A major poll was in the field last week from Dittman Research, calling Alaskans who are likely voters in the Republican Primary, and testing the strength of gubernatorial candidates Mike Dunleavy, Mead Treadwell, and Scott Hawkins among those voters.
We’ve got the results: Among about 400 poll respondents, (margin of error of 4.9) it’s Dunleavy-46 percent, Treadwell-19 percent, and Hawkins-7 percent, with 3 percent Other, and 25 percent undecided. The poll was in the field June 5-7, and was conducted statewide.
Check this space later today for further details. Disclaimer: Dittman did the poll for the Dunleavy for Alaska political action committee … In 50 years, the company has never been wrong in predicting a gubernatorial winner.
REPUBLICAN PARTY REAFFIRMS SANCTIONS AGAINST ‘POSER’ JIM COLVER
The State Central Committee of the Alaska Republican Party endorsed Rep. George Rauscher on Saturday, supporting the decision of District 9 Republicans to pick just one person as its favorite to take on Jim Colver.
District 9 stretches from Palmer to Glennallen, Tok, Valdez and across Prince William Sound to Whittier. It is a conservative part of the state, with a few liberal enclaves.
The pre-primary endorsement allows the party, including its powerhouse fundraising Republican women’s clubs, to spend on behalf of Rauscher’s re-election. That could be worth thousands of dollars in aid to a candidate. Tuckerman Babcock, chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, indicated he’ll be very active in defending Rauscher against Colver.
Rauscher is the incumbent for District 9, having stepped up in 2016 to fight a tough battle against Colver, a former legislator who served just one term. Colver had lost the support of not only his district grassroots activists but the entire party after his actions as a legislator. During the election season, he had the support of powerful unions and also support from his Musk Ox Coalition, a band of Republicans and Democrats who staged a coup beginning in 2015, and by 2016 had flipped control of the House to Democrats.
By then, however, Colver’s district voters were onto him and removed him from office, while his fellow Republican Musk Ox, Reps. Gabrielle LeDoux, Paul Seaton, and Louise Stutes, went on to be awarded powerful seats: LeDoux became Rules chair, Seaton became cochair of Finance, and Stutes, who had only served one term in office, became majority whip.
For the first time in 20 years, the House was in Democrat control. Other members of the Musk Ox Coalition included Democrats Bryce Edgmon, who became Speaker and Neal Foster, who was awarded co-chair of Finance.
THE MUSK OX LEADER RETURNS
In 2015, the Musk Ox Coalition had written a letter to Rep. Mike Chenault, expressing their dissent against a plan to fund the budget gap. It was the first sign that a revolt was underway: “On behalf of our constituents, we feel compelled to express to you our serious misgivings regarding a plan to transfer funds from the Permanent Fund Earnings Reserve as part of a mechanism to fund the Fiscal Year 2016 operating budget,” the legislators wrote.
A year later, just before he lost to Rauscher, Colver wrote in the Alaska Dispatch News, that the Musk Ox Coalition had no intention of flipping House control to Democrats:
“It is time for the public to know what is behind the smokescreen put out by shadow groups like The Accountability Project (TAP). These groups are trying to influence the election with tens of thousands of dollars of outside corporate cash. TAP alleged in a recent article that I was a threat to flip and organize with the House Minority. This is totally false and misleading and a cover-up for their actual mischief.
“The truth is that they, other shadow groups and the Republican Party are part of a larger coordinated effort to assert top-down control of the House Republican majority by installing obedient soldiers.
“Why am I and another majority member in their cross hairs? We are members of the Musk Ox Coalition and they are musk ox hunting. They are sending a message that independence and doing what’s best for our constituents and doing what is best for Alaska will not be tolerated in the majority caucus. They will decide what is best for you. They want legislators they can control and tell what to do. I won’t submit. I will stand up for what is right, and that is why I am now under attack.
“In May 2015 I was part of a brave group of six House majority members (the Musk Ox Coalition) who refused to give in to immense pressure and go along with a backroom deal to raid $5 billion from the Permanent Fund Earnings account to avoid negotiating a bipartisan budget solution to access the budget reserve.”
COLVER THE DEMOCRAT
During Saturday’s State Central Committee meeting, Fred Agree, a voting member of the committee, stood to tell the group that Colver had told him “of course he was a Democrat,” but realized he could only win as a Republican in the district.
The party on Saturday voted not only to endorse Rauscher but unanimously voted to continue the sanctions against Colver, who is viewed as a poser.
Another member of the Musk Ox Coalition, Paul Seaton of District 31 Homer, has chosen to run as a nonpartisan in the Democrats primary during this election cycle.
Seaton, Stutes, and LeDoux, the remaining members of the Musk Ox, have all been sanctioned by their District Republicans and the state party, which will offer them no support during their reelection campaign.
Stutes and LeDoux are continuing to run in the Republican primary. Stutes, District 32 Kodiak, faces a tough primary battle against Republican Richard Walker of Kodiak. LeDoux, District 15 Anchorage, faces Aaron Weaver in the primary.
NOT BATTERY, BUT A CASE OF HARASSMENT … AND A BROKEN EARDRUM
The relevant sections of the Department of Law’s complaint against former Rep. Zach Fansler from the Jan. 13 sex-and-slapping date in Juneau that led to his resignation are transcribed here:
THE OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROSECUTIONS CHARGES: That in the First Judicial District, State of Alaska, on or about January 13, 2018, at or near Juneau, ZACHARY JOSEPH FANSLER with intent to harass or annoy another person, subjected another person to offensive physical contact. All of which is a Misdemeanor class B offense being contrary to and in violation of 11.6l.120(a)(5) and against the peace and dignity of the State of Alaska.
COUNT 1 – HARASSMENT IN THE SECOND DEGREE
The undersigned swears under oath this Information is based upon a review of police report #1801 19-010 submitted to date.
The defendant, Zachary Fansler, was a state legislator staying in Juneau in January 2018.
On the evening of January 13, 2018, C.T., a woman with whom Fansler had a prior social history, and Fansler had texted one another and agreed to meet at the Triangle Club Bar; Fansler arrived prior to C.T. Fansler and C.T. had previously been on one date together.
Fansler and C.T., along with a group of other people, socialized at the Triangle for about an hour, and then C.T. left the Triangle to go meet with another group of friends at another location.
Fansler did not leave the Triangle with C.T. Later in the evening, C.T. and Fansler reconnected in the bar area of the hotel where Fansler was staying, the Alaska Hotel. Again, there were others in the group besides Fansler and C.T. They only socialized in the bar area for a short period of time and then Fansler and C.T. decided to go up to Fansler’s room together shortly after midnight.
Both C.T. and Fansler had been drinking alcohol throughout the night, but Fansler was intoxicated by the time the two of them went to his room. When in the room, Fansler and C.T. began to engage in consensual sexual activity. Throughout the course of the evening, there had been no discussions about the nature of the type of sexual activity Fansler liked, and Fansler had not requested any permission to engage in any sort of aggressive sexual activity.
Then, while in the room and engaging in otherwise consensual activity, Fansler, without warning or permission, slapped C.T. in the head area with both his right and left hands. C.T. indicated that it seemed as though he had struck her as hard as he could and that her face burned and ears were ringing after the blows from Fansler.
C.T. further indicated that she immediately protested Fansler’s actions, but Fansler seemed to be too intoxicated to appropriately respond to her objections. Based on Fansler’s actions and his lack of response to her concerns, C.T. ended the encounter and left the room.
Following the incident, C.T. and Fansler had a couple brief text message exchanges where she confronted him about his actions in the room, and Fansler repeatedly apologized for his actions and acknowledged he needed to get his drinking under control.
On Monday, January 15, 2018, after continuing to have issues with one of her ears due to the blow by Fansler, C.T. decided to seek medical attention. C.T. learned that her eardrum had been ruptured. The injury required some follow up medical attention, but it ultimately healed over time.
Rep. Zach Fansler marching in the Jan. 20 “MeToo” women’s march in Juneau, seven days after he had struck a woman so hard her eardrum burst.
WHAT, NO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CHARGE?
Fansler has no prior criminal convictions or arrests. His attorney, Wallace Tetlow, told KYUK in January that the accusations were false. “If charges are filed, we’ll deal with those successfully in court,” Tetlow said.
Evidently he has dealt with them successfully; Tetlow has won Fansler a lesser charge than a class C felony. It’s now just a harassment charge.
Is Fansler getting off easy? Are lawyers in the Department of Law protecting one of their own?
Fansler will be arraigned on the Class B misdemeanor charge on June 21 in Juneau.
Class B misdemeanors are punishable by 90 days in jail and up to $2,000 in fines. Prostitution is an example of a Class B misdemeanor, as is theft in the fourth degree – stealing something valued under $50. Senate Bill 91 SB 91 made all thefts under $250 into class B misdemeanors regardless of the number of prior convictions.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
