Sitka Sentinel Publisher Thad Poulson jokes with Congressman Don Young in the offices of the newspaper.
UPDATE: CORRECTION ISSUED BY NEWSPAPER
Editor’s note: The Monday edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel included a correction of the information that had been given to readers in the Friday edition of the newspaper. The original story is below:
A DIRECTIVE TO READERS THAT HURTS REPUBLICANS ON THE EVE OF THE PRIMARY ELECTION
The Daily Sitka Sentinel is telling its readers that only Republicans can vote on the Republican ballot on Tuesday, Aug. 21, but that any voter can vote the Democrat ballot.
That is incorrect.
The fact is that any voter who is not registered with another party can vote the Republican ballot, and it has been this way for more than 20 years.
The Sentinel is the only newspaper in the Baranof Island city of 8,800. The historic newspaper, publishing since 1940, is a family-owned and family-run operation, with publishers Thad Poulson and Sandy Poulson at the helm since 1969.
But although they have reported on hundreds of elections, they produced a story that might be expected from a rookie, but not from longtime Alaska publishers.
Could the newspaper’s report suppress votes in the Republican primary? In District 35, of the 15,107 voters, some 2,892 are registered Republican, but 9,043 are undeclared or nonpartisan. These are the people being told by their newspaper to pick the Democrat ballot.
Why would the newspaper publish such an inaccurate explanation of the voting process?
Thad Poulson has not remained politically neutral as a publisher. A registered nonpartisan, last month Poulson donated the maximum allowed — $500 — to the campaign of Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, who is unopposed on the Democrat primary ballot but will face a Republican in November.
In 2016, both Thad and Sandy Poulson donated $500 each to Kreiss-Tomkins.
Poulson has also donated in this election cycle to the campaigns of Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, according to the Alaska Public Offices Commission:
On the Republican ballot for District 35, which also covers Petersburg, Angoon, Craig, Kasaan, and other small villages, two people are running in the Republican primary for a chance to oppose Kreiss-Tomkins in November: Richard Wein, who is a City Assemblyman in Sitka, and Kenny Karl Skaflestad, the former mayor of Hoonah.
Kenny Karl Skaflestad, running as a Republican for House District 35.Richard Wein, running as a Republican for House District 35.
Tuckerman Babcock, the chairman of the Alaska Republican Party responded to the unfortunate story in the Sentinel: “That level of sloppy reporting is either a result of fake news from the publisher or willful ignorance. There is no excuse for it. All nonpartisan and undeclared voters are welcome to vote the Republican ballot across Alaska.”
For more information on voting, check out this story:
UNMANNED AIR FORCE RECON AIRCRAFT LANDING IN ALASKA FOR THE FIRST TIME
Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s an RQ-4 Global Hawk, landing during Red Flag Alaska exercises on Thursday at Eielson Air Force Base.
It was the the first time an unmanned RQ-4 has landed in Alaska during the simulated combat training exercise, according to the U.S. Air Force.
The RQ-4’s reconnaissance capabilities were being incorporated into the simulated combat exercises called Red Flag Alaska, the Pacific Air Force’s training exercise that is conducted with more than 100 aircraft and units from the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Great Britain.
The RQ-4 pilots were directing the operation of the aircraft from Beale Air Force Base, outside of Marysville, Calif.
A last-minute attack mailer on candidate Al Fogle, running for House District 26, showed up in mailboxes on Saturday. Recipients were treated to a smear telling recipients that the man is gay, a father of children, and supports the use of condoms. It’s all done in a way that makes Fogle look unfit.
But it has backfired a bit on the Joe Riggs’ campaign, which was responsible for the mailer. Some recipients sent it to Must Read Alaska and said it was just dirty campaigning.
Not all appreciated that the attack included Fogle’s family, which includes two adopted children. Generally, candidates are advised not to bring in the children or spouses of the family of an opposing candidate into an attack.
In fact, in addition to being a parent, Al Fogle is also a war veteran, having served in the Iraq War as a member of the U.S. Army. He attended the University of Alaska Anchorage and received a bachelor’s degree in finance, with a minor in criminal justice. He is an employee benefits consultant at Northrim Benefits Group and is president of the Alaska Association of Health Underwriters.
Al Fogle
“The Joe Riggs mailer attacking Albert Fogle is a largely a non-issue based hit piece that is really just a cheap personal attack. I am very disappointed in Joe Riggs’ campaign tactics,” said Tuckerman Babcock, chairman of the Alaska Republican Party.
For the chairman of the Republican Party to weigh in during a contested primary is a sign that the ugly campaign tactic went too far.
Earlier in the year, Babcock warned candidates that he would not tolerate excessive personal attacks of other Republican candidates. Usually, he likes to let candidates sort out their policy differences, and this is the first time he has weighed in publicly on such an attack.
Some Republicans feel that being gay should preclude people from serving in office, while others feel that sleeping arrangements are a matter of personal liberty. The Republican platform supports a definition of marriage being between one man and one woman. But the Republican platform also supports individualism, personal responsibility, and privacy. And plenty of single mothers have run for office as Republicans without having their names smeared because the party supports children being raised by a mother and a father.
The GOP platform also supports adoption.
There are 4,119 registered Republicans in District 26 and another 8,327 who are undeclared or nonpartisan and may vote in the Republican primary.
Three Republican candidates have filed for the seat being vacated by Rep. Chris Birch as he makes a bid for Senate: Al Fogle, Joe Riggs and Laddie Shaw.
UNION BOSS AND HIS WIFE CALL JAMIE ALLARD VOLUNTEER A ‘CREEP’
With the wife of a union boss running against Army veteran Jamie Allard for House District 14, things have gotten “union nasty.”
The union boss has called a volunteer from the Allard side a child stalker and plastered it all over Facebook.
Laborers 341 Union Boss Joey Merrick got into a sign dispute with a volunteer from the campaign of Army veteran Jamie Allard.
The volunteer, Mark Halterman, started tracking Joey Merrick as he posted signs for his wife around Eagle River; the Allard campaign has been monitoring whether those signs were permitted by property owners. That’s when the trouble began in earnest.
The confrontation started on a street corner, but spilled over onto Facebook.
Kelly Merrick, the candidate, posted an accusation on her page, alerting the public to the man who she characterized as dangerous, and told people if they saw him to call the police, as he was stalking children. She posted his photo and the license plate from his car.
Mark Halterman, the volunteer who felt his good name had been smeared by the Merricks, shared what happened:
“Kelly Merrick is staging an attack on me over social media, claiming I am a pervert. She’s got a picture of me sitting in my car in my neighborhood (a picture that was taken by her husband Joey Merrick),” Halterman wrote.
“I was observing her husband Joey Merrick place signs back up on Meadow Creek after my wife had alerted that they were coming down. The day before we had seen a neighbor down the street remove a Kelly Merrick sign from his yard and we stopped to ask why. We were told his parents own the home and were out of country and they hadn’t approved the sign placement. He also alerted a couple of doors down a sign had been placed in a deceased woman’s yard. He was pretty sure Kelly Merrick didn’t have permission to place it in her yard. I have lived in this neighborhood for over 23 years and I have observed candidates place signs on right of ways and other locations where signs shouldn’t be placed.
“Now, Kelly is claiming I was stalking the children while doing a lit drop. This is all because Joey confronted me for watching him place signs. I didn’t see the children when watching Joey, they were unsupervised and around the corner. I took no photos of anyone and was just observing Joey. When he saw me, he stopped placing signs and he drove around the corner. I drove up the street and stopped to text my wife to alert her about what I had seen. While sitting on Chain of Rock Joey Merrick approached me in his vehicle, a truck, at a high rate of speed demanding to know what I was doing. I stated it was none of his business. He told me I needed to quit creeping out his kids. I then told him that if he believed what I was doing was illegal he should call the police department. He sped away and I drove home.
“To my shock and surprise I woke at 6 am yesterday and was alerted by my daughter that the picture taken by Joey Merrick was posted on the Eagle River Crime Watch and Eagle River Repeat Offenders Facebook Pages. The photos and posts were posted by someone named John D. Rathert. When asked he stated Joey Merrick did indeed take the photographs he posted.
“After several complaints were sent to the Eagle River Crime Watch, the post was removed from that site. Numerous requests were made to the Repeat Offenders Site asking that the post also be removed. As of this time the post is still up.
“After being deleted from the Eagle River Crime watch page, Kelly Merrick posted the picture on her personal Facebook page stating ‘this creep was following my kids yesterday as they passed out campaign flyers. When my husband approached him, the man said mind your own f-ing business! If anyone knows who this is please inform law enforcement. We can’t take a chance for one more child to be a victim. We must be vigilant!’ And she listed my plate number and a full description of my car.
“I find all of this incredibly concerning because Joey Merrick knows who I am. We met around the middle of July and talked for a good amount of time. At that time, Joey attempted to place a big campaign sign for his wife at a downtown business in Eagle River. The owner was out of town when he tried to place the sign, so I had Joey place the sign in the shop until the new owner returned.
“As we talked Joey alerted he was friends with the deceased man who had owned this property. I explained to Joey the owner was out of town and I was keeping an eye on the shop. I told him I lived a few minutes away. He asked if he could place a sign in my yard. I told him I already had a sign for one of Kelly’s opponents. I find interesting that now he doesn’t know me and would stoop so low as to have one of his buddies put out information on social media that he knows to be untrue. I am requesting that anyone posting this fabricated story stop sharing it.”
Joey Merrick
Over the weekend, Kelly Merrick appears to have removed her accusation from Facebook, and the crime watch page removed the accusation.
Also over the weekend, a magnetic campaign sign for Allard was stolen from the car of one of her top volunteers. Now, Allard’s volunteers worry the sign will be put to nefarious uses by the other side just before the primary.
“I am stating for the record that someone stole one of Jamie Allard ‘s magnetic campaign signs from my car door while we were out campaigning early yesterday. I don’t want it used for nefarious things that would come back on her. Because frankly, at this point, there are powerful people doing anything to stop her from winning. But – win she will!” said campaign volunteer Kristen Bush.
The Allard side is also expecting more hit-job mailers to arrive in mailboxes and more negative radio spots that there will be no time to refute.
JOEY MERRICK HEADS THE ‘STAND FOR ALASKA’ GROUP
Joey Merrick is running his wife as a Republican for House District 14. His army of union members are “volunteering” to help her flip the Eagle River seat to union control, critics say.
Mr. Merrick was appointed by Gov. Bill Walker to the board of directors of the Alaska Gasline Development Agency.
Mr. Merrick, who is donating nearly $70,000 of union political action committee money to Democrat-leaning “Musk Ox Coalition” members Reps. Daniel Ortiz, Jason Grenn, Louise Stutes, and former Rep. Jim Colver, in an effort to keep the House under Democratic control, is also the co-chair of the Stand for Alaska committee, a group that is opposing an initiative that would shut down development in Alaska. But by putting Democrats in charge, is Merrick working against the interests of Stand for Alaska?
While his wife is a homemaker with no political experience, Joey Merrick has been engaged in politics for a long time. He as high-profile as they come. Claiming a campaign volunteer for the opponent of his wife is stalking children has attracted the concern of industry allies, some of whom have called Must Read Alaska to raise the topic.
UNION BOSS VINCE BELTRAMI JUMPS INTO FRAY, HITS BELOW THE BELT
Merrick is not alone in his tactics. The latest hit mailer against Jamie Allard came from Vince Beltrami, head of the AFL-CIO for Alaska, of which Laborers 341 is a member group.
In it, he accused candidate Allard of having a record of financial missteps. But his mailer only referred to court cases, leaving readers no information about what actually happened.
Of the four cases, three were dismissed entirely and the fourth was a small claim that Allard herself filed against someone who owed her thousands of dollars. She dropped the claim when the case got kicked up to District Court and the money she might collect would have not been worth the attorney costs.
The only case that occurred in Alaska was a claim from Ford Motors that Allard had not made a payment. The case was dropped when she proved she had, in fact, made the payment. The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought back to court:
But in the AFL-CIO hit mailer from Beltrami, these cases were portrayed as examples of financial mismanagement by Allard.
Apparently, truth can’t get on its shoes fast enough to keep up with the lies that sprout in the closing hours of a “union nasty” campaign.
Allard said she planned to attend church on Sunday with her family for some soul nourishment. Being a candidate is unlike anything she has experienced. But as an Army veteran, she has fought tougher battles.
LIES ABOUT NRA GRADES
And now, NRA candidate grades are being pulled into the fray. Kelly Merrick put a post on her Facebook page saying Jamie Allard received an F from the National Rifle Association. But Must Read Alaska did some research and discovered the following social media post comparing what Kelly Merrick said vs. the facts posted on the NRA web site:
ELECTION CAN’T COME SOON ENOUGH IN EAGLE RIVER
False accusations of child stalking. False accusations of financial mismanagement. Misrepresentation of NRA grades. If this is what it means to be represented by the Merricks, Eagle River voters will want to think long and hard about opposing Kelly Merrick on any of her votes, should she be elected.
After all, she has an army of union people who can take care of problems back in the district. It’s called “constituent relations.”
It’s time to vote, Alaska, on what kind of future you want for the state.
Tuesday, Aug. 21, is the Alaska Primary Election, but you can get your voting out of the way, and avoid the lines, by casting your ballot on Sunday and Monday.
Are you registered to vote? And where do you vote?
Although turnout so far appears to be sparse, there are a few things to remember:
If you’re voting in Anchorage, don’t expect to get your ballot by mail. The municipality of Anchorage has caused voter confusion. This is not a municipal mail-in election, but a state election, and normal precinct locations will be open. Several readers have asked when their ballots will arrive by mail — they won’t.
The Division of Elections has reassigned many voters into the wrong precincts and even districts. If you are given bad information by the elections worker, don’t get frustrated with them. It’s not their fault. Tell them you want to vote a questioned ballot (if they have assigned you into the wrong district).
If your polling place runs out of questioned ballots, ask the election worker which voting location has them, and go there to vote.
Get your voting out of the way before Tuesday to avoid frustration.
The locations and times for the rest of the primary election:
Even before the primary is over, the liberal power brokers of Alaska have signed onto a letter that asks Mark Begich to drop from the race for Alaska governor.
More than 100 well-known liberals had done so as of Friday, even while Begich burnishes his working class credentials with regular Alaskans on the campaign trail — Alaskans who have probably never heard of MoveOn.org, and many who are just scraping by.
In a letter/petition that appears at the MoveOn.org web site, the signing Democrats tell Begich that they don’t want him to be a spoiler: Willie Hensley, Bruce Botelho, Rep. David Guttenberg, Al Kookesh, Commissioner of Natural Resources Andy Mack, Commissioner of Commerce Mike Navarre, and Commissioner of Labor Heidi Drygas all signed the letter. See the entire list below.
Is it a desperate move on Walker’s part to have his very own cabinet and functionaries begging Begich to drop out? Are they simply trying to preserve their jobs?
Most of the signers of the Walker petition are making at least six-figure salaries and many of them hold elite jobs at Native Corporations or in the Walker Administration.
In fact, Begich could have as many as 40,000 votes locked in going into the General Election. But he obviously won’t have this band of 100 Walker supporters.
“The undersigned Alaskans respectfully ask you to withdraw from the governor’s race. We appreciate your service and many contributions to Alaska, both as mayor of Anchorage and as our U.S. senator.
Many of us have supported you in the past and believe you have a continued future serving Alaskans. Now is not the time for you to run for governor.
The numbers do not support both you and Governor Walker running. We believe you would essentially serve as a “spoiler,” paving the way for Republican Mike Dunleavy to be elected governor. This is not in Alaska’s best interest.
Walker and Mallott are the incumbents. They truly care about Alaska. They have displayed strong leadership and have made difficult decisions. They have been responsive to issues important to us and have earned our respect, and we see no reason not to support them.
This is not personal – it’s about doing what’s right for Alaska. We respectfully ask you to do the right thing and step aside.
Sincerely, Your Fellow Alaskans [names annotated by Must Read Alaska with known associations]:
Aaron Plikat, Anchorage
Adam Wool, Fairbanks, a Democratic legislator
AJ Sutton, Fairbanks, carpenters union
Albert Kookesh, Juneau, a Democratic special assistant to the governor
Amanda Mallott, Juneau, daughter of the lieutenant governor
Andy Holleman, Anchorage, school board member
Andy Mack, Anchorage, DNR commissioner
Andy Mezirow, Homer, charter captain
Anthony Mallott, Juneau, son of the lieutenant governor
April Ferguson, Anchorage, formed an illegal political action committee in 2014 to elect Walker.
Arlene Simpler, Kodiak Democratic Party
Barbara Blake, Juneau, Governor’s Senior Advisor, Tribal Affairs, Fish & Game, Marine Resources
Barbara Donatelli, Anchorage, is the head of a political money group to elect Walker in 2018.
Bill Tatsuda, Ketchikan, supermarket owner
Bob Hubbard, Fairbanks, plumbers and steamfitters union
Brenda L. Tolman, Whittier
Bruce Botelho, Juneau, some call the shadow government of the Walker administration.
Buck Laukitis, Homer
Carl Marrs, Old Harbor
Carpenters Local 1234, Fairbanks
Chris Dimond, Juneau, head of the carpenters union and Democratic House candidate, District 33
Cindy Roberts, Anchorage, long-time Walker friend
Claudia Anderson, Kodiak
Cordelia Kellie, Palmer
David Guttenberg, Fairbanks
David McCabe, Anchorage
Don Gray, Fairbanks, retired
Donny Olson, Golovin, Democratic senator
Dorli McWayne, Fairbanks, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Earl Krygier, Anchorage
Emily Edenshaw, Juneau, Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
Eric Jordan, Sitka, troller
Freddie Olin, Anchorage, Special Projects Coordinator for village corporation for Galena, Koyukuk
Gail Schubert, Bering Straits, long-time ally of the governor
Geron Bruce, Juneau
Gordon Glaser, Anchorage
Greg Razo, Anchorage, CIRI
Greg Wakefield, Anchorage
Heather Flynn, Anchorage, retired
Heidi Drygas, Juneau/Fairbanks, Commissioner of Labor
Ian Fisk, Juneau, lobbyist
Ira Perman, Anchorage, political activist
Jack Hebert, Fairbanks, President, CEO, and founder of the Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Jaeleen Kookesh, Juneau, Sealaska vice president and general counsel
Jamie Kenworthy, Anchorage
Jan Carolyn Hardy, Anchorage
Janet McCabe, Anchorage
Jason Grenn, Anchorage
Jeanette Wakefield, Anchorage
Jodie Gatti, Ketchikan
Joe Nelson, Yakutat
John Lincoln, Kotzebue, Democratic legislator
Karl Kassel, Fairbanks
Kate Wool, Fairbanks, married to Rep. Adam Wool
Kathryn Scribner, Juneau
Kati Ward, Anchorage
Kes Woodward, Fairbanks
Linda Behnken, Sitka
Lindy Jones, Juneau
Liz Medicine Crow, Anchorage
Malcolm Roberts, Anchorage, friend of the governor
Marc Wheeler, Juneau, political activist
Margy K. Johnson, Anchorage, former vice president, Alaska Dispatch News
Mary Hilcoske, Anchorage, executive director Manley and Brautigam
Mary Jo Robinson, Anchorage
Mary Schulz, Ketchikan
Matt Hunter, Sitka, mayor
Meera Kohler, Anchorage, chief executive officer of Alaska Village Electric Cooperative
Melissa Borton, Kodiak, tribal administrator
Mike Gallagher, Anchorage
Mike Kenny, Anchorage, retired Teamster administrator
Mike Navarre, Kenai, Commissioner of Commerce
Mim McConnell, Sitka, community land trust
Minoo Minaei, Anchorage/Homer, teacher
Miriam Aarons, Anchorage, director of communications, Bering Straits Native Corp.
Myra Munson, Juneau, Native rights attorney
Nancy Barnes, Anchorage, president Eyak Corp.
Pat Branson, Kodiak, mayor
Paula DeLaiarro, Anchorage, works for Ship Creek Group political consultancy
Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 375, Fairbanks
Raina Thiele, Anchorage, former Obama staff official
Reid Magdanz, Kotzebue
Richard Peterson, Juneau, Tlingit Haida Central Council
Robert Gottstein, Anchorage, business person
Sarah McCabe, Anchorage
Scott Eickholt, Fairbanks, Laborers 942
Sheri Buretta, Anchorage, University of Alaska Board of Regents
Steve Hovenden, Fairbanks, Teamsters
Stosh Anderson, Kodiak, Kodiak Fisheries Development Association
Tim Sharp, Fairbanks
Tom Panamaroff, Kodiak, Regional and Legislative Affairs Executive at Koniag
Tom Schulz, Ketchikan
Tom Simpler, Kodiak
Tom Wescott, Eagle River
Vicki Otte, Anchorage, founder of an illegally operating political group that helped Walker get elected in 2014, found to be a money-laundering operation
Willie Hensley, Anchorage, former Native legislator
Noticeably missing from the list are former staffers, such as former Deputy Chief of Staff Marcia Davis, former Attorney General Craig Richards, and former Commissioner of Natural Resources Mark Myers. Former rural advisor Gerad Godfrey didn’t sign the petition either and has decided to co-chair the Treadwell for Governor race. Another former top aide, Amanda Price, is now running Edie Grunwald for Lt. Governor’s campaign.
This year, I am thinking about the general election, not the primary, because if we lose in November, the effort to oust Gov. Bill Walker will have been futile.
I never tell people how to vote, but I do give candid analysis, even when friends are running for office.
I’ve been asked to give my opinion on the lieutenant governor’s race. Be forewarned, many are not going to like it. But these comments reflect inescapable facts and I am not pushing for one candidate over another.
FOR WHOM SHOULD I VOTE?
In the lieutenant governor’s race, it depends on what you are looking for. I personally am looking at who makes the Dunleavy ticket the strongest and who can help him win. (Full disclosure: I donated cash to candidate Edie Grunwald.)
Here is my candid analylsis: If you want to go with the furthest to the right of the credible candidates you would pick Edie Grunwald. But, if you want to go with the strongest ticket for November you would pick Kevin Meyer.
It really is a math problem, not a personality issue.
Here is my breakdown: I absolutely love Edie, but like it or not if she wins the primary, the National Guard scandalwill be back in the headlines, and her being fired by Parnell will damage the ticket. How much, we cannot know at this point.
Kevin Meyer will turn off the hard-core right because he voted for SB91 and SB26. He has since said he regrets his vote on SB91 and does support protecting the Permanent Fund dividend, and he has been a solid conservative on most issues over the years.
Now, if you can set that aside for one minute, look at the election math.
We have lost the last three major races in Anchorage (two mayoral races and governor.)
Why? A big part is because South Anchorage didn’t vote Republican.
How do you combat that? You put a person they have elected for 20 years on the ticket. That person is Kevin Meyer.
Dunleavy will bring the base, Eagle River, and the MatSu, and Meyer will bring Anchorage and the moderates. The math simply favors that combination.
Now, another argument some have made is that you cannot have a 100 percent Mat-Su Valley ticket (Dunleavy and Grunwald are both from the Mat-Su) because it is too hard right and the rest of the state won’t support it. Remember, the candidates have to pull Fairbanks, parts of rural Alaska and Southeast to win.
So, at the end of the day, if we pick the ideologically pure ticket and lose, does it help anyone? Is this an Alaskan political myth? I don’t know, but it seems plausible.
The question everyone has to ask themselves is what do you want more? Dunleavy to win? Or the perfect ticket out of the Primary? Personally, I want the winning ticket. Only time will tell what that turns out to be.
To be fair, this goes both ways.
If Mead Treadwell wins, he would need to be paired with either Grunwald or Lynn Gattis to pull the Mat-Su and base his way. It is all about the pairing. I don’t think Mead will win against Dunleavy.
Is it possible you could pair Dunleavy with anyone and win? Sure, possibly. But it depends on your level of comfort.
I must be totally candid here: People have already been sending me audio clips with less than glowing reviews about my friend Edie from people who worked with her in the National Guard. It is going to be a blood bath, either way, but my heart will be sad if she has to go through those negative attacks. Is she tough? Absolutely; she can handle it. But those attacks will come in the General Election. It’ll be a humdinger of an election.
I find myself asking: What do I dislike more on Nov. 7 — saying Gov. Walker, Gov. Begich, or Lt. Gov. Meyer?
That’s an easy one: I will take Meyer over those other two any day of the week. I can absolutely live with a Lt. Gov. Grunwald too.
This is simply campaign strategy analysis. It’s one of the many things I am paid to do and it’s only meant to objectively, without emotion, lay out the many dynamics at play.
This race comes down to what your level of comfort is, what is most important to you, and what level of risk are you are willing to accept. Can your perfect candidate (regardless of who they are) win in the general? That is the real question.
I’m not telling you who to vote for. I have simply laid out the political math, landscape, and factors that you might consider when trying to decide on the ticket you believe could defeat Bill Walker.
Remember to vote in person on Aug. 21, or early voting has already started. Vote early by Monday and be sure to participate in this critical election.
Amy Demboski is an Anchorage Assembly member from Eagle River and the host of the Amy Demboski Show.
A Republican primary candidate has been able to swing an endorsement that no other non-incumbent has been able to get: The prized NRA endorsement.
How it came about is a closely guarded secret: The NRA isn’t saying.
Kelly Merrick, a housewife in Eagle River who has not held elected office or voted on legislation relating to the Second Amendment, has won the NRA endorsement for District 14.
It’s an anomaly in the NRA list of endorsements and comes in spite of the fact that her lead opponent, Jamie Allard, is a U.S. Army veteran who is married to a now-retired Green Beret. Jamie earned the same “AQ” rating from the NRA as Kelly Merrick.
What gives? While Kelly Merrick may not be a veteran, she is the wife of Joey Merrick, the powerful head of Laborers 341. Kelly and Joey have friends in high places.
The National Rifle Association doesn’t typically endorse those who have not actually been elected. The highest rating a non-incumbent can normally get is AQ, the Q meaning questioned. They don’t get the Q removed until they are actually tested in real life as an elected official.
This Merrick endorsement is a curious bending of the rule and it can only mean that Merrick got someone influential to make an exception.
Merrick sent a letter to union members across Alaska using her NRA endorsement to raise money.
In all Alaska races, candidates who have not yet served in office are receiving the “Q” ratings by their letter grades, per normal NRA practice, but no other AQ rated candidate has received an NRA endorsement. The NRA has made an unexplained exception to the rule for the controversial Merrick family.
Sen. Dan Sullivan’s second Wellness Summit focuses not only on Alaska’s addiction epidemic, but on drug trafficking and the associated crime wave that is victimizing so many Alaskans.
The summit is Friday, Aug. 17, 12-5:30 pm at the UAA Alaska Airlines Center, 3550 Providence Drive. Anyone may attend.
The Alaska Wellness Summit 2.0: Confronting Alaska’s Crime Wave features federal, state and local leaders and stakeholders to build public awareness, identify opportunities for coordination and cooperation, and educate federal officials about Alaska’s unique public safety challenges.
Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Jim Carroll will discuss Alaska’s recent High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area designation, a classification that fosters greater cooperation, criminal case coordination, and information sharing among local, tribal, state and federal agencies currently engaged in counter-drug trafficking operations in Alaska.
Commandant of the United States Coast Guard Admiral Karl Schultz will deliver remarks on the Coast Guard’s role as our nation’s first line of defense against drug smugglers seeking to bring illegal substances into the United States.
David Rybicki, the Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice in charge of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, will talk about violent crime, gang violence, anti-opioid initiatives and combatting threats posed to U.S. citizens.
The summit will be attended by senior Alaska officials and community leaders, including:
Jahna Lindemuth – Alaska Attorney General
Bryan Schroder – U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska
Walt Monegan – Alaska Commissioner of Public Safety
Justin Doll – Anchorage Police Chief
Jolene Goeden – Supervisory Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Ed Mercer – Juneau Police Chief
Vern Halter – Mat-Su Borough Mayor
Dr. Brad Myrstol – Associate Professor and Director of the UAA Justice Center
Dr. Jay Butler – Chief Medical Officer, Alaska Department of Health and Human Services
Kyle Hopkins – Special Projects Editor, Anchorage Daily News
Leon Morgan – Director of the Alaska Criminal Information and Analysis Center, Alaska State Troopers
Kara Nelson – Director of Haven House
Nasruk Nay – Alaska State Trooper, Alaska Department of Public Safety
