NARY A KOCH BROTHER IN SIGHT AT FIRST COMMUNITY MEETING
The mainstream media doesn’t like Gov. Michael Dunleavy partnering with Americans for Prosperity in a series of community budget discussions across the state.
Critics and reporters pounced. One commenter on MustReadAlaska.com compared the meetings to a gathering of Hitler’s Brown Shirts (a violent paramilitary group attached to the Nazi Party).
Why? Because the Koch Brothers, who fund AFP, are the meeting sponsors.
Here’s how the Fairbanks NewsMiner reported it:
However, Dunleavy began his Koch-free “budget roadshow” bright and early this Wednesday at a pro-business group that regularly meets in Juneau.
The media wasn’t invited, (but will be to the AFP-sponsored discussions).
The place was packed and attendees — about 35 of them — asked thoughtful and informed questions as Dunleavy explained that he ran for governor to fix the problem that was created over multiple years of spending more than Alaska was taking in in revenue. He said now is the time to fix it. And the only way he can see to fix it is to rip the bandaid off now and put in place some constitutional amendments to prevent it from getting out of control again.
Numerous other meetings are being put on the governor’s calendar with civic groups, such as chambers of commerce, the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, Associated General Contractors, and more. They, too, will control the venues and meeting rules, like AFP.
In short, AFP is just one of many sponsors of these discussions, but the one most eager to get credit and wanting to publicize it broadly, and it’s the one the Governor’s Office announced — without mentioning AFP.
AFP and the Governor’s Office should have disclosed all of the details of the AFP meetings up front, rather than let the media sink its teeth into the story. If a Democrat governor had his public meetings organized and sponsored by MoveOn, Must Read Alaska would have pointed it out, especially if the meetings had similar strict sign-up requirements.
With so many meetings planned, this roll-out could have been better, although for some Alaskans, anything related to the Koch Brothers is akin to the Brown Shirts.
So are these meetings actually open to the public or what? It’s still totally unclear from the administration whether or not Alaskans are able to get through the doors to attend. There’s been no communication from the governor on how we may contribute to the discussion. Please let your readers know how to participate since apparently the governor has no plans to issue a formal invitation to Alaskans who are not associated with some so-called “pro-business group” – whatever that means…
The ADN doesn’t like it when you point out that seemingly everything James Brooks reports is a days-old repetition of what Dermot Cole and Jeff Landfield originally reported, and has deleted comments to that effect from their site.
There’s nothing original about Dermot Cole except that he beat his identical twin, Terrence, out of the womb by 7 minutes. The rest of the story comes after a nightly spin down to the Brown jug to get the juices flowin.
Going to be open here in the Matsu on the 29th at Everetts.
As to the attacks about Brown Shirts. The Democrat-Socialists that are doing so employ Black Lives Matter, ANTIFA, New Black Panthers to attack conservatives when we meet. Case in point is Portland Oregon. I know, was there when ANTIFA attacked the first pro-Trump rally in Portland. Thank God for the hard Blue line that stopped the ANIFA bunch trying to get to us!
We do not pull what they do. We are open, we have our faces uncovered, we are not armed and we do not attack people. ANTIFA, like the KKK covers up head to toe. BLM calls for killing cops.
Koch Brothers? Americans for Cheap Imported labor? From what I’ve seen they line up on the issues with George Soros, open borders and gutting the nation for pennies on trades.
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Ministry for Prosperity is more like it.
Koch bros were the original funders of the Clintons way back in Arkansas days probably did all the way till 2016.
There especially enthusiastic or there’s a pension fund to acquire
Private Public Partnerships to save money a Nobel Idea. Something our state needs more of and less of the leftist media. Thanks Susan…
Nothing like controversy to bring back trust in government?
I am glad MRAK is covering this story as the ambiguity surrounding these town hall meetings continues.
This statement:
“The media wasn’t invited, (but will be to the AFP-sponsored discussions).”
Has me very concerned.
ADN reported that no video taping or recording may occur at these “public” meetings?
This seems to go against politics in America, like when have we heard of such public meetings before?
Also, sugar coating the influence that one of the largest companies in America (Koch Industries) has on our state politics is not accurate.
I just heard recently there is a push to transport Tar Sands Oil from Canada into the Mat Su and eventually transport out of AK via Port Mackenzie.
Well, it turns out Koch Industries has the largest shares in the Alberta oil sands as well.
This is a company (involved in politics) with an annual income of $115 Billion a year.
Not much is being said of past explosions of trains transporting this material or how toxic it could become if a derailment or spill was to occur.
Not only are they (Koch Industries) funding AFP, they are funding national disinformation campaigns against Climate Change and discrediting the thousands of scientists that have done studies to support the problems that we are to face.
“Koch Family Foundations have spent $127,006,756 directly financing 92 groups that have attacked climate change science and policy solutions, from 1997-2017…
The Koch brothers continue to finance campaigns to make Americans doubt the seriousness of global warming, increasingly hiding money through nonprofits like DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund…
Today, the Kochs are being watched as a prime example of the corporate takeover of government. Their funding and co-opting of the Tea Party movement is now well documented.”
Stay frosty Alaskans cause meetings are either private or public and public meetings allow freedom of press and the public’s ability to carry a sign or not show an ID…
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/global-warming/climate-deniers/koch-industries/
Signed up to attend the Anchorage event at the 49th State Brewery on 26 March. Took a little over 90 seconds to register. No big deal.
Pocaro is going nuts about it on 650 KENI, emotionally yelling at callers who disagree with him. I’m glad its helping flush out the local RINOs and other assorted “Resist” miscreants.
Newflash, Pocaro is the RINO.
“AFP and the Governor’s Office should have disclosed all of the details of the AFP meetings up front”
The last two paragraphs of that article are almost verbatim of what I said to myself on the drive home this afternoon.
The days of politician’s P.R. people hiding these types of things are long gone. If they didn’t think that anything “Koch Brothers” would not cause some kind of an outcry (even from a lot of people on the right) they are not up to speed on the body politic today.
Sadly, whenever I read about the Koch brothers name, it always includes “open borders” and “unbridled immigration” in their overall political goals. Spin it however you like, but those goals are not good for America, nor for American jobs & wages.
Beside that, I’m sure they are a swell couple of guys.
Perhaps governor Dunleavy would be best to distance himself from the Koch’s in the future?
Since we’ve hopefully all heard the recent news about Keith Miller, I thought I would share this piece he wrote in late 1988 for a series called “Microscope on Alaska”.
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“In the 1990’s I believe Alaskans will come to realize that the state must stop its dependence on the oil and gas industry. Other sources of revenues, jobs and economic activity must be found if Alaska is to break out of its economic doldrums and return to a period of slow, steady growth.
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“The state government will likely curb its champagne appetite and once again live within a beer income. No longer will the state encourage runaway speculative housing construction and excessive commercial expansion with state-financed loans. And horror of horrors, the legislature might even reinstitute the state income tax so that Alaskans again have a direct interest in how their tax dollars are spent. However, I fear that before that is done the legislature will raid the body of the Permanent Fund in some manner.
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“It is my belief that the state will also reinvent the wheel and create incentives to industries (other than oil and gas) to either locate in Alaska or expand existing job-creating activities already here.
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“My guess is that the State Department of Commerce and Economic Development will also start an aggressive program of promoting Alaska’s positive features in the Lower 48 and selected foreign countries.
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“The road back will be a long, slow one. The best way to predict the future is to examine the past. At the moment there appears to be nothing on the horizon to hasten the recovery, but I predict that before the mid-1990s Alaska will be well on its way to a stable and prosperous future.”
Nice to see you enabling the billionaire Koch Brothers and their disastrous austerity regime.
Will there be Kool-Aid?
The only thing that’s going to save this budget is another big oil tax break we did it once we just didn’t do it big enough . After we get rid of the ferry we could use that money to entice oil companies to develop the oil leases they promised to develop when they got the leases to begain with
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