I spent four years overseeing Alaska’s elections as lieutenant governor. During that time, as well as my earlier years as a legislator, I developed a resolute appreciation for how much our representative government depends on an election process that is simple, transparent, impartial and honest.
I have reviewed Ballot Measure 2—all 25 pages of it—and conclude that instead of what its proponents say, it is more complex, obscure, and unfair. Its length alone challenges describing all its shortcomings.
Ballot Measure 2 offers the seductive promise that it will “…take back power from dark money special interests and give it to regular Alaskans.” Yet the irony is that it instead protects the power of Outside special interest groups to spend dark money.
How so? Because it specifically exempts ballot measure groups from the rigorous disclosure requirements it would impose on groups that seek to affect the outcome of races for school board, assembly or council, State Legislature, and other offices.
The hypocrisy of this is stunning. To understand how it would work, consider the example of a small non-profit group in Alaska that seeks to spend a nominal amount of money, say $750, to support a school board candidate. This group will be subject to stringent rules requiring disclosure of all of its large donors ($2,000 or more). Yet it would allow powerful Lower 48 special interest groups to dump millions of dollars of “dark money” into ballot measure campaigns, with no similar disclosure requirements.
How is it fair to saddle small Alaska groups with demanding new rules, while Outside billionaires continue to secretly funnel their money to influence our elections?
In addition, Ballot Measure 2 won’t affect the vast sums of money spent by Outside groups in races for U.S. Senate and House in Alaska. Some voters might be tempted to vote yes, thinking it will bring a merciful end to the avalanche of political advertising we are enduring.
But it’s a false expectation. Most of the advertising right now is for campaigns for U.S. President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and Ballot Measures 1 and 2. All of this spending would be completely unfettered and unregulated by Ballot Measure 2. If it passes, it won’t take long for voters to experience “buyer’s remorse.”
Let’s also consider its other major provisions – the open “jungle primary” and “ranked choice voting.” Proponents say these changes will create a less partisan environment, which in turn will produce leaders who are more capable of solving Alaska’s difficult challenges. That’s a bold but false claim. We can look at other jurisdictions that have experimented with this.
California and Washington have primary elections similar to what Ballot Measure 2 proposes. Is the political environment in these states less toxic than Alaska? I don’t think so. Both states are besieged by rising homelessness, rampant traffic, unaffordable housing, civil unrest, and many other problems.
Where is the evidence that a “jungle primary” somehow produces a breed of political leaders that is wiser, kinder and more capable?
San Francisco has used ranked-choice voting for more than 15 years. Yet the city is plagued by problems its elected leaders seem unable or unwilling to solve.
Maine is using this for its U.S. Senate race this year. A headline in the October 2 Bangor Daily News tells how it’s working: “Maine’s US Senate race is the most negative one in the country.” Are they doing better than Alaska? The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.
I do believe Alaska’s election system could be improved, but instead of this convoluted approach, we can apply practical, home-grown solutions that really work. Rather than shining light on the electoral process, Ballot Measure 2 makes voting more confusing and imports failed experiments from other states.
I urge Alaskans to vote no.
Loren Leman served in the Alaska Legislature from 1989 through 2002 and as Lieutenant Governor from 2002 through 2006.
The soil doctor from East Anchorage is evidently ticked off that she’s known as the “Dirt Doctor” when she reaches out to prospective voters. Liz Snyder, running for House District 27 as a Democrat, enlisted the help of some of her fellow PhD’s at the University of Alaska, to write a letter declaring that she is, in fact, a real doctor.
Snyder does have her PhD in soil science from the University of Florida and has written extensively on community gardens. As well, she has studied in Venezuela, a failed socialist nation, where she researched her master’s thesis. She promotes community gardening as a path toward food security and she and her family have an extensive and productive home garden in East Anchorage. Not bad, for a gal from Florida who came to Alaska on a whim a decade ago.
Snyder told the University of Florida blog that she came to Alaska to apply for a job with UAA that she never thought she would get. “I hadn’t even defended my dissertation yet. I just figured it was a good trip to Alaska and great practice.” She did get it, and the rest is history.
Now, four other scientists — one who is a medical doctor — say that she is entitled to call herself a doctor on the campaign trail, something she only started doing in July, when being an expert in coronavirus became all the academic rage.
During her 2018 run for office, she did not refer to herself as a doctor. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that she changed her title.
Snyder was quoted in an Anchorage publication owned by the political strategy firm Lottsfeldt Strategies, saying she is tired of her credentials as a health doctor being questioned. She says it’s sexist.
“It’s tiresome,” Snyder told TMS. “It’s one instance in a long line of women’s qualifications being questioned. It’s just frustrating when you dedicate your whole life to a field and you’re qualified—I’m a public health professor and have been for more than 10 years—and he doesn’t want to show up and would rather spread lies than talk about the issues facing Alaskans. It’s ridiculous and disrespectful to voters.”
Critics say that scientists who use the title “Doctor” in political campaigns are doing so to fool voters — especially now, in the middle of a pandemic. But some PhDs do refer to themselves that way on the campaign trail — Dr. Jill Biden has her doctorate in education and refers to herself as “Dr.” The media also gives her that courtesy title.
But Sen. Gary Stevens of Kodiak, who has his PhD in education, doesn’t play up the doctor title. Dr. Donny Olson is a medical doctor who serves in the Senate and he doesn’t play up his medical credentials while running for office.
Dr. Al Gross, running for U.S. Senate, has tagged himself the “Bear Doctor” referring to the bear that he claims to have killed, but he is actually a medical doctor.
In an online town hall meeting, Liz Snyder uses her health doctor authority as she describes her prescription for defeating the COVID-19 pandemic.
Snyder says that in order to crush the coronavirus, the state needs to implement a rolling series of economic shutdowns. When the number of cases go up, the government needs to reimplement closures on businesses until the numbers come back down, she said. Watch here:
She has the support of several academic colleagues from UAA who want her to be called Dr. Snyder for campaign purposes: Dr. Tom Hennessy, an infectious disease epidemiologist with the University of Alaska Anchorage; Dr. Jennifer Meyer, an assistant professor of allied health; medical Dr. Jose Luna and Trina Stauff de Luna, a registered nurse. The four signed a letter saying anything less than the”Dr.” label were abhorrent and blatant lies.
But a review of disclosure forms at the Alaska Public Offices Commission shows all of them have been contributors to Snyder’s campaign.
Jose Luna and Trina de Luna contributed $500 each in 2018 to the Snyder campaign, the maximum allowed by law, and contributed the maximum again in 2020. Hennessy donated $500 to the Snyder campaign in 2020. Meyer gave a negligible amount in this cycle.
Snyder, in her second run against incumbent Rep. Lance Pruitt, who has a bachelor’s and master’s degree, has raised more money than Pruitt and has been running hard for the District 27 seat since 2017. She has the endorsement of former Gov. Bill Walker, another highly regarded politician who has a Doctor of Jurisprudence.
While it is somewhat unusual for an Alaska mayor to write an opinion piece, I have been consistent in sharing my views on fisheries, Cordova’s single largest economic driver. I’m always striving to represent the opinions and needs of my community, even in rare cases where they may diverge somewhat from my own.
I point to such pieces as “Salmon for All” in support of a responsibly managed hatchery system. I have repeated my common themes of the importance of access to fisheries resources to all user groups, of environmental protections of our ocean and coastal watersheds, of science-based management, and of providing adequate management funding resources to our Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
This very week Cordova will experience the first live king crab crossing her docks in almost 40 years; a testament to collaborative work between Cordova fishermen, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and the governor’s fisheries advisors.
What I have not shared is my deep concerns over the existential threats to our oceans and way of life, but perhaps a few reminders are in order this week, and my opinions regarding these are my own based upon my observations.
While Alaska is famous for fish politics, I have trusted Laine Welch and Fish Factor to be an objective, non-partisan source of important fisheries news and legislation for much of my 49 years as a coastal Alaskan.
The Oct. 24 Cordova Times article entitled “Vote for Healthy Oceans and Thriving Coastal Communities” was a narrow, if not targeted, view of ocean threats.
Laine’s column does a disservice to her readership by blatantly ignoring the largely bipartisan efforts to protect ecology and economy that misses many critical elements that she herself has brought to our attention in previous articles and radio programs. But we weren’t a week away from an election at those times.
So, a few reminders of some of the threats our oceans and fisheries face and what our Congressional delegation has done to address those threats. One of our clear and present ocean dangers is ocean trash, particularly plastics. I was elated during Don Young’s September visit to Cordova when he shared one of his enthusiastic dreams of repurposing retired US Aircraft Carriers into front-loading salvagers of ocean waste for recycling on board. This would tackle the blob of trash the size of Texas riding our oceans.
The “Save our Seas Act” or SOS legislation, was introduced by Senators Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, and Sullivan, and Alaska Republican, and signed by President Donald Trump as a bi-partisan effort to reauthorize NOAA’s marine debris program.
This year, Senator Sullivan again championed the Save our Seas 2.0 Act – the most comprehensive ocean debris cleanup to ever pass the Senate, and recently passed by the House.
As for partisanship, Sullivan was ranked by the Lugar Center at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy as the 14th most bipartisan Senator in the U.S. Senate. Sullivan voting with Trump 97 percent of the time is not an all-encompassing rating or ranking of the senator’s six-year voting record.
The first king crab to arrive at the Cordova dock in nearly 40 years is seen Monday, thanks to good fisheries management. Photos by Clay Koplin.
Further, as a first term senator, Sullivan was ranked by Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Political Science Alan Wiseman, as the 8th most bipartisan Republican senator – right behind our own Senator Lisa Murkowski. And on the House side, our own Congressman Don Young is ranked as the first most bipartisan Republican representative.
The threat of mining, perhaps none more so that Pebble, poses risks to critical Alaskan fisheries. It has been clear to me that Senator Sullivan supports the process – not a fast-tracked process that is politically expedient but rather a process that is fair, consistent, and transparent.
When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released their findings that the Pebble mine could not meet the high threshold to be permitted the Senator came out against Pebble stating that the process had run its course and he trusts the Corp’s findings.
His statement came out on Aug. 24 almost a full month before the “Pebble Tapes” were released. Senator Sullivan took a lot of flak for following the process – I commend him for his true leadership on that.
Senator Sullivan has also been a champion for our Southeast communities fighting the issue of transboundary mine pollution. Sen. Sullivan, Sen. Murkowski, and delegations from other Canadian border states have worked together with the Canadian government to protect our waters, fisheries, and communities.
As Laine’s article points out, the other Canadian concern is the pipelining of Russian/China halibut through trade paths, dodging tariffs into the US Markets to the detriment of Alaskan Fisheries.
Is it any wonder that until these trade issues are resolved opportunities like cheaper Canadian pharmaceuticals might take a back shelf? Sullivan’s assistance on tariff protections included $250 million of exclusions for salmon-specific tariff lines, as the Trump Administration seeks to balance trade deficits with foreign competitors.
The recent pandemic has introduced an even stronger market headwind than trade programs. Thanks to our delegation, recent “Buy American” provisions in our school lunch programs further assist in balancing trade and improving the market prices for Alaskan fishermen.
Russia and China, however, pose perhaps an even larger threat to Alaska fishermen, illegal global fishing. The recent illegal Chinese take of chum salmon and Russian fleet interference with Aleutian chain fisheries are impacting our own waters.
The bipartisan congressional efforts, supported by Senator Sullivan, to address illegal fishing and Coast Guard authorization for enforcement, is helping to address these threats.
Speaking of the Coast Guard, in his six years in office, Senator Sullivan has secured over $400 million in funding to strengthen Alaska’s Coast Guard to protect our fisherman, fisheries and our waters.
Finally, much closer to home during the pandemic season, Senator Sullivan worked directly with President Trump and Gov. Mike Dunleavy to emphasize the risks to our fishing industries and communities to provide the testing and resources to execute a successful season against stiff odds. The chief medical officer for homeland security, Dr. Alexander Eastman, visited Cordova with Dr. Anne Zink and other State of Alaska health officials to offer their assistance and guidance (and learn from our own, effective measures in Cordova) for our first large salmon fishery in the State. We wanted to avoid outbreaks and protect our remote Alaskan communities with limited medical resources.
I mark Cordova as a success, and from discussions with mayors and processors up and down the coast and in State calls, the rest of the state was successfully protected as well.
These multiple threats are important for all Alaskans of any political affiliation, and it will be important for all of us to work together to confront them, and I know that Senator Sullivan has taken a bipartisan approach to do this.
With over 94 percent of our nation’s seafood being imported and as one of our country’s top five trade imbalances now that we are energy secure, there is plenty of room for strong economic support for Alaskan fisheries right here in our gargantuan US consumer market. We have been, and will continue to be, in this together.
I would encourage the press to remember this and to continue to focus on fish business rather than fish politics so that we can continue to trust their objectivity and perspective in the future.
Respectfully, Clay Koplin, Citizen, Cordova
Clay Koplin worked summer seasons as a cannery laborer and machinist while pursuing his electrical engineering degree, commercially long lined, and avidly participated in sports, subsistence, and personal use fisheries in the communities of Kenai, Kodiak, and Cordova. His career passion has been the transition of coastal Alaskan electricity to affordable, reliable, and renewably sourced systems to support the economies of fishing communities.
The Anchorage chapter of the Alaska League of Women Voters has put the Anchorage Assembly on notice that the group is against a special election for acting Anchorage mayor.
In a letter to the Assembly, the League said a special election is simply not in the best interests of the voters.
The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday will be taking up a proposal to hold a special election in January, as the winner of the regular April 6 election is not seated until July 1.
A second competing proposal would have the winner of the April 6 election be sworn in as soon as any runoff election is completed, and would leave Austin Quinn-Davidson in as acting mayor until then.
The entire exercise is being discussed after the hasty departure of the previous mayor, Ethan Berkowitz, who had been caught having an inappropriate relationship with a member of the press.
The agenda for the Anchorage Assembly meeting, which begins at 5 pm, is at this link.
“As the League of Women Voters of Anchorage, part of our mission is registering voters and providing voters with election information through voter guides as well as candidate forums and debates. Given the brief amount of time available, the significant effort involved, the upcoming holiday season, the pandemic, and the hundreds of thousands of dollars it takes to conduct a municipal election, it is not in the best interest of voters to hold a special election to elect another interim mayor between now and the next municipal election in April 2021,” the group wrote to the Assembly.
“Our municipal charter addresses a mayoral vacancy and the emergency procedures for such a vacancy have been implemented. Clear timelines are outlined in the law. In addition, the charter also allows our city leaders to make some common sense decisions regarding timing, which is what we strongly urge at this time,” the league wrote, saying voters will not have time to be informed in a January special election, which according to charter, would need to occur after Jan. 21, 2021.
“Working backward from that day, ballot packets in our city which uses the vote-by-mail method, must be mailed 21 days in advance which is New Year’s Day. New voters can register up to 30 days in advance of the election which would make the deadline December 23. People who have moved must also update their registration by that date. The trouble is, by then most people will be focused on family, handling pandemic holidays and certainly not thinking about an election at all,” the League wrote, noting that if a candidate does not get 45 percent of the vote, a runoff would need to be held.
Assembly member Jamie Allard from Eagle River responded to the League, which has typically been in favor of elections:
“I’m not surprised on your stand for not wanting the voters to be represented,” she wrote, reminding the League that women fought long and hard for the right to vote “and you want to encourage the Acting Mayor and the Assembly to violate the Charter and not allow the people to vote in a special election? After not speaking up in regards to the attacks on Ms. Leighan Gonzales, LWV is a complete disappointment. You have a clear agenda and it’s not to stand with women voters.”
Wasilla’s mayoral election went to a runoff when neither candidates Glenda Ledford nor Doug Holler received over 40 percent of the vote during the Oct. 6 Wasilla municipal election.
Early in-person voting in this election ends at 5 pm today, Oct. 26, at Wasilla City Hall, Council Chambers, 290 E Herning Avenue, Wasilla.
On Election Day, Tuesday, Oct. 27, polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Voters and poll workers are required to wear face masks inside the buildings where voting will take place. Polling place locations are:
07-125 Wasilla No. 2 – Wasilla City Hall, 290 E. Herning Avenue, Wasilla
Ledford has been endorsed by the Alaska Republican Assembly Forum as the conservative candidate in the race. As deputy mayor, she was appointed to the Wasilla City Council in 2017 and was then elected to the position. She owns a business that trains hair stylists.
Holler is an Airport police officer in Anchorage and has previously served on the Wasilla City Council. He has lived in Wasilla for more than 40 years.
Retiring Rep. Dave Talerico has repeated his endorsement for Mike Cronk for District 6, in response to false advertising appearing in the Interior Alaska district.
After a flyer for no-party candidate Elijah Verhagen made it appear that he had the endorsement of the very popular representative from Healy, voters in the Interior region were confused. The flyer also made it appear Verhagen has the endorsement of Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Both Sen. Sullivan and Rep. Talerico have endorsed Cronk, a retired middle school teacher from Tok.
“I have exclusively endorsed Mike Cronk for the House District 6 seat. Any publications or notifications that are contrary to that are completely false,” Talerico said.
Sen. Lora Reinbold of Eagle River, also mentioned on the flyer, did endorse Verhagen and said she has never met Cronk. While Verhagen was a legislative aide, he worked for Reinbold. Must Read Alaska reached out to former Gov. Sean Parnell for comment and has not heard back.
Cronk also won the support of House Rep. Laddie Shaw, while Verhagen has the support of his brother, Josh Verhagen, the Republican mayor of Nenana, and Samantha Thompson, mayor of Anderson. Thompson, an undeclared voter, signed the recall petition against Gov. Mike Dunleavy in 2019.
On Nov. 3, Alaskans will vote on Ballot Measure 2, which would forceAlaskans to vote for their political leaders on so-called “ranked-choice voting” or RCV. Voters using RCV would assign a numerical rank to multiple candidates rather than voting for their preferred candidate.
Defend Alaska Elections, which opposes ranked-choice voting, contended that this might appear fairer; however, ranked-choice voting often results in the winner of the election receiving less than a majority of the votes cast.
This week Defend Alaska Elections announced that they had surpassed the pro-ranked choice voting group’s fundraising in less than two months of fundraising.
The latest fundraising figures foundthat the anti-ranked choice campaign had collected 336 donations from Alaskans. The Yes campaign only collected 296 donations from Alaskans since they started campaigning in July 2019.
The numbers reveal that the Yes on 2 for Better Elections had raised $6,194,081 from outside Alaska and had only raised $20,000 from inside the state.
In contrast, Defend Alaska Elections raised $323,542 from Alaska and $141,583 from out-of-state.
Brett Huber, the campaign manager for Defend Alaska Elections, said in a statement this week that they will continue to fight dark money’s influence in Alaska’s elections.
Huber said:
With just $20,000 in Alaskan donations, in-state backers of Ballot Measure 2 represent a miniscule 0.3 percent of the Yes campaign’s dark-money haul — little more than a rounding error for the political operatives hired by out-of-state billionaires to promote Ballot Measure 2. In less than two months, Alaskans stepping up to defend our fair and transparent elections against Outside dark money have donated more than 15 times this amount.
Huber added, “While we remain outgunned by billionaires from New York and California and millions in out-of-state dark money, our donors have something the Outside billionaires don’t: the right to vote in Alaska.”
Former Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R) and former Alaska Sen. Mark Begich (D) wrote in an op-ed in July that ranked-choice voting would harm Alaska’s elections.
“As former elected officials from different parties, we’ve had our share of disagreements,” the former lawmakers wrote. “But we are united in our belief that the Better Elections initiative would be bad for our state. Alaskans shouldn’t have to doubt that their votes count.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
In a 20-minute phone call Sunday with thousands of Alaskans, President Donald Trump held a “tele-rally” meeting to promote the campaigns of Sen. Dan Sullivan and Congressman Don Young, who he called great public servants for Alaska.
Trump called from the White House shortly after returning from a campaign trip to Bangor, Maine, and between duties at the White House Halloween party, where children attended in costumes and candy was distributed.
In his call, Trump reminded Alaskans of the importance of the election and was highly complimentary of both Sullivan and Young, and how effective they are for Alaska. He mentioned opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for responsible oil development, and said whenever he has a question about the House of Representatives, he calls Rep. Don Young.
With just three electoral votes for Alaska, serious presidential candidates never campaign in the 49th state during the final stretch, and it was unusual for the president to even take 20 minutes from his schedule to make the call, the details of which were kept under wrap until the final hour due to the president’s travel schedule.
The Sullivan campaign didn’t know how many Alaskans received the tele-rally call but said it was safe to say “thousands.”
We got our first television in the late 1950s on our family farm. After the evening chores were done, the family would gather by the TV instead of listening to the radio.
We could get reception from just two distant TV stations so, if anyone wanted to change channels, one of the kids was designated to go outside and move the antenna until the picture and sound became clear.
“Dragnet” with its main character, Sergeant Joe Friday, was a family favorite. The expression “Just the Facts, Ma’am” is attributed to that show.
Facts can be defined as the truth about events as opposed to interpretation. In this current election cycle, facts fail to be presented with reliability or civility. The only bright “fact” spot this election year was our local Juneau election. While municipal election results didn’t turn out to everyone’s satisfaction, our local candidates campaigned on the issues with civility and class.
The current presidential campaign, on the other hand, is at the opposite end of the civility spectrum compared to our local election.
But Alan Gross’s campaign for the U.S. Senate dominates the media and completely lacks any decency or class. The outside political groups behind Alan Gross, the Democrat nominee, are determined to win this election at any cost.
It is impossible to escape the sheer volume of distorted, divisive “facts’ and innuendo that arrive hourly and sometimes minute by minute over the airwaves, social media and in our mail. This U. S. Senate race will undoubtedly go down as the most negative in Alaska history.
Here are some facts: I’m supporting and voting for Dan Sullivan for U.S. Senator and hope you will consider doing likewise.
Sullivan supports Fisheries. Sullivan does not support the Pebble mine.
Sullivan supports insurance companies being required to accept pre-existing medical conditions. Sullivan does not support Obamacare and its taxation of private insurance plans and uninsured individuals.
Sullivan supports lower cost prescription drugs. He has voted against efforts to allow “unsafe” or “unapproved” prescription drugs into the U. S.
Sullivan supports our military and law enforcement.
Sullivan secured $1.6 billion in new military construction for Alaska. Sullivan helped increase personnel and modernize vessels for the U. S Coast including new cutters for SE Alaska.
Sullivan has championed “Choose Respect” campaigns for women and aided survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.
He fought to keep and to increase Federal work positions based in Juneau which make up almost 7% of our workforce.
When the pandemic struck, Sullivan fought for and helped secure billions of dollars for Alaska in the CARES Act that translated into over $53 million for the CBJ and millions more for local Native entities, fisheries, Juneau International Airport and Bartlett Regional Hospital.
Those funds helped maintain our police and fire units, our school system, our local businesses, our tourism industry, our homeless, our arts, our hospitality organizations, and our non-profits.
The composition and powers of the Senate were established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The Senate is considered the more deliberative and prestigious body of Congress due to its longer terms (6 years) and its smaller size (100 members).
As a freshman senator, Dan Sullivan was the primary sponsor of 10 bills that were enacted into law and they range from Save Our Seas to the Veteran Advocacy Act of 2020.
Sullivan was designated in the top 10% of most effective bipartisan senators and is respected on both sides of the aisle. He has earned respect as a tireless fighter for Alaska and its people. Sullivan has served with honor in D. C.
Fact is, Senator Sullivan has earned re-election.
Please join me in voting to send Dan Sullivan back to the U.S. Senate for a second term.
