Author Archives: Amanda

Rail link from Point MacKenzie to Houston well underway

As the state is struggling with declining budgets, as social services and teachers are being cut, the 32-mile rail extension between Point MacKenzie to Houston is well underway and rails are being laid on the track. The port is envisioned to serve hypothetical mines, a hypothetical natural gasline and a hypothetical cement plant in Fairbanks. According to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, the work is over two-thirds funded and under construction. The Mat-Su borough has already received $171 million for the work, and but still needs $101.5 million to finish it. “The project includes six bridges and crosses enough trails that a $600,000 contract was awarded for just to work on trails,” the paper reports. The borough asked for $60 million in the next state budget. Parnell’s budget contains $5 million for the project. Continue reading →

Quote of the day: Coghill on family planning

“Is the government the only one that can ever council people and would Planned Parenthood be the place we would want to send them for planning purposes? Seeing as how their main goal is both family planning for contraception and abortions which to me heads in the direction of population control rather than family planning.”–Sen. John Coghill in the House Finances Committee on Tuesday, responding to a question about family planning money that was stripped out of a bill that would limit funding of abortions for poor women.

The money that was stripped would expand access to low-income men and women in order to prevent pregnancies. According to APRN, the federal government would pay 90 percent of the money but the state would have to chip in $1.4 million in the next two years. Continue reading →

Parnell misses bipartisan ObamaCare talk at NGA

Gov. Sean Parnell skipped the winter meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington D.C. held this past weekend. Had he been there, he would have heard governors from both sides of the aisle saying that although many have problems with ObamaCare, it’s the law of the land and is here to stay.

According to the AP:

(G)overnors from both parties say a full repeal of the law would be complicated at best, if not impossible, as states move forward with implementation and begin covering millions of people — both by expanding Medicaid rolls for lower-income residents or through state or federal exchanges that offer federal subsidies to those who qualify… Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican, said many governors still have concerns about the program, but outright repeal would be “complicated.”

The meeting wrapped up on Monday. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that more than 4 million Americans have signed up for ObamaCare since October. Continue reading →

Koch brothers continue attack on Begich after North Pole refinery shutdown

Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers’ funded political group, pulled a $100,000 ad buy against U.S. Sen. Mark Begich after it was announced that Koch Industries was closing the Flint Hills Refinery in North Pole Alaska earlier this month. Perhaps attacking Begich for hurting the economy after it announced it was shuttering a mainstay of Alaska’s Interior economy didn’t make for good optics.

The refinery has left about 300 households and businesses with tainted water, and a sulfolane plume that’s 3 miles long and 2.5 miles wide. About 80 people who worked at the refinery are losing their jobs, and other entities, including the Alaska Railroad, also relied heavily on the refinery and are now considering layoffs.

Apparently, AFP is counting on the short memory of Alaskans, because the ads are back. This one, like a prior ad, first goes after Begich on healthcare and then jumps into the meat: his alleged support of a carbon tax. According to AFP, such a tax would cost the average family $2,000 a year and cost thousands of Alaskans their jobs.

Let’s get this straight: Begich has said publicly that he opposes a carbon tax. He did, however, vote on a non-binding amendment that said if such a tax were passed, revenue from it would be “returned to the American people in the form of federal deficit reduction, reduced federal tax rates, cost savings or other direct benefits.” The vote would not have created or defeated a carbon tax. Begich also voted against an amendment that would have required a vote of three fifths of the Senate to approve a carbon tax. That, vote, however, was intended to send a message to Republicans about procedure. It was not about the carbon tax.

The one thing that appears to be true in this whole situation is that Flint Hills was repeatedly warned about the sulfolane plume throughout the years. It failed to do anything about it. Now, hundreds of North Pole residents can’t drink from their faucets and at least 80 people are out of a job. And it’s unclear if Flint Hills or the state will shoulder the costs of the cleanup.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Bill gives private businesses a 15 percent raise paid for with state funds

A bill introduced by Anchorage Republican Sen. Cathy Giessel would give private businesses which expedite Department of Motor Vehicle services a pay raise of 15 percent from state revenues. If it passes, SB 127 would cost the state at least $1.2 million a year.

The companies say they need the extra money to process credit cards and to expand their businesses. Critics say that the state would be giving additional money to businesses for doing work that’s already profitable. The state DMV is neutral on the bill. Currently, there are eleven businesses that contract with the state for this service in Alaska, not all of whom appear to have valid Alaska business licenses.

Since 2000, the state has allowed private companies to provide titles, transfer of titles, and commercial services historically done through DMV. They set up offices away from DMVs and the lines are much shorter. The companies provide the paper work, but DMV still does the processing.

Such services provide convenience for consumers. In exchange, the companies have been allowed to charge whatever the market will bear for the convenience, above and beyond the standard DMV fees. They’re also allowed to charge for things, like handicap license plates, that the state doesn’t charge for.

In fiscal year 2013, they collected more than $11.4 million in fees from 193,697 transactions.

Fees charged to the consumers can vary dramatically depending on the business and the service. One of the largest of such businesses, Alaska Tags & Titles, processed 341,000 transactions from 2004 until 2013. According to legislative testimony, the company charges consumers $20 for a registration renewal, $2 for a transfer of title, and $30 for commercial fees.

This is a service fee above and beyond what the state charges.

If the bill is passed, in addition to those service fees, companies will get an additional $2 for a duplicate registration, $5 for a duplicate tag or plate, and $115 for a registration for transfer of title from the state, according to Melissa Cucullu, the general manager of Alaska Title and Transfer.

That money will come from the general fund.

Giessel said that it would encourage more private sector involvement and would save the state money, though she has not offered any documentation for the latter claim.

The bill passed out of State Affairs Committee and was referred to Finance.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Quote of the Day: Gay marriage ban is ‘blot’ on state constitution

“We have a blot, a stain upon our state constitution, a blot that [this resolution] seeks to erase. We can wait, if you wish for the day, and I think the day is coming soon when the U.S. Supreme Court rules that state prohibitions on same sex marriage are inconsistent with freedom, with justice, with liberty and equality. Better yet I believe it should be erased by our own actions, by passing this resolution and submitting it to the voters.” –Alaska state Sen. Hollis French on the Senate floor, speaking on a Senate Joint Resolution to allow voters to vote on amending the state constitution to allow for same sex marriage. Continue reading →

Loose Lips: Fundraisers for the politically confused, speed-dating and the six year itch

Loose Lips Mark your calendars: next Friday is the perfect evening for the politically confused. Neighbors Bill Sheffield, former governor and current Railroad board member, and Mark Pfeffer, the politically active developer most recently known for his role in the Anchorage legislative office deal, are hosting side-by-side fundraisers for Alaska’s junior and senior senators. Begich’s event has a pay-for-access hour for the deep pocketed followed by an event for everyone else at $100 each. The hosts are planning a snow shoveled walkway between the houses for those guests interested in making it a bipartisan evening.

Politico is calling Jim Messina the Democratic version of Karl Rove. Messina, former campaign manager to President Barack Obama, is using his long ties to the Democratic Party, political operatives and donors to build “a political fiefdom.” Some Alaskans will remember Messina from the time he spent in the state in 2004 trying to get former Gov. Tony Knowles elected to the U.S. Senate. It was a tight race, but U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski ultimately prevailed, despite the fact that she had been appointed to her seat by her increasingly unpopular senator-turned-governor father. According to an interview with High Country News, Messina still has “nightmares about that loss. I have replayed it several hundred times in my head,” he said.

Gov. Sean Parnell’s administration has four commissioners that need to be confirmed before the adjournment of this year’s legislative session. Consequently, those commissioners from Revenue, Public Safety, Administration and Natural Resources are spending considerable time in the Capitol going door-to-door visiting legislators to make nice and insure their confirmations. Around the Capitol it’s called speed dating.

Senate candidate Mead Treadwell gave a long, four part interview to a reporter writing for a publication called State of Reform, where he talks about repealing Obamacare, his support of Gov. Sean Parnell’s decision not to expand Medicaid, the death of his father, and lackluster fundraising compared to another GOP candidate Dan Sullivan, who is from Ohio. “The fact of the matter is, we certainly have a lead on him at home. I haven’t done as well with the business community in Ohio as Dan Sullivan has, but I have done very well with the business community in Alaska.” In the last FEC report, Treadwell had about $95,000 cash on hand. His campaign debts totaled more than $141,000, including money that Treadwell lent his campaign. So it appears that he was operating in the red. Sullivan’s campaign says that it has about $1.1 million cash on hand. Begich has $2.8 million.

According to Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, Democrats are headed toward a tough midterm election this fall — and nowhere will it be worse than at the state legislative level. Political junkies are familiar with the so-called “six year itch” effect in federal elections. If you’re not, it goes like this: The party of a re-elected president tends to get walloped in the following midterm election.

A new lobbying firm with deep Alaska roots was recently formed in D.C. Capitol Strategies, headed up by longtime former Fairbanks resident and former Ted Stevens staffer Wally Burnett, appears to be starting off strong. It already boasts 18 clients, including Boeing, Cook Inlet Region Inc, Raytheon Missile Systems and Washington State Department of Transportation, to name a few.

The National Organization for Marriage, the group that’s fighting same sex marriage, has been using Alaska’s Attorney General Michael Gheraty as a model for AGs who are standing up to“judges across the country.” In an interview with the Associated Press, Geraghty said that although other AG’s across the country are calling a ban on same sex marriage unconstitutional, he will continue to support Alaska’s Constitution, which forbids same sex marriage. The organization is calling on its members to send a ‘thank you’ note to Gheraty “for his commitment to the rule of law and the sovereign voice of the people of Alaska.”

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

State campaign restriction being questioned by both sides

A law restricting gubernatorial candidates from soliciting or accepting campaign donations from anybody who lives or happens to be in Juneau during the legislative session is being questioned by gubernatorial candidates from both sides of the aisle.

The law was written in 1996, along with a host of other laws that restricted campaign finances, including limiting donations from individuals from $1000 to $500 a year, limiting party donations, restricting lobbyists’ contributions, and banning union and businesses from directly contributing to a candidate.

Juneau-based lawyer Bruce Botelho, who is campaigning for Democratic candidate Byron Mallott, wrote to the Alaska Public Offices Commission that given the Alaska state Supreme Court’s ruling in another part of the law, the law as it pertained to Mallott appeared to be unconstitutional. Given that other ruling, he asked for an advisory opinion as to whether or not the law was going to be enforced.

Botelho was the Alaska state Attorney General under then Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles when the campaign finance laws were passed. Knowles supported the laws.

The Commission is expected to issue its opinion this week.

Since the legislative session began, it appears that about 15 Juneau residents have contributed to Mallot’s campaign, giving a total of about $3,000. The campaign said that all such donations were forwarded to Anchorage and that the campaign had not asked for donations in Juneau since the session.

Still, the Commission could rule that the donations have to be returned.

Bill Walker, who is running as an independent, had a gathering in Juneau earlier this session. He was not aware of the law. He said he received about three contributions during that gathering and that he would return those contributions.

Campaign restrictions already make it daunting for non-incumbents to build the kind of war chest they need to compete, and this law makes it all the more challenging, particularly for Mallott, who is from Juneau and presumably has a deep bench of support there.

The law also makes it tough for incumbents. In an electronic age with the regular use of Facebook and email solicitations, how do you keep track of who is contributing from Juneau?

In order to try and comply with the law, Jerry Gallagher, who is Gov. Sean Parnell’s campaign manager, posed this and other questions to APOC. In the meantime, Parnell’s campaign has included the following disclosure on its email solicitations:

Under recent advice from the Alaska Public Offices Commission, we are required to tell you that if you receive this email, and you are in the City and Borough of Juneau, you may not contribute in Juneau while the Legislature is in session.

Mallott’s campaign said that it will also include that disclosure in its campaign solicitations.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

The weekly wrap in Alaska politics: School of hard knocks, sucker punches, and Colorado cigarettes

Below is an excerpt from my weekly column in the Anchorage Daily News:

Are advocates of changing our constitution to allow for vouchers getting a lesson in the school of hard knocks? “Kids not Cuts” signs are sprouting like weeds. Protests all across the state are being organized. Supporters are working the phones, hard.

But fear not: The education privateers have a plan, says a trusted source who overheard two of them discussing the issue at a Midtown sandwich shop. The plan involves using capital projects to land the vote of a certain rural Democratic lawmaker.

Vouchers might not be a bad thing, and no doubt for democratic reasons we should allow the vote and the conversation. But if the people who’d talk loudly in a Midtown sandwich shop are involved, I’d rather entrust the education of our youths to any number of tenured, burned-out, atheistic teachers.

Frankly, the kids seem plenty all right to me, at least if UAA’s debate team is any kind of barometer. On Tuesday, the team took on the thorny gas line issue before Commonwealth North at the Hilton Anchorage, schooling about 100 community and business leaders on whether or not the state should invest in the line. Wiley Cason, the future governor of Alaska, and Matthieu Ostrander argued against investment. Amy Parrent and Jonathan Taylor argued for it.

Legislators have spent countless hours and millions of dollars with consultants trying to explain the pros and the cons of a state investment in the pipeline. Who knew that all they needed was the UAA debate team?

Judy Brady, Karen Hunt and Fran Ulmer were the judges. By a very slight margin, the no-investment team won. What probably cinched it was Cason’s line that the state spending its saving trying to get into the gas business “fills me with dread,” particularly given the state’s history of trying to act like the private sector.

Well, now that you put it that way, you could hear the crowd thinking.

Read the rest here.

It’s Kito!

Surprising some, including me, Gov., Sean Parnell picked Sam Kito III to fill Rep. Beth Kerttula’s Juneau seat. Kito is currently a lobbyist working with his father Sam Kito, who is the longest serving lobbyist in Alaska. He has also worked as a civil engineer in the past.

The choice was between Kito, Jesse Kiehl, and Catherine Reardon. Kiehl currently serves on the Juneau Assembly and is an aide to Sen. Dennis Egan. Reardon is also a legislative aide to Rep. Andy Josephson and has served in the past as vice chair of the Alaska Democratic Party and as a division director in the Department of Commerce.

In an earlier column, I had predicted that Parnell would choose Reardon. Not to take anything away from the other two, but I had heard that Kiehl was probably the first choice of the Democrats and considered to be the most popular with the electorate. That, I said, was exactly the reason why Parnell would reject him.

And despite what others said, I didn’t believe that Parnell would chose a lobbyist, if nothing else but because one of Parnell’s major strengths is that he’s perceived as an ethical leader. Appointing a lobbyist to the Legislature undercuts that perception, however unfair it might be. Kitto is known as smart and capable. But the optics just aren’t good. Expect a fierce primary battle, and expect Parnelll’s name to get some mud on it in the process.

Here’s Parnell’s press release in full.

Governor Sean Parnell today appointed Sam Kito III to fill the House District 32 seat that was held by Representative Beth Kerttula.

“Sam has a positive vision for creating a long-term future in Alaska for our children,” Governor Parnell said. “He also has a wealth of experience in transportation planning and economic development that will allow him to hit the ground running. I am pleased he has accepted the position.”

Kito is a lifelong Alaskan with more than 24 years of experience in engineering, planning, commercial fishing, and government relations. He has worked throughout Alaska on engineering, transportation and community planning projects. Kito is the owner of KCS, LLC. He previously served as a facilities engineer for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, and as a transportation development manager for the City and Borough of Juneau. He also worked for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities as a special assistant and legislative liaison.

Kito received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with a minor in mathematics from the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is a registered professional engineer in Alaska and Washington.

Governor Parnell expressed his appreciation for the many qualified applicants who put their names forward in the interest of serving the State of Alaska and the constituents of House District 32.

Kito must be confirmed by a majority of House Democrats.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Quotes of the day: Nugent, Palin and Perry

“I have obviously failed to galvanize and prod, if not shame enough Americans to be ever vigilant not to let a Chicago communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel like the ACORN community organizer gangster Barack Hussein Obama to weasel his way into the top office of authority in the United States of America,” – Ted Nugent, last month

“(C)heck the box for another good conservative – Greg Abbott for Governor of Texas. If he is good enough for Ted Nugent, he is good enough for me,” – Sarah Palin, on Feb. 19.

“I’ve got a problem with someone calling the president a ‘mongrel,” — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, on Feb. 20. Continue reading →

Billionaire political players eyeing Alaska

New York Republican billionaire Paul Singer is beginning to make his mark in Republican politics, and Politico reports that he’s already begun taking an interest in Alaska by donating to U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan and holding fundraisers for him and other Republican Senate candidates.

Singer, who made his money in hedge funds, like many of his fellow mega rich donors, is for low taxes, and less federal government regulation. However, he diverges wildly from many of them on social issues. He’s aggressively pro-gay rights and pro-immigration and has given money and organized events to tout both of those causes. Continue reading →

Quote of the day: Murkowski okay with civil disobedience

“If the people of King Cove believe perhaps rightly so that civil disobedience is what it will take to get a level of attention to this, you’re not going to find me standing in the way.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski talking to reporters after her address to the Alaska state Legislature about King Cove’s fight with the Interior Department to be allowed to build a small gravel road to Cold Bay, about 22 miles away. Read about the road here and here.

Independent gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker’s campaign report

There must have been something wrong with my eyes last night when I was searching through APOC for campaign report numbers, because I missed independent candidate Bill Walker’s numbers. In any case, Walker raised $202,629, of which $29,000 is his own money. He spent $77,952 leaving him with $124,677, a respectable amount for a non-incumbent independent.

In comparison, the Democrat in the race, Byron Mallott, raised an impressive $234,000. However, $40,000 of that came from the Democratic Party, and he spent $188,136 and owes $9,633. This leaves him with only $36,580 to spend.

Gov. Sean Parnell raised $407,253 and only spent $76,220.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Fracas in Legislature over online notices

A bill that would put public notices online, and would decrease the ad revenue of newspapers, has gotten an inordinate amount of attention. It’s become such a hot-button that the bill was pulled off the floor and sent back to House Rules, where bills like this go to die.

A little background: As it is, state agencies and some local governments are required to publish some legal notices, such as meetings, foreclosures, and certain court notices. They do so often in their local newspapers. A bill introduced by Rep. Mike Hawker would allow certain notices, such as housing foreclosure notices, to be put online. Legal notices from state agencies would not be affected, but some of those agencies would be allowed to put some reports, like annual reports, online instead of in print. Allowing Anchorage to put foreclosure notices online would save the city about $20,000, the muni said. Annual reports cost the state about $1.6 million in 2011. Both Anchorage and the Alaska Municipal League wrote letters in support of the bill.

It’s pretty innocuous on the face of it. However, if it passed and worked well, it would likely lead to all state agency notices bypassing newspapers. Then, the situation wouldn’t be so innocuous and it would very much effect the revenue of newspapers.

At a press conference, Anchorage Daily News reporter Rich Mauer accused Hawker of introducing the bill in order to seek retribution on the paper for its coverage of Hawker’s roll in the Legislative Office Building. Hawker called the charged ludicrous.

Rep. Ben Nageak of Barrow, who also supported the bill, was also accused of trying to get retribution on the Daily News, something that he denied also. Jenny Canfield, a Juneau Empire reporter got caught in the mess and was fired.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com