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MRAK Almanac: Board of Regents meets, Mat-Su Miners final home game of season

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MRAK Almanac: Board of Regents meets, Mat-Su Miners final home game of season

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:

  1. Denali
  2. Gates of the Arctic
  3. Glacier Bay
  4. Katmai
  5. Kenai Fjords (the smallest in Alaska)
  6. Kobuk Valley
  7. Lake Clark
  8. Wrangell-St. Elias (the largest in Alaska as well as the entire United States)

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.

 

 

Untold stories of vandalism at Camp Berkowitz

Suzanne Downing
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Untold stories of vandalism at Camp Berkowitz

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.

The groups taking responsibility for the occupation of the park are:
  • Defend the Sacred
  • Native Movement
  • Alaska Rising Tide
  • Alaska Poor People’s Campaign
  • Alaskans Take a Stand (this is the Recall Dunleavy group)
  • Fireweed Collective

Jason Grenn’s new ‘Better Elections’ group is all-Outside money

Suzanne Downing
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4
Jason Grenn’s new ‘Better Elections’ group is all-Outside money

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.

‘Dark money’ special interests wage war on 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.

Democrats vs Democrats on Tuesday, Wednesday

Suzanne Downing
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4
Democrats vs Democrats on Tuesday, Wednesday

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:

  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
  • Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont
  • Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana
  • Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio
  • Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper
  • Former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland
  • Author Marianne Williamson
  • Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
  • Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana
  • Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas

July 31:

  • Former Vice President Joe Biden
  • Sen. Kamala Harris of California
  • Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii
  • Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York
  • Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey
  • Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City
  • Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado
  • Entrepreneur Andrew Yang
  • Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington
  • Former Housing Secretary Julián Castro

DISQUALIFIED FROM THIS ROUND:

Candidates who did not raise enough money or poll well enough to be considered for this debate are:

  • Rep. Seth Moulton
  • Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel
  • Mayor Wayne Messam of Miramar, Florida
  • Entrepreneur Tom Steyer
  • Former Rep. Joe Sestak

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, U.S. complete rocket launch in Kodiak

Suzanne Downing
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Israel, U.S. complete rocket launch in Kodiak

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.”

Facebook poll draws copycats: Results

Suzanne Downing
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Facebook poll draws copycats: Results

Hours after Must Read Alaska posted a 23-hour Facebook poll on how Alaskans view the “proper” amount for the Permanent Fund dividend, both a big union-backed website and a liberal pollster posted copycat polls using the exact same language on their own Facebook feeds.

The results were all over the map.

In the original Must Read Alaska poll, 29 percent of participants chose the $1,600 PFD, while 71 percent of participants favored a $3,000 PFD. Over 4,000 participants took part.

In the leftwing/union copycat poll, the split was closer, 43 percent for the $1,600 option, and 57 percent for the $3,000 PFD. That poll is still running, so results may vary.

Ivan Moore’s copycat poll, however, was hidden from sight after only a few hours.

Moore, too, used the exact same language as the Must Read Alaska poll, and his poll at his Alaska Survey Research company Facebook page was originally set to run the poll for six days. It went 28 percent for the $1,600 PFD and 72 percent for the $3,000 option. The results were evidently not what he expected.

Although Alaska Survey Research made the poll disappear, several people were able to get a screenshot of it:

Warning: Foul language ahead:

Ivan Moore, who positions himself as a legitimate pollster, was having a particularly rough day, and ended up cussing out someone on his Facebook feed regarding some possibly questionable polling he’d been doing on Facebook about the presidential race:

$3,000 PFD leaves Senate Finance for Rules Committee

Suzanne Downing
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WHERE IT WILL BE ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

An amendment to increase the Permanent Fund dividend to the full statutory amount of $3,000 moved out of Senate Finance Committee.

The amount, which is the statutorily set PFD, is expected to be reduced again when it hits the Senate Rules Committee on Sunday. Sen. John Coghill of Fairbanks is chair of that committee and is on record as favoring a more modest dividend.

The “full dividend” amendment was offered by Sen. Mike Shower of Wasilla, District E. Voting with Shower was Sens. Peter Micciche, David Wilson, Bill Wielechowski, and Donny Olson. The four voting against the $3,000 were Sens. Click Bishop, Natasha Von Imhof, Bert Stedman, and Lyman Hoffman.

Shortly after the Finance Committee adjourned, Senate President Cathy Giessel, and Sens. Stedman, Von Imhof and Coghill met; subsequent to that meeting, the bill was sent to the Rules Committee, where it will be considered tomorrow and passed to the floor.

BILL COMBINED WITH INCREASE IN STATE SPENDING

HB 2001 has another aspect to it that is sure to be controversial: It adds back about 80 percent of the vetoed budget items that were red-penned by Gov. Michael Dunleavy.

Of the $444 million in vetoes that Dunleavy made to the operating budget, HB 2001 leaves just $91 million of the cuts in place, restoring funding to myriad programs, including $110 million to the University of Alaska System, funds for Medicaid, Public Broadcasting, Senior Benefits, and more.

[See all the spending items here]

In the committee substitute bill that passed, funding of the dividend itself is decoupled from the earnings of the oil royalties, with $875 million coming from the Earnings Reserve Account of the Alaska Permanent Fund, $172 million coming out of the Statutory Budget Reserve (draining it), and $900 million coming from the General Fund.

The differences between the House and Senate bills will likely end up in a conference committee. The House bill is either $1,335 or $1,600, depending on whether the House Republican Minority allows the Democrat-led Majority in the House to access the Constitutional Budget Reserve.

Alaskans may be confused at this point about the amount of their share of the oil wealth, which should be in their bank accounts in early October. The Legislature, by abandoning the statutory formula, is left to battle it out politically for the fourth year, but this year it’s clear that the leaders of the Legislature are forcing the dividend to compete with every other program needing funding.

Shame poles get partisan with Tlingit carvers

Suzanne Downing
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Shame poles get partisan with Tlingit carvers

Social media photo by Christina Cranston, the co-carver of the pole.

They’re calling it a ridicule pole for Gov. Michael Dunleavy and President Donald Trump, Tommy Joseph, a Sitka Tlingit master carver, told KCAW radio in Sitka. Or a shame pole, if you prefer.

Joseph and his carving partner Kristina Cranston say they’re trying to shame the governor for his vetoes of a budget — an event that has paralyzed the Legislature for months. Sunday will  be the 194th day of legislative session.

The carvers, upset over Republican leaders, worked with the tools they have and made a ridicule totem.

The shame poles of spending growth: The Alaska State Budget’s unrestricted general fund spending on agency operations since 1975, with the current veto shown in red.

The shaming totem poll has captured the attention of the media, as it should, but conservatives have quietly responded, asking Must Read Alaska unanswerable questions:

  • Where’s the shame poll for the most recent former lieutenant governor, who was forced out of office?
  • Is there a shame poll for the Hoonah man who killed two policemen.
  • How about the Angoon man who sexually abused a six-year-old?

There are some things that just cannot be talked about.

Former Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott displayed large artwork of a new shaming pole that featured William Seward, the Secretary of State who pushed for the purchase of Alaska from Czarist Russia. The art was prominently featured right outside the Office of the Lieutenant Governor for half of his tenure in office, and he said it would help bring closure for a shameful part of Alaska history.

[Read: New art at lieutenant governor’s office honors shaming of William Seward]

But at the end of his tenure, Mallott was forced from office for unsavory overtures toward a teenager.

Totem poles are a relatively new development in Northwest Native art. Before the introduction of metal tools in the 18th Century, which were brought by Europeans, totem poles were the size of a walking stick.

As metal tools became available through interaction between Natives and explorers, the poles developed into the monument sizes we see today — large, impressive, and now full of political commentary about those of European heritage.

Earlier this month, Tommy Joseph and other Native artists and their friends draped totem poles in black shrouds to protest the death of art in Alaska with the defunding of the Alaska State Council on the Arts.

But as time has shown, art is not dead at all. It’s just taken a partisan turn.

 

MRAK poll: Most want $3,000 Permanent Fund dividend

Suzanne Downing
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MRAK poll: Most want $3,000 Permanent Fund dividend

In a 23-hour, nonscientific poll on Facebook, with more than 4,000 participants, the early results favored the $3,000 to a greater degree than the final results. As the hours wore on, the poll was widely shared among the liberal elite, with many of them encouraging their friends on Facebook to share it with more of those who would vote against a $3,000 dividend.

Here’s a snapshot of the poll about halfway through the polling period before the Left had fully gotten engaged:

 

1...1,4871,4881,489...1,829Page 1,488 of 1,829

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