The Sitka Assembly on Tuesday voted 6-1 to move the bronze statue of Alexander Baranov from the front of Harrigan Centennial Hall into the Sitka Historical Museum.

Dueling petitions had been active online — with more than 2,000 saying they want the statue removed, and another 5,000 signing a petition to keep the statute where it is. Many of those wishing it to remain were from Russian heritage all around the world.

The statue was donated to the city in 1989 by the Hames family, the owners of one of Sitka’s oldest family-owned businesses, Sea Mart.

But in the current political environment, white immigrants have been deemed unacceptable to some who want history scrubbed. Baranov was part of the colonization of Alaska by Europeans, and Native Alaskans don’t necessarily appreciate a statue of him and have recently protested the statue.

Baranov was a Russian merchant who worked for some time in Siberia before being recruited by the Shelikov Company for Russian America, beginning in 1790 with a five-year contract as manager of what was then a fur-trading outpost. He stayed long past his initial contract.

This made him the de facto first governor of Russian America, and he established a post in Kodiak as well as Sitka (New Archangel). Although he had a wife and children in Russia, he took up with an Aleut woman and fathered three children with her. When he learned of his wife’s death in Russia, he married his Aleut companion. He later died at sea in April of 1819.

The resolution was offered by Assembly members Kevin Knox and Steven Eisenbeisz.

Pat Pitney, who is the Finance director for the Alaska State Legislature in Juneau, is the interim president of the University of Alaska System, the University of Alaska Board of Regents announced today.

Pitney is a former vice chancellor for the Fairbanks campus and was the Office of Management and Budget director for former Gov. Bill Walker. 

Former President Jim Johnsen resigned effective July 1 after saying some things in a job interview in Wisconsin that were politically incorrect concerning Alaskans, the Permanent Fund dividend, and white privilege.

A Democrat-heavy political action committee from the East Coast that is working on over 1,100 legislative races around the country has identified a few races in Alaska to dig into.

The Future Now Fund has the stated intent of preserving a Democrat-controlled House leadership in Alaska, but it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to say who the donors are to the chosen races. All that can be seen at this point is that the group is raising money for Democrats and is targeting 15 states this year.

Future Now Fund’s man on the ground in Alaska is said to be John-Henry Heckendorn, Gov. Bill Walker’s former campaign manager, but Must Read Alaska has not been able to verify this yet; disclosures of expenditures will come as early as 10 days of making them.

For Alaska, the candidates that the group is supporting is odd — most of them are in safe races, and some don’t have opponents:

• Democrat Rep. Bryce Edgmon, District 37, unopposed.
• Democrat Rep. Harriet Drummond, District 18, unopposed.
• Democrat Rep. Sara Hannan, District 33, unopposed.
• Democrat Andy Josephson, House District 17, unopposed.
• Stephen Trimble, ultra-left independent running in District 22, trying to unseat Sara Rasmussen.
• Democrat Rep. Chris Tuck, District 23, unopposed in primary.

And then there’s one who clearly is different: The only Alaska Republican on the Future Now Fund list is Republican Rep. Gary Knopp of District 30.

In fact, Knopp may be the only Republican in the entire country supported by this group, although MRAK did not check more than a couple of dozen names on the list.

Knopp, who used to be a registered Democrat before registering as a Republican, was part of the group that broke from the Republican majority caucus and forged a Democrat-led leadership team in the House starting in 2018. Democrats have not filed a candidate to run against any him over the last two cycles.

This time, he is facing not only a real primary with Republican Ron Gillham and Kelly Wolfe, but if he wins his primary, he has a challenge in the General Election from James Baisden, a Republican who plans to go straight to the General Election ballot to take out Knopp.

Future Now Fund’s website ays the group’s goal for Alaska is to “Defend a bipartisan coalition.

“Democrats hold a minority in the State House but control the chamber thanks to some moderate Republicans who are working with mainstream Democrats to form a governing majority focused on the people.” – Future Now Fund website

The organization supports candidates who sign a pledge that says they are committed to, among other things:

• Expanding affordable healthcare for all Alaskans, including by protecting Medicaid from cuts.
• Implementing an innovative program to reduce vaccination costs for patients.
• Pursuing an ambitious vision of an Alaska that leads in renewable energy, driving economic growth that would benefit all Alaskans.

The Future Now Fund is a hybrid political action committee that can operate as a traditional political action committee, contributing funds to the candidates’ campaigns, but also as a super PAC, which operates independently from the campaigns. The so called “Carey Committee” structure means that compliance and reporting are a bit more technical, which is why the group has hired a DC compliance company to manage the money coming in and going out.

Ultimately, Alaskans will not be able to tell who has donated through this committee to the Knopp campaign because donors will be masked until long after the election.

The group can virtually raise no funds outside of Alaska for a State PAC. PACS can give no more than $1,000 to a campaign.

But the way this PAC/Super PAC works is essentially running a campaign funding laundromat. When the Supreme Court struck down Alaska’s tight rein on Outside money, it opened up new PAC activity for Alaska. This is a different, enhanced version of Act Blue.

Read more about the Future Now Fund here.

For more information about this Democrat group backing the Knopp race, follow this link at FollowtheMoney.org