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The Rogoff files: Fraud, deception, and reckless disregard

Suzanne Downing
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5
The Rogoff files: Fraud, deception, and reckless disregard

THE ROGUE PUBLISHER’S BANKRUPTCY CONTINUES 

Facing creditors who are accusing her of fraud, the former owner of the Alaska Dispatch News appears to be getting deeper into legal peril. Bankruptcy fraud is serious stuff.

Yet Alice Rogoff — yes, that Alice Rogoff — claims she is owed $16 million plus change by the Dispatch, the now bankrupt carcass of the former newspaper of Alaska’s largest city.

That newspaper was reborn in September as the Anchorage Daily News and is now owned by the Binkley Company, its rescuer.

Creditors have until Monday night to file all of their claims against the woman who waltzed into the newspaper business in Alaska in the early 2000s, and crashed a newspaper along with her airplane.

Rogoff, who purchased the paper when it was the Anchorage Daily News, and then changed its name to the Dispatch, filed her original Chapter 11 claim in Alaska bankruptcy court last summer. It didn’t take long for the court to realize the company had little value.

The East Coast divorcee and jetsetter claims to be her own largest creditor, conveniently. But there are many others to whom she owes money, examples of which include everything from the tax man, to a small shoe company, to a medium-sized landlord:

  • IRS $24,462, presumably for back taxes
  • Boot Country $119, presumably for work boots for workers
  • Arctic Partners: $2.4 million, presumably for rent not paid these many months.

A reasonable person might think she could pay for the boots, at least. Instead, she has been flying off to London, Boston, and even Barrow.

Other creditors will likely file before the Monday midnight deadline.

ELECTRIFYING CLAIM

And then we come to M&M Wiring: a whopping $1.529 million.

M&M is engaged in a take-no-prisoners approach to the rogue publisher from the East, and is claiming that Rogoff and her representatives were operating shell companies — businesses that they kept changing the names of and were using to stay one step ahead of creditors. Their claim narrative makes her operation sound vaguely criminal.

M&M alleges that Rogoff, her agents and legal representatives caused the electrical company to do more than a million dollars worth of work, and incur other costs, including attorneys fees.

According to M&M’s claim, Rogoff (or the Dispatch as the debtor, if you will) was losing $125,000 a week because of bad management and because Rogoff or her representatives raided the assets of the Alaska Dispatch News LLC. Yet they kept on ordering more work to be done by M&M.

Rogoff’s company is now in Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Liquidation, in other words, because there is no hope of it returning as a viable business entity.

“Rogoff and the Debtor contracted with M&M knowing that they did not have the money to pay for the improvements that Rogoff caused to be made to the Arctic Partner’s building located at 5900 Arctic Blvd,” the claim reads.

In layman’s terms, she knowingly stiffed M&M.

M&M claims that Rogoff, the Dispatch (Debtor), AK Publishing, the Moon and the Stars LLC were “essentially interchangeable, with respect to incurring and the payment of their respective obligations by the Debtor to its creditors detriment.”

This falls under the Alaska Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act. M&M alleges Rogoff/Dispatch has engaged in unfair and deceptive actions.

THEN COMES THE ‘F’ WORD: FRAUD

M&M Wiring is accusing Rogoff/Dispatch of committing fraud and/or unfair business practices when she retained the electrical contractor to perform improvements to the Arctic Partners’ building, where Rogoff intended to move the newspaper printing presses.

Further, she and the Dispatch continued to promise to pay M&M in order to keep them working on the Arctic Partners’ building, even while she knew her newspaper was losing nearly half a million dollars a month and could not pay what it owed to M&M.

According to M&M Wiring, she and her attorneys knew they were engaged in an unfair or deceptive act or practice, had the “authority to control the activities,” and were recklessly indifferent or knew it was highly probable that the corporate entity or one of its agents, employees or attorneys were committing an unfair or deceptive act or practice and “intentionally avoided the truth.”

Here’s the kicker: M&M says Rogoff and her agents, and this would appear to include members of her legal team, “are personally liable for the injured party’s damages.”

“Rogoff knew that her actions or that of the agents, employees or attorneys and had authority to stop it, but failed to take reasonable action to do so,” according to the claim.

THE SHELL GAMES CONTINUE

Rogoff still has other court cases pending, specifically with GCI, which goes to court later this year, and her former partner at Alaska Dispatch Publishing LLC, Tony Hopfinger, who has sued her for $1 million or so he says she owes him. She paid him his first payment of $100,000 for a contract that she wrote on a bar napkin.

[Read: Clock is ticking for Dispatch]

[Read: List of Rogoff debts goes into millions]

But while Hopfinger cools his heels and waits for Rogoff to clear her other debts through the court, Rogoff has quietly changed the name of that company. A February filing with the Alaska Department of Commerce shows the new name of the company as M.O.N. LLC.

And she has quietly taken a personal asset that she specifically told the courts had no value — ArticNow.com — and changed its name to ArticToday.com, and is up and running again as a for-profit electronic newspaper.

What’s this? Juneau warming to a road?

Suzanne Downing
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7

A new McDowell Group poll shows that Juneau residents are warming up to the idea of a road to Katzehin River, and a short ferry crossing to Haines and Skagway.

The poll shows that while 54 percent of respondents said they support the project to Katzehin, some 60 percent would really like the project if it went all the way to Skagway. That Skagway option is not currently on the table and has many challenges associated with it, both environmental and cost.

The survey asked more than 400 people with both landline phones and cell phones their views on transportation issues facing the Capital City. The median age of the respondent was 49; the median age of Juneau is 47. Men favored the road more than women: 60 percent of male respondents wanted the road built.

The First Things First Alaska Foundation, which is a pro-road nonprofit group, and the City and Borough of Juneau commissioned the poll. For the Foundation, it was a big risk, according to those close to the group, because the McDowell Group is known to only conduct fair opinion polls, and the chips would have to fall where they may.

One takeaway, said Denny DeWitt of First Things First, is that the opposition to the road has been so vocal for years that the public thought the general sentiment was against the road.

In fact, in 2016 Gov. Bill Walker opted for a “no-build” (also known as “no-access” alternative) to Juneau Access because so many vocal Juneauites, many in his own administration, oppose the road. They comprise the most liberal, isolationist faction of the capital city.

But this first scientific data shows that Juneau as a whole actually favors the Juneau Access Project.

“This is the first true data set where folks are not bullied because they have a difference of opinion. This is the first time they could just answer the question and be safe and secure in their answer, and not be shouted down for it,” DeWitt said.

Those who favor the road have been subject to personal attacks, he said, and people who have private lives don’t revel at the idea of being heckled and booed at meetings. They just stay home.

“Folks are of the most part are saying, ‘I’ll be darned, that’s not what we’ve been told all this time,” DeWitt said. “This was a hell of a big crap shoot for First Things First,” because they sat down with McDowell Group and knew the company wouldn’t sign off on anything but a credible poll.

DeWitt has a point about the public opinion. In 2014, 40 out of 55 people speaking at a public hearing on the Juneau Access Project spoke against the project and only 13 spoke in favor of the 48-mile road, which is slated to cost $574 million. All but 10 percent of the project is federal money that has already been set aside.

Last week both state representatives from Juneau, Justin Parish and Sam Kito III, voted against restoring the state portion of funding that had been reserved for the project, which would bring hundreds of jobs to the Juneau area. The McDowell survey shows them out of step with more than half of their constituents.

While a road to and from the road system out of Haines and Skagway is still controversial, more Juneau respondents liked the concept of a second bridge to North Douglas, known as the North Douglas Crossing. Nearly 8 in 10 surveyed residents support the construction of a second bridge, including a solid 37 percent who strongly support the project. Just 14 percent are opposed.

The number one reason that people cited favoring the second crossing was access.

The ferries for the crossing from Katzehin to Haines and Skagway are already being built in Ketchikan as part of a project developed in 2013-2014, when the state decided to fund the entire ferry build, and turn back federal funds to allow an in-state shipyard to have a better chance at bidding the project. The award went to Vigor Alaska.

[Read: Road is essential infrastructure]

 

 

Booze summit: Bethel gets visit from Zulkosky, governor’s office

Suzanne Downing
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1
Booze summit: Bethel gets visit from Zulkosky, governor’s office

BOOZE IS CAUSING PROBLEMS IN THE REGION

Rep. Tiffany Zulkosky, in office since being sworn in March 9, returns to Bethel this weekend with representatives from Gov. Bill Walker’s cabinet. They’ll address the gathering crisis developing with alcohol sales, Bethel residents, and people from nearby villages.

Letters from the villages of Napaskiak and Marshall, dry villages, have urged Walker to declare a state of emergency over liquor in Bethel, because too many village people are dying or being seriously injured since the city went “wet” in 2016.

Among those traveling to the “listening session” are Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan, and representatives from the lieutenant governor and attorney general’s offices.

Zulkosky’s listening session on the impact of Bethel’s liquor store on surrounding communities begins at 5:30 pm Saturday at the high school, Room C-22.

The first liquor store to open in Bethel, which had been a dry community, was in May of 2016. By the first winter, 2017, the Bethel Search and Rescue team was overwhelmed with dozens of calls from people in danger because of consuming alcohol and being exposed to the cold. The volunteer team could not keep up and was working itself into exhaustion.

RURAL AFFAIRS ADVISER HITS THE ROAD

Not attending the meeting as a representative of the governor is Jerad Godfrey, Walker’s former Rural Affairs Adviser. Godfrey is ending his service to the governor after reportedly becoming cross-threaded with Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, who is also Alaska Native.

Godfrey was the Director of Corporate Affairs for Afognak Native Corporation. He chaired Alaska’s Violent Crimes Compensation Board for 13 years, having been appointed by Alaska’s last three governors. Gov. Walker appointed him Rural Affairs Adviser in 2015.

No announcement has been made of his departure. Godfrey is of Alutiiq descent and was raised in Juneau, Northway, Bethel, Kodiak and Eagle River.

Revenue, CBR up, production flat, deficit down

Suzanne Downing
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1
Revenue, CBR up, production flat, deficit down

DEPT OF REVENUE SPRING 2018 REVENUE FORECAST

The spring revenue forecast is out from the Department of Revenue today. On the whole, the state’s revenue picture is brightening a bit.

The State’s revenue forecast includes educated guesses for oil prices, oil production, and state revenue.

Unrestricted General Fund revenue is now forecast to be $2.3 billion in both FY 2018 (the year that ends June 30) and FY 2019 (the year that begins July 1). That’s money that will go into the General Fund and will be available for spending by the State for services.  It represents an increase in expected funds of $468 million over two fiscal years.

The revenue forecast is driven by expected North Slope oil production averaging 521,800 barrels per day in FY 2018 and 526,600 barrels per day in FY 2019. This is essentially flat since the previous oil production forecast.

Alaska North Slope oil prices are forecast to average $61 per barrel for FY 2018 and $63 per barrel for FY 2019. Last fall, the price was expected to be $56 for 2018 and $57 for 2019. Today’s ANS price is $65.

“Expected revenue has increased approximately $125M -$250M per year across the forecast period.  This is good news for all Alaskans.  Unfortunately, even after this additional revenue, Alaska continues to face a budget deficit in excess of $2.3 billion. The Administration will continue to work with the Legislature to address the fiscal gap during this legislative session,” said Sheldon Fisher, commissioner of Revenue.

The spring 2018 revenue forecast is at the Department’s website, at www.tax.alaska.gov.

An opportunity we can’t afford to miss

Suzanne Downing
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3
An opportunity we can’t afford to miss

BY CURTIS THAYER
PRESIDENT, ALASKA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

As the president and CEO of the Alaska Chamber of Commerce, I was pleased with the recent passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Its enactment is having a positive effect on our economy. Already, because of the tax bill, we are seeing new business investments, workers are seeing bigger pay checks because of less withholding, and in some cases getting bonuses. And, let’s not forget that opening the 1002 area of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was included in the bill as well.

The Alaska Congressional Delegation — U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Don Young — deserve our thanks and gratitude for their part in helping get this legislation passed.

While we’ve heard quite a bit about the bill and its various components, including the fact that we’ll likely even see a reduction in some of our utility bills, it’s possible that you didn’t hear about one section that may prove to be one of the most important parts of the legislation.

The tax bill included a provision introduced by Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, to create an avenue for the more than $2 trillion in unused capital gains in our country to flow to distressed and rural areas.

If we can attract some of this capital to Alaska, it could be a game changer for our state.

How does it work? Based on income data, each state has a certain number of “Opportunity Zones” within which investment funds — which provide significant capital gains tax breaks for investors — can be established. Such funds will go to build or to supplement economic development projects in those areas.

In Alaska, we have 68 low-income census tracts and the governor can nominate up to 25 of them as Opportunity Zones. Designations are due by March 21 to the U.S. Department of the Treasury unless a waiver is requested and granted.

That means there’s no time to waste in letting the state know of your community or business’ interest in your area being nominated.

While I’m not a tax expert, many who are experts say that an Opportunity Zone designation could attract investors to projects, which could ultimately be a huge boost to communities.

A significant amount of economic growth has bypassed many of the communities and villages outside of our economic hubs. I believe that this provision could benefit many mom-and-pop enterprises in those communities and could provide incentives to invest in the areas in our urban areas that are under served. They could also lure investments to bigger development projects that are already underway in our state, which could benefit both the region and the state as a whole.

Congress has enacted a potent tax incentive for investors to reinvest investment gains designed to provide capital to businesses in distressed communities. Gov. Bill Walker will have to balance targeting the tax incentives to the most needy areas and selecting communities where new businesses are likely to be successfully launched. Let the governor’s office know if your community or business can benefit from a designation as an Opportunity Zone.

This is one of those opportunities that we can’t afford to miss.

Curtis W. Thayer is lifelong Alaskan and president and CEO of the Alaska Chamber of Commerce.

Breaking: Salmon initiative to be on ballot

Suzanne Downing
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1
Breaking: Salmon initiative to be on ballot

STAND FOR SALMON PROPONENTS ARE POPPING CHAMPAGNE CORKS

Lt. Gov Byron Mallott advised “Stand for Salmon” initiative proponents this week that their petition has been reviewed and he has determined “that the petition was properly filed.” It will be on the ballot this year, likely during the August primary.

That means for the next few months voters will hear the pros and cons of yet another environmentalist initiative that seeks to shut down development in Alaska.

The Stand for Salmon Initiative would likely end mining as well as many potential oil and gas projects in the state, if voters pass it. But it will also shut down timber, and even some housing construction. Business leaders across the state are concerned it will have a powerful chilling effect on the economy.

The letter to the initiative proponents, dated March 13, has not been released to the general public. There has been no public notice, but the Stand for Salmon group posted the news on their Facebook page.

“We have long expected this measure to be approved to go before Alaska voters later this year,” said Katie Capozzi, who is the manager of an opposing group, Stand for Alaska. That group has broad support of the business community and almost all Alaska Native corporations, who have development interests far and wide across Alaska.

“This misguided and poorly written ballot measure is ripe with unintended consequences that will cause havoc in Alaska’s communities and in how we live our lives, both in urban and rural Alaska. It’s clear the language of this measure puts important development projects at risk. But, it also negatively impacts public infrastructure projects such as roads, airports, ports, pipelines and wastewater treatment facilities,” she said.

There is still the matter of the court challenge. Supreme Court oral arguments are expected April 26. The Department of Law is challenging the constitutionality of the language of the ballot question.

 

Double ballots, closed post office, and food for votes

Suzanne Downing
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12
Double ballots, closed post office, and food for votes

TWO BALLOTS PER PERSON? YEP.

At least one incident of two ballots sent to one voter has been documented in the Anchorage Municipal Election, which ends April 3. This is the first time Anchorage has held a vote-by-mail only election, and ballots are arriving in mailboxes today after being mailed on Tuesday by a printer in Federal Way, Washington.

Others are reporting getting ballots for previous residents at their addresses.

Have questions about Vote by Mail? Visit the Municipal web site.

About 198,000 ballot packages were sent to Anchorage voters, who have until April 3 to get them in the mail. Alternately, voters can use one of 12 drop boxes around the city. There are two for each of the voting districts in the municipality, or ou can drop off your ballot the old-fashioned way at:

• City Hall, 632 W 6th Ave.
• O’Malley’s on the Green, 3651 O’Malley Road
• Loussac Public Library, 3600 Denali Street
• Eagle River Town Center, 11924 Business Blvd.
• Municipality of Anchorage Election Center, 619 East Ship Creek Ave.

Didn’t receive a ballot? Lost your ballot? Spill coffee on your ballot? Call the voter hotline at 907-243-8683.

POST OFFICE CUTS HOURS

A sign at a U.S. Post Office next to the Loussac Library indicated that lobby hours are now curtailed due to safety concerns. Voters hoping to mail their ballots will need to make arrangements for purchasing stamps during the new hours because even the federal government doesn’t think it’s safe to go out at night in Anchorage:

Others observed that the Alaska Center for the Environment, the Anchorage Parks Foundation and the Anchorage Community Land Trust are hosting food-and-games voter events called “Ballot Box Bashes” at four heavily Democratic drop box locations to push voter turnout that would favor higher taxes.

 

March Madness: Rep. Kawasaki runs gambling ring out of office

Suzanne Downing
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16
March Madness: Rep. Kawasaki runs gambling ring out of office

March Madness has swept the Capitol, and with nothing better to do, gambling is in full swing on state time.

Democrat Rep. Scott Kawasaki’s aide sent out the March Madness basketball brackets and explanation of rules to over 100 legislators and aides in the Capitol, and used state equipment and state time (the message was sent at 11:15 am) to craft the instructions and attach the brackets. It is costing each participating state employee $5 to play.

Here are Kawasaki’s instructions for gambling in this tournament, and clearly not for the benefit of a charity:

Hello All!

If you haven’t heard yet, there are March Madness brackets in Rep. Kawasaki’s office! The price per bracket is $5, and the winner takes the entire pot. We have printed brackets in room 502, with the scoring guide on them. I will collect your bracket and send out scores and standings after each round. Only those who have paid will receive their scores and standings.

Rules:

The rules are simple. There are 6 rounds to the NCAA tournament, for each correct winner picked, a player is awarded points based on what round the winner is picked in. The person at the end of the tournament with the highest point total is the winner.

Some people prefer to place a great deal of weight on picking the championship game correctly and prefer to use the 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 point system. This means in most cases means the winner of the office pool must correctly pick the winner of the championship game. Others think that picking the most games correctly should weigh more on the outcome they might use a system of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

I definitely don’t like the idea of putting all of the weight on the championship game, you are basically eliminating everyone that does not correctly guess the winner of the tournament. I do however feel that picking the winner in a field of 64 does have importance, so I prefer to use a 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 type point system. This gives the people that pick the winner of the tournament correctly an advantage, but does not completely eliminate the people that didn’t correctly guess the champion.

Official Scoring System:

First Round (Of 64) = 2 Points

Second Round (Of 32) = 3 Points

Third Round (Sweet Sixteen) = 5 Points

Fourth Round (Elite Eight) = 8 Points

Fifth Round (Final Four) = 13 Points

Sixth Round (Championship) = 21 Points

If you want to track your own progression, I suggest making a copy of your own bracket. Good luck!

* * *

OOPS

The message was followed hours later by a similar message that stated, “This email was sent in error.”

But as some in the Capitol have pointed out, it was certainly not sent in error. Not everyone was included in the message, which meant that Kawasaki’s office had to pick through the hundreds of workers in the Legislature and find the ones they wanted to include and exclude from notification.

Rather than an error, was this bad judgment, or has the Legislature just found a place where cuts can be made?

Concerned citizens may wish to send a note to Rules Chair Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux for an answer. Her address is Rep.Gabrielle.LeDoux@akleg.gov.

Adults in back, please

Suzanne Downing
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4
Adults in back, please

SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT?

Juneau high school students walked out of school Wednesday to take their message of school safety to the state’s Capitol, where many lawmakers, such as Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott greeted them warmly. Perhaps it reminded them of the 1960s.

But for the event, adults were specifically asked to let the students have their event without grownups crushing in for photo opportunities.

That memo never made it to the desk of Rep. Justin Parish, District 34 Democrat, who made himself the center attraction, which attracted the sarcastic comment in the meme above.

Below, Gov. Walker and Lt. Gov. Mallott were able to take instruction and stood in back.

For reasons unknown, the media never went to Juneau-Douglas High School to learn about the students who didn’t participate in the walk out.

A statement from the school district was issued in advance of the walkout that indicated this was a “free day” for students and no disciplinary action would be taken:

The Juneau School District is aware that some students are planning school walkouts at 10:00 am on March 14, 2018 as part of an upcoming National School Walkout. The principals at our secondary schools are communicating with their staff and student leaders regarding this planned walkout. Schools are not promoting this activity and it is important for parents to know that these are not school sponsored or school sanctioned events.

The Juneau School District respects students’ First Amendment right to peacefully assemble.  We will not discipline students for the act of peaceful protest. As a district, we want to acknowledge and support students in their advocacy for safe schools.

The best way for us to ensure student safety during the school day is to know where our students are—that’s simply not possible once they leave school grounds. If students choose to participate in the walkout, the school’s rules and policies regarding student attendance will apply.  Schools and classes will continue on their normal schedule. If you want to excuse your child from class to allow them to participate, please contact your school’s attendance office. Absences that are not excused by a parent will be treated as unexcused and normal consequences will apply.

The Juneau School District also respects the right of school employees to engage in political activities on their own time. Staff members will not participate in walk outs or protests in the course of their work, and will remain neutral on issues that are political in nature in the presence of students.  

As always, the safety of our students is our priority. We are proud that our students want to exercise their First Amendment rights to express their views on this important topic. We will work together to find ways of doing this within our existing school rules and in a manner that works for each school community and maintains a safe learning environment. When students advocate for an issue they feel passionate about, it can be a powerful learning experience. We also recognize that some students may not want to participate in a walk out and would prefer to stay in class. We want to ensure that all students feel safe and respected, no matter what they choose to do.

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