It is with more than passing interest we note former Gov. Bill Walker is weighing a reelection bid in 2022.
Walker, a Republican-cum-independent-cum-undeclared-cum-independent and strict adherent of a government-as-religion philosophy, made his living as a lawyer largely by suing oil companies. He ran as a “fusion” candidate in 2014 with Democrat Byron Mallott, who died in May last year.
Walker says he will decide whether to run sometime after the Legislature goes home.
If he decides to run, it will be, to be kind, interesting. He was elected in 2014. In his tenure, he appointed his law partner attorney general, proposed a payroll tax that was dead on arrival in the Legislature and vetoed half the 2016 Permanent Fund dividend. He championed the Alaska LNG Project and balked at cutting government’s size.
Add to that, lingering questions about Mallott’s abrupt departure after allegations he made inappropriate comments to a female acquaintance, which effectively sank Walker’s ill-fated 2018 reelection campaign.
With all that, you have the makings of an interesting race. We wait with bated breath.
Rep. Zack Fields issued a Facebook apology today for the remark he made on the House floor regarding Rep. Sara Rasmussen.
“I made a mistake yesterday in a floor statement wishing Rep Rasmussen a happy birthday. I apologized yesterday afternoon to her and also apologize to my colleagues and Alaskans more broadly,” he wrote on Facebook.
Fields had commented that Rasmussen is a traffic hazard in her district when she wears short skirts, so in the interest of safety, he’d be sending her a pair of sweat pants for her birthday to wear when she is home in her district.
His remarks came directly after Rasmussen had made a speech on the House floor about the importance of women in lawmaking, and how proud she is to be an example to her daughter and her son for civic involvement. She was announcing the formation of the “Women’s Caucus” in the House, with her and Rep. Ivy Spohnholz as co-founders.
Fields’ apology did not land well in the land of Facebook.
“That is not an appropriate apology for what occurred. Myself and many other in your district are so disappointed. From my friend MC Englund: “This wasn’t just a slight at Rep Rasmussen. It was an insult to all women. Acknowledging the harm is mandatory, as is what steps you’re taking to make sure everyone knows you’ve learned your lesson,” commented one person from his district.
“This ‘apology’ Is straight up gaslighting. No one gets offended from a happy birthday wish. Owning the improper statement and apologizing for THAT is what would be appropriate,” wrote another.
“He’s purposely deflecting and pretending that saying ‘happy birthday’ got him in trouble. It didn’t. Sexualizing a colleague in a public forum is what got him in trouble, and he is trying to obfuscate,” wrote one reader.
“This does not even approach the most basic standards of a sufficient apology for what you have said. I am a constituent man and am absolutely livid about what you said, and even more upset by this weak attempt at a vague and gaslighting apology. I spent two years at UAA working to educate students on bystander intervention and sexual assault and harassment prevention and your actions yesterday and statement today are a perfect example of the kind of toxic behavior that I and many others worked hard to prevent,” another commented.
As for her part, Rasmussen said she accepts his apology and just wants to move on.
But in the world of Facebook, his apology did not receive a single positive comment. The women were, in a word, insulted, and told him to try again.
Spohnholz was contacted by Must Read Alaska for comment but did not respond.
The original Must Read Alaska story and video of the incident from Gavel Alaska cameras can be reviewed here:
Rep. Mike Cronk (R-Tok) tested positive for Covid-19 Wednesday evening. Immediately after receiving the test results, Cronk began quarantining at his Juneau residence. He is currently experiencing mild symptoms.
At this time, no other members or staff have tested positive. Cronk’s staff tested negative as of Thursday morning. Contact tracers began identifying close contacts of Rep. Cronk Thursday morning.
“Coming to Juneau, we all knew the risk,” Cronk said, “but we have a job to do. I will be working from home and look forward to rejoining my colleagues as soon as my doctor clears me.”
Cronk is an avid outdoorsman, hiker, and hunter, and is, by all measures, in excellent foundational health.
Immediately after Cronk tested positive, House leadership and the Alaska State Legislature’s outside health management contractor, Beacon, began implementing pre-established protocols. The House canceled all business for Thursday, and it’s unclear if the House will meet in full session on Friday, of hold a technical session, with only a handful of legislators present.
“Rep. Cronk is one of the most resolved people I know,” Republican Minority Caucus Leader Cathy Tilton (R-Chugiak/MatSu) said. “We hope Mike feels well soon. In the meantime, we will continue the important work Alaskans elected us to do.”
President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday issued a statement that they plan to “work together to help safeguard the Porcupine caribou herd calving grounds that are invaluable to the Gwich’in and Inuvialuit peoples’ culture and subsistence.”
The statement was embedded in a wide-ranging statement of shared goals, in which the two addresses climate, the Paris Agreement, Covid-19, gun violence, social media use by extremists, and more.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was mentioned specifically in the statement as being an important ecological component for the caribou.
Former President Donald Trump opened up the coastal plain area of the refuge for responsible oil exploration and drilling, something that is being put on hold by the Biden Administration.
The coastal plain sits on what is believed to be billions of barrels of crude oil that could go in to the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, and could help support jobs and the general economy of Alaska as well as provide royalties to the federal government.
The statement also said that the two countries “will launch an expanded U.S.-Canada Arctic Dialogue to cover cross-cutting issues related to continental security, economic and social development, and Arctic governance.”
The Alaska House of Representatives has nothing planned for the day, after a member tested positive for Covid-19. The members and staff will remain out of the building, per an order from House Speaker Louise Stutes, and more plans will be forthcoming.
The House has not passed legislation that would allow it to meet remotely, although that was one of the first orders of business in the Senate.
Senate President Peter Micciche said that for now, Senate committee meetings will continue.
Stutes sent the memo out late Wednesday shutting down committee work on Thursday and advising members and staff to remain out of the building.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy also has a case of coronavirus, but he has not been in the Capitol. Must Read Alaska sources say he did not come into contact with the virus at the Alaska Outdoor Council Banquet and was not contagious when he attended the event on Saturday night. He has been self-quarantining since Sunday morning.
In one of the more awkward moments in the Alaska State House this week, Rep. Zack Fields of Anchorage said into the record that the short skirt of Rep. Sara Rasmussen was causing a traffic hazard in her district. He therefore would be sending her a pair of sweatpants for her birthday, so she won’t be causing accidents in the future, he explained.
His remark came immediately after Rasmussen announced that she and Rep. Ivy Spohnholz were forming the “women’s caucus” in the House.
Rasmussen had made a speech about the contributions of women and their role as decision makers, and how proud she was to model leadership for both her daughter and her son.
The irony was not lost on other women in the House. After all, Rasmussen’s co-founder of the women’s caucus, Rep. Spohnholz, is remembered for her unfounded accusations against retired Judge Karl Johnstone, who had been appointed to the Board of Fisheries by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
“Imagine if a Republican male had made that joke,” remarked one shocked member of the House Republican minority. “They’d have ‘Johnstone’d him.”
Without evidence, Spohnholz had in 2019 said Johnstone had made some sort of sexist remarks to anonymous women in years’ past, but Spohnholz never provided any proof. She and Fields used the “me too” accusation to sandbag Johnstone’s nomination.
“Zack called me and apologized for his statements on the floor. He did not mean any disrespect. I’ve accepted his apology and hope to move on from it,” Rasmussen said.
Fields has a history of attacking conservative women, such as Commissioner Kelly Tshibaka, during her confirmation hearing to lead the Department of Administration. He also attacked former Commissioner Amanda Price because she had not completed college. But today, he was smitten with the undeniably lovely Rasmussen, who he and other Democrats are trying to court into their caucus.
Below the video of Rasmussen’s speech and Fields’ sexist joke (minute 3:15 in the video) is the link to the full tale of what happened to Johnstone at the hands of Rep. Spohnholz in 2019, in his own words.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy tested positive for Covid-19, in test results released on Wednesday. He is currently at home with mild symptoms.
On Sunday morning, the governor was called and said he had been identified as having been in close contact to someone who tested positive for Covid-19. He was feeling well and tested negative for Covid on Sunday morning but immediately quarantined to reduce his possible exposure to others. He had been feeling well until Tuesday night. Wednesday morning, he tested again, and this time tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The governor is known to have attended the Alaska Outdoor Council banquet on Saturday night. It is not thought that he got the virus at the banquet, however.
Because the governor has been in quarantine during his infectious period, there are no known close contacts at this time. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink and the Governor’s attending physician are monitoring him.
Dunleavy joins about 55,736 Alaskans who are known to have tested positive for the virus during the past year. Many others have probably had the virus but were asymptomatic and did not get diagnosed.
Other governors who have tested positive for Covid include Nevada’s Gov. Steve Sisolak, Colorado’s Gov. Jared Polis, Ohio’s Gov. Mike DeWine, Pennsylvania’s Gov. Tom Wolfe, South Carolina’s Gov. Henry McMaster, Wyoming’s Gov. Mark Gordon, Missouri’s Gov. Mike Parsons, Virginia’s Gov. Ralph Northam, and Oklahoma’s Gov. Kevin Stitt.
The Alaska Senate today unanimously passed a bill extending access to Naloxone, a life-saving drug that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses. It was the first bill to pass either house in the Legislature during the 32nd Legislature.
Senate Bill 70, sponsored by Sen. David Wilson of Wasilla, allows the chief medical officer of the Department of Health and Social Services to continue issuing a statewide standing order for the prescription of naloxone.
Chief Medical Officer Anne Zink currently has this authority, but without this legislation, her authority would sunset on June 30, 2021. By removing the sunset date, local and regional overdose response programs, first responders, the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, and the public will continue to have the ability to directly distribute and access the lifesaving drug.
“This legislation benefits Alaska by saving lives,” said Wilson, chairman of the Senate Health & Social Services Committee. “This translates to a direct costs savings to emergency services. It gives people who may overdose a greater chance of living and gives them an opportunity to get into treatment. It also goes without saying that this legislation benefits the many friends and family members of people who would die of an overdose without this lifesaving medication.”
Some 309 Alaskan lives were saved by naxalone since the Project Hope initiative started in 2017.
The medication is paid for entirely with federal funds and the drug is not a controlled substance, and has no risk of abuse or addiction.
SB 70 passed the Senate by a vote of 18-0, and is now on its way to the Alaska House of Representatives for consideration.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy is announcing that Chief of Staff Ben Stevens will be leaving the administration to become the new vice president of external affairs and transportation at ConocoPhillips Alaska. Mr. Stevens last day in the governor’s office will be announced soon.
“I want to thank Ben for his hard work and service to the State of Alaska the past two years. His knowledge and political acumen have been an asset to the administration and I wish him the very best in his new role at ConocoPhillips Alaska,” Dunleavy said.
The governor appointed Deputy Chief of Staff Randy Ruaro to serve acting chief of staff until a permanent replacement is named. Tyson Gallagher, formerly with GCI and previously with the Parnell Administration in OMB, was named deputy chief of staff.
Ruaro, originally from Ketchikan, lives in Juneau and has served as chief of staff for Sen. Bert Stedman in recent years before joining the governor’s team as deputy chief of staff.
The current vice president of external affairs for ConocoPhillips, Scott Jepsen, is retiring.
