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Media members signed petition to recall gov

Suzanne Downing
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Media members signed petition to recall gov

Among the approximately 49,000 signers of the initial application for a petition to recall Gov. Michael Dunleavy, several members of the media, including journalists, spouses of journalists, and board members of public broadcasting corporations appear on the list.

Must Read Alaska combed through the list and found reporters, show hosts, and others associated with KTUU, Fairbanks Daily NewsMiner, KTOO, and Alaska Public Media.

The spouse of Anchorage Daily News Editor David Hulen also signed the recall petition, as did several members of the board of directors of Alaska Public Media, including board chair, vice chair, and treasurer. Also, the spouse of the APM general manager has signed the Recall Dunleavy application petition.

No “editorial content” members from the Anchorage Daily News were found on the list during this review.

Readers in Fairbanks, however, will recognize the name of NewsMiner reporter Dorothy Chomicz, who writes about cops and crime for the paper. They’ll also recognize the name of Dermot Cole, longtime contributor to the NewsMiner and other publications, including his own political blog. His brother, Terrence Cole, is also on the list, but his editorial associate Alice Rogoff is not a signer.

In Anchorage, Karen Wuestenfeld, board chair, Alaska Public Media, appears on the list, as does Beth Rose, vice chair, and Pita Benz, treasurer.

KTUU’s Blake Essig shows up as a recall advocate, as does Haley Essig, who is related.

At Juneau’s KTOO public media station, board chair George Reifenstein, vice chair Leslie Longenbaugh and treasurer Melanie Lesh all signed the recall petition, but the staff of the station steered clear.

Several members of the Alaska Court system appear on the list of those wanting to recall the governor. We found no judges during this review except retired judge Carpeneti. Former Gov. Bill Walker Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth‘s name appears — no surprise, since she is an attorney for the recall effort. Along with her, fellow recall attorney and Bill Walker Chief of Staff Scott Kendall signed on.

Some of the other usual names are there: AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami, Alaska Democratic Party Chairwoman Casey Steinau, and retired Judge Walter Carpeneti.

Former Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott signed the recall petition, as did Jody Potts of Fairbanks, who works as a Village Public Safety Officer. At the Rasmuson Foundation, Ed and Cathy Rasmuson signed the petition, and are funding the recall, and Rasmuson Foundation President Diane Kaplan is also on the list.

Democrat lawmaker Rep. Harriet Drummond of Anchorage signed it twice, while fellow Democrat Rep. Ivy Spohnholz of Anchorage signed it just once.

CROWD-SOURCING THE RESEARCH

Study the list yourself at this link.


Recall-Petition-SignaturesDownload

EPA alumnus Gina McCarthy named president of Natural Resources Defense Council

Suzanne Downing
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27
EPA alumnus Gina McCarthy named president of Natural Resources Defense Council

The Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency chief who became notorious in Alaska for insulting a jar of Alaskan moose meat given to her as a gift, has been named the president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Gina McCarthy will take over the 3-million member organization, where she will oversee a $151.6 million budget. Her salary and fringe benefit package was not disclosed.

In 2013, McCarthy traveled through Bristol Bay to further develop her plans to block the Pebble project, when she was given a jar of moose meet by the wife of the first chief of the Curyung Tribal Council. The moose meat was the from the first kill of a young boy from the tribe.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal later that year, McCarthy described the meat as something that “could gag a maggot.”

The moose meat was from the first kill of a young boy from Chief Thomas Tilden’s tribe.

Under McCarthy’s administration at the EPA, the agency tried to block the permitting application of the Pebble Project in Western Alaska, by using a provision that prevented the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from issuing any permits for the mine.

The EPA’s actions were later challenged by Pebble, and the agency ultimately settled rather than face Pebble in court. The settlement allowed the Pebble Limited Partnership to apply for a Clean Water Act permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

[Read the terms of the settlement at this link]

Mat-Su Borough results: One seat is too close to call

Suzanne Downing
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0
Mat-Su Borough results: One seat is too close to call

CONSERVATIVES DID WELL IN LOCAL ELECTION

About 50 people gathered at the Americans for Prosperity Alaska offices in Wasilla for an election night party on Tuesday to watch the results as they came in for the local election — the first time it has been held on the first Tuesday of November in the Mat-Su.

More than 4,248 voters turned out on the “off year” election, and the hotly contested Assembly District 1 seat is still too close to call, since absentee ballots have not been counted — and there are likely to be a lot of those.

[View the election results at this link]

The results tonight, without those absentee ballots give Tim Hale, who has strong Democrat support, a slight edge with two votes, close enough for a recount.

Moderate Stephanie Nowers won decisively in Assembly District 2, against incumbent Lamarr Anderson.

The School Board went conservative with Jim Hart, Ryan Ponder and Jeff Taylor winning seats.

“It was a well-run race and am pleased to win but it’s time to get to work. we have extremely low test scores, we’ve got the work of hiring a new superintendent, and that superintendent is going to be told to dig to the bottom of the problem of the low test scores, we’re going to be looking for answers,” said Hart.

Assembly District 1

  • ENDLE, Brian – 983
  • HALE, Tim – 981
  • BUSH, J. Bruce – 111
  • MILLER, Ryan A. – 21

Assembly District 2

  • NOWERS, Stephanie – 610
  • ANDERSON, LaMarr L. – 511
  • MAXSON, Elizabeth A. “Liz” – 72
  • DONEY, Faunus M. – 33

School Board District 2

  • HART, James E. “Jim” – 600
  • MICHAELSON, Ray – 574

School Board District 5

  • PONDER, D. Ryan -296
  • HARTLEY, Alma N. – 183

School Board District 7

  • TAYLOR, V. Jeff – unopposed – 359

ACLU pleads with court to take Dunleavy’s veto pen

Suzanne Downing
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8
ACLU pleads with court to take Dunleavy’s veto pen

ATTEMPTS TO REMOVE CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY

The ACLU today made the argument that the Alaska Supreme Court should override the governor’s constitutional authority to a line-item veto.

In a case that involves the separation of powers and one half percent of the Court System’s operating budget, Stephen Koteff, lawyer for the ACLU, told Judge Jennifer Henderson that the governor abused his constitutional authority and undermined the public confidence in the court when, on June 28, he made his veto decisions.

Dunleavy’s veto was not overridden by the Legislature, which is generally the way the political system works. Politics is, after all, much about dividing up tax receipts and assigning value to different programs.

“Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value,” is a well-known political adage, often attributed to Joe Biden.

In his budget explanation, Dunleavy expressed his values when he said that some of the court’s money would be used to pay for the Medicaid-funded abortions that the Supreme Court was demanding come from the state treasury.

Jessica Leeah, the lawyer representing the State of Alaska, told the judge that the case is inherently political, and advised against having one judge step into the shoes of the governor and the entire Legislature, and decide whether the $335,000 cut should be restored. After all, the Legislature could have overridden the veto, but didn’t even try.

She asked the court to dismiss the case, and said that if the governor had not provided an explanation of that sort for his budget veto, there would be no lawsuit. There is also no proof that such a small cut had harmed the court, she said; in fact, Chief Justice Joel Bolger had written that the court’s duties would continue on.

“The ultimate arbiter for a governor’s vetoes is the electorate,” Leeah said, asking the judge to exercise judicial restraint.

ACLU ComplaintDownload

Chief Justice Bolger was not in the meeting, but figured prominently in the room, as both sides discussed his recent public pronouncements about an independent judiciary, both on the Court System’s home page, and also in remarks he made at Alaska Federation of Natives Convention in Fairbanks.

The ACLU lawyer said that Bolger was clearly stating that the court was facing a great deal of political pressure, but the State’s attorney Leeah said the justice’s statements were general in nature and could have related to the recent vote that went against the retention of Judge Michael Corey, who was guided by legislation known as SB 91 when allowing an offender to walk free after attacking a woman.

Because Bolger’s name was brought up in court, it’s unclear if either side would have the courage to swear him in on the witness stand to explain what he meant, if Judge Henderson allows the case to proceed.

Judge Henderson asked the State’s attorney far more questions than she asked of the ACLU’s lawyer, interrupting Leeah several times. Henderson asked both sides questions about whether the ACLU is the appropriate plaintiff, and if not, whether there is another likely plaintiff who might bring a lawsuit that showed actual damages. The State’s position is that the ACLU is not a qualified plaintiff because it has not been harmed, while the ACLU says the veto represented an “unprecedented threat to the judiciary,” and that Dunleavy was retaliating against the courts over abortion, thus there are constitutional issues.

Not brought up by either side was the question of whether a governor has a right to free speech and expressing his views on court decisions. If, in budget notes, a governor may not express his political opinion, will the court open itself up to a lawsuit from the governor himself based on First Amendment rights? Such an outcome could mean this matter could end up in a federal court.

The ACLU and Planned Parenthood were well represented in the courtroom. Oddly, Vic Fischer, who was one of the authors of the Alaska Constitution, had been positioned by the ACLU in the front row, to give the plaintiff’s argument extra moral edge and give the judge a good view of the nonagenarian (he is 95-1/2).

On the other side, only a handful of pro-Life advocates showed up. Judge Henderson did not say when she will make her decision on the case, but it’s sure that the matter will be referred to the Alaska Supreme Court, where Justice Bolger will no-doubt assign it to one of his fellow judges.

Recall group files appeal in Superior Court

Suzanne Downing
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26
Recall group files appeal in Superior Court

Recall Dunleavy, the group trying to remove the governor with a special recall election, has filed an appeal of the Attorney General’s decision that their complaint lacks merit.

The appeal, signed by former Gov. Bill Walker Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth in Superior Court in Anchorage, comes a day after the Division of Elections rejected the group’s initial application for signature-gathering petitions. The appeal was expected, and was also signed by former Gov. Walker’s former chief of staff Scott Kendall.

Recall Dunleavy ComplaintDownload

Lindemuth says the director of the Division of Elections is denying the group their constitutional right to a recall petition. She is arguing that when the director of the Division of Elections makes a determination that “the application is in the required form, the director must assume that all allegations made are true and valid.

According to this argument, if the recall petition says that the governor hates green jello, the director of the Division of Elections must assume that the allegation is true for the purposes of her decision to allow or prohibit the matter from proceeding.

The arguments made in the recall petition accuse the governor on these grounds:

  • That he violated statute by not appointing a judge within 45 days of receiving nominations from the Alaska Judicial Council.
  • That he violated statute by using state funds to make statements on partisan issues. This relates to social media and postcards from the governor’s office in support of a full Permanent Fund dividend.
  • That he violated separation of power by using a line-item veto on the Alaska Court System. The Recall Dunleavy group is arguing he does not have the power of the veto pen when it comes to the court system.
  • He was incompetent when he mistakenly vetoed $18 million more than he had intended to veto, although the group admits that the error was corrected.

The Recall Dunleavy attorneys — Lindemuth, Kendall, Sam Gottstein, Jeffrey Feldman, Susan Orlansky — are asking for an injunction so that the Recall Dunleavy group can start collecting signatures for the next phase of the recall process.

They are also asking for their attorney fees to be covered by the State of Alaska.

[Read: Attorney General says recall petition lacks valid reasons.]

Listicle: Alaska is No. 1 in smoking pot in fed’s survey

Suzanne Downing
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Listicle: Alaska is No. 1 in smoking pot in fed’s survey

STATES WITH HIGH POT USE ARE LEAST RELIGIOUS

Alaskans smoke the most weed per capita in America, with 16.29 percent of the population admitting to using pot in the past year.

That’s over 119,000 Alaskans consuming cannabis, if the numbers from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration are to be believed. Or one out of every seven man, woman, and child in Alaska.

Vermont comes in a close second at 16%, followed by Colorado at 15%.

All of the states on the list of “highest number of users” are either in the West or are in the northern part of the country.

The rest of the top states:

  • 4. New Hampshire: 14.88%
  • 5. Massachusetts: 14.55%
  • 6. Oregon: 14.44%
  • 7. Rhode Island: 14.32%
  • 8. Washington, D.C: 14.29%
  • 9. Maine: 13.56%
  • 10. California: 12.88%
  • 11. Washington: 12.84%
  • 12. New York: 12.83%
  • 13. Connecticut: 12.53%
  • 14. Montana: 12.21%
  • 15. Michigan: 12.16%
  • 16. Hawaii: 12%
  • 17. Delaware: 11.86%

GOT RELIGION, ALASKA? NOT SO MUCH

Not surprisingly, the states where pot use is the highest just about perfectly inverse in terms of religiosity, according to research from the Pew Research Center.

From most religious to least, Alaska ranks fifth from the bottom on Pew’s 2019 list:

  • 1. Alabama 77%
  • 2. Mississippi 74%
  • 3. Tennessee 71%
  • 3. Louisiana 71%
  • 5. Arkansas 70%
  • 6. South Carolina 69%
  • 7. West Virginia 64%
  • 7. Georgia 64%
  • 7. Oklahoma 64%
  • 10. Texas 63%
  • 10. Kentucky 63%
  • 12. North Carolina 62%
  • 13. Virginia 60%
  • 14. New Mexico 59%
  • 15. Utah 58%
  • 16. South Dakota 57%
  • 17. Missouri 56%
  • 17. Ohio 56%
  • 19. Nebraska 54%
  • 20. Iowa 53%
  • 20. Florida 53%
  • 20. Indiana 53%
  • 20. North Dakota 53%
  • 24. Arizona 51%
  • 24. Pennsylvania 51%
  • 24. Idaho 51%
  • 27. Kansas 50%
  • 27. New Jersey 50%
  • 27. Maryland 50%
  • 27. District of Columbia 50%, No. 8 for pot use
  • 27. Michigan 50% religious, No. 15 for pot use
  • 27. Illinois 50%
  • 33. Wyoming 49%
  • 34. Rhode Island 48% religious, No. 7 for pot use
  • 35. California 47% religious, No. 10 for pot use
  • 35. Colorado 47% religious, No. 3 for pot use
  • 37. Delaware 46% religious, No. 17 for pot use
  • 37. Minnesota 46%
  • 39. Oregon 45% religious, No. 6 for pot use
  • 39. New York 45% religious, No. 12 for pot use
  • 41. Nevada 44%
  • 41. Montana 44% religious, No. 14 for pot use
  • 41. Hawaii 44%, No. 16 for pot use
  • 41. Washington 44% religious, No. 11 for pot use
  • 41. Wisconsin 44%
  • 46. Connecticut 42%, No. 13 for pot use
  • 47. Alaska 41% religious, No. 1 for pot use
  • 48. Maine 34% religious, No. 9 for pot use
  • 49. Massachusetts 33% religious, No. 5 for pot use
  • 49. New Hampshire 33% religious, No. 4 for pot use
  • 51. Vermont 32% religious, No. 2 for pot use

Lawyers file suit over Pioneer Home rates

Suzanne Downing
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14
Lawyers file suit over Pioneer Home rates

Notorious blogger/attorney Libby Bakalar has asked a Ketchikan judge to certify a class-action lawsuit and stop the state Department of Health and Social Services from raising the rates at the Alaska Pioneer Homes.

Bakalar is the attorney who last year was released by the Dunleavy Administration and who is suing the governor and his former chief of staff Tuckerman Babcock over her separation of employment. She was an at-will employee, as most attorneys are at the Department of Law. Her own case is pending.

In her latest suit, she name three plaintiffs: Marion and Howard Rider and Eileen Casey. She names Commissioner Adam Crum and Pioneer Homes Director Clinton Lasley as defendants, along with Gov. Michael Dunleavy.

Bakalar and her co-attorney Vance Sanders of Juneau ask for an injunction and say the rate increases, which occurred in the same year as a $12.3 million cut to the Pioneers’ Homes, are adverse for the 497 residents of the elder-care facilities across the state.

Similar to the case going forward on the budget cuts to the courts system, this case asks the court system to override the role of the appropriators in the Legislature and the Executive Branch in running the State of Alaska. The lawsuit puts the courts in the driver’s seat for both appropriations and rates and fee schedules.

Rates at the Pioneer Homes are variable, depending on the level of care needed. They range from $3,600 per month to $15,000 per month; financial assistance is available for those residents who cannot pay those fees.

But many residents actually have the means to pay more than they are paying; they simply don’t because they are trying to preserve their estate for their heirs. The Pioneer Homes are setting new rules that ask their clients to be more forthcoming about their actual finances.

Without the new rates the State of Alaska is paying for most of the care of elders, rather than families helping out by liquidating their elderly residents’ assets to assist with their care, and then turning to Medicaid for help when their funds run low.

Bakalar-Pioneer-Home-lawsuitDownload

The State Department of Health and Social Services has already said existing residents won’t be forced to move out under the new rates.

If the injunction is approved by the judge, the State would have to return to the old fee schedule while the class action lawsuit got organized. Right now it has but three plaintiffs, but Bakalar says she could be representing as many as all 497 of the residents of Pioneer Homes.

It’s not uncommon to judge shop, but it’s just as likely that Bakalar filed in Ketchikan for other reasons, such as knowing that her reputation in Juneau is associated with her foul-tempered, man-hating blog, as well as her pending lawsuit to force the governor to rehire her as an assistant attorney general.

Court will hear dispute involving court budget cuts, Medicaid-elective abortion

Suzanne Downing
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5
Court will hear dispute involving court budget cuts, Medicaid-elective abortion

On Tuesday afternoon, in Courtroom 30A of the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Dunleavy Administration will cross swords over whether a governor has a right to cut the Alaska Supreme Court’s budget.

And at stake is whether judges can decide if a governor’s reasoning for a budget cut to their branch of government is legitimate.

Gov. Michael Dunleavy cut some $335,000 from the Alaska Supreme Court budget’s administrative budget, as part of his efforts to reduce state spending. That is less than half of one percent of the court’s budget.

In his budget veto explanation, Dunleavy said that the legislative and executive branch both oppose the State of Alaska paying for elective abortions with Medicaid funds.

“…the only branch of government that insists on state-funded elective abortions is the Supreme Court. The annual cost of elective abortions is reflected by this reduction,” the Dunleavy budget writers wrote in the explanation for the cuts.

The problem at hand is that the Alaska Supreme Court, even as late as February, has insisted on the State paying for non-medically necessary abortions.

The American Civil Liberties Union says these abortions are constitutionally mandated, and Joshua Decker, the executive director of the ACLU-Alaska, will make that case in court on Wednesday.

The Dunleavy Administration is likely to say it has the authority to veto funds, and the Legislature has the authority to override those vetoes — something that didn’t happen. The appropriation function is not in the jurisdiction of the courts.

Superior Court Judge Jennifer Henderson, a registered nonpartisan, will hear the case; she was a district court judge before becoming a Superior Court judge under Gov. Bill Walker. In 2016, she was retained by 61.2 percent of voters and doesn’t come up for retention until 2022.

Planned Parenthood put out the call today to supporters of abortion to head for the courthouse with signs to bring the court of public opinion to bear on the matter during the hearing. The oral arguments start at 3 pm, with Planned Parenthood planning to show up at 2 pm.

AG opinion: Recall grounds are insufficient

Suzanne Downing
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AG opinion: Recall grounds are insufficient

Attorney General Kevin Clarkson announced today that the stated reasons for a recall of Gov. Michael Dunleavy are insufficient, “failing to meet factual and legal requirements under the controlling statutes.”

“I asked the legal team to do a deep dive into the Alaska constitution, discussions at the constitutional convention, the statutes, legislative history, and case law, including looking at authorities from other states, in order to understand what standards must be met in the recall context,” said Attorney General Clarkson in a statement. “As a matter of law, recall cannot be premised upon disagreements with the elected official’s policies.” 

With respect to the application to recall Dunleavy, Clarkson stated, “in order to meet the ground for neglect of duty, which is the only legally pertinent ground here, applicants must show an inability, willful neglect, or outright illegal intent on the part of the elected official.  They must also show that this inability or intent is directly related to carrying out the substantive duties of the office.

“Mere procedural or technical failures are not enough. The violation must be substantial in order to qualify. Moreover, applicants must show that the elected official was personally responsible. Elected officials cannot be recalled for the acts of subordinates of which they were not aware and did not specifically authorize.  The recall application failed to make these showings. The grounds of incompetence and lack of fitness, as a matter of law, were not applicable here.”

Click here to review the Attorney General Opinion.

The recall application was submitted on September 5, 2019. Director Fenumiai requested that the Department of Law complete its legal review within 60 days, despite the lack of any statutory timeline to make a decision. The Department of Law met the requested timeline and submitted its opinion to the director on November 4, 2019.

Director of the Division of Elections Gail Fenumiai notified the sponsors today that, based on the conclusions in the Attorney General opinion, certification was denied. Recall Dunleavy and any other interested party have 30 days to challenge the denial of certification.

For more information, see the Division of Elections website.

Check back, as this story will be updated.

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