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Net neutrality comments from Alaskans: Fake?

Suzanne Downing
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Hundreds of thousands — perhaps millions — of public comments on “net neutrality” regulations are now known to be fake. Tens of thousands may be from Alaskans who don’t even know they commented to the FCC. People in Salcha, Hooper Bay, Port Lion, and Thorne Bay.

The extent of the possible fraud raises questions about the quality and veracity of the public process going forward, and deserves scrutiny.

Must Read Alaska scanned dozens of comments from “Alaskans” and found a preponderance of what look to be fakes — from addresses in Alaska that do not exist, and from people who don’t show up in any Alaska voter database. In fact, it was hard to find many that appeared legitimate, although MRAK located comments from some Juneau Democrats that we deem “probably real.” They definitely oppose the FCC freeing of the Internet.

But in Craig, Alaska, population 1,200, some 400 comments were submitted to the FCC, including one guy who used the City of Craig’s official mailing address as his own, and an 80-something woman who went into great technical detail on all things net neutrality.

That’s one savvy granny. Who knew so many people in conservative Craig, Alaska, have such a strong opinion on net neutrality?

Some commenters used fake town names, like Port Coquitlam, Alaska (the town is in British Columbia). And somehow, Deadhorse, population 25, came up with four comments to the FCC on net neutrality.

You can do your own research and see if your name was used to submit a fake comment to the FCC at this site.

What does this development mean for the public comment process for the Pebble Mine or the AK-LNG project? How can Alaskans know if real Alaskans are commenting, or if their identities are being stolen by activists from the Lower 48 to sway the public process?

The attorney general of New York has instigated an investigation. Considering the ramifications for fakery in Alaska projects on the horizon, that may be an action for Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth to emulate. She could run the data from FCC through the Permanent Fund database and determine if fraud occurred against Alaskans and their identities.

ALASKA SENATE AND HOUSE DEMOCRATS OPPOSE FCC ACTION

Alaska Senate Democrats filed a letter with the FCC on Dec. 12 opposing the federal commission’s action on net neutrality.

“The repeal of net neutrality would allow ISPs to limit access to information or force consumers and online entities to pay more to get and receive the access they need. That’s a ‘pay-to-play’ system, and it’s unfair,” said Sen. Bill Wielechowski of Anchorage. “The FCC action also puts our free speech, free press, and free association rights at grave risk.”

“Alaskans rely on internet access for work, education, and to keep in touch with family in and out of state,” said Senator Tom Begich, also of Anchorage. “Broadband should be treated as a public utility that is subject to reasonable consumer protection regulations like the rule of net neutrality.”

The news release went on to say that an unprecedented 22 million comments had been received and one million had been linked to stolen identities, with 500,000 linked to Russian email addresses.

Further, 94 percent were duplicate comments, 57 percent were from identical or temporary addresses; there were nine instances when 75,000 same or similar comments posted at the exact same second; and the top seven comments made up 38 percent of the submissions.

Those are the types of results that can be found in the Alaska comments as well, Must Read Alaska discovered.

“If the public comment process was fraudulently hijacked, the FCC should want to know that before weighing those views into its decision,” said Rep. Kawasaki. “A thorough investigation should occur, and the FCC’s action on Thursday must be postponed until we can be assured of the integrity of the process.”

A second letter from legislators was also sent to Alaska Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth, asking the State to seek the FCC’s delay in voting until the public process has been investigated. If the proposal is approved, the legislators are requesting the State file suit against the FCC.

Rather than file suit, the State may be better served by determining just how many Alaskans had a mild brush with identity theft, as the next one could be far more serious, such as voter fraud or Permanent Fund application fraud.

The FCC went ahead with its decision to open up the internet anyway, in the expectation that innovation will occur when there is less regulation.

GCI, an internet provider in Alaska, posted notices in social media saying the company has no plans to slow down service or provide faster service for premium account holders.

Breaking: Pebble gets a partner

Suzanne Downing
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The Pebble Limited Partnership has a partner.

CEO Tom Collier issued the following statement in response to news released today by Northern Dynasty Minerals that it had entered into a framework agreement with First Quantum Minerals to pursue an option to acquire an ownership position of the Pebble Limited Partnership, including a commitment to contribute $37.5 million dollars to PLP:

“This represents exciting news for the project. We will soon initiate the permitting and review process with a much smaller and more environmentally sensitive plan for a mine at Pebble. We are very pleased to have the financial resources to move through that process. This thorough and comprehensive process allows everyone an opportunity to express their views about Pebble.

“This initial investment by a well-established copper mining company speaks volumes about the economic opportunity Pebble represents to Alaska. Pebble development could make a significant contribution to Alaska’s economy and provide year-round jobs for Southwest Alaska. Additionally, Pebble could provide important revenue to state and local governments.

“We will continue to expand our Alaska team and engage with Alaskan firms to help us advance Pebble through the permitting process. We look forward to 2018 and more open dialogue with all stakeholders about our mine plan.”

Pebble looking to finish year on a high note

Walker declares budget process ‘broken’

Suzanne Downing
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Walker declares budget process ‘broken’

GOVERNOR GOES FOR CONSOLIDATION OF POWER

Rolling out his third budget on Friday, one of his largest yet, Gov. Bill Walker declared the budget process broken.

“There’s no question the process is broken,” he said, with emphasis. “It’s a terrible way to run a state.”

He might be right.

Walker has tried to force taxes on working Alaskans, has called the Legislature into nine special sessions, and yet has made no meaningful budget adjustments to day-to-day operations.

He let public safety lapse and chased off the oil industry, while focusing on his one obsession: A gasline.

Some Alaskans would agree that’s a terrible way to run a state.

Any budget process can be improved, but Alaska is a state that has depended on oil royalties for state programs since the 1980s, and other governors have coped with low oil prices — sometimes as low as $7 a barrel.

The revenue stream is getting healthier in 2018. The state is forecasting $250 million more revenue for 2018. Although Walker’s administration didn’t announce it, the state’s credit rating with Moody’s went from negative to stable a few weeks ago.

But the way Walker explains it, it’s the Legislature’s fault that the struggle over his budget has gone all the way to the last possible day, with state shutdowns threatened, before he had something to sign.

It was an admission of sorts that he himself broke the process by insisting year after year on various income taxes, oil taxes, fish taxes, mining taxes, and motor fuel taxes, all of which are woefully inadequate to close the budget gap.

And he didn’t acknowledge his own role and that of his surrogates in creating the House Democrat-run majority, which was his strategy for getting taxes passed. Instead, the “budget process is broken.”

Walker has proposed many taxes, all with different revenue amounts, year after year. He just hasn’t been able to convince either Republicans or Democrats that his plan is good for Alaska during the worst recession since the 1980s.

Walker’s remedy is proposing to consolidate even more power in the Office of the Governor. He’s using a stick this time.

The fix he says, is if he doesn’t provide a proposed budget by Dec. 15th, then his pay gets docked. And if the Legislature doesn’t get a budget done in 90 days, their pay and per diem gets docked. It sounds so simple.

It is, however, likely unconstitutional.

It’s also a nonstarter. The governor is an executive with a staff. A very large staff. He is supposed to offer a balanced budget. The legislative body represents 60 districts around the state, and is the appropriator. The Legislature is not designed to simply rubber stamp the governor.

WALKER LOVE AFFAIR WITH JOB TAX CONTINUES

To review where Walker has been in his tax journey:

Oct. 14, 2014: “I have no intention to implement a statewide tax or paying for state government by reducing Permanent Fund dividend checks.  If we properly develop our natural resources and put in place a sustainable budget that should not be necessary.”

2015: Walker inherited the Parnell budget and didn’t like it. But his team was not yet in place. He advanced the budget in December, 2014, but without endorsing it. Commissioner of Revenue Randall Hoffbeck was still in Africa, and the new administration scrambled to get its arms around budgeting. Walker declared a $3.5 billion gap between revenues and spending. He ended up signing a general fund budget of $4.95 billion (unrestricted funds basis).

2016: The governor announced the New Sustainable Alaska Plan, and said that he could not cut any more, and that there are “14 hundred fewer state employees than a year ago.” The gap was now $3.8 billion, he said. He said the budget had been cut by 44 percent. He vetoed half of Alaskans’ Permanent Fund dividends.

In this video, Walker said oil revenue could no longer sustain us without taxes, and warned there will be no more Permanent Fund dividend checks by 2020.

2016: The governor addressed Alaskans in April, 2016. Now, he said, the deficit was $4 billion a year.

Without an income tax, the Permanent Fund dividend would go to zero in less than four years, all the state savings accounts would be drained, the state’s bond rating would continue to drop, and investors would lose confidence in Alaska. Walker did not explain how the limited revenue that would be raised by an income tax would prevent all of those things.

“We cut more than a billion dollars from state spending since I took office. In fact, overall spending has fallen from $8 billion in 2013 to about $4.7 billion for 2017. That’s a drop of 40 percent in four years,” he said.

“I’m proposing a modest income tax pegged to the federal income tax. State income taxes are deductible from federal taxes. This brings tax dollars paid to the federal government by Alaskan taxpayers back to Alaska,” he said.

2017: Walker asked for a tax once again, and called the Legislature back into special session four times without luck. The Senate was having none of it. Walker also submitted a budget of $4.2 billion, but signed an expanded budget of $4.9 billion.

2018: Walker has a new plan, the “Alaska Economic Recovery Plan,” again asking for a tax on jobs, and using that money to employ unions to fix deferred maintenance.

His proposed budget is $4.7 billion, a half a billion higher than what he proposed at this time last year and close to what he signed as the final budget for FY18.

THE UNIONS GOT THEIR DEAL

Walker reminded reporters on Friday that the state has the highest unemployment in the nation. “And we need to put Alaskans back to work.” By imposing taxes on them?

Although Walker had the chance to put thousands of Alaskans to work (with the federally funded Juneau Access project he nixed), his new plan is to take part of working class Alaskans’ paychecks and create union jobs to work on government deferred maintenance projects.

Unions were mad about the cancellation of the only shovel-ready project in Alaska, Juneau Access.

It was expected that for them to support the governor once again, the unions would need something — anything — before the 2018 elections.

Last week, union leaders signed on to Walker’s campaign; AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami and Laborers President Joey Merrick both allowed their names to be used on a Walker fundraising invitation.

The deal was done. In exchange for their support of his candidacy, 1.5 percent of every Alaska worker’s paycheck would be redirected to programs that employ AFL-CIO members.

Unions will swarm Juneau this winter fighting for this tax. And they’ll be putting a lot of money into campaigns to oppose any political leader who opposes the income tax.

DEMOCRATS RESPOND

Senate Minority Leader Berta Gardner approved of the tax plan, but didn’t like paying the tax credits owed to small oil and gas companies:

“I applaud his efforts and innovative ideas including biennial budgets to increase certainty in state services, using per-diem as a tool to encourage the legislature to pass budgets in a timely manner, and creating a small, temporary payroll tax to put people back to work on deferred maintenance projects.

“However, I doubt Alaskans support taxing only working people for necessary state infrastructure while prioritizing the use of dwindling state funds to pay credits to oil and gas companies.

“We absolutely must focus on creating confidence in Alaska and predictability for families, employees, teachers, bankers, and all Alaskans. I look forward to working with my colleagues to make this a budget that reflects Alaska’s conscience.”

Rep. Paul Seaton of Homer, applauded the governor: “We face some difficult decisions in the coming months to protect the jobs of thousands of Alaskans, ensure we get out of this lingering recession, and put Alaska back on firm fiscal ground. I am especially pleased to see that the Governor is proposing to fully fund public education. As Alaskans we must resist the urge to slash and burn our decades-long investment in great schools and excellent teachers to fill a budget gap caused by low oil prices and legislative inaction.”

Seaton will be the House lead on the operating budget as co-chair of House Finance.

Walker’s crisis narrative being used to fool Alaskans

Suzanne Downing
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By SEN. MIKE DUNLEAVY
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Have you ever wondered why every year since Gov. Bill Walker took office the state’s estimated budget deficit has been reported as $2.5 billion?

Have you asked yourself why the Walker administration estimated oil production would fall by 12 percent this year when it actually increased by 2.5 percent?

Why does he have such a pessimistic view of Alaska’s future? The answer to these questions is simple. Gov. Walker pushes a narrative of “crisis” because it justifies the economically destructive actions that he has taken during his tenure.

I am optimistic about the future of Alaska and the economic potential of our great state.  Rather than the negative picture that Gov. Walker paints of oil revenues, the reality is a very different story.

Oil producers have done a great job of finding new oil and gas. This year, 533,400 barrels a day will flow through the pipeline, and increased production is projected for the future. Contrary to the state’s forecast of $56 per barrel for the rest of the fiscal year, the price was recently close to $64 per barrel.

Clearly, and perhaps intentionally, Gov. Walker and his administration wildly underestimated the revenue that oil would generate by hundreds of millions of dollars.

But what if the price of oil falls?  How do we pay our bills?  These are questions that Gov. Jay Hammond and the people of Alaska had the foresight to consider and answer years ago.

Alaska has a permanent stream of future revenue to help fund government – the Alaska Permanent Fund. When increased oil revenues and this year’s earnings of the Permanent Fund are added to the $6.8 billion of income generated from the fund last year (half of which can be used for state spending), along with a portion of funding from the Constitutional budget reserve, we are able to cover the cost of government and still distribute a full dividend to every qualified Alaskan.

Hammond and the founders of the PFD also knew that future governors and legislatures would be constantly tempted to spend the earnings of the fund. To protect the earnings from the insatiable appetite of politicians, they established the permanent fund dividend program or PFD.

Since its inception, and until recently, Permanent Fund earnings have been paid according to statue, with half available for use by government spending and half paid to qualified Alaskans.

Walker radically broke this long-standing tradition in 2016 when he vetoed half of the dividend appropriation.

Then, in 2017, the Legislature only partially funded the dividend. The governor justified his decision to not fully fund the PFD because of “our fiscal crisis.”  Alaskans were led to believe that part of their PFD had to be cut to pay for the deficit.

But what many Alaskans do not realize is that the thousands of dollars taken from Alaskan families did not pay for government.

That’s right. Not one penny of the PFD cut went to help pay for government. It sits in the earnings reserve account of the Permanent Fund and is not being used to help fund the budget, and it is not being used by you.

As a result of the governor’s actions, a larger concern has emerged: How do we protect the Permanent Fund, its revenue stream, and the PFD from politicians only interested in growing government? In addition to electing leaders who understand fiscal restraint, we must provide constitutional protection for the fund.  We must use the traditional 50/50 plan that was established years ago to protect the earnings and dividends, and properly inflation-proof the fund.

Govs. Hammond and Hickel recognized that the dividend was not and is not a government handout. They felt strongly about protecting the PFD because they knew that its earnings were for each Alaskan as a member of our owner-state.

In 2018, we should restore Walker’s raid of half the FY 2016 dividend, restore the Legislature’s raid of half of the FY 2017 dividend, and pay full dividends going forward.

The people of Alaska should be part of the process to protect the fund by insisting the Legislature pass a constitutional amendment referendum that goes to the people for a vote to protect the PFD as securely as the corpus of the fund itself. If legislators and the governor defy the will of Alaskans, then they will risk being voted out of office by the very people they purport to represent.

The Permanent Fund has worked well for 35 years, and it will continue to do so if the people of Alaska demand it.

Senator Mike Dunleavy, represents Senate District E – Wasilla, Palmer, Talkeetna, Delta Junction, Glennallen, Valdez, and Whittier.

The election of a predator

Suzanne Downing
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WHAT DEMOCRATS DID TO GET DEAN WESTLAKE IN OFFICE

The Alaska Democratic Party was successful beyond its wildest dreams in 2016.

Campaign operative John-Henry Heckendorn had delivered: Dean Westlake beat incumbent Rep. Ben Nageak by eight votes. That was what they needed in order to flip the House of Representatives.

The Alaska Democrat machine hired Heckendorn, who had been the communication director for the Alaska Democratic Party and had launched the Ship Creek Group, to bring home the seat in District 40 for them.

Heckendorn partnered with Jim Lottsfeldt, a Democrat lobbyist who runs numerous independent expenditure groups to help Democrats, and who owns MidnightSunAk, a blog that he finds useful to his Democrat and union clients.

Although they had to defend a fraudulent 2016 primary election in court, the Democrats, Heckendorn, and the Division of Elections made it work.

WHY DID DEMOCRATS EAT THEIR OWN?

Nageak, a moderate Democrat from Barrow, had caucused with the Republicans, as rural Democrats often do. Political parties don’t take kindly to their members caucusing with the opposition. (Republicans are now dealing with the same problem with Reps. Louise Stutes, Gabrielle LeDoux, and Paul Seaton).

Rep. Ben Nageak

Everyone loved Bennie on both sides of the aisle. He was the head of the House Natural Resources Committee, important to his district. Nageak had to be beat in order for the Democrats to take over the House.

It was nothing personal — this was just politics.

The obvious choice to replace him was the man who had run for the seat in 2014 — Dean Westlake of Kiana and Kotzebue. He had come within striking distance. He had name recognition.

And he had a problem. He was a known predator. He had a history of domestic violence. He had impregnated a 15-year-old girl while he was a police officer. Democrats knew about at least some of the problems — they’re all over the court records. Others were widely known in Kotzebue and Kiana. In the small towns and villages, women knew.

But that didn’t matter. Kay Brown, then executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party, did not listen to locals any more than she listened to the majority of Alaska Democrats who said they wanted Bernie Sanders for president, rather than Hillary Clinton. Casey Steinau, the chair of the party, ignored local objections to Westlake as well.

Kay Brown

Earlier this month a woman who worked for the Alaska Democratic Party in 2016 castigated party leaders for not listening to the locals in that race.

Olivia Garrett said that local Democrats told Anchorage Democrats about Westlake, “but you don’t listen,” she said. She described how, since he had been in office, Westlake had harassed at least eight women, including herself, “and there probably are more.”

Westlake was forced out of office this week after allegations started piling up on him. His resignation letter is here.

ACTORS WHO PLAYED A ROLE IN WESTLAKE VICTORY

Anchorage Democrats took the lead. Hiring John-Henry Heckendorn’s Ship Creek Group, and with an independent expenditure group financed by people like Gov. Walker’s surrogate Robin Brena and the AFL-CIO’s Vince Beltrami, the Democrats set out to defeat Nageak.

He was hard to defeat because his only fault was caucusing with Republicans, but they made that a capital offense.

Hosting the Anchorage fundraiser for Westlake on the expansive lawns of the Brena estate were Democratic Party regulars: Mark Begich, Casey Steinau (chair of Alaska Democrats), Kay Brown (executive director), Stephen Blanchett, Colin McDonald, Agatha Erickson, Kate Consenstein, Chris Tuck (then Democratic House minority leader), and other Democratic legislators: Les Gara, Andy Josephson, Harriet Drummond, Geran Tarr, Sam Kito, Adam Wool, Scott Kawasaki, and Ivy Spohnholz.

Mark Begich campaigned for Dean Westlake in 2016.Westlake’s harassment problems were well-known in District 40.

Also cohosting were union representatives Joelle Hall, Tom Wescott, Joey Merrick, plus names readers will recognize from their Begich connections: Forrest Dunbar, Eric Croft, David Ramsuer, Susanne Fleek, Schawna Thoma, and Elvi Gray-Jackson.

Democrat Rep. Les Gara, wrote this in 2016: “Whether you’re from rural or urban Alaska, we are all in this together. A better legislature helps us all! I’m joining friends from Western Alaska and Northwest Alaska to help.”

[Read: Governor targets Nageak through surrogate hit squad]

The Division of Election helped, too. In places like Shungnak, election workers made sure that everyone — especially Democrats — voted two ballots in the primary. That way they could vote for Sen. Lisa Murkowski on the Republican ballot and still vote the Democrat ballot.

In Buckland, an anomaly occurred that had an excessive number of “personal representative” ballots being cast — as though a disease had somehow raced through the community and everyone had to send their ballots in via a couple of Democratic activists. More personal representative ballots were cast in Buckland, population 426, than in all of Wasilla.

Lieutenant Gov. Byron Mallott called the election a success. Must Read Alaska begged to differ, calling it fraud.

[Read: Unbelievable: Byron Mallott declares election a success]

[Read: Voter fraud suspected in District 40]

The Alaska Republican Party sued over the result, and won in the first round in Superior Court.

The Democrats brought in Heckendorn as their expert witness for Alaska rural elections. Although he had only been in the state a few years, he told the court he had spent a lot of time traveling District 40, putting up signs, and he was sure that the people of Shungnak favored Westlake. He had spreadsheets, although on cross-examination he admitted that the numbers added up wrong.

[Read: John-Henry Heckendorn for the defense]

Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott appealed the ruling, saying, “We are disappointed that the Superior Court ruled that a poll worker error in Shungnak was sufficient to change the outcome of the House District 40 Primary Election. We have already appealed the ruling to the Alaska Supreme Court. We want absolute clarity on the issues involved and will follow whatever measures the Supreme Court deems appropriate in order to secure a fair election for the two Democratic legislative candidates in House District 40.”

Republicans were able to mount only a head-fake challenge — they didn’t have the money to take it all the way. The Division of Election prevailed and certified the election for Westlake.

“We believe all voters in rural Alaska should be able to vote in a legal election,” said Tuckerman Babcock, of the Alaska Republican Party, in September of 2016. “And we have provided the Division of Elections with appropriate remedies for solving the problems that the Division created when it allowed illegal voting to occur. Not only in Shungnak, but in the Barrow precincts as well, the process was so flawed that no one knows how the people really voted.

“[Casey] Steinau says the people of District 40 have spoken. Well, the voters tried, but the Division of Elections messed up. Many voters were confused, told they could not vote when the law said they could, and even voted twice when they should have voted once. It’s stunning that the chair of the Democratic Party would want her favored candidate to win so badly that she openly endorses illegal voting,” Babcock said after the court’s decision went for Westlake.

Rep. Dean Westlake escorts Gov. Bill Walker to the podium for his 2017 State of the State address, with Sen. Tom Begich. (Photo from Westlake’s newsletter).

THE DEMOCRATS’ COVER-UP

As a legislator, Westlake was known for drinking parties in his office. And he was known to say lascivious things to women.

Last March, Olivia Garrett filed a complaint against Westlake. She gave her letter, addressed to House Majority Leader Chris Tuck and House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, to Tuck, who had coached her on how to word it. Tuck, she thought, was going to take care of it quietly and counsel Westlake to behave.

Garrett, then an aide to Rep. Scott Kawasaki, was out on a limb by herself, and waiting months, while no action was taken. She finally quit the Legislature.

What did the Democrats do in the meantime? They ginned up a whisper campaign against Sen. David Wilson of Wasilla, and suckered the media into following that story, which had never had an actual complaint filed, all the while sitting on a letter accusing Westlake of real harassment.

 

Amory Lelake, legislative aide to Speaker Bryce Edgmon, with Westlake earlier this year. Lelake became the central figure in a whisper campaign against Sen. David Wilson, which ended in his exoneration this month.

 

The Democrats also went after Rep. David Eastman for saying that women in rural Alaska were using pregnancies to get to the city for abortions. They demanded an apology from him. The media could not get enough of this story and Democrats used it to consume days of legislative time last spring.

While Edgmon was expressing outrage toward Eastman over his comments, he was quietly sitting on a very credible complaint he had about Westlake over groping.

Cynically, Westlake even signed the letter demanding an apology from Eastman:

[Read: While ginning up fake accusations, Edgmon’s posse sat on a secret]

This month, the jig was up. Garrett blew the lid on Democratic leaders who had to have Westlake prowling the halls of the Capitol, preying on women. She told all.

The Alaska Democrats called on Westlake to resign. Westlake refused.

On Friday, reporter Liz Raines of KTVA brought the final death blow to Westlake’s ascent. She reported that as a 28-year-old police officer, Westlake fathered a child with a 15-year-old.

That would be rape. Westlake knew the story was coming. He huddled with a few political operatives in Anchorage. And then he resigned.

Raines’ story is here.

JUSTICE DENIED

Today, those who rallied around Westlake in 2016 are nowhere to be found for him. Those who called him a friend are busy scrubbing their Facebook feeds of any mention of the man.

Heckendorn, who brought Westlake into office, is now the defacto campaign manager for Gov. Bill Walker, and is on the state payroll as his “special assistant”.

[Read: Governor beefs up campaign staff on public dime]

What happens to District 40’s representation now? The Democrats from District 40 will offer the governor three names, and he will pick one to serve out Westlake’s term. They won’t offer Ben Nageak, who lost the fraudulent election by only eight votes and very probably won it but for the Mallott-sanctioned fraud.

He or she will likely be a reliable Democrat vote, something that Westlake might not have been and Nageak was certainly not.

As reported this week in Must Read Alaska, a source that has asked not to be identified said Westlake may have been blackmailed with the March complaint that had been filed with Reps. Edgmon and Tuck.

Westlake had become noticeably paranoid after March of 2017, and told people that Tuck was watching him. And he quickly switched his vote on HB 111, oil tax legislation, to line up with his party. When asked, he held his finger to his head as though he had a gun pointed at him. He said he had not choice.

No investigation of Speaker Edgmon, House Majority Leader Tuck, or Rep. Kawasaki has been launched to determine why they buried the allegations against Westlake and allowed him to continue to prey on women in Juneau.

He’s done: Westlake letter of resignation

Suzanne Downing
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He’s done: Westlake letter of resignation

Here is the letter of resignation submitted by Rep. Dean Westlake today.

Honorable Bryce Edgmon
Speaker of the House of Representatives State Capitol Room 208
Juneau AK, 99801

December 15, 2017

Mr. Speaker,

Over the past few days, I have heard from colleagues, constituents, and friends who have continued to advise me on how to address recent events and the allegations against me. I have spent time deliberating on their guidance, and it is with a heavy heart that I respond now and announce that I will be resigning as a member of the Alaska State Legislature.

I ran for office to serve my district, my home, and my community. I wanted to be an advocate for the people whom I care so much about and make positive changes on their behalf.

As recent allegations of my behavior have superseded discussions about my constituents, my ability to serve them has been diminished. The conversation about my behavior has been elevated above the needs of my district, and that is not why I ran for office. I am not more important than the people who put me in my seat. My district has, and always should, come first.

Some people are angry with me; more are disappointed. I am too. To the women who came forward, thank you for telling your story. I am inspired by your bravery, and I am sorry for the pain I have caused. To my constituents, I am sorry to havelet you down. These allegations do not reflect who I am, nor who I want to be. I will learn from this experience and be a better man because of it.

It has been a privilege to work alongside my many amazing colleagues, and I am proud of the work we have been able to accomplish. But much more than that, it has been the greatest honor to serve you, the residents of House District 40.

As a citizen, I will work tirelessly to earn back your trust and esteem and act as an activist. Together, we can continue to tackle the many problems that lie before us as both a region and a state.

Thank you for your support, guidance, and trust.

Dean Westlake

While ginning up fake accusations against a senator, Edgmon’s posse sat on a secret

National Geographic’s cynical polar bear play

Suzanne Downing
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National Geographic’s cynical polar bear play

Last week, the venerated National Geographic organization posted a video of what is evidently a starving polar bear, with yellowed fur and a bony frame, wandering around Somerset Island, Canada in search of food.

The social media world was aghast.

“This is horrible!” people intoned. “What have we done?” they asked Facebook friends, looking for answers from the mob. “This is living proof of our demise… So so cruel!”

All of a sudden, everyone was an expert.

There’s little doubt that bear was a goner, and his death scene was excrutiating. The piano and cello music that accompanies the footage made akin to the death of Mimi in La Boheme.

However, the timing for the release of that video was curious, and the fact that an environmental activist group (SeaLegacy) was responsible for it is not an accident.

SeaLegacy states its mission is “to create high-impact visual communications that propel people to take action to protect our oceans.” They went to the Arctic to document climate change impacts and they stumbled on a doozy.

Some of the organization’s work is positively stunning. And some, like this video, is downright misleading.

 

THE CLEVER TIMING 

The footage was taken in July, but not released until December.

“This is what climate change looks like,” the caption reads, at about the 10-second mark. The captions continue, saying that shrinking sea ice is causing this starvation.

But just as the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploration was moving into congressional conference committee last week, National Geographic decided that now is the time to roll out the video?

It was a hail Mary pass for the vast environmental industry. They were even fact-checked by Snopes.com, and the organization declared the video “True.”

Inuit hunters fact-checked it and come up with a different viewpoint.

The Inuit in Canada are likely the world experts on polar bears, and they not only pushed back at SeaLegacy’s assertions.

“Climate change has very little to do with it,” said Eric Ootoovak, vice-chair of the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization on Baffin Island. “You can really tell he’s sick. He’s not starving. If he was starving, he’d be able to move a bit more than that.”

Baffin Island hunters have been monitoring polar bear populations for generations — long before the bears became the poster-child animals for global warming.

“There’s too many bears in our area,” Ootoovak said, adding that they are becoming a menace to people. “My grandmother used to tell me stories from when they lived in sod houses and they would never see polar bears. When there was finally a bear, people all over spoke about it. Today, it’s impossible to camp without having a bear watch.”

[Read: The problem with polar bear propaganda]

But SeaLegacy doubled down on the hunters:

“Inuit people make a lot of money from polar bear trophy hunting,” SeaLegacy co-founder Cristina Mittermeier told CBC radio. “Of course it is in their best interest to say that polar bears are happy and healthy and that climate change is a joke, because otherwise their quota might be reduced.”

The July video was captured by SeaLegacy filmmakers on Somerset Island, near Baffin Island in Nunavut, where they were shooting a documentary about the effects of climate change.

Scientists with a contrary view have been largely ignored. The IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group says the global population of polar bears is between 22,000 and 30,000.

One thing is certain: Polar bears are at the top of the food chain with no natural predators other than an occasional Inuit hunter. They are more likely to die of old age and age-related diseases than other species, such as whales, which are harvested or whose lifespans are even more difficult to document.

The population of polar bears appears to be increasing in some areas, while decreasing in others.

A 2016 scientific working group report on the Baffin Bay and Kane Basin polar bear populations was released in February, and confirmed what local Inuit have been saying: The populations are stable. The report received scant coverage from the media.

[Read the report on Baffin Bay and Kane Basin polar bear population trends here.]

Yet with cameras and polyester puff jackets, environmental propagandists will continue to descend on the Arctic.  In the name of storytelling, they will document a lot more of these deaths — natural or otherwise — in their effort to warn us all of an apocalyptic future where zombie polar bears roam the tundra and chew on the rubber seats of snow machines for sustenance, while cello music plays in the background.

A sign that Begich isn’t running for governor

Suzanne Downing
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7
A sign that Begich isn’t running for governor

WALKER CRACKS OPEN UNION SUPPORT

One of the favorite dinner party conversations among politicos this season is whether or not former Sen. Mark Begich is going to make a run for governor of Alaska.

On Aug. 25, Begich was certainly still in the hunt. In a letter to his supporters he wrote: “I wanted to let you know that in response to many urging me to run, I am considering it, but Deborah and I have not made a decision yet. I hope to make a decision and share that with you in the next few months. In the meantime, I ask that you keep your powder dry.

“As I think about this decision, I’d love to hear from you. Should I or shouldn’t I run for Governor? Do you think Alaska is on the right path? What are your biggest hopes and concerns for our future?”

We may never know what answer Begich received, but a fundraiser for Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott just a few weeks later was flush with people one would expect to be at a Begich fundraiser — Jane Anvik and Vic Fisher, Barbara and Hal Gazaway, Bruce Botelho, Diane Kaplan. You know, the usual suspects.

Some of those keeping their powder dry in September are now all in on a fundraiser the Walker-Mallott ticket that the campaign will hold on Dec. 18 at the home of former Gov. Bill Sheffield.

They are the union representatives. They were nowhere to be seen during the governor’s first few fundraisers. But they are part of the Walker party now.

Alaska AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami, center, is joined by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, at a labor protest against the Anchorage Hilton and Sheraton Hotels in this 2012 file photo.

Vince Beltrami is on board with Gov. Walker once again. He’s head of AFL-CIO in Alaska and was instrumental in Walker’s first win, cobbling together the slate of Walker and Mallott.

Tom Wescott, head of the firefighters’ union, has now thrown his support to Walker.

Joey Merrick, business manager for Laborers’ Local 341, has joined the co-host list.

Alaska Democrats, tired of losing, gave up having a gubernatorial candidate in 2014, and it worked out well for them. They have control the Governor’s Office, and now the House of Representatives, which they took control of by running “independents.” It worked beyond their wildest dreams.

But would Democrats really go for two election cycles without having someone from their party run for governor, especially when Begich appears eager to jump in? Walker seems to have convinced the Democrats to stick with him for another cycle.

Walker’s fundraiser next week is co-hosted by mostly the same people who hosted his September fundraiser. Overall, the list boasts fewer names.

A few new co-hosts, like former Rep. Jim Colver, appear, but one name is conspicuously absent from the invitation: Rep. Dean Westlake, who was supported by Walker and his key surrogate lawyer Robin Brena, but who is now under attack by his own party for sexual harassment. Westlake was a co-host in September, but not this time.

Brena’s name is not on the list, although he’s surely working on a parallel effort to elect Walker-Mallott through an independent expenditure group.

Has Begich decided not to run? Has Walker promised Democrats he will run in their primary? Both of those seem more likely this week, with the unions coming over.

YOUR INVITE

Here’s the invitation for the Dec. 18 fundraiser, and the co-hosts who are no longer keeping their powder dry for Begich. (Compare it to the September list here):

Slow Obamacare enrollments head into final day

Suzanne Downing
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0
Slow Obamacare enrollments head into final day

SURGE WEEK

This week is the home stretch for signing up for Obamacare for 2018. The enrollment period ends Friday, Dec. 15.

Health care experts are now saying enrollment will be down by 18.5 percent from last year.

Find out more about enrolling in a health care plan here.

So far, Alaska (population 740,000) has the lowest number of people enrolled in the nation, at 10,633. The next lowest is Delaware, with a population of 950,000 and an Obamacare enrollment of 11,553, as of Dec. 9.

TOTAL ALASKA ENROLLED TRENDS 

2016 = 23,029
2017 = 19,145
2018 – 15,600 (projected by Must Read Alaska)

Number of Alaskans enrolled as of Dec. 9: 10,633

Oddly, Alaska enrollments to date actually appear 22 percent higher than last year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That is likely due to a shortened six-week open enrollment period, compared to 12 weeks last year.

EFFECTUATED ENROLLMENT (ENROLLED & PAID FIRST MONTH PREMIUM)

Enrolling in health care is one thing, but paying for it and having it actually cover you is another. Many enrollees drop out of coverage before they pay their first premium. Cost is a factor: Alaskans pay some of the highest premiums in the nation.

Here’s where the real Alaska enrollment numbers come in:

2016 = 15,252 effectuated
2017 = 14,177 effectuated
2018 = 10,800 +- (effectuated, projected by Must Read Alaska)

Republican lawmakers will overturn the mandate to purchase insurance, a cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act, which passed with only Democrats voting for it.

As it stands, the law now requires all to have insurance or pay a fine. This portion of Obamacare hits small businesses and sole proprietors hard, since they typically do not have company-provided health care plan. Many Alaskans report premiums and deductibles that are more than their home mortgages, such as this example sent to Must Read Alaska.

The Internal Revenue Service has announced the fines will be enforced when people file their taxes between Jan. 1-April 16, 2018. The release of that fine would not go into effect until the following year, unless something changes.

The tax bill now being worked out in a congressional conference committee between the House and Senate has the end of the individual mandate written into it.

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