Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her some 35 years ago – while both were in high school – further has tossed the Senate confirmation process into what one senator calls “an intergalactic freak show.”
Ford, who made her allegation, at least initially, anonymously, has said through her lawyer she is willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which already has held hearings on Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Kavanaugh – who emphatically says Ford’s allegations are untrue – says he, too, would testify.
We find ourselves siding with Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who said Ford ‘deserves to be heard’ in an ‘appropriate’ manner. We would add, and be heard darned soon.
Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote is set for Thursday. The American public deserves to hear what Ford has to say and listen to Kavanaugh on the subject and then have the vote on whether he will join the Supreme Court.
No matter your feelings on her allegations, or their timing, getting her testimony in the next day or two, along with Kavanaugh’s, still would allow the scheduled vote, and it would go a long way toward assuaging the concerns of those who believe her charges are simply the latest move by Democrats to derail or delay his nomination until after the midterm elections.
If she declines to testify before Thursday, we all be left to evaluate her motives.
Alyse Galvin is the latest Democrat to try to unseat Congressman Don Young, and she tried up knock him off his game today during the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce debate that left many shaking their heads at her.
Galvin read aloud her prepared attacks on Young, but the impression she gave was that if the seasoned warrior was for something, then she was simply against it, and she was going to read him her riot act.
After initially appearing annoyed, Young finally called her out on her nastiness, “I am amazed to listen to my so-called opponent,” said Don Young. “She’s already nasty. I thought this was going to be a civilized campaign,” he said.
Observers said this was a clear Don Young victory today and that Galvin weakened her position by appearing so negative.
The former merchant marine, teacher, state representative, state senator, and congressman for all Alaska for the last 44 years, who is now Dean of the U.S. House was unfazed, having fended off attacks over the course of more than 20 campaigns.
Later in the evening, he met with supporters in Eagle River at the Eagle River Ale House.
By statute, the Stand for Salmon ballot initiative (Ballot Measure 1) hearing process is making its way through Alaska’s judicial districts, where two hearings will be held in each.
Anchorage residents have their first hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 18, at 2 pm at the Legislative Information Offices, which are in the Wells Fargo Building at 1500 W. Benson Blvd, on the corner of Minnesota Blvd.
Testimony is limited to two minutes, and you don’t have to be a fisheries biologist to participate; those testifying will not be quizzed by hearing officers. You can get tips for your testimony here.
The ballot initiative, if passed, would change Alaska’s permitting laws and give the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner not just the authority but a mandate to stop much development in all habitat in Alaska that directly or indirectly supports salmon or other fish with a similar life cycle.
The act would create three types of permits for development: Fish and Game could issue a general permit for certain small activities. For other activities, Fish and Game would have a two-track permitting system. Minor permits would be issued for activities that have little impact on fish habitat, and major permits would be for those that have what are deemed to be significant adverse effects.
That would things like houses, driveways, roads, airports, hospitals, and sewage systems.
The act would allow Fish and Game to give tickets and levy fines or criminal penalties.
Hundreds of business entities and Native Corporations have come forward to oppose the initiative, which is being pushed by organizations such as the Stand for Salmon group, the Alaska Center, and even gubernatorial candidate Mark Begich.
It’s not clear what testimony accomplishes since the issue has already been approved for the ballot and the ballot for the General Election has been printed, but opponents and proponents of the initiative are pushing their people to make a good showing to help influence voters. And public hearings are required by state statute.
In Juneau, the hearing was not well attended last 10 days ago due to the short public notice timeframe. Few testified at the hearings in Nome and Kotzebue last week.
All testimony will be documented and published by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor. The public may also submit written testimony and comment on the initiative through links on this page.
Services for Robert Byron Gillam, businessman and political activist, have been set for 2 pm on Sept. 23 at the Captain Cook Hotel.
Gillam, an Anchorage resident, died on Sept. 12 at Providence Alaska Medical Center, after suffering a stroke. Born on July 7, 1946, he was 72 when he passed away, having built a private investment firm based in Anchorage that was world class, with $7 billion under its management.
He was also exceedingly generous, but often quietly, funding the college tuition for many students. He spent $30 million opposing the development of the Pebble Mine in western Alaska, a mine he felt was in the wrong place and could harm fisheries in Bristol Bay.
Reversing the decade-long planning and roll out of the two Alaska Class ferries, the Walker Administration plans a multi-million dollar retrofit that will add crew quarters and double the number of state workers needed to run the ferries.
The Alaska Class ferries were built in Ketchikan, the first ferries to be built in Alaska. It took years of planning and design to get the right ferry configuration that would be able to do shorter runs, and cut down the cost of running the ferries.
Crew could return to their own homes at night, or could be put up in hotels, if they had to stay the night in a community due to weather or maintenance. Hotels are cheaper alternatives than state-owned and run crew quarters. Without the need for crew quarters, the ships could also eliminate full-service galleys, passenger cabins, and other amenities that require workers to maintain ferries. Each ferry could run with a crew of just nine, and by using scheduling more efficiently, stay within the 12-hour shift limit placed on the vessels by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Parnell Administration returned federal dollars and paid for the construction of the ferries with state funds alone, so that Ketchikan would have a shot winning the bids for building the two ferries, thus starting a new industry in Ketchikan.
The Tazlina and the Hubbard were built primarily for northern Lynn Canal day runs, between Juneau, Haines, Skagway and Hoonah. They were part of the Juneau Access project. To make the whole system work better, the 49-mile road would be extended to a new ferry terminal. They could also be used for other short runs around Southeast Alaska.
The Tazlina was completed and christened earlier this year.
But elections have consequences. The Walker Administration owes its existence to the support of the major labor unions that supported him in 2014 and support him today. Union workers fly in from Bellingham and as far away as Chile, South America, to take the lucrative jobs, where they are paid to sleep when they are not on duty. Some workers maintain Alaska post office boxes so they can get the Alaska pay differential, which is worth several dollars an hour.
Walker killed the 49-mile road project, which was paid for with already-assigned federal dollars. Now, his Department of Transportation is planning to retrofit the two Alaska Class ferries for a cost of about $14 million each, adding crew quarters. To retrofit the Tazlina, it will have to be back in Ketchikan for another nine months.
Come November, the next governor will have the opportunity to decide if this is a long-term operating budget cost-driver, and whether to proceed with the retrofit or restart the Juneau Access Project.
Bill Vadja, who was hired to be Gov. Bill Walker’s first chief information officer, has left the building. His departure from the Walker Administration occurred in August.
Vadja, the former city manager of Marquette, Mich., was in charge of consolidating the state’s information technology functions into a single entity. His job was created when Walker signed Administrative Order 284, creating the Office of Information Technology.
It was never going to be an easy job in a silo-entrenched culture. Vadja lasted 16 months.
While City Manager for Marquette, the community was recognized by President Barack Obama as the model for how local government should be managed in the 21st Century. Vadja was also a senior advisor to the Obama White House, where he had served as chief of coordination for the comprehensive national cybersecurity initiative during the Bush-Obama presidential transition.
It appears Vajda, who has plenty of political experience, has detected a change the political winds in Juneau. There may be a new administration come December, and the Juneau job market will be lean for appointees of Gov. Bill Walker, especially ones who were hired to be disruptors of current systems and who are highly trained in technology management.
Vajda’s resignation is one of two from the Office of Information Technology. Jim Steele was promoted to Deputy Chief Information Officer by Vajda in May of 2017, but left in December.
Meanwhile, John Boucher, a senior analyst at the Office of Management and Budget, is filling in. Although the administration has said it would search for a news leader for the Office of Information Technology, it’s unlikely that anyone will be found who would accept the job on the eve of a gubernatorial election.
This past winter, Vajda hired one of his friends from Marquette to be the state’s first-ever Innovation Stakeholder Change Manager. Jason Schneider, who had founded the Marquette Chamber of Commerce, came on board immediately after the Legislature adjourned in May.
The state’s change agent Schneider is still on payroll.
U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan was made a full colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve on Saturday evening at a ceremony at American Legion Post 28 in Spenard, Anchorage.
The master of ceremonies was retired Air Force Col. Otto Feather, who worked for Sen. Sullivan for a couple of years.
The only rank higher for a field officer like Sullivan is brigadier general. It is equivalent to the naval rank of captain in the other uniformed services.
Attending the ceremony was Sullivan’s wife Julie, her father Bud Fate of Fairbanks, and two of the Sullivan children (the third is away in school). Among the 40 people who attended were Gen. and Dee Dee Ralston, Jon Katchen, Ashley Reed, Josh Revak, Laddie Shaw, Dave and Darci Stieren, Ben and Elizabeth Stevens, Renee Limoge Reeve, Robyn Engibous, Art Hackney, Greg Chapados, Dr. Creed Mamikunian and his wife, who are personal friends of the Sullivan’s, neighbors of the family and several Marine Corps friends whom he has served with.
Sullivan gave short remarks about what being a Marine meant to him, saying that of his accomplishments, being a Marine is one of his most important to him.
Sullivan has served in the U.S. Marine Corps since 1993, and has been on active duty in Afghanistan. He currently trains and serves in the Reserves. Sullivan has been called to active duty three times since moving to Alaska, from 2004 to 2006, in 2009, and again in 2013. Sullivan is a recipient of the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.
After the Alaska Federation of Natives sent a letter to Alaska’s U.S. senators opposing the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court justice, Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan picked up the phone.
Before returning to Alaska for the weekend, where he was to receive a promotion to colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps and speak at a Republican Party meeting, he called Kavanaugh and had a long talk, asking him about each of the concerns that AFN had brought forth.
Kavanaugh’s answers were more than acceptable, Sullivan said on Friday.
The senator found no shred of evidence that Kavanaugh holds any hostile view of Alaska Natives. In fact, Sullivan said Kavanaugh recognizes that Alaska Natives have been repeatedly recognized by Congress as indigenous people, with tribal status, whereas the Native Hawaiians have not been recognized in the same way by Congress.
The criticism that Kavanaugh would view Alaska Natives from a uninformed stance is not grounded in the judges’s actions or answers, Sullivan said.
The AFN letter was something Sullivan took seriously. He said not only are nearly 20 percent of Alaskans tied to a Native heritage, his wife and children are Alaska Native, so he takes these kinds of questions are not merely academic to him.
“To be perfectly clear, If I believed or saw evidence that Judge Kavanaugh’s views were somehow opposed or hostile to Alaska Natives, a very important population to our state that happens to include my wife, and daughters and mother in law, I would not support his confirmation. Yesterday I asked him if he held such views. He said no and I believe him,” Sullivan said, after having a phone call with Kavanaugh that lasted over 30 minutes.
“I wanted to hear directly from Judge Kavanaugh on these issues because they are important to my constituents,” Sullivan said.
Regarding the Sturgeon case, which is a instance of a moose hunter trying to get access to hunting grounds, Sullivan said that Kavanaugh has made it clear that he knows Alaska is different, and has unique laws that apply, such as the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
“Congress has repeatedly made it clear, we are different and we need to be viewed through that lens,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said many Alaska Native leaders were in D.C. last week and he had met with several of them.
“I just wanted to say I am listening, hearing this, I said it was important enough. And [AFN] is a very important organization,” he said.
Regarding something called the Indian Commerce Clause, Sullivan said that Kavanaugh has never had a case that deals with that, because he’s been in the D.C. District Court, where few of these cases are ever brought. The last justice confirmed, Neal Gorsuch, had served in the 10th Circuit, and therefore had a clear record where he had ruled in favor of tribes vs. the federal government. Kavanaugh assured Sullivan that he would be an independent voice on the court regarding how the commerce clause is interpreted.
Sullivan said he gave Sen. Lisa Murkowski a call and debriefed her on the conversation he had had with Kavanaugh.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on the nomination on Thursday.
Juneau’s municipal property taxes are due at the end of September. Your residential water and sewer bill, due monthly, has risen to over $140. In September 2014, that bill was under $100.
I’m not suggesting the 42 percent increase isn’t justified. We all want our toilets to flush and clean water coming out of our taps.
Our local assembly is where hard choices are made about property tax increases and fee hikes in essential services like water and sewer. Decisions require our elected leaders to balance competing community wants and needs against the limited amount of funds available. This often puts them in the unenviable position of having to say “no.” And when they do that, they often cite “cost of living” as a reason.
In July, Alaska’s Department of Labor released its annual report on Cost of Living in the 49th State. The report compares the changing cost of groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, healthcare, and miscellaneous goods and services among cities as well as between state and national averages.
Win Gruening
We learned that, thankfully, Alaska inflation hovered near a record low for a third straight year in 2017 and was considerably lower than the national average.
Yet, despite the recession Alaskans are weathering, Alaska is the seventh most expensive state to live in – 23.6 percent higher than the national average. Ranking worse were those you might expect: New York, California, Hawaii (and the District of Columbia) among others.
More revealing is the comparison between cities within Alaska. While many rural communities have higher costs of living than urban areas, of Alaska’s three largest cities, Juneau was costliest at 34.5 percent above the national average.
According to the U. S. Department of Labor, Alaskan households spend 75 percent of their income in three areas: housing, transportation, and groceries.
Among eight Alaskan cities surveyed, Juneau was the most expensive place to buy the average single-family home. Even though Juneau has higher household income, it was also the least affordable – requiring 1.7 average paychecks to cover a mortgage payment. Juneau also had the second highest average rent – only Kodiak being higher.
Among larger cities, Juneau groceries were also the most expensive.
How can we best address this? Well, achieving a healthy, growing local economy is one way to decrease the cost of living.
That’s one of the reasons some assembly members have supported Juneau Access – not just as a way to lower transportation costs that significantly affect prices of many other items, but also to grow the economy with new jobs and stabilize our population.
To keep the CBJ coffers full takes not only taxes, but more businesses and more people to pay them. Whenthe economic pie gets bigger, more people work, spend and pay sales tax and buy taxable property.
Of course, we have other goals as well, and our assembly has been responsive and generous in providing core needs within our community: public safety, education, and infrastructure (including housing).
These sometimes-competing goalsin our community help determine whether we will be able to earn a living and raise our families, with good schools, and a quality of life that keeps us safe, comfortable and fulfilled.
But in an economy where our population and jobs are decreasing, the subtle but inexorable increase in our cost of living can threaten that balance.
I would argue that quality of life is improved dramatically when cost of living is reduced. When your disposable income increases, you can afford better housing, purchase more goods, take vacations more frequently, and, generally, reduce stress on your family budget.
A common belief among voters is they can do little to influence the cost of living in their community – that it’s out of their hands and dictated by market forces over which they have no control. But that’s not true.
In recent CBJ Assembly meetings, some members voted against funding expensive new projects, declining to raise property taxes, and refusing to take on additional debt.
These were tough decisions made by elected leaders who realize the importance of lowering your cost of living.
As a voter, you can make a difference by voting for candidates who also understand this.
Make your vote count.
Win Gruening retired as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in 2012. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is active in community affairs as a 30-plus year member of Juneau Downtown Rotary Club and has been involved in various local and statewide organizations.
