alaska history.

Anchorage based Jim Lottsfeldt, who runs the PAC, declined to comment on the amount. He did say however, that “We’re in it to win it.”

If that number turns out to be correct, the total super-PAC spend will be upwards of $7 million so far, and it’s only May. The front-runner in the Republican race, Dan Sullivan, has raised more than Begich in the last two quarters. But none of the groups directly supporting him so far have spent nearly that amount.

Sullivan’s spokesperson, Mike Anderson, responded to news with the following statement:

“Assuming that Harry Reid and his liberal allies in Washington are going to spend over $4 million of outside money to support Mark Begich’s campaign it explains why Senator Begich has voted with President Obama 97 percent of the time. It also begs the question for Alaskans: what will Mark Begich owe them for this DC political bailout?”

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Clarification: The original story said that Sullivan has out-raised Begich. That’s only true for the two fundraising quarters that Sullivan has been in the race.

Joe Miller’s praise of libertarians has politicos speculating

U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller sent out a press release on Thursday, applauding the libertarians for “schooling Begich on liberty.” Miller was referring to Alaska Libertarian Party Chair Mike Chambers scolding Begich for telling CBS News that Alaskans are “very libertarian.” Chambers lays out what most libertarians believe, and according to Chambers, it’s not what Begich believes. Read the release in full below.

Miller has continually said that he’s running as a Republican and plans to stay a Republican. However, the release and his embrace of the Libertarian Party has caused further speculation that he’s setting the stage to join that party’s ticket, perhaps after the primary, were he to fail to get his party’s nomination.

In an interview, Chambers denied that he’s involved in some sort of scheme to get Miller on the ticket. In fact, he said that someone from the party is planning to file to run for the seat. He declined to say who, however. But he also said that if Miller loses the primary, the Republican Party will get what it deserves “for not taking responsibility” for whom it elects, he said.

Libertarian Mark Fish, who worked on Miller’s campaign in 2010, and is still close to it, said that he wouldn’t discourage a switch. “If Joe wants to come over to the Libertarian Party, I welcome him,” he said.

What’s clear is that if Miller joins another ticket after the primary, it will make it all that much harder for Republicans to beat Begich in the Fall.

Here’s Miller’s release in full:

Republican US Senate Candidate Joe Miller today responded to a recent statement from Alaska Libertarian Party Chair Michael Chambers regarding Senator Mark Begich’s recent mischaracterization of the libertarian movement in an interview with CBS News.

“I appreciate the fact that the Alaska Libertarian Party is speaking out on the important issues facing our state and nation,” Miller said. “What we don’t need more of is Mark Begich’s progressive ideology masquerading under the banner of liberty. True libertarianism is grounded in Constitutional liberty, and I am proud to share those values with the Alaska Libertarian Party.”

Begich attempted to align himself with libertarianism by suggesting that as Alaskans “we’re very libertarian . . . and we don’t think that government should be interfering in our personal and private lives.”

Alaska Libertarian Party Chair Michael Chambers responded with the following:

“Senator Begich, allow me to define the vast majority of libertarians for your educational benefit, as you seem to be confused:

1. I know of no Alaskan libertarian who would remotely support the government takeover of our healthcare industry.

2. I know of no Alaskan libertarian who would vote to confirm:
•   Eric Holder – anti-gun
•   Elena Kagan – anti-gun
•   Sonia Sotomayor – anti-gun

3. I know of no Alaskan libertarian who supports:
•   Common Core
•   Federal Department of Education
•   suppression of parental rights in education

4. I know of no Alaskan libertarian who would vote to support and advocate:
•   The IRS in any malignant manifestation
•   NDAA and the suspension of habeas corpus
•   NSA invasion of our personal effects
•   The Patriot Act

5. No Alaskan libertarian I know would advocate globalist policies like:
•   The United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty
•   TPP – Trans Pacific Partnerships
•   UN Treaties having any jurisdiction or precedence over the US Constitution.

Certainly, there are a few libertarians who may support the socialist policies you advocate, but to infer that you are ‘libertarian’ in any of your political representations is to vacate any measure of truth.”

Miller concluded, “These are momentous times, and it is imperative that we transcend partisan frames of reference. The only way we can push back federal tyranny is for all Alaskans of good will to unite under the banner of Constitutional Liberty.”

Joe Miller is a husband, father, combat veteran, and advocate of Constitutional liberty who believes in individual rights, private property, free markets and the sanctity of human life.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Mayor Dan apologizes for slavery comment

After initially refusing to do so, Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan apologized on Wednesday for comparing union membership to slavery during a lieutenant governor’s forum on Monday. Read the backstory here and here. Here’s the apology in full that he wrote on his Facebook page:

At a recent candidate forum for Lt. Governor, I expressed my support for Alaska to be a “Right to Work” state, one of the key planks in the Alaska Republican Party Platform.

I am opposed to rules that compel mandatory union membership in order to perform certain work, which I referred to as a form of economic slavery. To me, the term has no racial connotations except that people of all races may be prohibited from holding certain jobs unless they pay tribute to an organization they may not support.

I do, however, understand the sensitivity that the term slavery connotes and I apologize if the use of the word offended anyone. I will remain; however, steadfast in my belief that government policies that discriminate against the American worker, regardless of race, and that create unnecessary economic barriers should be eliminated.

Palin praises Walker, swipes at Parnell and calls out Alaska ‘crony capitalists’

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin shocked many in the state when she called into a local radio talk show on Wednesday morning, and seemingly endorsed independent Gov. Bill Walker, took swipes at current Gov. Sean Parnell and called those who supported the current oil tax regime “crony capitalists.”

Parnell was Palin’s lieutenant governor and took over for her after she quit her job in 2009. He then was elected in 2010 and is currently running for reelection. One of his biggest victories since being governor was to change the oil tax structure, termed ACES that Palin fought hard for and enacted in 2007 on the heels of a federal corruption scandal involving oil field services contractor VECO and state legislators.

Palin appears to say on the Bob & Mark show, which has long supported Palin, that the reason Parnell changed the tax structure was because of his ties to the oil industry, including his former job as a lobbyist for ConocoPhillips.

“Bless his heart. Remember that Sean Parnell came from the oil industry…lobbying for the cause there. Perhaps that’s ingrained in him,” Palin said. (Listen to the full interview here.)

The tax structure enacted by Palin included a steep windfall tax, and bulged state coffers as oil prices rose in the last few years. The new tax regime, which is highly supported by the oil industry, takes less on the high side but is said to protect the state as prices drop.

A measure to repeal the tax will appear on the August primary ballot. The oil companies have spent more than $8 million so far fighting against the repeal effort, which is supported by Walker and by many in the Democratic Party.

Palin said that those who don’t support the repeal are “buying into the highly funded PR campaign” waged by the oil industry.

“People need to remember what crony capitalism is all about.” She also said that there are still “remnants” of the “Corrupt Bastards Club” in the state, referring to the words on some pro-oil legislators’ baseball caps, which were designed as a joke.

Bob and Mark asked Palin if she could, would she go back in time and choose a lieutenant governor other than Parnell. Instead of answering directly, Palin changed the subject and praised Walker. She said that he’s “absolutely spot on,” and that he has the “thumb on the pulse of most Alaskans.”

She also said that Alaska needs a governor who is a fighter.

Is that Parnell? they asked. She laughed and said, “I want to make sure we’re tuned into all the debates to find out who that fighter is.”

It’s been years since Palin has weighed in on state issues. However, she said that she’s happy to do so, indicating that this isn’t the last time that the state will hear from her between now and the election.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Mayor Dan Sullivan refuses to apologize for ‘slavery’ comparison

Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan has refused to apologize for comparing union membership to slavery at a lieutenant governors candidate forum in Anchorage on Monday.

When answering an audience question about right-to-work legislation, Sullivan said, “Nobody should ever have to basically pay a fee to someone else to get a job in this state…we ended slavery a long time ago.”

He later clarified his remark and said he was referring to “economic slavery.”

Sullivan was one of four candidates at the forum. None of the others took issue with his remark.

On Wednesday, the Anchorage chapter of the NAACP issued a release demanding an apology. “Slavery was about race, human degradation and America’s ‘greatest sin’. To compare it to today’s political issues of the moment diminishes how horrible and tragic it truly was,” said Wanda Laws, President of the Anchorage NAACP.

“I don’t think an apology is necessary,” Sullivan told the Associated Press on Wednesday. “I think that maybe people just need to discuss and clarify what it means to be forced to do something you don’t want to do to get a job. And by various definitions, that’s a form of economic slavery.”

In the past few years, conservatives have likened slavery from everything to affirmative action, to abortion to social security. And they often get reminded that it’s an offensive comparison. Most recently Sarah Palin made headlines for comparing the national debt to slavery.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Study: Going dry doesn’t reduce suicide rates, but jobs do

From a story in the Anchorage Daily News, which appears to confirm the adage that the best social program is a job:

A study to be published in the American Journal of Public Health concludes that Alaska Natives are statistically less likely to kill themselves if they live in villages with prominent traditional elders, a high number of married couples and access to jobs. Yet outlawing alcohol in villages had no ‘statistically significant’ impact on the number of 15- to 34-year-old Native men who kill themselves, the study found.

The study also seems to confirm some of what Craig Medred wrote in his series, “Perils of Prohibition in rural Alaska.”

Loose Lips: Claman breaking ranks on oil? Murkowski’s in the field. NGP Van comes to Alaska.

As expected, Anand Dubey has filed to run for the House seat soon to be vacated by Democrat turned Republican Lindsey Holmes. Dubey ran against Holmes in 2012 when she was a Democrat. He lost by 10 points. Holmes was popular in her district, and she attracted moderate Republicans .This time around, Dubey will be facing former Assemblyman Matt Claman, who was acting mayor for a brief time in 2009. It’ll still be tough. The district skews Democratic. Obama carried it by 8 points in the last election. Dubey, however, is a hard campaigner and Republicans aren’t going to cede the district without a fight.
Speaking of Matt Claman: I spoke with him Tuesday night following a joint fundraiser for him and Clare Ross at the home of Penny Zobel and Doug Hall. Claman said about 50 people showed. He said he’s going to run on: support for public education, fiscal discipline and women’s rights. More interestingly, however, is that he said he will not be running on the oil tax repeal. He said that although he signed the petition to repeal the taxes, the report by respected UAA economist Scott Goldsmith that said that the new oil tax regime might be good for the state, has caused Claman to “pause and reflect.” This probably makes him one of the first Democrats outside of Rural Alaska to signal that he might break ranks with the party on this issue.
From the Conservative Patriots group: “Anchorage CPG meeting will be held this Thursday (May 8th) at 6:30pm at the Alaska Policy Forum conference room (201 Barrow Street, next to Ramada Inn). We will have Ray Metcalfe who will present to us why we should vote to repeal SB21… CPG is currently neutral on this issue.”
Lisa Murkowski’s campaign thought that it would be a good idea to poll Alaskans during a busy campaign season, when people whose phone numbers are readily available to pollsters have already received dozens of calls, and before we know what her role is going to be after the mid-term elections. Reportedly, at least some of the questions are about how voters feel about her being relatively pro-choice, and about her vote on gay marriage. Her campaign manager Kevin Sweeney said the poll was standard and so were the questions.
Juneau Water and Sewer fees poised to increase 31 percent over the next three years.
Anchorage’s East High was named the most ethnically diverse High School in America by the U.S. Department of Education.
Colleen Sullivan-Leonard, who is a Wasilla city council member and sister to Anchorage mayor Dan Sullivan, has announced that she’s dropping out of the mayor’s race and will be seeking reelection to her city council seat.
If a group armed with NGP Van products knock at your door, you might want to open it and ask them some questions about yourself, your voting habits, or the voting habits of your friends. They’ll likely know it. NGP Van specializes in helping progressive campaigns and organizations leverage technology to meet their voter identification, contact and get out the vote goals. Obama swept the elections using the company’s tools. Republicans like to refer to it with awe in their voices as “data driven” campaigns. What it entails, however, is pretty simple. People knock on doors. They ask you questions. They then type the answers into a computer program. Wala! Alaska Democrats have been using the company’s products for years, even before the national Dems caught on. They helped get U.S. Sen. Mark Begich elected last time, and they plan to help again with new expanded products.
There will be a fundraiser for state Senate candidate Harry Crawford on Saturday May 10 at the home of Joanna Hubbard: 4221 Southpark Bluff Drive. More info here.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Wholesale rewrite and correction: The entry on NGP Van was changed significantly from its orginal.

More on Alaska’s lieutenant governor forum

Last night I wrote about Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan’s comments about union membership and slavery at the lieutenant governor’s forum on Monday sponsored by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. Below are a few more tidbits from the forum, which featured Democrats Alaska state Sen. Hollis French and Wasilla teacher Bob Williams on one side, and Republicans Sullivan and state Sen. Lesil McGuire on the other.

Despite public opinion polls that show broad public support, all four candidates said they were against legalizing marijuana.
French, Williams and McGuire oppose right-to-work legislation. Sullivan adamantly supports it.
The two Dems, as expected, are for repealing the oil tax legislation passed in 2013. Both Republicans were against repeal.
On prioritizing the three big projects: both McGuire and Sullivan put the large natural gasline first, the Knik Arm Bridge second and the Susitna dam last. French put the Susitna dam first, a bullet line second, and the Knik Arm Bridge last.

Best lines of the event:

From Bob Williams about the Anchorage Legislative Offices building: “Never before have we seen such a disconnect between our values and our actions… When we’re talking about a legislative palace…spending $1 million for furniture, $100,000 to design a furniture theme. My dad was a logger: We can do a furniture theme for 10 bucks. But when it comes to education, we say we don’t have the money…”
From Mayor Dan about where he sees the state in five years: “Lesil McGuire is back in the state Senate where she sponsors the Sullivan Teacher Initiative…President Rand Paul opens ANWR, armed with a Republican House and a Republican Senate….The Knik Arm Bridge is being built.” And the natural gas pipeline is under construction.
From Sen. Hollis French on where he sees the state in five years unless there’s a change in leadership: “In five years, there will be three or four half-built projects when we run out of savings.”
From Sen. Lesil McGuire on right-to-work legislation and the tension between Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan and the unions: “What we’ve seen at the local level — what’s happened — it’s been somewhat of a disaster here in Anchorage. When you go so far and start pushing almost a war, if you will, against the working men and women in this state.”

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Alaska Republican candidates make questionable remarks related to race

Republican candidates have made questionable remarks related to race at two different candidate forums in the last few days, including comparing union membership to slavery.

The first one was after a GOP Senate forum on Saturday, when candidate Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell used the widely disavowed Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy as a symbol for government overreach. He told Anchorage Daily News reporter Nat Hertz that although Bundy was problematic, he was “like Joe the Plumber.”

For a short time, Bundy was a hero among those who have fought against such overreach. When the federal government tried to make him pay for the 20 years that his cattle had been grazing on federal land, his supporters rode in on horses and brought guns. Fox News loved him. Right wing radio sang his praises. Then he began talking about his world view, including of race, and people didn’t love him much anymore. This is where he got “problematic.”

This is a truncated version of what he told a New York Times reporter about “the Negro:”

And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do? They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.

Hertz asked Treadwell about Bundy because of an allusion that Treadwell made about him in a speech at the forum. The racist comments got bigger headlines than Bundy’s original war against the feds. However, Treadwell, who had been following the story, told the ADN reporter that he wasn’t aware of the racist comments. “I don’t know what he said about race issues, and I don’t support that,” he told Hertz.

In a follow-up interview, Treadwell again said that he didn’t know about Bundy’s comments about race before referring to him, and that he didn’t support the rancher, but that he was nonetheless a symbol of a “sage brush rebellion” that’s brewing in the country over federal control of lands. If he were elected to the Senate, Treadwell said, wresting that control from the feds and putting it back into the hands of the state would be one of his top priorities.

Then, on Monday at a lieutenant governor’s forum, Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan compared being in a union to slavery.

In response to an audience question about right-to-work legislation, Sullivan said that he adamantly supported it. “We ended slavery a long time ago,” he said.

In an interview after the debate, Sullivan clarified his remarks. He said that when someone has to pay to get a job, referring to union dues, it’s “economic slavery.”

Right-to-work laws vary in the 24 states that have such laws, but they generally mean that employees can’t be required to join a labor union and pay dues to get a job that has been negotiated through labor agreements.

None of the three other candidates in the forum—Republican state Sen. Lesil McGuire, Democratic state Sen. Hollis French, and Wasilla teacher Bob Williams—support the legislation.

In any case, the comment indicates that Sullivan plans to take his battle with the unions with him on his statewide campaign. Anchorage-based Republican consultant Marc Hellenthal said that it’s a battle that will likely help him in the Republican primary, but could hurt him and Gov. Sean Parnell in the general.

As the Alaska Democratic Party pointed out in a press release, Alaska has the second-highest rate of union participation in the country.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Who’s spending for what: The latest in Alaska’s super-PAC world

Below is the most recent spend in the big spending world of super-PACs that are trying to influence Alaska’s U.S. Senate race. Below that is a partial list of independent groups registered to influence Alaska’s upcoming election.

So far, independent groups have reported to have spent more than $2.6 million on the federal race, and the oil industry and their allies have spent more than $8 million against the state-wide oil-tax repeal effort. (All that oil money doesn’t appear to be moving the needle so far, according to pollsters I’ve talked to. However, much of the money is for media that hasn’t been played yet.)

Most of the independent expenditure money is and will continue to go into television ads, which are charging as much as 10 times or more of what they charged in the 2012 election cycle. Remember, stations have to charge candidates the lowest fee they offer any commercial client for airtime, but federal law does not regulate how much stations can charge independent groups.

The cost of air time is rising by the week. American Crossroads’ pro-Sullivan for Senate ad featuring former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had a placement cost of $180,000 in late March. According to one source, that same ad buy three weeks later would have cost more than $300,000. You’ll likely not hear about this deluge of money to the television stations even as reporters diligently, and with a fair amount of concern, report on how much money is going into influencing elections.

Here is what’s been reported in the Senate race in the last few days:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, against the strong wishes of Anchorage Chamber President Andrew Halcro, reported spending $162,500 on its latest commercial supporting Senate candidate Dan Sullivan and attacking U.S. Sen. Mark Begich.
The American Hospital Association spent $183,815 on a pro-Begich ad, which hasn’t made much of a splash. I haven’t seen it or don’t know anybody who’s seen it.
The pro-Begich Put Alaska First super-PAC spent a whopping $346,000 on May 2, which puts their total spend at more than $1.5 million so far.

Here’s a partial list of the groups that have either already spent money or are planning to spend money to impact the elections in Alaska.

ABC Alaska PAC (anti-Begich)
Alaska Conservation Voters (pro-Begich)
Alaska Prosperity Project (unknown)
Alaska Right to Life – Victory Project (unknown – support Miller)
Alaska’s Energy – America’s Values (pro-Sullivan)
American Chemistry Council (pro–Begich)
American Crossroads (pro-Sullivan/anti-Begich)
American Energy Alliance (anti-Begich) Americans for Prosperity (anti-Begich)
Big Marijuana – Big Mistake (anti-marijuana)
Bristol Bay Forever (pro- ballot measure #4)
Bristol Bay Native Corporation (pro-ballot measure #4)
Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Council (pro-ballot measure #4)
Club for Growth (pro-Sullivan/anti-Begich)
Crossroads GPS (pro-Sullivan/anti-Begich)
Fairbanks Interior Workers (potential pro- Begich)
Freedom Partners (anti-Begich)
Freedom Frontiers (pro-Treadwell)
It’s Our Oil, Duh (pro-ballot measure #1)
Judicial Crisis Network (anti-Begich)
Make Alaska Competitive Committee (anti-ballot measure #1)
Mallott One-Alaska PAC (pro-Mallott)
National Association of Realtors (pro-Begich)
No On One (anti – ballot measure #1/ AOGA)
Put Alaska First PAC (pro-Begich)
Putting Alaska First Committee (AFL-CIO/pro-Begich)
Tea Party Patriots (pro-Miller)
U.S. Chamber of Commerce (pro-Sullivan/anti-Begich)
Vote Vets Action Fund (pro-Ballot Measure #4)
Walker for Alaska’s Future (pro-Walker)
We Are Alaska (anti-ballot measure #1/ The Alliance)
Yes On One (pro-ballot measure #1)
National Democrats (DGA, DSCC, et al)
National Republicans (RGA, RSCC, et al)
Alaska Republican Victory Fund
Alaska Democratic Victory Fund

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Bring on the ‘electile dysfunction’

It was inevitable, perhaps, that one of the three GOP Senate candidates and/or their surrogates would go there. Last week, adman Art Hackney, who runs the pro-GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan super PAC, released an anti-Begich radio ad taking on the Begich campaign’s recent commercials that show him all virile-like, zooming on a snowmachine through the North Slope, talking about the ground being penetrated, rigs that are going to be raised, oil that’s going to be pumped, homestyle country twang in the backdrop, music that Hackney’s ad says sounds straight out of an “erectile dysfunction” commercial.

There is a House candidate in Ohio who has an ad that goes after Speaker John Boehner for “electile” dysfunction but I’d venture to say that Hackney’s ad is the first that takes ED straight on. In any case, once you’ve heard Hackney’s ad, you’ll never see the Begich commercial, or that awful ED commercial, in the same way again.

Speaking of dysfunctional: Alaska’s Republican Party convention is in Juneau this weekend. Juneau? Why there? Don’t you have to buy a plane ticket to get there? Isn’t it expensive? For the masses?

Exactly. As many in the state know, when you really want to get things done far from the eyes of the masses — and still want whiskey on the rocks to cap off your evening — you head to Juneau.

Some might remember how the masses, loosely called the tea party but with a uniquely Alaska twist, took over the party in 2012. Others remember all too well how it ended at a year later, when the vice chair turned chair changed the locks on the doors to the Anchorage GOP headquarters, skipped town and threatened legal action if anyone tried to pull a Watergate break-in.

For some, as a description of one rowdy populist campaign put it, it seemed like “the galoots were loose.”

The new chair, Peter Goldberg, may not be a galoot. But he isn’t gaining points for style, I’m told. He’s prone to bellowing, “Attention,” drill sergeant style when people aren’t alert enough for his tastes. “He needs to chill out,” I was told. Perhaps he’s suffering from something, something that could be cured with some music, maybe something homestyle, with a country twang.

Relatively tea-party free, the convention began in earnest at 7:30 a.m. on Friday with a Senate forum including all three Republican candidates, one of whom has the firm backing of the “Republican establishment,” who really want Treadwell and Miller out of the race so they can get on with beating Begich. To greet the bleary audience was a poll on each chair, showing Dan Sullivan leading the pack, the intent of which was to emasculate Miller and Treadwell. Reports say that both, however, appeared to stand erect and hold their own. Miller declined to say whether he would support the Republican nominee if it weren’t him. The crowd gasped.

No matter what you think about him, Miller doesn’t need any country twang in the background.

In any event, Goldberg was re-elected as chair and vice chair will be Frank McQueary, whose birthday was Saturday.

Speaking of holding their own, women can do so also, until they don’t. Rep. Lindsey Holmes, a Democrat who chose to turn Republican, will not run again for her seat in West Anchorage. Word is all the criticism for the switch was too much for her. A shame. She was a good legislator who knew how to pass good bills.

And then there’s Clare Ross, who was running against Holmes. She decided to make the switch to run for Senate and leave the seat to Matt Claman before Holmes announced that she was bowing out. Pollster and political consultant Ivan Moore said that Ross did so at the bequest of “Democratic Party pawn makers,” except that, because he’s a Brit, it came out as “Democratic porn makers.” Another shame. She also would have made a good legislator,

And we’ll be minus yet another strong woman soon. Enstar CEO Colleen Starring will be leaving Alaska for a job in Canada. No word on her replacement. Starring started her career as a receptionist and worked her way up through the male-dominated world of utilities. She’s tough, smart and beautiful and she’ll be missed.

Also leaving the state is Alaska House Minority Spokesman Mark Gnadt, who’s headed for Switzerland to take a job with a conservation organization. He’s not as beautiful as Colleen but he’s great at what he does and he’ll also be missed.

Finally, the governor’s race is heating up. Two super PACs have filed with APOC to get involved in the Alaska governor’s race by boosting the candidacy of Democratic candidate Byron Mallott (Mallott-One Alaska PAC) and independent candidate Bill Walker (Walker for Alaska’s Future). To date, no one has created one to support the campaign of Gov. Parnell, who appears to be raising enough money on his own that he doesn’t need a surrogate speaking for him.

Not yet, anyway. The election is eons away, with lots of time ripe for some “electile” dysfunction.

***

This column first appeared in the Anchorage Daily News

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Loose Lips: The GOPer convention edition

Judy Eledge I wasn’t there, but from what I’ve been told, things weren’t nearly as exciting this year at the Republican Party’s convention as they have been in the past. This is good for the party faithful but not necessarily for writers. Nonetheless, here are few highlights:

Judy Eledge, pictured, was resplendent.
With the exception of the vice chair, all of the party officials were elected by unanimous consent. Peter Goldberg was reelected as chair. Frank McQueary got a birthday present in the form of being elected vice chair over Christina Hill. The secretary is Deborah Klebs and the assistant secretary is the Anchorage Daily News columnist Lynn Curry.
Probably the most buzz-worthy moment at the convention was when Joe Miller said that he refused to commit to support the Republican nominee if it weren’t him. The crowd gasped.
Convention delegates found an executive summary of a poll on their chairs Friday morning when they arrived for the GOP U.S. Senate candidates’ forum. The poll results showed Senate candidate Dan Sullivan with a 16 percent lead over Mead Treadwell and a 26 percentage point lead over Joe Miller. The idea, of course, was to deflate the other candidates before the start of the forum and let the party faithful know who the clear GOP leader appeared to be. However, 38 percent of primary voters were still undecided. The poll also showed Sullivan within the margin of error but down against U.S. Sen. Mark Begich by 2 percentage points.
The guy who works for the Democratic group American Bridge 21st Century was asked to leave the convention. The guy, who declined to give me his name last time I saw him, follows Dan Sullivan around like a pilot fish, camcorder in hand, just waiting for him to say something that will go viral and make the Rachel Maddow show. And we wonder why political discourse had been reduced to sound bites.
All but seven of the GOP conventioneers voted yes to the following question: “Do you want to take back OUR seat from Mark ‘Baggage’ Begich?” This led Alaska Public Media reporter Alexandra Gutierrez to wonder on twitter: Who are those seven people?
There goes the youth vote: About 70 percent of the GOP delegates voted against an amendment to strike anti-gay language from the party’s platform. Likewise, a resolution to come out against the marijuana ballot initiative passed with 75 percent of the delegates supporting it.
Opposition to repealing SB 21 and support for school choice were also rallying cries. They were mum on minimum wage and on the Pebble initiative.
In the wake of Art Hackney’s Super pac’s mention of erectile dysfunction, the Republican Party convention’s auction Friday evening netted $1,400 for Don Young’s calcified walrus penis. A pair of Ted Steven’s 1972 cuff links went for $2,500.
Lite gov candiates Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan and state Sen. Lesil McGuire both were reported to have done very well at their forum. Mayor Dan was funny and McGuire smart.
As Republicans were getting along in Juneau, Begich’s campaign had a party for the opening of his Anchorage office. About 100 people came and went. Many, presumably, were volunteers and supporters, but some were likely there for the free hotdogs and burgers, which were served up by Begich himself. Begich volunteers also gathered in five other communities across the state, and were video-conferenced in.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Senate poll: GOP candidate Sullivan ahead of primary pack, even with Begich

A new poll, first released at the Alaska Republican Party annual convention in Juneau, shows that GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan has a double-digit lead against the two other GOP contenders in the race, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and Joe Miller, with a large percent still undecided. It also finds that Alaska’s view of Sen. Mark Begich’s positive image has “tumbled” over the past months. As of the end of April when the poll was conducted, Begich was only two percentage points ahead of Sullivan in a general election.

The poll was conducted by Portland-based Moore Information, and was paid for by Sullivan. It was conducted April 27-28, in 500 live interviews on both landline and cell phone. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent. Moore is associated with Republicans and has a long history for polling for Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Don Young. The firm also polled for the late Sen. Ted Stevens.

The last time the firm polled early this year, Sullivan polled two percentage points behind Treadwell and ten points ahead of Joe Miller. By the end of April, however, 38 percent of primary voters were going to vote for Sullivan, while Treadwell would get 22 percent and Miller 12 percent. However, 29 percent of primary voters are still undecided, leaving lots of room for Treadwell and Miller to pick up support.

According to the poll, Begich’s positive image went from a net +17 positive to a net +5 today. “The more voters learn about Mark Begich and his ties to the Obama agenda, the less likely they are to hold a favorable impression of him and, conversely, the more likely to hold a negative opinion of him,” Moore’s Senior Vice President Hans Kaiser wrote in a narrative accompanying the poll.

Kaiser wrote that Begich’s vote on ObamaCare appears to be his most serious liability. Among undecided voters, 56 percent are less likely to vote for a candidate who supported Obamacare. More bad news for Begich: only 24 percent had a positive view of Obama while 63 percent had a negative view.

However, it’s impossible to say what those numbers really mean as the chart accompanying the poll didn’t show the total percentage points of undecided voters in the general election.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Holmes will not be seeking reelection to her House seat in West Anchorage

Anchorage Rep. Lindsey Holmes confirmed on Friday that she will not be seeking reelection to her House seat in West Anchorage.

“It was a hard decision because I love my job, and I feel really good about a lot of things I did as a legislator,” she said. Her heart, however, wasn’t 100 percent in it. She said she’s looking forward to working, spending time with her god kids, friends, and in the house that she loves.

Holmes switched from Democrat to Republican last year, and has received much criticism, and a recall effort, for doing so.

She doesn’t know what she’ll be doing now. She’s a lawyer and she’ll be looking for a job in the private sector, but she doesn’t have anything lined up.

As for party politics, she going to continue to be a Republican, and will help out Rep. Mia Costello in her run for state Senate, she said. She’d also like to help those who are working to oppose an oil tax repeal. She will not be supporting Matt Claman, the Democrat who is running for her seat.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandmacoyne@yahoo.com