To the extent that Alaska has power brokers, many of them were at Rep. Bill Stoltze’s political fundraiser for his state Senate bid at the Aviation Museum in Anchorage on Monday. About 70 in all showed, with a hefty dose of sports fishing enthusiasts in the room lead by Kenai angler Bob Penney. Spotted: Linda Leary from ACS; Bill Eckhardt and Dan McCue from Alaska USA Federal Credit Union; Tom Gimple with Geneva Woods Pharmacy; AOGA’s executive director Kara Moriarty; GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan and his lovely wife Julie Fate; Verne Martell; Mat-Su Borough Assembly members Steve Colligan and Ron Arvin; SCI President Eddie Grasser; awesomely dressed Marie Evans and Michael Hurley from ConocoPhillips; AK Republican Party Vice Chair elect Frank McQueary; Rasmuson Foundation President Diane Kaplan; Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux; Mark Davis from AIDEA; retired Superior Court Judge Karl Johnstone; and Ketchikan state House candidate Agnes Moran. Rumored take at the door was north of $15,000.00.
A private jet with a Miami Dolphin helmet on the tail wing sat on the tarmac at the Juneau airport this past weekend. Nobody seemed to know who flew in on it. Was the team’s owner in town fishing with some of the team’s stars? Did they stop by to kiss the glacier? Or perhaps it was as simple as lobbyist Frank Bickford’s ardent enthusiasm for the team that drew it far North.
I’m not sure why more hasn’t been made of the picture of Rep. Don Young with his fingers in his ears and his tongue sticking out during a House speech about a fallen soldier. Remember how much was made when Rep. Scott Kawasaki mugged for the camera during a state House debate over natural gas? Remember how Republican House members held a press conference to scold him? “Tongue gate,” we all called it then. Is the musically inclined Young challenger, Forrest Dunbar, creating a video about the moment? “Young’s Tongue?”
Evangelist Franklin Graham, President and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, is scheduled to speak this Sunday, June 29th at the Anchorage Baptist Temple. Will he speak about his staunch opposition to Pebble mine in front of a crowd that is probably mostly pro-mining?
Veteran political consultant and pollster Marc Hellenthal and Palmer Mayor and state Senate candidate DeLena Johnson have called it quits. Hellenthal who has been consulting in the Alaska political game for more than a quarter of a century, doesn’t have much patience for candidates who don’t listen.
Lynda Zaugg has filed an ethics complaint against Gov. Sean Parnell. Mayor Dan is responding to an APOC violation that was charged by Vince Beltrami and most surprisingly, former Alaska Republican Party chair Randy Ruedrich has filed a complaint against the Anchorage Republican Women’s Club. Let’s hear it for a long election season.
Judy Eledge is no shrinking violet and has created her share of controversy. Here’s a recent post on her Facebook page that she wrote about the subject: “My sweet mama once told me if you weren’t upsetting someone you must not be doing too much. I am going to have to cut down on my workload!”
Log rolling alert: Here’s a piece about my brother, who’s an artist and who’s making a brilliant sculpture for the Kenai Wellness Center.
Is Erin Micciche, Sen. Peter Micciche’s wife, ever going to have that baby?
Dawn Linton-Warren’s 55th birthday party was on Tuesday night at Blue Hollomon Gallery. Guests were greeted at the door with trays of small bottles of Moet with little straws in them. That went over well. Spotted: George and Brenda Wuerch, Jerry Hood, Frank and Jeanne McQueary, Julie Sullivan and Lynette Sullivan, Paul McGuire and Debbie Reinwand, Rep Lori Reinbolt, Gretchen Cuddy, Amie Haakenson, Rebecca Mahaney, the Oney’s, Art and April Hackney, Vicki and Andrew Halcro and about 20-or so more.
Spotted puttering around at the Anchorage Golf Course: Dan Fagan.
Looking for a list of political events that normally go in this column? They’ve got their own home! Check out the Political Daybook here. If you have an event that you want to include, send me the info at the email below. Include date, time, venue, and address. Make sure you put “event” in the subject line of the email.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
Did you mean Rep. Lora Reinbold?
I think it’s less Stoltze, personally, and more the entrenched power of incumbency. Stoltze is a phony. Like other career politicians, he plays the dutiful public servant to a tee right around election time every two years. The rest of the time he’s a petty, vindictive, grudge-holding bully whose personal agenda rarely takes a back seat to considerations of what’s best for the people he was elected to represent.
I don’t get the lack of reaction to the Congressman’s inappropriate behavior either. He is really out of touch. I guess we are just apathetic. I wish DNR Dan had run in this race instead.
AFL-CIO
Too funny Mr. Landrum. Good post.
Amanda, do you really wonder who the power brokers are in Alaska? Let me help. The big three are
-BP
-Conoco-Phillips
-ExxonMobil
And then way, waaaaaay down the list you’ll find the Associated General Contractors of Alaska, who are counterbalanced by the Central Labor Council. And off to the side, protecting his summer fishin’ hole, is Bob Gillam. The end.
Will Governor Parnell now enforce the law regarding confidentiality of ethics complaints against the Executive Branch? Will the legislature remove this overt threat to citizens if the Governor will not or cannot enforce this requirement?
AS 39.52.340. Confidentiality.
(a) Except as provided in AS 39.52.335 , before the initiation of formal proceedings under AS 39.52.350 , the complaint and all other documents and information regarding an investigation conducted under this chapter or obtained by the attorney general during the investigation are confidential and not subject to inspection by the public. In the case of a complaint concerning the governor, lieutenant governor, or attorney general, all meetings of the personnel board concerning the complaint and investigation before the determination of probable cause are closed to the public
I wish I could figure out the infatuation that people have with Stoltze. Maybe it’s the cookies he bakes?
Like your political daybook calendar of events. This is interesting, informative and helpful.
The Stoltze fundraising event was one of the more successful campaign events for a legislative candidate.
So disappointing to see an article that doesn’t include mention of the mathematically and ethically challenged Tuck and his sometimes sidekick, little radio girl. Did he ever figure out how to manage more than one account at a time? Did she get the parking spot, or prestige, she was hoping for with his license plates. What will happen next in this oh-so-compelling (and ridiculously irrelevant) melodrama? We’re all on the edge of our seats…..yawn