After considering a run for Alaska governor for the past year, businessman Bob Gillam has decided against it. Earlier in the month, he told Must Read Alaska it was a possibility. Gillam informed close associates of his decision this morning.
Robert “Bob” Gillam is the founder of McKinley Capital Management, one of the most successful businesses in Alaska.
He has been an opponent of an income tax and also has fought the Pebble Mine project, spending tens of millions to prevent the mine from being built in the Bristol Bay watershed.
From Fairbanks, Gillam attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. He was a classmate of President Donald Trump at Wharton, and has visited with the president on a few occasions in the past year.
As of 2015, his company had $7 billion of assets under management, making him one of the wealthiest Alaskans — one who could have self-funded his own campaign.
The onerous financial disclosure requirements of Alaska’s election laws makes all his finances and his client base exposed, something he doesn’t want, and something that would hurt his business, he said in a conversation with Must Read Alaska today.
He also has big opportunities in his company he wants to act on.
Gillam is an economic conservative and a social moderate.
The Republican committee charged vetting candidates to replace Sen. Mike Dunleavy, District E, forwarded three conservative candidates to Gov. Walker for consideration:
Rep. George Rauscher, who represents District 9
Todd Smoldon, economics educator and District 10 precinct leader
Tom Braund, retired federal worker and District 9 precinct leader
In the rounds of voting that took place over several hours, over 200 votes were cast by the committee. Only two of those votes were for former Rep. Jim Colver, who had put his letter of interest before the committee prior to the deadline. He did not get an interview.
Colver had been ousted by voters in 2016 by now-Rep. Rauscher. The party also withdrew support for Colver when he and Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux led a breakaway group, the Musk Ox Coalition, that aligned with the Democrats. Because Colver submitted his name in time, there is always the chance the governor will skip over the Republicans’ chosen and pick his clear political ally. However, a Colver choice would have to get past the Alaska Senate, which would be a tough sell.
These appointments don’t always go smoothly. Gov. Sarah Palin got into a standoff with Senate Democrats in 2009 over a replacement for Sen. Kim Elton, who went to work for the Obama Administration. Senators would not confirm her choices until she picked former Juneau mayor Dennis Egan, who was confirmed and still serves as Juneau’s senator.
The selection committee interviewed five people and deliberated late into the night:
George Rausher
Todd Smoldon
Tom Braund
Vicki Wallner
Tom Arts
The committee went to a majority voting method, meaning each had to get over 50 percent of the vote to become one of the three finalists on the list that will be given to the governor. The governor now will nominate the person to succeed Sen. Mike Dunleavy, who has stepped down in order to run for governor, and the Alaska Senate will confirm. The chosen successor would have to run to retain the seat later this year.
District E stretches from the Mat-Su Valley over to Valdez.
We’re going through the lobbyist reports, and it appears the recession is causing things to shift around even in the persuasion economy. Here are some tidbits, although reports are not all in, it appears:
Sonia Henrick
Sonia (Christianson) Henrick has opened her own consulting and lobbying firm, Good Faith Consulting, working with lobbyist Dave Parish….She has worked for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Gov. Sean Parnell, and ExxonMobil…
Royce Weller has ended his lobbying association with Ashley Reed and is in business with Kris Knauss as the new company called Confluence Strategies….Confluence Strategies appears to be now representing GCI along with Reed Stoops…But Eldon Mulder and Sam Kito Sr. no longer represent GCI, and neither is Ashley Reed….
Speaking of Confluence Strategies, the new group also has “flanged up” with Kent Dawson, who has a an A-list of clients…
Myer Hutchinson, son of lobbyist Kim Hutchinson, is working as a lobbyist for Charlie Miller…
Jim Lottsfeldt appears to have picked up the lobbying business of the ACLU for the third year in a row but has yet to report lobbying contracts with the Municipality of Anchorage…
Diane Blumer is in business association with Ray Gillespie…But ATT is being represented this year not by Gillespie, but (we are hearing) by Jerry Mackie...
In nonpolitical people news, Alaska’s top figure skater, Keegan Messing, (dual citizenship with Canada) is on the Canadian Olympic team for competing in South Korea. Which anthem will they play if he makes the podium?
And RIP to George Brown, 96, founder of the Lucky Wishbone restaurant and a wonderful Alaskan.
The House Rules Committee has released the report by Legislative Human Resources on allegations of sexual harassment of legislative aides by former Rep. Dean Westlake.
The report, completed by Skiff Lobaugh, corroborates the accounts given by women and finds them credible.
Allegation 1 occurred on Jan. 16, 2017, at the fundraiser for the House Democrats that was being held at the Juneau City Museum. Westlake approached a legislative aide who worked for Rep. Scott Kawasaki, grabbed her, and told her that her hair turned him on.
Whether it was a “grab” or a “hug” was ambiguous because a hug for one person is a grab for another, the report said, adding it “can be a matter of opinion between participants.”
Even though Westlake had not yet been sworn in as a legislator, the aide was already an employee of the Legislature, and so the action was included in the report. Lobaugh found the allegation to be credible.
Allegation 2 occurred March 11, 2017, at an art gallery in downtown Juneau. Westlake grabbed the legislative aide by the butt. She relayed the full account in a complaint letter two days later. That allegation was substantiated as well, although it was unclear if his hand had simply slipped. “The difference between the lower back and the butt is a matter of perception, and therefore this allegation is substantiated,” the report says.
For the first time, the public is learning what happened after the complaint was filed. Speaker Bryce Edgmon counseled Westlake, told him his actions were inappropriate and would not be tolerated, and Westlake made no further contact with the aide.
But there were more incidents with other aides.
Allegation 3 occurred when Westlake passed a note to an aide that complimented her on her dress. Later that day he approached her and told her how she looked good in her dress. Westlake explained to Lobaugh that he was just trying to pay her a compliment. The allegation was substantiated but complimenting someone on their attire does not alone fit the definition of hostile work environment or sexual harassment, Lobaugh wrote.
Allegation 4 occurred during June special session, when an aide was delivering per diem checks to lawmakers. Westlake told the aide “how are we supposed to get any work done around here with employees who look like that?” The aide felt uncomfortable. That allegation was substantiated. When asked about it by Lobaugh, Westlake admitted that he is a big flirt. Lobaugh wrote that this incident alone did not fit the definition of hostile work environment or sexual harassment.
Although each incident didn’t add up to a hostile work environment or sexual harassment, together they contributed to creating such an environment.
Before Lobaugh could finish his report, however, Westlake had submitted his resignation. Lobaugh never investigated either House Majority Leader Chris Tuck or House Speaker Bryce Edgmon for allowing sexual harassment to continue under their noses.
“I felt it was important to release the results of the harassment investigation to demonstrate our commitment to transparency and accountability,” said House Rules Committee Chair Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux. “Dean Westlake acted inappropriately towards multiple staffers, and he rightly resigned. This entire incident is just further proof that the Alaska Legislature’s harassment policy is long overdue for an update and that everybody in the legislature, whether they be an elected lawmaker or a staffer, is accountable to the people of Alaska and the people want assurances that the Alaska Legislature takes the issue of harassment seriously.”
As Rules chair, LeDoux is responsible for staff in the House. The report did not delve into the responsibility she had last March when the complaint was made, what she knew and when she knew it. Nor did the investigation explore the role of House Majority Leader Chris Tuck in covering up the harassment complaint.
The complaint wasn’t made public until November when one of the legislative aides took her grievances to a meeting that was livestreamed on Facebook.
Last week, Anchorage’s second homicide of 2018 took place, and police are looking for two persons of interest.
Carlton Tarkington and Aarron Settje are wanted in connection with the East Anchorage shooting death of 33-year-old Kortez Brown. Investigators believe they may have information regarding the events that led to Brown’s death from a single gunshot wound.
But the two also have existing felony warrants out for their arrests on other charges.
Settje has had a string of run-ins with the law. In mid-October, he was charged with Class C Felony theft, and earlier that month he was charged with causing fear of injury with a weapon, also a Class C felony, as well as criminal trespass. He has an association with the Soldotna-Kenai communities and may have worked as a laborer at an asphalt company.
In 2013, he changed his Facebook profile photo to something ominous:
But Tarkington? He started his criminal life early. He now has a record a mile-long, and has had a warrant out for his arrest for assault with a weapon.
In 2016, he and another man were accused of watching a man withdraw cash from an ATM at a gas station. They then followed the victim to his house and robbed him at gunpoint on Mercy Drive in Eagle River, according to police. They also took the victim’s phone.
The robbery occurred at 8 pm.
“It was reported that the suspects had taken the victim’s phone and the victim was able to track the phone’s location. Officers were able to find the suspect vehicles at the Tesoro parking lot located at 545 Muldoon Road.”
Police charged 27-year-old Kyon Watson and 23-year-old Tarkington with first degree robbery. Tarkington is now just 25 years old.
Tarkington has been out of jail on community supervision status.
FIRST HOMICIDE OF 2018 — STILL UNSOLVED
The first homicide of the year came shortly after midnight on Jan. 1, when an Anchorage man walked out of a downtown bar downtown, and someone emptied some cartridges into him.
Thirty-nine-year-old Timothy Smith broke the First Law of Mayor Ethan Berkowitz’s public safety plan: “Don’t go out after midnight.”
Timothy Smith was gunned down on New Years Day.
Smith lasted a few minutes into 2018 before he was shot dead near 4th and D Streets.
Police are still looking for the occupants of a silver Chevy TrailBlazer that was in the area and sped away. Someone must have seen it. It was caught on security cameras nearby:
The following people have submitted their letters of interest to Districts 9 and 10 Republicans to fill Senate Seat E, which is being vacated by Sen. Mike Dunleavy.
Those interested in serving as a senator for the Palmer-to-Valdez district are:
Randall Kowalke, Mat-Su Borough Assembly member, District 10
Tom Braund, retired, Sutton, District 9
Bob Bickel – Realtor, Alaska Fine Homes and Real Estate, District 9
George Rauscher, House of Representatives for District 9
Todd Smolden, economics teacher, Republican District 10 precinct chair
Doyle Holmes, business owner, Republican chair of District 10
Mike Shower, pilot, District 10
Thomas Arts, school custodian, Valdez, District 9
Vicki Wallner, “Stop Valley Thieves” Facebook group co-director, District 9
Eddie Grasser, Alaska Safari Club and NRA
Jim Colver, former representative for District 9, who was ousted by George Rauscher in the 2016 primary.
Tuckerman Babcock, chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, was asked by District 9 and 10 chairs Carol Carman and Doyle Holmes to be the chair of the selection committee. The committee may choose three or four names to forward to the governor by Monday night.
However, it is unlikely that Jim Colver’s name will be among them. Babcock reminded the committee that Colver had been sanctioned by the Republican districts in the Valley for forming a “Musk Ox” alliance with Democrats, and the entire party had also withdrawn its support for Colver. No action has been taken to rescind that vote by party members.
Babcock offered this in a written statement:
“Mr. Colver was an incumbent Republican Representative from District 9 in 2016. When Mr. Colver ran for reelection as a Republican in Primary, the District 9, District 7, District 8, District 11 and District 12 Committees voted to deny all support to his reelection and to endorse his Republican opponent in the Primary, George Rauscher.
“The State Central Committee of the Alaska Republican Party also considered the matter and then voted to withhold all support for his reelection and endorsed his opponent in the Primary. We actively and successfully campaigned against the reelection of Jim Colver in the Republican Primary for State Representative in 2016.
“The Alaska Republican Party and the Mat-Su Districts have not rescinded, or amended, those decisions.”
The deadline for applying for the seat was 5 pm Sunday. Sen. Dunleavy’s term ends on Jan. 15.
Dunleavy is going to focus on his run for governor, rather than try to represent his district while he runs for a statewide office. The governor will choose from among the names the District selection committee gives him. The legislative session starts on Jan. 16.
Sen. Dunleavy said, “The seat belongs to the people. I’m confident the process will end with a number of good names nominated by the district and sent along to the govenror, and that the governor and the Senate will move expeditiously to put a senator in place so the good people of District E will have representation.”
“It’s been a privilege and honor serving the constituents of District E,” Dunleavy said.
Democrat Alyse Galvin of Anchorage announced Thursday that she will run for the seat now occupied by Congressman Don Young, the longest serving congressman in the United States.
Galvin had already hinted broadly in December that she would do so, and the surprise element was lost weeks ago in her soft social media roll-out.
It was some of the best earned media that a candidate with zero name recognition could hope for.
But when industry leader Rebecca Logan filed for Anchorage mayor on Sept. 25, the media silence was deafening.
To date, none of the major news organizations has done a story about her candidacy, her platform, or her background as she takes on the well-known Democrat stalwart and mayoral incumbent Ethan Berkowitz. So much for the “Year of the Woman”.
The municipal election — now an absentee ballot only — begins in less than 60 days, and with the media focused on “Year of the Woman,” only female Democrats need apply.
DAILY NEWS CALLS THE ELECTION FOR BERKOWITZ
A few weeks prior to Rebecca Logan’s September announcement, the Anchorage Daily News’ lead columnist all but called the April 3 election for Berkowitz.
“Mayor Ethan Berkowitz holds the high ground going into next spring’s election. Local government conservatives remain in disarray three years after their rout over a labor law known as AO 37,” Charles Wohlforth wrote on Aug. 7.
The columnist’s liberal echo chamber led him to conclude that former Mayor Dan Sullivan was the only possible candidate, and that he wasn’t likely to run. If he ran, he couldn’t win.
It never occurred to Wohlforth that others — Rebecca Logan, Bill Evans, Nick Begich III, and Rep. Lance Pruitt — were evaluating a run.
Must Read Alaska spoke with the possible contenders over the summer and wrote up a summary in September:
Wohlforth wrote that crime had been a concern for Anchorage residents, but that was in the past. Of Berkowitz, he wrote:
“His vulnerabilities all have answers. The most important is crime. A year ago, Anchorage was worried about a serial killer. The Anchorage Police Department projected an aura of defensiveness and secrecy under its chief at the time.
“But worries change. This summer, we’re in a panic about bears, and that can’t be the mayor’s fault. He [Berkowitz] will be able to credibly blame the opioid crisis and state law changes for public worries about crime. And he can blame his predecessor and most likely opponent for APD’s weakness.”
Wohlforth was apparently not the owner of one of the 3,100-plus cars that were stolen in Anchorage last year. His home was not one of the thousands that were burgled and ransacked.
This month, the Anchorage Press crowned Berkowitz Anchorage’s “Person of the Year.”
LOGAN DOESN’T FIT ‘YEAR OF WOMAN’ HYPE
When Logan launched her campaign, reporters didn’t bother to call. Wohlforth’s column was the first and the last the coverage on the upcoming race, at least so far.
Logan is the CEO of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance and was the president of Associated Builders and Contractors. She is conservative and pro-business. She’s a fierce champion of business.
She comes by that pro-business stance honestly, having been a small-business owner with three restaurants in Anchorage, including The Perfect Cup in the Dimond Center.
Logan is running because crime is out of hand, property taxes are going up, and businesses are closing down. She has a different vision than the current mayor: Lower taxes and pro-jobs.
Logan has also had a number of very successful fundraising events around town. Attendance has been strong.
ALYSE GALVIN: SHE’S WITH THE D’S
In stark contrast to Logan, Alyse Galvin has had gushingly favorable treatment from Alaska’s media. She’s someone with whom reporters identify.
Galvin is 52, founded a small band of left-leaning education activists called Great Alaska Schools, and she pushes for more spending in schools. No amount of spending is ever enough for Great Alaska Schools — the group continues to move the goal posts for education spending.
Galvin is the champion of the teacher’s union, the NEA. Her advocacy group is media-savvy, and often it appears bigger than it actually is because it can rally the entire Left under its flag. After all, who doesn’t like children and who doesn’t want better school outcomes?
Yet Great Alaska Schools is made up of about 10 people on a good day — 10 friends who know how to work their media allies and get pink-pussy-hatted women to hold signs and yell at lawmakers.
Women organized by Great Alaska Schools founder Alyse Galvin prepare to protest the nomination of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, last winter in front of the Anchorage office of Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan.
Last legislative session, Great Alaska Schools went quiet, staying off social media and not holding rallies in front of the Capitol. The group is smart enough to know when the public has had enough of advocacy groups asking for money when there simply is none.
Now, with the help of the Alaska Democratic Party, Galvin will run as an unaffiliated candidate — they are calling it Independent, but there is no such designation. It’s just as well — there’s still not enough state money for Galvin’s school group to scrap over; Great Alaska Schools has started to look like they don’t get it, when it comes to the state’s fiscal problem.
To help Galvin, the Democrats brought back to the state the former campaign manager of Steve Lindbeck, the Democrat who took on Rep. Young in 2016. Galvin will get that campaign manager and other staff who led the Lindbeck campaign to lose quite badly with Young receiving over 50 percent of the vote, Lindbeck 36, and Libertarian and unaffiliated candidates dividing up the rest.
The Daily Kos, a leftwing blog, described the relationship between Galvin and the Democrats this way: “In a bit of an Alaskan twist, she’s running as an Independent, but also on the Alaskan Democratic primary ballot (recently upheld in the courts as legal for party to choose to allow this if they so choose), so if she wins the primary (she will) not be running against any Democrat in the general election.”
That prediction may be a surprise to the Democrat who has filed as a Democrat, Dimitri Shein, who is learning that his own party is going to actually take sides and back someone against him in the primary — someone who is not even running as a Democrat. Welcome to the party, Dmitri.
Shein is a Russian immigrant with a made-for-movies life story, having witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union and moving to Alaska at age 12. He’s an inventor, a business owner, and a father of six.
A FAMILIAR PATTERN
The silence on the municipal race and the gushing coverage of a relatively unknown liberal candidate filing against Don Young is part of a larger pattern. Last year, Alaska media outlets featured the Gov. Bill Walker-Byron Mallott announcement of a another run on the Independent ticket prominently.
By contrast, the entry to the gubernatorial race of Republican candidates such as Sen. Mike Dunleavy, former Sen. Charlie Huggins, Rep. Mike Chenault and businessman Scott Hawkins have drawn remarkably little coverage, and close to none in the Anchorage Daily News.
LOGAN CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS GRAND OPENING
Meanwhile, the mainstream media continues to remain silent on the big election on April 4. Mayoral candidate Rebecca Logan, who as an advocate for business knows well the political leanings of newsrooms in Alaska’s biggest city, soldiers on without acknowledgement from the press.
For the Berkowitz campaign, this willful ignorance in the media is golden. The unions supporting the mayor will work behind the scenes for weeks and it’s to his advantage that the voter turnout is weighted toward those who are being contacted door-to-door and by phone by off-duty firefighters. The mail-in ballot that Anchorage has adopted helps those with a big army of volunteers, mainly unions working to elect Democrats.
In fact, the longer the press holds off talking about the quality of life in Anchorage under Berkowitz, the better it is for the mayor. By the time the media catches up, many of those ballots may already be in the mail.
Logan is certainly the underdog in the campaign, but she’s a fighter, and she has many from the business community on her side.
Logan will have a grand opening at her campaign headquarters from 3-6 pm on Jan. 20, one day after the “official” filing season starts for the municipal races. Logan for Mayor headquarters is at 329 E. 5th Ave, just 10 blocks from City Hall.
Will Anchorage’s mainstream media find its way there? Here’s a map:
Rep. DeLena Johnson of Palmer and her husband Steve were finishing a six-day cruise of the Hawaiian Islands when, while still aboard their ship in Pearl Harbor, Johnson received a text message:
“Emergency Alert. BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
“I thought maybe being in Pearl Harbor was not the best place to be because good things don’t happen to ships in this harbor,” she said today by phone. Johnson represents the Palmer area, District 11. She also served as mayor of the City of Palmer.
Eventually, they were allowed to disembark, and joined what looked like a thousand other passengers in the terminal. Police were at the doors and they were not being allowed to leave the terminal.
Johnson called a friend of hers who serves in the Hawaii Legislature and asked him if the alarm was real. Yes, he said, and he and his children were in the bathtub in the middle of their house, the safest place they could find.
A fellow ship passenger said she received the same alert and also a notification that her flight home had been cancelled.
“People had no idea what was going on. There was a little bit of panic,” Johnson said. The entire scare lasted about 40 minutes before another message came through, saying the alert was a false alarm.
By then, Johnson was recalling that when she made the reservation to take the cruise, she had joked with Norwegian Cruise Lines about North Korea’s missile threat. But she never thought she’d be in the middle of what seemed like a credible warning.
The two were taking it easy in Honolulu today before heading back to Anchorage, and then to Juneau, where the Alaska Legislature will gavel in on Tuesday for the 90-day session.
Hawaii emergency officials confirmed that the alert went out when a state emergency worker pushed the wrong button. The mistake happened during a shift change when employees were going over their checklists.
By BILL McALLISTER THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Jan. 13, 2002
(Dear Reader: You read that date right. This column is from Jan. 13, 2002, when Juneau Empire reporter Bill McAllister was pondering the legislative session just ahead. McAllister was a colleague of Must Read Alaska Editor Suzanne Downing, and he passed away Dec. 15, 2017. But his writing had grace and marvelous cadence then, and is pertinent today. We offer this one in his memory.- SD)
“The Legislature is about to descend on you,” former Gov. Jay Hammond warned a Juneau audience Friday.
So let’s brace ourselves for what could be, starting Monday, four months of the most acrimonious public discourse in memory.
Omens abound:
Republican House Speaker Brian Porter says the budget proposal by Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles is “irresponsible” and “disingenuous,” proving that in seven years “he hasn’t learned a damned thing.”
Rep. Scott Ogan, a hard-right conservative Republican, says Knowles did an “unconscionable” – and impeachable – thing in dropping the Katie John subsistence case. Ogan said he’s not sure he’ll show up in the House chamber Wednesday night for the governor’s final State of the State address.
Dave Donley, Republican co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is blasting the administration for not proposing budget cuts in the face of billion-dollar deficits. “The true legacy of the Knowles administration is the complete failure of its fiscal policy,” Donley said.
Conversely, Knowles’ chief of staff, David Ramseur, has counseled commissioners to develop an agenda that will put the Republican majority “in a box” as the administration makes its bid for the history books.
And while Republican leaders are moving toward a more open, constructive relationship with the Capitol press corps – agreeing to weekly on-the-record briefings for the first time – an emerging strategy among certain Democratic legislators, staff and activists seems to be quick condemnation of reporters who don’t do exactly what they want.
Throw in the redistricting battle, 57 legislative campaigns, the race for governor, the dispute over who appoints the next U.S. senator if Frank Murkowski is elected governor, and you have an unbeatable recipe for ugly.
And yet …
Knowles raises the possibility that incredibly demanding times – with the fiscal gap threatening to throw the state into chaos in two years – could move leaders beyond partisanship. He has a vested interest in having a successful session, of course, but presumably so do Republicans.
The governor’s professed optimism in a subsistence solution this year is hard to understand, but maybe it takes a seemingly quixotic attitude to achieve the biggest breakthroughs.
In the House, Porter has not ruled out a Committee of the Whole approach in working on long-range fiscal issues with Democrats, doing business out in the open.
And with Porter and Senate President Rick Halford pledging to address the “urban-rural divide” this session, isn’t it premature to abandon hope? Maybe it’s the season of miracles.
Porter has dropped strong hints that this session is his last. “Getting into a Legislature isn’t supposed to be a life sentence,” he said recently.
He’ll be missed.
“Brian Porter is a wonderful person,” said Democratic Rep. Mary Kapsner of Bethel. “I think the speaker is a bridge-builder, to the extent he can be.”
“Brian has been the most balanced, professional leader,” said Rep. Bill Hudson, a Juneau Republican.
It’s not clear who would replace Porter as speaker, should Republicans hold the majority after the election. Under the redistricting plan currently before the courts, House Majority Leader Jeannette James would face fellow North Pole Republican incumbent John Coghill.
I had the honor Friday morning of playing chauffeur to Hammond as he made the rounds of talk shows and speaking engagements. Although he’s using a cane now, he remains feisty and a bit of a quote machine. A sample:
“There are three stages in life: youth, adulthood and ‘Gee, you look great.’ “
“I hear as well as I used to, but everybody started mumbling.”
“(It should be) emblazoned on the brow or buttocks of every legislator, depending on where their brain is located: … ‘Thou shalt not spend any more than thou art willing to tax for.’ “
