As expected, Jim Mnnery from the Alaska Family Action responded to yesterday’s ruling by District Court Judge Timothy Burgess, striking down Alaska’s gay marriage ban. Among other things, he called the decision a “subversion of the democratic process” and Burgess, who was appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by a Republican-led Senate, “a foot soldier,” who “fell right in line with the rest of the activist courts.”

Here are some of Minner’s takeaway’s from the decision: Continue reading →

• Sunday was momentous for many Alaskans because of the U.S. District Court judge’s ruling that officially overturned Alaska’s ban on same sex marriage. Gov. Sean Parnell was quick to issue a press release that Alaska will appeal the decision and Bill Walker issued his own something-for-everybody press release. Many however, were too busy celebrating to worry too much about the politics. The media was on it. Read  SFGate, Fairbanks News Miner, the Mudflats, The Hill, MSNBC, CNN, Reuters, Human Rights Campaign, and many more.

• Rothenberg Political Report has moved the U.S. Senate race from “pure toss-up” to “toss-up/tilt Republican”.  Stuart Rothenberg says it’s President Obama’s fault.

• Becky Bohrer with the AP has an article covering U.S. Senator Mark Begich’s Saturday speech to Juneau volunteers along with fellow U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Summation: the Alaska Senate race is about the state’s future, not about Obama.

• Alaska Peninsula Corporation’s President and CEO, Mary Jane Nielsen and Illiamna Development Corporation’s CEO, Lisa Reimer,  wrote a piece for the Seattle Times that outlined why they believed Native people’s voices regarding Pebble Mine are being left out of the discussion on the mine’s future.

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Here’s gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker’s response to Gov. Parnell’s announcement that his administration will appeal Sunday’s federal court ruling lifting the Alaska’s gay marriage ban. There’s something here for nearly everyone, except for those who want a clear stand. He seems to indicate that the appeal is unwise, however, he stops short of saying that he would or wouldn’t appeal if he were Parnell:

I continue to view marriage as the union of a man and a woman. However, as governor, I will place my hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the laws of the land.

Governor Parnell has indicated he will appeal today’s district court decision.  Upon taking office, I will review all major litigation in which the State is involved and determine the merits of pursuit, settlement or dismissal.

Despite my personal views on marriage, with the State’s dire financial crisis, pursuing expensive litigation that has little chance of victory is an unwise use of our dwindling resources. “

On Sunday, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess struck down the Alaska’s constitutional ban against gay marriage, and ordered the state to immediately begin marrying same sex couples. The state could appeal, IS going to appeal. (Read the press release on that below.)  But it will almost certainly lose. The state will have to appeal to the 9th Circuit, which has recently upheld such rulings, as has the U.S. Supreme Court. On Friday, Burgess heard arguments in Anchorage from lawyers of five couples suing the state to overturn the ban, which was enacted in 1998. The state defended the ban, arguing, basically, that voters get to decide marriage laws.

Burgess was nominated by President George W. Bush to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska, where he served until 2005. Bush then nominated him to sit on the bench. He was confirmed by a Republican-controlled Senate in December, 2005.

Here’s the summary and the conclusion from the 27-page ruling. Read the full ruling here. 

In sum, any relationship between Alaska’s same-sex marriage laws and the government interests asserted by Defendants is either nonexistent or purely speculative. Alaska’s same-sex marriage laws are a prime example of how “the varying treatment of different groups or persons is so unrelated to the achievement of any combination of legitimate purposes that we can only conclude that the legislature’s actions were irrational.” Refusing the rights and responsibilities afforded by legal marriage sends the public a government-sponsored message that same-sex couples and their familial relationships do not warrant the status, benefits, and dignity given to couples of the opposite sex. This Court finds that Alaska’s same-sex marriage laws violate the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment because no state interest provides “exceedingly persuasive justification” for the significant infringement of rights that they inflict upon homosexual individuals.

CONCLUSION

Any state interests identified by Defendants are insufficient for Alaska’s same-sex marriage laws to pass constitutional muster under due process or equal protection. Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment at Docket 20 is GRANTED. With this ruling, the Court hereby DECLARES that Alaska’s same-sex marriage laws are unconstitutional for violating the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court IMMEDIATELY ENJOINS the state of Alaska, including state officers, personnel, agents, government divisions, and other political entities, from enforcing Alaska Constitution Article 1, Section 25 and Alaska Statute Sections 25.05.011 and 25.05.013 to the extent that the laws prohibit otherwise qualified same-sex couples from marriage and refusing to recognize lawful same-sex marriages entered in other states.

Here’s the press release from Gov. Sean Parnell’s office announcing that it will appeal the decision: Continue reading →

A little context here: Ben Sparks is GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan’s campaign manager. Vince Beltrami is the president of Alaska AFL-CIO. Chris Maloney works for the Virginia-based Black Rock Group, which is consulting for Sullivan’s campaign. Kyle Kohli works for the RNC and is here in Anchorage.

#disunityticket RT @akgop: #Awkward: Bill Walker is STILL refusing to endorse @MarkBegich https://t.co/2pf7DG9ws7 #AKSen #AKGov

— Ben Sparks (@BenjaminSparks) October 11, 2014

@CHRISMAL0NEY if you weren’t a DC dipshit, you’d know Walker isn’t the “Democratic nominee”- VOTE @MarkBegich #aksen #akgov — Vince Beltrami (@vincebeltrami) October 11, 2014

.@vincebeltrami @CHRISMAL0NEY @MarkBegich Then what’s this. I’m confused #AKSen #AKGov pic.twitter.com/ZLeOJYMCn1

— Kyle Kohli (@kylekohli) October 11, 2014

Months ago, U.S. Sen. Mark Begich declined to sign an agreement which was proposed by Republican challenger Dan Sullivan which would have gone a long way to snuff out super-PAC and other independent expenditure money in the Senate race. The agreement would have required both candidates to publicly tell third-party spending groups, including super-PACS, to cease all television and radio ads which “clearly identifies either of us and supports or attacks our campaigns.”

If the groups didn’t obey, Sullivan wanted Begich to agree to donate 50 percent of an individual ad buy to the charity of the opposing candidate’s choice. A similar agreement worked to stem the flow of campaign spending from outside groups elsewhere.

Begich’s campaign called it a “political machination.”

Now, 26 days before the election, Begich is calling on Sullivan to sign an agreement that would require a similar allotment to charity if a group that doesn’t disclose its donors runs ads supporting or opposing candidates. Continue reading →

Here’s a comment from a reader—nominally edited–on the piece I wrote on Senate candidate Dan Sullivan’s seeming lack of knowledge of healthcare. I found it particularly interesting because the writer, like me, is insured under ObamaCare. And although this person has realized the benefits of the program, he/she still remains opposed:

I appreciate your analysis and personal touch in this article. I somewhat ironically remain opposed to the ACA despite being on the exchange for the better part of a year. I can appreciate the benefits the ACA brings to the under-served and marginalized portions of the population–especially in terms of the relativity cost effective Medicaid expansion and emphasis on preventative care. My experience on the exchange was not terrible. It was difficult to navigate, but I didn’t really experience any of the horrible glitches. Going on the exchange allowed me to work as a private contractor and cut my hours from 45 a week to 38 and I appreciated having that flexibly.

My problems with the ACA stem less from the practical merits Continue reading →

• FiveThirtyEight came out with their own Senate Forecast on Alaska’s U.S. Senate race resulting in Dan Sullivan having a 76% chance of winning in November. Harry Enten wrote a supplemental article to explain the details of the poll’s results.

• The Washington Times has a review about the new book on the prosecution of Ted Stevens, written by Rob Cary, a lawyer on the Stevens defense team. Full disclosure: the review is written by my father, who, if you read it, you can tell is a big fan of mine.

• In the coming years, politicians will determine the finer points of how ObamaCare affects our medical care. U.S. Senate candidate, Dan Sullivan has shown fundamental lack of understanding regarding this very important issue. His lack of healthcare knowledge has also been highlighted by the Dispatch and now by the HuffingtonPost.

• FactCheck.org has found that two of Senator Mark Begich’s ads are bogus regarding his claim that he “voted against Obama’s trillion-dollar tax increase.” In actuality, Sen. Begich voted against a resolution as part of fiscal year 2013’s spending levels. The particular ads in question are his campaign’s “Two Views” (otherwise known as Cheap Chic) and “Reprise”.

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Full disclosure: I’ve been a longtime supporter of ObamaCare, if nothing else because of my own personal experience with trying to get healthcare as a self-employed female with a pre-existing condition. Until the healthcare law was passed, I was one of millions of Americans who were caught in the outlandishly expensive and capricious mess of high risk health insurance pools, ones whose monthly premiums were twice my mortgage, and didn’t cover anything anyway.

In other words, I’m a little biased. But then again, so might be roughly 15,000 Alaskans, many of whom have affordable health insurance for the first time in their lives under the Affordable Care Act.

Senate candidate Dan Sullivan has run a pretty decent campaign so far. His philosophy has, by and large, gelled nicely with a large hunk of the electorate. And he has lived a life, apparently, that’s been able to hold up to scrutiny. Mostly, he hasn’t made a huge gaffe, which is pretty impressive considering that this is his first time running for office, ever. Continue reading →

For those of you who still have an interest in the infamous Palin family brawl, you can click here to read the witness statements released by the Anchorage Police Department. Some of the details are contradictory, but basically the outline of the story is consistent with what was initially reported: There were two big fights. Alcohol was involved, Track was shirtless and was bloodied. Todd entered the fray. Bristol punched the host repeatedly in the face. But what REALLY seemed to really tick everyone off was that people were calling each other names. All that’s missing is Sarah yelling at fighting crowd, “Do you know who I am?” But then again, that’s not something you’d think to tell the cops.

• CNN/ORC International has just released a new poll on Alaska’s Senate and governor’s race. According to the poll, Dan Sullivan is ahead by 6 percentage points, and Bill Walker leads with 51 percent of the vote. Needless to say, the internet is going gangbusters: Read Politico, Bloomberg, 12NewsNow, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal for more.

• Not to be outdone, Fox News has come out with their own poll on U.S. Senate races including Alaska’s. According their results, Dan Sullivan has a 4 percentage point lead over Sen. Mark Begich. The Hill has an article about both the Fox News and the CNN/ORC International polling results.

• Anchorage Mayoral candidate, Dan Coffey is mad at Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell for misrepresenting his stance on AO37.

• Is pot wining by 18 points or is it down by 10? Two different  local pollsters have two different numbers. I report, you decide.

• The AFL-CIO has an article that gives 4 KEY reasons why U.S. Senate Dan Sullivan is the worst candidate for workers.

Continue reading →

The Dispatch and APRN have joined forces to sue Gov. Sean Parnell’s administration to get public records relating to the National Guard scandal. The Dispatch and APRN claim:

…the governor’s office has been wrongly denying public records requests that could help voters verify whether Parnell acted swiftly in dealing with numerous allegations about mishandled sexual assaults, harassment, fraud, favoritism and other misconduct, including abuse of power, within the guard over the past several years. The two media outlets made the decision to sue after public records requests by their reporters were met with long delays and ultimately rejected by Randal Ruaro, the policy director and special counsel in the governor’s office, in broad-sweeping denial letters.

It took the state four months to deny APRN’s records request, and more than three months to deny Alaska Dispatch News’ request.

They’re also asking the court to order the Parnell administration to turn over emails related to the scandal that Parnell’s chief of staff, Mike Nizich, received on his personal account.

As I’ve said before, Parnell couldn’t have handled this in a worse way.