Thursday, December 18, 2025
Home Blog Page 1573

This woman on the loose, wanted in this man’s death

Suzanne Downing
-
1
This woman on the loose, wanted in this man’s death

The morning of March 8, 2017 ended badly for 32-year-old Craig Berumen Jr.

Berumen was well known to the Anchorage police and courts. He had a rap sheet that included suspected homicide.

When officers found his body outside the McDonald’s in Spenard after 5 am, he was already dead, hanging halfway out of an SUV that he’d been trying to exit when he was shot. Police called it a drug-related crime.

His death was eerily similar to the shooting death of 27-year-old Jennifer Jacobsen nine years earlier. In 2008, Jacobsen was shot to death late at night on Feb. 18, while trying to flee gunfire aimed at her red Chevy pickup truck outside of Berumen’s East Anchorage apartment.

At the time, prosecutors contended that Berumen, 23, Stephen Mohler Jr, 24., and Chris Binkley, 25 had made arrangements to buy about $80 worth of pot from Jacobsen, but that they actually planned to rob her.

It was a trap for the young woman, who didn’t appear to be an actual drug dealer, but may have been just doing a favor.

Binkley and Mohler were said to have been waiting in the alley when Jacobsen pulled up, and tried to rob the drugs from her. She backed the truck into a snowbank and died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Berumen, Binkley, and Mohler were indicted on second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit robbery. The three already had felony histories. Binkley and Mohler were also charged with robberies of liquor stores, convenience stores, and a hotel that occurred in several Anchorage locations weeks earlier, including one that happened the day of Jacobsen’s murder.

But the jury was never able to determine who pulled the trigger. and in 2011 acquitted Berumen on all charges. Binkley was found guilty of a weapons charge only. Mohler also walked on that charge. He’s now in at the Cordova Center, a halfway house in Anchorage. Binkley is on parole.

Nine years after Jacobsen’s shooting, Berumen was hanging out of an SUV and dying of bullet holes. And three other people are implicated in his killing.

Diaz, Gordon, Shanigan

CHAZ SHANIGAN

Shanigan, 22, was charged with Murder I, Murder II, Robbery I, and Misconduct Involving a Weapon III.  Shanigan is already under lock and key at Spring Creek Correctional Center serving a prior felony sentence. But at the time of Berumen’s death this past March, he was on the lam from a halfway house, Cordova Center.

Chaz Shanigan

Shanigan is from Grayling, Alaska, spent time in McLaughlin Youth Center as a minor, attended Benny Benson Secondary School, an alternative program of the Anchorage School District and has been in and out of jail for much his adult life.

 

Devotay Gordon

DEVOTAY GORDON

The 25-year-old Devon Gordon was charged with Murder II and Robbery I. Gordon was on supervised felony probation at the time of Berumen’s murder. Gordon is currently housed at Goose Creek Correctional Center serving an unrelated sentence.

Nicole Diaz

NICOLE A. DIAZ

Diaz, 32, was out on bail at the time of Berumen’s murder. She’s charged with Murder I, Murder II, and Robbery I. Her whereabouts are unknown, but she has ties to California.

In April, 2017, Diaz agreed to plead guilty to forgery and theft of an accessory device, from charges that stemmed back to Oct. 10, 2016. Other charges were dismissed as part of the plea deal. She missed court dates since then and failed to appear for a hearing on Feb. 17, 2018.

Nicole Diaz is 5’01” tall, 100 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes.

In addition to the above murder charges,, she has a warrant for violating from probation and has a felony fail to appear warrant on charges of Theft II and Misconduct Involving a Weapon.

District 9 endorsements: Shower and Rauscher

Suzanne Downing
-
1
District 9 endorsements: Shower and Rauscher

Sen. Shower, Rep. Rauscher

REPUBLICAN REMATCH: RAUSCHER vs. COLVER vs. GOODE

Alaska House District 9 Republicans voted to endorse two incumbents representing a political region that winds through the heart of some of the most conservative parts of Alaska — from Palmer-Fishhook through Delta Junction, Valdez and over Prince William Sound to Whittier.

Sen. Mike Shower and Rep. George Rauscher won the endorsements this week in a confidential email vote among the officers of the district.

That leaves two registered Republicans in that House race without the pre-primary endorsement of their local party, and likely that means without the endorsement of the Alaska Republican Party.

The two other Republicans who have filed for District 9 are Pam Goode of Delta Junction and Jim Colver of Palmer. (A third, Republican Vicki Wallner, is pulling her name from consideration.)

Pam Goode, Jim Colver

The House race was likelier a harder decision for District 9 officers than the Senate endorsement, because of the sequence of events that occurred: Mike Dunleavy left the Senate in January, an application process took place and in the end, although George Rauscher had applied for the appointment, Mike Shower got the call from the governor, not Rauscher.

But meanwhile, Pam Goode had filed for Rauscher’s House seat, because Rauscher had also filed to run for the Senate before Shower was named senator.

When Shower decided to run for the Senate seat, Rauscher dropped back to run for his House seat. But by then, Goode was working her campaign hard.

Yet, in the end, District 9 officers realized that only Rauscher has won against a man who many conservatives think is the definition of “Republican in name only” — Jim Colver.

Colver had lost the support of Republicans because he was a leader in what he called the Musk Ox Caucus, while pretending to serve as a Republican.

THE COLVER EFFECT

In 2016, Colver was the incumbent representative and many district Republicans were deeply unhappy with him. Rauscher beat Colver, 52-48 percent in a tough primary battle that pitted conservative Republicans against moderates and undeclared-nonpartisan voters who are allowed to vote in the Republican primary.

Rauscher went on to win against Pam Goode in the General Election, 63-37 percent. Goode ran as a member of the Constitution Party in that election, but has since registered as a Republican, as of six months ago.

The Wrangell St Elias range in District 9. National Park Service photo.

But 2016 wasn’t the first time that the three — Rauscher, Colver, and Goode — had faced each other in this district.

In 2014, Rauscher ran in the primary against Rep. Eric Fiege and Jim Colver.

Fiege lost to Colver that year, and Colver went on to beat Goode, the Constitution Party candidate, in the General Election, 58-27 percent. The Democrat, Mabel Wimmer, received 1,009 votes in the general.

SENATE SEAT GOES TO SHOWER

In the Senate seat, Randall Kowalke is the only Republican challenger to Sen. Shower.

Kowalke had been Walker’s first choice to replace Dunleavy, but the governor ran into strong opposition to the appointment, and the process went off the rails, with Walker ending up locked in a public skirmish with District 9, eventually losing the battle.

[Read: Is governor going off reservation for Dunleavy seat?]

District Chair Carol Carman said on Wednesday, “Our main goal, for the good of our state, is to avoid another Democrat-controlled House (or Senate).  In the House, we realize the only way to prevent a negative outcome is to endorse the only candidate who has already defeated Colver.
“We chose to endorse only one candidate, demonstrating that we believe it would not accomplish our goal if we split the conservative vote between two candidates in such an important race as ours,” Carman said in an email.
The District Republicans considered endorsing both Rauscher and Goode because both were felt to be capable of representing the district as conservatives. They never considered endorsing Colver because he was sanctioned both locally and at the state party level.
In the end, the grassroots base of the party was worried about splitting the vote, and allowing Colver to get back in office. They decided to only endorse the incumbent Rauscher, because he had done everything he promised to do when he ran for office.
There is one more hitch in the District 9 Republican side: James Squyres, the husband of Pam Goode, has filed as a petition candidate for the General Election, as insurance against a win by Colver in the primary.
DISTRICT 10
District 10, the other section of Senate Seat E’s region, has not made pre-primary endorsements. Doyle Holmes has recently filed for House to run against Rep. David Eastman as a petition candidate in the general. John Wood is the new chairman of the district. Wood could ask his officers if they want to do the pre-primary endorsement or leave it alone.
The District 10 area includes the northern part of the Mat-Su Borough all the way to the Denali Borough, including Trapper Creek, Talkeetna, Susitna, Willow, Houston and a small portion of Wasilla and Palmer.
Eastman, District 10, started a political action committee and has endorsed Pam Goode for neighboring District 9, a hostile move against his colleague Rep. Rauscher. Eastman said his PAC would donate to Goode’s campaign.

He put a gun to her head

Suzanne Downing
-
2
He put a gun to her head

CATCH-AND-RELEASE FELON CASEY MAYER ON THE LAM

On May 29, 2018, Anchorage Police were contacted by an Anchorage woman who told them that 26-year-old Casey D. Mayer woke her up, pointed a gun at her head, and demanded she drive him to another residence. She knew Mayer, and he had access to her. house. The woman did as she was told, and at about 1 in the morning, found herself driving to another residence, where she and Mayer stayed all day, until he drove her home around 8 pm and dropped her off.

Since then, Mayer has sent threatening text messages to the victim, police said. A felony warrant for his arrest was issued for third-degree assault.

Mayer also has a felony warrant for failure to appear on an original charge of misconduct involving a weapon.

Mayer may be from Wainwright, Alaska, originally, has spent time in Barrow, but his whereabouts is now thought to be in Anchorage or the Mat-Su Valley. He is believed to be hiding out with friends.

SOUND FAMILIAR?

A year and a half ago, on Oct. 5, 2016, Anchorage police were contacted by a woman who had been assaulted by her ex-boyfriend. It was 24-year-old Casey David Mayer.

Mayer had arrived at the 1000 block of W 27th Ave., in the Spenard neighborhood of Anchorage, where the woman had been staying with relatives. He broke down the front door, and hit the woman in the head with a pistol. The woman was treated by medics.

Police obtained an arrest warrant for Mayer for felony assault III, burglary I, burglary II, and criminal mischief V.  At the time he already had an unrelated felony warrant from the Alaska State Troopers for vehicle theft and other theft.

In 2016, when police put out a bulletin looking for Mayer, it said the man was likely homeless, but had access to friends’ vehicles. Later than year Mayer pled guilty to car theft.

THE TRAIL OF 2017

In June of 2017, Mayer was convicted of burglary and assault. By November, Mayer was arrested and charged with felon in possession, vehicle theft with damage of over $1,000, and violating conditions of release. He was back in custody on Nov. 15, 2017, but by January he was out and skipped out on his Jan. 16 court date.

By May 4, he was back in custody. Bond (only $250) was posted on May 10, 2018, and Mayer was out on the street. He failed to appear for his May 24 hearing on being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Four days later he had a gun to someone’s head.

On the rocks: First Walker fish task force loses key member

Suzanne Downing
-
2
On the rocks: First Walker fish task force loses key member

BIG KENAI STAKEHOLDER GROUP SAYS ‘NO THANKS’ 

The first fisheries task force set up by Gov. Bill Walker under Administrative Order 295 was the one he’d already convened informally and somewhat secretly: The Cook Inlet Salmon Advisory Task Force. It had met twice this spring in Anchorage and another meeting is scheduled for Thursday, although the upcoming meeting may have been cancelled.

The ink had barely dried on AO 295, when the Kenai River Sportsfishing Association pulled out of the task force yesterday.

“KRSA had participated in two introductory meetings to date with other representatives from user groups of Upper Cook Inlet.
With no clear vision, problem statement or stated objectives and concern that any work product could be viewed as being political, the best course of action for us now is to withdraw from this process,” said Ricky Gease, executive director of the Kenai River Sportsfishing association.

“Perhaps if there is another task force impaneled through the Alaska Board of Fisheries next year, we will consider participation at that time,” Gease said.

In early May, the governor had invited a group that included Dave Martin, Upper Cook Inlet Drift Association; Ian Pitzman, Upper Cook Inlet Drift Association; Eric Heubsch, Upper Cook Inlet Drift Association; Paul Shadura, set gillnet; Brian Gabriel, Mayor, City of Kenai; Jim Sykes, Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission; Andy Couch, Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission; Ricky Gease, Kenai River Sportfishing Association; Andy Hall, Kenai Peninsula Fishermen’s Association; Paul Dale, Snug Harbor Seafoods; Duncan Fields, Kodiak Salmon Work Group; Paul Michelsohn, sport fisherman; Richard Porter, Knik Tribal Council; Eric Loomis, Kenai River Professional Guides Association; and Charlie Pierce, Mayor, Kenai Peninsula Borough.

They met in the Governor’s Anchorage office, and later met at the Dena’ina Convention Center in Anchorage with facilitators brought in from Professional Growth Systems, an Anchorage consulting firm.

The Governor’s Office said the goal of the task force is to “establish common understanding and areas of agreement between individuals or groups representing the Upper Cook Inlet salmon fishery. The end result is to provide the Governor written observations and/or recommendations to improve management of the Upper Cook Inlet salmon fishery in the best interest of the commercial, personal use, subsistence, and sportfish users through legislative, regulatory, and/or administrative change.”

That, some say, is a coffee klatch. And right now, it’s fishing season and the only coffee fishers are looking for is in a thermos out on the fishing grounds.

[Read: Something fishy? Another fish task force set up]

Without the Kenai River sports fishing stakeholder at the table, the task force has become weighted toward commercial interests.

Governor’s race poll includes question on Alice Rogoff

Suzanne Downing
-
5
Governor’s race poll includes question on Alice Rogoff

WHY WOULD FORMER PUBLISHER OF DISPATCH BE IN THE MIX?

A telephone poll of Alaskans this week asks a series of questions one might expect during gubernatorial election season, such as this one:

– Do approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove of any of these names:

  • Bill Walker
  • Lisa Murkowski
  • Mark Begich
  • Scott Hawkins
  • Sean Parnell
  • Mike Dunleavy
  • Donald Trump
  • Mayor Dan sullivan
  • Mead Treadwell
  • Alice Rogoff

The order of the names rotates, of course, to give each name equal footing.

That a pollster would ask about Gov. Walker is no surprise in this election season, and the other names on the list seem normal for a pollster wanting to gauge the sentiment of likely voters.

But asking about Alice Rogoff, the former publisher of the Alaska Dispatch News?

Alice Rogoff walks out of a bankruptcy hearing in 2017.

The only reason that question would be included was because of former Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell entering the race for governor on Friday. Treadwell and Rogoff are personal friends and have had a business relationship through PT Capital, and investment firm.

But Bill Walker also had a cozy relationship with Rogoff. She was part of a group he gathered early in his administration to come up with ways to fix the state budget, and she pushed borrowing money to do so. She also won support for the Port Clarence project — an Arctic port where PT Capital had some interest or involvement.

Our conclusion on why her name is included? Some candidate is polling to see if there are negatives from Rogoff that rub off on Treadwell or Walker’s reputation.

[Read MustReadAlaska’s latest coverage on the Rogoff-Dispatch bankruptcy]

Other questions in the nine-minute poll include:

– If primary election was held today, which of these names would you would you vote for?

  • Treadwell
  • Hawkins
  • Dunleavy

– If you have to choose between Mead Treadwell and Mike Dunleavy, who would you choose?

– Do you support or oppose the use of the Permanent Fund for government services?

– If the general election was held today, and the candidates were Bill Walker, Mike Dunleavy, or Mark Begich, which would you vote for?

– Have you seen any advertising about the candidates — TV, Facebook, Other?

At least one other poll is in the field this week in Alaska, and it’s from a North Carolina call center using an automated voice.

State worker suing for sex-change surgery health insurance coverage

Suzanne Downing
-
9
State worker suing for sex-change surgery health insurance coverage

A state legislative librarian is suing the State of Alaska because the State’s insurance plan will not cover his sex change surgery from man to woman, which he/she says is medically necessary.

Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit on Fletcher’s behalf, saying, “Jennifer Fletcher was denied coverage for medically necessary treatment specifically because she is transgender. This is unlawful and stigmatizing discrimination that jeopardizes the health of hardworking state employees.”

Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Peter Renn in a press release today said, “The state employee health care program – AlaskaCare – covers medically necessary treatment for all state employees except transgender employees. That’s textbook discrimination by any standard,” he said.

“All that I am asking is that the State of Alaska stop discriminating against people like myself,” Fletcher said in the press release. “My coworkers are able to receive coverage for their care, but coverage for transition-related care is denied. This sends a clear message that the State does not value me, and does not consider me equal to its other employees, by forcing me to pay out of pocket for my medically necessary care.  How is this not discriminatory, when equivalent care is routinely provided to other state employees?”

Fletcher, 36, lives in Juneau and has worked for the State of Alaska since 2012. She was promoted to legislative librarian in 2014. Born in Wyoming, he attended Juneau-Douglas High School.

“Assigned male sex at birth, she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2014,” the press release stated. “In consultation with health care professionals, Fletcher started hormone therapy and transitioned to living openly as the woman that she is.”

The AlaskaCare plan contains a blanket exclusion of transition-related surgical treatment

“Because of the exclusion, Fletcher had to pay out of her own pocket for surgical treatment in 2017,” Lambda said.

Beginning in 2018, the AlaskaCare plan began covering transition-related hormone therapy, but still doesn’t pay for sex-change surgery, “even though it can also be medically necessary,” the organization stated.

Lambda Legal says the State of Alaska is violating the sex discrimination prohibition of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and calls the health insurance plan’s decision is irrational.

Attorney Eric Croft is Fletcher’s in-state attorney.

Alaska Democratic Party money-laundering lawsuit is up next

Suzanne Downing
-
1
Alaska Democratic Party money-laundering lawsuit is up next

WILL FEC INVESTIGATE? WILL LAWSUIT PROCEED?

The clock is ticking on the Alaska Democratic Party regarding a national lawsuit that sweeps the ADP into a scandal with 39 other state Democratic parties, Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president, and the Democratic National Committee.

A lawsuit by the Committee to Defend the President says that the Hillary Victory Fund used 40 state Democratic parties as money laundromats to secretly move $84 million as a way of dodging campaign finance laws. And it was all in support of Hillary Clinton. Alaska’s share of the money-laundering operation was nearly $1.17 million.

The lawsuit claims the Federal Election Commission chose to ignore complaints about the practice, in what could be the largest campaign finance scandal in U.S. history, although it has received scant coverage from mainstream media outlets.

The Committee to Defend the President found several questionable transactions:

  • Hillary Victory Fund said it transferred $1,169,100 to the Alaska Democratic Party.
  • Alaska Democratic Party said it only received $1,148,100 from the Hillary Victory Fund.
  • Alaska Democratic Party said it transferred $1,169,100 to the DNC.
  • DNC reported receiving $1,169,100 from the Alaska Democratic Party.

The oddities that stuck out in the transfers include:

  • Alaska Democratic Party did not report receiving $21,000 from the Hillary Victory Fund on or about Nov. 7, 2016, but reported transferring $21,000 to the DNC on Nov. 7, 2016.
  • The DNC reported receiving $43,500 on Nov. 1, 2015, which was the day before any funds were reported to have been transferred from the Alaska Democratic Party to the DNC.
  • Of the 12 transactions reported, 10 transactions showed the same amount of funds being transferred from the Hillary Victory Fund and passing through the state party to the DNC on the same date – the exception being the date/amount errors mentioned above.

The Alaska Democratic Party transactions that are part of the lawsuit are shown here:

 

The lawsuit, stemming from a complaint filed in December, alleges money came from the Hillary Victory Fund through state parties and back to the Democratic National Committee, basically simultaneously. Most of the money that arrived at the DNC was cycled right back to the Hillary Victory Fund.

“This Complaint alleges an unprecedented, massive, nationwide multi-million dollar conspiracy among the Democratic National Committee (“DNC”); Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton’s joint fundraising committee (“JFC”), Hillary Victory Fund (“HVF”); Clinton’s presidential candidate committee, Hillary for America (“HFA”), 40 Democratic state parties, and an undetermined number of individual “super donors” to circumvent federal contribution limits and earmarking restrictions by effectively laundering nearly all contributions received by HVF through the state parties to the DNC, which contributed much of those funds to HFA, made coordinated expenditures with HFA, and otherwise granted control of those funds to HFA resulting in a de facto unlawful contribution. … this scheme allowed the DNC to receive tens of millions of dollars in contributions far exceeding federal limits,” the lawsuit alleges.

State parties like the Alaska Democratic Party never had control of the money, and will have a tough time explaining the transfers. Kay Brown was the executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party at the time; she left that job shortly thereafter and Jay Parmley was hired as her replacement. The party’s chairman Casey Steinau was likely a check signer in most transactions, but these transactions were done electronically.

After the Committee to Defend the President brought the matter to the FEC’s attention, wanting to know if phony bank accounts were set up to ease the transactions. The agency said it would investigate, but by December, 2017 had not made any detectable effort to do so.

Now, a lawsuit is on the clock.

The Committee to Defend the President is forcing a ruling out of the FEC. In April it filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, saying that by failing to investigate the complaint, the agency had shown its actions to be “arbitrary, capricious, contrary to law, and an abuse of discretion.”

On June 22, the FEC must file an answer — either to admit or deny. It might file a motion to dismiss. If so, the Committee to Defend the President will likely file for a summary judgment, and litigation could continue well into the future.

20171220_Hillary_Victory_FEC_Complaint_FULL

Must Read Alaska wrote about the Alaska Democratic Party’s money-laundering scheme with the Democratic National Committee back in 2016 in a report that also detailed some of the Wikileak documents showing how the state party colluded with the Hillary Clinton campaign and then-Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to swing the results of the Democrats’ National Convention process, toward Hillary Clinton and against Bernie Sanders.

The move angered many Alaska Democrats, who gave Sanders his largest win outside of Vermont, his home state. Sanders won 80 percent of the Alaska Democratic vote, a trend that was evident in every borough across the state.

[Read: Democrats in shambles going into convention]

Nevertheless, there were major supporters for Hillary Clinton in Alaska in 2016, as evidenced by this fundraising brochure, which features many state Democrat heavy hitters, including cohost Mark Begich:

Something fishy? Another fish advisory group established

Suzanne Downing
-
5
Something fishy? Another fish advisory group established

NEW FISH TASK FORCES WILL REPORT TO THE GOVERNOR DIRECTLY

Gov. Bill Walker has pulled his secret Cook Inlet fish task force meetings out into the sunshine.

On Monday, he signed an administrative order establishing something called the Governor’s Fisheries Advisory Task Force. Or more correctly – task forces.

The purpose? To be determined.

Although there is no “problem statement” in Administrative Order 295, there also aren’t specific deliverables outlined by the governor.

But there is an overarching purpose: The new task forces may not undermine the role or authority of the Board of Fisheries, which is a constitutionally established governing body, albeit one that is highly controversial because it divvies up a limited and highly coveted resource.

[Read: The exact wording of Administrative Order 295]

Other than that, it’s a rangy order with plenty of leeway.

The task forces are a derivative of the Cook Inlet-oriented meetings the governor has convened with a paid facilitator over the last few weeks. That group has been meeting in Anchorage, without any official status or public notice. It’s an invitation-only arrangement. The group meets again this Thursday in a to-be-determined location. Invited stakeholders are showing up at these meetings at great expense because the fishing season has begun around Cook Inlet, and they can’t be with the fish and be in Anchorage to defend their interests at the same time.

Gov. Bill Walker, during his 40-minute State of the State address in January, did not mention fisheries but in passing.

These task forces will be made up of “varied interests, working in innovative and cooperative ways over a finite period of time, will provide observations and recommendations to the Governor on specific assigned fishery issues, which can also serve to assist the Board of Fisheries in the execution of their responsibilities.”

The task forces, according to the order, will get administrative support from the Department of Fish and Game and will work on tasks given by the governor himself.

And the task forces may offer him advice. Walker’s administrative order says there may be any number of these task forces active at a time, whenever and wherever the governor decides one is needed.

“Task forces will be activated via letter or memorandum from the Governor to the Director of Boards and Commissions and the Commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game, which will include the following:

    1. statement of objective(s);
    2. the composition and size of the task force;
    3. the time period to accomplish objective(s); and
    4. specific deliverables (as required).

Task force seats will not be specifically assigned but will represent commercial, sport, personal use, subsistence, enforcement, science, and conservation interests. There is no seat designated for fishing guides, outfitters, or fishing businesses that rely on tourism.

Nongovernmental members will be paid per diem and travel expenses for meetings, but the governor directed that meetings should be held telephonically or by video conference to the extent practical.

Alaska already has 84 local advisory committees that inform the board of fisheries process. Advisory committees, according to the State Department of Fish and Game, are intended to provide a local forum on fish and wildlife issues, and “are critical policy bodies to the boards.”

More than 700 Alaskans already serve on these boards, which also provide ground-truth input to the Alaska Board of Game.

The governor has not focused on fisheries during his three-and-a-half year tenure, and in his 6,200-word, 22-page State of the State address in January only mentioned it once, saying “We have world-class fisheries and are promoting new opportunities such as kelp and shellfish production. We will continue to prioritize healthy salmon habitats that benefit all users.”

But with an election on the horizon and several fisheries in crisis in Alaska, task forces may be seen as an election strategy that costs little, but repairs some of the damage that has occurred since Walker’s first fateful fisheries move: Appointing Roland Maw to replace Karl Johnstone, a respected retired judge, on the Board of Fisheries.

[Read: Fisheries board nominee indicted for the third time]

Maw is still in court defending his right to take years and years of Permanent Fund dividends in the largest Permanent Fund dividend fraud case in Alaska history.

District 8 Democrats’ Craigslist plea: Please run

Suzanne Downing
-
2
District 8 Democrats’ Craigslist plea: Please run

Alaska’s House District 8 is so conservative.

How conservative? The Democrats’ district chair had to advertise on Craigslist to find a candidate to run for House.

The ad wasn’t enough to entice someone into running against Republicans in this deeply red part of Alaska.

As for truth in advertising, as usual there’s more to it. Legislative service not so much a job, but rather a form of public service for which you get scant praise and only modest compensation, considering the hours. And that per diem? You’re going to need it for maintaining two residences — one in Juneau and one in Big Lake. Then there’s family, schools for your children, and getting that security system in place for your Mat-Su Valley home. No wonder the party turned to Craigslist.

So in the end, who filed for the seat as a Democrat?

Jim Chesbro, the man who placed the ad. Pat Chesbro has been a two-time candidate for the Legislature, and apparently wasn’t ready for round three.

The last Democrat who ran for District 8 was Greg Jones, the devout Muslim who became the subject of various speculation about his ties to radical Islam groups. Jones won 18 percent of the vote in 2016, a remarkable result, considering his qualifications. He went on to challenge Don Young for Congress this year, but has since dropped his candidacy.

In District 8, it’s an uphill battle for Democrats, in the same way it is for Republicans in District 33 (downtown Juneau) or 20 (downtown Anchorage).

1...1,5721,5731,574...1,745Page 1,573 of 1,745

About us

Must Read Alaska is news of people, politics, policy, culture, and happenings in Alaska.

Contact
4021 West Hill Road,
Homer, AK 99603
[email protected]

The latest

Protect Alaska’s Children: Task Force Dawnbreaker Brings 16 Child Sexual Abusers to Justice 

Newsletter 1
This year, Task Force Dawnbreaker has charged a total of 16 individuals with child sexual abuse crimes: 6...

Justice for American Heroes: Alaska Congressional Delegation Ensures Vietnam Vets Receive Promised Native Land Allotments

Newsletter 3
Alaska Natives who served overseas during the Vietnam war...

US Advances AI in K-12 Education, Drawing Lessons from El Salvador’s Groundbreaking Partnership

Politics 2
As part of America's AI Action Plan, the United...

© Must Read Alaska