If Ryan Zinke of Montana was a great Secretary of Interior for Alaska, Deb Haaland of New Mexico could be the worst for the state, where oil is the fuel that runs both the state and private sector economies.

Biden’s nominee for Interior has supported the Green New Deal since the beginning, as a backer of the movement to end fossil fuel extraction.

If confirmed, the congresswoman will be in charge of the Biden agenda to keep oil on federal lands in the ground.

“I just feel like our priorities are so messed up right now,” Haaland said in 2018. “We need to protect every single open space that we possibly can,” she told The Guardian newspaper. She evidently appreciated the story the newspaper did on her because she posted it on her official website.

Haaland wants fossil fuel development phased out completely on federal lands. Her home state, however, produces more oil from federal lands than Alaska does, and is the third poorest state in the nation, for income per capita. Her views on oil on public land would be tough on her own people.

Rep. Don Young, a Republican from Alaska, earlier this year praised Haaland as a “consensus builder” and said that at the Department of the Interior she “would pour her passion into the job every single day.” But the confirmation of her doesn’t take place in the House. That’s the job of the Senate, and right now, it’s unclear if the Democrats or Republicans will control the Senate — that decision is up to Georgia voters.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska generally does not comment on nominees before she meets with them and often waits until they’ve gone before committees so she can listen to them.

Both she and Sen. Dan Sullivan will be put into a corner on Haaland’s nomination because, in the Senate, they’ll be on the record, and if she does pass confirmation, a vote against her from Alaska may turn Haagland sour on the 49th State.

“I am wholeheartedly against fracking and drilling on public lands,” she said in 2018. “Public lands are a statement about who we are as Americans The most pristine and beautiful places in our country should never belong to one person.”

Her views on public lands will be considered an attack on resource development for not only oil and gas, but for mining and timber in the West, where the majority of public lands are situated.

But nowhere in America will this nomination matter more than in Alaska, where the federal government owns 62 percent of the land.

You can read more about Haagland at her website at this link.

Vice President Mike Pence received his COVID-19 vaccination on national television today, in what looked like an effort to calm the concerns of the Republican base that the vaccine is safe.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has been monitoring pubic attitudes about the COVID-19 vaccines, to find out how receptive Americans are to getting the vaccine.

In the KFF research, hesitancy among Republicans is at 42 percent, much higher than the national average.

The percentage of Americans who are receptive to the vaccine is growing. 71 percent say they will take the jab, compared to only 63 percent in a September survey that was conducted in partnership with ESPN.

About 27 percent of the general public remains hesitant, saying they either won’t get the vaccine if it’s available to them for free and considered safe by scientists.

The Must Read Alaska poll on Facebook is yielding a different result. Of the over 1,000 who took part in the MRAK poll in a 16-hour period, more than 850 said they do not trust the vaccine, while fewer than 60 said they do.

The MRAK poll is not scientific and the readership of the Must Read Alaska Facebook page leans Republican.

Nationally, vaccine hesitancy tends to reflect political leanings. In the KFF poll, of those ages 30-49, just 36% were hesitant to take the vaccine, and 35% of black adults said they definitely or probably would not get vaccinated. One third of those who say they are categorized as essential workers and 29 percent of those working in health care are also hesitant.

Anchorage Mayoral Candidate Bill Evans announced today that he has been endorsed by former Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan.

Sullivan said “Evans was the right person, in the right place, at the right time for Anchorage.”

“I am proud to have Former Mayor Dan Sullivan’s endorsement. Dan and I share the same goal – a safe and prosperous Anchorage,” said Evans. “Because Dan spent two terms as Mayor and has a real world understanding of what the job requires; his confidence in my ability to succeed is not only important but also very gratifying.”

In addition to Evans, Mike Robbins, David Bronson, Forrest Dunbar, Bill Falsey, George Martinez, Jacob Seth Kern, Darin Colbry, Heather Herndon, and Nelson Jesus Godoy have announced they are running for mayor. The election ends April 6.

The video endorsement by Former Mayor Dan Sullivan is posted at Youtube:

Revenge is a dish best served cold, they say.

When it comes to Rep. Lance Pruitt, the campaign finance revenge complaints against him are very cold indeed.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission staff is seeking a large fine against Pruitt for various minor violations of campaign finance rules accrued in 2016 and 2018.

A handful of administrative errors and omissions on Pruitt’s reports were not discovered when APOC performed a routine audit of his campaign in 2016. The methodology he used in 2016, he continued in 2018, thinking all was well, since neither he nor APOC found anything amiss in his books.

But a treasurer who works on Democrat campaigns, Paula DeLaiarro, weaponized the APOC rules to hurt Pruitt politically at the end of the 2020 campaign. She found errors and omissions that, although minor, are now thousands of days old. That is going to hurt Pruitt financially.

Pruitt may not be the only candidate in DeLaiarro’s crosshairs. As one who makes a living defeating Republicans, she may be after other candidates, but she has up to five years to lodge a complaint and it’s to her war-room advantage to wait for as long as possible in order to rack up the most impactful fines against her company’s political foes.

DeLaiarro sent the complaint that stretches back four years to APOC in October, one month from the end of the election, forcing Pruitt to focus his attention on it, rather than his tight campaign against Liz Snyder, who ultimately won by 11 votes. The tactic was meant to embarrass Pruitt and distract him from campaigning.

Small administrative issues on a campaign report can bring fines that can add up to, in this case, over $1 million. Typically these fines are greatly reduced in the final accounting, as this one has been.

Because of the time that had lapsed — 1,500 days times $50 to $500 a day — the fine looks more serious than the offenses would appear to ordinary Alaskans. The Democrat operatives at Ship Creek Group, where DeLaiarro works, know that, and are taking advantage of it.

Pruitt will no doubt argue to the commission that most of the complaints brought forward by DeLaiarro were matters that were reported in good faith and that were remedied, where necessary.

‘This is the kind of thing that will discourage people from running because of the heavy hammer they can come down on you with,” Pruitt said. “It doesn’t do anything that APOC is supposed to do — which is to protect the public trust. Every dollar is accounted for. Everything is listed. There’s nothing to these but administrative. They audited it, they didn’t find anything,” he said. If they had found something in 2016, he would not have operated the same way in 2018.

The errors listed by APOC include

• Pruitt accepted more than $500 from one donor in 2016. The excess amount has already been returned when the error was discovered by Pruitt.
• Pruitt received a $250 contribution from an unregistered political group in 2018. Pruitt says he didn’t know the group was unregistered, but the group evidently failed to finish its own APOC paperwork.
• Pruitt failed to provide details of advertising purchased in 2016 and 2018. He says he provided details as soon as they were known.
• Pruitt improperly reimbursed himself for campaign expenses. He has corrected that.

“Staff recommends that the Commission find that Pruitt’s 2016 and 2018 campaign for House District 27 violated provisions of AS 15.13 by failing to accurately report incurred expenditures as debt, failing to provide information detailing media advertising placement and consulting services rendered, failing to timely reimburse personal funds or report the use of personal funds as contributions, and failing to return two prohibited contributions,” according to APOC.

Pruitt will take his case to the commission itself at its Jan. 13 meeting, but he will be forced to defend himself over the computer, which puts him at a disadvantage in front of a commission that will be on the other end of the Zoom lens.

Presumed winner of the House District 27 race Democrat Liz Snyder has asked the court to eliminate some of her neighbors from a lawsuit they filed that is challenging the outcome of the election, where she is the apparent winner by 11 votes.

In a court filing, Snyder said Jeff Garness, Lisa Garness, Shannon Carte, Donald Crafts, Susan M. Kent-Crafts, and Carolyn “Care” Clift do not have standing to file an election contest.

Snyder said that there needs to be 10 people filing the challenge to the election, and that the lawsuit only has six.

Snyder wants Rep. Lance Pruitt, her opponent, to be the only one named on the challenge the group of six constituents is making.

It’s unclear why Snyder plans to spend money to remove constituents from the lawsuit. But it may make it easier for her legal team to personalize the lawsuit to Pruitt, making it more political in nature before the court. Alaska courts are generally more sympathetic to Democrats in political disputes.

At the same time, Snyder has filed a separate motion in the case to dismiss it entirely.

 Oral argument in the case are scheduled for Jan. 8.