Take the Must Read Alaska poll linked below.
Because it is a Facebook poll, this is a binary question boiled down to what appears to be the choice that Gov. Michael Dunleavy has before him:
Should Gov. Dunleavy:
1. ACCEPT the Legislature’s $1600 PFD and fight for the other $1400?
2. VETO the $1600 and fight for $3000 — it’s all or nothing?
The poll ends on the morning of July 31, 2019. Results will be at the @MustReadAlaska page on Facebook.
The National Labor Relations Board is investigating U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Iowa campaign for allegedly cracking down on union organizing activities and refusing to bargain in good faith.
News of it came on the same day Sanders issued a statement supporting the Inland Boatmen’s Union in its strike against the Alaska Marine Highway System. The strike is going into its seventh day on Tuesday, leaving thousands stranded.
On Twitter, Sanders urged Gov. Michael Dunleavy to “bargain in good faith” with these workers.
According to the Des Moines Register, the NLRB allegations say Sanders’ campaign officials in Iowa fired one or more employees because they either joined or supported unions, or engaged in other protected activities, such as discussing wages and other conditions of employment.
In other news, Sanders, who supports a $15 minimum wage, also recently said he is cutting his staffers’ hours in order to afford paying them a $15 an hour.
SENATE REPUBLICAN CAUCUS FRACTURING?
Gov. Michael Dunleavy today indicated he will veto some or all of the State spending add-backs that have come from the House and Senate in the appropriation bill that passed the Senate today.
Dunleavy hasn’t said how much he’ll veto. He simply said that expects to get the bill soon, and he intends to work it over.
His message during today’s press availability was to supporters of the Permanent Fund dividend: He is disappointed. The passage of a $1,600 dividend this year, instead of the statutory calculation of $3,000, has turned the dividend program into more of a social welfare line-item, rather than an actual dividend coming from oil production.
That means, without some significant change, the dividend will be gobbled up as government takes more and more of it each year to make up for a spending imbalance.
Dunleavy said the Legislature’s actions could also invite a voter backlash. Voters cannot appropriate via initiative so it’s unclear what action they might take, other than replacing legislators in 2020.
“A few years ago, no politician would have thought of putting their hands on the PFD,” he told reporters. “Alaskans never got upset about the size of the PFD because it was a rules-based system.”
But this is the fourth year the statute has not been followed. The Legislature has not acted to change the statute, nor sent a change of the PFD calculation to a vote of the people, something Dunleavy proposed in legislation this year — legislation that has gone nowhere.
MORE SPENDING, LESS PFD
The Senate today added another $70 million in spending into House Bill 2001.
Of the governor’s $444 million in vetoes of the Operating Budget, only $23 million remain, with $421 million in add-backs by the House and Senate and a Permanent Fund dividend that has been reduced by nearly half.
An unanswered question is whether Dunleavy will veto the $1,600 dividend or simply cut his losses and accept the smaller dividend, since the Legislature appears to be in no mood to fund a $3,000 dividend.
Whatever he decides to do, the state budget still has a massive structural problem. Even with his original vetoes, the State budget was only halfway to balancing. Earlier this year, Dunleavy said that balancing the budget would have to take two or more years, since he didn’t have the support of enough legislators to get there in one year.
Dunleavy praised the passage of the Capital Budget, which passed the House earlier in the day. He said he was glad to see the funding for Power Cost Equalization and state scholarships restored, along with the other items that he had proposed for funding in his original budget.
SENATE’S BINDING CAUCUS MAY REORGANIZE, BECOME BIPARTISAN
The Senate Republican Majority will likely soon be taking a vote on whether it will allow the conservative Republicans who didn’t vote for the HB 2001 (PFD/spending bill) to remain in the caucus.
Sen. Lora Reinbold was the only recorded vote against the bill, and she explained on the floor of the Senate that although she didn’t agree with all of the governor’s vetoes, the amount set for the Permanent Fund dividend is breaking the law, and she wasn’t willing to do that. She will almost certainly be removed from the caucus.
Sens. Shelley Hughes and Mike Shower, from the conservative Mat-Su Valley, asked to be excused from the floor and watched the votes from their offices.
They were hoping that by being excused they would not be thrown out of the caucus. They may have also been hoping to prevent giving Senate President Cathy Giessel a handy excuse to form a bipartisan power coalition with Democrats. But it’s unclear whether the caucus will give them a pass.
Sen. Mia Costello, who has already been removed by Giessel as Majority Leader, voted in favor of the spending measure, which passed 17-1. She has been iced out of the Republican caucus informally after she went with other conservative legislators to the Wasilla special session called by the governor. Others who went to Wasilla for the session voted for the bill today, including Sens. David Wilson and Peter Micciche.
The binding rules for the Senate Republican caucus, which are private to the caucus, have possibly changed and now include not only voting with the caucus on the the operating budget, but on all appropriations.
Uncomfortable about delaying critical road funding for next year, two of the most conservative members of the House of Representatives voted with the Democrat-led Majority to pass the capital budget Monday, agreeing with a “reverse sweep” to fix funding for programs the Legislature neglected to fund in the Operating Budget.
On day 195 of the Legislative season, and on a third vote in a week, the Capital Budget was not a hill these conservatives needed to die on, as they know the governor has the veto pen and can X-out any items in the budget that were added back, should he choose.
The Capital Budget passed 31-7, with Reps. Dave Talerico and DeLena Johnson voting in favor of it. Only one of their votes was needed to access the Constitutional Budget Reserve. Senate Bill 2002 had passed the Senate earlier this month.
The bill will now head to the Governor’s Desk, where he can approve or veto items such as Power Cost Equalization, funding to pay for the new tough-on-crime legislation, college scholarships or the WWAMI program, a medical education program that allows students from Alaska to study at the University of Washington Medical School.
The Capital Budget is primarily a road bill. It brings millions of dollars in federal funds for road and other infrastructure projects around the state, projects that will start next year.
The Senate is taking up the Permanent Fund dividend bill on Monday. It’s a bill that also has had hundreds of millions of dollars worth of add-back spending in it, as legislators try to undo the governor’s vetoes of the Operating Budget.
The MRAK Almanac is your place for political, cultural, and civic events, events where you’ll meet political leaders or, if you are interested in getting to know your state, these are great places to meet conservative- and moderate-leaning Alaskans.
Alaska Fact Book:
Question: How many national parks are in Alaska?
Answer: There are a total of eight national parks in Alaska. They are:
Alaska and California were tied in number of national parks until 2013 when California’s Pinnacles National Monument was elevated to a national park, bringing the Golden State’s national park tally to nine.
7/29: The Alaska House and Senate are both set to gavel in at 11 am this morning. House Finance will hold a meeting at 9 am in Juneau to continue their consideration of HB2001.
7/29: State Alcoholic Beverage Control Board will hold a special meeting via teleconference at 1 pm. The board will be considering ongoing liquor license applications and proposed regulation changes. Read the agenda here.
7/30: University of Alaska Board of Regents meeting in Anchorage. The regents will be discussing options for restructuring the university as well as hearing a presentation from the Office of Management & Budget about a “step-down” deal with Governor Dunleavy. Read the agenda here.
7/30: Live music in the Golden Heart Plaza in downtown Fairbanks. Begins at 12:30, free to attend.
7/30: Veterans Appreciation Dinner, generously sponsored by the American Legion Post #25 in Juneau. All veterans and their families are invited to attend. Will take place from 4:30 pm – 8:30 pm at the Juneau Yacht Club.
7/30: Alaska VA Town Hall in Juneau at 5 pm. All veterans and their families are invited to attend to share their experiences and concerns with Alaska VA officials. The meeting will take place at the Juneau Public Library.
7/30: Fan Appreciation Day for the Mat-Su Miners baseball team in Palmer. This will be the final home game of the season for the Miners, and first pitch will take place at 6 pm against the Chugiak/Eagle River Chinooks.
7/30: Are you a female veteran? There will be a veteran round table talk in Anchorage specifically for the women who’ve served our nation in the military. In addition, there will be federal congressional staffers present to hear your concerns about the VA. Read more at the Facebook link here.
7/30: Lunch on the Lawn outside the Anchorage museum at 11:30 am. This weekly event features free entertainment, live music, and several local food vendors. Come enjoy the waning summer months in style.
7/30: Come eat free sushi and tour new construction in Anchorage’s quickly developing Westgate community, just minutes from Kincaid Park. There are several completed homes ready for move in. Tours begin at 4 pm, further details here.
7/30: The controversy-embroiled Alaska State Commission for Human Rights will meet in Anchorage at 9:30 am to discuss their search for an acting executive director. Read the agenda here.
7/30: The Big Game Commercial Services Board will meet in Anchorage at 9 am. The board will be discussing proposed regulation changes as well as considering new applications. Read the full board packet here.
Alaska History Archive:
July 29, 1900—119 years ago: Construction was completed on the widely known White Pass & Yukon Route railroad linking Skagway and Whitehorse. The new route provided a safe, rapid alternative to the treacherous Chilkoot Trail during the Klondike Gold Rush at the turn of the century. In 2018, Carnival Cruise Lines purchased the railway for $290 million.
July 30, 1904—115 years ago: The first telegraph message between the continental United States and Alaska was sent. The newly constructed undersea cable stretched from Seattle to Sitka (then one of Alaska’s most populous cities) and took several years to complete. The USS General Burnside, a civil war vessel turned crucial line-laying ship, had the honor of sending the first message over the line.
The reporting by the mainstream media on the Occupy to Overcome protests at the Delaney Park Strip in Anchorage painted a much more benign picture than the one that is emerging from witnesses.
At least two cars had their windows smashed as they were parked near the Park Strip on the morning of July 19, when the protesters were finally forced to move out of the downtown park or face arrest.
Witnesses say that many of the protesters were angry and belligerent at the eviction, when they moved to the edge of Valley of the Moon Park.
As the were packing up and leaving, between 8:30 and 10 am that day, vandalism to at least two cars occurred, according to the owner of one of the vehicles. He provided a photo of the other vehicle, owner unknown, that had its side window smashed out that morning.
“I take walks during my break, and I had been walking around my car to make sure they didn’t vandalize my car, but lo and behold, I knew something like this was going to happen. I already filed a police report, which will do absolutely nothing. Basically, I’m set back roughly $600,” he said.
In addition, garbage was left behind on the Delaney Park Strip and in the street, including several bottles filled with urine that were thrown onto the street by the protesters, as shown in the photo at the top of the page, and in the photo below, taken on July 19.
WAGING WAR AGAINST ‘CITIZENS UNITED,’ ONE STATE AT AT TIME
The group called Alaskans for Better Elections, headed by former Rep. Jason Grenn, has raised nearly zero dollars from Alaska since launching this spring.
Its main contributor is a Massachusetts-based group called RepresentUs.
That organization has contributed over $10,000 in in-kind donations to Alaskans for Better Elections, according to the group’s recent report to Alaska Public Offices Commission.
$10,000 for July services? That is what is being declared to APOC.
The goal of Alaskans for Better Elections is to get Alaskans to enact a law that would effectively undo the U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as Citizens United, which allows groups to raise money to influence the outcome of elections. The high court ruled that certain forms of political spending are protected political speech. Lots of groups get engaged in trying to influence the outcomes: Unions, business organizations and private groups like Americans for Prosperity and The Alaska Center (for the Environment) and Alaska Conservation Voters.
RepresentUs wants to end all that.
NAME SOUND FAMILIAR?
RepresentUs may sound familiar to Alaskans, but it’s all Outside. It is the same group that pressured lawmakers into passing HB 44, anti-corruption legislation signed into law by Gov. Bill Walker last year. (Photo above, with local children-as-props dressed in RepresentUs t-shirts.)
The legislation was supported by the League of Women Voters, and the Alaska Public Interest Research Group, which wrote a letters saying any legislator with a conflict of interest should not be allowed to vote on any item with that conflict.
ThE HB 44 legislation was found to be so flawed that lawmakers could not discuss any pending legislation that may affect any member of their family. In Alaska, where people have conflicts of interest all over the map, that was a problem. Legislators who have family members with commercial fishing permits were muzzled. Those who had family members driving with Uber could not deliberate legislation relating to ridesharing. Sen. Shelley Hughes found she was unable to discuss health care reform with anyone because her husband works in a health-related business.
To force HB 44 into law, RepresentUs paid for the collection of 45,000 signatures to put the Alaska Anti-Corruption Act on the November, 2018 ballot. With those signatures, Grenn and RepresentUs forced the Legislature to pass a similarly worded bill.
The Grenn law was so flawed that this year it had to be fixed.
“What we found in passing this law was when you put several pieces together, there became questions that could not be answered,” Senate Rules Committee Chairman John Coghill told reporters earlier this year. “Out of an abundance of caution people had retreated from doing their official work. So, this is actually fixing a problem that emerged.”
SB 89 fixed RepresentUs’ HB 49. It went into law in May, 2019.
NOW FOR THE BIG PLAY
Now RepresentUs is back for another swing at Alaska’s elections with its newly minted astroturf group, Alaskans for Better Elections. Astroturfing is fake grassroots campaigning.
Alaskans for Better Elections has raised a $50 contribution from Grenn, who is now a marketing director for United Way of Anchorage, a $100 check from Ship Creek Group consultant Paula DeLaiarro, and a $42 non-monetary contribution from someone who set up the website.
Then there’s the $10,000 in nonmonetary contributions from RepresentUs, making it clear who is running the show.
Campaign consultants say that Alaskans for Better Elections is nothing but a host organization for RepresentUs, which has a stated goals of trying to remove money from politics.
MORE ABOUT REPRESENTUS
RepresentUs is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) that has a 501(c)(4) advocacy subsidiary. The actual work of RepresentUs is done through the 501(c)(4).
Who funds RepresentUs? Left-leaning groups that include the Tides Foundation, the Park Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the same group that is waging a war on the Pebble Mine.
RepresentUs is run by its founder Josh Silver, a graduate of Evergreen State College in Washington State.
According to Wikipedia, “Silver advocates a grassroots campaign of citizen-led legislative lobbying and ballot initiatives passed at the city and state level to fix policy locally while building momentum towards national reform. The organization he co-founded and directs, RepresentUs, was established to support these grassroots anti-corruption efforts.”
In 2016, the last year the group’s tax filings are available at the IRS, RepresentUs received over $5 million in donor contributions and grants.
DEBTS PILE UP
While RepresentUs is providing all the staff work for the voter initiative, the bills are piling up. Alaskans for Better Elections now owes Ship Creek Group $2,500 for campaign start-up services and Paula DeLaiarro $2,000 for being the treasurer for the less than $300 in cash donations.
20 Democrat candidates will showcase their qualifications to be president on July 30 and 31 in Detroit, during the next round of presidential debates. This round is hosted by CNN with moderators Dana Bash, Don Lemon, and Jake Tapper:
July 30:
July 31:
DISQUALIFIED FROM THIS ROUND:
Candidates who did not raise enough money or poll well enough to be considered for this debate are:
Candidates needed 1 percent support in three qualifying polls, or to have gained 65,000 unique donations with a minimum of 200 unique donors per state in 20 states.
WHERE TO WATCH
The debates are on CNN, as well as CNN.com and the mobil apps for CNN on iOS and Android. No need to log in with a cable provider if you watch livestream. They will run from 8-10 pm Eastern Time, 4 pm-6 pm Alaska Time.
FORMAT
Candidates will give opening and closing statements, and have one minute to respond to direct questions from moderators, as well as 30 seconds for responses or rebuttals. There will be no questions in the “show-of-hand” or one-word answers.
The Democratic National Convention is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 13-16.
Israel and the United States successfully completed tests of an advanced Arrow 3 missile defense system in Alaska, the Israeli Defense Ministry told the Times of Israel.
The tests were performed at the Alaska Aerospace Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak, operated by the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, which is owned by the State of Alaska.
“The weapon system successfully demonstrated hit-to-kill interceptions of ballistic targets in space, according to the ministry, which added that the operation was conducted in Alaska in order to test capabilities that cannot be tested in Israel. The rocket system succeeded in simultaneously intercepting multiple targets,” the Times of Israel reported.
The Arrow 3 will allow Israel to intercept long-range ballistic missile targets outside the atmosphere, and provides more capability in shooting down Iranian nuclear missiles
Temporary flight restrictions had been established for the Kodiak launch facility in recent days in anticipation of the tests. The most recent launch took place early on July 28.
Israel’s Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer was in Kodiak for the launch, according to the newspaper. Watch the video from the Israeli government was posted at the Times of Israel:
[Read: Israel to test rocket launch in Kodiak]
The Pacific Spaceport Complex is located at Narrow Cape on Kodiak Island, surrounded by 3,700 acres. The complex provides a suite of services to government and commercial customers.
Sen. Dan Sullivan offered this comment today: “Alaska’s critical role in our nation’s missile defense and that of our allies was demonstrated again this month with the successful joint U.S.-Israeli test of the Arrow-3 Interceptor at the Kodiak Launch Complex. I’ve worked to successfully advance legislation these past three years that has bolstered our missile defense and the testing of these systems in Alaska. This test should send a strong message to our common adversary, Iran, about our ability to deter any aggressive act against our allies in the region. Lastly, I want to thank the great people of Kodiak who have been host to American and Israeli officials working to achieve this milestone.”
