Tweet of the day

U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan’s twitter feed comes to life.
https://twitter.com/DanSullivan2014/status/404032297025798144

Unless Treadwell’s fundraising has improved greatly, his campaign appears to be underwater

Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, who is running in the Republican primary to replace Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, has much going for him. He’s a long-time Alaskan, for one. He’s knowledgeable on Arctic issues, and he’s already won a statewide election.

According to FEC reports, however, raising money isn’t one of his strengths. His campaign spokesperson said that things have picked up since the last filing period, which is from July 1 to Sept. 30, when he raised $196,000.

“Our campaign finances are just fine,” Treadwell’s campaign spokesperson ~~manager~~ Fred Brown said. “We have improved each quarter and will undoubtedly have the resources to not only win the primary but replace Mark Begich in November.”

But unless things have turned around significantly for Treadwell the last two months, it appears that his campaign is underwater financially.

During the last quarter, Treadwell raised $196,000, leaving him with about $154,000 on hand. However, his debts and a campaign loan total $50,000. Too, $26,700 of that money is designated for the general election, meaning that it’s earmarked to be used after the primary.

As of Sept. 30, he only had $43,300 cash on hand. During this period, he appeared to be spending roughly $57,000 a month.

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich raised $813,000 during the same time period, and ended the period with $2.4 million cash on hand.

Dan Sullivan, who is also running, didn’t enter the race until Oct. 15 and therefore didn’t fill out a report. Joe Miller, the other candidate, only raised $31,900 from individuals this year.

A few things to note: At the end of September, Treadwell hired national high-powered fundraiser Lisa Spies who has organized fundraisers all across the country for Treadwell. The spoils of her efforts won’t be clear until the next filing date, which is in mid January. But Treadwell has also beefed up staff and taken on other substantive expenses since the reporting period.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Correction: The original article said that Fred Brown was Treadwell’s campaign manager. He’s his spokesperson.

Don Young upbraids Park Service comptroller

Whatever you say about Rep. Don Young, he upbraids well. On Thursday, Bruce Sheaffer, a comptroller with the National Park Service, was on the other end of it. The subject was a hearing on H.R. 3294, a bill which would allow states to control management of federal lands for states willing to pay 50 percent of the costs associated with that management. The federal government would retain ownership. Skip to minute 1:13 to see how Young weaves in King George, the Taj Mahal and Chevys.

New attack ad: Alaska woman would have done it better

The New York Times is reporting that the woman who is attacking Sen. Mark Begich on healthcare in a Koch brothers’ funded commercial isn’t a real Alaskan. She is actually an actress who lives in Maryland, which likely came as a surprise to few who watched the ad. She simply didn’t have an Alaskan vibe. (Though I chickened out on saying so in my piece about the ad earlier today, lest she be a recent transplant who hadn’t yet shed her Outside suburban skin.)

The actress’s name is Connie Browman, and she has appeared in other commercials. Ironically, one of them touted the importance of regular mammograms. Under ObamaCare, the healthcare bill that Browman says in the commercial, among the 14 free preventative service benefits for women are mammograms.

“We don’t want to lose even one person to breast cancer. Which is why regular, digital mammogram screening is so important,” she tells the audience, using that same, earnest voice she used in the Alaska commercials. “Senator Begich didn’t listen. How can I ever trust him again?” she said, in the background the kind of kitchen that I want to set up camp in.

This is not to say that Begich shouldn’t in some part be held responsible for the mess that ObamaCare has become. It’s just that if you’re going to try to pass off a Marylander as an Alaskan in an attack ad, you should at least try to make her look a little cold, or forlorn, or tough, and always pretty, of course.

It’s a rookie mistake often made by heavy-footed Outside consultants who don’t understand the political landscape of Alaskans, say nothing of the kind of kitchen they cook in.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Many top jobs open at Department of Commerce

Susan Bell, the commissioner of the Department of Commerce, is going to be busy in the days and weeks ahead filling some of the top jobs in the department.

On Wednesday of this week, Bell announced that Daniel Patrick O’Tierney, the department’s sole deputy commissioner, was leaving. His last day will be Friday, Nov. 22. Circumstances surrounding his departure are unknown.

Earlier this week, the director of the Division of Insurance, Bret Kolb, submitted his resignation. Kolb is leaving to accept a position as director of business development for Palmer-based Victory Ministries of Alaska. According to his resignation letter, his last day of state service will be December 19th.

The department’s Division of Banking and Securities’ director, Lorie Hovanec, is retiring December 1. Prior to this position, she was a practicing trusts and estates attorney and vice president with Wells Fargo Trust Company.

The commissioner’s special assistant and legislative liaison, Crystal Koeneman, has also recently submitted her resignation and has accepted a position with Rep. Lora Reinbold (R – Eagle River) as a legislative staffer starting sometime in December.

All of the changes don’t come at the best of times for the department. The legislative session is only weeks away, and the holidays, which aren’t the best hiring time, are nearly here.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Treadwell and Sullivan speak out on Medicaid expansion

On Friday, Gov. Sean Parnell announced that he would not accept federal funds to provide health insurance for poor Alaskans. His announcement was met with much criticism from groups and individuals across the state, many of whom were incredulous that the governor would turn down what was considered free money from the federal government, something that Alaska hasn’t historically been known to do.

More to the point, had Parnell accepted the funds, up to 41,500 more people could have been insured.

It’s unclear how it will play out in the electorate in the long run, but judging from reactions, it doesn’t appear to be the most popular decision that Parnell has made, which, viewed through one lens, could be considered brave.

Some politicians praised Parnell, but most, who went public anyway, did not. Democratic Sen. Mark Begich, for one, appeared not to agree with Parnell’s decision. In a statement, he said that turning away the federal funds will just make health care more expensive for others. The three Republicans who are vying for his seat, however, remained mum.

On Wednesday, both Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and Dan Sullivan responded to the decision.

In emailed statements, both appeared to support the governor’s decision. Treadwell is more unequivocal. “I support Governor Parnell’s decision to not expand Medicaid,” he wrote. “When I am elected I will work with our Governor to bring decision making home and find solutions that work for Alaska.”

As Alaska’s former attorney general, Sullivan wrote one of the first legal challenges to the law on behalf of the state. His response is more thoughtful and more measured but in the end, he agrees with Parnell.

The country’s healthcare system is in “disarray,” Sullivan wrote, “and the federal government’s promise in Obamacare to cover the vast majority of Medicaid expenses is doubtful at best.”

Medicaid, he said, “requires a functioning healthcare market and a federal government with the credibility to deliver on its healthcare promises.”

Both of their responses are printed in full below.

Joe Miller’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Miller walks a fine line here. He gets veterans’ health benefits, but his wife and children in the past received coverage through Alaska’s Medicaid program. He did, however, discuss the issue with local talk show host Glen Biegel and said that he supported Parnell.

“More power to him,” Miller said.

Treadwell’s statement:

The many failures associated with Obamacare have been well documented. I support Governor Parnell’s decision to not expand Medicaid. The federal budget is a mess and Alaska cannot trust Washington DC to fulfill its financial obligations. We seek more cost effective ways to help those who need help. Alaska needs flexibility from the federal government to craft our own health care solutions. When I am elected I will work with our Governor to bring decision making home and find solutions that work for Alaska.

Sullivan’s statement:

As Alaska’s Attorney General, I spent weeks evaluating the Affordable Care Act, trying to understand all of its complex components and the constitutionality of its provisions.

The work I authored (attached) provided a strong foundation to the legal challenges that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Obamacare that limited the federal government’s power under the Commerce Clause and its ability to coerce states into accepting certain federal government mandates. President Obama and Senator Mark Begich consistently promised Alaskans: that if they liked their current insurance plan, they could keep it.

For those who actually read the Affordable Care Act, they would have known that this was a promise that could never be kept. The combination of Obamacare’s mandates and healthcare policy requirements is fundamental to the structure of the Act. As these and other interrelated provisions of the Act are failing or are delayed, in a legally dubious manner, the entire structure of Obamacare is in disarray and the federal government’s ability to deliver on healthcare promises and results for Alaska has thoroughly been undermined. This is not surprising. Trying to reorganize close to one-sixth of the U.S. economy is a task for which the federal government is ill suited.

This is the context in which I view Medicaid expansion. Health care access and affordability are extremely important issues to Alaskans and it is important for policy makers to focus on them. So too is the urgent need to revive our national economy and reign in the trillions of dollars of deficits that the Obama Administration has run up in the past five years.

Medicaid costs in Alaska and nationally are skyrocketing. Medicaid expansion requires a functioning healthcare market and a federal government with the credibility to deliver on its healthcare promises. Right now we have neither—the U.S. healthcare market is in disarray and the federal government’s promise in Obamacare to cover the vast majority of Medicaid expenses is doubtful at best.

The issue of access to affordable healthcare for Alaskans remains a very important issue for our citizens. Congress needs to regain the trust of the American people on these issues before we move forward on additional major healthcare programs.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Koch brothers group attacks Begich on ObamaCare

Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers’ funded group, announced that it was spending $3.5 million on anti-ObamaCare ads targeting three of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats who are up for re-election next year. Among them is Mark Begich. The others are Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-HyVYtxBlg&feature=c4-overview&list=UU-JY5LuDM2wzN8cd5ubvRsg
From what I can tell, all of the ads feature some variation of a woman talking directly to the audience. As Begich knows, and as the Koch brothers are catching on to, Alaska women will likely decide the outcome of the Senate race in Alaska.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin makes Gov. Parnell look progressive

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, when sworn into office, promised to “offend the Constitution of the United States.” She’s offending all right:

“In September, Fallin vowed to prohibit Oklahoma’s National Guard from providing benefits to married same-sex couples, directly violating a Pentagon directive and a presidential decree. Now, after a Pentagon pushback, Fallin has doubled down, cutting spousal benefits for the entire Oklahoma National Guard, including straight couples. The Republican governor, in other words, would rather deny every soldier benefits than grant a few gay ones the rights they have been federally guaranteed.” Read more here.

Ad of the day: The governor wishes himself a happy birthday

Gov. Sean Parnell celebrated his 51st birthday on Tuesday. Earlier on Tuesday, I emailed the governor’s spokesperson, asking what he got for his birthday, if his staff or anybody in the building had a party for him, and what kind of cake he liked. Everyone deserves a nice story on their birthday. I was told that Parnell had been traveling a lot lately. That was it. Later in the evening, someone called my attention to the ad below that the governor’s campaign released.

Super-PACs: will they play in the governor’s race?

Citizens United, the seminal Supreme Court decision that opened the floodgates for so-called super PACs to raise unlimited campaign funds, has been associated with corporate greed and everything else that the political left considers evil. Indeed, in Alaska’s state elections in 2012, the narrative that big oil was going to buy itself a Republican-controlled state Senate as a result of the decision was repeated so often, including by this writer, that it turned into an unassailable truth.

But when the numbers were crunched after the election, it turned out that unions raised twice as much as the combined amount of the two main business oriented super PACs in Alaska.

The narrative has similarly been flipped in the rest of the country. An analysis conducted by the Center for Public Integrity found that during the last election cycle, pro-Democratic groups, many associated with unions, outspent their Republican counterparts by more than $8 million in 38 states.

Gov. Sean Parnell, who is running for reelection in 2014, should take note. Word is that he’s working hard at fundraising and having success at doing so. However, Alaska’s campaign contribution limits dictate that individuals are only allowed to give $500 to a candidate in a calendar year. ~~per election cycle~~. In a state as small as Alaska, that makes it nearly impossible to raise the kind of money you need to raise to run a competitive campaign.

Enter super PACs. Though it’s too early to say who, and which ones will get involved, they likely will. And unions will likely take part.

The Parnell administration has never been considered a friend of labor. But neither has it gone out of its way to antagonize it. Parnell might have done so recently, however. Earlier this fall, when he was considering appointment to the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., many thought that he would appoint a representative of labor to one of the seats. Whatever you think about unions, they will be involved in the building of the pipeline and having them involved in the groundwork would only make the project go more smoothly. Too, it was the politically smart thing to do. Two labor leaders who submitted expressions of interest were Joey Merrick of the Laborers Union and Rick Boyles from the Teamsters. Either would have made a strong statement to labor. Neither got the nod.

And if it looks like Mayor Dan Sullivan, who is no friend of the unions, is going to be added to the ticket as lieutenant governor, you have the dynamic and motivation for labor to fund a super PAC.

Parnell also hasn’t made friends recently with another potentially politically powerful force in Alaska: the Alaska Native community. His administration seems to have gone after tribal sovereignty with a vengeance. Most recently, the state announced that it is seeking to overturn a decision regarding subsistence made recently by the Interior Department that involves the landmark Katie John case. The state is fighting the feds, and the Alaska Natives, over who controls navigable waterways.

The Alaska Federation of Natives co-chair, Tara Sweeney, called the state’s action “an assault upon the people of Alaska who depend upon hunting, fishing and gathering to feed their families.”

Those are words not spoken lightly and they shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Then there was Parnell’s decision not to expand Medicaid. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium lobbied hard for Medicaid expansion, which would have provided much needed funds to the Alaska tribal health systems at a time of sequestration and federal budget cuts.

That he decided not to accept the funds was seen as yet another slap.

The Alaska Native community, along with its moneyed corporations, were able to rally around a politician only one time in recent memory. In 2010, when Joe Miller beat Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Republican primary, the corporations got together to form a super PAC to support Murkowski’s write-in ticket. It was the first one in the country to test the Citizens United decision, and it won. So did she.

Democrat Byron Mallott is running against Gov. Sean Parnell. Mallott is an Alaska Native leader, and is union friendly compared to Parnell. He also has deep ties to the business community in Alaska, notwithstanding his support to repeal SB 21, the oil tax reform bill. And, his lieutenant governor will likely be Alaska state Sen. Hollis French, a good friend to the unions.

It’s unclear if Mallott is making efforts to rally unions and the Alaska Native community.

If those two interests end up combining, they’d provide the foundations for a formidable super PAC force.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Anti-Obamacare websites mislead Alaskans

To the extent that anything related to ObamaCare is fun, it’s kind of fun to take the quiz on Know the Facts Alaska, the anti-ObamaCare website that’s been set up in Alaska by Outsiders to try to derail ObamaCare.

No matter how you answer one of the five questions about your health care preferences, you’re told that you should either not sign up for ObamaCare on the health exchange at all, or that you should wait and see how others like it.

The folks behind Know the Facts, and its apparent sister site, Don’t Enroll Alaska, are funded by the Foundation for Government Accountability, one of the tentacles of the ever expanding network of Koch brothers’ think-tanks across the country.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow featured the sites on her show Monday night.

Alaska Commons, a local website, broke the story of the two sites, which were formed nearly simultaneously. Both sites offer misleading information about health care reform, something that isn’t sitting well with Enroll Alaska, an affiliate of Northrim Bank and a broker that’s working to sign people up for ObamaCare.

Tyann Boling, chief operating officer at Enroll Alaska, told the Alaska Dispatch that some of the facts on the sites are “very misleading.” Among other things, Boling takes issue with the quiz. She takes issue with the statement on Know Your Facts that “there is no trial period for the exchange plans.” It’s true, as far it goes, but the insurance bought through the exchanges is insurance bought through the private market. And no private health insurance plan, whether bought through the exchange or not, allows for trial periods.

Boling chalks the misleading information up to “charged” politics. Northrim Bank is one of the most conservative businesses in the state, and has not been shy in supporting pro-business Republican candidates.

Neither the Alaska Division of Insurance or the consumer protection division of Alaska’s Department of Law has done anything to warn consumers of the misleading information.

Bret Kolb, the director of the Division of Insurance, has said that it’s up to the federal government to inform consumers about ObamaCare.

According to sources in the insurance industry, Kolb submitted his resignation on Monday.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Legislators can breath easy: Redistricting is finally a go

Some Alaska legislators had been waiting with bated breath to learn whether or not they were going to be able to keep their districts. As of Monday, many of them can now let that breath out. Alaska Superior Court Judge Michael McConahy ruled that the state’s latest redistricting plan, one in a long list of them, is good to go. As it has in the past, it can be appealed, but in any case, this one will likely stick.

Most legislators will keep the districts that they currently have. It does, however, pit North Pole Republican Reps. Tammy Willson and Doug Isaacson against each other. It also opens up another Senate seat in the Mat-Su Valley. Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Ron Arvin has filed to run for that seat as a Republican. However, it’s likely Rep. Bill Stoltze’s for the taking, if he wants it.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Quote of the day: The Cheney family feuds over gay marriage

“Liz has been a guest in our home, has spent time and shared holidays with our children, and when Mary and I got married in 2012 — she didn’t hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us. To have her say she doesn’t support our right to marry is offensive to say the least.”

From Heather Poe’s Facebook page. Poe is Liz Cheney’s sister in law and is married to Liz’s sister Mary. On Sunday, Liz told Fox News that she supports traditional marriage. Liz is running for incumbent Republican Sen. Mike Enzi’s seat in Wyoming.

New study gives guidance for female political candidates

We all know that women are held to a different standard than men, and this is no more true than in politics. The proof in Alaska is in the numbers. Only three women — Lt Governor Fran Ulmer, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Gov. Sarah Palin—have held statewide office. According to the 2010 census data, women make up 48.3 percent of Alaska’s population, yet out of 60 state legislators, only 17 are women.

So far, the only female candidate running for statewide office in 2014 is Alaska state Sen. Lesil McGuire. She is running for lieutenant governor. Depending on how redistricting plays out in the courts, nearly all of the current female legislators may have to run again for their seats.

And new research might help them with their campaign ads. Over the years, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation has done an incredible amount of research on women’s campaigns. One of its findings was that women candidates pay a higher price than their male counterparts for running negative ads.

Given that, how do women draw a contrast with their opponents without paying a higher price at the polls?

The foundation put that question to a team led by Chesapeake Beach Consulting and Lake Research Partners, which is run by Celinda Lake, the pollster and key campaign strategist for U. S. Sen. Mark Begich’s campaign.

The new research, developed through a series of focus groups, offers evidence-based guidance. Key findings include:

It works for a woman candidate to represent herself in an ad. Voters react more favorably to a woman candidate confidently speaking for herself and her positions.
Voters respond well to negative ads when they feel the negative message is subtle and is delivered by a real person, as opposed to the candidate.
Flipping conventional wisdom on its head, voters appreciate humor from a woman in a negative ad. Humor also added an element of the unexpected, which helped voters remember the ad.
Voters want to hear what a candidate will do for them. Voters respond more favorably to negative ads if the candidate offers them a positive message about her plans, in addition to contrasting with her opponent.
Women voters, especially, want to see and hear from a woman candidate because they “hoped” and “expected” more from women candidates.
The most convincing ads are those in which a real person shares his or her story. Voters feel this helps the candidate’s platform become more relatable and authentic and makes the negativity of the ad seem more subtle. This seems particularly powerful from women candidates whom voters believed would be more likely to bring the voice of real people to the dialogue and would be more in touch with real people’s lives.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Singing in the snow

Only in Fairbanks: