BUT AFL-CIO DOES ABOUT-FACE TO BEGICH
Alaska’s entire congressional delegation is supporting Mike Dunleavy for governor.
Congressman Don Young and Sen. Dan Sullivan, released their endorsement on Monday and Sen. Lisa Murkowski is set to release her endorsement, and will also be endorsing Dunleavy, according to her Chief of Staff Mike Pawlowski, who said that she was looking to have a maximum impact with her endorsement.
“Mike Dunleavy will work closely with us to follow up on the policies we’ve achieved in Washington that benefit Alaska: opening ANWR; cutting taxes on Alaskan families, workers, and businesses; slashing job-killing regulations; repealing Obamacare’s unfair individual mandate; rebuilding our military; and getting Alaskans into top government positions in the Trump Administration,” said Young and Sullivan in their joint statement.
“These victories have helped make Alaska’s economy poised for a comeback,” they wrote. “Mike Dunleavy fully supports these successful policies and will work alongside us to achieve more of them. He will meet Alaska’s current challenges head-on. That is why we stand together in support of Mike Dunleavy as Alaska’s next Governor. We look forward to working with him to build a brighter future for Alaska.”
Dunleavy has the support of the Public Safety Employees Union and the National Rifle Association.
AFL-CIO: WE’RE NOW WITH BEGICH, (BUT NOT WITH HIS POLICIES)
The Alaska AFL-CIO, after failing to succeed with Gov. Bill Walker as its candidate, pivoted its support over the weekend to Mark Begich and began using the same talking points that it had in its earlier support of Walker, only now those points will pump votes for Begich.
At the same time, AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami penned an opinion that ran in the Anchorage Daily News, opposing Ballot Measure 1, something that candidate Begich has thrown his full support behind.
“Ballot Measure 1 is so poorly written, so overreaching, so unnecessary — and, frankly, such a threat to jobs and our economy — that the Alaska AFL-CIO and the business community have joined together to strongly oppose it. If that does not send a message to Alaskans about the threat this measure poses, I don’t know what will,” Beltrami wrote. “Outside funders who could not care less about Alaska’s economy or jobs, and they are pouring buckets of money into this ill-conceived job-killing initiative. I am an avid, some would say rabid, fly-fisherman. Protecting our fish resources is a top priority for me. But this initiative reaches way too far, and is being advanced by the most extreme of Outside environmental interests. Whether or not it is their goal, make no mistake, if Ballot Measure 1 were to pass, it would shut down Alaska’s economy.”
WAIT, WHAT?
How is it possible for Beltrami and the AFL-CIO to support Begich when Begich has given his full-throated endorsement to the very ballot measure that will kill the Alaska economy?
In a press conference on Monday, Beltrami avoided talking about the incoherent messages and just focused his attack on Dunleavy.
Dunleavy is a “dangerous choice,” has no specific plans, and that it was Dunleavy who created the mess for Gov. Bill Walker in the first place, Beltrami said.
Dunleavy came into office as a state senator in 2012, two years before Bill Walker was elected. He was one of 60 legislators and had no veto pen.
Beltrami said that a vote for Dunleavy is a vote to return Alaska to the Stone Age. Dunleavy has two masters degrees, is a former rural schoolteacher and administrator, and a former state senator.
On the other hand, Beltrami said that Begich is a champion of the working families and responsible resource development. Begich has a 98 percent approval rating from the national AFL-CIO.
But most of all, Beltrami reminded the media that Begich is the man that is backed by Gov. Bill Walker, and that Alaskans should honor Walker’s wishes because Begich will continue the legacy of Walker. And that, Beltrami was arguing, is a good thing.
