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Craig Campbell: Anchorage school board reformation with these four candidates

Suzanne Downing
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19
Craig Campbell: Anchorage school board reformation with these four candidates

By CRAIG CAMPBELL

In 51 days the Municipality of Anchorage will be sending out the ballots for the April 6 municipal election.  

Of course, electing a conservative mayor is absolutely essential to change the socialistic direction of Anchorage, aggressively being promulgated by an uber-Leftist Acting Mayor and Assembly.  

Traditionally, local elections don’t have a large participation rate.  Unless the conservative community votes in record numbers this year we may end up with Forrest Dunbar as mayor and no change on the assembly.  That should scare the hell out of everyone.  

Here’s a guy that believes our Constitution is based on racism, has voted for every far-left proposal passed by the Assembly, was a strong supporter of disgraced former mayor Berkowitz, and when Maria Athens first spoke out about Berkowitz lewd sexting photos, Dunbar defended Berkowitz. So much for liberals really supporting the “Me Too” Movement. Such phony hypocrites.

What a disaster a Dunbar administration would be in accelerating the pace of destroying our individual liberties, replaced by entrenched socialism. So, every registered conservative must vote in this municipal election to reverse this destructive path towards a despotic autocracy.

OK, now that I have your attention, let me focus on just as big a problem in Anchorage, the Anchorage School Board.  That Board is comprised of six liberals and one conservative. Just like the Assembly, the liberals run shotgun over the conservative, Board Member Dave Donley. He needs some help, and you can give it to him this election.  There are four school board seats up for election, all liberals who need to be replaced.  

Do I need to remind anyone why these liberals are a failure to our children?  Let’s start.  The Anchorage School District is one of the largest unified districts in America, has one of the largest budgets of any school district of comparable size, with one of the lowest performance levels.  Last year the World Population Review ranked ASD 48th worst, with its Quality Ranking dead last, 50th.   

According to an analysis done by WalletHub, ASD ranked last in reading test scores and had one of the highest drop out rates.  

For these results we pay $12,628 per student. This is the highest cost per student in the history of the district at a time when the student enrollment (45,366 in 2020) has been on a steady decline since reaching its high of 48,493 students in 2015.  

The ASD operating budget for 2020 is $572.5 Million.  Just for reference, the municipality operating budget, which is also way too high for a city of only 300,000 people, was $531.9 Million in 2020. Yup, we are paying over $1.0 Billion to support our city and school district. That should make your eyes bleed red with fury.  

In the business world, one looks for a favorable return-on-investment. In education, we should expect excellent performance against national standards for the incredible financial investment we are making in ASD.  That would be a good return-on-investment, one we are not getting today.

But wait, there’s more.  While having one of the nations highest budgets and producing some of the worse results, our ASD pursues a feely, touchy social emotional curriculum, not centered on the basics of reading, writing, and math.  No wonder our students are not getting properly prepared for college and life.

And what did we get for most of 2020, a school district shut-down due to coronavirus.  Of course, just up the road the Mat-Su School District has been open this entire school year and it has not been a super-spreader center for COVID. The ASD has cowered to the Leftist’s propaganda that to protect our population, we must not open schools to educate our children. 

In Anchorage, children stay at home, sitting at a computer like zombies, learning very little, not interacting with other children, and deprived of physical activities, school nutrition programs, and other essentials we have entrusted to our school districts in an effort to educate our future leaders and workforce. ASD is ruining our children’s future.  

Think these politicians will give us a tax break next year for the money they didn’t need this year with schools closed. In your dreams. They will keep and spend every penny on a bloated administration, teachers who are not in-class, and unnecessary new and expanded programs as the good book of socialism dictates.  

But this week, the wizards at ASD opened classrooms for Pre-K-3. Yup, kids get to go to school sit/kneel on the floor, six feet apart, do their work on the seat of their chair, with no recess, no lockers, and fully masked over nose and mouth for up to six hours. This bizarre set-up feels like a government indoctrination center, not a robust center for learning in a free society.  

Need I say more.  It’s time to put four conservatives on the Anchorage School Board to reverse this horrific trend.

I strongly recommend you get to know:

  • Judy Eledge, a retired educator with over forty years’ teaching and administrative experience in Anchorage and Alaska; 
  • Pierce ‘Coach’ Blewett, A life-long Alaskan, parent of young children, football coach, and Anchorage School District alumni; 
  • Sandra ‘Sami’ Graham, a retired educator who held many positions during her educational career, such as teacher, counselor, assistant principal, and principal and was a prior member of the Anchorage Education Association and Anchorage Principals’ Association; and 
  • Kimberly ‘Kim’ Paulson, a resident of South Anchorage who has three children, two graduates of South Anchorage High School with the third currently enrolled at South.

These four conservatives would be fantastic additions to the school board.  They come from a variety of backgrounds, but all are laser focused on bringing change to ASD that will result in measurable improvements in the scholastic performance of all students. 

If you like what you see, as I do, connect with them, invite them to speak to you and your friends at your home, donate, and spread the word that Anchorage has four solid conservative candidates for the ASD School Board who will bring a higher standard of education to our community. 

 These candidates will empower parents, take a community minded approach to education, focus on the basics required to be successful in life, and create more accountability for the dollars we invest in education in this community. They need your support and vote to be successful.  Now is the time to take a stand.  

I enthusiastically endorse Eledge, Blewett, Graham, and Paulson for ASD School Board.  Please consider voting for these four outstanding candidates this election.

Craig E. Campbell served on the Anchorage Assembly between 1986 and 1995 and later as Alaska’s Tenth Lieutenant Governor.  He was the previous Chief Executive Officer and President for Alaska Aerospace Corporation.  He retired from the Alaska National Guard as Lieutenant General (AKNG) and holds the concurrent retired Federal rank of Major General (USAF).

Must Read Alaska

Bishop rebuts, tells parents blog got it wrong on classroom conditions

Suzanne Downing
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21
Bishop rebuts, tells parents blog got it wrong on classroom conditions

Deena Bishop, superintendent of Anchorage public schools, says this blogger got it all wrong, and that children are not being forced to kneel all day on gardening pads. They can also sit criss-cross on the floor.

In a note to a parent, Bishop also misreported the story from Must Read Alaska, which did not indicate the photos were from Whaley School.

Bishop’s wrote, “Blogs are not the best place to find truth.” 

She continued, “Thank you for inquiring though. Please know, I regret a blogger posted pictures and statements without the actual story of the classroom. You see, the pictures depict two elementary classrooms, one kindergarten and one second grade to be exact, and not Whaley school. In preparing classrooms for learning with 6 feet of distance or 3 feet with a divider, these teachers desired to be innovative and creative in their early learning classrooms where children, sing, learn, and play with movement utilizing small groupings. Primary classes utilize carpet time and often sit “Criss Cross Applesauce” as you might remember from school.”

The pictures in question that were posted at MRAK came from parents who toured their children’s schools in Anchorage. Must Read Alaska was careful to not name the schools, but a national writer at The Blaze mistakenly referred to the photo as depicting a classroom at the Whaley School.

To be clear: This is NOT the Whaley School.

“Rather than adding tables to their room and utilizing plexiglass dividers which take up a great deal of space, they chose to allow movement and grouping—freedom rather than the ‘militant’ restrictions as reported. I regret that a blogger took something positive and turned it so negative. These teachers were eager to get their kids back. They had a wonderful day yesterday!” Bishop wrote to the parent who asked for an explanation.

“Additionally, the teachers have access to other rooms as well with tables for alternate learning needs where a seat and a table are more conducive. Please know our schools are welcoming, and we hope the blogger will update her site as we have provided her the opportunity to get the facts in these classrooms,” Bishop stated. MRAK has received no such outreach from Bishop, however, but did get a note from the Whaley School principal, after which we were able to explain to her that MRAK did not identify the school in the photo, and did not say it was Whaley.

Another parent sent a photo from her child’s classroom, which has an entirely different set up for the youngest students.

Some young students in Anchorage are enjoying better conditions. This is from Kincaid Elementary School.

The original story is at this link:

Class warfare: Students in Anchorage will be forced to kneel for hours, no recess

Rep. Hannan to request cancellation of vanity license plate

Suzanne Downing
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53
Rep. Hannan to request cancellation of vanity license plate

Editor’s note: Read at your own risk. Democrat activists and Recall Dunleavy lawyers are alleging this story supports Nazis.

Rep. Sara Hannan of Juneau says she has requested the Division of Motor Vehicles revoke the vanity license plate that spells “3REICH.”

Her action comes at the request of her constituent Libby Bakalar of Juneau, who is deeply involved with various liberal political causes and who is an internet sensation who specializes in vulgarity.

Presumably the 3REICH refers to Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. But it may also be someone’s last name — there are at least 75 voters in Alaska with the last name of Reich.

The Third Reich means “Third Realm” or “Third Empire,” and was meant to indicate Nazi Germany’s heir to the Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire.

Bakalar also wants the state to cancel another vanity plate that spells out “FUHRER,” the German word for “ruthless leader,” often used to refer to Adolf Hitler.

At least five voters in Alaska have the last name of Fuhrer.

The process for removing a plate is not as simple as a representative demanding it. The Division of Motor Vehicles puts together a panel to review the plate in question, and the panel asks the owner of the plate about the meaning of it before making a decision.

Alaska Democrats embrace Al Franken as headliner for annual event

Suzanne Downing
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17
Alaska Democrats embrace Al Franken as headliner for annual event

On Jan. 22, the Alaska Democrats had their winter auction on Friday, featuring former Sen. Al “The Groper” Franken of Minnesota.

They were celebrating enormous wins — the White House, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House are now under the Democrats’ control, but they were celebrating virtually with an auction and auctioneer Cary Carrigan, who is the executive director at Alaska Marijuana Industry Association.

Franken was accused by radio news anchor Leeann Tweeden of forcibly kissing and groping her in 2006 when they were overseas entertaining U.S. troops before he was elected to the Senate. He left the Senate in 2018 over the scandal and he apologized.

In addition to headliner Franken, special guests included Anchorage Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson, and Carl Johnson, who ran for State Senate to represent District N, and who lost to Roger Holland.

The Alaska Democrats also announced that Alaska Party Chairwoman Casey Steinau was recently elected to the Executive Committee of the DNC, and the Association of State Democratic Committees.

The disgraced former senator became victim to the “me too” movement, when a total of eight women came forward to say he had inappropriately touched or kissed them. No independent investigation has even taken place and Franken has since said he regrets resigning from the Senate.

In a 2019 story in the New Yorker magazine, the author of the profile on the former senator wrote that in “recent months, Franken has witnessed a prominent Democrat survive a similar political storm: this past spring, several women accused Joe Biden of unwanted kissing or touching at rallies and other political events. Biden apologized but never stopped campaigning for President.”

Muni code enforcers zero in on one mayoral candidate: Dave Bronson

Suzanne Downing
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74
Muni code enforcers zero in on one mayoral candidate: Dave Bronson

Anchorage COVID code enforcers hired by Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson have started harassing the Dave Bronson for Mayor campaign, to the point where the campaign has had to cancel one of its fundraisers and take its future events “underground.”

Code enforcers made a surprise visit to the venue of a planned fundraiser for Bronson last week, frightening the owner of the restaurant, measuring table distances, checking masks, and sanitation, and telling the manager they would be back to see how the fundraiser was complying with the mayor’s orders of 50 percent capacity for indoor events. The restaurant owner decided to cancel the event rather than risk being shut down.

This is what happens when more than 100 people attend your campaign event in Anchorage under the current regime — at least if you are conservative.

Emergency Order 17 was supposed to be an “easing up” and has language specifically protecting worship services and political expression, both of which are protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Assemblyman Forrest Dunbar, the Democrat lead candidate, posted a message on Facebook with photos of Bronson’s events, calling it a super-spreader event.

Bronson’s campaign manager, Bernadette Wilson, said she has had to remove all of the photos from Facebook of recent events for the Bronson campaign, because the code enforcers are harassing the venues for the past events as well. She has received calls from code enforcers from the municipality.

What’s worse, is that some on social media have been attacking the business establishments that have provided venues to Bronson. The businesses noticed they were being bullied online, and that their ratings went down to “one star” reviews overnight from online political activists.

Bronson has had several large events, the most recent attracting about 100 people. He is believed to have raised the most money so far of any of the conservative candidates for mayor.

Some people wear masks during his events, while others do not, and Bronson has taken the position that people should do what they feel comfortable doing. Bronson has also had an online telethon fundraiser, for those who don’t feel comfortable coming to events.

Cale Green, campaign manager for Bill Evans for Mayor, says that for their headquarter grand opening event next week, they’ll have fire pits outside, so they can split the event between inside and outside at the old Sullivan for Senate headquarters, 5011 Spenard Road. They’ll be aiming for 50 percent capacity and have been flying under the radar of the code enforcers, with a strategy of following the municipal code as much as possible. Their event is from 5:30-7 pm on Thursday.

Rivera starts regular Assembly meetings with Alaska Black Caucus

Suzanne Downing
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11
Rivera starts regular Assembly meetings with Alaska Black Caucus

Anchorage Assembly Chair Felix Rivera has scheduled a regularly calendared meeting with the Alaska Black Caucus. The first meeting is Sunday evening.

The meetings are the result of last year’s “I Can’t Breathe” resolution passed by the Anchorage Assembly in June during the height of summer riots, which are all but forgotten by the public.

“To promote culturally sensitive dialogue in communities of color that includes language interpreters and continued peaceful and compassionate engagement as a welcoming community,” the resolution reads.

Rivera said the relationship between the Assembly and the Alaska Black Caucus has now been formalized and the conversations will take place on the fourth Sunday of every other month.

Rivera is under the pressure of a potential recall election in April for breaking the emergency order that limited the number of people allowed in gatherings to 15. He allowed more than 15 people in Assembly meetings, but they were people of his choosing.

Will Felix Rivera be on the ballot for recall?

The 20-20 House of 1963

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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The 20-20 House of 1963

By ART CHANCE

Former Speaker of the House Bruce Kendall is no longer wit us, but I lost touch with him after he left the second Hickel Administration and returned to Anchorage.   

He and I had been pretty good friends in Anchorage in the late 1970s and early ’80s. 

One of Bruce’s proudest achievements was having been Speaker of the 20-20 House in 1963 and 1964, and he loved to regale anyone who would listen with stories of that time. 

The State of Alaska was still aborning, completing the transition from the territorial structure and building and buying new things. In 1963, the State took delivery of the first “big” ferries, the Taku class, two of which were later enlarged and became the Malaspina and Matanuska, and brought mainline service to Ketchikan, Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka, and Prince Rupert. The Tustumena was delivered in 1964 and service to the Gulf Coast, Kodiak, and The Chain began. Liberating travel to Alaska from Lower 48 controlled shipping was almost as important as liberating Alaska from the Alaska canned salmon industry and fish traps.   

Then life changed forever late in the afternoon of March 27, 1964, at 5:36 pm — the Great Alaska Earthquake struck. The Legislature was in its second session and remained in Session through April 14 when it recessed until May 24, then reconvened and adjourned on May 30.   

Gov. Bill Egan called a special session from Aug. 31 through Sept. 2 to deal with appropriations to match federal revenue for earthquake relief and provide State relief to Alaskans whose homes and businesses had been damaged or destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami.   

The State also retired or adjusted mortgages on homes damaged or destroyed and borrowed what was then the princely sum of $17.8 Million for earthquake relief.   

Along the way the Legislature established the Human Rights Commission, enacted Aid to Families with Dependent Children legislation, passed the Mandatory Boroughs Act, and started the first of many of Alaska’s Boondoggles to Nowhere, — the Rampart Dam Development Commission.  

In total, the Third Legislature was in session 164 days, 836 bills were introduced, and 231 bills were passed.   

Some members of that Legislature went on to be household names in Alaska politics and government for a generation, a couple are still around and still politically active, and some have sons and daughters who followed in their footsteps. I knew quite a few of them — they were and are smart, industrious people, but none of them are superhuman.

Today’s conventional wisdom, at least the conventional wisdom of one House member, is that a tie or a narrow majority either guarantees stasis or causes individual members to have unwarranted veto power over legislation.   

The actions and results of the Third Legislature graphically demonstrate that the conventional wisdom is either a delusion or a contrivance. To my mind, it is more likely the latter.   

I think Rep. David Eastman has it exactly right in his blog in which he characterized the current situation in the House as a contrivance by the Democrats and three false flag Republicans to deny the People the results of the last election and preserve the Holy Grail of the union-owned Democrats, an untouched operating budget with no cuts to the State’s extorted education funding, no cuts to Medicaid, and no layoffs of employees paid from the General Fund.

The unions/Democrats could get away with this under Gov. Bill Walker by holding the Senate hostage; they had to pass a budget the Democrats and the Governor would sign or have a government shutdown on their heads.  

The only objective I can see the Democrats and their quisling allies having is to continue the Session through the 120th Day.  If they can stall until June 1, the governor has to give almost all State employees a layoff notice effective at 12:01 am on July 1.  

At that time, the government of the State of Alaska will all but cease to exist.   School Districts/REAA’s totally reliant on State funds will follow suit, as will political subunits with employees whose positions rely on State funds. The School Districts that have local funding in addition to State funding don’t have to give immediate layoff notices but since they’re all union chattel, they will. The unions/Democrats and their allies are counting on the Governor not having the will to look into the abyss.  We’ll see.

Frankly, nobody has ever seen anything like this before. There are only a handful of us still on this planet who’ve ever seen and dealt with significant labor strife at the State level and who remember when June 1 layoff notices were really a matter of routine. Everyone heard the wailing and gnashing of teeth over a few hundred requests for the resignations of political appointees; wait until you hear the howl from 20,000 State employees getting layoff notices and perhaps as many as another 20,000 education and political subunit employees potentially getting layoff notices.    

I used to have a sign above my desk that said something along the lines of, “if you have to eat frogs, eat the big one first, and don’t spend too much time thinking about it.”   Somebody is going to have to eat some frogs.

Art Chance is a retired Director of Labor Relations for the State of Alaska, formerly of Juneau and now living in Anchorage. He is the author of the book, “Red on Blue, Establishing a Republican Governance,” available at Amazon. 

Read more stories at Must Read Alaska.com.

Alaska Legislature goes virtual

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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3
Alaska Legislature goes virtual

By WIN GRUENING

In some ways, the first regular session of the  Alaska State Legislature that gaveled in on Tuesday, Jan. 19, is similar to others in recent years.  The session began with a Republican organized Senate and a divided House. Fragile coalitions will be negotiating competing fiscal solutions hoping to resolve festering budget and permanent fund dividend concerns. 

Past legislatures have unsuccessfully wrestled with these issues and it remains to be seen whether this year will be different.

Beyond that, however, this session will be quite different.  Visually, the installation of hundreds of plexiglass panelsthroughout the Capitol will remind everyone of the Legislature’s pandemic safety precautions (and its support of our oil industry – after all, plexiglass is a petroleum-based thermoplastic product).

Under new Covid-19 guidelines outlined by the Joint House-Senate Legislative Council Committee (LCC) in December, the public (including lobbyists) will not have access to the Alaska State Capitol.  However, the LCC recently did agree to allow one press representative in the House and Senate chambers each day.  

Legislators and staff will  be subject to regular testing as well as temperature checks and health questions before daily admittance to the Capitol.  Anyone who refuses to comply will be denied entrance.  Under the approved “Safe Floor Session Policy” legislative members may not congregate in chambers, and may not stand, but must sit at their desk behind a plexiglass screen, when making remarks on the floor.

Clearly, this will be a legislative session like no other.

Fortunately, constituents will still be able to monitor all legislative proceedings in real-time, as if they were there in person, or on-demand if they are unable to watch live.   This is due, in part, to several important improvements in Gavel Alaska coverage this session. 

Since 1995, Gavel Alaska, a partnership of the City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) and KTOO – Juneau’s public media outlet, has provided unedited live and recorded coverage of state government activities. Last year, funding for Gavel Alaska totaled almost $700,000, approximately 65% funded by CBJ, with the balance funded by KTOO and private donations.

Gavel Alaska provides daily television coverage of the Alaska Legislature, and other branches of state government, on KTOO 360TV (formerly 360 North), a full-time Alaska non-profit public affairs television channel.  It is broadcast in 38 locations statewide (on channel 15 in many GCI Cable markets). Gavel Alaska also reaches viewers in Alaska homes, offices, and classrooms, with live and archived streams over the Internet.

Until this year, live and recorded coverage was limited by camera and crew availability.  In the event of multiple committee meetings and floor sessions, Gavel frequently had to prioritize which ones would be broadcast.  That won’t be a problem this year. 

KTOO and the Legislature worked together to install 39 remote controlled cameras in House and Senate chambers and legislative committee rooms in the Capitol.  The new cameras will be able to provide more coverage, and in higher quality.  Beginning this session, Gavel Alaska will broadcast and/or stream all events live in high definition.  Coverage will be archived for instant retrieval on the web for later viewing, if desired.  

Rooms are now equipped with multiple camera locations and angles to allow all activity to be monitored.  The Senate and House Chamber cameras will incorporate their electronic voting systems so viewers can monitor votes in real time. 

The cameras will be operated remotely from KTOO’s studios in downtown Juneau.  The public will have eyes and ears in almost every room in the Capitol even during the temporary COVID-19 restrictions.  Oral and written testimony will continue to be facilitated via teleconference and email allowing constituents to be able to observe and testify at the capitol virtually, without any risk of virus exposure. 

Supplemented by $547,500 from the Juneau Community Foundation – not including $100,000 in project engineering and installation costs donated by KTOO – the Legislature funded $448,500, for a total of $996,000 to complete the project.

While some states are still struggling with how best to conduct their legislative sessions during a pandemic, your capital city’s commitment to continuing to enhance constituent access means Alaskans can be confident the public will still be able to visit and observe their legislature during this critical time.

Win Gruening retired as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in 2012. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is active in community affairs as a 30-plus year member of Juneau Downtown Rotary Club and has been involved in various local and statewide organizations.

Read more stories at Must Read Alaska.

ExxonMobil pulls out of Iditarod sponsorship

Suzanne Downing
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37
ExxonMobil pulls out of Iditarod sponsorship

PETA WAS LAUNCHING AN AD CALLING EXXON ‘EVIL’

ExxonMobil has ended its 40-year sponsorship of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, PETA announced today.

ExxonMobil has sponsored the Iditarod since 1978, and has donated $250,000 per year for the last several years alone, PETA announced.

PETA has been executing a vigorous campaign against Exxon, including an upcoming ad campaign calling Exxon evil.

PETA’s ads were to run in the Anchorage Daily News and the Texas edition of The Wall Street Journal next week, as well as a week of action that would have included more than a dozen protests across the country.

“After meeting with executives, PETA has also agreed to withdraw its 2021 shareholder resolution, which asked ExxonMobil to end all sponsorship of activities in which animals are exploited, harmed, or killed and was apparently the final straw for the company,” PETA reported.

PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said, “No reputable company wants to associate with a race that forces dogs to run until they collapse, and PETA is calling on the few remaining holdouts like Millennium Hotels and Resorts to cut ties with this spectacle of suffering.” 

Last year, Alaska Airlines, Chrysler, and Baird Private Wealth Management pulled their sponsorship, following the lead of Coca-Cola, Costco, Jack Daniel’s, and other brands caving to PETA’s pressure.

Last story: Will Felix Rivera be on ballot for recall?

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