Rumor has it that local businessman and political activist Barney Gottstein gave the Yes on #1 committee a hefty six-figure contribution. However, a few strings were attached. Word is that the money came with the condition that former political consultant Joe Rothstein be involved in the campaign. Some with long memories might remember that Rothstein was the Daily News’ executive editor under Kay Fanning. Rothstein, Gottstein, fellow grocery store magnate Larry Carr and former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel were all good friends back in the day. In her biography, Fanning unapologetically credits Rothstein for using his role as editor to get Mike Gravel elected to the U.S. Senate in 1968. “Having Carr and Gottstein behind him with Joe Rothstein writing pro-Gravel columns in the Daily News, gave Gravel a lot of momentum as the primary election neared,” she wrote. Some might remember that the town’s other newspaper, the Anchorage Times, always claimed that there was some sort of Democratic cabal going on at the Daily News, all of which brings to mind the adage about paranoia. Shortly after Gravel won the primary, Rothstein left the Daily News to run Gravel’s general election campaign.
Rep. Bill Stoltze celebrated his 54th birthday with a picnic at the Mat-Su River Park in Palmer,and used the event to benefit the Mat-Su Food Bank and the Salvation Army. Over 100 people showed. Spotted: Ron Arvin and Cathy Tilton who are both running for Bill’s house seat, Beth Freed, former Gov. Bill Sheffield, Palmer City Council members Linda Combs and Richard Best, Cheryl Riggs, Paulu Quesnel, Janet Kincaid, former Palin staffer and confidant Kris Perry, one of the Valley’s favorite hockey guys Steve MacSwain, and Mat-Su Assemblyman Steve Colligan.
Remember when the U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan’s campaign got all self-righteous about not attacking Republican opponents? Well, those were the good old days. Exhibit 1:
But to give the Sullivan campaign some credit here, they’re going after Mead Treadwell for financial interests he has in a company that accepted stimulus money that Treadwell so abhorred.
Speaking of Treadwell: Over the past weeks, I had been hearing all sorts of theories as to why his chief of staff, Michelle Toohey, resigned from the lieutenant governor’s office. Some of those theories didn’t speak well to Treadwell’s management style. So I finally decided to pick up the phone. Turns out Toohey is still supporting Treadwell, so much so that she says she has a sign in her yard. “He’s my candidate,” she said, stressing that she left the office because she wanted to spend time with her family. Truly.
Happy 49th birthday Medicare. And thanks for the reminder from Sen. Johnny Ellis.
With less than three weeks until the primary, here comes the kitchen sink. The pro-Begich super-PAC, Put Alaska First, has recently placed a $450,000 $439,000 statewide buy, on cable and broadcast against Dan Sullivan, which runs from August 1 -10 with an ad titled “Decisions.” The ad will likely not center around deciding what to eat for breakfast, say, or should I buy those Jimmy Choo shoes. As Anchorage-based political consultant Marc Hellenthal is fond of saying, Begich is going to decide who he want’s to run against in the primary. All this talk about the Treadwell surge? I’ll believe it when we see Begich money used against him.
Senate District G Democratic candidate Jim Arlington will face incumbent Republican Sen. Anna Fairclough in the November general election. Is Arlington using some sort of stealth strategy? His last APOC report showed zero contributions.
Around 100 people showed at a fundraiser for Gov. Sean Parnell Monday evening in the Valley at the home of Dave and Dana Cruz. Some of the attendees included: Margie Brown, Noel Woods, Janet Kincaid, Rep. Wes Keller, Mat-Su Assemblyman Steve Colligan, Sen. Charlie Huggins and his wife Becky, and Rep. Eric Fiege. Three commissioners showed: DNR’s Joe Balash, Labor’s Diane Bloomer and Admin’s Curtis Thayer.
There’s a new chairman at APOC. Actually, he’s not all that new, they just never announced the change. Kenneth Kirk is now the chairman of the commission. He is a Republican.
David Dunsmore has been tapped to be the legislative campaign coordinator for the Interior Democrats.
DHSS Commissioner Bill Streur donated $150 to Sen. Click Bishop’s Democratic opponent. Word is that Bishop and some of his colleagues are grumbling about the contribution. Indeed, it’s strange. It would be comparable to one of Obama’s cabinet secretaries donating to a GOP Senate candidate. But Bishop is on some thin ice here. He has hired the smart, former Democratic staffer Ken Alper, who himself has donated the max to Democratic Senate candidate Harry Crawford, who is running against one of Bishop’s majority members, Sen. Cathy Giessel.
There may be a separation between church and state; but not between church and politics. The Calvary Church on Jewel Lake has a Joe Miller 4 x 8 sign on its property. Last week, the church’s parking lot was said to be a Joe Miller 4 x 8 sign assembly line.
For any of you who have ever feared that Kodiak would go for decorum, here’s a news lead of a lifetime, courtesy of KMXT in Kodiak:
The debate over the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly’s recently-passed “decorum” ordinance has turned ugly. At least two assembly members have received violent threats in recent days from citizens upset with the ordinance and the denial of a ballot initiative to repeal it.
Naturally, police presence was requested at the last Assembly work session, which according to one Assembly member, is “not unusual for us when we have these highly-controversial subjects,” like for instance, calling for decorum in Kodiak.
U.S. DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx will be making his first trip to Alaska in mid-August. While here, he’ll be attending a fundraiser for Sen. Mark Begich at the Anchorage home of Jim Kubitz and Sue Urig. If you’re better connected than I am, you might have already gotten an email from Begich’s COS David Ramseur looking for co-hosts. According to Ramseur, the Senate race in going to be a nail-biter.
This is one way to raise funds, which I still don’t exactly understand: West side Democratic state candidates—Clare Ross, Matt Claman, and Marty McGee–challenged East side Dems–Harry Crawford. Matt Moore, and Laurie Hummel —to a fundraising competition. The West siders had their day on Tuesday. The East siders. will have theirs next week. It all involves growlers and pizza at the Democratic Party headquarters, and lots of selfies. It sounds like a lot of work, and how all this makes money is anybody’s guess, but I’m told that it did on Tuesday at least. They might do well to remember that if the selfie stuff fails, there’s always the Petroleum Club.
Here’s another way to raise funds, which I don’t exactly understand:
First mover, @CeanforHouse, launches her #bitcoin campaign donations strategy! http://t.co/Y7oWtkmRHX
— Cean Stevens (@CeanforHouse) July 30, 2014
Stevens might do well to remember that if the bitcoin stuff fails, there’s always the Petroleum Club.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
Picture this: Ben Mohr, former 7 year Pebble flak and DNR Dan campaign manager, as Emperor Parnell’s fisheries adviser.
DNR Dan Sullivan as AK US Senator who wouldn’t know a cod fish from a rock fish or a tanner from a dungie and doesn’t give a shit.
Alaska fishermen should be shaking in their X-tra Tuffs.
Any chance Mead got for a whole there he was telling people about how upset he was that Dan was running. He said that he is the only reason why anyone knows who Dan is and that he was betrayed. Didn’t Mead get friendly with Ramras but it “wasn’t personal” when he decided to run? Mead is almost as sensitive as his followers.
Pish posh. You must be related to Walden Featherbottom, a Treadwell fanboy.
1. Wrong. Mead was working for the company when they received the first round of stimulus money and when they negotiated the contracts for the second round.
2. Do you know the difference between a person who owns a stock but doesn’t work for the company, and someone that does?
3. Negotiated by the World Bank
4. Nora = Rebecca Logan. Good to know.
1. Mead had no decision in the company’s acceptance of bailout money, he was not part of the board.
2. If we’re playing guilt by shareholder association what do you think of the shares that Dan owns in his families company that increased while it was defrauding the U.S. Government while building VA hospitals?
3. Dan helped negotiate a 1.4 Billion dollar bailout for Pakistan and Pakistan used that money to fund terrorism – hmmmm
1. Ellicott received stimulus money while Mead was a share holder.
2. Receipt of the stimulus money, and the contract in place to receive more, caused the value of Ellicott shares to increase.
3. Receipt of the increased investment through the stimulus bill, made it much more lucrative for Mead and other share holders to sell, which rewarded Mead with a $1.1 million dollar capitol gain.
4. Mead has criticized the stimulus bill. Maybe he was for it before he was against it?
It wasn’t uncommon for companies to receive stimulus money, increase their company value and then sell and walk away with a lot of cash. The thing that concerns me is that Mead might have been one of them and yet has been critical of the stimulus. Just my humble opinion though and I think that was the point of the mailer.
Messrs. Friedman and Smith: –
Read Hertz’s piece in ADN for the “fact” and “truth” of which you both speak.
Some on this site (Sullivan staffers) are demonstrably a bunch of whinny, under perspicacious imbeciles. This futile attempt at attacking Mead is a thousand percent #hilarious.
I am sure the Treadwell campaign is feeling just peachy watching the Sullivan campaign implode.
I certainly am.
Fondly,
J. Ebenezer Wilberforce
So you have no proof?
“I had been hearing all sorts of theories….”
Doth I hear a whisper in this pernicious wind?
Tis but a malady of yellow journalism, practiced by yonder fiend.
Behold the buckeye attercop,
His mighty mailer sent afore,
That it should come to this
Methinks tis much a gardyloo of bore.
Mr. Sullivan has a chronic dishonesty problem, which is an extremely bad sign for a candidate who has never before been elected to public office. Considering that all we have to judge him by is his campaign, it is no surprise that the longer his campaign drags on, the more he slips in the polls.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/jul/02/dan-sullivan/senate-candidate-dan-sullivan-says-he-passed-stand/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/feb/21/dan-sullivan/begich-supports-97-percent-obamas-economic-policy-/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/may/19/dan-sullivan/gop-opponent-says-mark-begich-took-campaign-money-/
John Smith – what is true on the flyer?
The false outrage from Mead and his supporters is funny to watch. Also, it is interesting that they are not arguing the substance of the piece or denying its validity. If giving out factual information concerning your opponent is so outrageous, then why in the world do we even have a primary. Some of you are being overly sensitive.
#treadwellcampaignhack
It is a face saving thing. She is doing it strictly so that she can keep the connection neutral at the very least to an old employer. It is called being gracious and you dont have to like someone to be gracious. It is well known that Treadwell abuses his staff (both lietenant governor and campaign)
The Parnell team has lost their mind.
Ben Mohr, a fish advisor? OMG. What a terrible choice.
Of course they’re not goiong to make an announcement. I’ll be casting my ballot for Governor for whoever lools like they can beat Parnell.
This represents a new level of dumbness on the part of the administration. Laughable if not so sad.
AK Cod makes a good point about Ben Mohr. Of course there wouldn’t be an announcement. He is a terrible choice. Mohr is a first class failure. The only place a loser like that could survive is in government. He was a Pebble person tasked with outreach where he was a complete failure. Then he went to Afghan Dan’s campaign where he was a total joke and they got rid of him. Now, a fishery advisor to the governor?????? That is ridiculous that you could even consider hiring a fisheries advisor from the Pebble operation. This GOP voter, based on this news, will now be voting for Walker. I will send a letter to my 800 plus email list about this subject at least once a week until the election is over in November. I have never felt so betrayed by an Alaska politician. Ben Mohr is an incompetent fool and lacks integrity. Shocked that Parnell administration has hired him. Tells me that Parnell cares nothing about our state’s commercial or sports fisheries. This guy will drag you down. Why do you think the Sullivan campaogn got rid of him.
Mead has been going negative against Dan for quite sometime now. You must not have been paying attention.
Honestly, I don’t even see the flyer as being anything other than showing the hypocrisy of Mead. It is certainly a negative for Mead, because it is true. Is that “going negative”, as many on here state? Pointing out the problems with your opponents is what campaigning is about. If Mead and his supporters are truly shocked by this, then you should have been more educated on the actual record.
Mead has been repeating the negative attacks ad nauseam. It’s about time that his opponents go on the offensive and return the favor. The fact that Mead is pointing fingers and crying foul, is a pathetic tactic.
Well Dan’s gone negative too now, I wonder when Mead will start the negatives. All I’ve seen from Dan’s campaign are unsubstantiated attacks against Mead for going negative for months now – where’s the proof?
Proof
Proof
Proof
If you don’t have that, the whisper campaign from Dan seems to just be a high-functioning rumor-mill .
Actually, if you were there –
“Mark Begich has painted my opponent as _________”
He was telling the truth. Just because Mark’s attacks don’t fit into your candidates narratives, doesn’t mean they were false. And nor was it an attack. Treadwell simply stated the fact of what Mark had described Dan as during his closing arguments.
Mark has had commercials out against Dan because he was an undefined candidate. A narrative needed to be painted – people already knew who Joe & Mead were. If Sullivan had any competence at all, with all the money he brought in, he could’ve defined himself correctly from the beginning. Now Mark will transfer his attacks onto Mead so that he can snuff him out of the race, therefore allowing a head to head battle with a man who he’s already painted negatively. Mark’s plan from the beginning was divide and conquer. To that end, he has performed exceptionally well.
@Mae: Would you send me a picture? amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
Treadwell has been attacking Sullivan since before he even got into the race. Did anyone watch the video of the debate in Homer? He went on a rant repeating every false attack the Democrats are throwing at Sullivan.
Mead knows full well the only reason he’s in this race is because the Dems are spending millions against Sullivan, and those funds are by default helping him. Begich is doing Mead’s dirty work for him.
I’m making origami cranes out of all the campaign flyers received in the mail, hung on the door nob & placed in front of the “no soliciting” sign.
Next the kids will spray paint them with colors of their choice. I’ll sting them together to form a mile wide curtain.
There. I’ve made the campaign season propaganda overload useful.
What’s the word for calling somebody hypocritical and in turn you’re hypocritical?
No announcement of the APOC chairman isn’t surprising. Keeping such things below the radar screen is the way things operate under Emperor Parnell’s influence.
What is surprising is that there has been no mention here or anywhere of the secret appointment of Ben Mohr last week as Parnell’s new fisheries adviser.
Mohr was a PR flak for the Pebble Mine for seven years and DNR Dan’s (OH>DC>AK) former campaign manager. The fact that he knows nothing about Alaska fisheries is of no concern to Parnell. Mohr replaced Stephanie Moreland who is now the #2 person at ADFG and will be forced to operate under the same gag order as her boss Cora.
Mead is an honorable man. We have enough negativity in Washington D C. We don’t need to add to it. Sullivan is showing a lack of integrity by going so blatantly negative. I lost respect for him as an individual. I’m glad Mead has been a successful business person. We need people like him in the Senate. Especially as we are approaching 18 Trillion dollar deficit. The deficit has increased 7 Trillion dollars while Begich has been in office.
I don’t cate who Com. Streur contributes to or how politically correct or not it is. What I know is that he is a mean spirited prick that cares less about the people that are served by or are vendors to his departmment. The department is a total mess. His computer system that he said would be fixed by mid April is still not operable. If this guy was in the private sector he’d be gone months ago. Why does he still have a job? Governor I’d really like an answer.
Come on, Artie. Surely, you aren’t the simpleton you suggest in your comments. Mead’s campaign has been anything but inspirational. He wasn’t able to attract contributions to conduct a credible race. Think about it, they’ve hit Sullivan with $3 – $4 million in negative ads and he still leads the pack of GOP candidates and polls show him still beating Begich. I doubt if Treadwell could stand up to $1 million worth of negative ads. They reason they are going after Dan is because they fear him. They consider Treadwell’s candidacy a joke. The rumors about their op research on Treadwell is that they don’t even believe they’d brealk a sweat running against him. It’s like this, the Dems are spending upwards to $5 million to influence the GOP primary. Begich wants either Treadwell or Miller to win the primary and then he’s safe for another 6 years. Its as clear as can be. A vote for anyone other than Dan Sullivan is a vote for Mark Begich.
I doubt if this argument appeals to you. The way I see it, Treadwell is a Republican version of Begich. That’s pretty much it. I doubt if you get it.
Sullivan has spent 2 million bucks and he can’t get any separation from Mead in this race. Now he is resorting to smearing a good and decent man that many Alaskans know well. Shameful.
How in the hell does this guy expect to beat Begich, if he can’t solidify a lead against two underfunded primary challengers?
Cean Stevens has to be the first Alaskan politican to announce that she is accepting bitcoins. It may well be silly in a practical sense. But politically, it is very smart as it is interesting enough that it will attract attention to her campaign. On another issue, I have been surprised to learn that Mead Tredwell isn’t someone whose walk matches their talk. I’ll be voting for Joe Miller, a man of indisputeable integrity.
Clearly something is off with this picture of Mead.
Mead has been around Alaska forever and we all know what he looks like.
He parts his hair to the right. This picture is the opposite.
He wears his suits a little loose. This suit looks tight, and his shoulders don’t look right either.
The DHSS Commissioner should be fired. He is inept. He lacks integrity. He doesn’t care about the people he serves. He doesn’t care about health care providers. And now it is very obvious that he doesn’t care about his boss. Why this guy is still employed is a good reason to vote for anyone but Parnell.
Nice to see the truth come through on Treadwell’s Chief of Staff. Good sleuthing.
Wow. Really commissioner? Are you kidding me? Oh, now I get it. You’re trying to find some trivial matter to be dismissed over so you won’t later have to explain your gross management incompetence with the department’s new IT system that doesn’t work. Good plan commissioner. There is one problem: Parnell never fires anyone for gross incompetence. Think about it. If he did, you wouldn’t have a job.
The Treadwell campaign has been bad mouthing and running a whiisper campaign against both Sullivan and Miller since day 1. In Sullivan’s case, even before he announced. Negative campaigns are a hallmark of Treadwell’s. He lives in the gutter. Need I remind you of his close and personal relationship with Chuckie Johnson who is known as one of the most dirty, disgusting and ill reputable people in politics. This guy has been ridiculed by his own party and the national press. This guy stays at Treadwell’s house when he’s in Alaska. Is this mailer negative or exposing Treadwell for the liar he is? He says he oppposes federal stimulus dollars yet the record is clear that he has been the direct beneficiary of such.
This attack piece on Mead Treadwell is pathetic! The pictures look like they are photoshopped. And if all you can attack our Lt Governor on is this one thing then you should also state the sources you got your information from. Alaskans are tired of negative politics and now Dan Sullivan has played right into the biggest mistake…playing dirty. I’m glad he must view Mead Treadwell as a threat and is finally taking his campaign seriously but Dan Sullivan, Ben Sparks and his entire team should be ashamed of this mailer. Absolutely pathetic.