Category Archives: news

Loose Lips: The castration edition

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The Anchorage Daily News on Saturday published a story about how Anchorage Sen. Lesil McGuire’s ballot missed arriving at the Division of Elections by the due date in the last muni race. According to the piece, her staff faxed in the ballot, but it didn’t go through. Then they tried again. Emails were exchanged. Phone calls placed. Lots of time was put into it. Lawmakers aren’t supposed to use their staffers time for things that aren’t directly related to state business except in “infrequent and unusual situations.” McGuire is running for lite gov. If she wins, she’ll be in charge of the Division of Elections. That she can’t get it together to vote isn’t going to go down very well with the electorate and will likely be used against her.
One of Mead Treadwell’s last remaining paid campaign employee, the quick witted, vituperate tweeter Fred Brown who was serving as his press secretary, resigned earlier this week. The RNC has hired him and dispatched him to Arkansas where he will be working with Rep. Tom Cotton in his bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor which has become one of the most watched and tightest races of the campaign season. According to sources, Treadwell didn’t take too kindly to losing the gifted Brown.
Federal Election Commission reports are due no later than April 15th. Mark Begich and Dan Sullivan have both released their numbers and have raised $1.05 million and $1.3 million respectively for the 1st quarter of 2014. While Treadwell has not yet released his numbers, the buzz is that his take for the quarter could be less than 20 percent of what either of the leading candidates raised. No reports on Joe Miller’s campaign cash numbers, though I’ve been told fundraising is picking up.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan is said to be shaking up his campaign. Deputy campaign manager, Ben Sparks is now campaign manager. Additionally, the campaign has hired a political director, Phil Bartell, who is from Wisconsin and appears to be a disciple of Gov. Scott Walker. The former campaign manager, Ben Mohr who recently became a father, will be working on coalition building.
More on Joe Miller: I’ve been told that we’ll see a kinder, softer, more media-savvy Miller than what we saw in 2010. In his first public appearance of the campaign season at UAA, however, there was some debate whether or not his staff was going to let reporters who showed to be able to tape his talk to students. Unlike in the past, things didn’t get heated. But it still doesn’t bode well that he had to be reminded that when he’s running for office in a public place, the cameras and recorders can follow. With impunity.
About 100 people, including Sen. Mark Begich himself, showed up for the “Alaska Natives for Begich” gathering at CIRI’s headquarters in midtown Anchorage on Saturday. Pamyua provided the entertainment. The food included moose stew, moose and black cod soup, lots of salmon and lots of pilot bread. And Begich’s staff has to win the award for the most creative campaign giveaway yet: a bingo marker with his name on it.
Anyone close to the legislative process knows that legislative organization is never too far from the minds of our elected state officials. The current Speaker of the House, Mike Chenault, is the only legislator to have served three consecutive terms in that position. Now, some are speculating that we shouldn’t be surprised to see him serving in the same position, after the elections, when the next Legislature convenes in 2015.
Mayors from around the state descend on Juneau, off and on, during the last three weeks of the legislative session. Absent this year, during this time, has been Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan who in the past was a fixture in the halls of the Capitol at this juncture. According to sources, he’s staying out of Juneau during the closing days of the session because of the controversy surrounding the “infamous” tennis court appropriation from last year.
From the good amendment department: On Saturday the state Senate adopted an amendment offered by Anchorage Sen. Johnny Ellis that would prevent the use of eminent domain to destroy properties in the residential neighborhoods of Government Hill until a $350 million federal loan is approved. It’s the same loan that’s been denied five times in the past. The full bill is heading to the House, and rumor has it that because its passage is a priority for Senate President Charlie Huggins, and Speaker Mike Chenault has his own priorities, like the minimum wage bill, it might sit for a while until someone blinks.
And finally, even though it’s in a land way far away, who can resist a good political ad about castration? This one’s from Iowa, my home state, where a new Suffolk University poll of the Iowa GOP Senate primary shows state Sen. Joni Ernst narrowly leading wealthy business executive Mark Jacobs. The jump is being attributed to the ad. Enjoy, if you’re wired that way:

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Pro-Begich super-PAC defends ObamaCare and Begich’s vote

Put Alaska First, the pro-Mark Begich super-PAC, is running a 30 second television ad defending Begich on his vote for ObamaCare, something that he and other Senate Democrats have been playing defense on since they passed the bill in 2009.

The group, run by Anchorage based Jim Lottsfeldt, is spending $131,000 to run the ad across the state. The ad features Anchorage resident Lisa Keller, who describes herself as an Alaskan, a mother, a runner, and a breast cancer survivor.

“I was lucky. I beat cancer,” Keller says. “But the insurance companies still denied me health insurance just because of a pre-existing condition.

The end packs a punch: “Mark Begich fought the insurance companies, so that we no longer have to,” Keller’s voice-over says as she’s running next to the very recognizable Park Strip in Anchorage.

It’s powerful, because it’s a good ad, but also because there’s so few like it. As such, it will likely to be a model for others across the country who voted for the act.

All three of Begich’s Republican challengers—Joe Miller, Mead Treadwell, and Dan Sullivan—have vowed to work to repeal ObamaCare if they are elected to office. None of them have said what they would do about people like Keller and the thousands of other Alaskans and millions of Americans who had previously been denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions.
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GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan raised $1.3 million in first quarter

GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan says that he raised $1.3 million in the first quarter of 2014, leaving him with just under $2 million cash on hand. Sen. Mark Begich says that he raised $1.05 million during the same period, and has $2.8 million cash on hand.

The official reports are due to the FEC on April 15.

In the last two quarters, Sullivan has outraised Begich by about $700,000. The campaign said that it has “quadrupled our small donors to over 1,000 this quarter.” The campaign hasn’t said how many of those donors are Alaskans. In the last fundraising report, Sullivan’s campaign didn’t list the names of donors who gave less than $200.

Sullivan has been crisscrossing the state and the country raising money, helped in no small part through his family connections, his D.C. establishment credentials, and the fact that the RNC appears to have anointed him the candidate.

“Our growing momentum highlights the increased frustration with the fact that Mark Begich is a rubberstamp for President Obama’s liberal agenda, supporting his policies 97 percent of the time,” Sullivan said in a statement first given to Politico.

Neither Joe Miller nor Mead Treadwell, the other two Republicans running in the race, have released their numbers. Neither are expected to do nearly as well as Sullivan. In the last quarter, Treadwell only raised about $228,000. He had $95,000 in cash on hand, but he also had debts of $141,000. Miller only raised $30,490 in the last quarter.

Remember, though, Miller hasn’t officially kicked off his campaign, and he will use Sullivan’s money-raising prowess against him, which will likely have some effect among his tea party following. Already, Miller is saying that Sullivan “is just another big government crony capitalist,” and that his campaign is funded by “international finance,” and those who advocate “corporate welfare.”

According to Miller, those donors include former Chairman of the Board of the New York Federal Reserve, the CEO of Rockefeller and Company, the former President of the World Bank, and “numerous Goldman Sachs executives.”

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Women in Begich’s office make 82 cents for every dollar a man makes

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich has been touting his support for the “Paycheck Fairness Act,” a bill blocked by Senate Republicans on Wednesday that would mandate that women get paid as much as men for the same work. However, a chart put together by the National Republican Senatorial Committee shows that Begich, who gets a set amount and decides how much each employee is paid out of it, might want to look at the disparity between the salaries of men and women in his own office.

The NRSC calculated the average pay for men and women in Begich’s office for the most recent six month period. Because some employees only worked a portion of the six month period, it calculated how much each person was paid per day. If found that the average daily pay for men on Begich’s staff is $201.64. The average daily pay for women is $165.00.

According to NRSC calculations, women in Begich’s office make 82 cents for every dollar that a man makes.

Begich has twice as many female workers as he does male workers, which likely skews the numbers. Also, his two highest paid staff are men. His chief of staff makes $411 a day and his legislative director makes $304 a day. But it appears that there’s disparity in pay for some of the jobs with the same titles. For instance, Begich has three female field reps, the highest paid making $153 a day. His sole male field rep makes $156.00 a day.

Max Croes, a spokesperson for Begich’s campaign, declined comment.

The NRSC also detailed the pay disparity in offices of other red-state Democratic senators, and found the following:

Mark Udall pays women 85 cents for every dollar that a man makes.
Mary Landrieu pays women 88 cents for every dollar that a man makes.
Mark Warner pays women 75 cents for every dollar that a man makes.
Gary Peters pays women 67 cents for every dollar that a man makes.

There are all sorts of reasons why a woman might make less than a man, including experience. Indeed, according to McClatchy newspapers, a pay disparity exists even in the White House, where overall, women make 91 cents for every dollar men make.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

GCI to sponsor Great Alaska Shootout

From the ADN:

The Great Alaska Shootout has a new title sponsor, one that hopes for a return to the glory days when top-ranked college basketball teams and huge crowds filled Sullivan Arena. GCI and UAA have entered into a multiyear deal that makes GCI the primary sponsor of the Thanksgiving-week college basketball tournament held every year since 1978.

The Shootout brings in college basketball teams each year from all across the country to compete. It’s an annual budget of $700,000 to $750,000. GCI will help with the cash and will promote it heavily in its 40 retail stores across the state, and likely on its cable network.

And unlike in the past, UAA doesn’t plan on asking the state for money, which should make Brad Keithley happy.

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Rumors of lobbying for minimum wage bill spurs AFL-CIO president into action

Below is an impassioned letter that AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami sent to all 40 members of the Alaska state House about rumors of lobbying efforts to pass HB 384, a minimum wage increase, and urging a no vote on the bill. Beltrami said that he never thought he’d write a letter opposing wage increases, but he’s doing so because the bill in the Legislature being debated to increase those wages is a ruse and an “assault on our democratic process.”

An initiative increasing minimum wage is slated to appear on the ballot in August, along with a repeal of an oil tax bill that was passed last legislative session. The thinking is that those who support the oil tax reform and don’t want it repealed also don’t want the two issues to be on the same ballot. The minimum wage initiative has broad support, particularly among those who might be inclined to vote for repealing the tax bill. And it will likely draw those voters to the polls. However, if the Legislature passes a bill that’s substantially similar, it would take it off the ballot. Then, the thinking is, the Legislature can then come back and gut it, as it did in 2002-2003 in a similar maneuver.

Beltrami said that he heard that representatives of the oil and gas industry were lobbying for the bill, and that such lobbying efforts came as a “shock” to him that industry was trying to “toy with what should be a sacred election process and help them rig the game against Alaska’s voting public.”

The letter appears to have originated from a conversation on Monday in the halls of the Capitol Building between lobbyists and Doug Smith, president of the oil field services company Little Red Services, and Rebecca Logan, the manager of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, a pro-oil industry group. In an interview, Smith said that he was discussing his support generally for raising the minimum wage, but he was there to give a presentation to the Senate Finance Committee, not to lobby for the bill.

Likewise, Logan said that she was “absolutely not” lobbying for the bill and that the Alliance has stayed neutral.

The Alaska Oil and Gas Association, which represents many energy companies in the state, has also remained neutral.

Political maneuvering aside, Smith said that because of the broad public support for the issue, and because we elect lawmakers to mirror the public’s view, he thinks that the bill belongs in the Legislature.

If the Legislature isn’t willing to vote fairly on the issue, then “maybe have the wrong legislators,” he said.

The bill is currently being debated in the House.

Here’s Beltrami’s letter in full:

I am writing to you to address a concern I’ve heard from some well-intentioned House members. Right up front I have to say I’ve never had to write a letter like this in my life. I suppose sometimes extreme actions draw extreme reactions.

As you are all too well aware, HB 384 is up for consideration in the House. The Alaska AFL-CIO and hundreds of Alaskans were heavily involved in gathering signatures for Ballot Initiative #3 so that Alaskans can exercise their right to vote to bring the minimum wage back up to where it belonged, as it would currently be $9.53 an hour had the Legislature not acted in bad faith in 2002-2003.

HB 384 is an obvious attempt to circumvent the election and undermine the ability of Alaska voters to vote on it at the ballot box.

Recently, much has been in the news about what happened with this identical issue in 2002-2003, when the Legislature kept the ballot initiative off the ballot by passing their own bill, and came back the next year and gutted it, in an act of utter cynicism and disrespect to Alaska voters.

It is a well founded and justifiable fear the Legislature would do the same thing again, given the opportunity. Another suspected motive for keeping it off the ballot is that backers of last year’s oil rewrite (SB21) don’t want the minimum wage initiative on the same ballot as the referendum on SB21, fearing those who would come out to vote for a minimum wage increase would also vote to repeal SB21. But at best it’s been a whisper campaign.

So it came as somewhat of a shock to hear that a couple representatives of the oil and gas industry were down in Juneau lobbying for the minimum wage bill, HB384, and specifically saying that the reason is because they do not want it on the ballot with the SB21 referendum.

This is an assault on our democratic process. Folks who advocate for the richest industry on the planet, that gained even greater wealth from the Legislature through significant tax relief last year, are back again to convince you to toy with what should be a sacred election process and help them rig the game against Alaska’s voting public. To my knowledge industry has never advocated for increased wages for low-wage workers in the history of the United States. This is brazen. They are, in no uncertain terms, asking you to clear the deck and silence any opposition to them, and to abuse the legislative process to do so.

So here is the part I referred to in my opening paragraph. The Alaska AFL-CIO is the largest labor organization and biggest advocate on the rights of workers in this state. We do not make a profit or answer to shareholders or corporate board members. We answer to our worker members only, and we advocate for all workers whether they belong to a union or not. We are advocating a NO vote on increasing the minimum wage in this legislature, in this year. I never thought I would ever say those words. But the legislature’s record, and now murmurs of industry advocacy, as well as the rights of people to vote to determine their own destinies all seem crystal clear in this moment.

If you vote NO on HB 384 you will be making the vote supported by the voices of working people and thereby allowing Alaskans to exercise their right and vote on the subject at the ballot box as they petitioned their government to do with more than 43,000 signatures.

I have heard it said by some legislators that they don’t know how they can vote against an increase in the minimum wage when they support such a raise. It is a reasonable question, and I feel compelled to explain what we think our position means.

We, as an organization, will recognize positively those who vote NO on HB 384 as legislators who truly supported an increase to the minimum wage, who didn’t support passing legislation just to keep it off the ballot, and who respected the rights of voters to make the choice on whether to increase the minimum wage or not.

Please respect the ballot initiative process. Let Alaska voters decide this issue. Please vote NO on HB 384.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

State suspends grant money that includes funding for tennis courts

Scott Ruby, a director at the Department of Commerce, sent a letter to Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan telling him that disbursements for the $37 million grant which includes funding for Anchorage tennis courts has been suspended pending “resolution” of issues surrounding the grant: namely the use of the grant money to build new tennis courts.

Ruby wrote that the department is “taking this action in response to a legal concern raised by the Legislature’s Legal Services Division.” Ruby said that the action was “unfortunate,” and he hoped for a speedy resolution.

Alaska state Sen. Lesil McGuire alerted the division to the legal services opinion in a letter she wrote to the department and to Gov. Sean Parnell.

Last year lawmakers added the funding for the courts to a larger package in the state capital budget earmarked, “Project 80s Deferred and Critical Maintenance.” The money was originally intended to support renovations to aging facilities like the Dempsey-Anderson Arena, Sullivan Arena and the Ben Boeke Ice Arena.

Sullivan and Rep. Lindsey Holmes pushed for the tennis court money to be part of the appropriation, a push that has since captured the public’s attention and has turned into a symbol of murky government process.

Hilary Martin, the legislative lawyer Ruby is referring to, wrote on April 2 that the law says that a condition of a grant is that the grantee will “spend the grant for the purposes specified in the appropriation or allocation.” New tennis courts “would not likely fit with the purpose of the appropriation,” Martin wrote. Nor would they fit the definition of deferred and critical maintenance of buildings built in the 1980s, she said.

McGuire is running against Sullivan in the lieutenant governor’s race. She recently asked the Senate Finance Committee to re-appropriate the tennis court money and put it into the library instead.

The Committee voted against doing do.

McGuire denies that she’s pushing the issue for her campaign, and welcomes a rewrite of the grant to fit the stated purposes. One of her main goals, she said, is for the public to be aware of the fact that the Legislature didn’t authorize tennis courts when they allocated the money.

“This is precedent setting,” McGuire said. “When you’re asking for public money, you should be clear what you’re asking for.”

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Begich raises $1.05 million in first quarter of year

Sen. Mark Begich announced that he raised more than $1.05 million in the first quarter of 2014, leaving him with more than $2.818 million cash on hand. It was one of his biggest ~~his biggest~~ fundraising hauls ever. From his press release:

“Mark Begich is proud to have the support of Alaskans who know his record of successfully fighting to keep the F-16’s in Fairbanks and fighting to drill in the National Petroleum Reserve, the false attack ads from Outside groups supporting Mark’s opponents can’t change that,” said Max Croes, Alaskans for Begich Communications Director.

More than 1,500 Alaskans donated to Begich.

The GOP candidates for his seat – Mead Treadwell, Dan Sullivan, and Joe Miller — have yet to release fundraising totals. However, people have told me Sullivan will out-raise Begich in the quarter.

Loose Lips: The Tuesday morning odds and ends edition

The joint session of the Legislature to confirm executive appointments was originally scheduled for this week; however, it has now been delayed, without explanation, until April 18th. It’s said that the delay is to give House Speaker Mike Chenault time to pass his legislation that would allow Richard Rabinow to serve on the Alaska Gas Development Corp. even though he is from Texas and not a resident of Alaska.
Republican Senate hopeful Mead Treadwell is traveling east this week looking for campaign cash. Rumor has it that he’s traveling to his home state of Connecticut and then to Massachusetts where he’s holding fund raising events.
While Dan Sullivan, also a Republican Senate hopeful, has done his share of fund raising in the Lower 48, this week he’s running around Alaska with plans to attend the Alaska Miners Conference in Fairbanks on Wednesday, Arctic Man on Thursday and then will be the feature speaker on Saturday at the Sitka Republican Women’s Lincoln Day Dinner.
Sen. Mark Begich’s office wants you to know that the White House will send congratulatory cards to high school and college graduates. If you’re interested in having your favorite graduate receive one, please provide your name, address and date of graduation along with the name of the high school or college. Information should be forwarded to leslie_ridle@begich.senate.gov.
The kickoff for “Alaska Natives for Begich” is on April 12 at CIRI’s corporate headquarters. Pamyua will be providing the entertainment.
Spring has sprung and Bill Walker for Governor signs are sprouting up in my neighborhood and folks tell me there are a fair number of 4 x 8 signs up the Parks Highway. These are the only gubernatorial campaign signs I’ve seen this election cycle so far.
The group “We are Alaska,” formed by Rebecca Logan from the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, filed with APOC on Monday. Here’s the description of the group: “We Are Alaska intends to promote responsible development of Alaska’s oil, gas and mining resources by providing the public with relevant information regarding referendums, initiatives and candidates for state office.” The filing says that it’s a “Ballot Proposition Group.” The group was active in the 2012 state races. Much of the money it raised, about $100,000 of it, went to PS Strategies, a firm owned by talk show host Dave Stieren and Mary Ann Pruitt, wife of Alaska state Majority Leader Lance Pruitt.

Begich goes after Sullivan for Club for Growth endorsement

On the heels of a Politico story about the Club for Growth, Sen. Mark Begich’s reelection campaign is once again questioning the fiscally conservative group’s March endorsement of GOP candidate Dan Sullivan. The endorsement is coveted by many Republican candidates, not the least because it come with lots of money.

“Sullivan hasn’t shared any details with Alaskans about how he acquired the endorsement or how much cash it will produce, but he is ‘honored’ to have the nod from a group that aims to privatize Social Security and voucherize Medicare,” Begich spokesman Max Croes wrote in a release.

The Politico story details the powerful group’s endorsement process, which one candidate who received the endorsement described as “baptism by fire,” and others who didn’t get the endorsement in less polite terms.

Sullivan’s spokesman Mike Anderson said that Sullivan had an interview with the Club prior to the endorsement, but he didn’t know what was talked about and Sullivan wasn’t immediately available to comment. “I wasn’t in the room, but I’m sure Dan said he would open ANWR, get a road from King Cove to Cold Bay, fully develop the NPR-A, grow the economy and repeal ObamaCare,” Anderson said.

Many groups endorse, and an interview process often is involved. According to the article, however, getting the Club for Growth’s endorsement is particularly arduous and appears to demand that its candidates be ideologically pure by committing to low taxes, and reducing the kind of federal spending on which Alaska depends.The Club for Growth endorsed Joe Miller over Lisa Murkowski in 2010. It also picked Sean Parnell over Rep. Don Young in 2008, when Young called the group “one of the most extreme groups in Washington D.C.”

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Single women could decide the makeup of U.S. Senate

A Washington D.C. nonprofit teamed up with pollster Celinda Lake, who is also Sen. Mark Begich’s pollster, to study voter behavior in Alaska. A report released Monday suggests that Alaska’s unmarried women, people of color and voters aged 18-29 could determine who wins the U.S. Senate race in Alaska. However, these voters are less likely than others to vote, and it’s going to take work to get them to the polls in November.

According to the Voter Participation Center, about 23,000 of these voters could stay home this election year, as compared to 2012. The total voting block, combined with other Alaskans who are likely to stay home, could be as many as 25,000 votes in the 2014 election. Given Alaska’s history of close elections, this could easily be the voting block that could decide the race.

According to the Washington Post, the national Democrats are paying particular close attention to unmarried women who are eligible to vote, a pool that’s increased by 19 percent since 2000. By contrast, the pool of married women only grew 7 percent during that time. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is building a national computer model to find and hopefully sway single women.

Neither the Alaska Democratic Party nor the Begich campaign knew about a similar effort by any Democratic group in Alaska. However, Begich has been busy reaching out to both women and minority voters in the state.

“Women for Begich” groups across the state have been meeting. Begich is the only pro-choice candidate running for Senate. The three Republican challengers, Dan Sullivan, Mead Treadwell, and Joe Miller have all claimed the pro-life mantle. And all three of them have said at one time or the other that the abortion issue would factor into a decision to confirm a candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Too, in a radio interview with conservative talk show host Glen Biegel, Sullivan appears to support allowing corporations to decide if they will provide contraceptives as part of their health care policies, characterizing a mandate to do so under the Affordable Care Act as an “attack on religious liberty.” That mandate is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court.

Begich has also been reaching out to minority groups in Alaska. Last weekend alone, he met with groups from the Chinese, Hmong, Hispanic, Filipino, Korean, Polynesian, and Cambodian communities.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Parnell administration files notice of intent to sue over King Cove to Cold Bay road

The State of Alaska informed the federal government that it intends to sue over access to a potentially life-saving road between King Cove and Cold Bay, villages in Alaska’s Aleutian Chain. Until now, the road has been a federal, rather than state issue.

In December, the Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell denied the road, 11 miles of which would cut through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. All three members of Alaska’s congressional delegation cried foul. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has been fighting the most diligently to allow residents to build the road. Environmentalists have been pushing back.

Cold Bay has an all-weather airport. King Cove does not. When residents need to be evacuated to Anchorage or Outside for medical care, the Coast Guard sends a helicopter, which is often dangerous and costly. Already this year there have been five such evacuations. According to Murkowski’s office, each Coast Guard transport costs as much as $210,000.

Read background here and here. Here’s the full press release from the governor’s office:

Governor Sean Parnell today announced that the State of Alaska has filed a notice of intent to sue the federal government over access through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, based on a historic right of way. A strong advocate for the life-saving road between King Cove and Cold Bay, the governor has called the Department of the Interior’s failure to approve a road that would provide emergency medical access for residents of King Cove “unconscionable.”

“In just the last several weeks, serious health-related evacuations have shown just how critical a road for medical evacuations is for residents,” Governor Parnell said. “The State continues to explore all potential avenues to help the people of King Cove. The notice of intent to sue relates to one option the State is evaluating, but the fastest and surest way to provide emergency medical access for King Cove residents is for Secretary Jewell to reconsider her decision placing the possible temporary disturbance of birds above the health and safety of Alaskans. The State will pursue all options to help Alaska residents.”

The notice is required to be submitted at least 180 days prior to the State being allowed to bring suit against the federal government asserting a right of way based on historic use under Revised Statute 2477, a section of the Mining Act of 1866. A copy of the notice is available at:
http://gov.alaska.gov/parnell_media/resources_files/jewell_040714.pdf

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

State Ferry Workers Fail To Reach Agreement With State

By statute, union agreements with monetary terms are due to the legislature by the 60th day (March 21) of session. To date, three unions representing the state’s ferry workers have failed to come to terms with the state: Master, Mates and Pilots; Marine Engineers Beneficial Association; and the Inland Boatman Union.

This impasse, in essence, guarantees the first year of a new contract will have a zero percent increase. Some in the know are saying that the parties are as much as 10 – 15 percent apart in terms of wages being requested.
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Mayor Dan defends tennis court appropriation

Give Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan credit for responding to stories about his administration. Below is his response to the Friday story on this site about Sen. Lesil McGuire’s attempt to re-appropriate money slated for Anchorage tennis courts:

The indoor public courts were requested by the Alaska Tennis Association so that all kids could have an opportunity to play the lifetime sport of tennis without having to be rich enough to afford the Alaska Club. All the high schools will use the facility for their regular season and regional tournament, as well as teams from around the state for the state competitions. The need became essential with the pending sale of the Alaska Club North, which has 5 of the 9 private indoor courts in town.

The first location considered was in south Anchorage (in Lesil’s district) but because of poor soils the current site was proposed. It does not matter to me where the location is, because I will continue to be a member of the Alaska Club, as I have been for nearly thirty years, because there is a wider variety of exercise options and amenities.

As for investing in our public facilities before building new ones, my administration has invested over $650 million in our parks, trails, public facilities, etc., over the past five years, the largest amount ever invested in our public infrastructure in Anchorage history.

Two more conservative super-PACs enter Alaska’s U.S. Senate race

Two more conservative super-PACs have entered Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, both of which are opposing Sen. Mark Begich. According to FEC reports, the Conservative Majority Fund is spending $491 on “contact calls.” The second group, the Conservative Strikeforce, will be spending $1,125 on voter contact calls and emails.

Scott B. Mackenzie is listed as the treasurer for both of the groups and both groups share the same address in Arlington, Va. Dennis Whitfield, former Deputy Secretary of Labor under President Ronald Reagan, is listed as Conservative Strikeforce’s chairman.

The groups are only spending a pittance, but according to political consultant Ben Nuckels with Joe Slade White & Company, $1,000 can buy as many as 66,000 robo calls. If that’s what they’re doing, which is likely. The Conservative Majority Fund has gotten the most press for its robo calls, particularly those that promulgated the conspiracy that President Obama isn’t a citizen. In 2012, the Huffington Post reported the following call which came from the group:

Our only recourse now is to move forward with the full impeachment of President Obama. We suspect that Obama is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and that there may be grounds for impeachment as is laid out in the constitution. Further, he may not even be a U.S. citizen because nobody, I mean no one, has seen an actual physical copy of his birth certificate. Impeachment is our only option. And Republicans are already considering Obama investigations. As the nation’s most effective conservative group we are launching the official impeach Obama campaign.

Let’s just hope they’ve got your number and not mine.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com