Elaine Fauske and Dave Stieren lead a toast to Dan Fauske.
A “going away party” for Dan Fauske, who died April 5, 2017 at age 66, ended with shots of Irish whiskey being passed around a crowded room, and a toast given by his widow Elaine. It seemed an appropriate way to close out the life of an Alaskan who was considered a great statesman, even though he never held elected office.
More than 300 people attended the celebration of Fauske’s life at the Williwaw nightclub and event venue in downtown Anchorage. Many in the standing-room-only crowd were leaders from around the state, including Senior U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, Gov. and Donna Walker, former Gov. and Sandy Parnell, and a dozen legislators, such as Sen. Kevin Meyer, Rep. Lance Pruitt, Rep. Chris Birch, former Rep. Craig Johnson, former Rep. Mike Hawker, former Rep. Ben Nageak, and former Sen. Bill Stoltze.
Reunion: The “Four Horsemen,” as they were known in the Alaska House of Representatives, met up at the wake for Dan Fause. Left to right: Craig Johnson, Mike Chenault, Kurt Olson, Mike Hawker.
Also attending were Reps. Mike Chenault, Jennifer Johnston, Gabrielle LeDoux, former Reps. Kurt Olson, Lynn Gattis, Gene Therriault, Lindsey Holmes, and former Sen. Lesil McGuire.
Julie Fate Sullivan represented U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, who is in D.C. Former Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan arrived early, as did his former Chief of Staff Larry Baker, while current Mayor Ethan Berkowitz was not seen. But in general, it was a mix of political viewpoints that filled the room, a testament to how highly Fauske was regarded by people from all parts of the political spectrum.
Bryan Butcher, current CEO of Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, commented that Fauske would have loved to have seen the crowd that had gathered, as there were so many of his friends.
Gov. Bill and Donna Walker listen to a presentation about Dan Fauske.
Attended by about 250 Alaskans, the night was emceed by radio personality Dave Stieren, with additional remarks by Dan’s son D.J., and several others. A eulogy given on the floor of the U.S. Senate by Sen. Sullivan was played on a large screen.
Fauske was born in Fargo, ND and served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He met Elaine upon his return and they married and moved to Barrow, where Dan worked in construction. After earning his master’s degree, he was chief financial officer and chief administrative officer for the North Slope Borough. He moved his family to Anchorage and became the CEO and executive director of Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, and later the president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation under Gov. Parnell. He was not retained by Gov. Walker, who wanted to move the gasline in a different direction.
On the day of his passing, Sen. Dan Sullivan remarked on the Senate floor: “Dan has a big laugh and told great stories. He also had that rare ability to genuinely connect with everybody he met, and was able to speak the language of a businessman, a builder, a veteran, and a public servant. He spoke the language of a father, a husband, a friend, and a true Alaskan. In doing so, he gained the respect of politicians, state workers, military members — people from all across Alaska. If you wanted something done and done right, you asked Dan Fauske to help do it. People trusted Dan Fauske. I trusted Dan Fauske.”
William Morris IV, William S. “Billy” Morris III, Susie Morris, Tyler Morris
JUNEAU, KENAI, HOMER PAPERS CHANGE HANDS
It’s the end of an era for Morris Communications.
The mid-sized family-run newspaper company, which started its Alaska publishing venture in 1969 with the Juneau Empire, has sold its newspaper division to Gatehouse Media.
The sale includes Alaska newspapers the Juneau Empire, Kenai Peninsula Clarion, and Homer News.
William S. “Billy” Morris III told Must Read Alaska that selling the newspapers was one of the hardest decisions of his life, but the time had come for his family, since newspapering is an increasingly difficult business.
Deedie McKenzie will remain as publisher of the Juneau Empire and Peninsula Clarion. Billy Morris will continue as publisher of The Augusta Chronicle, the company’s flagship paper, and will oversee editorial-page policy for three Morris newspapers in Georgia.
The Morris family will continue to own the Juneau Empire building and property on Egan Drive, where the Juneau Empire is the anchor tenant.
The Alaska Journal of Commerce was not part of the sale, Morris said. A weekly business-focused publication, the newspaper was one of the few the company retained, while 11 of its other daily and non-daily newspapers, printing operations and other publications were let go. Morris will retain ownership of Alaska Magazine and the Milepost.
Bottom line: Morris is restructuring its business to focus on lifestyle and niche publications, broadband operations, property development and new business opportunities. The sale to Gatehouse, a publicly traded company, will be completed by Oct. 2.
The Juneau Empire was the first property purchased by Billy Morris when he took over the company from his father, William S. Morris Jr., who got his own start in media as a bookkeeper at the Augusta Chronicle, a paper he and his wife later bought. Billy Morris grew up with “ink in his veins,” and joined the company in 1956. He became president 10 years later. He had been to Alaska, fallen in love with the state, and so purchased the Juneau Empire in 1969 as his first acquisition.
Morris purchased the Kenai Peninsula-Clarion in 1990 during an era when the company was expanding its newspaper division and starting its digital ventures.
At one point Morris owned nearly 40 small and medium-sized newspapers from Florida to Alaska, but it has been shrinking its newspaper division for the past several years.
The daily newspapers in the sale include The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville); The St. Augustine (Fla.) Record; The Savannah (Ga.) Morning News; The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle; The Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald; Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal; Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News; the Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal; Log Cabin Democrat (Conway, Ark.); Juneau (Alaska) Empire; Peninsula Clarion (Kenai, Alaska); and Homer (Alaska) News. The commercial printing operation is West Texas Printing.
Morris III, chairman of Morris Communications, will remain as publisher of The Augusta Chronicle and will oversee editorial-page policy for the three Morris newspapers in Georgia. Morris said,
“Since 1929, the Morris family has had a great love and passion for journalism and the local communities that they serve. However, every newspaper company in America is battling trends and redirected advertising dollars, so it is necessary for newspapers to be part of a large newspaper group to build and maintain the necessary resources to compete. – William S. Morris III
“We are deeply grateful for the many friendships and business relationships we have enjoyed for these many years and look forward to the impact the next generation will make,” Morris said.
As part of the restructuring, all Morris Publishing Group magazines will be managed under Morris Media Network. Derek May, formerly president of Morris Publishing Group, will take a new leadership role as chief operating officer of the newly restructured company, the company said in a statement this morning.
William S. Morris IV, president and CEO of Morris Communications, said, “As the company transitions to the 3rd generation of leadership, we are enthusiastic about our plans to diversify our business holdings with print and digital communications, broadband and real estate development. We have found a wonderful buyer for the newspapers in GateHouse, as they are strongly committed to providing good community coverage for readers and effective solutions for advertisers. We will work closely with the new owners for a smooth transition over the coming weeks.”
MORRIS’ ALASKA HIGHLIGHTS
Morris has had the longest continuous ownership history of any communications entity in Alaska.
March 14, 1969: Announcement of purchase agreement for Southeast Alaska Empire (later renamed Juneau Empire).
July 1985: Construction began on new building for Juneau Empire.
February 1987: New building for Juneau Empire opened.
Nov. 23, 1990: Announced signing of letter of intent to purchase Peninsula Clarion, in Kenai, Alaska (purchase completed Dec. 13, 1990).
April 15, 1994: Susie B. Morris named acting publisher of Peninsula Clarion in Kenai, Alaska; subsequently named publisher.
Jan. 1, 1995: William S. Morris IV became assistant to the president of MCC, which included overseeing the daily operations of Athens newspapers, The St. Augustine Record and Juneau Empire.
Nov. 3, 1995: Purchased The Alaska Journal of Commerce, an Anchorage based business weekly. (“The” later dropped from flag.)
November 1999: Started Alaska Military Weekly, free nondaily newspaper distributed to military personnel throughout the state, with local, national and international military news.
Aug. 22, 2000: Purchased Alaska Star (weekly) in Eagle River.
August 2001:Alaska Oil & Gas Reporter, a specialized publication, started in Anchorage as separate publication. (Had been section of Alaska Journal of Commerce).
October 2002:Alaska Military Weekly became a section of the weekly Alaska Star.
June 12, 2003: Grand opening of Morris Alaska building in Anchorage (renovated after purchase in December 2001), housing Morris’ Anchorage publications and radio stations under one roof.
March 24, 2004: Purchased Capital City Weekly, a Juneau-based free newspaper, and Boat Broker, a monthly magazine companion publication.
May, 2015: Sold radio stations in Alaska, California, Kansas, Texas and Washington to Portland-based Alpha Media. Sale included “KBEAR 104.1” (KBRJ-FM), “KOOL 97.3” (KEAG-FM), KHAR 590 AM and 96.7 FM, “MIX 103.1” (KMXS-FM), KFQD 750 AM and 103.7 FM, KWHL-FM 106.5 and KAYO 100.9 FM.
August 9, 2017: Sold 11 newspapers, The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville); The St. Augustine (Fla.) Record; The Savannah (Ga.) Morning News; The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle; The Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald; Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal; Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News; the Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal; Log Cabin Democrat (Conway, Ark.); Juneau (Alaska) Empire; Peninsula Clarion (Kenai, Alaska); and Homer (Alaska) News.
PETE KELLY RUNNING: The luncheon for the Sen. Pete Kelly campaign in Fairbanks was packed at the John Deere dealership on Monday. In his remarks, Kelly said people had encouraged him to run for governor, and he surmised that Rep. Scott Kawasaki was thinking Kelly would actually do so when Kawasaki filed his letter of intent.
But Kelly told the overflow crowd that he is enthusiastic about the work of the Senate, and is geared up for a robust campaign.
Voters will have a choice between Kawasaki, who voted for an income tax, and Kelly, who led the charge to block the income tax. Good choice of different visions of the future.
KAWASAKI DOOR-HANGER GAFFE: Rep. Scott Kawasaki has a door flyer that he’s hanging on all the doors of his district, featuring him with a soldier in uniform standing behind him in the background. Not quite stolen valor, but close. And not quite a campaign flyer, but leaning that way. This postcard was paid for by the State Treasury. Did the officer give permission? Unlikely.
For sure, Rep. Tammie Wilson didn’t give permission. The look on her face in the adjacent photo is the same look Sen. Lisa Murkowski gives to President Donald Trump.
HEADING TO FAIRBANKS? An evening to remember is on the Must Read Alaska calendar for Aug. 18 — a joint fundraiser for the Republican Women of Fairbanks and the Alaska Republican Party. The event centers around the family histories of several Alaskans whose families helped build the state generations ago. Several potential gubernatorial candidates are among them: John Binkley, Ben Stevens, Bob Gillam, and declared candidate Mike Dunleavy (whose wife is Alaska Native). Also speaking is Libby Dalton Sloane on behalf of the legendary Mike Dalton.
EGAN READY TO QUIT? There’s a civil war brewing in the Democrat camp in Juneau as the aide for Sen. Dennis Egan, Jessie Kiehl, and Rep. Sam Kito are beginning to circle Sen. Egan’s seat. Word is Egan may not run again and also may not even last through next session as a senator, due to health reasons. If he steps down, the local Democrats would offer three names to the governor for his interim replacement. But if the governor doesn’t appoint Kito, what does that say about the sitting Democratic representative? And yet if he does appoint Kito to the Senate, what’s the political price? More on this later.
GLEN THOMPSON MULLS RUN FOR LG: Ketchikan civic leader Glen Thompson is said to be seriously considering a run for lieutenant governor.
He has been working with his close business and political affiliates to lay the groundwork and determine the feasibility of a possible campaign, Must Read Alaska has learned. A letter of intent could come as early as next week. We’ve heard Thompson is talking to a high-profile possible gubernatorial candidate who he’d form a ticket with, and our educated guess is that it’s Loren Leman. (At the 2016 Alaska GOP Convention, the two were seen talking at length.)
Thompson is a four-term, 12-year Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assemblyman who has served on the board of directors for Southeast Conference. He has been the Alaska Republican District 36 vice-chair since 2014, and is the former vice mayor of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough.
BEGICH HAS IDEA TO ‘FIX’ OBAMACARE: For the second time in as many months, the Alaska Dispatch News has published an opinion piece from former Sen. Mark Begich, which makes it look like he’s developing his campaign for the governorship. This time it’s on how he’d fix Obamacare. Readers of Must Read Alaska are welcome to provide their own punch line.
One of the oldest family-owned airlines in the country is filing for Chapter 11 — a reorganization that should allow it to avoid bankruptcy.
Alaska-based PenAir says service in Alaska and Boston will continue unaffected, but the company’s Portland and Denver hubs will begin closing scheduled service over the next 90 days.
“The steps we are taking today will allow PenAir to emerge as a stronger airline, while continuing our focus on safe operations,” said PenAir CEO and Chairman Danny Seybert.
“We will be working with a restructuring officer to present a reorganization plan that will allow the management team to focus on our employees, safe operations, retiring debt and taking care of our customers.”
PenAir recently announced the termination of the Portland-area regional routes as part of an immediate cost-cutting plan in the Pacific Northwest. All but the essential Air Service (EAS) route between Portland and Crescent City, California, will be shut down effective close of business today, August 7. This impacts scheduled flight operations between Portland and Klamath Falls and North Bend/Coos Bay, Oregon and Redding and Eureka/Arcata, California.
PenAir announced the additional closing the Denver hub pending approval from the Department of Transportation.
PenAir is also filing a request with the federal DOT to end routes between Crescent City, CA and Portland and all regional routes served from its Denver hub. This will impact EAS routes operating between Denver and Liberal and Dodge City, Kansas and North Platt, Kearney and Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
Once approved, this transition usually takes 30 to 90 days until a new carrier can be secured in the market, the company said in a news release.
PenAir serves eight Alaska communities: Dutch Harbor, Cold Bay, Sand Point, King Salmon, Dillingham, St. Paul, St. George and McGrath; and three routes in the Boston area: Bar Harbor and Presque Isle, Maine and Plattsburgh, New York.
The company said that passengers in the Alaska and Boston markets can expect continued operations with no changes to scheduled flight service.
“Our employees are a key part of our success, and we are doing everything we can to keep our PenAir family intact,” said Seybert.
Passengers scheduled to fly out of Portland may contact the airline their travel was originally booked on, or PenAir at 800-448-4226.
PenAir was founded in 1955 by Orin Seybert in Pilot Point, Alaska. The airline is one of the largest regional airlines in Alaska and the Northeast U.S., and one of the largest operators of Saab 340 aircraft in the US. The company has 700 employees and serves 25 destinations.
For Alaska Dispatch News owner and publisher Alice Rogoff, evidence of extreme financial stress continues to accumulate. Legal filings now raise the question of whether Northrim Bank could end up the owner of Alaska’s largest newspaper.
A review of recent financial filings in the Anchorage Recording District shows that:
In April, Rogoff assigned her ownership interests in her publishing company, AK Publishing LLC (100% owner of Alaska Dispatch News LLC) in the event of default to Northrim Bank, her lender.
This appears to be putting the entire newspaper up for collateral.
The loan documents are not public, but it is a safe bet that the move was connected to either new cash flow financing or the restructuring of her older loan or loans.
In other words, it looks like Northrim Bank no longer views her enterprise to be creditworthy in its own right and is now moving to shore up its collateral in the event of foreclosure or bankruptcy.
For likely the same reasons, Northrim Bank also recorded a security interest in Rogoff’s income stream (allowance) from her marital agreement with billionaire David Rubenstein.
The personal financial details of Alice Rogoff was information her lawyers tried to suppress from open court proceedings during the July 12 oral arguments in a lawsuit filed against Rogoff by former her business partner, Tony Hopfinger. Rogoff’s attorneys attempted to have the media removed from the courtroom, as they said her personal finances could become a topic of discussion during the preliminary hearing. Judge Andrew Guidi refused to remove reporters observing the trial, which will continue in March.
Details of the marital income agreement are not publicly available, but legal records indicate that Northrim is reaching deeply into Rogoff’s personal assets and income streams in connection with her debt.
“STOP LENDING”: Rogoff’s former electrical contractor, M&M Wiring Service, has filed in the Anchorage Recording District a “Notice to Stop Lending” against various Rogoff publishing entities.
The May, 2017 filing puts Northrim on notice that if it advances any further funding on the project, it will be liable to the contractor unless the funds go toward paying off the claim — in this case an unpaid bill in the neighborhood of $459,000 to $509,000.
M&M in January was dismissed from the job of wiring the 59th and Arctic building that the Alaska Dispatch News is trying to move to, and where it has been installing a couple of large presses. M&M had helped dismantle one of the presses at the now-GCI building.
Rogoff hired another company — one to which she has other financial connections — to continue the electrical work at 59th and Arctic, but the trail of permitting grows cold at the end of March.
About half of the total bill to M&M has been paid, and the unpaid hundreds of thousands are now part of legal proceedings in which M&M has a lien on the building owned by Arctic Partners.
A separate lien from Precision Maintenance and Fabrication says Rogoff owes $160,000 for work evidently performed at the existing press location at the old Anchorage Daily News building. That building is now owned by GCI, but Rogoff’s press remains there.
STOP WORK: All construction work at the 59th and Arctic location came to a screeching halt on March 24. The only work that continued was when press people were in the building cleaning the presses — without a certificate of occupancy.
Here are some of the challenges the newspaper faces in the 59th and Arctic location:
Contractors have been put on ice while owner Alice Rogoff catches up with her bills.
M&M is suing Rogoff for hundreds of thousands in unpaid bills from 2016.
Her marital allowance seems not enough to keep up with the investments she must make to fund the operations and manage the move out of the GCI building to 59th and Arctic.
Without major retrofitting, the roof may not be able to support the air handling systems needed.
The gasline to the building is likely inadequate.
The 8-inch water main is too small.
It will need an expensive sprinkler system.
The facility is too small to store many rolls of newsprint on site.
Rogoff will either need to build a warehouse for paper on site, or arrange for storage at another location.
The parking lot is not large enough to meet city standards.
The location alongside the train tracks may be an ongoing problem for motion-sensitive press operations.
A big question is: Is this building suitable or has she erred fatally in signing 10-year leases and incurring debt to make it workable?
‘GO FUND ME’ FOR DISPATCH NEWS DEBT
With the bills and lawsuits piling on, is it time for a crowd-funding campaign to help retire the news mogul’s debt? Her “marital asset stream” seems insufficient to staunch the hemorrhaging of cash, and now it is encumbered by her bank.
Without an infusion of cash, and soon, it’s anyone’s guess how much longer the newspaper will continue to land on subscribers’ doorsteps.
For a brief period on Saturday morning, Must Read Alaska will be offline, migrating to a higher-capacity cloud server with 50 percent more gigabytes, a bit more ram, and other fine attributes that ensure faster loading times and fewer “503 errors” for visitors.
It’s been a great 14 months since Must Read Alaska took the Monday morning newsletter to the next level and added a daily news site online.
We’ve gone from a borrowed server to a “cloud-based” server, and now need something even bigger.
For the curious reader, Must Read Alaska averages over 95,000 visits per month now, and has for several months. That means at times, the traffic gets all jammed up. It is a good problem to have, but also an important problem to resolve.
So if you’re an insomniac, or if you’re on the other side of the world, you’ll discover this web site not working in the wee hours of Saturday morning. We hope, and we expect, it will be a mercifully short outage.
Thank you, everyone, for reading, for your comments, and for your interest in a making Alaska everything it can be. Meanwhile, be sure to sign up for the Monday morning newsletter (right side of page). It’s a great read, and 10,000 plus Alaskans receive it every Monday.
The Anchorage-based company laying 1,800 kilometers of fiber optic cable under the sea and across the top of Alaska, as well as a terrestrial link down the Dalton Highway, has named George M. Tronsrue III as its interim CEO, effective immediately.
Elizabeth Pierce
That means former CEO Elizabeth Pierce is out, also immediately. Pierce has been with the company since 2012. Before that, she was with Alaska Communications System.
Quintillion is described as a “middle-mile telecommunications company” that develops, constructs, and operates fiber optic infrastructure, offering wholesale high-speed Internet services for carriers through fiber optic cables. The company incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska.
The company recently reported that the extensive subsea cable installed last summer, which included miles of subsea fiber into Nome, Kotzebue, Utqiagvik (Barrow), Point Hope and Wainwright, Alaska, is secure in the testing phase.
“The Quintillion network management team is monitoring the system 24/7 and is pleased with the performance of the system. Quintillion looks forward to completing the burial work on its Subsea Fiber Optic Cable System this summer and is on schedule to deliver wholesale capacity service later in 2017,” the company wrote.
“Quintillion’s fiber optic network will operate at the speed of light and offers wholesale capacity rates at 50-90% less than existing wholesale backhaul over satellite or microwave. Remote Alaskan communities are in serious need of true broadband and Quintillion is excited to bring lower-cost, world-class connectivity to the North American Arctic…”
WHO IS GEORGE TRONSRUE?
George Tronsrue III has decades of sales and operational experience in wireless, fiber optic and telecom infrastructure in over 70 major U.S. markets, according to a press release from Quintillion. He has held executive leadership roles at Monet Mobile Networks, the first commercial 3 G data company in the world, and with leading public and private Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLEC’s), including XO/Nextlink Communications.
A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and retired Army captain, he has served as CEO for MainNerve Federal Services, Inc., which he founded, and as chairman and CEO for Telseon Inc. He is the co-founder, and CEO of ICEntertainment.
Tronsrue co-founded the Jericho Fund, LLC, and served as its president and manager. At a company called e.spire, Mr. Tronsrue built and managed the first eight cable TV joint ventures at Teleport Communications Group, and was part of the initial senior management team at MFS Communications. He has a Bachelor of Science, Applied Sciences and Engineering.
COMPANY GROWING FORCE IN ALASKA
Quintillion started with the multi-million dollar investment of the Ukranian-born financier Leonard Blavatnik, now a U.S. citizen, and has since attracted two main Alaska-based corporate partners: ACS (Alaska Communication Services) and ASRC (Arctic Slope Regional Corporation). The project is a subsea cable that will stretch through the Arctic, from Japan to London. It will have five off-take points for Alaska communities — Nome, Kotzebue, Point Hope, Wainwright, and Barrow.
Blavatnik owns Warner Music and a multitude of other businesses. He made millions in the Russian oil industry after the break up of the Soviet Union, and has associates who have been tied to the Russian underworld. BP’s former President John Browne mentions him in his memoir, Beyond Business: An Inspirational Memoir From a Visionary Leader, as does Tom Bower, in his book, Oil: Money, Politics, and Power in the 21st Century.
The majority owner of Quintillion is Cooper Investment Partners, whose CEO, Stephen Cooper, is also the CEO of Warner Music. Cooper is also related, at least historically, to the Carlyle Group, whose CEO, David Rubenstein is the husband of the publisher of the Alaska Dispatch News, Alice Rogoff.
Cooper’s previous management experience includes Enron and Krispy Kreme. Cooper was hired by Carlyle to help turn around Hawaii Telecom, a Carlyle property formed in 2005. The venture eventually filed for bankruptcy and was reorganized.
The stakes in the telecommunications sector are high, the regulatory requirements are complicated, and the financial relationships are not always discernible. But no reason was given for Pierce’s departure at a time when the Alaska Phase 1 section of the project is said to be ready to become operational and ready to deliver high speed service along the wild north and northwestern coastline of Alaska, home to just a few thousand hearty, internet-starved Alaskans.
*This story has been updated to reflect that Blavatnik is Ukranian born, but a U.S. citizen.
Former Rep. Lynn Gattis filed a letter of intent to run for lieutenant governor on Aug. 3.
Gattis grew up homesteading in the Gulkana area and attended the University of Alaska, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in aviation technology. She has worked for several aviation companies around the state and is a pilot. Until recently, she grew hay on her farm outside of Wasilla and has run her own businesses.
Gattis, a Republican, moved to the Mat-Su Valley over 25 years ago. Before being elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 2012, she was elected to the Mat-Su School Board, served on the Goose Creek Citizens Advisory Board, worked on the Pt. Mackenzie Comprehensive Plan, and was named to the Alaska Transportation Council. She has also been active in the Boy Scouts, supporting scouting endeavors for many years.
While in the Legislature, she served as Chair of the House Education Committee, Co-Chair of the Mat-Su Valley Delegation, and as a member of the Transportation, Fisheries, State Affairs, and Economic Development & Tourism Committees. She also served as Co-Chair of the Statewide Sustainable Education Task Force and was appointed as a member of the Education Commission of the States.
Gattis says she’s been talking with people from around the state and forming her thoughts on what kind of lieutenant governor can best serve Alaska.
“I think leadership is needed, and the elections are certainly an important part of the job. I’ve talked to city clerks from around the state, some of whom I’ve known for almost my entire life, and they say we have problems with some of our election machines, that we’re going to have a meltdown if we don’t address that. I also think being an ambassador for our economic growth is important, especially because we’re at a crossroads. And of course I would be supporting the governor as this state moves forward.”
Gattis, who lost to David Wilson in 2016 when they both ran for the Senate seat that Sen. Charlie Huggins vacated, has identified a campaign manager and has her core team working on the foundations of a statewide campaign.
Earlier this week, Republican Sen. Gary Stevens of Kodiak was the first to file for lieutenant governor. The primary is Aug. 21, 2018.
Sec. of Interior Ryan Zinke and Sen. Lisa Murkowski chose an ice cold Alaskan Big Mountain Pale Ale to refresh their relationship.
MAKE-UP BREW: Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke took a photo of himself and Sen. Lisa Murkowski sharing a beer and being convivial. Evidently the two mended fences after their political dust-up over Obamacare repeal last month.
Murkowski’s vote on health care drew the ire of President Trump, who charged that the senator, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, had let the country and Alaska down.
After her Obamacare vote, Zinke called Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan and advised that health care was the president’s priority, and all Alaska-centric projects would be taking a back seat.
KEVIN MEYER MULLING LG RUN: Senate Rules Chair (and former Senate President) Kevin Meyer is said to be considering a run for lieutenant governor. And why not? In addition to Rules, Finance, Senate Majority Leader and President, he’s somewhat of a household name, at least in the Railbelt and Juneau.
So far, it appears he is just talking to potential key supporters and will not decide until after Labor Day. Sen. Gary Stevens of Kodiak has already announced he is running.
If Meyer runs, that leaves his South Anchorage Senate seat open. Either Rep. Charisse Millett or Rep. Chris Birch are the likely candidates for that spot.
WALKER-MALLOT MAKE IT OFFICIAL ON KINY RADIO: “We have both decided that we will run again,” Mallott told KINY’s Pete Carran on Wednesday’s talk radio show.
“You never say that in an absolute term because we have no idea what will occur,” he said, but when asked directly if they’d made up their minds, Mallott said “Yes.”
Walker is a former Republican who left the party, ditched his running mate, and worked with the Alaska Democratic Party to win the governorship in 2014. Mallott was a Democrat who ran for governor, but then ditched his running mate and became Walker’s running mate, with the encouragement of the AFL-CIO and Alaska Democrats. In turn, his policies have been well aligned with those left-of-center backers.
The only Republicans to have filed for governor are Sen. Michael Dunleavy of Wasilla and Michael Sheldon of Petersburg.
GOV. JUSTICE, GOP: Democrats have been unravelled at the state and local level across the nation. Tonight, Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia just made it worse by announcing he will switch to the Republican Party on Friday. He is the first governor to switch from Democrat to Republican in over 25 years.
Republicans hold a record-high number of governors offices (34), and Democrats have a record low (15). Republicans control both the governors’ mansions and state legislatures in 26 states. Democrats control both in just 6 states.
Justice announced the pending change Thursday in a surprise appearance with President Donald Trump in Huntington, West Virginia.
“Today, I will tell you, with lots of prayers and lots of thinking, I can’t help you anymore being a Democrat governor,” Justice said. “So tomorrow, I will be changing my registration to Republican.
UTAH DEFENDS HISTORICAL TRAILS AND ROADS: Unlike the Walker Administration in Alaska, which is negotiating away Alaskans’ access rights to Klutina Lake and other areas in Alaska, Utah is fighting for public access on historic roads and byways.
The State of Utah and most of its counties have filed 22 lawsuits in federal court seeking judicial determinations of their rights to use some 12,000 roads and trails.
The Utah Attorney General’s Office gives a clear and concise explanation of the importance of defending the access to land.
It applies to Alaska. Someone might find it worthy to forward to the Alaska Attorney General, who has chosen to negotiate access on a case by case basis with tribes. The public comment period on the Walker Administration’s Klutina access plan ends Aug. 30.
SUPPORT MUST READ ALASKA: If everyone who reads this independent news source helps support it, our future would be much more secure. Reader contributions mean the world to us and keep us going.
The PayPal portal is up at the top. You can send a check, too: Must Read Alaska, 3201 C Street, Suite 308, Anchorage, Alaska 99503.
