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Holiday travel perk: Sea-Tac Airport allows visitors inside secure area

Suzanne Downing
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Holiday travel perk: Sea-Tac Airport allows visitors inside secure area

FIRST IN THE NATION TO EASE RESTRICTIONS

For the first time in 17 years, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is allowing visitors into the secure passenger areas.

Before Sept. 11, 2001, people could walk their friends and loved ones to the gates at any airport in the country. You could go to the airport and just hang out or have dinner.

Beginning Friday, up to 50 people a day can use the Port of Seattle’s new SEA Visitor Pass pilot program that allows the public entry into the secure part of Sea-Tac.

“It’s been 17 years since anyone without a ticket has been able to enjoy areas of the airport beyond security. And yet some of the airport’s best features are there. Great restaurants, local musicians performing in the concourses, and some of the best views of the planes coming and going against the backdrop of Mt. Rainier and the Olympics,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner Ryan Calkins. “Airport staff continues to work to enhance the customer experience, not only for airport fans, but also for families to connect. For now this is a pilot program, but we’re excited to see if this is something the public is interested in.”

The pilot program will last through Dec. 14 and the Port will study the feasibility of continuing the program permanently.

Officials say the “SEA Visitor Pass” allows visitors who meet Transportation Security Administration requirements to reach the domestic-travel gates only.

Sea-Tac is the first in the nation to implement such a program.

Here are the details:

  • You must apply online before 1:30 p.m. the day before you want to visit the airport.
  • Visitors must be approved by TSA and will be notified of their approval status by midnight the day before they enter.
  • Enrollment is available Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
  • Entrance to the post-security side of the terminal is allowed from Tuesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
  • The program is limited to 50 visitors per day.
  • Approved visitors will go through the standard security checkpoints, so all security requirements for any traveler will be in place for visitors as well. Check with TSA for security requirements and plan ahead for peak traveler periods.
  • Meeting travelers at their gate applies only to domestic arrivals.

For more information, visit the SEA Visitor Pass Program page or check out the Frequently Asked Questions.

Dunleavy makes key transition appointments

Suzanne Downing
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Dunleavy makes key transition appointments

FORMER GOV. SEAN PARNELL IS SPECIAL ADVISOR ON AK-LNG PROJECTS

Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy held his second press conference since the Nov. 6 election, announcing key members of his team. Still hoarse and sucking on a lozenge with an obvious head cold, he left most of the comments to Chief of Staff Tuckerman Babcock and two of his Transition Team policy advisors: Brett Huber and John Moller.

Former Gov. Sean Parnell was named the special adviser to the Alaska LNG project. He was governor from 2009 to 2014 and he will be analyzing the Alaska LNG project as it stands today and making recommendations on the next steps.

Dick Randolph, the “father of the income tax repeal” was named the special adviser on constitutional amendments. He ran as a Libertarian candidate for governor in 1982 and as a Republican primary gubernatorial candidate in 1986. He is known for his efforts to repeal the state income tax in 1980. He will advise Dunleavy on which public policy issues should be considered for protection or clarification in Alaska’s constitution.

Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy stands as John Moller, Brett Huber, and Dan Saddler enter the hangar as the press conference began at 11 am on Friday.

The Transition Policy Council will be co-chaired by Huber and Moller. Both will also be joining the administration as senior policy advisers to the governor after Dec. 3.

Huber was the campaign manager for Dunleavy. His role was announced earlier this week. He has served in numerous staff roles in the Alaska Legislature and has broad knowledge of Alaska’s key issues.

Moller is the former rural affairs advisor under Gov. Parnell. He is a commercial fisherman who lives in Juneau and he will be advising the governor-elect on rural issues during the transition, and will likely continue in a similar role in the Dunleavy Administration.

Rep. Dan Saddler, who is leaving the Legislature, will serve as the executive director of the Transition Policy Council.

The next formal press conference will be at the Resource Development Council meeting in Anchorage next Wednesday, Saddler said.

Dunleavy will head to Fairbanks for the Alaska Outdoor Council banquet on Saturday, where he will be giving remarks.

House Democrats have a minority caucus of 17

Suzanne Downing
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10
House Democrats have a minority caucus of 17

HERE’S HOW THEY COULD TAKE OVER

The Nov. 6 election left Alaska House Democrats with perhaps 17 members — or perhaps as few as 15 members. It’s a difficult minority that includes four new legislators.

Then there’s Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, who ran as a Republican in JBER-Muldoon, all the while planning to take a leadership role in the Democrat-led organization in 2016.

That gets the Democrat minority to 18. They need three more.

But LeDoux is a risky play for them and won’t be their first pick: Rumors swirl about an impending indictment concerning the fingerprints LeDoux has all over the absentee ballot voter fraud scandal in her District 15 primary.

[Read: Getting to the bottom of the shady voting in District 15]

Would Democrats want someone in their caucus who could be indicted? She’s not their first choice and many of them expressed unhappiness with her when she was their Rules chairman from 2016-2018.

This is obviously an awkward position for Republicans, as well. LeDoux wants back in the Republican caucus, but she’s become a liability to both caucuses.

The Democrats know they don’t have a way to reach a 21-member majority, even with LeDoux. Here’s their current known lineup.

District 4 – Grier Hopkins, Fairbanks

District 5 – Adam Wool, Fairbanks

District 16 – Ivy Spohnholz, Anchorage

District 17 – Andy Josephson, Anchorage

District 18 – Harriet Drummond, Anchorage

District 19 – Geran Tarr, Anchorage

District 20 – Zack Fields, Anchorage

District 21 – Matt Claman, Anchorage

District 23 – Chris Tuck, Anchorage

District 33 – Sara Hannan, Juneau

District 34 – Andi Story, Juneau

District 35 – Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, Sitka

District 36 – Dan Ortiz, Ketchikan

District 37 – Bryce Edgmon, Dillingham

District 38 – Tiffany Zulkosky, Bethel

Then there are two rural Democrats who could join the Republican majority, if they were welcome:

District 39 – Neal Foster, Nome

District 40 – John Lincoln, Kotzebue

Traditionally, Republican majorities have embraced one or two rural Democrats, and these two come from an area of the state where Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy has deep ties.

Dunleavy taught in Koyuk and Kotzebue, and his wife Rose is from Noorvik, 42 miles from Kotzebue and 200 miles from Nome.

Both of these rural legislators would enjoy a stronger position for their regions by joining the Republican-led majority, if they are invited.

Right now, with 21 in the recently announced Republican majority organization, the group only needs Rep. Louise Stutes of Kodiak to sign on to have a truly solid 22-member majority, but they could include those two rural seats and that would create a powerful majority of 24.

The Democrats, who held their organizational meeting in Anchorage on Wednesday, have reached out to several Republicans who they see as weak, hoping to entice them over to their 15-17-member majority.

So far, it’s looking unlikely.

The punishment for Republicans who tried that bait-and-switch gambit has been dire: Rep. Paul Seaton of Homer, who ended up leaving the Republican Party under pressure, lost in a landslide victory to Republican Sarah Vance; Rep. LeDoux lost her primary to a challenger who didn’t even run a campaign, until absentee ballots were counted (many of them fraudulent); Jason Grenn, a no-party legislator from Anchorage who aligned with Democrats lost decisively to Republican Sara Rasmussen after serving only one term; and in 2016 musk ox caucus member Jim Colver was ousted in the primary by Republican Rep. George Rauscher.

Only LeDoux of Muldoon and Stutes of Kodiak have hung onto their seats in spite of forming a power alliance with Democrats. And LeDoux is considered politically radioactive as a voter fraud investigation continues.

There’s very little the Democrats can offer weak Republicans this year, and, as history now shows, those who won office as Republicans would find that this is their last term if they formed a majority with the Democrats.

That would include Rep. Gary Knopp of Kenai, to whom we’ve learned the Democrats have offered the speakership, if he’d only flip. Clarification: Knopp says he has not received a call.

They’ll keep trying.

Dunleavy names chief of staff, transition team

Suzanne Downing
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9
Dunleavy names chief of staff, transition team

Tuckerman Babcock, right, reviews election results with Mike Dunleavy on Nov. 6 after the polls closed.

TUCKERMAN BABCOCK TO JOIN DUNLEAVY ADMINISTRATION

Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy today announced that Tuckerman Babcock, current chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, will be his administration’s chief of staff, and will also lead the transition team for the incoming Dunleavy-Meyer Administration.

Babcock resigned from the Alaska Republican Party chairmanship effective at 2 pm today. Glen Clary, the party’s vice chairman, is automatically the new party chairman.

The announcement was made at the annual meeting of the Alaska Miners Association at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage. As he was introduced, the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Dunleavy announced that his campaign manager Brett Huber will be his senior policy director.

Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy speaks to the Alaska Miners Association today.

Dunleavy also named other key positions in the transition:

  • Maryanne Pruitt, administrative director of the transition team
  • Sarah Erkmann Ward is the communication director for the transition team
  • Kristie Babcock is the governor-elect’s scheduling director for transition
  • Gina Rittaco is the boards and commissions director for transition
  • Stacey Stone Semmler is legal counsel for the transition team.

The transition team has launched a website where people can send their resumes and where they can offer ideas and ask questions:

governormikedunleavy.com

Dunleavy was suffering from a cold and was hoarse throughout his remarks, which focused on his excitement about resource development.

Speaking with a gravely voice said “Alaska is open for business.”

He told the miners that he wants “more Red Dogs, more Pogos, and more Kensingtons,” naming three well-known Alaska mines.

He also gave a shout out to coal, and mentioned opening Donlin mine.

“I can assure you going forward there’s going to be a lot of excitement in the resource development sector of our state. The attitude is how can we make this happen?” he said.

“My pledge to you is you’re going to have a partner that wants to create jobs and opportunities for all Alaska,” he said. “We’re not going to politicize the process.”

He recognized Rep. Dave Talerico as House Speaker, and Reps. Lance Pruitt and Tammie Wilson as co-chairs of Finance in the House.

Tightest of margins: Senate Seat A won’t be decided for days

Suzanne Downing
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Tightest of margins: Senate Seat A won’t be decided for days

The Senate seat race between Sen. Pete Kelly and challenger Rep. Scott Kawasaki likely won’t be known for nearly two weeks.

With 11 votes  giving incumbent Kelly the win, there are hundreds of potential absentee ballots uncounted, and some are likely enroute from overseas.

Kawasaki, who has been the District 1 representative since 2007, spent more than $101,000 on his campaign and as of earlier this morning, had 4,037 votes.

Today in Fairbanks, the Election officials are reviewing questioned ballots.

Here are votes yet to be counted:

-Uncounted early vote: 208 ballots.

-Uncounted absentee in person, personal representation ballots, and email ballots:  99 ballots

-Absentee by mail ballots received as of Nov. 5: 64 from District 1 and 70 from District 2.

-Absentee by mail ballots that are outstanding:  313 ballots

  •  111 were to out of state addresses and have 10 days to arrive
  • 31 were to overseas addresses and have 15 days to arrive

The counting of absentees is governed by state statute and takes place 7 days, 10 days, and 15 days after the election. That means the first snapshot of absentee ballots will have to wait until Tuesday.

As the race stands, the State would perform a recount at a candidate’s request. Such a recount cost will be absorbed by the state if the vote differential is 1/2 percent or less.

Update: Sitka’s mysterious missing ballots

Suzanne Downing
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Update: Sitka’s mysterious missing ballots

JUST ONE QUARTER OF THE VOTES HAVE BEEN COUNTED IN DISTRICT 35

11/8/2018 UPDATE: An update to the count has been posted at the Division of Elections.

The director of the Division of Elections said this morning that it is not the machines themselves that were broken, but at the end of the night on Tuesday the Election workers tried to print the results from the optical scanning units, the “Ender Cards” were no longer functioning because their tracker marks — bar codes — were not being read by the machines. The Division is working with Dominion Voting Systems to determine why. There are paper ballots to back up the results, she said.

Further, the delivery of the memory cards from these machines and the other election materials, the Sitka Goldstreak Office was closed in the early morning hours before the flight left Sitka. Those materials then arrived in Juneau after the Gold Streak office was closed.

ORIGINAL STORY

The polls closed at 8 pm on Tuesday, and the House District 35 seat occupied by Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins was reported to remain with Kreiss-Tomkins, who hopped on a plane Wednesday to head for Anchorage and the House minority caucus organizational meeting.

But only 1,276 votes were counted for Kreiss-Tomkins, and 974 votes counted for challenger Richard Wein.

What happened to about 4,000 votes that have just gone missing?

According to reports from local residents, two voting machines in Sitka (Precinct 1 and 2), as well as one each in Craig, Klawock, Prince of Wales Island, and Kake, are said to have malfunctioned.

No other voting machines around the state failed — only six, and all in District 35. What are the odds?

The “end cards” didn’t go through the machines properly, and so the chips are being sent to Juneau by air. As of now,  six precincts have had no ballots counted, Must Read Alaska has learned.

As of Wednesday evening, the Division of Elections had issued no notification about why so many machines failed in just one district. Nor has it explained where the ballots are from those machines, what the plan is for counting those ballots, and how the public can be assured of the security of those votes.

Must Read Alaska will contact the Division of Elections for answers on Thursday, but for now, there are as many as 4,000 ballots in the wild, with no public notification as to their whereabouts.

Alaska Airlines commissions new hangar

Suzanne Downing
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0
Alaska Airlines commissions new hangar

Alaska Airlines opened its brand new hangar at the Ted Stevens International Airport today with a ceremony. The hangar, 105,000 square feet, holds two Boeing 737 jets side by side, allowing maintenance of those jets to be done in Anchorage, rather than be flown to Seattle.

The addition of several mechanics jobs that are going to be based in Anchorage will add opportunities in a city that has suffered from recession for four years.

The new hangar, built at a cost of $40 million, has an air-handling and heat recovery system that helps the building retain heat when the hangar doors must be opened. The building can return to 65 degrees from 25 degrees in a matter of minutes after the doors are closed.

Attending the ceremony were Sen. Lisa Murkowski and her husband Verne Martell, and Gov. Bill Walker. Murkowski and Walker both made remarks.

House Republicans organize: Talerico is House speaker

Suzanne Downing
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House Republicans organize: Talerico is House speaker

The House Republican majority announced the basic leadership members of its caucus today, starting with Speaker Dave Talerico. The caucus is 21 strong at this point, although it may not be complete.

Speaker: Dave Talerico, Healy

Rules Chair: Cathy Tilton, Chugiak

Majority Leader: Chuck Kopp, Anchorage

Finance Co-Chairs: Lance Pruitt, Anchorage, and Tammie Wilson, North Pole. Wilson will have the operating budget, and Pruitt will manage the capital budget.

The caucus involves all Republicans with the exception of Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux of District 15 and possibly Rep. Louise Stutes of Kodiak. Talerico said that he had extended an invitation to Stutes but had not received a response.

LeDoux was not invited likely because she isn’t seen as trustworthy by her colleagues.

Rep. David Eastman, District 11, was included in the caucus even though he has often been at odds with his fellow Republicans. He did not appear during the press conference, however.

As of today, Rep. Daniel Ortiz of Ketchikan has not been invited to be part of the majority caucus, and neither has Neal Foster or Bryce Edgmon, according to Talerico.

Whether it’s a “binding caucus” is still an outstanding question. “We’re a caucus in construction,” Talerico said. A binding caucus usually means that members vote together on the final budget. Controlling spending is the one area that all the Republicans agree on, Talerico said.

The brief press conference was attended by about 20 members of the press as well as staffers from legislators’ offices and a couple of lobbyists.

Veterans Day is for our warriors, who help us keep the peace

Suzanne Downing
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5

BY WIN GRUENING
SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

Like many in my generation, I grew up believing that serving our country in the military is an honor and a privilege. My grandfather served in WWI, my father in WWII, my twin brother and I served during Viet Nam.

Looking back, my military service did more to shape me as a person than any other life experience I’ve had. It affects the way I dress, the way I think, and how and why I vote. It has shaped my attitude about America, its military, and its place in the world today.

The military isn’t a place where you spend a lot of time worrying about what to do or where you were going next. Pretty much everything was decided for you.

Yet, I can think of no other endeavor where so much is expected and so much responsibility is placed on people at such a young age. Imagine getting a job in the private sector in your teens or early twenties where you are responsible for millions of dollars of equipment and the lives of fellow soldiers. You follow orders, but you are well trained, still required to think independently and make rapid decisions that can mean the difference between mission success or failure – sometimes life or death.

We trained as warriors but helped keep the peace. We performed humanitarian missions that helped other countries in time of disaster. One of the most thrilling flights I participated in was on Christmas Day, 1972, when I flew a mission of medical supplies and equipment into Nicaragua after an earthquake devastated the country’s capital city, Managua.

Similar missions have occurred in many other countries throughout the world.

During times of war, the military has the same mission – to keep the peace. That may sound strange but it’s true. No one wants war.  But our country and its flag were born almost 250 years ago during a war no one wanted. There is nothing contradictory about the idea that preserving and protecting our country and its flag require vigilance and sacrifice, and sometimes, even war.

My 10 years in the Air Force occurred early in my life – four years at the Air Force Academy and six years on active duty, mostly as a C-141 pilot. I was lucky. While I flew all over the world and spent time flying in and out of combat zones in Southeast Asia, as far as I know, other than an occasional indiscriminate rocket attack, no one ever shot at me. We had our share of aircraft emergencies, but I never felt I was in any real danger.

Some of my classmates and friends were not so fortunate. Some were wounded or died in the line of duty – many demonstrated incredible bravery and courage in the face of extreme danger. Most endured hardships, financial sacrifice and family separations that are commonplace in the military.

But whether you were on the front lines or not, everyone was willing to sacrifice in some way because you were proud of your mission.  I have never served with any group of men and women who were more skilled, more dedicated, or more professional than the American military.

For that reason, l believe all our men and women in uniform and their supportive families deserve our gratitude and respect.

Today, we face terror threats from an enemy whose single stated goal is to destroy us. They want to destroy our flag, our God, and our country.

It’s deeply troubling that many of our young people today exhibit little pride in being American.  It raises the question: from where will the patriots come to protect our freedom in the future if our citizens don’t have that pride in their flag and their country?

Our country isn’t perfect – but it is one of the few nations on earth truly fulfilling the dream of liberty for all. Many Americans have served and died to preserve that dream. Let’s not forget them or the principles for which they stood.

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