This is from reader Garand Fellow in response to my question about how long the Walker administration honeymoon will last. He/she goes much further. I don’t necessarily agree with him/her about everything—particularly about the gasline—but it’s a well thought-out column and worth taking the time to read in full:

I hope the honeymoon will be long but the odds are against it. First, there is something in the water on the 3rd Floor that causes arrogance toward the legislature. Also, the new COS and the legislative leaders have a rocky past. Finally, with lots of new, inexperienced people there are chances of screw-ups and misstatements that will destroy the honeymoon before needed fiscal decisions are made. The press will give the new governor lots of rope but if he lets them continue to think they are important (now that the election is over and the press is unimportant) they will use the rope to hang him when he finally has to test his leadership skills.

Governor Walker has to lead Alaskans as we begin to decide how much government we can afford, and it will be much less government than what we have now which is how much government we want. The question isn’t who we can tax so that we can keep this huge government going, the question is how much bureaucracy can this economy really afford. And there is absolutely no sane person who can look at the world energy and financial environments and expect a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to Southcentral tidewater. The only question is whether the economic dislocations will be efficient and reliable, or whether remaining state cash reserves will be spent tilting at windmills and propping up state and municipal government until there is no alternative to jumping off the cliff.

I would propose to Governor-elect Walker that if we are going to be unintelligent about this, Continue reading →

Eagle-eyed former legislative and gubernatorial aide Christopher Clark takes on us math-challenged media types. Gov. Bill Walker is NOT the 11th governor of the state, as has been widely reported, including by me. He is in fact the 13th governor. (In our defense, Wikipedia also gets it wrong, and the dog ate our calculators.) Clark explains:

Bill Walker is the thirteenth governor because Bill Egan was the first and fourth governor and Wally Hickel was the second and eighth governor.

Bill Walker, however, is the eleventh person to serve as state governor for Alaska.

Confused?

The logic of counting governors is the same as counting presidents.

Barack Obama is the 43rd man to serve as president, but he is the 44th president of the United States. That’s because Grover Cleveland served nonconsecutive terms and was 22nd and 24th president of the United States.

Curiously, Wikipedia is correct in counting presidents but dead wrong when counting Alaska state governors.

Here is the list of Alaska governors since 1959: Continue reading →

• The 11th Alaska Inauguration! AKA “The Honeymoon.” The Fairbanks News Miner has Gov. Bill Walker’s inaugural speech. KTUU writes about Gov. Walker’s family story. KTVA has their own take on the event, but with background music and an introduction by Rhonda McBride. Twitter is full of pictures of the Unity wishbone stance.

• On the same day as being sworn into office, Gov. Walker names two commissioners. The Peninsula Clarion has the some details. Find a full list here.

• The price of LNG is continuing to drop as Australia and Russia offer new supply to the global market, per Reuters.

• Roll Call has an in-depth story about Sen. Murkowski’s “energy manifesto,” and points out that although she’s a supporter of the dirtier fuels, she’s also more amenable to talking about global warming and alternatives than many of her GOP colleagues.

• KNOM Radio Mission has a great piece on low oil prices and the implications for current Alaska projects.

• One of the last acts as Governor and Lt. Governor of Alaska was to certify the election results. If it was uncomfortable for them, it didn’t show in the pictures. The pictures show men carrying out their duty to the state with the dignity and grace for which they are known.

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Bill Walker sworn in as governor, tells Alaskans ‘You come first’ http://t.co/ALuLRfb6rn #akgov #akelect pic.twitter.com/VZdfWS2HHb

— KTVA 11 News (@ktva) December 2, 2014

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Former gubernatorial and legislative aide Christopher Clark spotted interesting statutory requirements for various commissioners, one of which highlights the unintended consequences of not having a Democratic gubernatorial ticket.

Because of state law, the Alaska Public Offices Commission, the agency which oversees the state’s campaign finance laws, will see its first Libertarian commissioner come March and another one in 2017. According to statute, partisan members of the five-member commission must belong to the two political parties that received the highest votes in the most recent gubernatorial election, which would be the Republican Party and the Libertarian Party. Currently, there’s two Republican and two Democratic members and one public member. Democrat Elizabeth Hickerson’s term expires March 1, 2015. Another Democratic seat, which expires in 2017, will also go to a Libertarian.

APOC, at least, is aware of the issue. It contacted the Libertarian Party to request a list of names. Chair Mike Chambers gave them four: Mark Fish, Ron Windler, Carloyn Clift and Bill McCord.

Clift ran for governor, and Fish, who appears to be the preferred nominee, ran for U.S. Senate last election. Continue reading →

Updated: Here’s a list of Gov. Bill Walker’s new appointments. Loosely speaking, the term “acting” is kind of a try-out. Also keep in mind that all commissioners and the attorney general must be confirmed by a majority two-thirds of the Legislature.  Following the list are press releases about the new DHSS commissioner designee, the new Deputy Commissioner Marty Rutherford, and the new acting commissioner for Fish and Game Sam Cotten, the three on the list who hadn’t been working for the state., or who hadn’t gotten his own press release already. Noticeably absent is Craig Fleener’s name, who many speculated would be Walker’s choice for Fish and Game commissioner.)

• Val Davidson, designee commissioner of Department of Health and Social Services.
• Amy Erickson, current director of DMV, now acting commissioner of the Department of Administration.
• Grey Mitchell, former deputy commissioner now acting commissioner of the Department of Labor.
• Craig Richards, designee for attorney general.
• Brig. Gen.Mike Bridges, current and future acting adjutant general of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
• Marty Rutherford, deputy commissioner of DNR, and also acting commissioner of DNR until Mark Myers starts in January.
• Fred Parady, former deputy commissioner now acting commissioner of the Department of Commerce.
• Ron Taylor, former deputy commissioner of Corrections, now acting commissioner of the Department of Revenue Corrections.
• Mike Hanley, current commissioner now acting commissioner of the Department of Education.
• Sam Cotten, acting commissioner of the the Department of Fish and Game.
• Gary Folger, current commissioner of Public Safety will be staying on.

Here are the press releases. Continue reading →

Here’s the Gov. Walker and Lt. Gov. Mallott. #akgov pic.twitter.com/7ffxN9tdEw

— Matt Buxton (@FDNMPolitics) December 1, 2014

It’s official. Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott were sworn in today before noon at Centennial Hall in Juneau to much fanfare. Songs were song. Dances were danced. Prayers prayed  and speeches made. I was told that Mallott’s speech would be somewhere between 10-15 minutes. I was told wrong. Between the two, Mallott is the more loquacious speech-giver. However,  after only a few minutes, where he spoke about uniting Alaska, he cut it short, “I’m going to stop here,” he said. “Many will be bewildered, because I usually don’t.”

Walker’s speech was heavy on bio material, about growing up poor in Valdez and about he and his sibling working at his father’s construction business when he was 10 years old. He welled up when he spoke about his parent’s efforts and advocacy for statehood. “Indelibly etched in my memory is the very day the eight stars on the Alaska flag became the 49^th star on the United States flag,” he said.

He also welled up when he spoke about the the 1964 earthquake. “Valdez lost 34 people in the 1964 Earthquake; mostly children. Among them, my friends. I was 12 years old,” he said.

He also spoke about winning a janitorial contract at the post office when he was 12, until the federal inspector visited and said he was too young to have the contract. Continue reading →

• Today is Inauguration Day! The Juneau Empire and the Fairbanks News Miner both have details explaining how to maximize your Inauguration Day enjoyment.

• Becky Bohrer with the AP sat down with Gov. Sean Parnell and had an in-depth interview with Alaska’s outgoing governor. His takeaway? Serving Alaska was an honor.

• Gov.-elect Bill Walker’s first few months in office will not be easy, according to the Juneau Empire.

• The Mat-Su was well represented among the 250 delegates to Gov.-elect Bill Walker’s transition team. The Frontiersman has the names.

• For all of Alaska’s political wonks manning the airports going to and from the inauguration hear this: The Washington Post explains the scientifically proven way to quickly get on and off the airplane.

• To get us all into the Alaska inauguration party mode, HERE are some of our state’s previous gubernatorial inaugural speeches.

• In another Supreme Court case, arguments will be heard that could change the way federal rules are made, per The Hill.

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Lynn Willis responds to the news that only one-third of our legislators bothered to sit in on the AKLNG project update, a project that is said to be vital to Alaska’s future:

Speaking of promises for future revenues, the ADN reports that only 20 of our 60 legislators signed the necessary confidentiality agreement to be informed of the AKLNG project status. Legislation to proceed with the AKLNG effort (SB 138) passed by a vote of 52 to 8 yet apparently now only 20 of the 52 supporters are demonstrating the direct interest I would think is extremely essential as we progress in this effort. This legislation involves us as an equity partner; therefore, these legislators have a fiduciary responsibility to remain as informed as would any member serving on a corporate board of directors. The supporters of SB138 claimed that this secrecy was absolutely vital so I cannot understand why any of them would not be participating in this agreement.

I could understand those who will not be in Juneau this January not signing; however, what about the rest of them? Is this lack attention caused by a loss of interest in this critical (and very expensive) effort already? I would argue that sending a staff member to this kind of briefing is a clear indication that the staff member should become the actual legislator.

On Monday at 11:30 a.m., Gov.-elect Bill Walker and Lt. Gov.-elect Byron Mallott will be sworn in and by noon, it’ll be official. After the swearing in, both Walker and Mallott will be giving 10-15 minute addresses, which is unusual. Normally, the lt. gov. is on stage, but doesn’t speak. (Fun factoid: it’s also the first time in history that both the governor and lt. governor will have been Alaska-born.)

As of Sunday night, both of their speeches were still being worked on. However, the term “speech” might be overstating things. Don’t expect a lot of formality from either of them. Both tend to be extemporaneous, off-the-cuff speakers, which has served them well on the trail. But such casual speeches seldom lend themselves to further study or go down in the history books. Mallott, much more than Walker, can get poetic when he speaks, but neither will likely start off like this, as Wally Hickel did in his 1967 inaugural address:

This is a time when Alaska’s flag is high up the mast, the wind bellies out the sales, and the tide is with us. We sit at the top of a continent—at the headwaters of the Pacific—and our mooring lines are strained with the urge to break loose and sail into the future on another voyage of discovery.

What we do know is that Walker will spend some time introducing himself to the electorate, Continue reading →

Here’s some not-so-cheery news to for your Saturday.  Brent crude futures was trading at $70.15 a barrel on Friday and West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped to $66.15.

That said, reader Jon K. says there’s reasons to be optimistic in Alaska. He culls from Friday’s Petroleum News to make his case: (Links added by me.)

Liberty again: Having purchased a large slice of BP’s interests in four BP northern Alaska oil fields, Hilcorp Alaska is going to file a new proposed plan of the development for the Liberty field, offshore in the Beaufort Sea. Hilcorp has acquired a 50 percent interest in Liberty and is now the field operator. ….Essentially, on the North Slope Hilcorp will adopt the same strategy as it has been employing in the Cook Inlet basin, where as a consequence of a multitude of small development and upgrade projects the company has doubled oil production from the aging fields that the company acquired from Chevron and Marathon.

Another rig for Kuparuk: ConocoPhillips Alaska has contracted with Nabors Alaska Drilling for a new coiled tubing drilling rig, the company’s president, Trond-Erik Johansen, told the Resource Development Council’s annual conference in Anchorage Nov.

Increased activity. Since 2012 BP has increased its North Slope activity level by more than 50 percent – Continue reading →

• Before heading out to go gangbusters at our businesses, you might want to stop by the bank and withdraw some cash. Politico explains that to many in the Black Hat hacker world, today is known as Hack Friday as it has been established that cybercrime is unstoppable thus leaving our commerce sector vulnerable to not just theft, but attack.

• Reuters is reporting that Saudi Arabia’s oil minister told fellow OPEC members that they weren’t going to cut production so that they could effectively kill the shale oil boom in the U.S. On Friday, oil dropped again to about $72 a barrel. Alaska’s current budget relies on $117 barrel per day oil.

• Alaska Airlines knows their customer base and shows it when they added a flight to Juneau for Inauguration Day. Gov.-elect Bill Walker showed his appreciation.

• Nevada has become the first state in the nation to suspend Uber’s operations.  Apparently, all the great PR advice it’s getting from David Plouffe and company, which it badly needs, isn’t getting through to the court system.

• More on Uber: I missed this very smart column in the Anchorage Press by Ivan Moore last week about Andrew Halcro’s blind support of Uber.

Continue reading →

Alaska Airlines will be adding a new flight from Anchorage to Juneau to accommodate those who want to witness the inauguration on Monday. The flight leaves Anchorage at 8:30 a.m., and arrives in Juneau at 10:10 a.m. The inauguration will take place at 11:30 a.m. at Centennial Hall in Juneau.

The return flight will leave Juneau at 5:15 p.m., arriving in Anchorage at 7:00 p.m. The cost is $116 one-way, before taxes and fees.

In a press release, Gov.-elect Bill Walker said that he appreciated Alaska Airlines’ recognition of  Alaskans who want to attend the event.

• Lots of politicians and political wonks charge for speeches. A lucky few get to charge lots for speeches.  There’s nothing new or surprising about this 21st century political fact. That’s why the sudden attention regarding Hillary Clinton’s UCLA speech is puzzling. The Washington Post has the most in-depth look at this $300K speech fee and the fact that she insists that hummus and crudité is in her green room, amongst other things. Is this just the most recent in Hillary bashing during a slow media cycle or is there something to this I’m not grasping?

• Politico has a guide to the Republican Senate and their new inner warring factions. Who will win?  The Young Guns or the Gavel Bangers?

• APOC rejected Charlo “F*#k It, I Quit” Greene’s objection to its subpoena to further investigate potential campaign finance law violations.

• Speaking of marijuana issues, the Fairbanks Daily Miner has details of a Fairbanks-area special inter-governmental work session of the three Assembly/City Councils (Fairbanks Borough, North Pole and Fairbanks) and the public to guide local laws on how to manage the-soon-to-be legal marijuana.

Continue reading →