The Anchorage seat vacated by progressive Tim Steele has been won by hard-left Austin Quinn-Davidson, who kept a commanding lead during the first ballots counted on Tuesday night.
Steele resigned in June to focus on his health. Several filed for his seat but the two who were on the conservative side of the balance sheet were Nikki Rose and Sam Moore.
Quinn-Davidson enjoyed insurmountable financial backing from environmental groups and unions, and was able to run a robust campaign with the help of donors like Mayor Ethan Berkowitz and dozens of union and environmental group contributions.
The other two main candidates had a fraction of the financial capacity to get their messages out.
Quinn-Davidson had nearly 50 percent of the vote late last night, with Nikki rose at 31 percent and Moore at less than 10 percent. Minor candidates filled out the rest.
Most of the 7,145 votes that were cast were counted, a 20 percent turnout in the city’s second mail-in-only election. Another 850 ballots will be counted on Wednesday and the rest will dribble in from the U.S. Mail in coming days.
Quinn-Davidson is an environmental lawyer with Great Land Trust, and her wife is one of the cofounders of Stand for Salmon, the ballot initiative that will be decided in November.
Her victory is a big win for the liberal-leaning assembly and mayor in Alaska’s biggest city.
The seat held by Steele, and soon by Quinn-Davidson, will be up for election again in 2020.
RACES HAVE EAGLE RIVER ASKING: WHY ARE UNIONS TARGETING OUR DISTRICT?
Powerful unions in Alaska typically back registered Democrats, and have mainly stayed out of Republican primaries.
Not anymore. Alaska unions, which represent 18 percent of the Alaska workforce but have an outsized influence in politics, have gotten friendly with petition candidates who say they are “independents” but who invariably organize with Democrats once they get to Juneau.
Vince Beltrami, head of the AFL-CIO, tried to be one of those petition candidates, but ultimately lost to incumbent Sen. Cathy Giessel for Senate Seat N in 2016.
Jason Grenn and Dan Ortiz are two “independents” who succeeded in the House, where Beltrami failed in the Senate.
FIRST THE ‘MUSK OX’ DISTRICTS, BUT NOW EAGLE RIVER?
This primary season, unions are playing harder than ever in Republican races.
That’s where the action is, and they intend to put the Democrats solidly in charge again in the Governor’s Office and the House, with the help of a few key Republicans.
Union-back Republicans LeDoux, Stutes, and Paul Seaton (now a Democrat primary candidate in Homer), were richly rewarded with key seats: LeDoux was chair of Rules, Stutes was House Whip, and Seaton ran the powerful Finance Committee.
Big Labor is hoping to keep these Musk Ox Republicans — the self-described group of Republicans who flipped the House blue by joining the Democrats — in office while making even more inroads into Republican ranks in two key Eagle River seats.
Joey Merrick
These efforts are headed by Joey Merrick, (head of Laborers’ Local 341 and whose wife Kelly Merrick happens to be running as a Republican in Eagle River District 14,) who has created an independent expenditure group named Working Families for Alaska.
Kelly Merrick
Merrick’s group has already spent close to $70,000 of union dues to send messages to voters and produce radio ads in support of Musk Ox candidates and others:
Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, Republican from Anchorage District 15, member of the Musk Ox Coalition. Merrick put $3,000 toward LeDoux’s re-election; Local 367 PAC put $1,000 into her campaign.
Rep. Louise Stutes, Republican from Kodiak, member of the Musk Ox Coalition. Merrick put $8,000 into her re-election.
Jim Colver, registered as a Republican and leader of the Musk Ox Coalition before voters booted him out of his District 9 seat in 2016. Merrick has spent $22,000 to get Colver back in office. Alaska Laborers Political Action Committee put $1,000 directly into his campaign.
A whopping ninety percent of Colver’s campaign is funded with union money.
“That’s hard to say you’re not a bought and paid for candidate,” said Tuckerman Babcock, chairman of the Alaska Republican Party.
Union funds are pouring into two other Republican primary candidates in two of the most conservative districts in the state: Nancy Dahlstrom and Merrick’s own wife Kelly Merrick. These are open seats whose incumbents, Dan Saddler and Lora Reinbold, are moving on.
Nancy Dahlstrom, Republican and former legislator, is running for Rep. Dan Saddler’s Eagle River District 13 seat. Joey Merrick has spent $10,000 on her campaign. She was known as a reliable union backer the last time she served in the House and is seen as a potential Musk Ox coalition member.
Kelly Merrick: Merrick’s wife Kelly has not received a cent from her husband’s Working Families for Alaska group, but has received most of her funds from either union political funds or directly from the unions and its powerful members: $1,000-Laborers Local 341, $1,000-Public Employees Local 71, $1,000-International Assoc. of Firefighters, PAC Fund Local 1264, $1,000-Alaska Laborers Political Action Committee, $1,000-UA Local 375, $1,000-ALPEC Laborer’s Local 942, $1,000-United Association Local 367, $1,000-IBEW Local 1547 PAC.
These represent 21 percent of her campaign’s income, according to the 30-day reports the public has access to at APOC.
In the case of Kelly Merrick, she’s also donated to those considered out of step with Republican values, including Vince Beltrami, to whom she gave the maximum of $500 in 2016, and Gov. Bill Walker in 2010:
While Joey Merrick may not be funding Kelly Merrick’s campaign with Working Families for Alaska funds, surely he knows that his $22,000 support of Jim Colver is toxic to his wife’s aspirations and will raise questions about where her loyalties lie.
NO-SHOWS AT EAGLE RIVER FORUM
During the Eagle River Republican candidate forum on Monday night, neither Kelly Merrick nor Nancy Dahlstrom attended, but people in the room were chattering about the big union contributions playing in their district and what it could mean to see conservative Eagle River Districts 13-14 change hands.
Part of the audience at the Eagle River candidate forum on Monday night.
Dahlstrom’s opponents in District 13, Republicans Craig Christenson and Bill Cook, were in attendance at the forum, which was standing-room only at the Eagle River Ale House.
Merrick’s District 14 opponents, Republicans Jamie Allard and Eugene Harnett, attended as well and the audience of 70 were able to hear their answers on very specific questions. They were not able to confront their union-funded opponent on key questions that matter to District Republicans, nor bring out her past contributions to Democrats or faux-independents.
The people of Eagle River don’t know where Dahlstrom and Merrick stand on the very tough “yes” or “no” questions that all the other candidates had to answer at the forum, such as these, which were part of the “Paddle Round”
Do the natural resources of Alaska belong to the state government? Yes or No
Will you put forward legislation before the start of the next legislative session that would make clear that the State of Alaska is a right-to-work state? Yes or No
Will you put forward legislation before the start of the next legislative session that would make clear that the State of Alaska shall honor the right to privacy of those in the womb as guaranteed in the Constitution of the State of Alaska?Yes or No
Dahlstrom told the local group that was hosting the forum in advance that she had to be out of state due to a family medical situation.
The winner of the District 13 primary — Dahlstrom, Christenson, or Cook — will face Danvelle Kimp, a Democrat in November.
In District 14, either Merrick, Allard, or Harnett will face Democrat Joe Hackenmueller in the General Election.
LATEST CANDIDATE FINANCIAL REPORTS COMING ON SUNDAY
The latest candidate reports were filed on July 23, and on Aug. 12 candidates must start filling 24-hour reports. That’s when the public will have a clearer idea of how much more union money is being poured into these campaigns. Their 7-day reports are due on Tuesday, Aug. 14.
The Alaska Legislative Council voted Monday to close the Unalaska office it keeps open for constituents seven months out of the year.
The office is part of a network of 23 legislative offices around the state where Alaskans can testify during hearings via teleconference, and where they can send their opinions to legislators via email and watch legislative hearings live.
Closing the Unalaska LIO passed with all eight voting members who were present.
Sen. Anna MacKinnon and Rep. David Eastman both voted against using the savings to expand hours for the other LIOs, which had their hours cut back in 2016 during a time of budgetary belt-tightening and are now closed on Friday afternoons. Those two votes blocked Chairman Rep. David Guttenberg’s effort to reallocate the Unalaska money. MacKinnon said that during a time of tight budgets, any additional expenditures now would be prime targets for cuts during next year’s budget talks.
TESTIMONY FROM LEGISLATIVE OFFICES BY POPULATION, AND TOTAL TESTIFIERS
The Unalaska LIO opened in 2011 and is seasonally staffed December through May. The geographic differential pay scale for the office is $106,000 a year, making it one of the most expensive to operate.
The Unalaska LIO had five participants in 2016, two participants in 2017, and no participants in 2018. Meanwhile, the other 22 LIOs had their hours reduces and the 17 employees were cut from 12 months to 11.3 months,
LEGISLATIVE VOTING MACHINES TO BE REPLACED
The Legislative Council also voted on Monday to replace the old and unreliable voting system that legislators use in Juneau. The system is not supported by the vendor and began seriously failing during the 29th Legislature, despite technical and support staff efforts. There are no more Microsoft updates for the software. The cost of replacement is expected to be at least $912,700, with additional maintenance costs annually of over $17,000.
But each additional day the Legislature is in session due to voting machine malfunctions costs the State more than $100,000.
Attending Legislative Council were Reps. David Guttenberg, Charisse Millett, Daniel Ortiz, Louise Stutes, David Eastman, Harriet Drummond, Matt Claman, and Bryce Edgmon, who is the lawmaker who represents Unalaska.
On the Senate side were Sen. Anna MacKinnon, Sen. President Pete Kelly, and Sen. Bert Stedman. Most lawmakers outside of Anchorage attended telephonically.
A nearly fully developed and healthy marijuana plant has flourished next to the Alaska Pretrial Services Office on DeBarr Road in Anchorage, and the staff would like the owner to come and claim it.
“While APS staff supports the conservation of our trees and plants, we do have to have some limits. We would like to thank the kind person(s) for donating your “plant” to the woods next to our office. However we must decline this “plant” donation. Feel free to check in with the APS Case Officer Division to claim your recent donation to our property,” the staff posted on its official Facebook page.
Later, they had a change of heart and decided to adopt the plant, naming it “Paulie.”
Must Read Alaska predicts it’s going to need an ankle monitor.
With the US Supreme Court’s recent decision in Janus v. AFSCME, it is no longer legal to compel public employees to be union members or pay representation fees as a condition of employment.
For those public employees who choose to no longer be members or fee payers, it is not as simple as just stopping the payment or payroll deduction of dues if you are a member, and maybe even if you are a fee payer.
Few State employees and to the best of my knowledge few other public employees choose to be fee payers.
For a usually very small reduction in the payment to the union, an employee loses all rights to have a voice in the very collective bargaining process that the USSC had held that they could be compelled to pay for.
Janus reversed the Court’s prior holding on this issue. The vast majority of employees chose to be members so they could have a voice in contract ratifications or amendments and grievance resolutions. It does not change under Janus; if you do not choose to be a member, you will have no voice in what the union negotiates into, or out of, the labor agreement you work under.
So long as the union remains the certified exclusive representative of the bargaining it unit, the wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment it negotiates apply to all members of the bargaining unit, not just to members of the union, and the union has a duty of fair representation to all members of the bargaining unit whether or not an employee is a member of the union.
If you choose to exercise your right to stop paying dues and you are a member, you must, in writing, resign your membership in the union and send that resignation to the union. I would advise that you send it certified mail and also copy your employer; keep copies for yourself.
Notify your employer’s payroll or human resources/labor relations office that you want to cancel your dues deduction authorization, commonly called a dues check-off form. Give the notice to the employer in writing, copy the union, and keep copies.
Certified, return receipt isn’t a bad idea. Neither unions, nor administrations backed by unions are going to do anything to make this easy for you.
One of my regrets from my time with State labor relations is that I was never able to persuade my principals to come to the aid of employees who had stopped paying union dues in the periods when the State had stopped enforcing the compulsory dues provisions of labor agreements.
After the General Government Agreement expired on June 30, 1986, employees began drifting away from paying dues to the Alaska Public Employees Association and the State didn’t act on requests from APEA to dismiss employees for non-payment of dues.
APEA wasn’t very aggressive about it because they were being challenged by the nascent Alaska State Employees’ Association for representation of the unit, and didn’t need to make any more enemies.
When ASEA won the election and became the exclusive representative of the unit, the State took the position that only the mandatory terms; wages, hours, and terms and conditions, survived the change of representative and formally refused to enforce the union security provisions of the expired GGU agreement.
With nothing now to lose, APEA went after the employees who had stopped paying dues with a vengeance, and the courts sided with them. Lots of State employees only figured out that they had a judgment against them for unpaid dues when they tried to buy a house or car, and there were some very, very upset employees who had to pony up the money.
The courts held that just stopping the payment was not enough and that signing the membership form established a contractual relationship between the employee and the union that remained enforceable.
I don’t know how good the law is; you can always find a trial court judge who’ll side with a politically powerful entity in hopes of appointment to a higher court, but nobody appealed it to the Alaska Supreme Court, the State didn’t intervene, so that is the state of the law; unless and until you resign your membership in the union, you are obligated to keep paying them dues unless you just want to fight the matter all the way to the Supreme Court.
The same thing happened again when the State stopped enforcing ASEA’s compulsory dues provisions during the Hickel Administration. ASEA went for a couple of years without a contract and the State accepted employee requests to stop dues deductions. When the union-bought Knowles Administration gave ASEA their union security clause back, ASEA, like APEA before them, went after employees who had stopped paying with a vengeance and the courts sided with them.
So, I’m not advocating any action; there is a real downside to letting the ideologues and malcontents that form the hard core of union support determine your wages and working conditions; being a member allows you at least some opportunity to have a voice.
Knowing this, if you choose to stop paying dues or fees, protect yourself by resigning your membership or cancelling your fee payer authorization in addition to cancelling your dues/fees deduction from your check. Do it in writing, do it by certified mail, and keep copies of everything; your employer will not be your friend.
Art Chance is a retired Director of Labor Relations for the State of Alaska, formerly of Juneau and now living in Anchorage. He is the author of the book, “Red on Blue, Establishing a Republican Governance,” available at Amazon. Chance coined the phrase “hermaphrodite administration” to describe a governor who is simultaneously a Republican and a Democrat. This was a grave insult to hermaphrodites, but he has not apologized.
ALASKA ORDERS NEW HIRES TO SIGN UP, PAY DUES, OR ELSE
The Janus vs AFSCME ruling at the Supreme Court in June was unambiguous in deciding that union membership for public employees is optional.
But the State of Alaska promotes it as a requirement for new employees, and gives no information on how to opt out.
The Janus decision says government workers must have a choice when it comes to union membership, The question before the court was from a child-support worker in Illinois, who didn’t want to join the state union: To keep their jobs, should government employees be forced to fund the political agendas of unions, even if they disagree with them?
Public-sector unions do work that is inherently political, including lobbying and bargaining with the government and telling the government what it should spend. This is political speech, protected by the First Amendment. But forcing workers to pay for speech they disagree with violates their First Amendment rights.
But the Walker Administration is dragging its heels in implementing the Janus decision: at the Department of Administration, several online notices state that enrolling in union membership is a requirement for newly hired employees and is time sensitive. Two of them are shown here:
While Gov. Bill Walker recently signed Administrative Order 296,saying that, in response to the Janus ruling, the state cannot give workers’ information to unions, nor force or coerce membership in them, his Labor Commissioner Heidi Drygas penned her own stunning analysis of the Janus ruling, calling it a “right to work for less” policy and “forcing unions to represent free riders who pay nothing but receive union benefits.”
She wrote the Janus ruling is after one thing: “bust unions, which have long been the foundation of America’s middle class.”
Drygas’ essay may be the political signal that indicates the State is going to take its time in changing policies relating to union membership. Here is her essay in full:
GOVERNOR OPPOSES JANUS RULING, TOO
At the recent joint Chamber of Commerce candidate forum in Wasilla last month, gubernatorial candidates Gov. Bill Walker and Mark Begich both said they oppose the Janus ruling.
To date, no information is easily available at the State’s websites telling employees how they may opt-out of the unions. Instead, the State appears to be dragging its feet on compliance with Janus — and taking its cue from the chief executive, whose reelection campaign is (not coincidentally) enjoying strong government union support.
It’s here: The Alaska Primary Election season has started, with early voting available today and all voting ending on Aug. 21 at 8 pm.
Some 30,000 new voters have been added to the voter rolls, with about two thirds of them coming from the Permanent Fund Dividend automatic voter registration process implemented last year.
Here’s what you need to know to vote:
EARLY VOTING
Early voting starts Aug. 6, when you can go early to certain locations to cast your ballot, regardless of what district you are in. The Division of Elections sort these ballots and and assign them to their proper district.
It is also for absentee in-person, e-mail,and special-needs voting. Essentially, you can check voting off your to-do list by getting on it now.
Due to the threat of cyber attacks, such as the attempt on Alaska’s voting system in 2016, you won’t be able to submit an electronic ballot, although you can receive one by email. You will need to fax or mail it in.
OTHER DATES TO KNOW
Aug. 18: Regional offices open 10 am-4 pm for early and absentee in-person and special needs voting.
Aug. 19: Regional offices open 12 pm -4 pm for early and absentee in-person and special needs voting.
Aug. 20, 5 pm: Deadline to receive electronic transmission absentee ballot. applications from voters requesting an electronic transmission ballot.
Aug. 21: Election Day.
Aug. 21: Absentee electronic transmission ballots being returned by-fax must be received by 8 pm.
Aug. 21: Absentee ballots being returned by-mail must be postmarked on or before Election Day.
ABOUT THOSE BALLOTS
Alaska Democrats have an open primary, which means anyone can vote the open ballot, which includes Alaskan Independence Party and Libertarian Party candidates. This year, Alaskans choosing this ballot will be faced with an array of Democrats, non-partisan, and undeclared candidates running in the Alaska Democratic Party mrimary. Voters will see letters by their names indicating what they say they are, which may not be Democrat. They could be (U) or (N), but still running in the Democratic Party’s primary.
Only one person is running for lieutenant governor on this ballot: Debra Call, a Democrat. The Libertarians have no candidate in the lieutenant governor race.
THE REPUBLICAN BALLOT
Alaska Republicans have a closed ballot, which means only registered Republicans or those who are registered nonpartisan or undeclared can vote this ballot. A sample of what the Republican ballot shows several choices for governor and for lieutenant governor.
French, a former state senator, was the winning lieutenant governor nominee for the Democrats in 2014, until his party leadership showed him the door and created the hybrid ticket with Walker on top, and Byron Mallott as lieutenant governor.
French, it appears, is negotiating on behalf of Begich, in spite of the fact that Walker finally landed him a good job at the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission as a reward for stepping down from his candidacy.
Hollis French
Wohlforth got his hands on A Proposal for Solving the Three-Way Race,perhaps written by French, perhaps collaborated on by others who are advocating the position: “For the love of God, no three-way race for governor, please.”
Wohlforth wrote that French crafted a deal, and Begich made Walker an offer.
Walker, so the story goes, said “No way, not dropping out.”
GAME OF CHICKEN CONTINUES
Sitting governors do not drop out of the race. They love being governor, especially in Alaska, where we have a strong governorship that wields buckets of power. It’s an honor and a chance to make changes that are important to them, and leave a legacy. They don’t just give up, and nor will Alaska’s 11th governor, Bill Walker. It is unreasonable to expect them to.
Neither do former U.S. senators, especially those with the last name of Begich. A guy like Mark Begich, who was Alaska’s 7th elected U.S. senator, is not going to throw in the towel and hand victory to a guy like Walker, who he considers a bumbling tangle of ineptitude.
Or will he? Word is that Begich is worried about Walker’s advantage of incumbency and is afraid of performing poorly in the race. His traditional backers in Big Labor are not lining up behind him this time.
THE ULTIMATE POLL APPROACHES
But the big test comes on Aug. 21: As much as Hollis French proposes some well-timed polls and asks the weaker one to be a gentleman and drop out for the sake of Alaska, the ultimate poll for Begich starts with early voting today, Aug. 6. He could get about 40,000 votes by Aug. 21 from Democrats, nonpartisans, and undeclared. These are the votes that will propel him to November.
After the primary, he’ll show the Walker folks his math: “I’ve got 40,000 votes to start with. What do you have?” They’ll have until Sept. 5 to crowd each other out of the race before ballots are printed for November.
There are about 75,000 registered Democrats in the state and another 84,440 who register as nonpartisan, the latter of which have a strong tendency to vote Democrat.
Especially coveted are those nonpartisans, who vote in higher numbers than the registered undeclared voters.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE VOTER
Let’s take a look at the regular Alaska voter, not the one who thinks about strategic machinations.
We can count on Democrats and nonpartisan voters choosing the Democrat ballot on Aug. 21.
At the top of that ballot, they”ll see a crowded race: Christopher Cumings, Alyse Galvin, Carol Hafner, and Demitri Shein for U.S. House, all running as Democrats. Voters will fill in an oval.
Then they’ll drop down to the next section: Governor. There, they will choose between Mark Begich, the only Democrat running since Walker dropped out and decided to run as a petition candidate, and Libertarian candidate Billy Toien.
Are they going to skip over voting for governor? Will they then skip over voting for Democrat Debra Call for lieutenant governor during the primary? There goes half the ballot, if they do.
Take a look at that ballot — will voters just not vote in two of the four races?
What Begich has to be concerned about is the drop off between those voting in the U.S. House race at the top of the page, and those voting for him for governor. If there’s a 10,000 vote drop off, those are voters who are sticking with Walker. They’ve figured out that by voting for Begich in the primary, they embolden him and strengthen his ticket for the General.
For both Walker and Begich, this primary is a defining moment.
Walker also has to be concerned about the psychology of the voter facing a primary ballot: The real excitement in this election is the governor’s race, and anyone who votes for Begich in the primary will be likely to vote for him again in November.
Walker’s campaign, unlike Begich’s, has to figure out how to convince people to not take part in that excitement, and not vote that part of the ballot, because it psychologically commits them for the General Election.
It’s an awkward task, but the best way to ensure Begich doesn’t get that psychologically valuable vote in August is for the governor to make the pitch (somehow) that Democrats shouldn’t vote at all, lest they make the mistake of casting a vote for Begich. Awkward. And not at all helpful for Democrats in other races.
Check out a sample ballot for District 20 Democrats above and you’ll see what will make Bill Walker a bit nervous: His name is missing again, just as it was in 2014, but this time, he doesn’t have to talk Byron Mallott into dropping down into the second spot. He has to talk Begich into spending more time with his family.
It makes the governor’s “Unity Ticket” of 2014 seem so simple.
In December of 2017, National Geographic unveiled a moving video of a starving polar bear, and wrote: “This is what climate change looks like.” The background music was mournful and the dying bear was pitiful. Think of the extended death scene in Puccini’s opera, Madama Butterfly.
It stirred controversy. Some said the film crew should have aided the bear. Others decried modern humanity for condemning such a noble creature to this terrible fate. Other said that it was fake news, and that there was no way to know if this bear was a victim of climate change or just plain old.
“While science has established that there is a strong connection between melting sea ice and polar bears dying off, there is no way to know for certain why this bear was on the verge of death,” the magazine wrote, and it updated the captioning on the video.
“Perhaps we made a mistake in not telling the full story—that we were looking for a picture that foretold the future and that we didn’t know what had happened to this particular polar bear,” wrote Cristina Mittermeier, a contributing photographer, speaker, and explorer for National Geographic.
Mittermeier is also an environmental advocate as the “co-founder, executive director, and vision lead” of SeaLegacy, a nonprofit organization working to protect the oceans, which contributed to the production.
