Democratic candidate Sue Levi, running for House District 24, is campaigning on a platform that says Alaska’s oil industry “has to pay its share.”
If it sounds familiar, it is. Her words parrot the Our Fair Share campaign, which is trying to jack up taxes on oil through a voter initiative, Ballot Measure One.
“To survive the current fiscal crisis everyone is going to have to sacrifice and work together for a stable economic future, Levi writes.
Levi has run for the seat before and was endorsed by the leftwing Alaska Center (for the Environment), which touted her commitment to “advocating for policies that would provide solutions to problems created by climate change.”
Problems facing Alaska this year are not so much related to climate change, which was the Left’s calling card in 2018, but to the fiscal viability of a state that has built its economy on energy development. This may mean Levi is out of touch with her district, where many voters are part of the oil industry in Alaska, and where Ballot Measure One is likely to lose by a landslide.
In contrast, Tom McKay, the Republican in District 24, will host a fundraiser on Thursday sponsored by some of the biggest name in the Alaska business community: Jim Jansen, Joe Marushack, Mayor Dan Sullivan, Rebecca Logan, and a couple dozen more. A retired petroleum engineer, McKay stands in sharp contrast to Levi, who is pushing the “tax them until they hurt” agenda.
JUNEAU, ALASKA – Al Gross, an orthopedic surgeon from the rainy capital city, has been running for U.S. Senate since last year, self-funding his race with over $1 million early in the election cycle.
He had the money, having worked in Alaska as a surgeon for years. Juneau is a town where surgeons can charge what they want, and the State of Alaska health insurance plan pays. It’s a lucrative living. Gross’ fortune and penchant for tall tales have launched him further politically than his small-town roots might have predicted.
This year liberal operatives around the country have decided his race against Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, the Republican, is competitive.
It doesn’t look competitive on paper: During the Alaska primary, Sullivan won 65,257 votes to Gross’ 50,047 votes, in an election that saw a 19.5 percent voter turnout.
Sullivan is well-liked by the conservative voters and the business community, and he’s also a U.S. Marine, earning the respect of military families, all of whom tend to turn out higher during general elections in presidential election years. They’ll come out in November, and they’ll vote for the Marine who served in Afghanistan, rather than the liberal doctor who went to the private Phillips Academy Andover, and Amherst College, and who LARPs at being an independent.
The calculation for Gross also does not look good when compared to 2014, when Democrat Sen. Mark Begich got over 58,000 votes in the primary. Gross is nearly 14 percent below that number in his primary this year, and he faced no real competition.
Why have East Coast groups like the Lincoln Project targeted this supposedly safe Alaska Republican seat?
Call it the “Palin effect.” Al Gross is the Democrats’ Sarah Palin, an empty vessel into which all kinds of fantastical, romantic notions of Alaska are poured and fed to the head-nodding mainstream media and willing donors.
Those liberal donors have been enchanted by Gross’ “killed a grizzly” story; and his marketing team has used his fishing boat as a prop to great success.
Gross is just the kind of Alaskan who Americans love. The story of being a doctor-fisherman appeals to city folks with fat wallets and a longing for the larger-than-life experience of Alaskans. He is the mythical creature conjured up by consultants who know what buttons to push on the donors.
Palin, of course, was marketed to American conservatives in much the same way: The beautiful, Alaska-born, moose-hunting mama with a quick wit and a gift for public speaking. She spoke to people’s values and she minced no words. The pencil skirts and stilettos were a plus. Millions of Americans voted for Sarah Palin.
“If Sarah Palin could do this to a moose, think of what she can do to a donkey,” the t-shirt read in 2008. It was irresistible.
But this year, even Newsweek found the campaign ads for Gross a bit incredulous, labeling them a “mix between a reality T.V. commercial and Dos Equis’ ‘Most Interesting Man in the World.'”
Gross says he was born in the “wake of an avalanche” and killed a grizzly in self-defense, prospected for gold, and then he promised donors they might win the prize of joining him for an Alaskan adventure, if they were the lucky number.
Gross had a choice. He chose not to run as a Democrat, because that’s increasingly a bad label in Alaska, where Democrats and now the false-flag independents are held in lower regard. The Democrats have endorsed him, however, and that means the state party and the Democrat National Campaign Committee are on board and won’t support any other Democrat on the ticket.
“Alaska allows Independents in the Democratic Primary, and I suppose because people believe I’m a strong candidate, Alaska Democrats have chosen not to field a candidate against me, to endorse me and when I win I will caucus with the Democrats because Democrats seem the most interested in promoting policies geared toward economic development in Alaska,” he told a reporter.
Recently, Gross appealed to the DC-based grassroots fundraising group called 31st Street Swing Left.
It is one of countless grass-roots fundraising groups pouring cash and energy into potential swing races across the country this election cycle, Meagan Flynn wrote in The Washington Post. The group’s leader Lisa Herrick explained that the group usually targets local and state candidates, and that Gross is the only congressional candidate that 31st Street is supporting this year.
During a Zoom fundraising call last month that raised $118,000 for Gross, liberal check-writers from all over America heard from the fisherman doctor, and from a Native staff member who wove the scene for them of rural Alaska, where her people rule the very blue ballot. She sealed the deal as the group exceeded its fundraising goal by 18 percent.
The myth-making has been a strategic success for fundraising, but in Alaska the bear stories feel cheap, and even people in his home town of Juneau chuckle into their sleeves when he says he was born in the wake of an avalanche. Locals here know far too much about his family history; his father, Avrum Gross, was a swashbuckling Democrat attorney general who had many proclivities that the mainstream media refuses to probe.
Al Gross will get their vote in the capital city, where Democrats rule the roost. It’s a government town and he’s their man, even if he makes the inappropriate “toxic masculinity” comments in his ads about having the “cojones” to do the job. All is forgiven for the stealth Democrat in a town ruled by Democrats.
But in the Railbelt, where private sector jobs are more common and where people actually have to work hard for a living, Gross is going to be a tough sell, as evidenced by his weaker-than-expected performance in the primary. The Railbelt will come out for Trump, and they’ll vote for Sullivan.
Of course, this is Alaska politics, and no one can say with certainty how much things will change in 50 days and these are strange days, indeed. We do know this much: Candidates from Southeast Alaska rarely do well on the statewide political stage. And by rarely, we really mean never in Alaska history have they succeeded for U.S. House or Senate.
Defend Alaska Elections—Vote No on 2 announced 25 co-chairs to lead the campaign to defeat Ballot Measure 2.
The community leaders who have lent their names to the defeat of the rigging of Alaska’s elections include Chairman John Sturgeon.
“Alaskans already know how to vote; they have been doing it since statehood!” said Tim Navarre, a Democrat, lifelong Alaskan, Kenai City Council member, and former president of the Alaska Municipal League.
“I believe outside interests are trying to change Alaska’s voting laws to suit their own interest. Presently my vote counts today, and that is the way it should be,” said Bob Sivertsen, a Republican and lifelong resident of Southeast Alaska, mayor of Ketchikan, and advocate for seniors.
The group has the backing of Libertarian Dick Randolph, who said, “The billionaires supporting Ballot Measure 2 say it will give voters ‘more choice and more voice. This is utter nonsense. It will actually take away voters’ choices, by discriminating against small political parties.”
“Erecting new barriers to voting by increasing ballot complexity and throwing out votes is a recipe for disaster,” said Susie Linford (Non Partisan), award-winning chef and longtime community pillar in Anchorage. “Our current system is fair and simple, and most importantly, every vote counts!”
Dark money is fueling Ballot Measure 2, and it’s from out of state. Defend Alaska Elections reports its top three contributors are Alaskans John Sturgeon, former Governor Sean Parnell (R), and former Senator Mark Begich (D).
The full current list of co-chairs includes:
Bernie Karl, business owner, entrepreneur, and lifelong Fairbanksan
Anna MacKinnon, former state senator, former Executive Director of STAR
Bob Candopoulos, captain and president of the Saltwater Safari Company
Carol Fraser, Alaska Chamber board member, businesswoman, and travel industry advocate
Johnny Ellis, former state senator of some 30 years
Mead Treadwell, former lieutenant governor and current Arctic advocate
Kristin Mellinger, businesswoman and former executive VP of the Arctic Slope Regional Corp
Dick Randolph, statesman and lifelong Alaskan
Lei Tupou, Alaska Parole Board member and longtime public servant
Cheryl Markwood, owner of Markwood Realty and local political activist
Tim Navarre, Kenai City Council member, and lifelong Alaskan
Stanley Wright, veteran, father, and longtime Alaskan
Leslie Becker, former E.D. of Ketchikan Chamber, candidate for Alaska Legislature
David Pruhs, Fairbanks City Council member, small business owner, and lifelong Alaskan
Pete Zuyus, former chief information officer for the State of Alaska and advocate for seniors
Brittani Clancey, mother of four, Advisory Board member for Northern Lights ABC School
Thomas Baker, City of Kotzebue Vice-Mayor, candidate for the Alaska Legislature
Bob Sivertsen, lifelong resident of Ketchikan, mayor, and advocate for seniors
Portia Noble, lifelong Alaskan and political activist
Mark Chryson, former chair, Alaskan Independence Party; sponsor of original ranked choice ballot initiative
Mike Prax, Alaska state representative
Susie Linford, award-winning chef and community volunteer in Anchorage
Steve Colligan, businessman, former member Mat-Su Borough Assembly
Paulette Simpson, longtime Juneauite and community volunteer
Dave Talerico, Alaska state representative, former coal miner
Cynthia Erickson, Athabaskan from Tanana, business leader and rural advocate
The Alaskans for Better Elections group trying to pass Ballot Measure 2 is led by Scott Kendall, the former chief of staff to Gov. Bill Walker and a leader in the Recall Dunleavy Committee.
Candidate Al Gross has a new communication director who has “been there, done that” for New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio.
Julia Savel cut her teeth with the Bill DeBlasio for Mayor campaign in New York City, where she was a communications operative.
Savel, who was briefly the communication director for Democrat Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia, joins another out-of-stater — Campaign Manager David Keith, who brought baggage with him to Alaska when he signed on with the Gross campaign last year.
Keith had come to the Gross campaign after working for, and getting in trouble at, the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Clearly it was time to bring on a different communications professional for Gross, especially after his remarks on a recent ad, in which he said he has the testicles to do the job in Washington (using the Spanish word “cojones.” Gross has since been counseled by his supporters about his toxic masculinity.
Gross has embraced East Coast leftists in his quest to unseat U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan. But with East Coast fundraising from Swing Left, he also has plans to hire 60 rural Native Alaska coordinators to work his rural get-out-the-vote strategy this fall. Rural Alaska is the key to his strategy, as it was for Sen. Mark Begich, who lost to Dan Sullivan in 2014.
Gross has strong East Coast ties, having completed high school at the fashionable Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts (tuition $57,000 per year) before attending Amherst College in Massachusetts for his undergraduate degree (tuition $58,000 per year).
Too many believe our nation is fundamentally unfair, oppressive to minorities, and raging with racial injustice. That belief was on full display as hundreds gathered for a March on Alaska rally at Town Square in Anchorage on Monday.
Speakers complained repeatedly about America’s embedded systematic and structural racism. Even race baiting and hard Leftist politician Mayor Ethan Berkowitz got in on the act.
“In this community, as we seek to overcome structural racism, we are doing things to dismantle. We are putting forward an office of equity and justice so that every day there will be an opportunity for someone to get up and make right the wrongs that have for too long festered,” said Berkowitz.
Based on those speaking at the rally, if this were your first day in Anchorage, you’d get the impression the city was rife with racial tension and full of backward bigots.
“I see racism every day in Anchorage. It’s so real. It doesn’t look like how it looks in the Lower-48 but that doesn’t mean it’s any less not real. It’s here,” said community activist Jasmin Smith.
It’s true we often find what we look for. If we look for a racist under every bush, we’ll eventually find one.
What would an “Anchorage is a racist town” rally be without some old fashion leftist virtue signaling from race-baiting politicians?
“For as long as I am chair of this Assembly, we will continue working together in solidarity to fight systemic racism, said Assemblyman Felix Rivera.
But where is this systematic racism Berkowitz and Rivera want to change? Where, codified in any federal, state, or city law, is there preferential treatment based on race. It doesn’t exist. Systematic racism is a term the Left and their lapdogs in the media have repeated so often, it’s become accepted as reality.
The woke Labor Day rally also featured Matt Schultz, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Anchorage. Shultz, who often writes columns for the Anchorage Daily News, is a man of the Left. He told the crowd those opposing their movement also oppose Jesus.
“If you speak out against that struggle you speak out against the very gospel of our lord,” said Shultz.
Who knew Jesus was a grievance minded, victim producing, wealth redistributive, socialist?
I had Schultz on my show once and asked him about abortion. He refused to take a stand. Typical of Leftists. Even if they claim to be Christians, their Leftism trumps their religion.
Kevin Magee, President of the local NAACP read a long speech full of Leftist talking points about voodoo economics and the other Democrat causes. Magee compared President Donald Trump to former segregationist and Democrat governor of Alabama, the late George Wallace. He also quoted former South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, a man with strong ties to Communism.
Speaking of Communism, speakers at Monday’s rally often called for that old Marxist adage, equality for all.
“We need equality for everyone,” said Alaska Black Caucus President Celeste Hodge Growden.
But Hodge Growden should realize equality for all, while grandiose sounding, is impossible without stripping us of our freedoms.
People make different choices resulting in varying consequences. Typically, bad choices bring poverty and good choices bring wealth. Unless you take the wealth produced by those making wise choices and give it to those making poor choices, equality for all is unattainable.
Oh wait, that’s what Democrats are all about. Wealth redistribution.
Equality of opportunity on the other hand is a laudable goal. The sense that everyone has a shot at the American dream. And they do if they work hard and smart and take risks. Equality of opportunity flourishes when government oversight diminishes, and the free market can do its thing.
Many of those cheering on speakers spewing their distortions during the Leftist lollapalooza in the heart of downtown Anchorage Monday were most likely unaware most of it was spin and did not represent reality. In fact, most of the speakers probably didn’t realize what they believe to be true and were promoting isn’t.
It’s a shame so many believe America, Alaska, and Anchorage are deeply racist places. They are not. The opposite is true.
And it’s a destructive lie. If people believe they can’t compete and succeed because of the color of their skin, it breeds hopelessness. The race-baiting leaders and politicians are breeding hopelessness, whether they realize it or not.
Dan Fagan hosts a radio show weekday mornings on Newsradio 650 KENI.
The public unions have published their list of endorsement. Unsurprisingly, they are mostly Democrats or that new breed of Democrat that is registered as not aligned with a party. Rep. Louise Stutes of Kodiak also got an endorsement, even though she is a registered Republican.
But the Alaska Public Employees Association (AFL-CIO) disrespected one of their endorsees. While referring to candidate Jamin Burton as “Dr.” in respect of his PhD, the union ignored the PhD in soil science that gives candidate Liz Snyder the right to the “Dr.” honorific.
That likely didn’t go unnoticed by Snyder, who several weeks began referring to herself as Dr. Liz Snyder on campaign literature, a change noted by critics who say she is trying to appear to be a medical doctor at a time when people are looking for leadership in health decisions. Like Burton, she is an educator in the University of Alaska system.
Snyder is running for House District 27 against incumbent Republican Rep. Lance Pruitt in what is considered to be a “must win” for both the Democratic Party and Republican Party.
Over 50 classic cars were shown at the First Annual North Road Car Show, hosted by Nikiski Hardware.
Cars ranged from muscle cars from the ’60’s and ’70s, hot rods from the ’40s, and classic trucks from the ’30s. There was one new Chevy Camaro. The show even featured some military vehicles and three race cars. Locals said it was the biggest car show ever on the Peninsula, and as far as Nikiski goes, it was the second largest event anyone could remember. The first largest was the opening of the Nikiski Hardware Store last year.
Between 250-300 people attended the show, and the weather cooperated, with the rain holding off until after the show was over.
“The general sense was that people have seen every event canceled and schools, swimming lessons, and T-ball have been canceled. This is the first time we’ve had an event and everyone was raring to go. Nobody was wearing a mask because it was outside and we didn’t need to,” said John Quick, co-owner of Nikiski Hardware. “I just think people were excited to be at a community event.”
First place winner was Scott Brown’s 67 Mustang.
Second place went to Lou Oliva’s ’57 Ford pickup. Oliva had the truck when he was a teenager, and found it years later, bought it back, and restored it to its original condition.
Third place was split between Bill Parish’s 1970 Chevy Nova and Glen Smith’s 1968 Lincoln Continental.
Tucked in between hoodies and bomber jackets, the Alaska Airlines online company store now is selling t-shirts with Black Lives Matter printed boldly on the front.
Many in America believe that the Black Lives Matter organization is responsible for looting and rioting in American cities, and is a domestic terrorist organization. Some have called for the Trump Administration to label it a terrorist group, similar to Antifa.
The mission statement of the organization shows it is Marxist-leaning, with references to “collective” and “comrades” sprinkled throughout. A significant portion of the mission statement is dedicate to support for homosexuality or transgender individuals. It is also anti-family:
“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.”
ALASKA BLACK CAUCUS MARCH ON MONDAY
The Alaska Black Caucus, a different group from Black Lives Matter, will have a march against racism on Monday at 1 pm starting at Town Square in downtown Anchorage. The event will start with voter registration and speeches, with the march beginning at 2 pm.
Marches like this one have turned violent around the country, but the organizers of the Anchorage march are calling for peace. Still, it might be wise for people to avoid the downtown area on Monday afternoon.
The organizers say that security for the event will be provided by the Municipality and charged to taxpayers. The Municipality has hung a Black Lives Matter banner from the Anchorage Performing Arts Center to show solidarity with the radicalized group.
And radical it is. The president of Greater New York Black Lives Matter is on record saying that that if Black Lives Matter fails to achieve meaningful change during nationwide protests over George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police officers, the organization will “burn down this system.”
“If this country doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. All right? And I could be speaking figuratively. I could be speaking literally. It’s a matter of interpretation,” Hawk Newsome said in a June interview.
Mayor Ethan Berkowitz has decreed no dancing and no live music in Anchorage due to the coronavirus. The decree began Sept. 3, and there’s no particular end dates in sight. Bar patrons also cannot stand at a bar; patrons must be seated — six feet apart. But some residents aren’t taking that to heart. In fact, they’re dong a dance rebellion.
The flash dance mob will gather at the Loussac Library, at 3600 Denali Street on Sept. 15 at 5:15 pm, and will do the Cha-Cha and the Boot Scootin’ Boogie. The Assembly’s regular meeting will start at 5:15 pm.
Berkowitz has set down various laws over the past six months, which some say have crushed the business sector, while he attempts to tamp down the spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 virus.
