Here are the six legislators who will negotiate down the amount of Alaskans’ Permanent Fund dividends

By
Suzanne Downing
-
42

Speaker Louise Stutes skipped over Rep. Neal Foster, co-chair of Finance and a senior member of the House, instead picking Rep. Kelly Merrick of Eagle River to co-lead the conference committee that negotiates the final version of this year’s Permanent Fund dividend.

Foster comes from a heavily pro-Permanent Fund dividend district and he probably asked to be excused from co-chairing the conference committee that is going to cut the dividend. Instead, an anti-dividend lawmaker, Rep. Merrick, is serving as chair for the three members from the House that sit on the committee. Her district is also pro-full-dividend.

The others on the House side of the conference committee are also anti-Permanent Fund dividend lawmakers — Daniel Ortiz from Ketchikan and Bart LeBon from Fairbanks.

On the Senate side of the committee there are two anti-full-dividend lawmakers, led by Sen. Bert Stedman, along with Sen. Click Bishop of Fairbanks. They are from the Senate Finance Committee that they co-chair; Sen. Bill Wielechowski, a pro-dividend Democrat, fills out the roster for the Senate.

The conference committee met today to hash out its organizational structure: Stedman is chair and Merrick vice chair, and will begin work on Monday negotiating the operating budget and the Permanent Fund dividend. No public testimony will be taken during this process.

Read: What happens next with operating budget, dividend?

With help from the administrators of the Alaska Energy Dudes and Divas Facebook page, here’s the list of who contributes to the six members of the conference committee:

Sen. Click Bishop

Sen. Click Bishop (Fairbanks) 2018 special interest campaign contributions:

  • $2,000.00 ASEA/AFSCME Local 52
  • $2,000.00 Teamster ALIVE – Gaming
  • $1,500.00 AGC/PAC
  • $1,000.00 Alaska Laborers Local 341
  • $1,000.00 ALPEC Voluntary Contributions Laborers’ Local 942
  • $1,000.00 Dentists of Alaska PAC
  • $1,000.00 TEAMSTER Alive PAC
  • $1,000.00 IUOE Local 302 PAC Account
  • $500.00 ABC Alaska PAC
  • $500.00 IBEW PAC
  • $500.00 Public Safety Employees Assn Political Action Committee
  • $500.00 AMAPAC
  • $500.00 NEA Alaska
  • $500.00 Employees Political Information Committee
  • $500.00 Alaska Realtors PAC
  • $250.00 Alaska Build PAC
  • $250.00 Alaska Sea Pilot PAC
  • $250.00 ATA Truck PAC
  • $200.00 Care Committee for the Advancement of Rural Electrification

Total: $14,950.00 – TOTAL 2018 special interest campaign contribution

Sen. Bert Stedman

Senator Bert Stedman (Sitka) 2020 special interest campaign contributions

  • $2,000.00 Teamster Alive – Gaming
  • $1,500.00 Alaska Republicans Inc
  • $1,000.00 Alaska Sea Pilot PAC Fund
  • $1,000.00 NEA-Alaska PACE
  • $1,000.00 AK. ST. Hospital & Nursing Home Assoc PAC
  • $1,000.00 IUOE Local 302 PAC
  • $1,000.00 ALPEC Voluntary Contributions Laborers Local 942
  • $1,000.00 Alaska Laborers Local 341 PAC
  • $1,000.00 Republican Women of Juneau
  • $1,000.00 IUOE Local 302 $1,000.00 IBEW PAC
  • $1,000.00 Capital City Republicans
  • $1,000.00 Dentists of Alaska PAC
  • $1,000.00 ASEA/AFSCME Local 52 PAC
  • $1,000.00 NEA-Alaska PACE
  • $500.00 Wells Fargo Bank Alaska P.A.C.
  • $500.00 ABC Alaska PAC
  • $500.00 BP Alaska Employee PAC
  • $500.00 Associated General Contractors PAC
  • $500.00 Alaska Realtors PAC Alaska Realtors PAC
  • $500.00 Conocophillips AK Employee PAC
  • $500.00 Plumbers & Pipefitters Local Union 262 PAC
  • $500.00 Wells Fargo Bank Alaska P.A.C.
  • $500.00 ALPAC $500.00 Capital City Republican
  • $500.00 Associated General Contractors PAC
  • $500.00 Alaska CHARR $500.00 Alaska Sea Pilots PAC
  • $500.00 ConocoPhillips AK Employee PAC PAC
  • $500.00 Alaska Realtors PAC
  • $500.00 Public Safety Employees Assn. PAC
  • $500.00 Alaska Professional Fire Fighters Assoc. PAC
  • $250.00 Public Safety Employees Assn. PAC
  • $250.00 Alaska Society of CPA
  • $250.00 Alaska State Chamber of Commerce
  • $200.00 Committee for the Advancement of Rural Elecric (PAC)
  • $150.00 Pacific Seafood Processors Assoc PAC

Total: $26,100.00 special interest campaign financial contributions

Rep. Daniel Ortiz

Rep. Dan Ortiz, Ketchikan, 2020 special interest campaign contributions

  • $250.00 Louise Stutes (Speaker of the House)
  • $2,000.00 APEA/AFT
  • $2,000.00 Public Employees Local 71
  • $2,000.00 Alaska Laborers Local 341
  • $1,000.00 IUOE Local 302
  • $1,000.00 Alaska State Employees Association AFSCME/ASEA Local 52
  • $1,000.00 IBEW Local #1547
  • $1,000.00 NEA Alaska
  • $1,000.00 Laborers Local 942 Fairbanks
  • $1,000.00 Alaska AFL CIO
  • $1,000.00 Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 262
  • $1,000.00 Carpenters Local 1243
  • $1,000.00 ASHNA PAC
  • $1,000.00 Carpenters Local 1281
  • $1,000.00 International Association of Firefighters Local 1204
  • $1,000.00 Laborers’ Local 942
  • $1,000.00 Alaska Sea Pilot Pac
  • $1,000.00 NEA-Alaska PACE
  • $1,000.00 IBEW PAC
  • $1,000.00 Alaska Professional Fire Fighters Assoc PAC
  • $1,000.00 ACS Employees PAC
  • $500.00 Alaska Correctional Officers Assoc. PAC
  • $500.00 Alaska CHARR PAC
  • $500.00 Alaska Center PAC
  • $500.00 Juneau Central Labor Council
  • $500.00 Alaska Sea Pilot PAC
  • $500.00 Alaska AFL CIO
  • $250.00 Tongass Democrats
  • $200.00 Alaska Build PAC
  • $200.00 Alaska IBU PAC
  • Total: $26,900.00 2020 special interest campaign contributions
Rep. Kelly Merrick

Rep. Kelly Merrick 2020 special interest campaign contributions

  • $2,000.00 Alaska Laborers Local 341 PAC
  • $2,000.00 ALPEC Voluntary Contributions Laborers Local 942
  • $2,000.00 Teamster Alive – Gaming
  • $1,000.00 Public Employees Local 71 PAC
  • $1,000.00 Alaska Laborers PAC
  • $1,000.00 ASEA/AFSCME Local 52 $1,000.00 – Juneau Central Labor Council
  • $1,000.00 UA Local 375
  • $1,000.00 Carpenters Local 1281
  • $1,000.00 ASEA/AFSCME PAC
  • $1,000.00 Alaska Laborers PAC
  • $500.00 BP Alaska Employee PAC
  • $500.00 Conoco Phillips AK Employee PAC
  • $500.00 Alaska AFL CIO
  • $500.00 Wells Fargo Bank Alaska
  • $500.00 Republican Women of Juneau
  • $500.00 Capital City Republicans
  • $500.00 Alaska Medical
  • $500.00 Associated General Contractors
  • $500.00 Conoco Phillips AK Employee PAC
  • $500.00 Dentists of Alaska PAC
  • $500.00 AK State Hospital & Nursing Home Assoc.
  • $500.00 Alaska CHARR PAC
  • $500.00 Capital City Republicans
  • $500.00 Conoco Phillips AK Employee PAC
  • $250.00 Alaska Professional Fire Fighters
  • $250.00 Alaska Miners Association
  • $250.00 Alaska Sea Pilot PAC Fund
  • $100.00 Valley Republican Women of Alaska
  • $50.00 Alaska Republican Party
  • Total: $21,900.00 – 2020 Special interest financial campaign contributions
Rep. Bart LeBon

Rep. Bart LeBon 2020 Special interest financial campaign contributions

  • $1,500.00 Republican Women of Fairbanks
  • $1,000.00 Alaska Miners Association PAC
  • $1,000.00 Capital City Republicans
  • $1,000.00 Alaska State Hospital & Nursing Home Association
  • $1,000.00 Laborers’ Local 942
  • $1,000.00 Alaska Miners Association
  • $1,000.00 ABC Alaska PAC
  • $1,000.00 Associated General Contractors of Alaska
  • $1,000.00 Edward Rasmuson
  • $500.00 Cathryn Rasmuson
  • $800.00 National Association of Insurance & Financial Advisors
  • $500.00 Republican Women of Fairbanks
  • $500.00 BP Alaska Employee PAC
  • $500.00 Alaska Professional Fire Fighters Association
  • Total: $12,300.00 – Special Interest Contributions
Sen. Bill Wielechowski

Sen. Bill Wielechowski 2020 Special Interest Contributions

$2,000.00 Alaska Correctional Officers Association
$2,000.00 Alaska Laborers Local 341
$2,000.00 IBEW Local 1547 PAC
$2,000.00 NEA Alaska Pace
$1,250.00 Alaska Sea Pilot PAC
$1,000.00 ACS Employees PAC
$1,000.00 ALPEC Voluntary Contributions Laborers’ Local 942
$1,000.00 Anchorage Police Dept. Employees Association
$1,000.00 APEA/AFT PAC
$1,000.00 ASEA/AFSCME Local 52 PAC
$1,000.00 International Union of Operating Engineers  PAC
$1,000.00 Laborers Local 942
$1,000.00 Public Employees Local 71 PAC
$1,000.00 Public Safety Employees Association PAC
$1,000.00 UA Local 375 Political Action Committee
$1,000.00 UCFW Local 1496
$1,000.00 United Association Local 367 PAC Fund
$500.00 United Association Local 367
$500.00 AK State Hospital & Nursing Home Association PAC
$500.00 Alaska Professional Fire Fighters Association Political Action Fund
$500.00 Alaska Realtors PAC
$500.00 Anchorage Central Labor Council
$500.00 United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America Local 1243
$250.00 Alaska CHARR PAC
$250.00 International Association of Firefighters
$250.00 IUOE Local 302
$250.00 Tongass Democrats
$200.00 Alaska Build PAC
$200.00 University of Alaska Faculty Association
Total: $25,650.00 – 2020 Special Interest Contributions
What happens next with budget, dividend?

42 COMMENTS

  1. Why bother with a meeting? Just tell us we should be happy with the $1250. they decided to part with. Our only hope now is the Governor.

  2. This is the tale of the campaign donation tape. Once again, Suzanne@ MRAK knows how to hunt. And she know how to disclose the facts.
    Outstanding work, Suzanne!

  3. Easy math, a yes vote from Kurka, Eastman, and Kaufman would have passed the motion. District residents should voice their anger.

    • Actually, the vote was 18 to concur, 22 against. Taking Eastman and Kurka away from the Nay and putting them in the concur column would be 20-20, a deadlock. The bill would still have gone to conference. You would have needed on more vote. However, it would have been easier to get a defector like Rep Tarr had it not been for that twitter bully Dermot Cole.

  4. One has to admire her sense of balance. I hope that those names appear in boldface and are widely publicized. Then eliminate those suckers who want to spend our money!

  6. Nothing but a freak show! Some of these characters have IQs in the room temperature range. Very difficult to believe they are in charge of our state budget.

    • @Marco,
      That’s because all of these legislators are under union control. I’m stating the obvious. One is married to a union boss. Another is a former union boss. And those two are supposed Republicans (Merrick and Bishop). Until you get rid of the heavy union influence, voters, it’s going to be more of the same…… .with no statutory PFD. The unions will steal it and what they don’t get, the state will take. Oh, and by the way, Bill Walker is the heaviest of the union-backed candidates. His re-election, heaven forbid, will end the PFD Program.

      • Eastman and Kurka are not under union control. I doubt Kaufman is either. Your guys stabbed you in the back.

  7. Where is the FBI? This is the Corrupt Bastards Club all over again! These politicians have been bribed by labor unions to do their bidding and convert the PFD intooutrageous contracts, Capitol projects and Davis Bacon wages.

    • The Federal Bureau of Incompetence? they’re too busy investigating republicans, Jan 6th insurrectionists and parents of school children.

      • This Conference Committee is Bill Walker’s big wet dream. Low PFD. Union thugs in charge. Idiot legislators with no brains or degrees. Marxist media covering it all up with diversion. And now, tyrannical Democrat-backed judges to complete the Orders. Even the children are not safe with Bill Walker running again. And that’s not a joke.

  8. Just to be clear, if you are an average Alaskan family—NO one there, is working for you.

  9. Thanks for that research. This paints a true picture of who controls the state legislature. It has been this way for decades. Not sure it will change anytime soon. Government unions, special interests, crony capitalists–all have their hooves in the government trough.

  10. So now we know who really runs our State Government. It certainly isn’t the people we elected, but the Unions and the Lobbyists. Thank You

  11. Done be surprised if they come back with a bill (we pay them) and a recommendation for income taxes.

    The PFD is dead and voter apathy killed it.

    Please stop saying trolls like Bishop and Merrick are from “pro PFD districts”. Those districts elected them, and in the case of Bishop returned them.

    • Merrick is a slave union mistress. And reports from up north are that Bishop is one of the stupidest members of the Legislature…….ever.

      • “It’s extremely frightful that people so ignorant should have so much influence.”
        George Orwell.

      • My friend told me that years ago he was the captain in a riverboat race near Nenana and had her underage teenager in the boat as part of his last minute race crew. The parents did not even know the kid was in his race boat. He drove the boat into another race boat and put the kid in the hospital with a life-long injury. He never even contacted the kid’s parents afterwards to apologize. Hard to believe he made it into the state Senate and now makes decisions about our PFD.

        • IF he apologized he would be subjecting himself to a large civil lawsuit by way of admission. He kept his mouth shut and prayed it would all go away. The mark of a true coward. What year did this happen? How old is the kid now? Where is the kid?

  12. Their pictures would look in place at the post office most wanted list. Crooks every one of them. You don’t have to follow the money you can see it is going to businesses not the people who by law should be getting the money. It is called theft.

  13. Any dysfunctionality notwithstanding the right to private family wealth was squelched at statehood at the stealing of private mineral rights, $. Now, these guys want to firmly press the down elevator button on private possessory claims to the (prior stolen mineral resource) wealth reserving it loyally instead for the unknown communist, foreign regimes yet to be revealed by permission of the city of London Thank you idiots. Why don’t you run around ’til you fall down. That’s all you want to reserve to the restivus. Go in circles. Please vote these anti-Alaskans out. Make the foreign governments pay again for new servants in Alaska.

  14. Um… we saw this coming and who is doing the influencing. We will be very fortunate if we escape with any PFD at all. Stop the steal – vote the bums out.

  16. The people created the fund, I bet they can also take it back. Lets stop talking about “Defending the Fund” and go full on with an initiative to completely divest the fund and parcel it out equally to every eligible Alaskan. Let the Bert’s and Click’s and Natasha von Imhof’s have the full measure (75-25) of mineral revenue from now on and remove this Piggy Bank from their grasp. Oral Freeman’s noble experiment has failed because of a decision rendered by a Court. The very purpose of the fund was to restrain the parasitical political class from gobbling up ALL of the peoples $. The reality now is that the fund only enables the parasitical class which has grown especially brazen in recent years.

    Since Unions have positioned themselves in this fight, they would do well do recall and old Union Organizing saying, “which side are you on”?

    • A google search indicates initiative-driven constitutional amendment to entirely divest and disperse the fund could result in an approximately $100,000 pay-out to each and every Alaskan. The tyrants call it “your money” while using as leverage to lord over you. If its truly “your money” then you should have full control of it. Why does everyone believe an elite group of tyrants should control their money for them? Lets do this.

      • Wayne Coogan, Good Point! I love the term Elite to describe this group of self serving parasites, who really are nothing more then bag men for their special interest masters!

        • Robert Schenker, your complimenting my point is appreciated. However, I implore you to discard the fake names. Since you speak truth with conviction and authority, be bold, use your true name. The voice of opposition to tyranny is God-given.

  18. You elected them.

    Of course you can change things in November.

    But you won’t.

    So sit down, shut up,

    Unless you plan to actually think before voting this time.

  20. Ever notice how all the “Proud Union Home” signs are on such nice big houses? These are grotesque emblems of sinister influence and arrogance within a corrupted political system. The unions buy legislator support for laws like Davis-Bacon, which requires unskilled laborers to be paid a wage package of nearly $65/hour, the laborers can easily afford nice houses and pay dues to support union bosses who buy more legislative support through direct and indirect campaign contributions and an army of paid lobbyists to make sure nobody steps outta line. Forget about it….

    • Merrick is a true Quisling. She was old family Juneau and was Don Young’s staffer. I caught Hell from old Juneau friends when I wrote a piece that said you could not be married to the head of a major AFL-CIO union and be a loyal Republican; people who should have known better called me up raising Hell and trying to vouch for her.

      The others seem to be local loyalties and generally people who don’t know any better. There is a seemingly infinite supply of Republicans who are dumb enough to believe that if you’re just nice to a union they’ll like you.

      • Anyone surprised by her vote is a moron.

        Alaska is too far gone down the road of California, but if there is a chance to save ourselves it begins by burning the whole GOP from Dunleavy to Stutes to the ground.

      • Yeah, but Fields likes her tattoos, which can be visible during leg wrestling romps in the Capitol.

  22. So it looks as if they received more than the $5500 that Alaskans would have received. I live in Eagle River and will make sure my vote will not go to Kelly. She is worthless.
    Not sure what all the special interests groups are after, you would think having money to buy fuel, to go to work, to put money in the pockets of businesses and keeping things moving forward. Gas is at $4.95 it was $4.59 yesterday. I hope the oil companies don’t need Alaskans to have their back anytime soon!!!!!!

    • We were bamboozled by Merrick acting like a Republican who has her constituents interest at heart when in fact she is nothing more than a RINO who has the best interest of Democrats at heart. Fooled me once, shame on her……..

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