Category Archives: news

Reactions to the death of journalist Bob Tkacz

As many in Alaska’s small media and political circles know, journalist Bob Tkacz was found dead in his office in Juneau on Tuesday morning. Foul play is not suspected. Tkacz was a staple in the Capitol building. He had been covering the Legislature for 33 years, most recently for his own newsletter called Laws of the SEA. He was always generous with his time and knowledge to Juneau newbies and he always asked some of the toughest questions at press conferences. Public media KTOO has a full account here. Below are some reactions:

From Coast Alaska News:

We’ve just learned of the death of longtime Southeast Alaska journalist Bob Tkacz. He was a kick-ass reporter who never, ever shied away from asking the hard questions. Bob worked for the Petersburg Pilot newspaper and KTOO radio and published Laws of the Sea, about commercial fishing and the seafood industry. He also freelanced for numerous other fishing publications. His work appeared in Agence France-Presse, the Alaska Journal of Commerce and High Times, among others. He grew up and attended college in Ohio. We’ll miss Bob.

Gov. Sean Parnell:

Sandy and I were sad to hear that Bob Tkacz had passed away earlier this week. As a longtime member of the Capitol press corps, his absence will be felt by many. Bob’s persistence and understanding of Alaska government and issues will be missed. We extend our condolences to Bob’s family and friends, as well as his colleagues in the press.

Sen: Hollis French:

Bob was an institution in the Capitol press corps.  He brought a unique candor and distinctly direct approach to reporting.  He was a friend to Alaska and his presence will be sorely missed,” said Senate Minority Leader Hollis French (D-Anchorage).

Rep. Les Gara:

Bob always cared about getting to the truth and was an absolute – and absolutely fair – bulldog about it. His loss is sad for those who cared about open, accountable government.

Rep. Geran Tarr:

From years as a staffer to my freshman term as a legislator, I admired Bob’s attention to detail and commitment to making sure the public knew what was happening. He will be sorely missed in the Capitol halls.

 

Facebooktwittermail

Crossroads brings VA scandal to Alaska Senate campaign

The ad below by Crossroads GPS, one of the groups founded by GOP strategist Karl Rove, brings the Veterans Affairs mess to the Alaska Senate campaign. The ad, which began airing in Alaska on Wednesday, says that Begich, who sits on the Veterans Affairs Committee, hasn’t done enough to fix the problems with the VA system. The ad was released on the same day as a devastating preliminary report by the Veterans Affairs inspector general which found that vets in Arizona waited on average 115 days, which ran counter to reports that they were getting help sooner.

The inspector general, however, said that it was premature to link allegations that dozens of vets died waiting for care. The probe has expanded from 26 facilities to 42. So far at least, it appears that Alaska’s VA system has been spared from the problems plaguing other systems across the country.

GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan called for the firing of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki earlier this month and again on Wednesday.

“The newly-released Inspector General report further confirms that the disgraceful failures at the Veterans Administration are systemic and require accountability and a change in administration,” he said, noting that none of the Democrats who sit on the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs have called for Shinseki’s firing.

In any case, the Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) told CNN on Wednesday that the Crossroads ad was “not appropriate,” and that the issue was a bipartisan one that shouldn’t be used in campaigns.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Facebooktwittermail

Official says rollout of pot legalization in Colorado ‘extremely smooth’

The campaign to legalize pot in Alaska is highlighting comments made by Ron Kammerzell, deputy senior director of enforcement at the Colorado Department of Revenue, who said in a recent interview that rules governing the state’s recent legalization of pot “have performed pretty well thus far.” Kammerzell told Vox that those who have predicted post-legalization chaos have proven to be wrong.

“(T)he average person would say it was much ado about nothing,” Kammerzel said, referring to pre-legalization concerns. “I would say that the rollout was extremely smooth, the sky hasn’t fallen like some had predicted, and we’re moving forward and trying to fine tune this regulatory model.”

A Quinnipiac University Poll  poll by shows that by a margin of 52 to 38 percent, Colorado voters believe that legalizing marijuana has been good for Colorado.

The poll and the comments by Kammerzel and others in Colorado, including the governor, run counter the narrative being created by the campaign that’s fighting legalization.

The campaign, “Big Marijuana. Big Mistake,” has portrayed Colorado’s experience as a dangerous, chaotic mess that voters regret.

It’s not been all smooth in Colorado, however, There has been an uptick in emergency room visits. So-called “edibles” have been a particular problem. A handful of children have gotten their hands on goods, baked with pot, and two recent deaths have been attributed to them.

The legalization question will be on the general election ballot in November.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com 

Facebooktwittermail

Begich mocks GOP candidate Sullivan in new ad

Of all the ads so far attacking U. S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan, this one, from Sen. Mark Begich himself, is the most biting and probably the most effective.

Some background: Sullivan recently released an ad where he stands atop the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center and says that Alaska needs “real results, not just talk.” The issue: the convention center was built while Begich was Anchorage mayor, and Begich touts it as one of his biggest achievements. Hence the ad. Ouch.

 

Facebooktwittermail

New Sullivan ad touts Cook Inlet gas

Below is U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan’s latest ad focusing on natural gas production in the Cook Inlet. In the ad, Sullivan is taking credit for helping bring to life what was considered a “dead” basin. “Companies were leaving. Energy production was declining” he says. “But instead of giving up, we stood strong and turned this basin into a source of new energy for Alaska. Creating jobs and opportunity, increasing investment in energy security for Alaskans.”

All of that is true, technically. There is a lot of optimism about future gas supplies, and much of the reason for the optimism results from a bill, penned with Sullivan’s help, in 2010 that gave generous tax incentives to companies to explore for gas in the basin. That said, as of yet, there’s been no overall net increase in the production in the Inlet. In fact, from 2003 to 2010, production has dropped nearly in half, from about 202 million MCF to 130 million MCF, according to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. In 2013, it dropped to a precariously low 107 million MCF. However, there is a tremendous amount of activity in the Cook Inlet that wasn’t there before 2010. And going from exploration to production can take years.

Facebooktwittermail

Candidates gather in Wasilla for Alaska Republican Assembly convention

There’s going to be a time, I predict sooner rather than later, when reasonable Republicans aren’t going to be able to sit through a speech like the one given at the Alaska Republican Assembly convention in Wasilla by Assembly President Sharron Angle, the Nevada politician who ran for Senate in 2010.

“One out of every six bundlers on the Democratic side is homosexual,” she told the 150 or so people at the Wasilla Sports Complex on Saturday. “Are you starting to see the trend? If we want to stop their agenda we have to stop their money,” she said.

One day reasonable Republicans in the room will get up and walk out, in the same way they’d walk out if she substituted “black” or “Hispanic” for “homosexual. “

They’re not there yet, however. We’re not there yet. And most of the politicians and want-to-be politicians who showed for the much hyped Assembly meeting on Saturday sat safely behind their tables. Among the attendees: Reps. Bill Stoltze, Lynn Gattis, Shelley Hughes, Wes Keller, and Lora Reinbold. Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan worked the room. Sen. Lesil McGuire made an appearance, as did Russ Millette, the former GOP chair who just announced that he was running for governor as a Republican. Bill Walker had a booth, manned by his running mate Craig Fleener. Anand Dubey, who’s running for state House in West Anchorage, and John Cox, a candidate for the U.S. House, were there. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan also had a booth. Mead Treadwell had a presence. Joe Miller was there, getting the most shout-outs from the speakers.

Most of them sat or stood around the edges, chatting with occasional passersby, and occasionally even rolling their eyes at some of the speakers’ more fulsome pronouncements. None of them, however, left. The people in the room represented a slice of the electorate that they’re going to need in in the primary, and they can’t afford to offend them.

The Alaska Republican Assembly is a member of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, a group that’s been around since the 1950s. Its profile has risen with the Tea Party’s profile in the last few years — the Tea Party before there was a Tea Party. It considers itself the Republican Wing of the Republican Party.

The precursor to the National Federation of Republican Assemblies was formed in California in the 1930s and spread to Arizona, claiming success in getting both Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater elected in those states. In those years they were known as the “Young Turks.” Still Turks today, perhaps. But young, not quite so applicable these days, as anyone who has recently attended a Tea Party rally can attest.

At any rate, it was certainly a greying crowd at the Wasilla Sports Complex, with the exception of Mead Treadwell’s volunteers. Somehow Treadwell manages to attract a kind of young, well-groomed volunteer who calls to mind tennis matches and 5 o’clock cocktails on the porch overlooking an emerald green lawn.

But on Saturday, they weren’t on that porch. They were in Wasilla, wearing neon reflective shirts with Treadwell’s name written across them, listening to Sharron Angle talk about the gay agenda, and the profitable “baby killing industries,” which she continually repeated, and which, because the acoustics weren’t good, came out as ‘baby killing in the streets.”

You can say a lot about Sharron Angle, but at least she doesn’t yell. Two of the other keynote speakers did a lot of that. For hours. God. Guns. Socialism. Obama.

Richard Mack, a sheriff from Arizona, yelled about how Alaska should be able to elect sheriffs. Right now!!!

“Are you a David?” he yelled. “Do you have the courage to go against the Goliath?… Did you know that gun control is against the law?… How many God given rights are in the First Amendment?”

“Five!” he yelled.

Ted Cruz’s father Pastor Rafael rounded out the afternoon. Like the sheriff, the senior Cruz’s voice rose. But the sheriff’s shouts seemed aimed at hitting you, individually, in your gut. The senior Cruz’s voice was the voice of stern pastors everywhere, the one that rips right through you, through the walls, into some land beyond that only they envision.

“Nobody is taking my gun or my bible,” he shouted. “Vote according to principle.”

He talked about his son Ted, and how Ted went to Washington “not to compromise but to fight for our freedoms.”

While in Alaska, he was going to visit other men of God, to try to enlist them in the effort to “wake up pastors that are hiding behind their pulpits,” and won’t tell their people the truth. He’s going to tell them that much like the frog in the warm pot of water, “You’re being boiled to death because of your complacency.”

A straw poll was taken at the end of the day. The winners: Gov. Sean Parnell for governor. Joe Miller for Senate. John Cox for Congress. Mayor Dan Sullivan for lieutenant governor. Ted Cruz for president.

Alaska Republican Assembly will officially endorse sometime before the primary.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Correction: The initial post misspelled Sharron Angle’s name. 

Facebooktwittermail

Loose Lips: Kissing Stoltze’s ring, Mayor Dan’s got signs, Treadwell got wind?

feminism

  • I wasn’t there, but I hear that more than 150 of the Valley’s political elite and community activists turned out for Rep. Bill Stoltze’s Senate campaign kick-off on Thursday night in Wasilla. Valley politicians who didn’t come sent emissaries. Ben Sparks, who is the campaign manager for GOP Senate contender Dan Sullivan was there. The new RNC operatives, the Mat-Su Field Coordinator Paul Cason was there, straight from wherever RNC operatives come. Local hockey legend Steve MacSwain was there. Palmer councilwoman Edna DeVries Armstrong, who has endorsed Stoltze, showed. Noel Woods. Benny Cottle. A whole gaggle of businessmen came to kiss the ring. Sen. Lesil McGuire was there and she brought with her all of her personal political magnetism. Stoltze doesn’t have that kind of magnetism. But he makes up for it by tirelessly working for his constituents and through sheer Valley-type ruthlessness. Expect a bruising battle between him and Palmer Mayor DeLena Johnson, whom he campaigned for in her mayoral run. Word is that he feels betrayed because she knew he was eyeing the seat.
  • Speaking of McGuire: Word is that her former husband Tom Anderson is no longer working with her. Hackney & Hackney have taken over.
  • Signs of the election. Large 4 x 8 signs touting Dan Sullivan for Lt. Governor are sprouting. Expect to see a lot more. Rumor has it that the mayor is working with the best GOP sign guy in the state, Joe Law, who’s been the GOP’s go-to sign guy for years and has a great reputation for securing locations, getting the signs up and keeping them up. Word is that he’ll be putting up 250 of these large signs throughout Southcentral.
  • DNR Dan Sullivan is off somewhere this weekend as a Marine reservist, kicking down doors. It’s got something to do with urban warfare, which might put him in good stead for campaigning in Anchorage. If he ever gets around to campaigning in Anchorage.
  • New Sullivan staffers: Thomas Reiker has joined the Sullivan for Senate campaign’s communications team. Prior to joining Sullivan’s campaign, he worked in the NRCC’s general counsel’s office. He has also worked as a legislative aide in Juneau. Long time Juneau school teacher, recently retired, Ken Kelsch is slated to be the coordinator for the campaign’s Juneau operation.
  • Mead Treadwell is heading to the Kodiak Crabfest to talk fish. Anyone else feel a second wind coming from his campaign? Or is he just filling the vacuum that nature abhors?
  • Independent gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker will also be in Kodiak eating with the fishes, not sleeping with them, like Luca Brasi.
  • Meanwhile, Mark Begich is ubiquitous. Close your eyes. Count to three. Open them. Hello Senator! Women for Begich. Vets for Begich. Alaska Natives for Begich. Pilots for Begich. I won’t be surprised before it’s over that there will be Bike Riders for Begich. Peony Lovers for Begich. Lapidarians for Begich. This weekend, he’s having two BBQs. See below.
  • Upcoming Events:
    1. May 23, 5:30 – 7:30 pm. Geran Tarr’s Campaign Kick-off Event at the home of Beth Nordlund, 3230 W. 31st Ave., Anchorage.
    2. May 24, 11:30 – 1 p.m. Begich BBQ. Russian Jack Springs Park.
    3. May 26, 3:00– 5:00 p.m. Begich Memorial Day BBQ. Jewel Lake Park, 4401 W. Dimond Blvd.  
    4. May 28, 5:00 – 7:00 pm. Fundraiser for Sam Kito III at the Sweet Basil Restaurant, 1021 West Northern Lights Blvd., Anchorage.
    5. May 28, 5:00 – 6:30 pm. Parnell for Governor Fundraiser at the home of Cindy Sims, 8345 Skyhills Drive, Anchorage. If you’ve never gotten the chance to talk to a commissioner, this is the place to be. They’ll all be there. Just bring your checkbook!
  • Today Friday, is Shirley Cote’s last day at work as the Director of Alaska’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. The former Soldotna police chief was appointed to the position by Gov. Sarah Palin in 2008.
  • NHL Enforcer Joins Parnell Team: When Governor Parnell stood up for Alaska’s hockey community last year, little did he know how warmly some of the town’s hockey players would respond. Justin Johnson, affectionately known in the hockey community as “JJ”, had a long road from UAA, then the Alaska Aces along with a couple other ECHL teams, followed by a couple of different jerseys in the AHL and finally in April 2014, at the age of 32, suited up as a New York Islander for his first NHL game. Now, he’s back home and is volunteering with Parnell’s campaign.
  • State senators NOT up for election this cycle include: John Coghill, Charlie Huggins, Johnny Ellis, Lesil McGuire, Bill Wielechowski, and Bert Stedman.
  • I couldn’t find any on Friday, but on Thursday night at least, nestled in the news on KTUU’s website, were sponsored-content stories about cell phone service, paid for by Verizon. It’s a controversial editorial practice, though lots of other websites are doing it and the stories were labeled.
  • Did you see Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s cute new haircut?
  • Six couples filed a legal challenge in South Dakota on Thursday to the state’s ban on gay marriage, making it state number 30 with pending legal challenges to gay marriage bans. That leaves North Dakota as the only state in the country with an unchallenged ban on same-sex marriage.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Facebooktwittermail

Former Alaska GOP chair running for governor. Wants to give every Alaskan $35,000.

Russ Millette.jpg II
Russ Millette, the former controversial chair of the Republican Party, has filed a letter of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission to run for governor on the Republican ticket. Millette will be facing Gov. Sean Parnell in the primary. He’ll be running on fiscal discipline and has a plan to give half of the Permanent Fund back to the people before it gets raided by the Legislature, he said in an interview on Friday.

Millette was a relative unknown until he was elected party chair in 2012 by a loose coalition of Ron Paul and Joe Miller supporters. Shortly thereafter, the Republican “establishment” basically booted him, and put his second in command in charge. Shortly after that, she too was booted. Before she left, she locked the party headquarters’ door behind her, hid the key and left a note that trespassers would be prosecuted.

This is all to say that Millette and his supporters—which aren’t as few as some would like to believe—aren’t loved by the Republican establishment, who consider them less Republican than a dangerous fringe group. Indeed, that “fringe group” even has a name. They call themselves the Alaska Republican Assembly, and say that they are fighting for the “soul” of Alaska’s GOP.

Some Republicans aren’t buying it. “Russ Millette is no more a Republican than I’m a ballerina for the Bolshoi Ballet,” Alaska GOP Vice Chair Frank McQueary said when told about Millette’s plans.

But Millette, who is 68 years old, says he wears the party mantle as proudly as any of them and says he’s been a Republican nearly his whole adult life, with a slice of time off as an Independent. He boasts that he volunteered for both Barry Goldwater and for Ronald Reagan.

There are all sorts of ways to be a Republican, he said. His way is the “anti-establishment” way.

“I usually find that candidate who the Republican establishment is against, and I support that person,” he said.

Millette’s platform and his plan will likely grate many, who will call it a populist ploy. But if he plays it right, it might be a very smart populist ploy. He wants to take half of the Permanent Fund—roughly $25 billion–and give it to the people. That would amount to a check of about $35,000 to every man, woman and child in Alaska.

He says it’s either that or let the Legislature spend it on growing state government, “They’re going to come after that money,” he said. “It was created for the people,” he said and it should go to the people.

As for oil taxes, the other big issue, he said that he’s for a flat tax. Both SB 21, and ACES, are too confusing, Millette said. With a flat tax “we’d know what’s coming in and what’s going out.”

He also plans on focusing on deregulation in order to open the door to independents who want to drill on the North Slope.

“The incumbent Governor has become a lobbyist for foreign oil companies and that has to stop,” he said.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Facebooktwittermail

RNC sues to start super-PAC

From the AP:

The Republican National Committee on Friday sued the Federal Election Commission in an effort to raise unlimited cash like super PACs do. The central committee, chairman Reince Priebus and Louisiana Republicans filed a joint lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asking for permission to set up an independent account that could raise and spend potentially enormous sums of money to help federal candidates. Under the current rules, the RNC may only accept $32,400 each year from donors, and local-level parties are capped at $10,000.

First thoughts: If the challenge is successful, much of the money that’s going into super-PACS might go into parties, resulting in more party control and party discipline. Or not. The rich who give to super-PACS might have already gotten a taste of what it feels like to circumvent party hierarchy and bureaucracy and opt for direct message control. So, it might just mean that even more money will go into politics.

Facebooktwittermail

Mayor Dan calls Beltrami APOC complaint ‘de minimis’

AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami filed a complaint against Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan with the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Beltrami alleges that Sullivan violated campaigns laws.

In the complaint, Beltrami details how the municipal spokesperson, Lindsey Whitt, responded to comments Sullivan made at a candidates forum. He says that’s illegal.

Sullivan, who is running for lieutenant governor, compared being in a union to slavery earlier this month. Shortly thereafter, the NAACP demanded an apology, which Sullivan initially refused. Later that day, he capitulated, through Whitt, who issued a statement with that apology. Hence the complaint.

In an interview, Whitt said that she contacted city attorney Dennis Wheeler before responding, who gave her the go-ahead. It was an issue that affected the whole city she said. For that reason, she also responded to a comment that Sullivan made about college education programs.

“Education and labor relations are two important priorities for the administration,” Whitt said.

Further, the NAACP request for an apology was written to the mayor at the mayor’s office.

Part of the issue is that until recently, Sullivan didn’t have a campaign office and hadn’t hired campaign staff. In the last few days, he’s hired his brother Tim and has opened up an office in Midtown Anchorage.

When reached by phone, Sullivan called the complaint “de minimis.” He plans to make his case to APOC next week.

He said that these complaints will continue as the campaign heats up. “This is going to be a pattern. They’re trying to be irritating.”

He said that he’s run six campaigns and hasn’t once paid an APOC fine.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Facebooktwittermail

On her birthday (!), Senate adopts Murkowski’s amendment to label ‘Frankenfish’

Today, Thursday, is Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s birthday, and according to a press release, she “received a memorable birthday present.” On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved of her amendment requiring that genetically-engineered salmon be labeled if the Food and Drug Administration makes the “wrong-headed” decision to approve it, the release said. The amendment will be in the 2015 Agriculture spending bill. Both Murkowski and Begich have been fighting the effort of a company called AquaBounty to genetically modify salmon to feed a hungry world. “Frankenfish,” they call it and they’ve had some success. Why Murkowski isn’t likewise fighting against genetically modified crops is another question saved for a day that isn’t her 57th birthday. And when she hasn’t just gotten a new, cute haircut. Behold:

Facebooktwittermail

Will historic Russia-China gas deal impact Alaska LNG project?

On Wednesday it was announced that Russia has signed a deal with China to supply the country with natural gas for 30 years. Russian gas company Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said that the contract is worth about $400 billion. The gas will be shipped from Russia to China via a network of pipelines.

The deal has the potential to significantly impact Europe’s relationship with Russia and changes the power-dynamics between the United States and both Russia and China. Closer to home, people are questioning what, if any, impact that deal will have on getting Alaska gas to market.

Alaska is currently working on a plan with the big three producers—ExxonMobil, BP and ConocoPhillips—to build an 800-mile pipeline to carry gas from the North Slope to tidewater in Southcentral Alaska, where it would be liquefied and put on tankers headed to Asia markets. All told, the project is expected to cost up to $65 billion.

Larry Persily, the federal coordinator of Alaska gas pipeline projects, and a go-to gas analyst, doesn’t think that the Russia-China deal will have much of an effect on the project. “It’s not a death knell for Alaska LNG” he said.

For one, the focus has been on selling Alaska LNG to Japan and Korea. Secondly, China will still need gas, he said. But more than anything, price will dictate the viability of any LNG project. He said that the price envisioned for Alaska’s LNG will be competitive with what Russia is offering China.

It is, however, a reminder that we’re not the only ones selling gas, Persily said.

Interesting note: Gazprom’s Alexei Miller traveled to Alaska in October, 2008 to talk about Alaska’s gas. While in Alaska, Miller and his entourage met with ConocoPhillips executives, and with DNR Commissioner Tom Irwin and Deputy Commissioner Marty Rutherford. During the meeting, Miller predicted that a pipeline would never be built. He said that gas would eventually be put on tankers that, with the help of ice cutters, would carry gas through the Northeast passage.

Then-Gov. Sarah Palin didn’t make the meeting. She was on the presidential campaign trail.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Facebooktwittermail

Dems outraged over Outside money in Senate race. Guess who’s funding Begich?

Money The Alaska Democratic Party sent out yet another press release, warning Alaskans that Outside interests and Outside money is trying to buy Alaska’s Senate seat for GOP candidate Dan Sullivan. This while U.S. Sen. Mark Begich’s campaign itself is awash in Outside money.

“Outside groups are attempting to force Ohio Dan Sullivan on Alaskans, but their Outside funding hasn’t translated into local support,” the statement said. The release followed on the heels of an announcement that Karl Rove’s group Americans Crossroads has reserved $5.5 million of post-primary TV time in Alaska. The NRSC’s independent expenditure arm booked another $2.2 million for September and October.

These announcements themselves followed an announcement that Begich’s super-PAC, Put Alaska First, was planning a $4 million media buy for the last eight weeks leading up to the election. Put Alaska First is nearly completely funded by the Senate Majority PAC. Recently the PAC reported it had receipts of $5.7 million from April 17th through April 30th. The major donor was the California environmentalist billionaire Thomas Steyer, who put $5 million in the PAC. Another noted, big name donor to the PAC is former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is leading the charge for gun control.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com 

Facebooktwittermail

Inspector General says no cover up in Alaska National Guard sex abuse allegations

The Inspector General of the Army sent a letter to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Wednesday concluding that Alaska’s National Guard Adjutant General Tom Katkus and other Alaska National Guard officials followed protocol in dealing with allegations of sexual assault in the Guard.

The IG “did not identify concerns regarding sexual assault or sexual harassment reporting,” and Guard officials “did not cover up any reported sexual assault incidents.” The Department of Defense concurred. (Read the letter here.)

The letter said that the Guard had received reports of 11 alleged assaults and that it “promptly coordinated referrals of all incidents to Alaska law enforcement officials,” as protocol dictates. The letter says that Katkus took action in “only two cases upon which he could act.” One person was discharged as a result. Katkus “initiated the subject’s separation,” in the other.

Last June, Sen. Lisa Murkowski asked the Department of Defense inspector general to investigate after Guard chaplains had asked her to look into sexual harassment and assault in the Guard. The chaplains had also spoken to Gov. Sean Parnell, and later state Sen. Fred Dyson and independent gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker.

The letter was released by her office. However, the full report has not yet been released.

In recent months, allegations of sexual abuse in the Guard have swirled. Gov. Sean Parnell has asked another federal investigative arm of the Guard to look into the allegations. That report is expected to be forthcoming in the fall.

Here’s a statement by Murkowski on the IG letter she received on Wednesday.

Last June, two Alaska Army National Guard Chaplains asked me to look into some troubling allegations that the Adjutant General and other senior leaders were turning a blind eye towards the possibility of sexual assault within the National Guard.  I immediately relayed their concern in a letter to the Department of Defense Inspector General, calling for a review. The allegations were then forwarded to the Army Inspector General, who investigated them and informed my office that the accusations could not be substantiated following a diligent investigation including extensive interviews.

The Defense Department Inspector General reviewed and concurred with the Inspector General’s conclusion. My office has not received the full investigation report, so I am withholding from further comments until the Army provides it and I have the opportunity to fully review it.

Facebooktwittermail

McGee files to run for Costello’s seat: Oil will be watching.

Marty McGee, the tax assessor that Gov. Sean Parnell fired in January, has filed to run for Mia Costello’s House seat in West Anchorage. He switched his party registration from Republican to Democrat to do so. Liz Vazquez, David Nees, and Sherri Jackson have all filed letters of intent for the Republican primary.

McGee is not an oil industry ally and they will be watching this closely. Before being fired, McGee chaired the State Assessment Review Board and pushed for a much higher valuation of the pipeline, which resulted in the oil industry paying millions more in taxes than they would have otherwise. He’s also supporting the oil tax repeal. For more, read both KTVA’s Rhonda McBride and APRN’s Alexandra Gutierrez stories.

Facebooktwittermail