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Lyn Franks, Democrat, to challenge LeDoux for HD 15

Suzanne Downing
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Lyn Franks, Democrat, to challenge LeDoux for HD 15

This isn’t Lyn Franks’ first rodeo.

She challenged Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux in 2018 for House District 15, but lost to the Republican incumbent in the General Election, 1,380 to 1,139 votes, in what is a perennially low-voter-turnout district that leans Republican.

Franks had advanced to the General Election last year on the 193 votes that she received in the primary, enough to propel her to the past two opponents, Patrick McCormack and Rick Phillips, 143 and 84 votes respectively.

Franks is an adjunct instructor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The 63-year-old from Winter Haven, Fla. has a masters degree, is married to Marla Mosher, and has served as the district chair for the Alaska Democratic Party. She is on record for enshrining the Permanent Fund dividend in the state Constitution.

She has filed a letter of intent to run against LeDoux in 2020.

If there’s any question about how Left she is, one need look no further than one of her recent social media posts:

 

 

121 days: No budget, no crime bill, no PFD

Suzanne Downing
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WILL THERE BE A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN JULY 1?

The Alaska Legislature has met for 121 days and has not yet accomplished much. They enshrined Katie John Day as an official day of recognition. And passed Black History Month and Native Heritage Month resolutions. A few minor bills flew through during the waning hours.

But the Legislature has one job that it must do: Pass a budget. And so far, there’s no operating budget, no education funding, no capital budget, no Permanent Fund dividend appropriation, and no rollback of SB 91, the crime bill.

Gov. Michael Dunleavy called the House and Senate back into special session in Juneau starting at 10 am on Thursday.

“It’s painfully clear that after spending the last four months in session, lawmakers will not complete the people’s business by midnight tonight,” Dunleavy said. “Alaskans have every right to be disappointed by the legislature’s inaction, but Alaskans are also expecting final action on legislation to address the most pressing issues facing our state like giving law enforcement and prosecutors the tools they need to stop criminals and reducing state spending. As a result, I am calling a 30-day special session to give lawmakers another opportunity to complete the critical tasks they were sent to accomplish by the People of Alaska.”

The proclamation directs the Legislature to work on five items:

  • An education appropriation bill to bring a solution to the FY20 education budget
  • HB39 – Operating Budget which includes a full PFD under calculation
  • HB40 Mental Health Budget
  • SB19 Capital Budget
  • HB49 Criminal Justice Reform Package

“I told Alaskans earlier today that these items must be completed before adjournment and we would remove any of the five items from the call if they passed by midnight tonight. Now, I urge lawmakers to work with me in the remaining days to get these bills passed and bring the special session to a close.

“If the legislature again fails to adopt a full PFD, operating and capital budgets, fund education and pass an effective crime package, it will be evident we will need to move to a new venue,” Dunleavy said.

Earlier today, he indicated he was thinking about calling for the special session to be held in the Mat-Su Valley.

Both the House and Senate gaveled out in the 11th hour of May 15, as required by the Alaska Constitution. The special session is limited to 30 days, but the governor can call additional special sessions.

The fiscal year begins July 1, and without a budget, the government would begin to shut down. Already, Dunleavy has said that unless the House and Senate add education funding into their budget, his administration cannot constitutionally release funds to education districts around the state.

(Check back. This story will be updated.)

Things get chippy when Austin Baird gets tired

Suzanne Downing
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Things get chippy when Austin Baird gets tired

TWEETING LIKE HIGH SHOOL

Austin Baird, the former press secretary for Gov. Walker, must be overtired. As the press secretary for the House Democrat-led Majority, he took to Twitter tonight to blast away at Minority Leader Lance Pruitt, in the most epic Twitter storm of the legislative session.

Pruitt had been quoted by the Anchorage Daily News saying he supports having a special session in the Mat-Su Valley, so that legislators can get out of the Juneau bubble. Within the Juneau bubble, everyone tells each other they’re smart and good looking, and getting out of the bubble, people tell you that you are just as dumb and ugly as before, said Pruitt. It was a glib line to illustrate that the Legislature looks different to people who are not in Juneau.

Baird, who is staff to Speaker Bryce Edgmon, was not having it. He scolded. He upbraided. He gave the House Minority leader the righteous indignation Twitter storm worthy of, dare we say, Donald Trump?

“Hey, @Rep_LancePruitt, if you can’t govern without lying to Alaska about monumental policy proposals and calling your colleagues dumb and ugly, find something else to do.”

But that wasn’t enough. Baird continued:

“I get it. If you and your friends don’t say enough MEAN THINGS IN ALL CAPS, Alaskans may focus on this: 

“Your budget would fire teachers.

“Double tuition at the university in your district.

“Take healthcare from sick people.

“Pay big PFDs that risk making the program disappear.”

But wait, there’s more from PR guy Baird, whose former boss Gov. Walker actually cut the Permanent Fund dividend in half and made it, for the first time in Alaska history, a political calculation.

“And, Alaskans might even notice that you sat quietly when one of your team members opposed Black History Month, Alaska Native Heritage Month, and so many more things than I can fit in a single tweet.”

Things must not be going well in the Majority for them to have lost control of their press secretary like this. Bad form.

Alyse Galvin can’t shake off urge to run again

Suzanne Downing
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Alyse Galvin can’t shake off urge to run again

Alyse Galvin, who ran on the Democrats’ ticket in 2018, is asking her supporters if she should give it another try after her losing to Congressman Don Young, 149,779 to 131,199.

In a letter sent by email on Wednesday, her subject line was “2020?” She asks people to take a short survey to help her decide whether running for office is right for her in the coming big election cycle.

Galvin, the co-founder of Great Alaska Schools, raised $1.2 million for her campaign in 2018. The Alaska Democratic Party embraced her, although she ran in the no-party category.

She has reason to hope: She did better than the last Democrat who ran against Young. Steve Lindbeck took 36 percent of the vote in 2016, and Don Young won over 50 percent, even with a Libertarian to his right peeling off 10 percent of the vote.

But the longer she was on the campaign trail, the more leftist she became or showed herself to be.

The icing on the cake may have been when she admonished viewers of one of her videos to not use gender pronouns like “he” or “she,” but to use “they” to refer to other people. And then there was the infamous drama-queen moment when she threw a fit over Don Young’s handshake.

[Read: Alyse gets her radical on in Oakland]

Her letter and survey shows she’s been working on a rematch for awhile:

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for being involved in my last campaign! I’m writing to ask a favor that will take just a few minutes of your time.

Since the 2018 election finished, I’ve been busy reflecting on how we can be better. How Alaska can be better, how my community can be better, and how my team and I can be better. 

I’ve been busy working on ideas and solutions, raising my voice as a citizen advocate, but now I really need your input. As I consider whether to launch a 2020 run, will you help us evaluate how we could make our campaign better by answering seven quick questions?

This movement doesn’t happen without you. Thanks again for being involved. 

Gratefully,

Alyse

Breaking: Governor calls special session in Juneau

Suzanne Downing
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Breaking: Governor calls special session in Juneau

Gov. Michael Dunleavy this afternoon said he is calling for a special session for Juneau to deal with five matters that have not been completed:

  • Crime legislation rolling back SB 91
  • Operating budget with a full Permanent Fund dividend
  • Mental Health Trust budget
  • Capital budget
  • Education funding

In an announcement that came at 5:30 pm, just 6.5 hours before the end of the session comes this evening, the governor appeared to have lost faith that the House and Senate could complete their work.

But if any of those items are completed, he will remove them from the call of the special session, he said. He said he would issue the proclamation shortly.

Homeless camps must go

Suzanne Downing
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THE ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET

One need only read headlines such as “Homeless camps put Alaska creek cleanup future in question” to realize how bad things have gotten in this city.

The story, the Anchorage Daily News reports, is that the Anchorage Waterways Council wonders whether the makeshift homeless camps dotting Anchorage’s public spaces pose a threat to its volunteers, which include children, who annually clean up the city’s creeks.

The encampments often include human waste, trash of all kinds and discarded drug paraphernalia, such as needles.

That the camps pose a health and safety danger is unarguable. That they are, for the most part, illegally trespassing on public land also is unarguable. City law is quite clear. It is illegal, under 8.45.010 of the city code, to:

Knowingly enter or remain on undeveloped public or private property:

a. In violation of a prominently posted notice against trespass or use; or,
b. When the person has had other actual or constructive notice that the property is not open to the person; or,
c. After the person has been requested to leave by someone with the apparent authority to do so.

Then it gets complicated, courtesy of the oft-overturned, San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

[Read the rest of this editorial at the Anchorage Daily Planet]

Clever resolution would allow legislature to override vetoes

Suzanne Downing
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Clever resolution would allow legislature to override vetoes

Editor’s note: This breaking news story will be updated later in the day).

The Alaska House of Representatives today will discuss HCR 10, to be offered by Rules Committee Chairman Chuck Kopp. If agreed to by the Senate, it would likely result in a couple of important events:

  • The resolution seeks to set up a working group between the House and Senate to deliberate the issues surrounding the use of earnings of the Alaska Permanent Fund.
  • The resolution calls for a special session at an unstated time, but would likely be at a time when the Legislature could conveniently also vote on overriding vetoes of the governor.

Gov. Michael Dunleavy is expected to veto at least some of the spending currently in the House and Senate budget that is working its way through the budget compromise process called conference committee.

If the resolution passes both bodies, a group of eight legislators, to include a member of the minority caucus of both bodies, would meet to discuss and provide policy recommendations on the future use of the earnings of the Permanent Fund.

Here is the language in this resolution:

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 10                                                                   
01 Relating to the earnings of the Alaska permanent fund; establishing a bicameral                                         
02 legislative working group on the use of earnings of the Alaska permanent fund; and                                      
03 relating to a special session for the sole purpose of deliberating the issues surrounding                               
04 the use of the earnings of the Alaska permanent fund.                                                                   
05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
06       WHEREAS the Alaska permanent fund is a sovereign wealth fund unique in the                                      
07 United States and critically important to the citizens of the state; and                                                
08       WHEREAS, for more than 30 years, the earnings of the Alaska permanent fund have                                 
09 primarily been used for the disbursement of dividends to the citizens of the state and for                              
10 inflation proofing the principal of the fund; and                                                                       
11       WHEREAS, because of the declining oil revenue of the state, and in pursuit of the                               
12 diversification of the state's revenue sources, a portion of the earnings of the Alaska                                 
13 permanent fund is currently being used to fund essential public services; and                                           
14       WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature supports the objective of the managers of                                  
15 the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation to meet their fiduciary responsibility to grow the                                
01 Alaska permanent fund and supports a sustainable permanent fund dividend in perpetuity; and                             
02 WHEREAS the debate over the future use of the earnings of the Alaska permanent                                        
03 fund and the formula for the calculation of the permanent fund dividend requires the                                    
04 undivided attention of the Alaska State Legislature in a manner only a special session can                              
05 facilitate; and                                                                                                         
06 WHEREAS that debate involves unresolved issues, including the division of an                                          
07 annual draw on the earnings of the Alaska permanent fund, the transfer of funds from the                                
08 earnings reserve account in the Alaska permanent fund to the constitutionally protected                                 
09 principal of the Alaska permanent fund, and whether the earnings of the Alaska permanent                                
10 fund should be contained in a separate fund; and                                                                        
11 WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature recognizes that, in finding a long-term fiscal                                   
12 solution for the state, the resolution of issues surrounding the future use of the earnings of the                      
13 Alaska permanent fund is paramount;                                                                                     
14 BE IT RESOLVED that a bicameral legislative working group is established to                                           
15 review the use of the earnings of the Alaska permanent fund; and be it                                                  
16 FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group will consist of four members from                                           
17 the House of Representatives and four members from the Senate appointed by the presiding                                
18 officer of each house and will include minority caucus representation from each body; and be                            
19 it                                                                                                                      
20 FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group will meet and provide policy                                                  
21 recommendations on the future use of the earnings of the Alaska permanent fund to the                                   
22 Alaska State Legislature during a 2019 special session; and be it                                                       
23 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature will call itself into a                                            
24 special session at a time and date to be determined for the sole purpose of deliberating the                            
25 issues surrounding the use of the earnings of the Alaska permanent fund.

Video: NTSB media briefing on Ketchikan mid-air collision

Suzanne Downing
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Monday’s midair collision in Ketchikan between two small planes killed five people aboard a Mountain Air Service de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, including the pilot, Randy Sullivan, and one passenger in a de Havilland Otter DHC-3, operated by Taquan Air.

[Read this Los Angeles Times story from 2015 about pilot Randy Sullivan]

Both planes were evidently on approach to Ketchikan and flying in the same direction at the same general altitude, when one of the planes dropped about 500 feet in altitude.

Watch the media briefing here:

Will Legislature extend to 131 days? What happened to 90?

Suzanne Downing
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Will Legislature extend to 131 days? What happened to 90?

In 2006, Alaska voters approved Ballot Measure 1,  mandating the 90-day session for the Alaska Legislature. The first 90-day session was held in 2008. But in the 13 years since then the law passed, the Legislature has rarely met the conditions of  statute enacted by popular vote.

Why? The Alaska Constitution says 121 days, and the Constitution trumps the statute. And although the 90-day session law was created by voters, there’s no way for voters to enforce it.

In 2011, there was a brief effort to end the 90-day rule. But now, it’s more of a speed bump on the way to a 121-day session.

House Joint Resolution 2, offered by Democrat Matt Claman this year, would put a limit into the state constitution, limiting the session to 90 days. On Feb. 20, that bill was referred to State Affairs Committee, then Judiciary, and then Finance. It’s still stuck in State Affairs.

Meanwhile, the talk around the Capitol this morning is whether the Legislature will vote to extend the 121 days they’ve been in Juneau. With vote of 2/3 of each house, they may do so in order to finish up their work.

But getting the Republican Minority to go along with that is going to be the challenge. The Democrat-led Majority will likely vote as a block to extend session so that the Democrats can water down the criminal justice reforms in conference committee.

The Majority has 25 votes to extend, with Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux likely voting with the Majority, even though she is technically not in it. The 15 Republicans that make up the Republican caucus will likely vote as a block not to extend. They’ve been betrayed by fellow Republicans who joined the Democrats, and they’ve been bullied by House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, so they are in no mood to do the Majority any favors, especially when it comes to weakening the rollback of SB 91 (a former criminal justice reform package).

That would leave the “sine die” adjournment at midnight Wednesday, with a slim to none chance that both bodies would find enough votes to extend.

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