Category Archives: Loose lips

Loose lips: Harmony for Veep. Miller’s peeps prep. Fleener likes apples? And more.

18955141_mAlaska Young Republicans have elected new officers. Ryan McKee, formerly a staffer for Rep. Bill Stoltze and now a campaign operative for Stampede Consulting, was elected president. Harmony Shields, the once relatively reserved and modest staffer for Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, now dons a Superwoman cape and was elected vice president.

Johnny Appleseed in Alaska? While most politicians tend to do all sorts of things to increase their name recognition, Craig Fleener, who has joined Bill Walker’s independent gubernatorial bid as his running mate, is doing things differently. He does have an official campaign Facebook page, but on his personal page, he uses the name “Johnny Appleseed.” Perhaps when he’s not campaigning, Fleener wanders the country dressed in rags, preaching the bible and handing out apples? Or maybe the resemblance lies in the voice? Appleseed’s was once described as “thrillin—strong and loud as the roar of wind and waves, then soft and soothing as the balmy airs that quivered the morning-glory leaves about his gray beard.” In any case, Fleener has to work on the beard part.

According to The Hill, former Alaskan Pete Rouse who has served in the White House as one of President Obama’s top advisers, is leaving the White House and is slated to join the D.C. law firm of Perkins Coie, which was Anchorage resident Brad Keithley’s former law firm.

Speaking of Brad Keithley: The buzz about him running for governor seems to have passed. At least I’m not hearing as much about it. If he does give it a shot, however, word is that the Libertarians would be open to having him on their ticket. Word also is that they would not be opposed to having Joe Miller on the ticket if he doesn’t win the Republican primary. Those who are working on his campaign, however, absolutely believe that it won’t come down to that.

Speaking of Joe Miller supporters: true believers in the Valley, including those who now and formerly belonged to the Conservative Patriots Group, are getting organized for a rare Sen. Mark Begich showing. Begich will be visiting the Matsu Senior Center in Palmer on Jan. 22  at 12 p.m 11:45 a.m.  An email sent by one of the true believers to the others said, ”Oh yeah, let’s pack the place.” As one writer put it when describing George Wallace’s swell, “the galoots are loose.” At the senior center, no less.

Today, Jan. 16, is Rep. Lynn Gattis’ birthday. She was born in 1957 and turns 57, which likely means something significant in astrological circles. I tried getting in touch with my Auntie Starla to ask her, but she was likely busy stirring a cauldron somewhere. So I went on line, where I found this description of Gattis: “You are playful yet ambitious. While security is extremely important to you, so is personal freedom and you have a very determined, self-centered streak. Your year will start out with others who are also self-centered, and you will fight with them sometimes, but because you go for the guts instead of the hair, you will always win. You will also win because when you have such fights, you do not go crying to Mike Chenault, who can’t stand when others do.”

Mysterious disappearance of the day: What happened to the not-so-nice comments that AFL-CIO leader Vince Beltrami left on Mayor Dan’s personal Facebook page?

UPDATE: Mystery solved: The posts were on Vince Beltrami’s page!

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com 

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Loose Lips: Parnell rakes it in, Alectra in the House (!), and other political tidbits

Loose LipsState candidates fundraising reports are due to APOC by mid February and will include all monies raised in 2013 as well as for January 2014. Pundits are guessing that Gov. Parnell will likely report between $300,000 – $400,000 and that his two opponents, Byron Mallott and Bill Walker, combined won’t equal Parnell’s totals. Such is the power of incumbency in a state with $500 per-calendar year campaign limits. The limits were enacted in 1996, when Democrats thought it was a really good idea to handicap their big donors, the one fundraising advantage they had. They were like, we’ll be the party of ethics! Republicans, who were working hard, and succeeding, at building the party’s registration, were like, you take the ethics, we’ll take the money for the people and we’ll win! And they did, and continue to do so.

Voted the best name for incoming legislative staffer: “Alectra,” who reportedly will work for House Majority Leader Lance Pruitt. Speaking of legislative staff comings-and-goings, there’ll be at least one legislative office that has had 100 percent turnover since last year.

And then there’s the true American hero joining the ranks of legislative staffers. Senate President Charlie Huggins, co-chair of the Alaska Legislative Veterans Caucus, recently added Eric Hollen to his staff as a veterans affairs specialist. Hollen was a ranger in the U.S. Army and later, after sustaining a life-altering injury, went on to represent the United States in shooting at the 2012 Paralympic Games.

Quote of the day courtesy of Jimmy Fallon:  “Alaska may legalize marijuana. Which would bring a whole new meaning to the term, “Baked Alaska.”  Speaking of pot, Chris Rempert, from the Marijuana Policy Project, has moved to Alaska to run the campaign. Let’s give him a the usual big Alaska welcome by telling him we don’t like Outsiders.

Irony alert of the day: Shalon Harrington, who works for Mayor Dan Sullivan and traveled with him on the now controversial D.C. trip, used to work as Sen. Lesil McGuire’s chief of staff when she was Shalon Szymanski.  Both are vying for the Republican lieutenant governor nomination. Using some mysterious formula, Sullivan recently paid the city back $214 for the trip. He said he was “going the extra mile,” to do things right. $214? 2014? If some opponent can’t make something of that, then we all deserve to remain perpetually baked in Alaska.

Correcting hyperbole: In an earlier version, I called Mayor Dan Sullivan’s trip “infamous.” It’s not infamous yet, as was pointed out. It’s merely controversial.

Correction: An earlier version of this post spelled Alectra’s name as “Electra.” And here I thought it couldn’t get any better. 

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

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