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July 25, 2016

WIKILEAKS: CAPTAIN COOK HOTEL OK, OTHERS NOT SO MUCH

An update on the WikiLeaks story as it pertains to the now-deposed Debbie Wasserman Schultz‘ trip to Alaska for the Democrats’ state convention in May.

Screen Shot 2016-07-24 at 7.03.37 PM — *Kay Brown*

Debbie Wasserman Schultz’ staff was warned about Politically Correct hotels in Anchorage, and those to avoid. The note came from Alaska Democratic Party Executive Director Kay Brown:

One of the nicest (union acceptable) hotels in Anchorage is the Hotel Captain Cook Fourth Avenue And K Street, Anchorage, AK 99501) · Recommend DO NOT use the Hilton or Sheraton as they are both involved in labor disputes.

Wasserman Shultz today resigned as head of the Democratic National Committee, after leaked emails showed that she and her staff rigged the nomination process for Hillary Clinton and against Bernie Sanders.

We followed several email threads in an earlier post today, a few that showed how the national officers pressured Brown to work her spy network harder in Alaska to uncover any plots that Bernie Sanders supports had to disrupt the Democratic Party’s state convention. Brown evidently had moles inside the Sanders operation who were feeding her information about a planned walk out.

ALASKA DEMS DUPED INTO HILLARY MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME

Earlier this summer, it was revealed that the Alaska Democratic Party collected tens of thousands of dollars from a political committee close to Hillary Clinton. In its latest FEC report, the party showed it raised $43,500 from the Hillary Victory Fund, including from several millionaires and billionaires not in Alaska.

The Alaska Democratic Party sent the money straight out — directly to the Democratic National Committee. In a legal money laundering scheme, the Bernie Democrats in Alaska unwittingly supported the corrupt Hillary machine.

At their March caucuses, Bernie Sanders won by an 82 percent landslide, but superdelegates like Kim Metcalfe of Juneau were able to rig the election at the local level, as the nomination was being rigged simultaneously at the Democratic National Committee level.

Metcalfe earned scorn from Democrats across the country for disregarding the will of Alaska Democrats.

SUPERDELEGATES AND OTHER CRONIES

A petition has been launched online to oust Metcalfe, poster child for the arrogant super delegate. Here’s what the petitioners say:

The state of Alaska voted 81.6% for Bernie Sanders for The President, which should mean that the Superdelegates would vote in the interest of their state. But for Kim Metcalfe it is about voting for her personal interests. She has openly said the she doesn’t care what the state of Alaska wants, she is voting for Hillary Clinton.
Why do we want someone representing the people if she openly doesn’t care about her state, we put her in power to vote for us not against us. I don’t know any other job where you can go against orders and keep the job, the amount of disrespect she has shown to the voters of Alaska is disgraceful, unethical and a huge slap in the face.
So in conclusion I believe we need to immediately remove Kim Metcalfe from her position as a Superdelegate for The State of Alaska. If you cant respect your states choice for The President Of The United States of America, then you don’t deserve to be representing that State.

The petition is here.

SHAMBLETASTIC CHAOS ERUPTS

Today, at pre-convention meetings of the Rules Committee of the Democratic National Committee, dozens of protestors pounded on the door and screamed at the committee as they attempted to deliver petitions with more than 600,000 signatures of people demanding the Party end the use of unelected officials to determine presidential nominees. The leaked DNC emails confirmed an excessive level of collusion by party officials to ensure that Bernie Sanders’ candidacy could not advance.

In Alaska, of the 523 delegates who attended the Democratic Convention, just 97 supported Clinton.

Wikileaks hacked DNC emails fret over Alaska rebels

Politics

Suzanne Downing

July 24, 2016

MINING WIKILEAKS FOR ALASKA GOLD

There is a lot of old fashioned river panning needed to find nuggets in the WikiLeaks dump of the Democratic National Committee’s emails.

Items relating to Alaska are gold: Begich’s link to Margaret Stock, Alaska Dispatch reporters getting critiqued, worries over Bernie rebels in Anchorage.

As DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz prepared to be the keynote speaker at the Alaska Democratic Party’s Convention in May, there was the usual back-and-forth email exchange, including a gazillion copies of her draft speech among the WikiLeaks documents.

But there was also plenty of handwringing over rumors of a planned walk-out of the state convention when DWS, as she’s referred to in the emails, rose to speak.

Kay Brown, executive director of the Alaska Democrats, was being pressed by comrades at the national level to have her spies get more intelligence about the protest event that was being staged at the nearby Egan Center in Anchorage by Sanders supporters, an event that would start with the walkout at the Dena’ina Center, where the Alaska Democrats were gathering.

Excerpts:

From: Khan, Ali Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 1:39 PM
To: Bonosky, Garret Cc: Alvillar, Raul
Subject: Alaska “Counter” Event

Hey man, I know Kay Brown has already told me she’s been in touch with you guys regarding the “evolving” situation on the ground in Alaska, but, nonetheless, I wanted to flag this newest development for you. Just in case! I’ve also mentioned it in the political briefing, FYI.

Thanks and enjoy Alaska, Ali
Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/617275561771687/?active_tab=posts

Miranda, Luis <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:

There’s no way Kay doesn’t have someone who can get her intel. We need to push them.

From: HoughtonK@dnc.org
To: [email protected]
Date: 2016-05-12 14:42
Subject: Re: Alaska “Counter” Event

We can’t go to DWS [Debbie Wasserman Schultz] with just Facebook intel. Kay told me she has friends inside the Bernie organization there who may be able to provide some more information.

WIKILEAKS II, DISS-PATCH EDITION:

Then there’s a diss from the Alaska Democratic Party communications director on Alaska Dispatch reporter Alex DeMarban:

To: Miranda, Luis
Subject: Alaska Dispatch News Inquiry

Alex DeMarban from the Alaska Dispatch News is wondering if the chairwoman or yourself would like to respond to criticism he has been hearing a lot at the convention that the chairwoman stacked the deck against Bernie and for Hillary Clinton. I don’t think he’s particularly friendly, as he wrote this article: http://www.adn.com/article/20160513/riled-sanders-fans-rise-state-democratic-convention-begins I have no history with this reporter and he seems to have a difficult time comprehending and recording information.

All the best,
Jake Hamburg Communications Director, Alaska Democratic Party

WIKILEAKS III, MARGARET STOCK EDITION:

DWS MOVEMENTS
5/14/16 – Anchorage Alaska Done with meeting; wandering. Checking out market then going to meet with Schawna [Thoma] and [Margaret] stock at 5:45pn; speech prep 5-530 with Luis

Readers will recall that Schawna Thoma is with Mark Begich’s Northern Compass Group, and that Margaret Stock is charading as an independent as she runs for US Senate for Alaska.

WIKILEAKS IV, ANGRY BERNIE EDITION:

From: Kate Houghton Sent: Friday, May 13, 2016 12:16 PM
To: Debbie Wasserman Schultz Cc: Tracie Pough; Miranda, Luis; Banfill, Ryan; Bonosky, Garret; Alvillar, Raul; Moore, Colby; Khan, Ali; Maureen Garde
Subject: Alaska Update
Importance: High

DWS – I spoke with Kay who is the Executive Director at the Alaska Democratic Party. She cannot tell us what level of “enthusiasm” folks have on the ground but she has taken meetings with a few people who are of the “Trump-style” enthusiasm (aggressive and angry). There will be 550 people seated at the dinner. Of those about 50 are expected to walk out. However, they do want to stay for dinner so we are switching your slot in the speaking program from the end to during the dinner. This adjustment will not be made public. There are no mags at the event and I have told them not to purchase any. The event is barely breaking even and it will also be difficult to find them at the last minute. The Mayor’s Office will be assigning an Officer to be with you. As you know this is pretty standard practice and I will make sure to speak with the Officer in advance about how you like to be staffed at events. The state party is aware that Shelby will be in the audience and that you will not be addressing any of the questions from the letter. The Chair of the party in her opening remarks will make sure to tell everyone that this is a civil event and that they are looking forward to hearing about the national Democratic work happening to support whoever will be the nominee. Signs have also been banned from the event. Please let me know if you want additional follow up. Thank you, Kate

On May 13, 2016, at 12:37 PM, Miranda, Luis <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:

I spoke to Scott Arceneaux. He’ll lean on Kay for the state party to be more assertive in taking ownership over the fact that they’re happy to have the DNC there. Ryan is putting together points on her record as a progressive and what the DNC has been doing to strengthen state parties and build national infrastructure that he’ll get to Scott, and Scott to Kay, for them to talk positively about why she’s coming in advance. Also mentioned to him that Begich should introduce the Chair.

So much gold, so little time for panning.

Governor defensive about hiring Craig Richards

Politics

Suzanne Downing

July 23, 2016

PRESS RELEASE ANTICIPATES CRITICISM

*Governor Bill Walker announces the hiring of a new oil and gas cabinet position. He recently also rehired his former law partner and former attorney general, on contract.*

In the strangest press release yet from the Walker Administration, Gov. Bill Walker goes to unusual lengths to argue that all is right and proper with the recent pop-up contract he told the Department of Law to sign with his former attorney general.

Strange, in that exactly one month ago, Assistant Attorney General Jim Cantor reported to Attorney General Craig Richards.

Now, Cantor is the interim AG, and Richards, who walked out on the job with just a few hours’ notice, reports to Cantor, or so the contract says.

Strange, in that the contract allows a significant amount of wiggle room for Richards to work on just about any duty he is assigned, for any amount of time, in a thoroughly adjustable arrangement:

richards contract

Governors don’t typically issue press releases when their Departments of Law sign contracts with attorneys. But this governor did because this is clearly different in scope and in appearance:

walker releases contract

SHADOW GOVERNMENT

Craig Richards, as a contractor for the state, has far more power and access than interim Attorney General Cantor. And pity the incoming attorney general, who by all reports is smart, capable, and honorable.

Jahna Lindemuth will discover that Richards has far more influence with the governor than she will have. From lawyers to clerks, the workforce of the Department of Law knows who is has the direct line to the governor: Richards.

Richards has privilege, access, and a longstanding business relationship with Walker. The two will continue to run the state uninterrupted, in the father-son, Batman-Robin relationship they’ve tilled over the years as partners.

But one of this duo, while representing the governor, is no longer a sworn officer of the state. He’s a free man, not bound by the same rules as Walker. Not bound by much at all.

The unique arrangement between Walker and Richards leaves the public even further shut out of their government, as work provided by a contractor like Richards is even tougher to access through public records requests.

Defying the promise of transparency that ushered him into office, Walker is building a parallel governing group, with consultants like Richards helping him run the show, and transparency officers like Grace Jang, Walker’s communications director, sinking deeper into the patterns of explaining away and covering up.

Bright, shiny objects

People

Suzanne Downing

July 22, 2016

INDIAN COUNTRY STARTS TODAY

Without an appeal by Gov. Bill Walker, which seems unlikely, a July 1 ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit means Alaska tribes can ask to have their lands put into federal trust, or reservations. They can now have both the money and land granted through ANCSA, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and the federal status that will allow them to regulate alcohol, sell cigarettes, open casinos, avoid state taxes and more. Since we’re renegotiating everything under the Walker Administration, let’s keep Vladimir Putin as far away as possible.

ALASKA JACKETS ROCK CONVENTION

*RNC Party Chairman Tuckerman Babcock rocks the summer kuspuk on the floor of the Republican National Convention.*

The Alaska summer kuspuks were a hit at the Republican National Convention this week, and got their prime time moment when Alaska delegates protested how their votes were counted.

Alaska Republican rules state that a candidate retains his/her presidential preference votes (cast March 1) until they drop out. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz merely suspended. The Alaska delegation made its displeasure known over the national RNC overriding the state party’s rules. It was fun. It was exhausting. It was thoroughly Alaskan in a “we don’t care how they do it in the Lower 48” sort of way.

TRUMP TRIUMPH

Donald Trump did what he needed to do with his acceptance speech. He was himself, and unapologetically so. He restated many of the themes that brought him to the nomination for president — safety, immigration, economy, trade. And he even managed to extend an olive branch to the alternate gender community known as LGBTQ, without contradicting the Republican Party platform that supports traditional marriage. Observation: He emerged from the convention as a credible candidate to take down Hillary Clinton.

SOUTHEAST FAIR

The 48th annual Southeast Alaska State Fair is July 28-31, and don’t we love the names of all the headliners, including: John Brown’s Body; Martin Sexton; Bad Tenants; Satsang; Wet City Rockers; Denali Cooks; Christy Hays Band; Onward etc; god Particles; Sitka Cirque; Haines Girl’s Rock Camp; Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Dancers; Men of Note; The Honey Badgers; Gnat King Kong; Dei Shu Dancers; The Lacks; Fishpickers; Shiver Twins.

Makes us want to start a band just so we can name it.

POKEMON GOES TO THE DOGS

Hoards of tourists are roaming Alaska looking for the wild … Pokemon, which is a game so popular it has prompted the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services to issue a warning to” watch your step” and don’t get hit while playing the game. Go, nanny state, go! The Juneau Gastineau Humane Society was tone-perfect when it encouraged people to volunteer to walk the shelter dogs while searching for the thingies-that-don’t-exist-in-real-life. So far, there have been no takers, but the shelter received some national coverage for the offer. For the record, the Islamic State has issued a Fatwah on Pokemon. So the hunt is on.

*Rep. Don Young meeting with veterans in Sitka this week.*

YOUNG IN ALASKA

Congressman Don Young has been on a swing through Southeast Alaska, meeting with fishing groups, sportsmen, and veterans. In Ketchikan he spoke at the Chamber of Commerce, and said he decided to not attend the Republican National Convention because, “Really, they’re just a big party. And I don’t have the desire to party that hard anymore.” In response to a question about his challenger, Steve Lindbeck, he joked, “I…sort of halfway jest…He’s 63 and I’m 83. When he gets to be my age, he’ll be dead.” Always Young.

Governor turns down olive branch on gasline

Politics

Suzanne Downing

July 21, 2016

VETOES MEASURE THAT WOULD HAVE ALLOWED LEGISLATURE MORE INSIGHT

It was just last week when the new head of the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation said that the gasline project itself wasn’t the problem.

The problem, AGDC President Keith Meyer said, was the relationship between AGDC and the Alaska Legislature, aka The People of Alaska.

He said, quite bluntly, that the relationship was bad and needed to improve.

“AGDC has an observable poor relationship with key legislators and legislative committees. I’ve seen it in the press and I’ve felt it in the (legislative) hearings. This has to change,” Meyer said during a presentation to the AGDC board. “Anytime you have an absence of information that is probably filled with the worst possible scenario and I think that’s what’s happening here. There’s not enough information out there. People want to fill in the gaps with a fear scenario.”

But today that relationship did not get any better.

Governor Bill Walker vetoed Senate Bill 125, which would have added three nonvoting members from the Legislature to the AGDC Board of Directors.

“The governor’s veto sends the wrong message to the industry, the Legislature, and the public,” said Sen. Mia Costello, who sponsored the legislation. “The governor needs to share his vision for the gasline with Alaskans and not cut legislators out of closed-door meetings.”

“AGDC President Keith Meyer has stated publicly that the relationship with the Legislature needs to improve and that there needs to be greater transparency when it comes to building the AK LNG Project,” said Senate President Kevin Meyer in a statement. “Having legislators serve on the AGDC board provides greater transparency, greater insight into the direction of this $65 billion project, and greater accountability as to how money is being spent.

Sen. Meyer went on to say that the largest infrastructure project in North American history is being managed by an agency that needs to make legislators, the actual funding appropriators, comfortable.

Walker justified his veto by stating that legislators can’t hold dual offices. But they do in dozens of state commissions, boards and state corporations, including the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, and the board of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

“The governor had the opportunity to back up his word, and he chose not to,” Costello said. “AGDC said its number one concern is communication with the Legislature. The public deserves to know what the governor’s vision for the pipeline is. This is one more example of how he has chosen not to do that.”

The LNG market has become weak for the Alaska LNG project because of oversupply and the high cost of doing business in Alaska. While the supply of gas is plentiful, the 800-mile-long gasline makes Alaska’s commodity relatively expensive. Many Alaskans are asking if the project pencils out at any time in the next 20 years.

In his veto letter, Walker stated that “building the gasline will take a team effort, and AGDC must earn the confidence and trust of the Legislature and the public to ultimately make the gasline a reality.”

TRANSPARENCY APPEARS TOUGH FOR AGDC

Earlier this month, Keith Meyer received a request by Senate President Kevin Meyer and Senator Cathy Giessel to provide the concept document for the radical shift of direction that the gasline project has taken under the direction of the governor. Meyer responded with a letter balking at releasing information, a letter that shows how troubling it is for his agency to comply with requests from legislative leaders:

Screen Shot 2016-07-21 at 3.37.22 PM

Screen Shot 2016-07-21 at 3.37.35 PM

Screen Shot 2016-07-21 at 3.39.03 PM

Screen Shot 2016-07-21 at 3.39.16 PM

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Rogoff response: I owe him nothing

Suzanne Downing

July 21, 2016

Screen shot from USA Today, photo labled handout. — *Screen shot from USA Today, photo labeled ‘handout.’*

ROGOFF SAYS THE NAPKIN CONTRACT IS REAL, BUT UNENFORCEABLE

Alaska Dispatch News publisher Alice Rogoff’s response to the complaint by her business partner can be summed up: “Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.”

For every event she admits happened, there are a dozen alleged occurrences she rebutts.

The lawsuit in question was filed June 15, 2016 by the founder of the online upstart news entity, the Alaska Dispatch. That would be one Tony Hopfinger, who, along with his ex-wife Amanda Coyne, threw in his lot with billionaire adventuress Alice Rogoff, and who now feels quite badly used.

Hopfinger is our Exhibit A for someone who was outmatched by an Outsider who came to Alaska to conquer.

It’s happened before. If true that she didn’t pay for her share of the publishing business, then Rogoff is just the latest version of a monied opportunist who found a chump in Alaska to strip clean.

Rogoff bought a 90 percent share of the online-only Dispatch, poured a lot of resources and influence into it, and then proceeded to purchase the Anchorage Daily News. She subsequently merged the operations over the course of several months.

She was busy, perhaps too busy to take care of the details. Too busy to finish up conversations with her business partner, Hopfinger, who evidently did not realize he was getting stiffed on his contract and being driven out. It’s difficult to see things clearly in the fog of war.

President of the Republic of Iceland His Excellency Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean, and Publisher of the Alaskan Dispatch Alice Rogoff, at the opening session of the Arctic Circle Singapore Forum on 12 November 2015. — President of the Republic of Iceland His Excellency Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean, and Publisher of the Alaska Dispatch Alice Rogoff, at the opening session of the Arctic Circle Singapore Forum on November 12, 2015.

Theirs was an asymmetrical power arrangement from the beginning. Hopfinger and Coyne had the talent and subject expertise, and Rogoff had all the power and the money.

Hopfinger and Coyne were splitting up, both were exhausted from launching the Dispatch, and neither had the particular business experience to be swimming in this particular shark tank.

Hopfinger would not be interviewed for this story. But a grief counselor might say that during the 2012-2014 timeframe the Hopfinger and Coyne stress level was, on a scale of 1-10, at a 9.

There was a lot of dying going on, including the death of a marriage, the death of Hopfinger’s mother, and the death of the upstart enterprise that got swallowed by hungry Rogoff.

A careful reader of the Rogoff legal response, dated July 13, might get the sense that Hopfinger kept trying to get the media mogul to sit down with him and finalize everything, but she had no intention of doing so.

She had time to organize Arctic conferences around the globe. She just had no time for pipsqueak editors.

Rogoff met with the president of Iceland on Nov. 12, 2015, but she didn’t show up at a meeting with Hopfinger that she had committed to on Nov. 20.

Earlier that fall, Rogoff attended a glitzy state dinner at the White House with her husband, David Rubenstein, managing director and co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, to honor China’s President Xi and Madame Peng Liyuan. She just could not be bothered with Hopfinger.

She had President Obama over to her house for dinner during August. There were so many galas to attend, including the 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors Gala in early December.

By that time, it appears she was managing Hopfinger out of the business. He was a nuisance to her and she had no time for him.

In an earlier interview with Charles Wohlforth, who is now a columnist for the Alaska Dispatch, Rogoff describes her relationship with Hopfinger and Coyne as a marriage, one that had commitments.

“That’s a big part of the commitment that Tony and Amanda and I made to one another when we got married, so to speak,” she says in this YouTube video.

As with so many divorces, this one will come down to what he says, and she says. And lawyers — let’s not forget the lawyers.

WHAT NAPKIN? OH, THAT NAPKIN

The Rogoff response is rife with nuanced interpretation. She admits “the parties worked on a draft agreement. Defendants specifically deny that any enforceable oral agreement was ever reached.”

Her defense against Hopfinger’s accusation centers around the bar napkin contract, which she admits she signed in 2014, but which she now says is unenforceable.

Rogoff aso admits that Hopfinger and Coyne founded the Dispatch. They worked with Alice and sold her a 90 percent share. At some point Coyne and Hopfinger’s decaying marriage became so strained that Coyne left, and accepted a $5,000 buyout from Rogoff.

This left Hopfinger with 5 percent of an enterprise that he could not have grown without Rogoff, but the billionaire also could not have grown without him, the founder and journalistic force behind it. She had no credibility without him, until she purchsed the Anchorage Daily News and no longer needed Hopfinger.

According to Rogoff’s response, she created AK Publishing as a financial tool to purchase the Anchorage Daily News, and it appears she rolled the Alaska Dispatch into that entity, in an arrangement that might have been poorly understood or not even known by Hopfinger, who was busy having his marriage fall apart and trying to keep up with the business deals Rogoff was putting together on the side.

But she has a real legal challenge saying the napkin is not a contract. And yet, she soldiers on:

Straight out of the movies, Exhibit A is a contract on a bar napkin, signed by Alice Rogoff. — *Straight out of the movies, the other Exhibit A is a contract on a bar napkin, signed by Alice Rogoff.*

“Defendants also specifically deny that the napkin contains the requisite formality or content to be enforceable. Defendants further specifically deny that this napkin was related exclusively to the purchase of Hopfinger’s 5 percent interest in ADP (Alaska Dispatch Publishing)….Defendants admit that Rogoff handed the above-referenced napkin to Hopfinger…”

Essentially this is: “We had a contract, yeah, but you can’t make me honor it.”

Item 35 of the defense has a time-warping mistake that has Hopfinger confronting Rogoff in the parking lot of the Alaska Railroad this coming December:

“December 2, 2016….[He] stated that he was quitting. Defendants also admit that Hopfinger concluded the conversation by saying ‘fuck you; I’ll see you in court.’ Defendants also specifically deny that Hopfinger continued to perform his duties for ADN after this confrontation.”

The remainder of the Rogoff defense can be summed up this way: “Defendants deny the remaining allegations…”

Rogoff’s defense rests upon this claim: “With regard to the breach of contract claim against Rogoff, there was never any agreement, written or oral, that bound Rogoff personally.”

And that’s the sum of it: An exceedingly wealthy adventuress with lawyers on retainer seized control of a news operation, drove out the owner, and then refused to pay him for his share by saying, in essence, “You can’t make me.”

She may be right about that part.

Hollis French to regulate oil and gas

Politics

Suzanne Downing

July 20, 2016

FRENCH COMES OUT OF PURGATORY

Former Senator Hollis French has had a couple of years to cool his heels, take trips in his Vanagon, hike the mountains, and throw his name in the hat for a judgeship.

After throwing out his political ambitions for the sake of his fellow Democrats, the reliable leftist standard-bearer disappeared from the public scene. He did not show up for the inaugural ball for Gov. Bill Walker. No, French needed time away.

French, who was forced to drop out of his 2014 race for lieutenant governor by the Alaska Democratic Party when the party decided to back the Republican-turned-independent Walker, was named by Walker today to the three-member Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees oil and gas development and production in Alaska, specifically on state land.

Today was French’s pay-day. He fills a vacancy that had been open so long it had begun to raise questions. David Mayberry occupied that seat, reserved for a citizen. Others who have recently held the seat in recent years include:

Tuckerman Babcock 1993 – 1996
Mary Marshburn 1997 – 1997
Camille Oechsli Taylor 1997 – 2003
Sarah Palin 2003 – 2004
John K. Norman 2004 – 2014
David J. Mayberry 2014 – 2015
Mike Gallagher 2015 – 2015 – unconfirmed Walker choice, a union choice.

From Anchorage, French is an attorney and a former state senator, who also worked on Cook Inlet oil rigs and on the North Slope in his younger years.

Reactions from industry leaders were mixed. They ranged from “you could do worse,” to “there goes our state’s bond rating.”

AN ALLY OF ALL-THINGS ANTI-BUSINESS

French had shown interest in the seat several months ago and asked friends to write letters of recommendation for him. He was recommended by Malcolm Roberts, a Walker ally and old aide to Gov. Wally Hickel. Also sending letters were nonagenarian Vic Fischer and his wife Jane Angvik, avid Walker supporters.

Fischer, readers will recall, called for the impeachment of former Gov. Sean Parnell after Senate Bill 21 passed the Legislature. That bill passed to the chagrin of French, and was signed into law by Parnell.

Fischer was a leader in the drive to restore ACES, the former oil and gas tax structure. Not surprisingly, French was also big supporter of ACES when he was in the Legislature.

In fact, when French was in the Senate, he was a leader in the notorious Senate Bipartisan Working Group, along with Sen. Bill Wielechowski of Anchorage. That’s the group that was most responsible for running up the state spending.

Although he starts on Monday, his appointment to AOGCC is subject to legislative confirmation. As for money, French will earn about $140,000 a year, plus the state benefit package.

In his new role on the commission, French will play a part in the Walker’s $65 billion gasline project. Along with Andy Mack, the new Department of Natural Resources Commissioner, and other “team players,” French becomes part of the growing Walker team of Democrats, which he may hope will innoculate him during the next election.

Another position on AOGCC may open up in September. It is currently filled by geologist Dan Seamont, but prognosticators are betting he is heading for retirement.

At that point, two Walkerites will have the ability to roll the board chair, Cathy Foerster, who has been on the commission for over 10 years.

Political consultant Hackney beat up

People

Suzanne Downing

July 20, 2016

LATE WORK DAY TURNED VIOLENT

Political consultant Art Hackney is reporting he was brutally attacked on Monday night in front of his Spenard-area office by three young men.

Between 7:30 pm and 8 pm, he was ambushed as he returned from walking his dog. He was hit in the face, took a baseball bat to the ribs, and was able to fend off a baseball bat blow to his head. He sustained a cracked cheekbone, sore ribs and bloody knees.

“One punched me straight between the eyes, the other hit me simulatanously with the bat, I went down on my knees and looked up, and saw and saw the bat coming at me, and put my hand up,” he reported to Must Read Alaska. “One of them shouted ‘F.U. Hackney.’ ”

“The ironic thing was I was just trying to hang onto my dog, so he wouldn’t run away and get hit by a car. He was barking like crazy,” Hackney said.

He has not reported the incident to the police. “The lecture I’m getting is if you don’t report it to the police, it could get more violent,” he said. “I’m going to watch my back, there’s no question about it.”

From the standpoint of helping his clients win their races, there’s no benefit to making it a police case, he said. It’s a distraction from the work he is doing on several campaigns.

Hackney is consulting for Alaska House candidates Ross Bieling, Chris Birch, and Mike Gordon, as well as other races, such as Congressman Don Young’s campaign.

Hackney said the incident happened so fast that the only image that sticks with him is of a young, disheveled white man. The men ran off quickly.

Hackney is the chairman of the American Association of Political Consultants and has been in the business for over 30 years.

Craig Richards, shadow government-by-contract

Politics

Suzanne Downing

July 20, 2016

Craig Richards; screen shot from 360 North

Transparency in government is not turning out to be a Gov. Bill Walker “best practice.”

The latest intrigue involving former Attorney General Craig Richards is an example.

At least two Alaskans have been requesting copies of the contract that Richards quickly cobbled together with his old business partner, the governor, after Richards abruptly cleaned out his desk and hit the road on June 23, with about 8 hours notice.

One of those persons following the breadcrumbs on that contract, we are told, is Alaska Dispatch News Reporter Nathaniel Herz. The other is transparency advocate Andree McLeod.

Neither of them has made much progress getting their hands on the Richards’ contract with either the Governor’s Office or the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, where the rumors of the contracts are pointing.

Maybe that’s because there’s a third option. But that will take some digging because the Governor’s Office is making it more difficult than it needs to be.

Evidently, the “final contract” in question is over at the Department of Law. At least that’s the story McLeod has been given by Governor’s Office functionaries in a series of documents she shared with Must Read.

“What the hell?” McLeod said in a phone interview today. “If Jim Whittaker had a copy, he should send it to me. You’d think they could just forward it to me instead of having me go through all these hoops.”

Since early July, Richards has been representing the governor in different capacities with the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation. Because of his ambiguous status, questions have been raised about who he is representing.

WATCHING PENNIES

Governor Walker famously said his administration was watching pennies during a time of austerity. But after he brought on a new Attorney General, keeping the old one around raises questions about whether or not the new AG has what it takes to manage the complex deals that Gov. Walker is putting together with his plans for a state-owned gasline.

Richards, although recycled, is the second big-name person Walker has brought into the administration in the last few days. The other was John Hendrix, formerly a general manager with Apache Corp., who will serve in the Walker cabinet as his senior adviser on oil and gas.

That occurred just days after Walker appointed Andy Mack his new commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources. While the Mack hiring raised eyebrows because of his inexperience with Alaska’s major revenue-generating industry, the hiring of Hendrix at more than $185,000 brought up even more questions, as he is filling the role of a brand new cabinet position, one that is normally filled by the DNR commissioner.

Last week, Walker repeated a story to the media about state employees he met in the elevator in the Atwood Building who were cleaning out their desks, and yet were profusely thanking him for doing the right thing by seizing more than half of Alaskans’ Permanent Fund dividends.

Those same state workers might be surprised to find out just where their paychecks are going, which might be to beef up the governor’s cabinet.

Blogger reposts his account of Rogoff crash landing

People

Suzanne Downing

July 19, 2016

Alice Rogoff swims away from her plane. — *Alice Rogoff swims away from her Cessna 206 on July 3, 2016. Photographer unknown.*

MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARING DOCUMENTATION RE-EMERGES ONLINE

When Alaska Dispatch News publisher Alice Rogoff crash landed her plane into Halibut Cove on July 3, an eye-witness travel blogger, Scott Frederickson, captured the whole scene with photos and a written account. He posted it, but the item disappeared mysteriously soon thereafter.

Fortunately, Frederickon has reposted his account at his travel blog, where he added this paragraph:

Several days later, in the local paper, no article appeared telling the truth of what happened. I then published my post and it was picked by local media and television stations. Since then, I have had conversations with the FAA, NTSB, and the pilots attorney. Oh, just write a simple travel blog for my friends can get you in a shit load of trouble. Remember, the rules are not made for the rich, they’re made specifically for the little people – to keep us in line. Keep your eyes on the rich and make them follow the same rules ALL people have to follow in order to preserve a great and honest society.

BLOGGER HOLDING HIS CARDS CLOSE

Must Read Alaska contacted Frederickson, who said that his blog has everything in it that he wants to say about the incident and that he does not wish to be quoted anywhere. But a careful reader might infer that the travel blogger felt pressure from Rogoff’s attorney, which led to the three-week disappearance of his written account while he sorted out the threat. Journalist Craig Medred was the first to raise the issue of the blog posting being removed.

As the Rogoff accident shows, the world is a much more documented place than it was a generation ago. Citizen bloggers, citizen journalists, and social media hobbyists have tools on them at all times to record events as they happen, whether they’re in Ferguson, Missouri or Halibut Cove, Alaska.

Thus, the line between journalist and citizen documentarian has been blurred, and citizens like Frederickson can find themselves in uncomfortable positions once the lawyers start calling.

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WIKILEAKS: CAPTAIN COOK HOTEL OK, OTHERS NOT SO MUCH

ALASKA DEMS DUPED INTO HILLARY MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME

SUPERDELEGATES AND OTHER CRONIES

SHAMBLETASTIC CHAOS ERUPTS

MINING WIKILEAKS FOR ALASKA GOLD

WIKILEAKS II, DISS-PATCH EDITION:

WIKILEAKS III, MARGARET STOCK EDITION:

WIKILEAKS IV, ANGRY BERNIE EDITION:

PRESS RELEASE ANTICIPATES CRITICISM

SHADOW GOVERNMENT

INDIAN COUNTRY STARTS TODAY

ALASKA JACKETS ROCK CONVENTION

TRUMP TRIUMPH

SOUTHEAST FAIR

POKEMON GOES TO THE DOGS

YOUNG IN ALASKA

VETOES MEASURE THAT WOULD HAVE ALLOWED LEGISLATURE MORE INSIGHT

TRANSPARENCY APPEARS TOUGH FOR AGDC

ROGOFF SAYS THE NAPKIN CONTRACT IS REAL, BUT UNENFORCEABLE

WHAT NAPKIN? OH, THAT NAPKIN

FRENCH COMES OUT OF PURGATORY

AN ALLY OF ALL-THINGS ANTI-BUSINESS

LATE WORK DAY TURNED VIOLENT

WATCHING PENNIES

MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARING DOCUMENTATION RE-EMERGES ONLINE

BLOGGER HOLDING HIS CARDS CLOSE

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