- As expected, Anand Dubey has filed to run for the House seat soon to be vacated by Democrat turned Republican Lindsey Holmes. Dubey ran against Holmes in 2012 when she was a Democrat. He lost by 10 points. Holmes was popular in her district, and she attracted moderate Republicans .This time around, Dubey will be facing former Assemblyman Matt Claman, who was acting mayor for a brief time in 2009. It’ll still be tough. The district skews Democratic. Obama carried it by 8 points in the last election. Dubey, however, is a hard campaigner and Republicans aren’t going to cede the district without a fight.
- Speaking of Matt Claman: I spoke with him Tuesday night following a joint fundraiser for him and Clare Ross at the home of Penny Zobel and Doug Hall. Claman said about 50 people showed. He said he’s going to run on: support for public education, fiscal discipline and women’s rights. More interestingly, however, is that he said he will not be running on the oil tax repeal. He said that although he signed the petition to repeal the taxes, the report by respected UAA economist Scott Goldsmith that said that the new oil tax regime might be good for the state, has caused Claman to “pause and reflect.” This probably makes him one of the first Democrats outside of Rural Alaska to signal that he might break ranks with the party on this issue.
- From the Conservative Patriots group: “Anchorage CPG meeting will be held this Thursday (May 8th) at 6:30pm at the Alaska Policy Forum conference room (201 Barrow Street, next to Ramada Inn). We will have Ray Metcalfe who will present to us why we should vote to repeal SB21… CPG is currently neutral on this issue.”
- Lisa Murkowski’s campaign thought that it would be a good idea to poll Alaskans during a busy campaign season, when people whose phone numbers are readily available to pollsters have already received dozens of calls, and before we know what her role is going to be after the mid-term elections. Reportedly, at least some of the questions are about how voters feel about her being relatively pro-choice, and about her vote on gay marriage. Her campaign manager Kevin Sweeney said the poll was standard and so were the questions.
- Juneau Water and Sewer fees poised to increase 31 percent over the next three years.
- Anchorage’s East High was named the most ethnically diverse High School in America by the U.S. Department of Education.
- Colleen Sullivan-Leonard, who is a Wasilla city council member and sister to Anchorage mayor Dan Sullivan, has announced that she’s dropping out of the mayor’s race and will be seeking reelection to her city council seat.
- If a group armed with NGP Van products knock at your door, you might want to open it and ask them some questions about yourself, your voting habits, or the voting habits of your friends. They’ll likely know it. NGP Van specializes in helping progressive campaigns and organizations leverage technology to meet their voter identification, contact and get out the vote goals. Obama swept the elections using the company’s tools. Republicans like to refer to it with awe in their voices as “data driven” campaigns. What it entails, however, is pretty simple. People knock on doors. They ask you questions. They then type the answers into a computer program. Wala! Alaska Democrats have been using the company’s products for years, even before the national Dems caught on. They helped get U.S. Sen. Mark Begich elected last time, and they plan to help again with new expanded products.
- There will be a fundraiser for state Senate candidate Harry Crawford on Saturday May 10 at the home of Joanna Hubbard: 4221 Southpark Bluff Drive. More info here.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
Wholesale rewrite and correction: The entry on NGP Van was changed significantly from its orginal.
This guy knows just enough to let us all know how little he really knows. First, DOR does audit the oil companies. Constantly. The loss of revenue is because of a production decline, not because of cost escalation. Maybe he’s disappointed that the lies being promoted primarily by his Dmocratic buddies are being debunked by facts. As far as his comment about critical thinking classes, I think he has proven himself ready and in need of such classes. Looking forward to more of your well thought out comments. I think its people like this that the slogan “people get the kind of govt they desrve” comes from. One last question: do you believe that we landed on the moon or that it’s still a spoof?
I know enough about Parnell to know whatever he is pushing is for oil companies, not Alaskans so that tells me all I need to know about SB21 and the $65 Billion pipeline project. No other pipeline in the world comes close to costing that amount. Looking at the article below, it will become obvious how it will ‘cost’ that much. The truth will be Alaska will pay the entire amount, and the will fake the cost of the rest which will be easy with no audit with the current Alaska legislature and governor.
If SB21 wasn’t the cause in oil revenue decline, we deserve to know why the oil companies production costs doubled last year resulting in the missing 2 Billlion.
We need to audit the oil companies and make them prove their production costs doubled for an acceptable reason.
In the case of a federal lawsuit “Judge: Oil Companies “Cavalierly” wasted Hundred’s of Millions on Pipeline work” the oil companies were caught brazenly inflating transportation costs which led to companies paying themselves more money to which led to higher production costs.
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20140228/judge-oil-companies-cavalierly-wasted-hundreds-millions-pipeline-work
They inflate cost on purpose to pay less in taxes and unless there is an audit to prove otherwise, we can assume they are lying about production cost doubling. There was no reason their production cost should have doubled. They can’t just say that and we believe them.
Good thinking skills require, good journalism demands an explanation to why the state lost money because of oil companies production cost increase, not just a ‘well, okay, if goldsmith said it, it must be true’
WE need an audit, we need to understand WHY!
Do they teach critical thinking skills in school anymore?
I have never seen the repeal effort of SB21 as anything but a gross strategic blunder. Regardless of your disdain for the process and personalities who are responsible for SB21 why would you not wait to see the impact of SB21? Why would you want to immediately repeal SB21 and thereby give the producers an opportunity to blame all future reductions in production and subsequent revenue reductions on you? Why give your political opponents the absolute opportunity to forever tell you “I told you so” if the repeal of SB21 results in no immediately demonstrable benefit?
As Professor Goldsmith correctly demonstrated we did not allow time for the impact of SB21 to be objectively evaluated. Since the brief period of its’ existence SB21, by itself, could not have created a $2 billion dollar deficit nor could SB21 have generated a significant amount of capital investment by the producers given the lead time necessary for implementation of those investments. .
I enjoy this column because of the diversity of the information and the fact that it is given in short form. It is both useful as well as informative. I do question the value and wisdom of Lisa Murkowski polling now. As we all know, polling is a snapshot of the moment and has little lasting value. To me, she’s just wasting money. If I were involved with her campaign I would have waited until January before doing a poll. No one ever accused Murkowski or her advisors of being smart politicians. The Conservative Patriots Party must be already opposed to Ballot Measure #1 if they have invited Ray Metcalf to present the Yes on #1 arguments. In closing, I can understand why Juneau needs to increase their sewer rates given the production level of you know what from our legislature. And, everyone should go to Harry Crawford’s event and give generously and even more if he proves to be as politically smart as Matt Claman.
Happy Days Are Here Again !
I am thrilled that there is a democratic candidate that actually has enough sense to understand oil’s impact on our economy. I intend to support Matt Clamon as a result. His openess to Dr. Goldsmith’s report is what we need more of in Juneau – – that’s legislators that grasp issues from an intellectual perspective as opposed to an emotional perspective. Thank God there is at least one democrat who is smart enough to know that oil oisnt and shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
Note to other democrats : it’s the economy stupid.