Anchorage has become one of the top cities in the U.S. for car theft. Today is a Saturday, so keep an eye out — it’s the biggest car theft day of the week in Alaska’s biggest city.
Of the 241 car thefts reported from Sept. 28 through Oct. 27, shown in the map above, Sunday is a day of relative rest for car thieves in Anchorage, but even then you’ll not want to leave your car running while unattended anywhere in the Anchorage bowl.
Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux’s campaign slush fund, Gabby’s Tuesday Pac, has been fined by the Alaska Public Offices Commission for missing a filing deadline.
She’s being ordered to pay $625 within 30 days of the decision, released on Wednesday.
https://aws.state.ak.us/ApocReports/Paper/Download.aspx?ID=14492
Alaska campaign finance law prohibits lobbyists from donating to legislative candidates unless they live in the same district. But LeDoux got around that by setting up her own political action committee to, as she labeled it, “elect comonsense conservatives.”
She lightened the pockets of lobbyists from the AFL-CIO, as well as Ashley Reed, John Harris, Darwin Bier, Ray Gillespie, Kris Knauss, Fate Putnam, Paul Fuhs, Kim Hutchinson, and others.
She then blocked legislation offered by Sen. Kevin Meyer to prevent legislators from creating such PACs.
This summer, she just forgot to file her reports with APOC.
LeDoux is a lawyer by training. She was a well-known consort of Bill Allen, who was convicted in a bribery scandal that rocked the state in 2006.
South Anchorage politics just got more interesting: Joe Riggs yesterday filed a letter of intent to run for the House District 26 seat being vacated by Rep. Chris Birch, as Birch makes a bid for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Kevin Meyer.
Earlier this month, Al Fogle announced he’s running for that seat, which puts two Republicans into a primary battle for a seat that will almost certainly go to a Republican. One year ago, Birch won the general election against Democrat David Gillespie — 5,141 to 2,873.
Riggs ran for Anchorage Assembly in 2016, but pulled out after his company had to downsize due to Obamacare. He was in the medical equipment and consulting business and needed to focus on landing on his feet. Riggs served on the city’s budget advisory committee. Riggs is a climber, kayaker and wind-surfer.
Fogle ran for the South Anchorage Assembly seat in 2017, but lost to left-leaning Suzanne LaFrance. He served in the Iraq War in the U.S. Army and has worked as a financial consultant. Fogle was president of the Alaska Association of Health Underwriters. He loves to fish and hike.
The sectional analysis of the Walker Payroll Tax shows that the Revenue Department believes that “Adding a broad based tax would be a significant challenge to the Tax Division,” and would require a budget of $10 million and a staff of 40.
The tax, which Gov. Bill Walker has asked the Alaska Legislature to consider in the fourth special session of the year, would bring in $320 million a year in revenue to the State in 2020.
Here is HB 4001’s sectional analysis in full, as prepared by Ken Alper, director of the Tax Division, and approved by Commissioner Sheldon Fisher:
BILL ANALYSIS
The bill establishes a payroll tax on both wages and self‐employment income earned in Alaska. It applies equally to both residents and non‐residents.
The amount of tax is equal to one and one half percent (1 1/2%), with a maximum tax “cap” equal to two times the permanent fund dividend distributed in the previous calendar year. If the dividend is less than $1,100 as adjusted for inflation, the maximum cap is $2,200 instead.
The tax will be withheld by employers and remitted to the state. Employers of contract employees who are required to report this to the federal government, will be required to send comparable information to the state. Self‐employed individuals shall report and pay directly to the state.
The Department of Revenue is given broad powers to administer the tax, including drafting regulations, determining what business income is from a source in the state and thus subject to the tax, collecting withholding taxes, and paying tax refunds. Portions of the Internal Revenue Code are adopted by reference.
REVENUE IMPACT
The Tax Division has modified their existing income tax revenue model to estimate the approximate number of taxpayers and their associated tax burden. The bill would take effect on January 1, 2019, meaning that the tax for calendar year 2019 would be due in early 2020.
At full implementation in FY2020, revenue will be about $320 million / year. Revenue in FY2019 will be half that number, $160 million, based on the tax taking effect in the middle of the fiscal year. Impact could be partially mitigated because this will likely qualify as a state income tax for federal tax purposes, meaning it would be deductible on Schedule A of form 1040. Therefore, Alaskans who itemize could be able to reduce their federal taxable income by the amount of their state tax.
IMPLEMENTATION COST
Adding a broad based tax would be a significant challenge to the Tax Division. We have recently completed implementation of Tax Revenue Management System (TRMS), an integrated online tax application used by both taxpayers and administrators for the 25 tax programs currently overseen by the Division. We expect to engage FAST Enterprises, the TRMS contractor, to build a new module for this tax into TRMS.
Among the supplemental funds requested for FY2018, the Department intends to use about $300.0 to begin the implementation process. With this, we will engage a contractor with experience building a statewide tax structure impacting individual workers. An essential deliverable of the outside contract will be an implementation plan that includes staffing, infrastructure, and additional outreach needs. We will also contract for more advanced data servicesin order to more accurately forecast future revenues.
The $10,000.0 capital request reflects an estimate for our contract with FAST to add the new tax module as well as the Department’s other short term implementation costs. This is a multi‐year process and much of the actual spending will not occur until after we begin collecting revenues. In addition to the software development, this will require integration with national accounting and tax software vendors in order to update programssuch as TurboTax and QuickBooks to incorporate Alaska. In addition to the tax return filing and examination modules, the contractor will have to provide for the associated databases, forms, communications, and integration with our existing imaging, accounting, and collections systems.
Currently, the Department of Labor administers the Employment Security Tax, which establishes a relationship for data and tax collection with most employersin Alaska. It is possible that some efficiencies could be achieved by linking these databases. However, the proposed legislation adds at least three major functions that do not exist within the Employment Security Tax. These are: receiving and processing individual (rather than employer aggregated) tax returns, receiving direct payment from self‐employed individuals, and providing refunds in the event of overpayment.
The department envisions a gradual ramping up of the staff needed to collect and administer the tax.
At full implementation, we will have about 40 additional staff. We expect the new staff to be roughly split between our Juneau and Anchorage offices. The staffing need is substantially less than what would be expected for a full income tax for two major reasons. First, the complex task of apportioning income among multiple states is greatly simplified by the bill structure. And second, the size of the tax cap reducesthe expected need for complex audits of high income individuals.
Additional travel is largely for public education efforts, as well as the need to train new staff on the tax management system. Cost for Servicesreflects primarily internal “core services” paid to other state agencies, due to the substantial growth in the overall size of the tax division staff. Commodities are primarily subscription data services; the Tax Division anticipates needing to procure additional data to better forecast revenue from individual Alaskan and nonresident worker taxpayers.
The department anticipates that taxpayers will file online at approximately the rate currently achieved by the Permanent Fund Dividend Division. If a substantially larger portion choose to submit paper returns, the staffing needs would increase accordingly. Throughout the six‐year period covered by this fiscal note, we anticipate total implementation costs, operating plus capital, to be less than 2.5 percent of additional state revenue.
An initial analysis of the staff needs within the Tax Division to implement a personal income tax is as follows:
A proposed North Slope project could bring up to 1,000 construction jobs to Alaska during the project’s development, and 200 drilling and production jobs.
The project is also projected to put 120,000 barrels a day into the Trans Alaska Pipeline, which is running at only one-quarter capacity. That alone would lift Alaska N. Slope production by 20-25%.
It’s Armstrong Oil and Gas’ Nanushuk Project, one of the largest finds on the Slope in decades. And it’s time for the public to weigh in.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is soliciting comments from the public as it makes decisions in the environmental impact statement process.
The public comment period is open through Nov. 14 for the project located southeast of the Colville River, which is expected to produce over one billion barrels of recoverable oil from a conventional reservoir.
Armstrong is one of the largest oil and gas explorers on the Slope since it acquired leases in 2001. The company has drilled 30 exploration wells since 2003 and employed hundreds.
Click here to send your comment about the project to the Army Corps of Engineers.
Click here to view the draft Environmental Impact Statement.
The Alaska Support Industry Alliance provides these points about the project:
‘I RIDE IT LIKE I STOLE IT’
UPDATED: The ad referenced in this story is no longer available and the link from this original story has been removed. Here’s the new video. The cameo appearance by Rep. Don Young is gone, (but not forgotten).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx8pZjyR8Qw
Craig Compeau, owner of Compeau’s Marine in Fairbanks, is known for his creative, campy, and often politically incorrect ad campaigns over the years as he sells all-terrain vehicles, jet boats, and snow machines, but this one will have you laughing out loud.
Must Read Alaska stumbled across an uncut version of it online, and it’s safe for work.
When asked about the ad, Compeau said he wants to have it up during the Super Bowl, but the TV stations are balking because in one brief scene a guy walks through a campsite looking for his bottle of blue pills — and he looks incredibly like Don Young, the longest-serving congressman in the U.S.
Either that, or he’s a doppelganger of Don.
The TV stations are worried they’ll have to give other potential candidates equal time, Compeau said. But it’s not a political ad, just one of a series of the Fairbanks Legends ads that Compeau has done.
The ad for the Can-am ATV stars Urban Rahoi, a 98-year-old daredevil bush pilot and World War II hero who has been flying consistently for 82 years. He flew a B-17 bomber when he was 94 years old.
The “old guy” in the middle is Cliff Everts, age 95. He founded Everts Air and is a Fairbanks legend in the aircraft business in Fairbanks and now in Anchorage.
On the right is former legislator Bud Fate, father of Julie Fate-Sullivan and Sen. Dan Sullivan’s father-in-law.
“It’s quite an interesting mix,” said Compeau.
Compeau has removed the 60-second version of the ad and is producing a shorter one. Must Read Alaska will post a copy of it here when it’s available.
“We were just concerned about overexposure before the ad runs during the Super Bowl,” — Craig Compeau
No pun intended.
The Alaska Democratic Party has been giving undeclared assistance to “nonpartisan” and other candidates. Along with Ship Creek Group, a campaign management company based in Anchorage, the Democratic Party has been allowing them to gain a $2,000 advantage over their competitors in races by giving them access to valuable lists, according to a complaint filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission on Thursday.
Call it list laundering. While some candidates, like Rep. Ivy Spohnholz, paid full value for the data, others, like non-declared Jason Grenn, got the service for pennies on the dollar by going through Ship Creek Group.
It’s illegal, alleges Forrest McDonald, who at times has been a candidate but now mainly runs local and state campaigns. He told the Alaska Public Offices Commission this week that Ship Creek Group has been giving candidates access to a database owned by the National Democratic Party, and that is valued at $2,000 for every client they give it to. Neither candidates nor the party are disclosing the in-kind contributions to the watchdog agency.
Ship Creek Group is paying the $2,000 for access to the database called Votebuilder, and then giving their clients access to voter files as a part of a service bundle.
Votebuilder is exclusive to Democratic organizations and is used by subdivisions of the Democratic Party across the nation, including Barack Obama’s presidential campaign all the way down to local races.
The Alaska Democratic Party has what’s called a “Coordinated Campaign,” where it offers services to Democrats, and now some chosen nonpartisans.
Ship Creek Group burst on the scene a few years ago, and quickly formed an alliance with the Democratic Party and Union political machine Lottsfeldt Strategies.
John-Henry Heckendorn, Ship Creek’s founder, could be found at Jim Lottsfeldt’s house most nights, along with Midnight Sun AK blog’s Casey Reynolds. Midnight Sun is a subsidiary of Lottsfeldt Strategies, which has also listed members of Ship Creek Group in its stable of talent. Today, Heckendorn is embedded as a de facto state-paid campaign manager for Gov. Bill Walker, and is seen with him everywhere.
According to McDonald’s complaint:
SMOKING GUN?
The evidence McDonald offers is:
McDonald’s complaint lists the following candidates who used Ship Creek Group and his research on who did or didn’t pay for the data service was reported to APOC is noted:
Rep. DeLena Johnson says that she told Ship Creek Group specificially to only use Division of Election data, and not to use the Democrats’ data.
The complainant, Forrest McDonald, runs a campaign consultancy called Fire Island Strategies. When he started looking into the relationships between Ship Creek Group, the Democratic Party, and certain candidates, he concluded that some nonpartisan clients are also using the Democrats’ database in violation of the national party rules, which excludes all but Democrats from access.
Jason Grenn and John Weddleton are registered as “other.” Gary Knopp and DeLena Johnson are Republicans, and it’s unclear if the fees they paid to Ship Creek Group covered use of the Democrats’ list.
McDonald also alleges that candidates like Grenn were not disclosing that they used the Democrats’ database, because they were trying to hide their affiliation with the Democratic Party.
SHIP CREEK GROUP’S SERVICE MENU
Like many campaign consultancies, Ship Creek Group offers myriad services. Here’s what the company’s “startup campaign service package” offers; access to the Democratic Party’s Votebuilder database is shown in red. That is the service that McDonald alleges some candidates didn’t have to pay for but received full advantage:
|
ITEM |
AMOUNT |
COST |
|
SCG Campaign Startup |
Services as described above. |
$3,000 |
|
Votebuilder |
(For duration of campaign) |
$2,000 (for State House race) |
|
Campaign Flier |
5,000 |
$750 |
|
Digital Payments Processor |
(For duration of campaign) |
$.30 per trans. + 3% * amount. |
|
Fundraising Mailer |
1,000 households. |
$1,000 |
|
Fundraiser Supplies |
Food, remit envelopes etc… |
$500 |
|
Facebook Ads |
500 ‐ 1,000 page likes |
$250 |
|
Website Hosting |
(For duration of campaign) |
$200 ($40 per month) |
|
Office Supplies |
Paper, envelopes, rubber bands… |
$300 |
|
Yard Signs |
500 lawn signs, 25 4by8s |
$2,000 |
|
TOTAL |
$10,000 |
|
“The FEC filing entry shows that Ship Creek Group paid only once for data access, and they only paid $2,000,” McDonald said.
“Some candidates, like Ivy Spohnholz, are wide-open Democrats and disclosed their relationship. But there was another category of candidates who did not disclose it,” McDonald said. That includes Republicans Gary Knopp and DeLena Johnson, of Kenai and Palmer, respectively.
APOC has yet to post the complaint on its web site. But staff will look at the allegations and make a decision about whether giving free access to valuable lists that some candidates pay dearly for is a form of unfair and undisclosed advantage.
Then, the agency will need to decide whether it will subpoena documents from candidates, Ship Creek Group, and the Alaska Democratic Party, which was notified of the complaint earlier today.
McDonald did not pursue whether Ship Creek Group is allowing Gov. Bill Walker to use the Democrats’ data from Votebuilder or from another source.
“What comes to mind, was this being used by the governor’s paid operative, John-Henry Heckendorn and his company, to grant favors to some candidates and not others?” said Tuckerman Babcock, chairman of the Alaska Republican Party.
The Democratic Party has changed its rules to allow others to run in their primary. But the national rule governing the use of Votebuilder is clear — it’s for Democrats only. If you’re using it, you’re part of the Coordinated Campaign of the Alaska Democratic Party.