Category Archives: Politics

Loose Lips: Three Amigos! Walker gaining steam. Sen. Barrasso gets warmer reception.

This week, Byron Mallott’s campaign issued a series of fundraising emails related to the opening of their Fairbanks office. One asked for a contribution to pay the rent, another to keep the lights on. Gimmick? Those of us who are hoping for a vital governor’s race with good representatives from both parties hope so.

Speaking of the governor’s race: As most readers of this blog have probably heard, there’s a push among some to get Mallott out of the governor’s race, so that independent candidate Bill Walker might stand a chance against Gov. Sean Parnell. It’s unlikely however. Continue reading →

Assistant AG who penned ‘Stand Your Ground’ letter confirms Sullivan’s account

I got some pushback this morning about the piece that I published earlier on GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan’s support, or lack of support, for the ‘Stand Your Ground’ bill that was introduced while Sullivan was the state’s Attorney General, and passed last legislative session. The issue is being used against him to imply that he’s soft on gun rights.

At issue is an impassioned letter written by Assistant Attorney General John Skidmore, detailing concerns with the bill. The letter said that as written, the bill was dangerous and could lead to loss of life. As is standard procedure, Dan Sullivan’s name is on the letter, but Skidmore signed it. Sullivan has claimed that he always supported ‘Stand Your Ground,’ but that letter called those claims into question.

Sullivan said that he didn’t have knowledge of that letter. A reader suggested that I call Skidmore to check if that was true. I did. Continue reading →

Sullivan stands up for his support for ‘Stand Your Ground’

An ad that Senate candidate Dan Sullivan recently released making the claim that he “successfully fought to protect our Second Amendment rights and pass Stand Your Ground,” is under fire by Sullivan’s opposition and now by the fact checking group Politifact, which has fact-checked a handful of ads so far in the Alaska Senate race. Politifact is a project operated by the Tampa Bay Times and its verdict on whether or not an ad is true or false carries weight.

Politifact said Sullivan’s ‘stand your ground’ claim was “false.” Continue reading →

New poll shows a tightening in Senate race, oil tax repeal winning

Anchorage-based pollster and political consultant Mark Hellenthal released a wide-ranging poll on Wednesday, which shows, among other things, that if the election were held today, SB 21, or the oil tax legislation that was passed by the Legislature, would likely be repealed by a slim margin. It also showed that while Dan Sullivan has the lead in the U.S. Senate primary, it might not be as wide a lead between Sullivan and Mead Treadwell — the two leading candidates — as Sullivan’s internal polling has suggested. Continue reading →

Begich’s new ad features three Fairbanks mayors

Sen. Mark Begich’s campaign released a new ad today featuring three mayors from Fairbanks. Fairbanks Mayor John Eberhart, Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins, and former North Star Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker, all say in the ad that they’re voting for Begich. Whitaker says he’s doing so even though he’s a Republican. Mentioned in the ad are things that Begich himself has touted: keeping the F16s at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks, and taking on the EPA and keeping the coal fired power plant in Fairbanks open. “It’s why we know he’s against a carbon tax,” Whitaker says, addressing an issue that’s been used as an attack against Begich and one that appears increasingly ambiguous. Whitaker also says that Begich has proven that he has “clout.” Eberhart says that Alaska “can’t afford to lose that.”

http://youtu.be/BUTQr6MutlM

New poll shows Walker neck-and-neck with Parnell

A poll paid for by independent gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker shows that Walker is just one point behind Gov. Sean Parnell, if the two were able to go head-to-head in the general election without a third candidate. However, throw Democratic candidate Byron Mallott into the mix, and Parnell beats Walker by about 14 percent and Mallott by 26 percent. When Mallott and Parnell are put together, Parnell wins by about 21 percent. (The questions and results are below.)

The take-away, according to Ivan Moore, who conducted the poll: Continue reading →

Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision will likely be a winning issue for Begich

Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision to allow corporations such as Hobby Lobby, which brought the case, to opt out of the ObamaCare birth control mandate for religious reasons. The decision has huge implications, not only for ObamaCare mandates, but perhaps for companies who, in the future, have religious objections to workers vaccinations, or psychiatric care, or blood transfusions, all of which are also in conflict with certain religious beliefs.

It’s also likely to be used as a further wedge between the two parties, Continue reading →

Loose Lips: Furniture subcommittee. Prevo’s seal. Who drank the Kool-Aid?

The Legislative Council subcommittee on furniture for the Anchorage Legislative Office building met on Monday morning. Members included Rep. Bill Stolze, House Speaker Mike Chenault, and Senate President Charlie Huggins. All in all, a pretty esteemed group to be sitting on a subcommittee dealing with furniture, but sit they did and they decided to recommend to the entire committee that they use existing and state surplus furniture where possible. They also authorized no more than $100,000 for new furniture, which seems pretty responsibly meager considering that the full Council authorized a $100,000 payment to developer Mark Pfeffer–the master of no bid contracts–just to advise on the purchase of new furniture. Continue reading →

Will Hobby Lobby ruling have on impact on Alaska’s Senate race?

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the now-well known Hobby Lobby case that companies can opt out of providing contraception coverage under Obamacare. The ruling marks the first time that the Supreme Court has allowed companies the ability to declare a religious belief.

The ruling could have huge implications for other mandates under ObamaCare. Continue reading →

Cue the campaign music videos

As far as I know, Forrest Dunbar, the Democrat running for Rep. Don Young’s seat, is the first candidate of this season to use a music video as a campaign tool. Even though “Your Love,” the song that he remixed, brought back certain mixed memories for some of us–peach schnapps, Izod shirts with upturned collars, the Iran-Contra scandal — it worked to get him some attention. And who can forget this faux-folk song from Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s write-in race? The one below is aimed at Sen. Mark Begich. I don’t know who it came from or whether it will stick. But some of it is a little clever.

http://youtu.be/D6PBmMflcsg

Book Review: Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State

Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State
By Ralph Nader

During our last great energy crisis, which President Carter combated in part by installing solar panels on the White House roof, a wood stove in the living quarters and proposing that goats crop the White House lawns, I had a ringside seat at a debate, televised live on the old Phil Donahue show in Chicago, between my boss of those years, John Swearingen, and Ralph Nader.

Swearingen, chairman of Standard Oil Co. of Indiana (later Amoco, then BP Amoco, finally BP), was one of the last of the great old-school oil company executives Continue reading →

Loose Lips: Whisper campaigns. Young and Hard. Pink boxer shorts.

She described it “as the most magical day of her life.” Cook Inlet Tribal Council CEO Gloria O’Neill and Roger Phillips stood on the Kachemak Bay’s McDonald Spit last Friday and said, ‘I do” and that they would, forever and ever. For eternity. Congratulations and best wishes for a wonderful marriage.

APOC has “accepted” Randy Ruedrich’s complaint against the Anchorage Women’s Republican Club, for what he says is funky bookkeeping.

Long time state worker Jerry Burnett who recently Continue reading →

GOP Senate candidate Treadwell begins ‘True Alaskan Conservative’ theme

Here’s Republican candidate Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell’s first widespread radio ad of the campaign season. The spot is airing along with a television ad introducing the theme, “The True Alaskan Conservative.” (I’ll post the TV ad when I get it, but it’s basically a cut version of this one.) What makes him more conservative than the other GOP challengers in the race –Joe Miller or Dan Sullivan — is anyone’s guess. But that likely won’t matter. Treadwell’s message is clear and to the point, and is one that the public will likely remember if Treadwell has the money to be able to disseminate the ads widely enough. Whether they’ll believe it is another story.

Three GOP Senate hopefuls take to the stage for first debate

On Thursday night, the three Republican Senate candidates—Joe Miller, Mead Treadwell, and Dan Sullivan—took to the stage for the first primary debate that featured all three. The lead-up to the debate was not without drama, which culminated with the former chair of the Republican Party, Randy Ruedrich, filing a complaint with APOC against the Anchorage Women’s Republican Club, which organized it.

But all that drama, as these things do, fell away as the candidates stepped on stage, where for two hours–without a break–they answered questions from the organizers, Continue reading →

New poll shows Senate hopeful Sullivan leads in primary, tied with Begich

A poll conducted for GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan’s campaign released on Thursday shows that Sullivan has a 9 point lead over Lt. Gov. Treadwell among all primary voters, and a 23 percent lead over Joe Miller. Among “likely” voters, Sullivan leads by 18 percentage points over Treadwell and about 28 percent over Miller. Among “very likely” voters, Sullivan is at 46 percent, Treadwell is at 23 percent and Joe Miller is at 13 percent.

Still, 24 percent of all primary voters are undecided. And about 17 percent of likely and very likely primary voters are undecided as well, the poll finds.

The poll was conducted by Portland-based Moore Information, Continue reading →