After the theatrics in Senate Finance Committee earlier on Monday, when some senators took the opportunity to lecture and attack Office of Management and Budget Director Donna Arduin, the OMB director might have layered on some extra armor for her first meeting with House Finance Committee.
After all, the House is closer to the people and passions can run high.
But extra armor wasn’t necessary. The House Finance Committee, meeting for the first time to take up the matter of the operating budget, displayed a completely different tone: It was one of respect and reflection, without adversarial baiting of the witnesses.
As with Senate Finance, Arduin, Budget Director Lacey Sanders, and Policy Director Mike Barnhill sat before the committee to give an overview of the proposed $4.6 billion budget, which is $1.6 billion less than the Gov. Bill Walker proposed budget.
Members of the committee asked questions, sought clarification, and occasionally put points on the record that they want the administration to ponder.
Co-chair Neal Foster, who represents Nome and other parts of District 39, wanted to make sure Arduin knew why the Power Cost Equalization program came into being in the first place: Other areas of the state had state funding for dams, such as the Four Dam Pool, Dorothy Lake, and Bradley Lake.
Foster said he supports those programs because they’ve been good for the economy of the Railbelt and Southeast Alaska.
Foster put it on record that rural Alaska has the Power Cost Equalization program to keep things fair. Taking away that designated fund and putting it back into the general fund might force rural areas to compete for those funds with every other need the state has, he explained. His district, of course, would be greatly impacted, in that scenario.
But neither Foster nor any other member of the House Finance Committee showboated for the camera. They made their points with facts.
Rep. Andy Josephson earnestly asked how the State can create for predictability in budgeting if it’s still completely wedded to oil taxes. But he asked his question without badgering.
Rep. Bart LeBon added the importance of remembering that the University of Alaska Fairbanks budget is larger because the campus provides administrative services to the rest of the system.
And Rep. Tammie Wilson asked whether the budget writers had considered the higher per-student cost of education in rural Alaska, compared with urban Alaska, when cutting the base student allocation across the board.
But the questions were respectful and the comments made by legislators showed observers how a budget hearing can be conducted, even while the multiple participants had deep concerns.
MAYOR WELDON WRITES ABOUT ‘TROUBLING’ SOCIAL MEDIA ATTACKS
Also today, the mayor and city manager of Juneau published a letter to the editor in the Juneau Empire, advising citizens of the community to keep their focus on the problem, and not attack individuals.
Without naming Arduin or others, Mayor Beth Weldon and Manager Rorie Watt wrote that some of the posts they’ve seen on social media have been “troubling and aggressive, and we appeal to your better senses. Let’s be the good capital city that we work so hard to be. Democracies are about the debate and consideration of ideas. Take faith that the best ideas will prevail, and channel your energy into explaining and defending those ideas.”
The letter continued: “Let’s be hard on the problems not on the people. Your participation in the public process is essential to the good health of our democratic process. We have a long way to go before the state’s budget is finalized.”
(3-minute read) YALE U. GROUP STUDIES HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MIND
Six in 10 Americans are either “alarmed” or “concerned” about a warming global climate, and the number of people who are in the alarmed category has doubled since 2013, according to a new survey published by two academic organizations devoted to learning how to convince people to be alarmed enough to support government action.
The yearly study breaks respondents into “Six Americas” based on their climate change beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. The “alarmed” are the most worried about global warming and most supportive of aggressive action to reduce carbon pollution. In contrast, the “dismissive” do not believe global warming is happening or human-caused and strongly oppose climate action.
The research was funded by the climate change advocacy groups 11th Hour Project, the Endeavor Foundation, the Energy Foundation, the Grantham Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation.
The researchers are cheered that, according to the responses received, 29 percent of Americans are now alarmed at global warming, an all-time high since the annual survey started five years ago.
The Americans who are dismissive of climate change or doubtful decreased by 12 points. These are the people who either do not believe it is happened or are doubtful it is human-caused. They are the ones strongly opposed to climate action, such as the Paris Agreement.
The survey was conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, which supports the theory of human-caused global warming. The program boasts that its work helped convince the Obama White House to make climate change an administration priority.
In 2013, the alarmed and dismissive were an equal size at 14 percent of U.S. adults, a total of 28 percent. By December, 2018, however, the alarmed now outnumber the dismissive more than 3 to 1 (29 percent vs. 9 percent), representing a major shift in these two parts of the general population who are most engaged in the issue of climate change.
But there’s a catch: The survey was web-based and self-administered by respondents.
Yet for political figures, it’s instructive to know that attitudes on climate change may be changing and the public may be more amenable to government action to reduce carbon emissions and to curtail other pollutants.
For policymakers and political observers, it’s instructive to know that there is a concerted and well-funded effort underway to learn how to persuade Americans to move into the “alarmed” category.
For those with investments in energy such as coal, oil, and gas, or even wind and solar, information about public attitudes is worth monitoring, as government policy often follows attitudinal changes.
Rep. George Rauscher of Sutton offered a flurry of bills this session, and one of them is sure to get the progressives up in arms — if it ever gets a hearing.
HB 5would prohibit State funds from being used to pay for “gender reassignment” surgery or other similar procedures for prisoners.
Gender reassignment from male to female involves removing male genitalia and crafting something that resembles female genitalia. It requires lifelong hormonal treatments to reduce masculine appearance. Changing from a man to a woman would allow a prisoner to enter a women’s prison.
The bill is in response to real situations across the nation, that began most publicly with former federal inmate Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning, who began fighting for the procedure while still serving a 35-year sentence for espionage, after he leaked classified documents. His sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama before he left office. Manning had the surgery after leaving prison.
The Democrat-led House of Representatives, where Rep. Rauscher is now part of a 15-member republican minority, didn’t treat HB 5 with open arms. Speaker Bryce Edgmon sent it to three committees: State Affairs, Education, and HSS.
Why so many committees? This is one of the tools a majority has to hobble a bill’s progress when it disagrees with the bill. The referral of this bill to the Education Committee, chaired by Rep. Harriet Drummond, is a example of why the choice of House Speakers matters. The bill appears to have little relevance to the normal work of the Education Committee.
Sen. Bernie Sanders has exploded back on the scene, raising $6 million on his first day after announcing his run for president.
His social media team was still trying to get out of the starting gate, however, with their map of “ALL 50 STATES” that excluded Alaska and Hawaii, had Nevada squeezing out California, and Oregon bulging into the offshore Cascade Subduction.
The Socialist Sanders says this time, he’ll win, and it will be a populist movement.
“In the last year, more American workers went on strike than in any year in nearly 3 decades. When we stand together and fight, we can accomplish anything. We can transform this country from the bottom on up,” he said on Twitter.
He’s also going after the older American vote: “At a time when half of older Americans over the age of 55 have no retirement savings, our job is to expand Social Security to make sure that everyone in this country can retire with the dignity they have earned and everyone with a disability can live with the security they need.” That way, Americans can continue to not save for retirement, generation after generation.
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Pebble Project has been released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today.
The Pebble Partnership says that the plan shows the mine can be done in an environmentally responsible manner and that the draft EIS shows the plan has a “clear path forward for success in permitting the project.”
“Our preliminary review of the DEIS shows no major data gaps or substantive impacts that cannot be appropriately mitigated. We see no significant environmental challenges that would preclude the project from getting a permit and this shows Alaska stakeholders that there is a clear path forward for this project that could potentially generate significant economic activity, tax revenue and thousands of jobs,” said Pebble CEO Tom Collier. “I also commend the Corps for their comprehensive, efficient and transparent management of the process thus far.”
The document is a draft that will be subject to public review and comment periods to develop the final EIS that forms the formal “record of decision.”
Pebble will develop its own comments about the draft after reviewing it, but Collier said that the first look at the document shows no major hurdles.
“Since this is our first chance to see what the Corps has evaluated, I fully expect a few bumps along the way before we conclude this process. This is what reviewing a draft is all about. While we have a lot of work remaining in front of us, this is clearly a very exciting time for the project as we have reached a significant milestone for Pebble,” said Collier.
In December 2017, Pebble submitted its application with the Corps to begin the process for permitting the 20-year mine development plan for the Pebble Deposit. The project has a smaller footprint, has no major mine facilities in the Upper Talarik drainage. It uses no cyanide for secondary gold recovery.
“We have stated that the project must co-exist with the important salmon fishery in the region and we believe we will not harm the fish and water resources in Bristol Bay. Now we have a science based, objective assessment of the project that affirms our work,” said Collier.
The mine has been a hot-button issue for Alaskans, and often comes into play during elections. The environmental industry has blocked it for years, and the Obama Administration put an illegal preemptive prohibition on Pebble advancing through the permitting process. That was undone after Pebble sued the Environmental Protection Agency.
A major appropriations package passed Congress last week that included $655 million for the design and construction of a new “heavy polar security cutter,” also known as an icebreaker, $20 million to acquire long lead-time materials for a second icebreaker, $400 million for offshore patrol cutters and $340 million for fast response cutters, six of which will be based in Alaska.
The funding means the country will construct the first two heavy-duty icebreakers in 40 years.
The bill provides $53 million for shore-side infrastructure facilities in Alaska to support the new cutters, with $22 million going to Kodiak and $31 million to Seward.
“After years of advocating for the federal government to take America’s role as an Arctic nation seriously, we have finally secured substantial resources for our country to strengthen its position in the region with a brand-new icebreaker,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan.
“With this appropriation, Congress and the Trump administration are acknowledging that Alaska is America’s Arctic, a fact that is important to our broader national security interests. I was glad to have the opportunity to use my leadership role on the Commerce and Armed Services Committees, in conjunction with Senator Murkowski’s work on the Appropriations Committee, to secure America’s first new polar icebreaker in a generation and the needs of the Coast Guard in Alaska.”
Sullivan will likely discuss details of the appropriations during his speech to the Alaska Legislature at 11 am on Thursday.
COULD BE DEATH KNELL FOR RETURN OF PAST FUNDS TO ALASKANS
Gov. Michael Dunleavy’s bills to pay back the portion of the Permanent Fund dividend that was taken from Alaskans by Gov. Bill Walker has hit its first major roadblock: The Democrat-controlled House has referred the bills to three committees.
HB 46 and HB 47 were sent to State Affairs, Judiciary, and Finance Committees. State Affairs is chaired by Sitka Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, and vice chaired by Anchorage Democrat Zack Fields. Judiciary is chaired by Anchorage Democrat Matt Claman.
HB 46 and HB 47 would pay back between $600 and $700 million a year over three years to Alaskans who were eligible for the dividend in the years it was cut roughly in half by Walker.
SB 23, the companion legislation in the Republican-controlled Senate, was only referred to two committees: State Affairs and Finance. A similar bill by Democrat Bill Wielechowski, SB 13,also received just two committee referrals in the Senate.
At the same time, HB 31, sponsored by Kreiss-Tompkins, proposes to take $5.5 billion out of the Permanent Fund Earnings Reserve Account and place it into the principal of the Permanent Fund.
Kreiss-Tompkins’ bill would be an unstructured, one-time draw of nearly one-third of the reserve account, a profound impact on the fund, considering the other pressures on it. Yet the bill only received two committee assignments, one being Kreiss-Tomkins’ State Affairs Committee, which will be friendly to it. The other being Finance, where it will be managed by Democrat Neal Foster, the co-chair of Finance who is in charge of the operating budget.
ELECTION COMING: AFL-CIO WANTS TO ORGANIZE LOCAL PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
By ART CHANCE SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
Vince Beltrami, AFL-CIO president for Alaska, is looking for new worlds to conquer.
Vinnie isn’t really a goon, but he’d like everyone to think he is. Even though he comes out of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, he isn’t even a wireman; he’s more of a salesman they recruited for their apprenticeship program.
Once upon a time you had to have at least made some pretense of handling a 135Kv line in the dark while enduring a 50-mph wind to get far in IBEW leadership.
Art Chance
I don’t know that Vinny is such a good political operative or that his opposition has been so inept or oblivious, but he has turned Alaska purple. I’ll give him that.
Now he’s trying to add Seward, Alaska to the AFL-CIO fold.
A March 19 special election in Seward will be held to do just that, and if he succeeds, Vinny will have Seward no longer exempt from the Public Employee Relations Act, so he can organize the public employees.
Anchorage and Fairbanks have been union towns since Territorial days. The port towns had some union presence on the docks and ships, but not much else.
Alaska split between longshoremen of the Harry Bridges’ communist West Coast Longshoremen’s Union and the Teamsters, who had more loyalty to Washington, D.C. than to Moscow.
To the extent that public employees bargained at all, it was under local ordinances and the unions were subsidiaries of the trades unions, styled as “joint crafts councils” and the like so that the operation and maintenance employees of public employers weren’t eligible for the out-of-work lists of the construction trades unions.
Juneau had a bit of a reputation for being anti-union in those days. Most of the big money federal work in Alaska in those days was being done by Seattle unions and Outside labor unions that wouldn’t even allow Alaskans to apply for the jobs.
The State was so solidly Democrat that it could only be admitted to the Union concurrently with equally solidly Republican Hawaii to maintain the balance of power in the US Senate.
Fast forward to the late 1960’s and early ’70’s. Alaska was run with liquor’s money, labor’s organization, and Natives’ votes.
The only State employees who were unionized were the vessel employees of the Alaska Marine Highway System. They bargained under AS 23.40.040. That half-page of statutes can best be summarized as “the commissioner of the Department of Highways will do what the Seattle maritime unions want him to do.” The ferry system has been a hole in the water Alaska pours money into for a very long time, but it was thought to be an improvement over privately operated Alaska Steamship Company.
There were beginning to be lots of stress cracks in the Democratic Party at the national level in 1968. The Solid South had abandoned the Democrats in 1964, and since I was there I can say it: It was entirely over race. The South didn’t look to be coming back into the fold anytime soon. The war in Vietnam overwhelmed President Lyndon Johnson, and he didn’t seek re-election, but Hubert Humphrey was too Northern, too liberal, and started too far behind.
Alaska Democrats tried to give public employees a collective bargaining law, but it failed to pass the Legislature. Nixon carried Alaska handily and in another harbinger of things to come, George Wallace got 12 percent of the vote as the American Independence Party (pro-racial segregation) candidate.
By 1972, America was as fractured as it had been since the Civil War. The draft, the war, and the counter-culture drove the Democrats far to the left, at least as left was understood in those days.
With the ascendency of George McGovern as the Democratic nominee for president, Alaska Democrats looked for something — anything — to stay in power. Democrats are one-trick ponies and they’ll do something over and over until it blows up in their faces, so they trotted out another public employee collective bargaining law to try to keep public employees in the Democrat fold.
What became the Public Employment Relations Act (AS 23.40.070 – .260), officially has no legislative history because there was almost no debate. These were the days when laws were made and broken in the long-gone Latchstring Bar at the Baranof Hotel in Juneau, and if a committee chairman had a bill number, he or she could put any topic under that bill.
Duane Carlson was “Vinny the Goon” of those days, as head of the AFL-CIO. You can read all you want about Duane in John McPhee’s 1976 classic “Coming Into the Country.”
Duane went to an AFL-CIO meeting in Hawaii, naturally, and he brought back some AFL-CIO “model legislation” for public employee bargaining. He gave it to Sen. Joe Josephson, who introduced it as a committee substitute for some other bill of no relation. As if from the head of Zeus, it emerged fully clothed.
I’ve never found any record of real debate on it, but by 1972 there were Republicans in the Legislature in significant if not majority numbers, and much of the State wasn’t really enamored with unionized public employees.
Then we must consider the Kosloski Amendment. It isn’t actually in the Public Employment Relations Act but in the Session Law. It allows a political subdivision of the State to opt out from coverage by the PERA so long as the political subdivision doesn’t do it in the face of and to escape from a union organizing campaign.
Old timers sometimes call this the Petersburg Amendment because it was a current controversy in Petersburg. The Petersburg Amendment is why many political subdivisions do not have unionized employees or only allow unionization under their own local ordinance.
Now we’re back to Beltrami and the public employees of Seward, Alaska, the voters, and the March 19 special election.
Seward doesn’t have a local bargaining law and long ago opted out from the Public Employment Relations Act. Vinny is tooling up his PAC and his hordes to overturn Seward’s opt-out so he can unionize Seward’s public employees.
Fear and greed are good politics in Alaska so a promise of a union getting you “free stuff” plays pretty well.
I don’t know Seward politics, but in most places it is easy to get police and fire personnel to become union under the Public Employment Relations Act because of its arbitration provisions.
The State does well enough in arbitration when it wants to, meaning the State can hold its own if the union hasn’t bought the governor.
But the political subdivisions have been mau-maued by the unions in arbitration; the unions have eaten their lunches and taken their girlfriends.
It takes real money and serious skill to adequately represent the employer in interest arbitration with a police or fire union, particularly when your comparables are Washington, Oregon, and California. I was pretty good at it, but I’m also one of only a mere handful of people who’ve ever even seen adversarial interest arbitration from the first chair and all the others either worked with or for me.
So, the unions are continuing their tour through the municipalities. So long as political subdivision elections are held when the moon is in the Seventh House and Jupiter lies with Mars, these special elections will be dominated by unions. The Democrats/unions cannot win a Statewide election and there are only a handful of districts in which a Democrat who actually talks and acts like a Democrat can win a district election. Yet, they control most municipalities and boroughs in the state.
The conclusion is obvious. When conservatives/Republicans can get control away from communists and quislings, we need to make the General Election Day in November the ONLY Election Day in Alaska.
Art Chance is a retired Director of Labor Relations for the State of Alaska, formerly of Juneau and now living in Anchorage. He is the author of the book, “Red on Blue, Establishing a Republican Governance,” available at Amazon.
(2-minute read) INSTEAD OF GIVING IT BACK TO HIS DONORS, HE KEEPS IT
Former Gov. Bill Walker may not be done with his political life.
In his latest “year end report” with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, which was due on Feb. 15, he shows that he clawed back advance payments his campaign had made for ads that never ran.
Walker paid a few bills and payroll that was due during the period.
But surprisingly, he set aside $47,000 into a “Future Campaign Account” for himself. It was the biggest payment by far in the list of about 75 expenditures, most of which were nickel-and-dime bills.
Walker pulled out of the governor’s race on Oct. 19, 2018, and threw his support to Mark Begich, who he said aligned more closely with his values than now-Gov. Michael Dunleavy.
Walker received a partial refund of $8,286 on his radio ads placed with Alpha Media that he cancelled when he quit.
He received another $3,300 in partial refund for his ads placed on Anchorage People Mover buses through the vendor, Alaska Channel Inc.
The Anchorage Daily News refunded him $16,875 for ads he cancelled with the state’s main newspaper.
Last Frontier Mediactive in Fairbanks refunded him $10,173.65 for unused air time.
Juneau Alaska Communications gave him back $6,269.27 for his unused air time.
IHeartMedia gave him back $12,570.65.
Ohana Digital Services refunded him $10,752.50 for air time placed by that company, which he no longer needed.
The total amount of advertising refunds he reported was $68,227.
He also paid each of his daughters Tessa and Lindsay $3,000, as “appreciation for campaign work.” His brother Bob got an appreciation payment of $2,000, and another check for his work removing signs.
$6,000 went to the Fraternal Order of Alaska State Troopers for the K-9 fund.
But the largest payment made was the one to his “future campaign,” whatever that may be.
