Page 1554 – Must Read Alaska

Puerto Rico governor complains to Walker about working conditions

The 907

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August 3, 2017

*Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló Nevares hands Alaska Gov. Bill Walker a letter on July 15 outlining complaints about seafood processing jobs in Alaska.*

The job description for a seafood processor for Silver Bay Seafoods is straightforward: You’ll work some 12-18 hours a day during the height of the season.

“The season is short but busy. This job requires working constantly with hands, some heavy lifting, and standing for long periods of time. Employee must work quickly in order to meet production deadlines and shall have the ability to understand and follow instructions and safety rules. The work environment can be very wet, and cold.”

The description goes on from there, but doesn’t improve. This is heavy work, long hours, repetitive motion, fast-moving, dangerous, wet, cold, involving sharp instruments on slippery surfaces, and generally a miserable way to spend a day, if one is to interpret Silver Bay Seafoods’ web page for prospective seafood processor employees.

THE WORK IS HARD BUT THE PAY IS LOW

If the work is tough and slimy, the pay is not something you’ll raise a family on: Minimum wage plus 25 cents, or $10 per hour, and close to $15 for overtime; more for those with experience. Summer only.

So when seafood processors in Bristol Bay couldn’t find workers this summer, and when a record number of salmon hit Bristol Bay nets, it was an embarrassment of riches, and a dearth of willing workers on the slime lines.

The job of “slimer” is a rite of passage for many Alaskans who are now a bit long in the tooth. Even Hillary Clinton came to Alaska one summer to work in a cannery. She washed out after trying to organize workers into a union. College students and Filipinos used to flock to the canneries.

But slime line work has never been a career; it’s been a path to some quick cash and being in an isolated place where you’ll have a chance to save that cash. Few people do it for more than a season or two. The company typically charges you $10 a day for room and board, and you get raingear and boots and gloves to wear. You just need to bring warm clothing.

Maybe you’ll even meet a fishing permit holder and get a job aboard a boat the following year.

Younger Alaskans, and regionally close Alaska Natives, are not signing up for summer slime line jobs, even though unemployment in Alaska averages 6.8 percent.

Americans in general won’t sign up for the work in the numbers needed, especially with low unemployment in the Lower 48. So recruiters go off-shore.

This year, wary of the wisdom of bringing foreigners in on work visas, they recruited in the territory of Puerto Rico, where the unemployment rate is over 11 percent. Some 250 Puerto Ricans came to Bristol Bay to work.

At least three of them returned to Puerto Rico quickly and described the conditions as subhuman, exploitative, and virtual slavery. In other words, just another day on the slime line.

A news story was written in the Puerto Rican daily El Nuevo Dia last month. One complained of persistent backache and hives from the experience:

“The pain in the back I feel even in the bones. I have a severe pain in the area of the kidneys. I got some hives in the body that I never knew where they came from,” the 25-year-old told the newspaper.

Earlier this summer, the man had left his job loading cargo at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, where he earned the minimum wage, $7.25 an hour. He headed to Bristol Bay, where he said he’d been promised he would generate $10,000 for up to three months of work.

“The memories of the three Puerto Ricans are full of terror,” the newspaper wrote. “When they remember those days, their voices break, their gazes are far away, their heads drop, or they cover their faces with their hands. “

“We do not want any Puerto Ricans to go through what we go through,”‘ one of the men said.

“Three days in a factory of “zombies.”‘

Peter Pan Seafoods also describes fish processing work as long, arduous, and repetitive: “Working in a fish cannery is not an experience for everyone, and everyone should understand their limitations.”

Anyone who has done it can attest to that — this is not work for the old, infirm, or for someone in poor condition. It’s intense when the fish come in. Everyone gets tired. Foremen get grumpy.

PUERTO RICAN GOVERNOR ESCALATES THE MATTER

But with the complaint from the three Puerto Ricans, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló Nevares, of Puerto Rico arrived in Rhode Island to a meeting of the National Governor’s Association, and confronted the governor of Alaska on July 15.

Nevares handed Gov. Bill Walker a letter asking for an investigation of working conditions at Alaska’s seafood processors, specifically Silver Bay Seafoods. And, politician that he is, he made sure that he was photographed serving notice on Gov. Walker. And as governors do, he published a press release about the event.

“It is alleged that 250 Puerto Rican workers were recruited by this factory and, according to several reports, are working in deplorable and inhuman conditions,” Gov. Nevares said in the letter.

His letter went on to say that if the allegations are true, Silver Bay Seafoods would be in violation of the United States Fair Labor Standards Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act. And maybe even qualified as a human trafficking operation.

“As the governor of Puerto Rico, I am committed to ensuring the well-being of all residents of the island, including those who move temporarily to other jurisdictions within the United States in search of better opportunities,” the letter stated.

According to Puerto Rican news reports, Gov. Walker thanked Nevares for letting him know, and said he had no knowledge of the situation, but would follow up.

It didn’t take long for Alaska’s own OSHA investigators to show up in Naknek to check it out. Their report won’t be finalized for months, and until then it’s going to be under wraps — and not fish wraps.

But when OSHA shows up, you can bet they will find something wrong, and this could be a tough year for Silver Bay Seafoods, if OSHA decides to fine the group of fishermen that own the company.

The company began in 2007 as a single salmon processing facility in Sitka, but has grown into one of the largest seafood companies in Alaska, with five domestic processing facilities.

“Silver Bay’s primary strength is in its combination of having a state of the art processing plant and favorable logistics to support its operations; competent management and key personnel; an established fish buying system; and ownership by fishermen who represent over 80% of the committed fishing effort,” according to its web site.

Read Alaska Public Media: “State OSHA investigation targets Silver Bay Seafoods in Naknek”

We’ll leave the rest to Craig Medred to explain why Alaska seafood is becoming less competitive in the global market place, with the cost of labor being just one of the issues and farmed salmon now ubiquitous:

[Read Craig Medred: Fish-o-nomics 101

***

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Is now the time for a new Juneau arts, cultural center?

Suzanne Downing

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August 2, 2017

2

By WIN GRUENING
SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

As community debate continues how best to allocate Juneau’s sales tax dollars, there were necessarily some disappointed people when the City and Borough of Juneau Finance Committee made its final cuts two weeks ago.

Assuming voters renew Juneau’s 1 percent sales tax in October, nearly $47 million should be available over five years for needed projects around our community.

After ranking $120 million in potential requests, funding was limited to rehabilitation of drinking and waste water systems, and facility upgrades and maintenance at our airport, harbors and municipal buildings. Some funds were also allocated to promote affordable housing and recycling initiatives.

Left off the list was money for the new Juneau Arts and Culture Center building — one of the largest potential community projects proposed.

Estimated to cost $26 million, the arts and cultural center’s supporters had asked for $5 million to assist in construction. This is in addition to the $1 million the city had previously provided.

In their deliberations, Assembly members explored and ultimately nixed a staff recommendation to borrow an additional $10 million to allow room for more projects. Finally, a proposal to allocate $1.6 million to the new arts center by raising the hotel bed tax from 7 to 9 percent was debated and passed by a 6-3 vote. Voters will get the final say in October.

IS IT THE RIGHT TIME TO CONSIDER IT?

Arguably, raising this tax makes Juneau more expensive to visit — running counter to ongoing efforts to make the capital more affordable and accessible. While Juneau’s current bed tax is less than Anchorage and Fairbanks, increasing it 2 percent on top of the 5 percent sales tax would result in total taxes of 14 percent on visitor accommodations — one of the highest in the state.

The new arts center, in the planning and design stage for four years, would be a state-of-the-art, 37,000-square-foot facility providing shared event, performance, education and gallery space for Juneau’s arts and cultural community.

To their credit, project sponsors have provided Juneau residents with an extensive outreach effort and professionally prepared presentations to achieve their ambitious fundraising plan.

Despite this, the project to date has only raised about 20 percent of its goal.

Some supporters believe the project has hit a wall with fundraising. Government and oil company cutbacks have impacted nonprofits throughout the state and there is intense competition for fewer dollars.

The arts center board, largely disconnected from the business community, is faced with the uncomfortable task of soliciting donations and support from many industries, companies and organizations promoting or dependent upon economic development that is rarely supported in return.

OTHER QUESTIONS LINGER

Juneau Arts and Cultural Center spokespeople have avoided discussing parking issues in the Willoughby District and they remain unresolved. The proposed facility would remove 50 parking spaces and need many more to comply with city parking requirements. City officials have estimated $8 million would be needed as “seed money” for a parking project sufficient to meet future demands. A funding source for this has yet to be identified.

How would the project impact currently operating community facilities? Proponents say it wouldn’t compete with Centennial Hall and the high school auditorium — two event venues that rely on city funding. Centennial Hall currently loses over $600,000 annually and is persistently underutilized. But a new arts and cultural center would likely benefit by hosting existing Juneau events that would only deepen taxpayer subsidies.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Some community leaders are exploring alternatives. One possibility being suggested is for the city to enter into a public-private partnership allowing the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council to manage Centennial Hall.

Centennial Hall is now under city Parks and Recreation management and many believe that to be a poor fit, at best. Juneau Arts and Humanities Council has demonstrated efficiency and expertise in managing and promoting events and this would allow cost savings to the city and coordination — not competition — among various facilities.

Once operations are stabilized, plans to demolish the existing arts and cultural center building for needed additional parking would be coupled with a major renovation and addition to Centennial Hall that would include a large theater and other cultural amenities.

Obviously, many details about operating responsibilities need to be worked out but the advantages are considerable. The Juneau Assembly recently dedicated $4.5 million for upgrades and renovation of Centennial Hall. Combining that with other funding would help ease the transition of Centennial Hall to a multi-use facility that would eventually include the Arts and Culture Center. The standalone project and fundraising could be scaled back since funding to accomplish this would be far less than a new facility, as currently envisioned by supporters.

This seems like a more pragmatic and achievable concept that most in Juneau can support and still results in significant enhancements for the arts and culture community.

Win Gruening retired as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in 2012. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is active in community affairs as a 30-plus year member of Juneau Downtown Rotary Club and has been involved in various local and statewide organizations.

Hoffbeck out: Revenue commissioner heads for the exit

Suzanne Downing

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August 1, 2017

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*Randy Hoffbeck, right, is retiring from the Walker Administration, where he has served as Revenue Commissioner since January, 2015.*

Alaska State Department of Revenue Commissioner Randy Hoffbeck is completing his last few weeks in the Walker Administration. His last day will be Aug. 17. He will have lasted two and a half years and survived tumultuous fiscal battles with the Legislature as he has attempted to make the case for higher taxes.

Hoffbeck said in a statement, “…as time goes on, I realize I need to refocus my life on the call God has put on my heart; that I can no longer tell God, ‘Just a minute. I am almost done here.'”

Hoffbeck had studied and earned his master’s degree in divinity in 2014 before joining the Walker Administration.

The resignation is no surprise. It was widely discussed in political circles that he would leave after the Alaska Legislature completed its 2017 session. But the session dragged on into two special sessions, delaying his expected departure.

“It is with mixed emotions that I have reluctantly accepted Randy’s resignation as revenue commissioner,” Walker said in a statement. “For three years, Randy has been an integral member of this administration, spearheading the state’s efforts to create a plan that steers Alaska toward a sustainable future.”

Hoffbeck was appointed on Dec. 16, 2014, but he was delayed coming into the Walker Administration because he and his wife were volunteering in Kenya.

He started working in late January of 2015. Back then, he was quoted by the Alaska Journal of Commerce saying, “Now we know we have a problem, and people are more willing to talk about it than in the past. We’re seeing now what is inevitable, that oil will decline, and at some point we’ll have to deal with this. We have to decide what our state government should be doing,” he said. “The opportunity here is to get ahead of this game. This is not a crisis. It’s a cash-flow problem.”

He was talking about taxes and more revenue that he’d need to collect. His first year with Walker he was tasked with fighting for a tax that would raise about $200 million for the state, but cost $20 million or more to execute, and include an addition of 60 state employees as revenue collectors. That didn’t work.

By 2017, Hoffbeck and the governor worked behind the scenes to have the new House Finance Committee leadership, now run by a Democrat-controlled caucus, offer an even bigger income tax, which would have raised up to $700 million from working Alaskans. The tax plan was designed by an East Coast tax attorney, that his Revenue Department had contracted with, and was modeled after the IRS’ bracketed tax system.

That offer also failed in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Hoffbeck’s letter to the governor was warm and endorsing of the governor’s leadership:

WHO WILL REPLACE HIM?

Gov. Walker is already in full-election-season mode. He’s in on record saying he’ll bring another tax proposal forward and call the Legislature into special session this fall to consider it. He’s going to need a “conservative tax proponent” to help him sell the tax, and that combination is hard to find.

Walker has known of the impending resignation, and no doubt his Chief of Staff Scott Kendall has been scouring the political landscape for the right tax warrior.

The choice is not likely to be Tax Division Director Ken Alper, who fits the bill of a tax proponent, and who has been promoting an income tax for years. Alper would hurt Walker’s chances for re-election.

One political observer suggested Steve Rieger, former state legislator of both the House and Senate, and former member of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation’s Board of Trustees. Rieger is a Republican who might come out of retirement to work to work the fourth quarter of the Walker Administration, which could be as little as 17 months.

In the meantime, Deputy Commissioner Jerry Burnett of Juneau will step into the role of interim commissioner. Burnett has been spending a lot of time on his boat in Southeast Alaska this summer, has enough time on the books to retire comfortably, and has been discussing his plans to leave State government.

It would fall to Burnett to be the salesman for an income tax until Walker finds a commissioner who will wholeheartedly embrace the task.

An uncomfortable question: Where is David Rubenstein?

The 907

Suzanne Downing

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August 1, 2017

3

When it comes to the balance sheet of the Alaska Dispatch News, there is the obvious: Alice Rogoff, owner of the Dispatch, is married to one of the richest men in the America, and yet she cannot seem to pay her bills.

Nobody is talking about the “D word.” As in David Rubenstein. The person who would be most interested in bailing out the mother of his three children.

As founder of the Carlyle Group, he was a couple of years ago ranked at 500th among the world’s billionaires, give or take a few royals. The East Coast billionaire has been a genius when it comes to making money. He is a self-made man with a remarkable life story.

He’s also a philanthropist. He purchased the last privately owned copy of the Magna Carta in North America. He funded the restoration of the Washington Monument. As he turns 68 next week, his net worth sits at $2.7 billion.

Rubenstein is in the global private equity investment business. He knows how to leverage investments, take calculated risks, and buy and sell at the right time. Either that or he’s very, very lucky.

His wife does her own thing in Alaska as she has for the better part of two decades. She started a Native art gallery in New York City, and another in Anchorage, funded by the State. They both closed. She learned to fly, and wrecked her planes. She bought controlling shares in a news website and then purchased the largest daily newspaper in Alaska, the 68-year-old Anchorage Daily News.

By all accounts, the newspaper, now called the Dispatch, is now foundering under high operating costs, unbusinesslike decisions, and an industry that is on the ropes. In 2015, she told a Chamber of Commerce crowd in Anchorage that if the people in the room wanted better news coverage, then they should pony up and buy ads, because ads pay for personnel. Therefore, the responsibility for her success was all on them — business leaders of Alaska.

Business leaders did not bite. They didn’t see it in their best interest to buy ads.

This year, Rogoff announced that the paywall that she had taken down early on (which prevent people from reading without paying) would have to go back up because she has a payroll to make.

Then the Saturday edition went away.

[Read Craig Medred’s “Newspaper gone?]

Meanwhile, she is in court defending against her former business partner, Tony Hopfinger, who says she owes him the better part of a million bucks for his share of the news empire they built with her money. The contract between the two was written on a napkin.

The rumors of its demise may be overstated, but the impending sale of the newspaper is the talk of the town these days. It was supposed to sell by July 15, but then it didn’t. Something fell through.

Pending suitors included a Native corporation and Morris Communications. But so far, nothing seems to pencil out in the return-on-investment napkin calculation.

THE PHILANTHROPIST HUSBAND

Rubenstein is among the first 40 wealthy people who pledged to donate more than half of their wealth to charity or philanthropic causes as part of The Giving Pledge, a group started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. According to Wikipedia, Rubenstein has:

Purchased the last privately owned copy of the Magna Carta at Sotheby’s auction house in New York for $21.3 million. It is on loan to the National Archives in Washington D.C.
Gave $13.5 million to the National Archives for a new gallery and visitor’s center.
Purchased rare Stone copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, and the Constitution. They are on loan to the State Department, the National Archives, the National Constitution Center, the Smithsonian and Mount Vernon.
Was elected Chairman of the Board of the Kennedy Center.
Was Vice Chairman of the Board of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, and chairman of its fundraising drive. A new atrium was named for him.
Is a board regent for the Smithsonian Institution.
Donated $4.5 million to the National Zoo for its giant panda reproduction program.
Donated $7.5 million towards the repair of the cracked Washington Monument.
Bought a copy of the Bay Psalm Book for $14.1 million, which was the highest price ever paid for a printed book.
Donated $10 million to Montpelier, to support the renovation of the home of James Madison.
Gave $18.5 million to the National Park Foundation to expand educational resources, foster public access, and repair and restore the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
Agreed to cover the cost of elevator upgrades to the Washington Monument.

CAPTAIN OBVIOUS QUESTION

So if his wife is struggling in her business, and there is a preponderance of evidence that she is, why doesn’t Rubenstein come to her aid? What kind of guy would buy the Magna Carta and not the Alaska Dispatch News debt owed by his wife?

Relations between husbands and wives is unknowable to those on the outside, but a reasonable person might ask if all is well in the Rubenstein-Rogoff house, (or houses — Maryland, Nantucket, Colorado, Alaska). It’s not a stretch to arrive at the conclusion that Rubenstein doesn’t bail Rogoff out of her financial situation because he simply doesn’t want to.

After all, he didn’t become a billionaire with a streak of bad business decisions. Rubenstein is a calculated risk taker, an investor, and a savvy business leader. With a curious mind and intellectual leanings, he studies organizational leadership.

In fact, his two-year-old show, “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations,” focuses on leaders and their personal and professional choices, what makes them tick and what makes them get up in the morning.

The second episode of season three features Phil Knight, Nike co-founder and chairman emeritus. Earlier he interviewed David Petraeus, Jamie Dimon and James Gorman, and Bill Gates.

In the strangest turn of events, the private equity investor-philanthropist has become a late-in-life TV journalist, whose chosen beat is the topic of “How to Succeed in Business.” His show has been well received; it’s the talk of the town on Wall Street.

Meanwile, his journalist wife with a penchant for the Arctic, floatplanes, and traditional print journalism, is drowning in newsprint debt and mounting litigation on the Last Frontier.

Quite possibly in Rubenstein’s “personal and professional choice” estimation, the problems at the Alaska Dispatch News are far worse than a crack in the Washington Monument. But at some point, something’s got to give, and it might just be in his best interest to once again be a philanthropist, and help out what is now clearly a not-for-profit enterprise.

Newsletter outtakes: Bathrooms, bombs, budget blues

Suzanne Downing

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July 31, 2017

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From today’s Must Read Alaska Monday morning newsletter. Sign up at the right and get the full edition every Monday.

GOOD MORNING ALASKA … Last week was a train wreck for health care in Alaska, and a sad week for Alaska conservatives who feel abandoned by their senior senator … A fresh slate awaits us for August … Must Read Alaska is taking a one-week August (working) recess … Special thanks to the financial supporters of this newsletter and the news web site …But first …

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK:

AUGUST RECESS: The U.S. House ended its work Friday and won’t reconvene until Sept. 5. The Senate, however, has a last day of Aug. 11. When Congress returns, it will have just 12 days to raise the debt ceiling or the government will not be able to borrow more money to pay its bills. Bills like Obamacare insurance company bailouts and massive Medicaid expansions.

TRUMP’S PLAY: President Trump could amp up his efforts to reform health care by cutting off taxpayer subsidies for Congress’ health insurance. That’s right — Congress put itself under the “small business” category to get subsidies from Obamacare. How did that happen?

WITHHOLDING INFORMATION: Gov. Bill Walker’s administration has not yet released what the cost of health insurance will be for 2018 for those forced into the Obamacare market. Premera has slipped the magic number to the State, but Health and Social Services Commissioner Valerie Davidson is keeping it under wraps. It’s now August; consumers need to budget for next year’s enrollment, which starts in just three months.

WHO’S IN BIGGER TROUBLE – TRUMP OR MURKOWSKI? Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski doesn’t have to run for office for five more years, whereas President Donald Trump has to run in three years. He has to survive politically for that long, which seems a long shot, since draining the swamp is always hazardous to one’s political health.

PEGGY NOONAN CALLS TRUMP A WHINER: Conservative columnist Peggy Noonan said President Trump’s biggest flaw undermining his own power is that he lacks traditionally masculine characteristics: Strength, self-control, coolness, toughness, and determination. Instead, “…he’s whiny, weepy and self-pitying,” she wrote Thursday night in the Wall Street Journal. “He throws himself, sobbing, on the body politic. He’s a drama queen.” She has a point.

MATT DRUDGE PULLS NO PUNCHES: Drudge pulled this old campaign ad out of the dustbin and reminded us all of what McCain once stood for:

MEDIA LYNCH-MOB MENTALITY: After leaving his job as White House Chief of Staff last week, Priebus told Sean Hannity that the national press is flat-out “dishonest.”

CAPITAL BUDGET: Gov. Bill Walker and House Democrats pulled the plug on the Juneau Access project, which was shovel ready and would have provided hundreds of jobs for a dozen years. Instead, the compromise capital budget sends the money to “study” a road in the Arctic.

The study provides a few government and contract jobs and guarantees years of litigation, whereas the Juneau Access project had jumped through all the hoops. Once again, Gov. Bill Walker talks about liking to build things, but when push comes to shove, he can’t get the bulldozer.

“Alaskans can rest assured that construction and maintenance projects can continue, and jobs will be provided for them, their friends, and neighbors,” the governor said. Who writes this stuff?

Construction unions were despondent. They gathered at the Capitol to try to persuade the governor to head the right direction on the road to Juneau. One union representative was seen leaving the Capitol building on Thursday, shaking her head and saying, “This is a sad day for Alaska.”

WALKER SAYS HE’S RUNNING: Bill Walker told Becky Bohrer of the Associated Press that he’s sure he’ll run for governor again, but first he needs to get some taxes in place. For some reason, AP still calls him a Republican-turned-Independent, even though there is no such designation as Independent and even though he aligned with the Democrats to get himself elected, and they dropped their own candidate to support him. He has governed well left of center, but the media still likes to call him a Republican.

KAWASAKI FILES FOR SENATE: As expected, Rep. Scott Kawasaki has filed a challenge to Sen. Pete Kelly for his Fairbanks seat. This either ends very well because Kawasaki will be out of the House, or would end badly if the Senate’s conservative majority lost one of its most careful and knowledgeable warriors.

BLOCK THIS: Rep. Les Gara is famous in political circles for how he blocks people on his official Twitter account just because he doesn’t like them and doesn’t agree with their politics. He shares that habit with President Donald Trump, another notorious blocker.

Last week, a federal court ruled against a local politician for doing exactly what Gara does. The judge says the First Amendment prohibits officeholders with official social media accounts from blocking other users from accessing their sites because of their views.

We’ll be waiting for journalists and gadflies everywhere to file a similar lawsuit against Gara to force him to stop abridging citizens’ rights.

BATHROOMS AND BALLOTS: The Anchorage Municipal ballot in April will ask voters if they support gender-specific bathrooms or if anything goes in restrooms, public and private, in the city. In spite of intolerant actions of the Americans for Civil Liberties, which tried to stop petitioners from gathering signatures, the people will have their say.

Mayor Ethan Berkowitz immediately issued a statement: “I oppose this now certified initiative petition. It is divisive and distracting at a time when we should be united and focused on the issues that impact Anchorage every day — making sure we have good jobs and a growing economy, that our neighborhoods are safe, and we continue to reduce the number of individuals experiencing homelessness in our community.”

MAYOR ETHAN THEN SEZ: At the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation meeting last week, Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said, “Anchorage is an island of stabiity in a sea of chaos and tumult.” Was he referring to the leadership of Gov. Bill Walker or simply trying to downplay the crime wave and homelessness that has swept over the city during his own reign?

MISSILES AND MOOSE: Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz is famous for saying he’s more concerned about bear and moose than bombs and missiles. But the citizens of Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan are taking North Korea’s missile tests seriously. They took part in an evacuation drill Saturday. As a siren sounded, residents were ordered to evacuate to a school gymnasium.

This weekend, Pyongyang launched a second ballistic missile that landed in Japanese waters about 88 miles from Hokkaido. The US flew two supersonic B-1B bombers over the Korean peninsula on Sunday in a saber-rattling maneuver.

Also on Sunday, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency shot down a medium-range test missile from Kodiak. The medium range missiles are different from the long-range missiles being tested by the North Koreans. The latest U.S. test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system was planned well before North Korea’s latest missile launch, but it comes at a time of rising tension since Pyongyang launched its test of an ICBM on July 4.

According to Japan Times, fisherman working off the coast of of Hokkaido were angry and fearful.

“We can’t lower our guard as we don’t know when they will launch,” an 83-year-old sea urchin fisherman Takashi Tobuyama told Japan Times. “But we can’t keep looking up while we are fishing.”

Japan has several U.S. military bases, which would be a staging point from which U.S. troops and materiel would flow through in the event of any conflict on the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. also has major military installations in South Korea.

SPOTTED:

In Sitka on Friday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, there for a tour of Mt. Edgcumbe Hospital. Lisa received a lot of love in Sitka for her support of Obamacare. In Haines, Gov. Bill and Donna Walker and family, and Lt. Gov. Byron and Toni Mallott walked in the parade and attended the Southeast Alaska State Fair, because it’s campaign season. The Walkers took the M/V Fairweather.

Spotted in Ketchikan, Klawock, Craig, and Metlakatla over the weekend, Sen. Dan Sullivan.

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Heads and Tails: Drue Pearce tapped for federal safety agency

Suzanne Downing

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July 29, 2017

2

From Sitka, today, where Must Read Alaska found an American bald eagle colluding with a Russian Orthodox Church to dry its wings. In broad daylight.

DRUE PEARCE HEADS BACK TO FEDERAL AGENCY WORK?

The word on the wind is that the U.S. Department of Transportation received White House clearance this week for Drue Pearce to be named Deputy Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Pearce, from Anchorage, is former president of the Alaska Senate and former head of the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects. She was removed from that post by President Barack Obama, who appointed Larry Persily in her place. She has been working on energy issues in the private sector.

Pearce is a subject expert on regulatory and permitting matters especially pertaining to pipelines. Must Read Alaska’s has made an effort to reach her for confirmation of her appointment.

RENKES APPOINTMENT STALLED?

Gregg Renkes, former Attorney General for Alaska, was said to be up for an appointment at the Department of Interior at the request of the Alaska Delegation. We’ve heard that the appointment has been put on hold, but it is not clear if it’s a White House hold or because Sen. Lisa Murkowski has cancelled hearings on appointments.

Meanwhile, the man who stuck by Donald Trump through thick and thin — Reince Priebus — now has the title of the shortest tenure for any presidential chief of staff since the position was first established in 1946. He lasted 189 days. Priebus was the chairman of the Republican National Committee before joining the Trump Administration.

DEMOCRATS WANT AN INVESTIGATION

New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone and Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva are calling for an investigation after Sec. of Interior Ryan Zinke called Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan to lobby them on Obamacare reform.

The two Democrat lawmakers have asked the Government Accountability Office and the Interior Department’s independent inspector general investigate Zinke’s calls. Grijalva is calling the phone calls “Kremlin tactics.”

JUDGE SIDES WITH HOPFINGER ON NAPKIN CONTRACT

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Andrew Guidi has come down on the side of a napkin contract in the possession of Tony Hopfinger, and has struck down a request by Alaska Dispatch News publisher Alice Rogoff to have the case against her dismissed.

Rogoff’s lawyers had argued that the million-dollar napkin contract wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on. The judge said a jury will decide next March, although the case may be settled before then, if the sale of the Alaska Dispatch News occurs.

[Read more at CraigMedred.news]

For Murkowski, a crisis of her own making

Suzanne Downing

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July 28, 2017

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*Memorial Day, 2017: Gov. Bill Walker, left, Sec. Ryan Zinke, and Lisa Murkowski join veterans in recognizing the sacrifices of fallen soldiers at a ceremony in Denali State Park.*

Josh Walton, the executive director of the Alaska Republican Party, picked up the phone one more time today, for what seemed like the hundredth time.

His phone had been buzzing constantly for two days, with people complaining about Sen. Lisa Murkowski: They can’t get through to her office, her phone is not taking messages because the message box is full. And mostly, they are upset.

Walton’s phone is where calls to the Alaska Republican Party get forwarded, and the calls were running 100 percent madder-than-a-wet-hen.

But this call was different: The caller was a Colorado doctor who was not only “done with Murkowski,” but ready to put his money where his mouth is. He said he would put up $2 million to help defeat Murkowski in the next primary, which is five years from now. It sounded like he meant it.

Alaska Republican Party Chairman Tuckerman Babcock has been answering a lot of phone calls, too. He’s done interviews with Politico and NPR, and tells Must Read Alaska he’s trying to stay focused on his message: He hopes Murkowski will come around and be a team player, and work productively to repeal Obamacare. That is non-negotiable as far as the party is concerned, he said. He doesn’t want to undermine Alaska’s team in Washington, but he hopes Murkowski comes around.

Clearly, Murkowski has struck a nerve with conservatives, and not a good one. While liberals have praised her for her stance this week to vote against moving forward on a debate on different Obamacare repeal and replace plans, conservatives have gone just short of ballistic. They feel betrayed.

BUNKER MENTALITY SETS IN

“The savviest chief executive in the world often falls victim to a kind of paralysis when a crisis strikes,” wrote Steven Fink, author of Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable.

Alaska’s senior senator fell into “a kind of paralysis” this week when her dislike of President Trump overrode her strategic acumen.

She decided to defend her vote against the “motion to proceed” because of “process” — the arcane process of the U.S. Senate. From words like “cloture” to phrases like “motion to proceed,” Americans don’t follow the process. They follow the results.

And her Alaskan constituents especially are, by nature, anti-process. Wally Hickel, for example, was not about “process.” Sen. Ted Stevens would not have fallen on a “process” sword.

Her vote against the motion to proceed was a principled decision, she argued, because she wanted health care reform to be handled first in committee — a committee of which she is a member. Murkowski was unable to see the forest for the trees. Critics quickly pointed out that she had offered no bill herself, nor called for committee hearings.

This evening in Washington, senators worked late on what’s being called a “skinny repeal,” which would get rid of the individual mandate that makes everyone buy insurance. Murkowski is present and accounted for, and she has even said a few words on the record about wanting to repeal Obamacare, but her conservative constituents in Alaska have felt deeply offended by her actions and words.

Murkowski is a legislative veteran, and a veteran communicator. She is knowledgeable about the workings of the Senate, and she’s a subject expert on every aspect of Alaska. But even experts need an intervention, now and then.

SIX PRINCIPLES OF CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

Hence, here are six principles of crisis communications that are part of a “Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication” course given to communicators at the Centers for Disease Control — you know, people who have to respond whenever there is an outbreak of anything related to the public health, such as as disease.

The author of this website took the course several years ago, and considers it the gold standard for crisis communications. It’s simple:

Be first. The first source of communication often becomes the source against which all others are measured.
Be right. Accuracy is critical to credibility.
Be credible. Honesty is fundamental to maintaining trust.
Express empathy. Emotion cannot be countered with facts. People must first know that their leaders care.
Promote action. Giving people something specific to do restores a sense of control over out-of-control circumstances.
Show respect. Lack of respect for a public in crisis undermines trust.

HOW DID LISA DO?

Politics is not public health, but the crisis communication principles are the same in both instances. A review of how Murkowski has performed:

1. Be first. Although Murkowski signaled early what her intentions were, she didn’t have a message ready when she cast her “no” vote. She didn’t have alternate legislation or a good explanation. She didn’t appear ready to handle the repercussions, so others became “first” in analyzing what she was doing, and she has had to play defense ever since.

2. Be right. Murkowski was right — the process has been less than perfect. And yet there’s a way people can be right and completely wrong at the same time. It can be right to vote against a bill, but is it right for Sen. Murkowski to vote against her own party leaders even on procedural votes?

3. Be credible. Murkowski failed the giggle test when she said she opposed the motion to proceed because she wanted to do a different process. She had not offered her own legislation or called for committee hearings in the Health committee, where she is a member. When asked by reporters about her phone call from Interior Secretary Zinke, she dodged just a little too much.

4 Express empathy. Murkowski didn’t communicate empathy. She didn’t show heart for the thousands of Alaskans burdened by high payments to insurance companies, but instead used “procedure” as her defense. Alaskans who are paying $1,200 a month for a bronze plan have been procedured to the poorhouse. They want Obamacare repealed.

5. Promote action. Murkowski didn’t send out a poll or communication to her constituents, although she has many avenues to do so in this day and age. She didn’t show leadership and call her fellow Republicans to action. Instead, she seemed to isolate herself from her team. Her phone lines are jammed and communications coming from her office have had a “head stuck in sand” quality.

6. Show respect. Murkowski got her back up with President Trump. He is the president who won Alaska overwhelmingly, and yet she has struggled to support him even on important policy issues that a wide spectrum of center-right Alaskans support. As has been pointed out elsewhere, she seems to dislike him, and it shows.

She also failed to show respect to the tens of thousands of Alaskans who gave her the benefit of the doubt in her last two elections and voted for her in the belief that she would be a reliable, team-playing Republican, not a Democrat in Republican garb.

Tom Boutin, a Juneau Republican who has worked on Murkowski’s campaign, put it this way: “She spent what wasn’t hers to spend. It was all of ours — you name it, the road to King Cove, ANWR, oil and gas — she spent the good will our state had brought to bear with our vote for Trump.”

Donald Trump won Alaska 51.3 percent to Hillary Clinton’s 37 percent. By any other name, a landslide.

A CALL FROM THE LANDLORD

When Sec. of Interior called Murkowski this week, it was a call from the guy who controls not only 60 percent of Alaska, but the state’s hopes for a way out of a long recession, which has cost tens of thousands of jobs so far.

Murkowski had kicked sand in the face of the Trump Administration, and that call from Sec. Ryan Zinke was a signal that she should expect to pay a political price for her confrontational political move against Trump.

We don’t know what was said in that call, and the only other person besides Zinke who knows the content of that conversation is not saying.

WHAT NOW?

It’s not too late for Murkowski. She can start to rebuild her tarnished trust with conservatives by hearing them through the din of the “resist” protestors who are yelling outside her office. She can stop yielding to left-wing pressure groups who have been saturating Alaska’s airwaves with their “keep Obamacare” messages.

Conservatives, for their part, must make themselves heard, yet they cannot savage her at every turn and think she will respond favorably. But if lawmakers only hear from one side, they’ll begin to believe that one side represents the whole.

Sen. Murkowski seems to be making that error of listening mainly to one side. This is further compounded by an emotional dislike for our president that appears to be influencing her judgment on important policy issues, to the detriment of her home state.

Heads and Tails: Murkowski responds, Walker appoints

Suzanne Downing

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July 27, 2017

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MURKOWSKI IN HER OWN WORDS

Must Read Alaska received this message from Sen. Lisa Murkowski this morning:

“I pledged early on that I would work with the President to help advance Alaska’s interests. I will continue to do that—to help build and strengthen our economy, keep the promises made to us as a state, and ensure access to healthcare.

“While I have disagreed with the Senate process so far, the President and I agree that the status quo with healthcare in our country is not acceptable and that reforms must be made.

“I continue working to find the best path for what I believe will achieve that–a committee process where we can work issues in the open and ensure Alaskans have the healthcare choices they want, the affordability they need, and the quality of care they deserve.”

Murkowski has been under pressure because of her vote on the Obamacare repeal “motion to proceed” earlier this week, when she bucked the Senate majority and the president.

DEMOCRAT INVITES MURKOWSKI TO THE PARTY

Donald Trump isn’t the only one to chime in on Twitter about Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Howard Dean, former Democratic National Committee chairman, former governor, and former presidential candidate, has invited Murkowski to become a Democrat, saying that she would be “welcomed” as a moderate member of the party.

“What has Trump ever done for Alaska?” he asked. Evidently he hasn’t gotten the word that Trump has already done a lot for Alaska.

DEMOCRATS DON’T DO MURKOWSKI ANY FAVORS

The Alaska Democrat Party also issued a press release yesterday, praising the senator for her votes against reforming Obamacare, and accusing Republicans of being “unconcerned if people live or die.”

Alaska Democratic Party Chair Casey Steinau said, “ We thank Senator Murkowski for listening to the voices of all Alaskans and voting no to move forward with the debate to repeal Obamacare. Simply put, Senator Sullivan didn’t protect Alaskans. Today he voted for 62,000 Alaskans to lose their healthcare and the elimination of 2,702 Alaska jobs. His vote today was a vote for 100 percent higher insurance rates. Senator Sullivan is seemingly unwilling to do what is best for Alaska and continues to pander to the far right of the Republican Party, unconcerned if people live or die.”

The Democratic Socialists of Anchorage went farther with the message:

WALKER LEANING LEFT ON APPOINTMENTS .

Gov. Bill Walker, who ran first as a Republican before switching to nonpartisan, has shown a proclivity for left-leaning politics during his two and a half years on office. In his announcement of new members of boards and commissions yesterday, it appears he favors Democrats — by far.

*Gov. Bill Walker with AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami*

Walker appointed 14 Democrats (including AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami’s appointment to the Oil and Gas Competitiveness Review Board.)

Walker appointed 7 Republicans, and the rest were indeterminate.

TED LEONARD RUNS FOR MAT-SU ASSEMBLY

Ted Leonard this week announced his candidacy for Mat-Su Borough Assembly Seat 4, representing the greater Wasilla District.

Leonard served as the executive director of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a multi-million dollar industrial bonding and economic development corporation, for seven years.

He served in other financial capacities for state and local governments, such as deputy commissioner for Commerce for the State of Alaska, and director of Finance and Administrative Services for the City of Wasilla. Ted has also worked in the private sector and has owned his own business, providing accounting and financial services.

The seat is currently held by Steve Colligan, whose term ends in October and who is “termed out,” meaning he can’t run again. Colligan recruited Leonard to run for his seat and to date no one else has filed for the seat, that will be decided in the Oct. 3 election.

SHELLEY HUGHES REPORT

Sen. Shelley Hughes of Palmer got some big news this week, and it wasn’t good news: She has breast cancer, and treatments will start soon. She announced her diagnosis on Facebook and news spread quickly.

The response she has received from Alaskans has been overwhelmingly positive, she said, including a voice mail from Sen. Dan Sullivan, who urged her to be strong and said he would be praying for her. She received a note from Gov. Bill and Donna Walker, and messages from hundreds of Alaskans — some saying they’d pray for her, and others saying they are sending good thoughts, many sharing that they are going through the same thing.

Hughes is in Juneau for the resolution of the capital budget today.

Trump puts Alaska projects on ice?

Suzanne Downing

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July 27, 2017

41

Alaska energy projects, and even the road to King Cove, may be put hold by the Trump Administration.

While Alaskans debate the wisdom of Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski opposing President Donald Trump on Obamacare and at seemingly every juncture, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is said to be calling business leaders from around the state, with a message that Trump is ready to put a lid on Alaska projects until Obamacare reform is passed.

Our sources in Washington say that Sen. Murkowski has received a frank call from Zinke, with the same message — that she has miscalculated one time too many in her opposition to Trump on issues of major importance, and her state will pay the price.

We are told that Sen. Dan Sullivan received a courtesy call today from Zinke. Sullivan is said to be “concerned” about Alaska’s economy as a result of the call.

Murkowski was quoted in the media today, defending herself against Trump: “How about just doing a little bit of governing around here?” A message to her press secretary this evening was not returned.

Meanwhile, rumors are swirling that all movement on off-shore oil development, ANWR and King Cove are about to come to a standstill after Murkowski voted to not move forward on a simple procedural vote that would bring Obamacare reform forward for debate.

Vice President Mike Pence had to cast the deciding vote after Sen. John McCain of Arizona left his treatment for brain cancer and came back to Washington to vote for the motion to proceed.

For her part, Murkowski has threatened to hold up confirmations of the president’s appointments. She has cancelled confirmations that were scheduled for tomorrow.

Trump criticized Murkowski today on Twitter, “Senator @lisamurkowski of the Great State of Alaska really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!”

Rep. Buddy Carter, a Georgia Republican, defended Trump’s criticism of Murkowski, saying “I think it’s perfectly fair,” “Let me tell you, somebody needs to go over there to that Senate and snatch a knot in their ass. I’m telling you, it has gotten to the point where how can you say ‘I voted for this last year, but I’m not going to vote for it this year’?”

All of this is very much in the heat of the moment. Alaska’s other congressional members, Sen. Sullivan and Congressman Don Young, are close with Zinke and are in good standing with the president. Rather than putting all of Alaska’s economy at peril, the Trump Administration may just put its relationship with Murkowski on ice, and award any “wins” to Sullivan and Young. We can hope.

The timing was especially awkward, since today Murkowski joined 35 senators in sending a letter to Zinke in support of the Department of the Interior’s new Outer Continental Shelf Five-Year Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2019-2024.

The plan has the potential to boost Alaska’s economy, keep energy affordable, and reinforce the United States’ position as an energy dominant superpower. But that is now in peril, along with other agenda items important to Alaska, as our senior senator’s deteriorating relationship with the White House continues to fester.

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