Page 1645 – Must Read Alaska

Dan Fauske: The ‘passing of Superman’

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April 5, 2017

Dan Fauske, who led the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation and the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation until his retirement in 2015, died this morning in Anchorage after a battle with cancer.

Former House Speaker Mike Chenault rose on the House Floor today to announce his passing. In a voice that was breaking, he announced Fauske’s passing:

“Mr. Speaker there are not many places across the state where Mr. Fauske is not thought of in a higher light. He was a great statesman and a great family man…my prayers and condolences to Elaine and the entire Fauske family.”

“Dan Fauske leaped tall buildings in a single bound. Like Superman, there was not a challenge he couldn’t take on. He grew the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation into what it is today after it was on the brink of closure,” Chenault said in a statement issued this afternoon. “He was a great Alaskan but more importantly a good man and friend.”

House Bill 143, naming the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation Building in Anchorage after Fauske, passed the Legislature last week. Governor Bill Walker will sign the bill into law on April 8 at 11 am in AHFC’s boardroom, 4300 Boniface Parkway.

Senator Pete Kelly issued this statement “Dan Fauske was one of the most competent men I ever met. His work with the Legislature on behalf of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation and the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation brought immeasurable value to Alaskans.

“We loved his sense of humor, his reliance on relationships, and his ability to tell stories.”

Must Read Alaska editor Suzanne Downing remembered Dan Fauske as knowledgeable, helpful, and good natured. “Over the years I could always count on him to give the facts to me straight. He was a subject expert on so many things related to Alaska, and he knew how to keep things in perspective. He never overreached on a topic, but kept a steady, grown-up view of every situation. I will miss his counsel.”

Former Gov. Sean Parnell issued this statement this afternoon: “Sandy and I were deeply saddened to learn of Dan Fauske’s passing. We knew Dan to be a thoughtful, smart public servant as he led both AHFC and the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. We will miss his smile and wit–that spark of humanity that made Dan very special. Our thoughts and prayers are with Elaine and the Fauske family and the many friends who, like us, count Dan a special friend.”

Fauske served as the Chief Executive Officer of Alaska Housing Finance Corporation from 1995 to August 2013, and before that was chief financial officer, chief administrative officer and budget director of the North Slope Borough, in Barrow. He was a director at National Community Renaissance of California and a director of National Housing Development Corporation.

Fauske earned his masters degree in business administration from Gonzaga University. Fauske’s survivors include his wife Elaine, and adult children, D.J., Scott, Brad, Kathy and Marcie.

D.J. Fauske offered sentiments on behalf of the Fauske family through the Office of the Governor: “Dan lost the battle but not the war. We are grateful for the many friends and professional colleagues who have prayed for, and connected with my dad and our entire family since learning of his diagnosis.”

“I have known Dan for a long time. I had the privilege to be a part of his work for eight years as an AHFC employee and three more years as a member of the board. He built AHFC with heart, intellect, and a can-do attitude,” said AHFC President Bryan Butcher. “Dan was a force of nature, a mentor to many of us, and a dear friend. He will be immeasurably missed.”

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan spoke about Fauske on the floor of the Senate this evening:

Mr. President, for months I’ve been coming down to the floor each week to recognize someone in my state who has made a difference—someone who has devoted time and energy to making my state a better place to live for others.

I call these individuals our Alaskan of the Week.

As I’ve said repeatedly, my state is the most beautiful state in the country—I’d argue in the world. I urge everybody here in this room, and watching on television, to come and see it for yourself. It’ll be a trip of a lifetime. Guaranteed.

But it’s the people that truly make my state unique. People who are helping each other. Strong willed, warm hearted, tenacious people who have worked tirelessly for all of us who live there.

Mr. President, this week I’d like to honor Dan Fauske, one of the strongest willed, warmest hearted people I have ever known. All he’s done for us has made Alaska a better place for all of us.

Dan came to Alaska in 1974 after serving in the Army, like so many Alaskans. And like so many Alaskans, he arrived with the glint of steel in his eye and a mission to help build our state. Alaska is full of natural wonders, but our man-made wonders are also marvels. And Dan wanted to be part of building more of those marvels.

He first arrived in the North Slope Borough to help the community build up their infrastructure and strengthen the villages in the area.

It was a time of enormous change for all of Alaska, and particularly the North Slope. Oil from the North Slope’s Prudhoe Bay, the largest oil field in North America, had recently begun to flow. The largest lands claim Act in history, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, had recently passed, and the governments of villages in rural Alaska were being formed and reformed.

After Dan went back to school to receive a master’s degree in business administration from Gonzaga, he made his way back to Alaska to serve as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer for Alaska’s North Slope Borough, where he launched an ambitious and ultimately successful capital plan to provide running water and sewer services to the villages throughout the Borough.

According to Bill Tracey, Sr. from Point Lay, who was a co-worker at the time, “Dan’s excellent work ethic and skills earned him the respect of the North Slope leaders… His accomplishments were remarkable.”

With his beautiful and spirited wife Elaine always by his side, Dan then moved his family to Anchorage to head up the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. For 18 years, Dan managed AHFC’s nearly $5 billion in assets. It’s not an overstatement to say that he revolutionized that agency, doing remarkable things—including, and most importantly, helping thousands and thousands of Alaskans pursue their dream of buying an affordable home.

The Alaska Legislature just passed a bill to name the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation the Daniel R. Fauske Building. There will be a dedication ceremony in Anchorage this Saturday.

As his bio indicates, there is no doubt that for decades, Dan served Alaska with his hands, his heart, and his head.

But a bio, on paper, can only tell you so much about a person.

To really appreciate him, you have to have been with him and watched the energy and can-do spirit radiate off of Dan. You had to have watched him talk to people: with respect, with humor, understanding and keen intelligence.

He had a big laugh and told great stories. He also had that rare ability to genuinely connect with everybody he met, and was able to speak the language of a businessman, a builder, veteran, and a public servant. He spoke the language of a father, a husband, a friend, and a true Alaskan.

In so doing, he gained the respect of politicians, state workers, military members—people from all across Alaska. If you wanted something done and done right, you asked Dan Fauske to help do it. People trusted Dan Fauske. I trusted Dan Fauske.

Most importantly, Dan was a great father to three great boys: DJ, Scott, and Brad, and two daughters, Marcy and Kathy. And he was a great husband to his incredible, vivacious and very strong wife Elaine.

Mr. President, Dan passed away this afternoon, with his family and friends by his side. Our prayers, and the prayers of so many Alaskans, go out to all of them during this difficult time. For anyone watching, I humbly ask that they say a prayer too.

For all he’s done for all of us—and all his memory will continue to do for us–Dan Fauske is our Alaskan of the Week. He was also my very good friend. And my wife Julie and I will miss him greatly.

Earlier this session, legislators unanimously passed HB 143, naming the AHFC Anchorage headquarters the Daniel R. Fauske Building. Arrangements for a summer celebration of life are pending, and details will be made available by the family at a later date.

Anchorage conservatives didn’t show up — where have they gone?

Suzanne Downing

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April 5, 2017

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An animated talk show radio host, Eddie Burke, right, talks about the Anchorage political scene with former Mayor Dan Sullivan, at Bootlegger’s Saloon, where conservative voters gathered to wait for the results of the Anchorage municipal election on Tuesday night.

Liberal Democrats took over the Anchorage Assembly last night, giving Mayor Ethan Berkowitz a veto proof majority, 9-2. They ran the tables on conservatives.

Voters also chose to tax homes and property for things they don’t necessarily need — such as parks and recreation expansion and public building renovations. Proposition 2 — the ambulance bond — failed largely because of a rally of credible conservative arguments, but the rest of the borrowing expenditures passed. No groups formed to oppose them.

Evidently, voters didn’t get the memo that taxation is on the upswing from every direction in the state, that their cost of living in Anchorage is going to go up, their Permanent Fund dividends are going to be reduced, and Alaska is moving into a construction season where backhoes will remain idle.

What does this election result say about Anchorage? Does the second-lowest turnout in its municipal election history — 19.66 percent — have anything to do with the outcome? Are conservatives too busy packing to vote?

Or have the petroleum engineers and their coworkers already left Alaska’s largest city for jobs Down South, and voters who remain are trending toward Big Government?

Probably all of the above.

SOUTH ANCHORAGE WENT SIDEWAYS

To be sure, the south Anchorage Assembly seat that Republican Al Fogle might have won was lost to Suzanne LaFrance, a hard-left Democrat who in 2014 signed the petition to repeal SB 21, oil tax reform, and also supported marijuana legalization and increased minimum wage. The outcome in this week’s election is an oddity, but there are explanations.

Voters in that district reported receiving robocalls prior to election day warning them that Fogle, who is reportedly gay, would favor transgender bathrooms, and LaFrance did her own followup robocall calling herself the social conservative.

That was all part of the Democratic sneak attack, and it worked. Social conservatives voted for the hard left Democrat or stayed home. It was ironic for Democrats to outfox conservative south Anchorage by opposing a supposedly gay Republican. And using homophobic fear mongering with a heavy dose of divisive misinformation to do so.

The winner, LaFrance, likely does not represent that district as well as Fogle might have, but we’ll park that analysis for now.

The religious right at one time was a dominant force in Anchorage. Alaska Family Council and the Anchorage Baptist Temple together could swing a race.

But take a look at the LGBTQ ordinance that passed Anchorage in 2015. The ordinance added protections to Anchorage equal rights laws for gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people in housing and employment and public accommodations, which would include bathrooms.

In the two years since that ordinance passed, no significant effort has been made to repeal it. A reasonable person might come to the conclusion that social conservatives are waning in Anchorage. And a reasonable person might be right about that.

ALASKA’S FAT-TIRE CITY

There appear to be a lot more fat-tire bikes in Anchorage than Cadillac Escalades these days. And these bike riders are voting.

The 2016 General Election says it all. Take out Eagle River (House District 13, 14), and the race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was white-knuckle close.

Trump won Anchorage by just 25 votes — about the size of one Sunday school class. On a good Sunday.

That trend is reflected in Anchorage’s legislative team as well: Anchorage is represented by three Democrat senators (out of eight in Anchorage), eight Democrat House members, (nine if Gabrielle LeDoux is counted), five Republican House members.

That’s Anchorage today: Resource jobs have left, and health care and social service workers have moved in. Resource workers tend to vote Republican, while nurses, aides and caseworkers tend to vote Democrat.

Statewide, Trump slaughtered Clinton in Alaska — Clinton took 36.6 percent of the vote, to Trump’s 51.3 percent.

But as for the state’s most metropolitan area, if you take Eagle River Districts 13 and 14 out, Anchorage was dead even.

ANCHORAGE LOOKING MORE LIKE URBAN AMERICA

The pattern across the nation is that urban areas trend Democrat, and Anchorage is following the pattern. A diverse community that was once home to oil and construction jobs has changed over the past five years. After Gov. Bill Walker signed Medicaid expansion into law, a couple of thousand health care jobs were created, and mostly in Southcentral, mostly in Anchorage.

With the anti-oil policies trending in the Governor’s Office, and a bitter “indivisible” Bernie Sanders faction eager to resist anything resembling a Trump policy, Anchorage may be drifting even further left.

That leftward trend in Anchorage will pose a challenge to conservatives who hope to take back the mayor’s office in 2018.

Reducing exposure, GCI looks to its own fiscal certainty by merging

Politics

Suzanne Downing

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April 5, 2017

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*GCI rural communication tower at sunset, (photo from GCI web site.)*

Alaska-born GCI is merging with a Colorado-based company in a $1.12 billion deal.

The merger between Liberty Ventures Group and Alaska’s largest telecommunication company was announced this morning. GCI’s NASDAQ price soared over 62 percent before the markets closed, ending the day at $33.39.

The markets evidently liked the transaction. So will GCI shareholders, who will receive $32.50 for each share, a 58 percent premium.

“This transaction is a win for our shareholders, customers, and employees,” said Ron Duncan, GCI co-founder, president, and chief executive officer.

The merged entity will be called GCI Liberty and is expected to remain listed as a publicly traded NASDAQ stock.

GCI customers probably won’t notice the change; Duncan will keep running the company, which has about 2,300 employees, making it among the top 10 private sector employers in the state.

ECONOMICS 101, POLITICS 400

Duncan was circumspect in his official statement about the merger.

“We will continue to run the company with our focus on providing the best value for Alaska customers, offering opportunities for our employees and investing wisely in the Alaska market,” he said, in a well-scrubbed corporate statement. “As part of a larger company, GCI will be even better positioned to compete, innovate, and serve Alaskans and our customers in the lower 48 states.”

Duncan said not a word about the economic conditions and political realities in Alaska.

Yet those who know the entrepreneur understand that the deal is also a punctuation on a message Duncan has been driving home about Alaska’s economic stability for three years.

Duncan, who has not been shy about supporting political candidates throughout his career, went big over the past two years trying to move the needle on a solution for the State’s deficit spending juggernaut, because he saw storm clouds ahead for the general economy if leaders didn’t act decisively.

The telecommunications president was invited to help Gov. Bill Walker figure out a solution to the problem. He and a handful of other top business leaders pored over financial plans and offered their own studied advice.

Then, Duncan ended up forming a political group, Alaska’s Future, to encourage lawmakers to do the tough work needed to “lengthen the runway” on Alaska’s fiscal crisis. They spent millions trying to educate the public about the pending economic trainwreck.

That group was especially interested in a proposed plan to restructure the Alaska Permanent Fund’s Earnings Reserve Account, to help pay for state services. It was certainly a big part of the solution, he said. And while the State has over $55 billion in the Permanent Fund, many economists say the earnings should be used more effectively right now to steady the ship.

Alaska’s Future co-chairs were former Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles, AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami, and Alaska Native corporation CEOs, Helvi Sandvik of NANA Regional Corp. and Sophie Minich of Cook Inlet Region Inc.

NEW YEAR, SAME PROBLEM, SHORTER RUNWAY

In 2017, the Alaska House of Representatives is still having trouble coming to consensus over a path forward. Per capita State spending remains higher than any other state in the union at about $16,000 per resident. The average in other states is $5,300 per person.

And the House leadership, now dominated by Democrats, has just offered a budget even larger than the one proposed by Gov. Bill Walker.

The Senate gets it. In their presentation to a combined audience of the RDC [Resource Development Council] and State Chamber last week, their plan is aggressive on cuts. If they do just what they have on the table — $200 million, plus Senate Bill 26, that’s a six- or seven-year lease on life. – Ron Duncan

“You don’t have to fill the whole hole. If the hole is $400 million, that’s eight years before we run out of reserves, and they will figure it out in those years.”

Senate Bill 26 uses Permanent Fund earnings, not principle, to provide a big patch.

[Read: Senate Bill 26 – to stabilize economy – heads to Senate floor]

But waiting on the Alaska House to come to terms with a plan added a bit too much uncertainty in an already risk-heavy economic environment.

GCI took its own steps toward fiscal certainty with today’s announcement.

It’s all about spreading out the risk, Duncan told Must Read Alaska this afternoon. “Instead of 100 percent risk exposure in Alaska, we now have 25 percent.”

WARNING WAS NOT A THREAT

Last year, Duncan advised lawmakers that private sector companies would be pulling back their investments if Alaska didn’t get its fiscal house in order.

Some hard-left operatives, such as Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, called it a threat. In his January, 2016 newsletter, Gara glibly wrote, “Of course, Mr. Duncan can choose to do what he wants. It’s a free country. I just wish he would consider how this threatens to undermine a collaborative political process, which requires something better than suggestions of campaign threats.”

But Duncan wasn’t kidding when he warned legislators about the $3 billion shortfall. Job creators have their own way of seeing things, and with his company posting a loss last year, and with oil-related workers leaving the state by the thousands, Duncan pulled back his capital investment by 25 percent for 2017.

INVESTMENT OVER THE DECADES: GINORMOUS

Duncan is in his 40th year in Alaska. He came north in 1977 with some Alaska friends he met at Harvard, where he had attended graduate school after obtaining an economics degree from Johns Hopkins University.

He started a cable television company in Fairbanks and two years later moved to Anchorage, where he and his friend Bob Walp started GCI.

The two battled mightily through regulatory minefields to get a toehold in the long-distance business, completing their company’s first long-distance call on Thanksgiving Day, 1982. Walp, who had been the CEO, retired from GCI in 1989, and passed away earlier this year.

In 2011, the company started the TERRA project to expand its communications network to rural and remote areas of Alaska. The project now provides more than 80 villages with access to terrestrial broadband.

In 2016, GCI added Buckland, Kiana, Noorvik, Selawik, Koyuk, Elm, Golovin, White Mountain, Stebbins and St. Michael to the network, which involves microwave radio towers that brought 3G wireless data service to several dozen tiny and remote communities.

GCI is Alaska’s largest communications provider, with more than 100,000 Internet and video subscribers each, and 200,000 wireless customers. GCI’s revenue was $934 million in 2016, a drop from $979 million the previous year.

Election: Anchorage plans to borrow money to make payroll

Suzanne Downing

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April 4, 2017

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*Anchorage ambulance races through Spenard. (YouTube screen shot. Alex Alverson video)*

IF YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT INCREASING THE TAX CAP, DON’T VOTE

If you’re in Anchorage, by all means don’t bother to vote today. Your taxes will likely go up by the ballot marks of others.

An example of what might pass if you skip out on your civic duty is a $23 million property tax increase disguised as a $650,000 purchase of two ambulances.

Proposition 2, the ambulance bond, is possibly the sneakiest bond proposition in Anchorage history.

Prop 2 starts out innocently enough, but is asking voters to pay for a lot of things they can’t really see in the ballot language or anywhere else on the Anchorage municipality’s new web site.

Voters believe they are funding two ambulances for $650,000. There are some vaguely referenced transit vehicles (these may be buses, but we aren’t told) for a total cost of $1.65 in the principal amount of general obligation bonds.

But the real cost is $24 million.

Without knowing it, voters choosing yes on Prop. 2 will be increasing the tax cap, because by approving the capital expenditures, they’ll also be approving the operating expenses with them: 14 firefighter positions for the next 10 years.

That’s 14 union firefighter positions.

“This is a sneaky deal — adding staff to a bond,” said Assembly member Amy Demboski. “I voted no on this in the Assembly for even putting it on the ballot because it’s my pet peeve: You don’t add staff to a bond.”

Demboski isn’t the only one. While she is particularly concerned for those living outside the center of Anchorage who will get no benefit from the bond, others have voiced concerns as well.

Former Mayors Rick Mystrom, George Wuerch, Tom Fink and Dan Sullivan all oppose Proposition 2.

In a radio ad airing in recent days, Mystrom says:

“This bond issue avoids the tax cap by lumping massive labor costs into a small bond proposal. The Prop 2 proposal looks pretty innocent: $650,00 for two ambulances. But 10 years later, the taxpayers will have paid almost $24 million in property taxes for this deceptively small bond proposal,” Mystrom said. “This tactic bypasses the tax cap and squeezes millions of new taxes from homeowners.”

WHO’S VOTING?

The line to vote at the Loussac Library in Anchorage at 9 am today was noteworthy in one particular way: There was no line. In a span of 10 minutes, only one person cast a ballot. The 10 election workers were falling all over themselves to help the one voter at the door.

But Anchorage residents can be certain that both municipal and school employees will be out in force at the polls, voting to raise taxes on residents and bust through the tax cap.

Polls are open until 8 pm. Your dirty hair can wait.

Monday newsletter outtakes: Opioid tax, pot taxes, Anchorage Muni election picks

Suzanne Downing

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April 3, 2017

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Must Read Alaska is taking a break this morning to send out thank you notes to all of our first-quarter supporters. But don’t forget, we have a Monday morning e-newsletter, and you should subscribe!

Here’s an outtake of what’s in today’s Must Read Alaska Monday newsletter. Go ahead — go to the right side of this page and sign up for the best way to kickstart your week. It’s free. (Meanwhile…feel free to support this conservative spot for news with a contribution, because we’d like to thank you, too.)

GOOD MORNING from somewhere in Alaska … It’s Monday, April 3, 2017…Two weeks left in the 90-day legislative session, which ends on Easter…Will it be resurrected into special session? (When was the last time the Alaska Legislature didn’t have a special session?) … Most MRAK readers are conservative Alaskans, but all are welcome…Share this newsletter with your open-minded friends…But first…

THIS WEEK IN SUPREMES: This week, Neil Gorsuch will likely be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has had a vacancy for 13 months, since Antonin Scalia died. We predict drama prior to confirmation. Democrats will filibuster. Republicans will tire of it, change the rules, and vote. And we will have to fix our spell checks so that Gorsuch doesn’t auto-correct to “Grouch.” #annoying.

THIS WEEK IN JUNEAU:
House Finance takes up Governor Bill Walker’s income tax bill, HB 115, today (Monday) at 1 pm.
Senate Resources takes up the Jonesville Public Use Area bill, SB 65, today at 3:30 pm
House Finance takes up Governor Bill Walker’s motor fuel tax, HB 60, Wednesday, 1:30 pm

THIS WEEK IN OIL COMPANIES: They’re considering it a win if they break even, according to this analysis in the Wall Street Journal.

Cliff notes: Despite billions of dollars in spending cuts and a modest oil-price rebound, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron and BP didn’t make enough money in 2016 to cover their costs, according to the Journal.

ANCHORAGE MUNI ELECTION TUESDAY: It’s math. If everyone of the thousands of Anchorage residents who read this newsletter take the time to vote on Tuesday, we’ll have a moderate-conservative Assembly in Alaska’s biggest little town.

MUST READ ALASKA’S ANCHORAGE MUNI BALLOT:

ASSEMBLY

District 1 – Seat B – Downtown
COX, Chris

District 2 – Seat C – Eagle River / Chugiak
BRASSELL, John (up and comer) or
DYSON, Fred (older warrior)

District 3 – Seat E – West Anchorage
NEES, David

District 4 – Seat G – Midtown Anchorage
SANDERS, Marcus or
SMITH, Don

District 5 – Seat I – East Anchorage
JONES, Don

District 6 – Seat K – South Anchorage
FOGLE, Albert

SCHOOL BOARD

Voted on areawide by all in the Municipality of Anchorage:

School Board Seat C
DONLEY, Dave

School Board Seat D
SCHUSTER, Kay

PROPOSITIONS

YES – PROPOSITION 1 – SCHOOL BONDS, It’s not perfect, but the projects are mostly needed repairs that won’t get any less expensive with further delay.
NO – PROPOSITION 2 – AMBULANCES AND LABOR, Borrowing to pay for 14 new firefighter positions? Just no.
NO – PROPOSITION 3 – PARKS AND REC, Nice projects have to wait in this economy.
YES – PROPOSITION 4 – STORM DRAINAGE, Infrastructure.
NO – PROPOSITION 5 – FIRE TRUCKS AND STATIONS, It can wait.
NO – PROPOSITION 6 – POLICE FACILITY UPGRADES, See above.
NO – PROPOSITION 7 – PARKS AND REC TAX AREA EXPANSION, The Muni looking for more folks to tax.
NO – PROPOSITION 8 – REPEALING TAXI CAB EXPANSION, See below:

THE MESSIEST PROPOSITION AWARD: Prop. 8 wins the prize for the most confusing proposition to ever hit a ballot in Anchorage. Taxi permit holders in Anchorage don’t want more cabs on the street. That’s why they want you to vote yes on Proposition 8.

A yes vote repeals the ordinance that is phasing in more cabs. With the taxi cab union out in force with flyers, chances are the public will vote yes.

A no vote continues opening up the taxi permits. Cabs would arrive on time because more would be available. More available cabs result in safer roads and happier customers.

(It almost doesn’t matter what the taxi permit holders want, because the world has moved on. Uber, Lyft and Zipcar are modeling the next generation of personal transportation in 49 other states. A bipartisan group of legislators in Juneau may make us the 50th.)

FACE-PALM DEPT: Can you believe it? Fully 20 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or the rest of the LGBTQ definitions, according to a Harris Poll done for the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD. It’s either the hippest new thing for millennials to say out loud, or it’s in the water. Read the survey here.

In other news, Sen. Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage, decided it was time for more LGBTQ legislation, because it’s always time to have more hearings in Juneau.

Berta gives you Senate Bill 72, prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression — and beefing up the workload of the State Commission for Human Rights. Bring on the lawsuits.

MORE FACE-PALM: Rep. Jonathan Kriess-Tompkins has legislation to tax opioids. Which means he wants people who are taking medicine for chronic pain to pay more for that medicine. House Bill 196 creates a 1-cent tax on imports or manufacture of each milligram of morphine equivalent. Who actually pays for an opioid tax?

WE’RE HAPPY, RIGHT? Alaska is the second-happiest state in the U.S., right after Hawaii. That’s because we live in this big-and-awesome state most of the time, and vacation in hot-and-heavenly Hawaii? That’s our theory and we’re really happy about it. Read the Gallup poll here.

WHAT WE’RE READING:

POETS VS. TYRANTS: Yevtushenko, poet who denounced Stalin, has died. Our poet obituary of the week.

WHERE DID GONZAGA COME FROM: Some beautiful irony is our sports read of the week.

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE, FASCINATED BY WHITTIER: But who isn’t? The Lives in Begich Tower is our Alaska voyeurism read of the week.

BLACK PIGMENT MATTERS: Vantablack is the world’s darkest black pigment, so dark that it flattens reality and swallows lasers. One British artist has a lock on the Vantablack market, and that has ticked off the other artists who now ban him from using the world’s pinkest pink. That’s our arts and science read of the week.

LOOKING FOR CHANGE IN THE SOFA: On tonight’s Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly agenda is the question of whether to eliminate the senior sales tax exemption for the purchase of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana.

The borough staff believes it can pull in about $25,000 in sales taxes with the measure. The meeting begins at 5:30 pm in Borough Assembly Chambers, White Cliff Building.

WRANGELL POT TAX: The Wrangell Borough Assembly is getting ready to curb the business hours of marijuana stores, so no pot can change hands between 6 pm and 8 am. Also, they’ll be instituting a $10 tax on every ounce of cultivated pot that is sold. That would be on top of the $50 per ounce the state already charges in taxes. The money raised would go to the city’s general fund.

Homer petitioners reach recall milestone

Suzanne Downing

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April 2, 2017

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*Larri Fancher, Larry Zuccaro, and Mike Fell of Homer, Alaska file a recall petition with City Clerk Jo Johnson on Friday.*

A group of Homer residents has filed a petition with the city clerk containing more than 460 names of residents who signed a request to recall three Homer City Council members.

The filing is one more step in what may be one of the largest local recall efforts in Alaska state history, asking voters to remove three of six council members.

Larri Fancher, Larry Zuccaro, and Mike Fell handed the petitions to Clerk Jo Johnson at 3 pm on Friday. They then took down their temporary recall headquarters on Ocean Drive and closed up their name-gathering operation. Within two weeks, they had acquired more than enough names to force a recall. They were satisfied with their work.

Clerk Johnson must verify the signatures and decide whether the petitioners have a legitimate case against council members Donna Aderhold, David Lewis and Catriona Reynolds, who angered many in this fishing-and-art community for attempting to enshrine Homer as a “sanctuary city,” where illegal immigrants could find safe haven from federal immigration authorities.

“We think Jo will be able to verify the 373 voter names needed within a couple of days,” said Zuccaro on Sunday. He said the group could have kept gathering signatures, but felt that having more than 25 percent above what was needed would be sufficient and it was time to move on to organize for a vote.

The group says in its petition that “Aderhold, Lewis and Reynolds are each proven unfit for office, as evident by their individual efforts in preparation of Resolution 16-121 and 17-109, the text of which stands in clear and obvious violation of Homer City Code Title 1.”

Those efforts include trying to pass Resolution 16-121, opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the effort to “resist” President Donald Trump and create a sanctuary city through Resolution 17-019.

The final version of the sanctuary resolution was unconvincing to many members of the public.

Several clauses, such as, “the city of Homer will not cooperate with federal agencies in detaining undocumented immigrants unless such actions are supported by court-issued federal warrants” were changed in the final version. But the intent was clear, they said, in the final version: “the city of Homer will cooperate with federal agencies in detaining undocumented immigrants [only] when court-issued federal warrants are delivered.”

With all the anti-Trump language in the original version of the resolution, it could be argued the three were engaged in partisan politics. That may violate the city’s Title 1 code prohibiting certain partisan political activity by city officials while on duty. There is also the matter of whether the three are simply unfit for office.

While the sanctuary city resolution eventually was watered down into an “inclusivity” resolution, it was already toxic because of the trail of emails uncovered by the citizen activists who now seek the removal of Alderhold, Lewis and Reynolds.

[Read: Homer city council goes into full ‘resist’ Trump mode]

[Read: Homer city council backs away from ‘resist’ resolution]

If a special election is held, it will probably be in May, Zuccaro said. Then, if voters decide to remove the three, the remaining council members and mayor would appoint interim council members.

Two of those who are targeted for removal — Reynolds and Lewis — are up for re-election in October. The third, Aderhold, would face voters next year.

The complete email chain between the three that has Homer so stirred up has been posted in the Peninsula Clarion.

Homer recall petition gains ground

Uber, birthday parties, and the political battle over the free market

Suzanne Downing

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April 2, 2017

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Uber, birthday parties, and the political battle over the free market

*Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, right, seated with Sen. Bill Wielechowski,-D, Anchorage, and Rep. Ivy Sponholz, D-Anchorage, in 2016.*

It is no secret to Juneau politicos that Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux’s birthday party last month was hosted by the Teamsters Union.

Plenty of union types attended the party in the Teamster’s Local 959 cozy headquarters upstairs apartment, just across the street from the State Office Building on Willoughby Ave. It was a social media-free zone, so for attendees it was a leave-no-trace event.

LeDoux turned 69 on March 24. Why the unions turned out in such force for the House Rules chair’s unremarkable birthday is one of the mystery ingredients of the sausage-making behind lawmaking.

LeDoux struggles to find allies in Juneau, even though she is Rules chair. She’s not trusted by Democrats, and she’s not well thought of by Republicans. And yet people traipse up the union stairs to pay their respects.

The last time Juneauites remember someone throwing a big party for LeDoux was in 2006, when she was on the arm of notorious Bill Allen, and he threw her a birthday party at the Prospector Hotel. That was also on a raucous night that lives in infamy in the annals of political corruption: They all ended up drinking and dancing in a bar on South Franklin, and the stories in Juneau are legendary. Earlier that night, a lot of deal making had been done.

By then, the FBI was already onto Allen and Veco and a handful of lawmakers for improperly influencing legislation on oil taxes.

LeDoux, then a liberal Republican from Kodiak, was a key vote Allen and his allies needed on oil tax legislation, the record shows.

It seems that whenever someone needs a key vote from LeDoux, there’s a birthday party to attend.

THIS LEGISLATION NEEDS A RIDE

LeDoux now holds the key to certain legislation that is of interest to union bosses — things like workman’s compensation, definitions of independent contractors, and the ability to unionize transportation network workers, if companies like Uber and Lyft should ever be allowed to operate in Alaska.

Her political action committee, Gabby’s Tuesday PAC, has the AFL-CIO as its largest contributor.

With the exception of Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, few lawmakers are publicly lining up against House Bill 132, the transportation network bill that is surprisingly controversial. Forty-nine other states allow Uber and Lyft. Alaskans want the companies, while unions are fighting them tooth and nail.

Josephson, try as he may with one amendment after another, only slowed down the bill, but did not stop it from moving out of the House Labor and Commerce Committee.

LeDoux is the unions’ last line of defense against ride-sharing, and the word in the Capitol is she has a “poison pill” for House Bill 132. Rules is where the bill gets put on the House floor calendar. Will she allow it?

LABOR COMMISH WALKS HALLS TO KILL UBER

Rep. Sam Kito, chair of Labor and Commerce, resisted pressure from Department of Labor Commissioner Heidi Drygas and he moved the bill out his committee on Friday over her objections. Even Vince Beltrami, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, was out in force, calling legislators to tell them that he’d gotten them elected and he expected them to deliver. LeDoux is also getting pressure.

LeDoux’s poison might be to insist on local control, which would again create a patchwork of regulatory conflicts between municipalities, especially along the Railbelt. Or it might be to insist that unions could organize drivers. Such a pill would allow her and the union-dominated caucus to vote in favor of HB 132, and yet be assured that Uber and Lyft will never come to Alaska under such anti-free-market conditions.

For pro-union types like Rep. Josephson, that would be a win-win because they could state, with straight faces, that they voted in favor of Uber.

TEAMSTERS AGAINST MILLENNIALS

Teamsters’ legislative director Barbara Huff Tuckness, who hosted the LeDoux birthday bash, is on record saying her union won’t support HB 132 unless drivers are covered by workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, and “other employee-employer related benefits.”

Such as collective bargaining, for example.

In other words, Uber drivers would have to be Uber employees, which is not the business model at Uber. Like taxi drivers, Uber drivers are independent contractors, which exempts them from the control of unions.

The battle over allowing technology-driven, innovative companies like Uber, where users can hail a ride by using an application on their smart phones, is also a battle for the hearts and minds of younger Alaskans.

“Transportation network companies cut down on drunk driving, increase the use of car-pooling, make it cheaper for people to get jobs because it takes down barriers for them to get to work,” said House Minority Leader Charisse Millett. “For those folks who aren’t in a position to own a car, this is an answer to being able to hold down a job. This is great for young people, and for shift workers who get off work late at night.”

As of Saturday, the Uber bill had the strangest set of sponsors: Democrat Adam Wool of Fairbanks, who owns a bar and knows the importance of sober drivers, is the main sponsor. But recently two of the most archly conservative members of the House, David Eastman and George Rauscher, have signed on as co-sponsors.

The bill clearly has significant bipartisan support. It will be worth watching to see if Rep. LeDoux bottles the bill up in her Rules Committee, providing yet another occasion for LeDoux to attend a party at Teamster headquarters in Juneau.

Walker’s income tax bill — hell on women, singles, seniors

Suzanne Downing

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March 31, 2017

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Walker’s income tax bill — hell on women, singles, seniors

*Gov. Bill Walker’s income taxe hits single women hard.*

SINGLE WOMAN IN ALASKA? YOU’RE GOING TO NEED A SPOUSE

Gov. Bill Walker’s income tax plan is no friend to single Alaskans.

Especially single Alaska women. And especially senior citizens and the disabled, many of whom are — wait for it — single with no dependents.

If you’re an Alaska single person without dependents and you gross $50,000 a year, under the governor’s plan your tax will be about $867.

But if you’re married, you and your spouse will pay just $484.

HB 115, Gov. Walker’s tax plan, hits single women particularly hard because, in Alaska — and elsewhere — women earn less than men.

Now, not only are they earning less, the governor plans to tax them at a higher rate than their married peers.

The tax brackets provided by the Governor’s Office through the Department of Revenue play favorites with investment dividends, too.

If you are fortunate enough to be a shareholder of a Native Corporation, you’ll only be taxed at 2.5 percent on your dividend. But all other dividends — including those that senior citizens depend on — are taxed as regular income, through a complicated set of brackets and marginal tax rates established by a taxation expert from Connecticut.

Walker, who last week slipped his income tax plan into an existing bill, HB 115, does all that, and more.

Instead of raising the $200 million with his 2016 proposed income tax plan, this year he has ratcheted it up to $660-700 million in taxes from Alaskans’ paychecks. He’s asking for 60 new Revenue collectors to do the work, a number that appears highly unrealistic given the complexity of new tax plan.

TRANSPARENCY FAIL

Rep. Paul Seaton, co-chair of House Finance, offered his income tax bill on February 10, 2017. He held hearings and took testimony.

He knew last year, however, that the Governor’s Office had hired an outside tax consultant, Dr. Richard Pomp, of Connecticut, to craft a new tax bill, which Pomp had provided to the governor in mid-December at a cost of $85,000.

Rep. Les Gara knew about it too, he said on Thursday during House Finance hearings.

Dr. Pomp was paid for by funds from a vacant position, explained Department of Revenue Tax Division Director Ken Alper on Thursday.

Seaton told members of the committee this week that the new tax plan was in response to the testimony the committee had received on his original bill.

And yet, the contract for Dr. Pomp began on Nov. 4, which means the bill Seaton offered was not in response to testimony received in Febuary, 2017.

The media has not yet asked Seaton when he knew of the existence of the tax plan that he allowed the governor to drop into House Finance last week under Seaton’s name.

Seaton has repeatedly told the press that the House Finance Committee is operating under the most transparent process in legislative history.

Yet, he neglected to inform his committee or the public that there was a completely new tax plan in the wings that would be inserted into his tax bill — a plan that would hit Alaskans squarely in their wallets.

Only through the insistence of Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, were additional public hearings held this week on the massive changes that had been rolled into Seaton’s placeholder bill.

Read: Governor’s new tax bill — You’re going to need an accountant

As this week’s public hearings went on, Seaton was evidently unfamiliar with the impacts that the governor’s tax plan will have on Alaskans. For example, neither he, nor the Department of Revenue, could answer why Alaskans who have trusts will be taxed, while Outsiders who have trusts in Alaska will be exempt. He was caught by surprise by one trust manager who said over 100 jobs would be lost as financial managers move out of state, and take the trusts with them to tax-friendly jurisdictions.

Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage admitted that he knew about the tax changes long before they came. He said he had spoken to Alper last year and learned that the department was using an Outside tax consultant to come up with a new tax strategy, after last year’s colossal failure to get any of the governor’s taxes through the Legislature.

“I don’t want anyone to think anything was hidden from them,” Gara said.

Gara said he supports Alaska having its own tax brackets like the ones being offered, rather than ones tied to the federal tax brackets, which could change.

Rep. Wilson asked that the consultant who wrote the bill be brought before the committee to answer the technical questions that neither Seaton nor Revenue could answer, but did not get an agreement from Seaton on Thursday.

LeDoux tries to dismantle Alaska Republican Party via HB 200

Suzanne Downing

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March 31, 2017

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LeDoux tries to dismantle Alaska Republican Party via HB 200

*Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, selfie from Facebook.*

GABRIELLE LEDOUX’S ODDS

Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux has a problem with the current election system: She doesn’t like her odds of succeeding during the next Primary Election in 2018.

The Republicans, which she joined after years as a Democrat, like their odds of defeating her. In fact, they consider her their top target for removal.

She knows it.

That’s because during the last election season, the East Anchorage lawyer ran as a Republican, and won as a Republican, only to leave her party and join with the Democrats in the Alaska House, where she now serves as Rules chairman.

Alaska Republicans felt betrayed by her, Rep. Louise Stutes of Kodiak and Rep. Paul Seaton of Homer. All three joined the Democrats in a coup to take over the House, even though the Democrats did not win a majority at the ballot box last November. Only by enticing three Republican “musk Ox” coalition members to cross over, were Democrats able to take power.

Statewide Republican leaders from Bettles to Ketchikan convened, debated, and decided: They sanctioned the three in a historic vote that removed all support — financial and organizational.

“It’s like if you sign on for a football or soccer team and then when you get to the game you decide to play for the other team,” said Alaska Republican Party Chairman Tuckerman Babcock.

Politics is, after all, a team sport. Being in the majority means you vote on the State budget with your majority team, and you stick together on strategy for moving your team and its ideas and legislation ahead. LeDoux, Stutes and Seaton joined the other team. Team switching is tolerated for legislators representing heavily Native districts, but there’s a bright line for the rest of them.

But LeDoux, a flower child from the ’60’s and a graduate of U.C. Berkeley (1970), has a cure for her electability predicament: Destroy the Republican Party by having candidates run in open primaries.

House Bill 200 would create a free-for-all primary for governor, lieutenant governor, legislature, U.S. House and U.S. Senate races. Sometimes it’s called a “jungle primary;” at other times it’s politely referred to as a “blanket primary.”

But let’s just call it a California primary, because that’s how they do it there. All candidates for the same office, regardless of political party, run against each other at once, instead of being designated by political party. The top two vote getters go on to the General Election ballot.

There would be no need for a party endorsement, and the person with the biggest political action committee would be the most likely to make it to the General. In San Francisco, Republicans don’t even bother running, because they are never going to make it past the Primary.

In LeDoux’s game theory, this would work for her. She could win a top-two slot in such a scenario in her district. And with unions behind her and name recognition, her odds improve.

LeDoux’s odds might also work for a handful of Democrats. But her bill would hit a wall of opposition as well as a likely legal challenge.

HB 200 was referred to House Judiciary, chaired by Rep. Matt Claman, who serves a district that is not a natural fit for him. There were no sponsor statements to view, no cosponsors. And in spite of the fact that LeDoux is part of the new Democrat majority, Capitol observers detect she is isolated. The Democrats don’t quite trust her.

The LeDoux bill also might make a guy like Claman uncomfortable. His District 21 race was named one of the top 2016 races to watch by the National Republican State Leadership Committee. He could be taken out in a free-for-all primary battle.

DEMOCRATS THROWING KITCHEN SINK AT ELECTION PROCESS

Unable to win in Republican-leaning Ketchikan, Democrats in 2014 tested the waters with an independent candidate, Daniel Ortiz. Ortiz, a popular school teacher, said he’d caucus with the Republicans, but he’s been solid with the Democrats ever since taking office. He’s as reliable a Democratic vote as Nancy Pelosi.

Gov. Walker also dropped his Republican affiliation because he could not win in the primary, and ran as a nonpartisan candidate, pairing up with Democrat Byron Mallott after the primary, and working closely with the Democrats to ease into office in 2014 and then govern hard-left ever since.

His administration is full to the brim with functionaries handpicked by liberal Juneau operative Bruce Botelho, who led Walker’s transition team and is seen still wheeling and dealing on the Third Floor.

The next up to bat was Jason Grenn, who ran in 2016 as a “nonpartisan” with union help and took out South Anchorage’s Rep. Liz Vazquez in the general election. The Democrats had convinced the Democrat candidate Ed Cullinane that he didn’t feel well enough to continue, so he dropped, making it mainly a two-way race, except for a third party who turned out to get just enough votes to be a spoiler for Rep. Vazquez.

Democrats are running independents consistently now, as the Democratic Party brand becomes more radical and less palatable.

ALASKA STILL R-COUNTRY

In Alaska, more than 146,000 registered voters are Republicans and they vote a semi-closed ballot to prevent the kinds of shenanigans that can occur when an opposing party — be it Democrat or Libertarian — tries to overwhelm the ballot box.

Alaska used to have an open primary, but in 1992, Republicans closed their ballot — but not to everyone.

Currently, Republicans, nonpartisan, and undeclared voters all may vote the Republican ballot.

Democrats or members of other organized parties are not allowed to vote the Republican primary ballot. It’s a semi-closed format that has been challenged but upheld, because the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the parties’ right to political association and organization.

The party-rule ballot has the names of candidates who filed for the Republican nomination and would be available to Republican, nonpartisan and undeclared voters. The other ballot contains all non-Republican candidates, is available to all voters, and is known as a Statutory ballot. A voter may only votes one of the two ballots, although in rural Alaska in 2016, many voters were allowed to vote both the Republican and statutory ballots — illegally.

If LeDoux has her way, there will be locations in the state where Democrats will never make it to the General Election, and voters will never get to hear the wide range of ideas that third party candidates also bring.

Instead, out in the Mat-Su Valley, you’ll have Republican vs. Republican in the General as well as the Primary. Democrats will not advance due to the conservative nature of that part of the state.

The same goes for a deeply Democrat environ such as District 33, the downtown Juneau district, where a Republican would never get a chance to have his or her ideas heard in the General Election season. The battle would be between a Democrat and another Democrat. The thoughts of the loyal opposition would be lost.

PRIMARIES SWAMPED BY SPECIAL INTERESTS

In the 2016 Primary Election, fewer than 16 percent of registered voters went to the polls, which was several percentage points better than the 2000 Primary, when barely more than 9 percent bothered to vote during the height of summer.

With numbers like that, a highly motivated and well-funded group from Outside the state could easily take over the primaries in a small-population state like Alaska, especially with our strict campaign fundraising laws. Armed with political action committee cash and Big Data, a surrogate group for the Sierra Club, or the “Resist” movement could run circles around local candidates, even more than they do now. You’d never know what a candidate really stood for. Kind of in the same way the public really doesn’t know what Rep. Grenn stands for.

LeDoux herself has a political action committee, Gabby’s Tuesday PAC, and she requires lobbyists to pay her handsomely so that she can back “commonsense conservatives,” as she defines the term.

Last year she backed Jim Colver, Bob Lynn, Paul Seaton, and a handful of others with the 18 checks she took into her coffers, the largest of which was from the AFL-CIO.

It appears that LeDoux is now trying to eliminate the party system in Alaska entirely, by withholding information from voters, like HB 200 seeks to do. She also has an axe to grind with the Republican Party, which voted to withdraw all support from her and run a candidate to oppose her next time as a result of her defection the Democrats.

But even if LeDoux’s gambit passes, she would face legal hurdles. According to the Alaska Constitution, the lieutenant governor runs on the same ticket as the winning member of the party. It’s unclear how that would work if two Democrats or two Republicans advance for governor on the General Election ballot.

HB 175 — KILLING THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE — PASSES WITH DEMS IN CHARGE

HB 200 goes hand in hand with another piece of liberal legislation, HB 175, which would eliminate the Electoral College process in Alaska and award all three Electoral College votes to the candidate who won the most votes in the United States as a whole.

That bill is sponsored by Democrats Rep. Zach Fansler, Les Gara, Justin Parish, Harriet Drummond, Scott Kawasaki, and Geran Tarr. It creates an interstate compact and if enough states joined the compact, the presidential election would essentially become a popular vote.

In the most recent presidential election, all three of Alaska’s Electoral College votes would have been awarded to Hillary Clinton.

As HB 175 was voted on in the House State Affairs committee this week, Rep. LeDoux took a pass, and wouldn’t vote the bill up or down. It passed with the majority Democrats voting for it and only Republicans DeLena Johnson, Gary Knopp and Chris Birch voting no. Democrat Adam Wool also took a pass.

Between HB 175 and HB 200, House Democrats (and the “Republicans” who joined them) are attempting to make over the election process in Alaska — a process that is not broken.

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