Loose Lips: The gossipy boys-on-the-bench edition

Loose Lips

  • Often times I roll my eyes at the Capitol building, boys-on-the-bench hallway chatter. For one, the bench warmers tend to be white males who make too much money and have too much time on their hands. Secondly, they use their time gossiping instead of say, doing something really useful like reciting poetry. But often they know what they’re talking about. Recently, some of the gossipers were talking about the most vulnerable legislator. The general consensus is that it’s Rep. Lindsey Holmes, who has two Democratic challengers: former Assemblyman Matt Claman and Clare Ross. They boys on the bench think that Holmes has a better chance against Ross than Claman. Indeed, Ross is campaigning hard, if campaign literature drop-offs are any indication.
  • Meantime, finding a challenger to Rep. Mike Hawker has become a project of Jeff Landfield’s. The young, impetuous Landfield is taking to Facebook, as is his wont, sending out a call for possible candidates to run against Hawker. What he has against Hawker is anybody’s guess, except that Landfield, who ran against Sen. Lesil McGuire in 2012, just won’t stop getting stuck on and into things. Just call him the tar baby of Alaska.
  • Moore and Landfield? I told you he doesn’t stop. And neither does she. Shannyn Moore has a new radio show which runs from 4 to 6 p.m. on Fox News Talk Radio KOAN. The station is holding tryouts for a conservative co-host who can go “toe-to -toe” with Moore and “keep the left in check.” Landfield, is, of course, on the docket for Friday. Listen at 95.5 FM or 1080 AM.
  • Rumors are flying about the possibility of the tennis court money being re-appropriated by the Legislature.
  • Days until the election: 202.
  • Last week, GOP senatorial candidate Dan Sullivan announced that he raised $1.3 million in the first quarter of the year. I’m told that this week, former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura each contributed $1,250 to his campaign.
  • The Republican National Committee’s six-city short list for their national convention is Cincinnati,  Dallas, Denver, Cleveland, Kansas City, and Las Vegas. If it’s Ohio, Sullivan can expect some “Welcome Home,” banners, courtesy of the national Democrats.
  • Does anybody else see some similarities between Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and the former chair of Alaska’s GOP Russ Millette? In the Melville story, Bartelby was fired from a law office because he had a breakdown. But he just wouldn’t leave. Millette, in a sense, was likewise fired from his position as chair, and he likewise refuses to leave, or at least to give up the title. On April 14, he signed an email to Sen. Mike Dunleavy as “Dually Elected Chairman of The Alaska Republican Party per April 2012 ARP Convention.” The email Millette sent as “Dually Elected Chairman” is about amending the constitution to allow for school choice. He urges Dunleavy to “seriously consider going with an Advisory Vote and get the school choice question on the August Primary ballot.” Last I heard, that idea had been floated around but quickly dismissed. Apparently Millette is too busy being chair of the party to have noticed that those who oppose school choice are far more organized than those who support it, and chances are, at this point, it would lose at the ballot box.
  • At at press conference last Sunday evening following passage of the minimum wage bill, the House Rules committee chair, Rep. Craig Johnson, suggested that he thought the session would likely go beyond the scheduled adjournment date of April 20th. “I can’t see how we can get out of here in time,” he said.
  • In my ADN column last Sunday, I said that City Hall-cum-bench-warmer rumor mongers were saying that Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan had been avoiding Juneau these last weeks because of the tennis court controversy. Sullivan himself responded to the rumor:

Amanda – you need better sources. I never go to Juneau during the last two weeks of the session – everyone is too busy. I have made three trips this year, most recently March 24th.

  • Richard Petersen of Kasaan was elected president of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. He replaced Ed Thomas who has lead the Southeast tribal government for nearly 30 years.
  • I know that the “breastfeeding is sexy” story is getting overplayed, including by me. But, as Rep. Shelly Hughes herself indicated, if there’s an “abundant” resource worth extracting, then by all means, we should. In that spirit, the press release that called breastfeeding sexy, was also offensive to at least one other person in another way. Hughes said that, among other things, breastfeeding, “could reduce anti-social behavior, incarceration and sex-trafficking” which produced the following tweets:

 

 

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

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10 thoughts on “Loose Lips: The gossipy boys-on-the-bench edition”

  1. michael r cerny

    Lets see tlingit haida Alaska élection pop on radio tv Internet then ill decide by oct nov 2014 I stay juneau Alaska. Mean while my London england Toronto Canada Washington dc have blogs about barrack Obama gossip vs royalties of London england . Mean while this crowd trash talking barrack Obama roasting america my anarchy blasphemy in London england site. How that for gossip princess kings Prince of London england. Were fortunate tlingit haida indian tribes dont monitor Internet texting Facebook. Political activist r radical lets do élection

  2. michael r cerny

    I got into talking about religion politics n all this other gossip making plans to put it to action. No clue with indian tribes juneau Alaska. I think What ever is on east coast thé gossip is Washington dc philadelphia Ohio. Toronto Canada London england its deep n ten betterrjuneau Alaska gossip when time comes change errupts.that when im hitting pollen in juneau Alaska.4 now im meddling with Ohio Toronto Canada London england pennsylvania Washington dc gossip Thats more urgent

  3. Think Alaska

    I’m a Republican. I say I’m from the “mind my own business wing” of the party. I have nothing to say about the content of the column, although there is plenty of fodder for humor, but I’d like to say that the criticism and nastiness directed at Jeff Landfield in the comments is unfair, off the mark, and hyperbolic. Jeff is a young guy with an interest in politics. He is learning as he goes and he has a lot of good things to say. He works hard and is willing to put himself out there for issues he supports. He hasn’t done anything to deserve an anonymous public scolding. Why is it that the willingness to speak out almost always yields vicious rebukes?

  4. Factchecker

    The RNC selection is a red herring for this election cycle. It is only relevant in presidential cycles. Thus, Sullivan will be a sitting US Senator in 2016 or he won’t. And, the D signs, hypothetically, likley won’t warrant much interest at that point.

  5. Palmer and proud

    Shelly Hughes is a ditz. Nice lady and well meaning. Now I need to stop and be deferential to my mother, who more than once told me that if I can’t say something nice about someone …..

  7. 357

    This article reminds me why I like Craig Johnson – – there’s no BS and he isn’t afraid to tell the truth or to say what he’s thinking. Wish there was another dozen or so just like him in Juneau. Too many of his colleagues are afraid of their own shadows and are afraid to speak out. Hopefully, Craig Johnson comes back as the new Speaker of the House after the next election.

  8. sarah

    The “Loose Lips” columns are my favorite. They’re fun, informative and always iinteresting. I hope the rumors are true about reappropriating the tennis court funds.

  9. GOP Moderate from lower hillside

    Landfield is a menace to sane Alaskans. He’s an absolute disruption to the RPA. He was promoting Rebecca Logan for the #2 job on the Republican ticket. Glad that notion lasted about 22 miinutes or less. They are both Tea Party extremists trying to disrupt the affairs of the RPA. Their obsession with Hawker is over the Anchorage legislative office contract. They fail to recognize that he was only one of many who supported the contract. Landfield is a trouble maker.

  10. DJF

    Jeff Landfield is a poliitical gadfly. If this is Rep Hawker’s biggest problem, I doubt he’ll lose much sleep. Isn’t Landfield the one that was promoting the gal that runs the Alliance to run for Lite Governor? I think so. Why anyone would want to give Shannon Moore a radio show is beyond me. Her column in thje Anchorage Daily News is the same rant weekly which goes something like…”Republicans suck and are so stupid and Les Gara should be Governor and republican values are worthless and I want more Democrats in the legislature because they are the smart ones and all GOP types make me sick…”. Or something close to that. Assuming Landfield is hooked up with Moore on the same show they might challenge Bernadette and Berkowitz for most irrelevant thoughts of the day.

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