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Hey LaFrance, stop lying and deceiving the voters with ‘nonpartisan’ label

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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11
Hey LaFrance, stop lying and deceiving the voters with ‘nonpartisan’ label

By MICHAEL TAVOLIERO

Alaska District 28 is a voting district that spans from Anchorage midtown to Girdwood.  It is remarkably similar in size to Anchorage Assembly District 6, with not as much midtown.

Historically, it has looked at smaller government and fiscal accountability as the preferred approach to government.

In the August 2020 primary, there were three candidates.  On the Republican ballot, we saw incumbent Jennifer Johnston against newcomer, James Kaufman.  On the Democratic ballot, we saw Adam S Lees.

James Kaufman prevailed over Jennifer Johnston and moved on to the general election ballot.

On the Democratic side, after the primary election, something mysterious happened.  

Anchorage assembly aide Lees, who assisted Assembly Member Suzanne LaFrance with community outreach, engagement, presence, and policy research, disappeared from the general election ballot. He vanished , without so much as the sound of a light wind,

Has anyone noticed the change up in District 28 after the primary?

The current commentary on his withdrawal from the general election is non-existent.

Does anyone find that strange?

District 28 had Lees, a Democrat.  He was the only Democrat in the primary.  His name is not on the General Election ballot for District 28 as a Democrat.

Now a Democrat who calls herself “not a Democrat” has replaced him on the District 28 general election ballot.

In baseball, we call this a pinch hitter.  A pinch hitter is a substitute batter.  

Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play).  The team manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute.  The replaced player in baseball is not allowed back into that game. The pinch hitter assumes the spot in the batting order of the player whom he replaces.  

While the ball was not in play Anchorage Assembly member LaFrance became the pinch hitter for the Alaska Democratic Party in District 28.  

Perhaps the team manager, Alaska Democratic Party Chair Casey Steinau saw the need for a pinch hitter, as Lees had no discoverable batting stats. 

With her recent political history on the Anchorage Assembly, will LaFrance’s record provide the needed home run Alaska Democrats need in District 28?

LaFrance, in her own words, decided to run for her state house campaign as a nonpartisan, instead of a Democrat, yet her political values have aligned with the Democratic Party long before her entry into the Anchorage Assembly in 2017.

In 2014, she signed the petition to repeal SB 21, the oil tax reform legislation, she supported marijuana legalization, and supported increased minimum wage.

On her website, she states, “In 2017, I ran for Assembly, and since elected, I’ve fought for the best interests of this diverse district. I’ve focus on improving public safety in our neighborhoods and along Turnagain Arm, ensuring our district schools are the best they can possibly be, removing obstacles for business owners, and respecting our property tax cap.”

But the proof is in her actions.

Suzanne LaFrance insists she is a nonpartisan.  This claim has been through her Assembly seat campaign and occupancy and is also the foundation of her District 28 campaign.  

The term, “non-partisan”, is defined as “free from any party affiliation”.

Can the voters of District 28 honestly conclude this definition fits the political ideology and affiliation which Mrs. Lafrance is asserting?

In reviewing her Alaska Public Offices Commission report, on November 6, 2019, Mrs. Lafrance paid the Alaska Democratic Party for $1,000 for “Voterbuilder Access”.  VoteBuilder is one of the software systems used by the Democratic Party and associated campaigns to track interaction with potential voters.

On April 1, 2020, Mrs. Lafrance’s campaign also wrote two checks totaling $176.35 to the Alaska Democratic Party for robocalls during her Assembly race.

Will the voters of District 28 consider these as nonpartisan?

During the 2020 District 6, Seat K, race in South Anchorage for the Anchorage Assembly featuring challenger Rick Castillo and first-term incumbent LaFrance, the Anchorage Daily Planet reported that as of March 6, 2020, LaFrance amassed a campaign war chest of over $55,500, almost $15,000 was from public employee unions. Union donations, in fact, amounted to nearly 27 percent of her contributions.

Will the voters of District 28 consider this as non-partisan?

On July 6, 2020, LaFrance created a future campaign account with surplus funds.

On September 10, 2020, LaFrance filed her candidate registration form for her current campaign for House District 28.

During her representation of Anchorage Assembly District 6, LaFrance joined Assembly members Christopher Constant, Felix Rivera, Forrest Dunbar and Pete Petersen as part of the 9-2 majority that happily rammed their we-know-best plastic bag ban down the city’s throat.

Will the voters of District 28 consider this as nonpartisan?

In front of a sparse crowd and after rejecting a broad-based sales tax that actually would have helped property taxpayers, the Anchorage Assembly put on the April 7 ballot a 5 percent retail alcohol tax – the same tax voters rejected just nine months before.

LaFrance, together, with her “nonpartisan” allies voted to put this on the ballot.

Will the voters of District 28 consider this as nonpartisan?

The recent actions which LaFrance as an Anchorage Assembly member participated with the Mayor of Anchorage’s lock down of the Anchorage produced the decimation of many small businesses and the implosion of our schools.

Will the voters of District 28 consider this as nonpartisan?

She led the charge and sponsored an amendment to have protestors wear masks and social distance or be thrown out of chambers and thrown off municipal land if violated outside.

Will the voters of District 28 consider this as nonpartisan?

She has failed to protect the rights of the citizens of her Anchorage District 6 by voting to keep the public out of public testimony during the Mayor’s attempt to use CARES Act funds for questionable purposes.

Will the voters of District 28 consider this a nonpartisan?

The term, “nonpartisan”, is defined as “free from any party affiliation”.

LaFrance’s assertion that she is nonpartisan is not honest and a poor start for winning the trust of the voters of District 28.

Her party affiliation uncertainty and her tendencies support big government and not protecting the rights and wallets of working Alaskans, especially the hard-hit voters of District 28.

It may be a difficult choice for LaFrance when the time comes to choosing between loyalty to District 28 constituents and those constituents who paid for her entry into the state house.

Alaska State Senator Mike Shower recently stated, “It’s recently become the norm for left wing candidates in Alaska … to infiltrate politics because Alaskans have (often rightly) been skeptical of our two major political parties. Al Gross flat-out admitted it when speaking to those major democrat donors. I don’t care if you’re a left winger but step up and admit it – run as who you are – democrat. Stop the lying and deception. If you’re going to lie about who you are and what you truly represent from the start – why should anyone trust you’ll not do the same once elected? Perhaps that’s the first question people should be asking.”

For the voters of District 28, the choice is clear.  Vote James Kaufman.

Michael Tavoliero is a realtor at Core Real Estate Group in Eagle River, is active in the Alaska Republican Party and chairs Eaglexit.

Recall Dunleavy Committee repurposed into dark money political action committee

Suzanne Downing
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14
Recall Dunleavy Committee repurposed into dark money political action committee

LEGAL LOOPHOLE: DATA AND FUNDS CAN GO WHEREVER

They’d been hot on the trail to recall Gov. Mike Dunleavy for months, but it wasn’t until January, 2020 that the Recall Dunleavy Committee actually registered with the Alaska Public Offices Commission as a “group” working to recall Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

The group didn’t have to register, to be clear. Because it is ostensibly a “recall” committee, it follows no rules until it turns in to the Division of Elections the second list of signatures it has gathered and is certified for a statewide election, special or otherwise.

The dirty little secret is, however, the group never has to turn in those signatures. And that means it can operate in the dark until November, 2022.

The group had reserved the website name “RecallDunleavy.org” a year earlier — back in February of 2019, four days after Dunleavy filed his first budget; the public rollout for gathering signatures was a couple of months later.

The summer of 2019 was when the first round of signatures were gathered, and how quickly those names came. Rallies were held across the state. The recall committee was on a roll.

By January, 2020, it was a mature operation, with paid, experienced staff, paid signature gatherers, and lots of events under its belt as it went for the second round of signatures. It kept raising money, but no one knows how much or where the money comes from.

The group, led by a former chief of staff to former Gov. Bill Walker, has obtained some 45,700 signatures and email addresses on the second round of signature gathering, roughly 25,000 short of what’s needed to get a recall onto the ballot this year. The effort has, on the surface, failed.

But the Recall Dunleavy Committee can continue its shadowy work until the General Election of 2022, when the governor comes up for reelection. It can act as an opposition group to his reelection.

As long as it doesn’t turn in those signatures for certification by the Division of Elections, the group can work in the shadows of other campaigns, too, without transparency or oversight by the Alaska Public Offices Commission.

What’s become evident to critics is that the recall committee is a new form of political action committee.

Call it the Kendall Loophole. Scott Kendall, the group’s leader and chief litigant, is a lawyer who specializes in dark money since leaving office with the deeply discredited Walker Administration in late 2018.

Few in Alaska are paying attention to the recall group’s activities, because voters have other fish to fry: Trying to make a living, trying to help children with their online school work, and getting ready for a cooped up winter of dodging COVID-19 viral fragments.

Also, Gov. Dunleavy’s approval rating is soaring, according to one recent poll.

But with over 50,000 email addresses in its email file, the Recall Dunleavy Committee continues to campaign against the governor, sending out emails on a regular basis, most recently to motivate its base to attend a virtual town hall meeting the governor was hosting.

Is the Recall Dunleavy Committee repurposing its email, cell phone-text lists, and donations? Did its leader Kendall raise the money for one mission, but does he use it for another?

There’s nothing stopping the paid staff of the Recall Dunleavy Committee — whatever size it is — from being assigned to get Democrat candidates elected in 2020. In real political action committees that were being monitored for legal and illegal activity, such coordination would be prohibited without disclosure.

There’s also nothing stopping Kendall from transferring those 50,000 email addresses over to his other political project, the ballot measure known as Ballot Measure 2, another project funded by dark money.

Ballot Measure 2 also required signatures, and its proponents, like Kendall and former Rep. Jason Green, must follow campaign finance laws. It takes sleuthing to discover the sources of the funds for the group that wants to remake Alaska’s currently well-understood election process.

That money — an estimated $3 million — comes mainly from Outside the state through groups like “Unite America” and “Represent Us.”

It’s not easy, but a dogged effort can uncover some of the bigger contributors to those funding funnels, such as:

Kathryn Murdoch is a billionaire New York climate change activist and trustee for the Environmental Defense Fund (a group supportive of the Green New Deal, whose president raked in $666,000 in compensation in 2018). She previously aligned with Communist China in its battle against Hong Kong.

Marc Merrill is a billionaire California video-game developer whose toxic workplace was ground zero for “me-too” accusations last year. He sold his company to a Chinese media conglomerate, although he continues to be the public face of Riot Games in the western world.

John Arnold is a billionaire former Enron executive who walked away with the largest employee bonus Enron ever awarded while regular employees were left with nothing as the company imploded.

What all this dark money activity has in common is Kendall, lining his pockets with donor dollars as he litigates and lobbies against the governor, which has become his cottage industry.

A clever lawyer knows just where the legal line is, and Kendall knows how to do this to a T, turning the recall effort into a political slush fund to be used for any purpose his group desires.

It’s been 19 months and no one has discovered the group’s true source of funds or how it’s using them. Likely no one ever will.

Kendall knows there’s nothing the Alaska Public Offices Commission can do about it, even if it was paying attention.

Wild, Wild West of recall campaign laws

Sullivan and Romney say they’ll consider a Trump nominee for high court

Suzanne Downing
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15
Sullivan and Romney say they’ll consider a Trump nominee for high court

Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska did not go the way of Sen. Lisa Murkowski and say he will refuse to vote on a Supreme Court nomination by President Donald Trump.

Instead, he said if the president nominates someone, as he said he will do this week, the Senate should consider that nomination. That’s the constitutional duty of the Senate, Sullivan said.

“The historical precedent and principle of an election year nomination to the Supreme Court, dating back to the founding of our republic, is that the Senate has generally confirmed a President’s nominee from its own party and not confirmed one from the opposing party. President Trump is well within his constitutional authority to nominate an individual for the Supreme Court vacancy, and the Senate will undertake its advice and consent responsibilities on confirmation, as authorized by the Constitution.

“I have a long record of voting to confirm judges to the federal judiciary who will interpret the law, not make new law, and who will respect the values of Alaskans, particularly as it relates to a robust respect for the Second Amendment, access to our lands, the rights of Alaska Natives, and a skeptical view of the power of federal agencies.

“I look forward to seeing who the President nominates and thoroughly assessing her or his qualifications for this important role, as Alaskans expect me to do.”

Earlier this summer, Murkowski said she would not vote on a nominee for the seat of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, should Ginsburg die before the election.

After Ginsburg’s death last Friday, Murkowski repeated her vow to not vote on a replacement offered by this president. She believes the next president should pick the replacement.

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah today also issued a statement that he will consider a nomination and vote based on the merits of the individual nominated.

“My decision regarding a Supreme Court nomination is not the result of a subjective test of ‘fairness’ which, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. It is based on the immutable fairness of following the law, which in this case is the Constitution and precedent. The historical precedent of election year nominations is that the Senate generally does not confirm an opposing party’s nominee but does confirm a nominee of its own,” he wrote.
    
“The Constitution gives the President the power to nominate and the Senate the authority to provide advice and consent on Supreme Court nominees. Accordingly, I intend to follow the Constitution and precedent in considering the President’s nominee. If the nominee reaches the Senate floor, I intend to vote based upon their qualifications,” Romney wrote.

Trump rally in Homer draws 200 people to Land’s End

Suzanne Downing
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22
Trump rally in Homer draws 200 people to Land’s End

A big turnout for President Donald Trump took place in Homer, Alaska, on Monday evening.

The local news media didn’t take notice that 200 people from around what’s known as the “Cosmic Hamlet” rallied for the reelection of the president.

At Lands End Resort on the end of the Homer Spit, the crowd spontaneously joined in as young Aspen Etzweiler and Hannah Gerasimof sang the National Anthem. Many in the audience were moved to tears.

Speakers during the two-hour event included remarks from Rep. Sarah Vance and Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce. Singers Kenny Lee of Nashville and Stephen Patrick of Alaska, author and singer of Vote America Great Again, entertained the crowd.

Country singer Kenny Lee entertained the crowd at Land’s End.

Vance reminded the audience that “Our children are watching us, as we weep over our nation. They need to see that there’s hope and that we are winning,” she said. Alaska has not yet stepped into her destiny and the best is yet to come, was her message.

Pierce told the crowd that if they want to see change, they need to get off the couch and get involved, run for school board, and engage with local political leaders. He gave a rip-roaring patriotic speech to a crowd that was greatly approving. Check out the clip from the Must Read Alaska YouTube channel, as Pierce talks about the American flag:

Environmental espionage: Tapes of Pebble chiefs speaking out of school, or a nothing-burger?

Suzanne Downing
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24
Environmental espionage: Tapes of Pebble chiefs speaking out of school, or a nothing-burger?

A transcript. An actor reading it to a recording. A strategic release of anti-Pebble messaging gold. And ultimately, a nothing-burger.

An environmental group claims it has tapes of Pebble Partnership executives speaking out of school on the Pebble Mine, perhaps overstating their political influence, and taking credit for political outcomes.

It’s the environmental industry’s version of Project Veritas, which the Left hates because it uses disguised identities and hidden cameras to uncover liberal bias and corruption in the media and with groups like Planned Parenthood.

Only this time time, it’s not the Right that has used the covert technique, but the environmentalists coming after companies, projects, and jobs.

Likely there is more to come. Groups like this will drip out a first tranche of data, wait for the target to respond, and then drip out another damaging section.

The trick Zoom calls were with fake investors who wanted to know whether the Pebble mine proposed for Western Alaska could ever be bigger than proposed. Yes, the executives said. They expect it to be bigger and operate for longer than the initial 20 years.

The Pebble Partnership, owned by Northern Dynasty, awaits a key permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which explains the timing of the secret recording, coming out when it can do the most damage.

In the call, the Northern Dynasty chief executive said the mine could possibly continue on for decades.

“Once you have something like this in production why would you want to stop?” said Ronald W. Thiessen, chief executive of Northern Dynasty.

He said that once local villages started receiving tax revenues, they would quickly support the mine. “It’s $10,000 per man, woman and child. They want that to go away? No.”

Nothing in that is inconsistent with what the company has said in the past.

Pebble is the most controversial mine in the world, fought by every environmental group in America, and is a lightning rod political topic. The mine executives made claims that they could sway the political scene in Alaska, and that Gov. Mike Dunleavy was a supporter of the mine.

Dunleavy, in fact, is supportive of mining and has come out in favor of a fair permitting process for Pebble.

But both Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan have said they oppose the mine in its current format.

The recordings were made in August and September by Environmental Investigation Agency, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. that specializes in covert operations to expose companies it seeks to destroy. In this series of videos and transcripts, provided to the New York Times and other news groups sympathetic to the group’s cause, most of what was revealed is in the category of a “meh” story. Even stock prices for Northern Dynasty didn’t respond today.

But in Alaska, everything about Pebble Mine is a political tinderbox and will likely be used in this election cycle by Democrats seeking to take out Republicans.

Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Partnership said of the recordings “there are some pretty questionable ethics at play” by EIA. But the companies also said that they’ve always maintained that once a mine was permitted, other phases of development could be pursued.

But Northern Dynasty likely won’t be the developer of the mine. The value they are bringing is the permit. The company, if it follows what others have done, is in the business of going through the grueling process of getting a permit, and then may sell the project, with permit, to a company that will take the project forward. In fact, mines are traded routinely.

It’s quite possible that an Alaska Native Corporation could decide to buy the project from Northern Dynasty.

Read the Special Report on Pebble at Must Read Alaska.

Special report: Pebble Mine, the people’s story spanning more than two decades

Mayor Berkowitz labels Save Anchorage an ‘astroturf’ group, not real grassroots

Suzanne Downing
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Mayor Berkowitz labels Save Anchorage an ‘astroturf’ group, not real grassroots

Alaska Public Media has sideswiped “Save Anchorage” by allowing the mayor of Anchorage to label the growing community action group “astroturf.”

“Mayor Berkowitz went a step further than Dunbar, arguing that Save Anchorage isn’t purely grassroots, but the product of conservative political orchestration and calculated misinformation campaigns,” the public station wrote.

“There are people who genuinely disagree with what I’m doing. But a lot of the anger that’s been whipped up here has been done through some very orchestrated means and it is not genuine, grassroots but more astroturf in its nature.” – Ethan Berkowitz, mayor of Anchorage

According to Wikipedia, “astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants. It is a practice intended to give the statements or organizations credibility by withholding information about the source’s financial connection. The term astroturfing is derived from AstroTurf, a brand of synthetic carpeting designed to resemble natural grass, as a play on the word “grassroots”. The implication behind the use of the term is that instead of a “true” or “natural” grassroots effort behind the activity in question, there is a “fake” or “artificial” appearance of support.”

Save Anchorage began with a small group of Facebook users and has grown to nearly 9,000 members. The group grew quickly and organically and is now run by a loose knit group of a half dozen people. It is nonpartisan and many of the players have never been involved in politics at any level, according to some of its members. They are just community-minded people who have had enough of the poorly run city of Anchorage.

Save Anchorage has held a few rallies in front of the Loussac Library, where the Anchorage Assembly meets. In the history of Anchorage, no one remembers seeing anything like the activism now occurring in Anchorage in opposition to its Assembly and mayor.

The group formed in reaction to a massive plan to place homeless and drug services adjacent to neighborhoods around Anchorage. That plan has passed the Assembly, but Save Anchorage and others are trying to get it on the April ballot to repeal the action.

The story in Alaska Public Media allowed Assembly members Forrest Dunbar and Mayor Berkowitz to label the group as conservative, when in fact many involved are just fed up with the policies of the Assembly and mayor. Separately, there are small groups working to recall various members of the Assembly. A homeowners group called Alaskans for Real Cures for Homelessness has now incorporated as a nonprofit.

Yet another group known as Open Alaska has several members who overlap with the Save Anchorage Facebook group.

Anchorage homeowners are denied their petition to reverse ‘homeless hotel’ plan

Bernadette Wilson, who has been outspoken on the mayor’s COVID mandates, said the story mischaracterized her involvement by saying she had spoken at several Save Anchorage events. In fact, she has never spoken at any of them.

Assembly member Dunbar also blamed Must Read Alaska for fomenting anger at the Assembly, and reiterated that the purchase of the Golden Lion Hotel is not for a homeless shelter, while blaming this publication for riling people up.

The Alaska Public Media reporter accurately reported this author saying that Dunbar was “splitting hairs” but did not quote the rest of that comment. The full comment was that the municipality can call it a “residential treatment center,” for addicts and alcoholics, but the impact on the local neighborhood is the same as a traditional homeless shelter, and will attract the same kinds of problems to the neighborhood.

Further, a building can be repurposed through time and become a homeless shelter, even if it starts out as a residential drug and alcohol treatment center, this author pointed out.

Valley teachers authorize strike

Suzanne Downing
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39
Valley teachers authorize strike

After more than 18 months of negotiations, the Matanuska-Susitna Education Association has voted to strike. Some 85 percent of the eligible members of the union authorized a strike, but the union must give the district 72 hours notice before calling for the strike.

Bargaining resumes today.

“As we head back to the bargaining table this morning our goal remains the same; to work collaboratively with the School Board to reach a tentative agreement that can be ratified by our members,” the MSEA noted in a press release. “If we cannot reach a compromise, our members have given us a mandate to exercise our legal authority to strike. We will exercise that right if need be.”

Mat-Su Education Assn. threatens to strike over superintendent’s letter to parents in district

Anchorage’s Leftist cabal

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Anchorage’s Leftist cabal

By CRAIG CAMPBELL

The current Anchorage Assembly majority is the perfect definition of an oligarchy in lock-step with Mayor Berkowitz.  

I like Webster’s definition of an oligarchy – “a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes.”  

Think I’m wrong?  The normal checks and balance between the legislative and executive branches in Anchorage has all but been erased by an elitist group of liberal warriors intent on imposing their radical construct of government on all of us so they can retain political power.  

They want to silence conservative views and replace civil discourse with autocratic authority that lacks diversity of thought.  Their actions are not about making Anchorage a more inclusive, diverse, safe, and prosperous society.  Not at all. 

The sad part is, unless some of the current liberals are recalled, which is highly doubtful, no assembly member is up for re-election until 2022.  They can do a lot of damage to our community over the next eighteen months. 

I am not trying to be an alarmist.  But I am sounding a warning that this assembly majority is hell bent on implementing their own monocratic agenda, which will result in the loss of representative government and an erosion of public input by an assembly that continually shows their disdain for the public that elected them to office.

Let me offer a few recent examples to confirm my allegation.  Assembly member Meg Zaletel, while serving the Presiding Officer at an Assembly meeting illegally closed to the public, selectively invites just one member of the public to testify on Mayor Berkowitz’s very controversial proposal to purchase four buildings to address homelessness in Anchorage.  Your thoughts really aren’t important.

This caused a recall effort against Assembly member Zaletel.  But as with any oligarchy, the inner circle must protect their power, so the Clerk rejects the recall based on advice from the Municipal Attorney.  Let me connect the dots.  

The Clerk, who works for the Assembly, and the Municipal Attorney, who works for Mayor Berkowitz, cannot afford to have the nine member majority assembly disrupted. Regardless that the recall statement was legally sufficient, the bureaucrats must protect their bosses; the law be damned.

Usurping public testimony 5 to 1 against purchasing the buildings, the assembly majority approves the purchases, just as their ideological leader, Mayor Berkowitz, demanded.  Then to replicate the Zaletel recall petition denial, the Clerk and Municipal Attorney denied a citizens petition request to repeal the ordinances to purchase buildings to house and treat the homeless.  You have to give the ruling class credit for consistency.

Concurrently, the Assembly-Mayor Cabal is intentionally attacking the private sector to ensure we remain dependent on their munificent generosity.  Look no further than their allocations under the CARES Act funding.  Anchorage received $156.7 Million in CARES funding.  

Of that, the Assembly only appropriated $33.0 Million for economic stimulus, while allocating $57.0 Million for homelessness, housing and family support.  Of the economic stimulus funds, only $6.0 Million will be spent on small business and non-profit support, two of the sectors most negatively impacted by this pandemic.  

That’s less than Kenai and Fairbanks provided to small business.  This assembly should be ashamed. Instead, to address one of our city’s more serious problems, they carved out $3.0 Million to build trails, money that could have been used to help restaurants survive, but why should they do that?  

Need I say more?  Man, I’m going to miss the Perfect Cup Café.

Need more?  OK, I will.  To show us their blatant contempt of the law, they reserved $49,000 for the Assembly to retain consultant services for which Chair Rivera secretly and unethically solicited hiring on the Young Democrats Facebook, in violation of the Anchorage Municipal Code.  This stuff has the makings of a Keystone Cops skit.

One last example of our elitist’s leaders arrogance.  Ignoring public testimony against (again by almost a 5 to 1 margin) an ordinance that prevents “licensed professionals – such as therapists or school counselors – from engaging in efforts to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” the oligarchy passed the ordinance.  

Those opposed cited concerns about the ban encroaching on freedoms of speech and religion and parental rights. Some called it overreach of the Assembly’s powers. 

Freedom of Speech?  Civil liberties?  Parental rights?  Doesn’t matter to this assembly majority, they really believe they are smarter than you and me.

On Oct. 16, the current Anchorage COVID Emergency Order expires. I will wager with anyone that the Assembly will extend it yet again. 

Why?  Because that is what we all expect Mayor Berkowitz to request, they have the power, and continuing to cripple the Anchorage economy may just be enough for voters to put more radicals in office at the Nov. 3 election.  Anybody want to challenge me on this one?

The Leftist Cabal is pushing to radically change our community into an ultra-liberal monocratic society based on their radical view of humanity.  Remember, Assembly member Forrest Dunbar tells us the U.S. Constitution is filled with racism, while Assembly member Chris Constant says that Anchorage is a systemically racist city.  

Dunbar is the same guy who is proud his sister and cousin are out in the Portland riots participating with the “Wall of Moms” to shield rioters against the police.  

This is the Cabal working to take control of our city.  Opposing viewpoints, shut up and color.  Trust them, for they will lead us to a better place.

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).

Trump digs at Murkowski: ‘No thanks!’

Suzanne Downing
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23
Trump digs at Murkowski: ‘No thanks!’

The Alaska State Chamber’s Fall Forum won’t include one big name. Donald Trump noticed that Sen. Lisa Murkowski was a keynote speaker and he tweeted out this morning, “No thanks!”

Murkowski will be on the virtual forum on Sept. 22 during a “Congressional Delegation Townhall Session” that the Alaska Chamber of Commerce is hosting.

On Saturday, Murkowski issued a statement saying she would not vote for a nominee from Trump for the Supreme Court until after the Nov. 3 election. Trump has said it’s his constitutional duty to act on the vacancy on the Supreme Court after the death of Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated the Senate should act on the nomination, even though the election is over in just over a month (people have already started voting in Minnesota).

The remark from Trump on Twitter will trigger some on the Left who support Murkowski, while Republicans on the right may give their nod of approval.

Murkowski’s ratings among Republicans is troubling for her if she plans to run again, but she has two years before she faces voters and some of her support base is counting on Ballot Measure 2, ranked choice voting, to pull her to victory.

‘Ranked choice voting’ will likely cost Sen. Susan Collins her seat; will it come to AK?

Those close to the Trump Administration says he loves Alaska and always reaches out to help Gov. Mike Dunleavy, but his relationship with Murkowski is strained, as she has worked against him on several key issues, including the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Although the liberal news outlet Politico today reported that Murkowski voted against the confirmation of Kavanaugh, in fact she voted “present.”

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