Category Archives: news

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 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.

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

Local economist calls ‘$2 billion giveaway’ a myth

The phrase, “$2 billion giveaway” that was coined by those who want to repeal oil tax reform, has been used so often, including by this writer, that for many it’s believed to be a fact. Often quoted, and much respected UAA economist Scott Goldsmith took a hard look at the number and came up with something very different in a report funded by Northrim Bank, which is against repeal but funds a wide variety of reports about all facets of the state’s economy.

The “$2 billion giveaway is a myth,” Goldsmith told a crowd of about 200 at the Resource Development Council meeting on Thursday morning

While it’s true that the state is running at about a $2 billion deficit, the oil tax break isn’t what’s driving most of it, he said.

For one, to the extent that there’s a “giveaway” at all, it’s closer to $90 million. Much of the rest of the money is a result of lower production, lower prices, and rapidly increasing costs to produce the oil, costs that the oil companies provide to the state, and which we need more information about, he said.

Secondly, in the long run, reform will stabilize the tax system. At some prices the amount of taxes the producers will pay will be more under the new tax regime than under ACES. At some price points, it will be less. Why do the companies like it so much that they are willing to spend tens of millions to make sure that it’s not repealed? Because they believe that it will increase production

“The producers are not in business to minimize taxes,” Goldsmith said, “They’re in the business to maximize profit.” And the best way to do that is to expand and to increase the size of their operations, he said. He likened it to his wife getting a job. The family’s tax bill will go up, but the household will have more income. “We’ll be better off. And the treasury will be better off as well.”

Read Goldsmith’s presentation here.

Vic Fischer, who is the head the effort to repeal SB 21, issued a press release following the presentation. He’s sticking to his guns. “Goldsmith misses the mark,” he said and pointed to the $2 billion deficit has his proof.

“What Alaska needs is a tax structure that increases exploration for new oil and gas, not just provide incentives to pump the oil they are contractually obligated to produce,” he wrote.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Anti-Begich ad likely first ever to use term ‘erectile dysfunction’

Anchorage-based adman Art Hackney isn’t known for making ads that are overly cautious. One of his most famous ones was about a gas reserves tax on the ballot in 2006. It starred himself holding a handgun, which he pointed downward and pulled the trigger. Cut to a still-smoking boot with a bullet hole through it. His most recent radio ad is pure Hackney, and is probably the very first ad for Senate in the country to use the term “erectile dysfunction.” Hackney runs the pro-Dan Sullivan super-PAC, Alaska’s Energy-America’s Values. In the ad, he rifts off of recent Begich commercials which show him zooming through the North Slope on a snowmachine, set to the backdrop music that Hackney describes as “straight out of an erectile dysfunction ad.” Listen to that one here. The other ad that he produced takes on Begich’s time as Anchorage mayor and continues with the “Malarkey Mark” theme Hackney began earlier this year. Listen to that here.
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State-wide candidates try to connect with kids and seniors at forum

AARP Alaska, along with Anchorage middle schools, hosted both a gubernatorial and senatorial forum on Wednesday. About 100 people showed, most of whom were middle school students and the questions were written by them. First up: The three candidates for governor—Democrat Byron Mallott, independent Bill Walker, and incumbent Republican Gov. Sean Parnell, who answered about 45 minutes worth of questions ranging from education, resource development, social security and healthcare. Many of the students were engaged, at least initially and were trying to understand. Others weren’t and couldn’t,

This was the second gubernatorial forum of the week. On Monday, the event was hosted by the Anchorage Chamber, and allowed for more back and forth, along with slight tension between Walker and Parnell, mostly over the natural gas pipeline. Walker doesn’t believe that the current plan in the works will get a gasline built. At the forum on Wednesday, Walker again lamented all the wasted years and hundreds of millions of dollars studying the gasline, and Parnell again said that the state is closer than ever.

But there was no heat in the exchanges. The candidates were limited to 60 second answers. Of all the candidates, the format suited Mallott the best, who has so far focused on generalities and platitudes and has shied far from specifics. About as specific as he got was when he said that his first act as governor would be to accept federal money to expand Medicaid, something that Parnell rejected. Walker said he would also expand the program, as long as he was assured that the feds would pick up 100 percent of the tab.

Parnell told the crowd, that those who would qualify for Medicaid already get access to primary care and emergency rooms “free of charge.”

If they hadn’t before, this is probably where they lost the children.

The group of 10 or so that I talked to after said that they didn’t understand a lot. One of them said they liked that Mallott talked more than the others about education. A few of them said that Walker seemed confident. Most of them said that they liked Parnell and felt more comfortable with him than with the others.

Up next was the GOP Senate forum, featuring Joe Miller, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, and Dan Sullivan. This, too, was this group’s second time meeting. The last, moderated by KTUU Channel 2’s Steve MacDonald, wasn’t live, and lacked energy, at least the kind of energy that Sullivan appears to feed on. This one also contained few fireworks. The candidates spoke about federal government overreach, about honoring our vets, and about social security.

Miller said that he would work to privatize the program for those under 50 years old, which likely didn’t go well with the seniors in the group. The two others talked around the issue, but didn’t, like Miller, address it head on. Treadwell said that we’ve got to be “flexible,” when thinking about how to save social security. Sullivan said that when the country elects “serious leaders” there’s an “opportunity for serious reform.” He didn’t elaborate.

All three candidates oppose federal government overreach. All said they would focus on the youth. And all agreed that the minimum wage hike that’s being debated in Congress should be left up to individual states.

After it was over, the kids didn’t remember much of what they said, and were mostly stymied when I asked which one they thought did the best job. One said that they thought Treadwell’s experience was important. A few of the more outspoken ones said that Sullivan connected most with the audience. All of them remembered when Sullivan asked for a show of hands of all those who had done their homework the night before.

After about half the room raised them, he said that the passing of ObamaCare was a great example of legislators not doing their homework. “It was legislative malpractice,” he said. “Not healthcare form.”

One of the students after said she was surprised how few of her peers didn’t do their homework. She also said that she had wished social issues, like gay marriage, had been discussed.

Another said that he had heard a lot about ObamaCare. Then again, he was U.S. Rep. Don Young’s grandchild. His grandfather comes over for dinner a lot, he said, and talks a lot.

“About politics?” I asked.

Yes, the boy said. A lot about ObamaCare.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Halcro ‘mad as hell’ that U.S. Chamber enters Alaska Senate race

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has entered the Alaska state Senate race in support of GOP candidate Dan Sullivan. The ad, shown below, will begin airing tomorrow.

Anchorage Chamber President Andrew Halcro was “mad as hell” when he heard about the ad. When the U.S. Chamber recently told him in a conference call that it was thinking about getting involved, he implored them to stay away. The Anchorage Chamber is nonpartisan, and this puts it in an “untenable situation,” Halcro said. Besides, he’s “sick and tired” of third-party money coming into the state. Such ads “don’t add any value to the discourse, and suffocates any solution to the problems,” he said.

Halcro said that he spent all morning answering concerns from his group’s membership.

The Chamber is also involved in five other tight races across the country. It hasn’t yet filed with the FEC, so it’s unknown how big the ad buy in Alaska is. Sullivan’s brother, Frank Sullivan, is one of 128 Chamber-board members.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Christians respond to Palin’s baptism-by-waterboarding comment

Speaking to the NRA, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said on Saturday that if she were in charge of the country, our “enemies,” would “know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.” The line drew huge applause from the audience and is now also drawing condemnation from Christians on both sides of the political spectrum. Below are a few responses to the comments:

From Joe Carter of The Gospel Coalition:

For anyone to confess Christ as their savior and to compare one of the means of God’s grace to a reprehensible act of torture is reprehensible. I hope members of Gov. Palin’s local church will explain to her why her remarks denigrate the Christian faith. Such remarks bring shame on the Body of Christ and to our witness in the world…

From Rod Dreher of the American Conservative:

Not only is this woman, putatively a Christian, praising torture, but she is comparing it to a holy sacrament of the Christian faith. It’s disgusting — but even more disgusting, those NRA members, many of whom are no doubt Christians, cheered wildly for her…For us Christians, baptism is the entry into new life. Palin invoked it to celebrate torture…What does it say about the character of a person that they could make that joking comparison, and that so many people would cheer for it. Nothing good — and nothing that does honor to the cause of Jesus Christ.

From Hollis Phelps, in Religious Dispatches:

As a sacrament to many Christians, baptism signifies regeneration, the rebirth of the individual as “a new creature” in Christ. So understood, baptism is a work of grace; it is, as Gregory of Nazianzus says, “God’s most beautiful and magnificent gift.” To equate it with torture is, in this sense, not only unthinking, but borders on the sacrilegious.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Loose Lips: Walker loves caterpillars, the inimitable Eledge, and weather in Dubrovnik

A rather limited survey was released on Monday by The Liberty Foundation, a small organization whose plan is to work through the states to promote free markets and “competitive federalism.” The poll found that in a general election matchup, U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan beat Sen. Mark Begich by 5 points. The survey didn’t ask about the other GOP primary candidates Mead Treadwell and Joe Miller. President of Liberty Foundation, Matt Mayer, said that the other names were omitted because they only had a limited number of questions, and it assumed, given the amount of money raised, that Dan Sullivan was the leading candidate. That, however, is a big assumption. The only other public poll recently released was by Rasmussen Reports, which found in March that Mead Treadwell was the only candidate who beat Begich in the general. None of the candidates, including most tellingly Begich, have released poll numbers.
If laughter and applause was any indication, independent gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker was the winner in the Anchorage Chamber’s forum on Monday, where all three major candidates answered questions about oil, the economy, and education. Although he’s not necessarily the smoothest talker, and he always has more to say than time allows, Walker’s passion and humor made up his faults. The best of the forum was when he was talking about the federal government’s decision to take into account the animals when it decided not to allow for a potentially life-saving road between King Cove and Cold Bay in rural Alaska. “I like animals,” he said. “My favorite is a caterpillar,” he said referring to the yellow tractors. He also said he liked deer, as in John Deere.
The GOP’s state convention is this weekend, and the convention program has been released. It features a montage of Republican political pins on the front, including a Bill Walker for Governor pin. Oops! The program also lists every Alaska Republican Party chair since forever, except for the two very colorful and short-lived chairs between Randy Ruedrich and Peter Goldberg. You remember, the chairs who were drummed out of the party, one of whom locked the doors to the party headquarters behind her before skipping town.
Sources say that the inimitable Judy Eledge will be putting her name in for party chair.
Senate Bill 21: Sense and Nonsense — ISER’s Dr. Scott Goldsmith will present his recent findings on the controversial oil tax overhaul that will be on the primary ballot this Thursday at the Resource Development Council meeting held at the Dena’ina Center at 7:30 am.
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 yet created one to support Gov. Parnell’s campaign.
Democrat Clare Ross, who was running against Rep. Lindsey Holmes in West Anchorage, has decided to run for state Senate in that district leaving Matt Claman to take on Holmes. Ross will now be running against Rep. Mia Costello for the seat being vacated by Hollis French. I don’t have anything to go by but a gut, and mine tells me that running against Costello is going to be more difficult than running against Holmes. In 2012, the very flawed candidate Bob Bell nearly beat French. Costello is a much better candidate than Bell.
For those keeping track of Rep. Lora Reinbold’s birthday trip, the weather in Dubrovnik has been a bit rainy and in the upper 50s to mid-60s.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

The original story said that there wasn’t a McCain-Palin pin on the GOP convention program. That’s wrong. Don’t you worry. She’s there.

Parnell responds to his handling of allegations of sexual abuse in the Guard

After a candidate forum on Monday, Gov. Sean Parnell answered questions about his administration’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse in Alaska’s National Guard, something that appears to have plagued the Guard for years. The problems in the Guard were reported in the media last October, and were revisited in a Sunday column by Shannyn Moore. More is likely to be revealed about the issue. For now, however, below are the allegations that I questioned Parnell about, followed by his response.

Allegation: Parnell waited for four years to act on allegations of a widespread culture of abuse in the Guard. In 2010, three chaplains had a meeting with Parnell to discuss the culture. Republican Sen. Fred Dyson called on Parnell three times to take action. However, it wasn’t until March 2014 that Parnell called on the federal government to conduct an official investigation into the allegations.
Response: Parnell said that the allegations lacked the specificity that he needed to take action. He said he met with now Adjutant General Thomas Katkus about the issue. He said he reviewed charts and spreadsheets that documented the allegations, and saw that the appropriate ones had been referred to the Anchorage Police Department and the troopers. On February 26, Republican Sen. Fred Dyson brought forth a “specific person who was able to make specific claims about what went wrong,” Parnell said. Parnell himself talked to this person, and within 24 hours, called on the feds. That investigation is expected to be complete in May. A report will follow likely sometime late summer.
Allegation: Parnell’s deputy commissioner of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, McHugh Pierre, tried to get a sexual assault investigator to stay quiet and not talk to legislators about the issues in the Guard by having her sign a letter saying she wouldn’t do so. He then tried to get the Guard chaplains to sign the same letter.
Response: Parnell said that he was “surprised’ by the accusation. But when he looked into it, it was “less nefarious than what had been reported,” he said. Indeed, the letter in question, which you can read here, is one that went to other department employees. It says that employees should not give official statements without prior authorizations, and that although, according to the letter, “the mandate does not mean that an employee cannot reach out to one’s legislator to address a personal situation,” such contact had to take place during personal time using personal resources.

Finally, Moore reported that Mike Nizich, Parnell’s chief of staff, was using his personal email to correspond with the chaplains about the issues in the Guard. Personal emails are not subject to public information requests. Parnell said that if those emails were about state business, they should be forwarded to Nizich’s state account and will direct him to do so.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Parnell administration under fire for allegations of sexual abuse cover-up

Generally speaking, Gov. Sean Parnell’s loyalty is admirable. So is his unwillingness to act impulsively and be deliberative in trying to gather the facts before he makes a decision. But like all qualities, those can go horribly awry, which appears to be the case in his failure for four years to address a culture of sexual abuse that’s permeated Alaska’s National Guard.

On Sunday, Shannyn Moore added on to a story first reported by McClatchy’s Sean Cockerham about the abuses. At last count according to Cockerham’s October article, 29 cases of alleged sexual assault have been reported to local law enforcement. So far, no one has been charged or prosecuted.

As these things go, the details and timeline can get confusing, but what is clear is that Parnell himself was told by Guard chaplains and at least one other member of the Guard about the abuses in 2010. Parnell appeared to have taken no meaningful action. He passed the issue onto his chief of staff Mike Nizich. He also subsequently promoted Thomas Katkus, who was implicated in the complaints, to adjutant general of the Guard.

According to Moore, the chaplains were directed to communicate with Nizich on his personal email, which members of the administration are known to use when they don’t want their communications subject to public information requests. That was in 2011.

Only when Republican Sen Fred Dyson got involved did Parnell take action. Still it took months and it took three visits from Dyson. According to Moore, Dyson first approached Parnell about the issue in early fall of 2013. It wasn’t until March, 2014 that Parnell took the unusual, and possibly telling, step of calling on the feds for help.

It gets worse: Parnell’s deputy commissioner of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, McHugh Pierre, appears to have threatened, or attempted to intimidate, a sexual assault investigator into staying quiet and not talk to legislators about the issues. He then tried the same thing on the chaplains. Enter their outspoken Republican lawyer Wayne Anthony Ross. Enter a big mess.

That was nearly five months ago. Pierre still has a job.

This is clearly the biggest potential scandal that Parnell has yet encountered and could be devastating politically, as it should be, if the facts bear out what’s so far been reported.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com