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‘Unite Alaska’ disbands after ugly ad campaign … and shape shifts

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WOMEN LEAVE THE GROUP RESPONSIBLE FOR BREE’S LAW ADS

A political group that has been attacking Mike Dunleavy, the Republican candidate for governor, has disbanded.

The ironically named Unite Alaska pulled their “Bree’s Law” ads and shut down their web site after the women who were associated with the group pulled out. Their ad buys in the Anchorage radio market expire tomorrow.

Must Read Alaska wrote about the hit job on Dunleavy earlier this week, writing that the group had weaponized the death of the young Anchorage woman, who was killed by an abusive boyfriend.

Bree Moore’s death led to a law supporting the teaching of dating violence prevention in schools. But the political group had callously use her murder to score political points against Dunleavy, even though he had voted in favor of the law.

Thousands of people had seen the ads on television, radio, and in social media.

As for Dunleavy, he is the father of three daughters in the same age range as Bree, when she was murdered. The attack against him was off-putting to parents.

The collapse of Unite Alaska isn’t permanent. It’s being reconstituted with a new and more accurate name: Alaskans Opposing Dunleavy. That group registered with the Alaska Public Offices Commission today.

Alaskans Opposing Dunleavy is made up of unsavory elements left over from the former Unite Alaska group:

  • Vince Beltrami
  • Joey Merrick
  • Tim Navarre
  • Joe Thomas
  • Jim Sampson

None of the women business leaders from Native Corporations who were associated with the former Unite Alaska came over to the new group.

Alaskans Opposed to Dunleavy is now a pure union super-PAC, with no private sector representatives. The tactics the group will use will likely be similar to those these men have used in the past, which means the next 12 days will be ugly.

Beltrami is president of AFL-CIO, Merrick is president of Laborers 341, while Jim Sampson and Joe Thomas are semi-retired Fairbanks union bosses.

Gov’s press secretary says: ‘Vote for Val’

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WAIT… WHA-A-A-T?

Gov. Bill Walker’s press secretary evidently didn’t get the memo that Walker has endorsed Democrat Mark Begich for governor.

Austin Baird, who took the job of press secretary last December, posted on Twitter this week that he is all-in for Valerie Davidson as a write-in candidate. Davidson took over as lieutenant governor when Byron Mallott resigned in disgrace last week. She had been commissioner of Health and Social Services.

“voteforval,” he wrote under a photo of himself with Davidson and Barbara Blake, who he evidently supports for lieutenant governor.

Last week, the president of First Alaskans Institute also promoted Davidson as a write-in candidate,

GOVERNOR, FIRST LADY ARE AT THEIR HOME IN HAWAII

While the members of his administration are busy looking for work — or ensuring they’ll never find it — Gov. Walker and First Lady Donna Walker left the state last night for Hawaii, where they have a luxury home in a gated community. Word is they are just looking forward to some badly needed R&R.

Borrowing: Begich says he’ll bond for six-year capital spend

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Mike Dunleavy holds a card saying he opposes income and sales taxes, while Begich’s card shows he supports them.

FAIRBANKS DEBATE: BEGICH SUPPORTS INCOME TAX, SALES TAX

At the gubernatorial forum in Fairbanks today, candidate Mark Begich told the crowd that as governor he would borrow heavily through a general obligation bond to grow a $2 billion capital budget that would be stretched over six-years.

Such a plan would extend debt past his hoped-for first term as governor, and also ensure his influence into a future governor’s term.

He said he would have voters weigh in on the bond with a mail-in ballot, similar to how Anchorage conducts its elections.

Begich also said he supports an income tax and a sales tax, although later he qualified that by saying he supports a seasonal sales tax.

Begich disputed Republican candidate Mike Dunleavy’s assertion that the operating budget can be trimmed and government can be made more efficient.

Unaware that the governor has a line-item veto power, Begich argued that the governor only has the ability to accept or veto the entire budget.

That was when Dunleavy’s experience in the Legislature came into play; he was much more knowledgeable about the budget process than Begich appeared to be. Begich served as mayor of Anchorage and as a U.S. senator for one term.

Begich also doubled down on his stance on Ballot Measure 1, saying he supports it. But he qualified that by saying he was just one vote of many, and as governor he would have the ability to fix the problems that the anti-development ballot measure would create.

[Read: Stand for Alaska, No on One]

When asked if he was for or against Ballot Measure 1, Dunleavy said, “I am a very, very firm no. No one has to guess where I am.” Dunleavy had just received the endorsement of the Calista Corp., which is trying to launch the Donlin Mine. Calista moved its endorsement over from Gov. Bill Walker after Walker dropped out of the race.

The crowd of business leaders from around the state seemed much more warm toward Dunleavy, but about 10-15 percent of them were Begich supporters, if applause is any gauge.

Toward the end of the debate, moderator Andrew Jensen asked the two what costume they thought they’d use on Halloween to best represent their campaigns.

Begich went first, rambled on, and didn’t answer.

Then they asked Dunleavy the same question, and he turned the table on Begich and said, “I have one for you — You should go as Dracula because you would suck the life out of Alaska.” Begich’s supporters booed, while the rest of the crowd laughed.

Dunleavy went on to say that he would go as an “honest broker” because that is what he is very good at.

After the event ended, Dunleavy gathered with a group of students from West Valley High School who were watching the forum as part of their studies. He ended up taking a group photo with them and answering questions for a long time — a former school teacher who was clearly in his element engaging with students in a comfortable, approachable manner.

Mike Dunleavy with West Valley High School government class.

Dunleavy held a fundraiser in Fairbanks on Wednesday evening, and raised $18,000 for his campaign in an event that was shoulder-to-shoulder full.

At the same time, Begich sent out an email saying his ActBlue fundraising letter had only raised two-thirds of what he had hoped for this week. He was asking for $3 donations.

After the debate, the Begich team was overheard saying they are heading to Kotzebue to dig up dirt on Dunleavy, who spent over 19 years as an educator in rural Arctic Alaska, many of those years in Kotzebue.

Momentum: Early voting, absentee numbers favor Republicans

DIGGING THROUGH THE DATA

Election nerds like numbers. They love charts, spreadsheets, tabs, data, and models.

This is a numbers story for the election nerds in all of us, even the mathematically challenged. It’s about who asked for absentee ballots and who turned out to vote early, easy data points from which even Common Core math survivors can glean conclusions:

TAKEAWAY 1: ALASKANS ARE TURNING OUT TO VOTE

The first day of early voting in 2014 saw 1,698 people turn out to cast their ballot at an early voting location.

It was an exciting year with a U.S. Senate race that featured Dan Sullivan challenging Sen. Mark Begich.

Alaska also had the strangely formed ticket of Bill Walker and Byron Mallott challenging Gov. Sean Parnell and the other Dan Sullivan. That was exciting.

There was also Don Young’s congressional seat, as there is every two years.

In other words, the 2014 midterm election was a full and an exciting ballot.

Yet the first-day vote total was just under 1,700.

This year, it could be argued that the election is not as exciting — a governor’s race and the U.S. House race, and the usual state House and Senate seats. Don Young is again up for re-election. There’s a ballot initiative to lock up resources.

But look at the numbers: 3,280 people turned out to vote on Monday, the first day of voting.

That’s nearly double the number who turned out on the same day in 2014.

Takeaway: Voters think this election is exciting. This was a huge turnout on the first day of early voting compared with four years ago.

TAKEAWAY 2: BALLOTS CAST ON DAY 1 OF VOTING

Of the 3,280  ballots cast on Monday, Oct. 22, the Republicans and conservative voters are favored:

  • 944 – Republican (conservative)
  • 915 – Undeclared (these voters lean conservative)
  • 716 – Non-Partisan (these voters drift liberal)
  • 631 – Democrat (liberal)
  •   52 – AIP (conservatives)
  •   13 – Libertarians (conservatives)
  •     8 – Green (liberals)

TAKEAWAY 3: ABSENTEE NUMBERS SUPPORT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES

In 2014, immediately after Labor Day, some 2,453 Democrats requested absentee ballots, while 7,500 Republicans requested absentee ballots.

This year, in the same September snapshot, only 1,006 Democrats and 7,425 Republicans requested absentee ballots.

Democrats lost more than half of their absentee ballot program in four years, while Republicans remained essentially flat.

By Oct. 8, in 2014, Democrat voters had requested 4,955 absentee ballots.

This year, by Oct. 9, Democrats had only requested 2,252. Again — their absentee ballot efforts collapsed.

Republicans, in the same October snapshot, had requested 9,696 in 2014.

This year, by Oct. 9, Republicans had requested 9,537 absentee ballots.

It’s too late for Democrats to make up the lost ground on the absentee voter front. They don’t have the manpower or enough time on the calendar to get absentee ballots out to people, and to get them returned in time. They’ll have to focus on getting out the vote by employing their usual methods.

One robin does not a spring make for Republicans, but early voting and absentee voting numbers look good for their candidates.

Breaking: Calista switches endorsement to Dunleavy

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After Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott quit their quest for re-election last week, Calista Corporation has brought the power of its endorsement to Mike Dunleavy for governor.

Calista was ready to move to Dunleavy due to his opposition to Ballot Measure 1, which would make Calista’s Donlin Gold project dead on arrival. Calista owns the subsurface rights to the land where Donlin plans to establish a large mining concern.

The  Calista Public Advocacy and Engagement Committee issued this statement:

“The PAEC members appreciates both candidates taking time to visit with Committee members Friday evening,” said Robert Beans, Chair. “Opposition against Ballot Measure 1, support for responsible development for the proposed Donlin Gold project, and other key socio-economic measures are crucial decision points for Committee members.”

“The Committee endorses Mike Dunleavy for governor. The PAEC members will immediately begin informing voters throughout the YK region.”

The Calista region is in Western Alaska, and has 17,300 Alaska Native shareholders primarily of Yup’ik descent. It is one of 13 regional Native corporations established by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.

The board also endorsed Congressman Don Young, and Darren Deacon, who is running for House District 38. Dunleavy, Young, and Deacon are Republicans. The board endorsed Democrats Sen. Lyman Hoffman for Senate Seat S, and Rep. Neal Foster for House District 39.

All of the candidates the corporation endorse oppose Ballot Measure 1. Mark Begich, the Democrat running for governor, supports BM-1.

Democrats pull another ‘Jerry Active’ stunt

THE ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET

If you want to see just how low the Left is willing to sink to win November’s gubernatorial election, you need look no further than a liberal ad using a horrible family tragedy to further its political aims – and shamelessly doing it without the family’s permission.

Bree Moore, a vivacious Anchorage 20-year-old, was slain by her abusive boyfriend and unions and the Sealaska Corp., with a little help from a Florida consulting company, decided to use her death as a campaign gimmick to attack Mike Dunleavy, Must Read Alaska is reporting.

(All the details are here.)

Unite Alaska for Walker-Mallott, which now just calls itself as Unite Alaska, started running ads accusing Dunleavy of blocking legislation called “Bree’s Law,” which has schools teaching children about dating violence and how to avoid becoming a victim.

The video itself is nothing short of brutal. Add to that: The family did not approve it and has asked for language to be attached making it clear it is not the family’s ad. Oh, by the way, the ad also is untrue – each time it came up for a vote, Dunleavy voted yes, Must Read Alaska reports.

[Read the rest of this story at The Anchorage Daily Planet]

Endorsements: Congressional delegation goes with Dunleavy

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BUT AFL-CIO DOES ABOUT-FACE TO BEGICH

Alaska’s entire congressional delegation is supporting Mike Dunleavy for governor.

Congressman Don Young and Sen. Dan Sullivan, released their endorsement on Monday and Sen. Lisa Murkowski is set to release her endorsement, and will also be endorsing Dunleavy, according to her Chief of Staff Mike Pawlowski, who said that she was looking to have a maximum impact with her endorsement.

“Mike Dunleavy will work closely with us to follow up on the policies we’ve achieved in Washington that benefit Alaska: opening ANWR; cutting taxes on Alaskan families, workers, and businesses; slashing job-killing regulations; repealing Obamacare’s unfair individual mandate; rebuilding our military; and getting Alaskans into top government positions in the Trump Administration,” said Young and Sullivan in their joint statement.
“These victories have helped make Alaska’s economy poised for a comeback,” they wrote. “Mike Dunleavy fully supports these successful policies and will work alongside us to achieve more of them. He will meet Alaska’s current challenges head-on. That is why we stand together in support of Mike Dunleavy as Alaska’s next Governor. We look forward to working with him to build a brighter future for Alaska.”
Dunleavy has the support of the Public Safety Employees Union and the National Rifle Association.
AFL-CIO: WE’RE NOW WITH BEGICH, (BUT NOT WITH HIS POLICIES)
The Alaska AFL-CIO, after failing to succeed with Gov. Bill Walker as its candidate, pivoted its support over the weekend to Mark Begich and began using the same talking points that it had in its earlier support of Walker, only now those points will pump votes for Begich.
At the same time, AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami penned an opinion that ran in the Anchorage Daily News, opposing Ballot Measure 1, something that candidate Begich has thrown his full support behind.
“Ballot Measure 1 is so poorly written, so overreaching, so unnecessary — and, frankly, such a threat to jobs and our economy — that the Alaska AFL-CIO and the business community have joined together to strongly oppose it. If that does not send a message to Alaskans about the threat this measure poses, I don’t know what will,” Beltrami wrote. “Outside funders who could not care less about Alaska’s economy or jobs, and they are pouring buckets of money into this ill-conceived job-killing initiative. I am an avid, some would say rabid, fly-fisherman. Protecting our fish resources is a top priority for me. But this initiative reaches way too far, and is being advanced by the most extreme of Outside environmental interests. Whether or not it is their goal, make no mistake, if Ballot Measure 1 were to pass, it would shut down Alaska’s economy.”
WAIT, WHAT?
How is it possible for Beltrami and the AFL-CIO to support Begich when Begich has given his full-throated endorsement to the very ballot measure that will kill the Alaska economy?
In a press conference on Monday, Beltrami avoided talking about the incoherent messages and just focused his attack on Dunleavy.
Dunleavy is a “dangerous choice,” has no specific plans, and that it was Dunleavy who created the mess for Gov. Bill Walker in the first place, Beltrami said.
Dunleavy came into office as a state senator in 2012, two years before Bill Walker was elected. He was one of 60 legislators and had no veto pen.

Beltrami said that a vote for Dunleavy is a vote to return Alaska to the Stone Age. Dunleavy has two masters degrees, is a former rural schoolteacher and administrator, and a former state senator.

On the other hand, Beltrami said that Begich is a champion of the working families and responsible resource development. Begich has a 98 percent approval rating from the national AFL-CIO.

But most of all, Beltrami reminded the media that Begich is the man that is backed by Gov. Bill Walker, and that Alaskans should honor Walker’s wishes because Begich will continue the legacy of Walker. And that, Beltrami was arguing, is a good thing.

Fairbanks Four lawsuit dismissed

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JUDGE HOLLAND DENIES MONETARY DAMAGES

On Monday, Judge H. Russel Holland dismissed a civil lawsuit by four Alaska Native men who sought monetary damages against the City of Fairbanks, four named police officers and a handful of unnamed law enforcement officers.

The four, who became labeled by their supporters and attorneys the “Fairbanks Four,” are Marvin Roberts, Eugene Vent, Kevin Pease, and George Frese, were seeking millions of dollars in damages after their convictions were vacated in 2015.

The case stemmed from the brutal beating of John Hartman, a 15-year-old boy who in in October of 1997 was killed by, well, the conviction still says Roberts, Vent, Pease and Frese.

Their case became a political issue during the 2014 gubernatorial election, when the Alaska Federation of Natives confronted candidates for governor as they made presentations. Attendees held up four fingers to signify the Fairbanks Four and their wishes for the men to be released.

Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth was one of the attorneys seeking the mens’ release, before she was appointed attorney general by Gov. Bill Walker. They were released shortly after Walker became governor.

In exchange for having their convictions vacated in 2015, the four men had agreed in writing to release the State of Alaska and the City of Fairbanks, their departments, divisions, agencies, agents, representatives, and employees from any claims or lawsuits arising in any way concerning their arrest, investigation, or incarceration.

They had also agreed that the parties did not reach an agreement as to actual guilt or innocence.

[Read: Who killed John Hartman? Read the actual confessions.]

The settlement was negotiated by former Attorney General Craig Richards, was an insult to the original prosecution team. Several juries had concluded the defendants were guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The convictions had been upheld on appeal. Prosecutors believed that newly discovered evidence introduced by attorneys for the Fairbanks Four actually supported, rather than undermined, the earlier convictions.

In 2017, Marvin Roberts initiated the first lawsuit for monetary damages, followed by the other three. They sought to invalidate the provision of the settlement that bars civil claims for monetary damages, but they didn’t seek to invalidate any other terms of the settlement. To challenge any other part of it would have reinstated their convictions and sent three of the four back to prison. (By December 2015, Roberts had served his sentence and had been released on probation.)

The City of Fairbanks asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed. For one thing, the claims the men made were barred by their settlement agreement and the claims were in conflict with federal law.

Oral argument was heard earlier this month at the federal courthouse in Fairbanks.

In a 25-page opinion issued Oct. 22, Judge Holland tossed the lawsuit in its entirety.

Holland said that prior case law shows that a judgment in favor of the plaintiff “would necessarily imply the invalidity of his conviction or sentence . . . unless the plaintiff can demonstrate that the conviction or sentence has already been invalidated.”  Although the Fairbanks Four convictions were vacated, they were never invalidated. Under federal law, that is an important distinction.
Read Judge Holland’s decision here:

Fairbanks Four-Order Granting Motion to Dismiss, October 22, 2018[2]
 

Walker-Begich group weaponizes Bree’s death to savage Mike Dunleavy

FACT: EVERY TIME BREE’S LAW CAME UP, DUNLEAVY WAS A YES VOTE

When Bree Moore, the Anchorage 20-year-old, was dying at the hands of her abusive boyfriend, the last thing she could have imagined was having union thugs and oil attorney Robin Brena use her death as a political battering ram.

But the poor girl didn’t know just how low the left would go.

[Read about Bree’s Law here]

Unions and Sealaska Corporation would weaponize her death with help from a Florida consulting company.

Unite Alaska for Walker-Mallott, which now just refers to itself as Unite Alaska, began running ads accusing gubernatorial candidate Mike Dunleavy of blocking legislation called “Bree’s Law,” which relates to teaching teens about dating violence and how to not be victims.

The video ad is nothing short of vicious, insensitive to the family and survivors, and is a falsehood from beginning to end.

Bree’s parents, Butch and Cindy Moore, don’t approve of the ad.

But they know that they can’t demand that the ads come down, because the footage used in the ad is from news reels. All they can do is ask nicely.

Butch Moore wrote on Facebook: “Unite Alaska, The public thinks this is our ad and it is not. Please post ASAP in your TV ad and attached video description, the following: ‘Bree’s Law, Butch and Cindy Moore are not affiliated with Unite Alaska. This ad was created by Unite Alaska using public domain news footage and this is not the Moore’s ad’. Thank you, Butch Moore.”

FACT: UNITE ALASKA SAID ‘SORRY NOT SORRY’

Unite Alaska was not moved by Butch and Cindy Moore. The group responded on Facebook that they felt their ad was accurate, and they continued to run the ad without the disclaimer.

But it didn’t go well on social media. The public is appalled.

Christian Hartley, an administrator of the Stop Alaska Crime Facebook page, wrote:

“Unite Alaska, do you often re-victimize people who have suffered tremendous loss for your personal benefit, or is it only when it’s a kid [who] is murdered? You never asked the Moore’s, and they’ve asked you to retract or amend your advertisement, and yet… no action.

“So much for uniting Alaska,” he continued.

“Stop Alaska Crime calls on Unite Alaska to respect the wishes of the family victims of this horrendous murder, and fix it immediately. We can’t wait to read your apology for misrepresenting the cover photo of your website to suggest that the Moore’s support your campaign. Psst – they don’t and certainly won’t now.

“Right now, they get to see their faces and the face of their murdered love one advertising a campaign they never authorized and were never told was coming. I don’t understand how you don’t think that might be an issue.”

Vicki Walner, the founder of that Facebook page, also wrote:

Unite Alaska had no problem creating a Anti-Dunleavy ad using Butch & Cindy Moore along with Bree’s Law to deliberating create the impression the Moore’s supported Gov. Walker’s reelection and were behind the ad. The reality is Moores had no knowledge of the ad & all pictures where taken from a story on Channel 11. To use someone’s image and cause to create any ad w/o their knowledge and permission is wrong on so many levels.”

FACT: GAIL SCHUBERT, BARBARA DONATELLI APPROVED THIS AD
Unite Alaska’s core team and wall of shame is:
  • Barbara Donatelli, Anchorage, Vice President of CIRI Native Corporation
  • Gail Schubert, Anchorage, president of Bering Straits Native Corporation
  • Tim Navarre of Kenai, a city councilman who was once charged with domestic violence against a child
  • Joe Thomas, Fairbanks, a labor union official
  • Sheri Buretta, Eagle River, a University of Alaska Regent appointed in 2015 by Governor Walker and Chairman of the Chugach Alaska Corporation
  • Jim Sampson, Fairbanks, a labor official and former mayor
  • Jennifer Marie Stryker, Anchorage, employed by the municipality of Anchorage

FACT: SEALASKA SHAREHOLDERS AND ALASKA’S WORKERS ARE PAYING FOR THIS AD

Unite Alaska’s major donors include:
  • Sealaska Corporation – $150,000 of what should be shareholder money
  • Working Families of Alaska, Joey Merrick chair – $200,000 of union dues from working men and women
  • NEA – Alaska – $30,000 from teachers, aides, and janitors
  • Chugach Alaska, a Native Corporation – $50,000
  • International Union of Operating Engineers/Engineers PAC – $50,000 of union dues
  • Robin Brena – anti-oil lawyer who bought Gov. Walker’s law firm – $125,000
  • Bradley Tusk – Michael Bloomberg’s former campaign manager – $10,000
  • IBEW – $100,000 of union dues
  • AFSCME – $25,000 of public employee union dues
  • And other unions. AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami is behind it all
FACT: THE GROUP IS USING A FLORIDA CONSULTANT
Unite America’s senior strategist Joel Searby is Unite Alaska’s campaign consultant.
Searby describes himself as a “movement leader and consultant in the realms of politics, faith, leadership and business. My mission is to lead people and movements who bring truth, light, life and goodness into the world, to help people see and discover purpose in their lives and the world, to be an expert craftsman in all I do and to look not only to my own interests but also to the interests of others.”
Searby was originally brought into the fold by the Walker-Mallott campaign, as they had received money from the Unite America group, and were obligated to funnel that money back to Searby, one of the group’s consultants, who has his own company in Archer, Florida.

Now, the million-dollar super-PAC is allowing Searby to inflict ads on Alaskans that include using the body of a beloved dead Alaska teenager as a political weapon.

FACT: THIS IS WHAT BEGICH IS KNOWN FOR

Mark Begich ran a similar ad in 2014, using the deaths of the victims of Jerry Active to inflict political damage on Dan Sullivan, who had been Alaska’s attorney general. Begich tied Sullivan to those murders and his ad was so offensive, he had to take it down.

[Read: Sen. Begich wrongly ties Republican opponent to horrific murder]

This is exactly what Begich is known for, and what will ultimately backfire on him once again. He can thank his buddies listed above for the favor.