Page 1666 – Must Read Alaska

Vice President Sullivan?

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July 7, 2016

SULLIVAN IS BUSY WORKING FOR ALASKA

US Sen. Dan Sullivan talks with veteran during an Honor Flight tour of DC in April.

While People Magazine is speculating on U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan as a possible vice presidential candidate, Alaska’s senator has been focused on working for Alaskans, and probably wants to keep it that way. This past week, Alaska fishermen and Kodiak missile launch capabilities were his focus.

For fishermen, two bills worth plenty to coastal communities are moving through committees.

One is sponsored by Sens. Sullivan and Maria Cantwell, giving fishing boat owners extra time to comply with Coast Guard regulations, whenever those regulations are finalized.

The bill gives fishermen as much as three years’ lead time if they own boats that are older than 25 years, longer than 50 feet, and operate outside the three-mile limit.

A second effort is aimed at getting more American seafood into school lunches, and to get rid of Chinese-manufactured mystery fish sticks, which have given seafood a bad name among school children for generations.

Sullivan was also the lead in getting the Missile Defense Agency to award a contract to the Alaska Aerospace Corporation for two flight tests of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Systems from the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska on Kodiak Island.

The contract, valued as much as $80.4 million, includes site preparation for two missile launchers, range communication, and instrument capabilities, as well as a life support area.

WHAT SULLIVAN SAID AND DIDN’T SAY

“As I’ve been saying both in D.C. and back home, Alaska is the cornerstone of our nation’s missile defense. [The] announcement by the Missile Defense Agency further reinforces that statement by adding missile defense testing to our already robust strategic capabilities at Fort Greely and Clear Air Force Station.

“This year and last year, I was able to include language in the Defense Authorization to specifically highlight the unique importance of the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska found on Kodiak Island. I am pleased that the Missile Defense Agency was listening, and I am confident that they will appreciate all that Kodiak has to offer for THAAD testing, including a community that strongly supports the military.”

He said nothing at all about the vice presidency. Nothing at all.

Nonetheless, Trump rumor missiles are everywhere in the news these days, and the Republican presumed presidential nominee will meet with all Republican senators on Thursday in D.C.

A half-dozen of them have had their names bantered about for the vice president’s slot, but Sullivan is one of the few who is often discussed as actual presidential material in years ahead.

And everyone knows you cannot become president after being vice president.

Recall Walker? Careful what you wish for

Suzanne Downing

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July 6, 2016

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JOE MILLER AIMS, COULD GET A HOLE IN ONE

Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott

At least three different efforts have been launched in the Facebook universe to recall Gov. Bill Walker.

Only one has the star power to actually accomplish it.

Joe Miller has more than 42,000 followers on Facebook and has a web site that he populates with conservative content. He has a following.

Gov. Bill Walker has 14,400 followers on Facebook, and many of them are just there to keep an eye on him.

This week, Miller launched his recall effort: #SavethePFD at his website.

And who would not be tempted to sign the petition? After all, Miller is a lawyer who could probably manage the details of such a campaign, which would no doubt mean doing battle with the attorney general over the legality of the petition. He’s a West Point graduate who has been through some gnarly political battles and who would relish running into this particular firefight. And he has been successful at moving the needle in the public arena.

But for Republicans, fiscal conservatives, and nonpartisans, we have a word of caution. Before you sign that petition, consider that every blue-blooded Democrat in Alaska will also sign the petition, because recalling Walker would bring Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott to the fore.

Mallott is as partisan as they come.

Every Alaska Native would also sign the petition, because, well, Mallott.

Every red-blooded Republican would also sign the petition out of frustration with our hyper-fake-independent governor.

Craig Fleener, arctic advisor to the governor.

If Alaskans recall Walker and get Gov. Mallott, they also get Craig Fleener as lieutenant governor. You’ll recall that Fleener ran as Walker’s running mate before Big Labor Bossman Vince Beltrami put together the Walker-Mallott ticket.

Miller argues that Alaska statutes (AS 15.45.510) allow voters to recall a governor who is (1) no longer fit for office, (2) incompetent, (3) have neglected their duties, or (4) are corrupt.

“Walker’s idiocy with the PFD, his lies about what he’d do as governor, and slavish devotion to big government on the People’s dime, fall squarely within the recall parameters,” Miller says.

That, no doubt, would be challenged by the governor’s new attorney general.

ON THE OTHER HAND, SIGN IT ALREADY

All that said, let’s move on to why Alaskans may want to sign the recall petition.

First, it would galvanize the conservative electorate and get it ready for 2018, when it needs momentum to regain the Governor’s Office.

Second, it’s a disruptive force that might slow Gov. Walker in his reckless attempt to go it alone on a gas line.

Third, at least Alaska would have a governor who is what he says he is — a partisan Democrat. Alaskans tell us they’ve no longer buy the nonpartisan line. They simply prefer the old-fashioned value of honesty.

Could it be a set up for a 2018 run by Mark Begich for governor? But of course; that’s already in the works. Mallott would retire gracefully. But that fight is in front of us anyway.

Alaskans, go ahead and sign the petition, and let’s give Joe Miller the opportunity to go big, because we’ve never seen buyer’s remorse like we see it now among people Walker fooled into voting for him in 2014.

Best political float: Lynn Gattis for Senate

Suzanne Downing

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July 5, 2016

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HAY BALES, MINIONS, AND A WHOLE LOT OF LAUGHS

*Lynn Gattis float at the Wasilla Independence Day Parade.*

If there was a better politically themed float in a Fourth of July parade this year in Alaska, we’d like to see it.

Until then, we give Lynn Gattis for State Senate the blue ribbon. Her float came with fresh hay bales that she mowed and baled herself at her Point MacKenzie farm, where she and her husband Rick have 600 acres under cultivation.

Decorations included old lawnmower tires for eyes on the minion-themed bales, and a spray-painted tin tub for a pig’s nose. There was duct tape involved, too, she said, because she doesn’t spray paint the bales. The National Rifle Association endorsement signs were gilding the lily.

*Close-up of the Lynn Gattis for Senate float at the Wasilla Fourth of July Parade.*

Gattis is the only farmer-legislator in Alaska, and the only one since Harley Olberg, a “seed grower” from Delta Junction, Jay Kerttula, and Pat Carney, businessman-farmers from Mat-Su, all served in the mid-90s.

Gattis often posts to Facebook the videos she takes as she mows and rakes the hay, which gets harvested just once a year. The video gives viewers an operator’s eye view of crop farming in Alaska.

“It’s not like regular mowing,” she said. “We have a mower and conditioner, which flattens each blade, so it dries faster, then it flings it up in the air. We leave it in the field for five days to dry, and then we rake it, bale it, spear it into trucks and drive it to our barns.” All of that happens on schedule if there’s no rain during the harvest.

Each bale is about 1,000 pounds, and the Gattis farm might get 1,000 bales per harvest for 1 million pounds of hay, more weight than a fully loaded Boeing 747.

The Gattis’ have had hay under cultivation since 1984 — 22 years. If Lynn is not available to work on the farm during growing season, she and Rick hire helpers.

Rep. Gattis is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Charlie Huggins of Wasilla.

In the drink; no injuries in Rogoff plane crash

Suzanne Downing

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July 4, 2016

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UPDATED: ROGOFF SAYS SHE IS PHYSICALLY OK

The Homer News reports that Alice Rogoff, publisher of the Alaska Dispatch who crashed her plane into saltwater at Halibut Cove, on the Kenai Peninsula, is physically OK.

She reported that she downed her plane at about 5:50 pm on Sunday. The newspaper reports that the National Transportation Safety Board will take over the investigation. Alaska Wildlife Troopers responded to the scene, but she had left.

The story is at the Homer News, where Rogoff is quoted saying through her lawyer: “Fortunately she was not hurt and wants to thank all the people in Halibut Cove for their generosity and good spirits. Clem Tillion’s 91st birthday party went on as planned and Ms. Rogoff was delighted to attend.”

On Monday evening, 24 hours after the crash, the Alaska Dispatch posted this terse report.

LAST WEEK A DOCK, THIS WEEK AN EAGLE TREE

Rogoff, infamous for her Alaska political involvement and other adventures as the wife of one of the richest men in the world, was piloting the plane when she reportedly clipped a tree in a landing attempt. She narrowly missed crashing into a house along the bay, then veered wildly before essentially crash landing in the water.

Experienced pilots we spoke to said the NTSB will surely be interviewing people at the events she was attending, as well as taking accounts from bystanders. There were tourists in the area and some posted accounts on Facebook.

As the plane sank quickly in the water, someone on a dock nearby got into a skiff and zipped out to rescue her. Craig Medred writes about more fully about it here.

According to experts, it looks like at least one wing was snapped and landing gear was forced upward, with one pontoon missing. With saltwater inside the engine at this point, the plane is likely a total loss.

*Alice Rogoff safe after wrecking plane.*

Halibut Cove was the site of three festive events this weekend — the wedding of Mead Treadwell and Virginia McClure; former Sen. Clem Tillion’s 91st birthday party; and Independence Day.

Treadwell is a business partner of Rogoff at PT Capital, and Clem Tillion is a friend of the publisher/adventuress.

Weather in the area was high overcast and no wind.

The plane was towed to the beach, and later was lifted off by helicopter, as seen in the photo below, from the Anchorage Press Facebook page.

As for the tree, it contained an eagle’s nest, and we’ve no word on the condition of the national bird in residence there.

*Photo from Anchorage Press Facebook page.*

Last week, Rogoff was reported to have hit a dock in Halibut Cove with the same plane, damaging the plane but not enough to cause it to be grounded. This time, not only will the plane be grounded, but Rogoff may see her flying privileges suspended as well during the investigation, although it may be too late for drug or alcohol testing.

Rogoff is married to billioniare David Rubenstein, who through his Carlyle Group manages a portion of the Alaska Permanent Fund. The two are not living together. She is being sued by her former Alaska Dispatch editor and founder of the web news site, Tony Hopfinger, who claims she owes him $900,000 and change.

Fireweed follies: No Governor’s Picnic?

Suzanne Downing

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July 3, 2016

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NO PICNICS THIS SUMMER, GOVERNOR SAYS

June 30 was a busy day for Gov. Bill Walker.

Not only did Walker cancel the entire operations plan for Prudhoe Bay, throwing a cloud of uncertainty across the Alaska economy, he cancelled the Governor’s Family Picnics.

The State just cannot afford them, he said in a letter, posted above. We’re aghast that the State is so broke that he cannot even downsize the picnic, which is attended by people from all walks of life.

HOLD THE PICKLES

The only problem with the “we’re broke” scenario is that the picnics were paid for by sponsors, put on by volunteers, and never cost the State anything except a bit of team-building staff time, much of the actual work performed by college interns. The picnic tradition goes back to at least 1994, the Hickel Administration, according to someone who was assigned to blowing up balloons.

Word is, sponsors have balked this year and volunteers are hard to find for this Administration. But for those who have volunteered in the past — and there are hundreds of Alaskans who now can put on this picnic with their eyes closed — it’s well known that all the food, tables, and “whatnot,” as the governor would say, are donated. Right down to the fish burgers and relish.

What could Walker have done to so thoroughly tick them off?

There’s that Prudhoe Bay Plan of Development slap in the face. And there’s the very real concern that people showing up at the picnics might give the governor a piece of their minds about his performance so far, including his garnishing of their Permanent Fund dividends this year.

ONWARD: ALASKA REPUBLICAN PARTY PICNIC

Governor’s Picnic aside,the annual Alaska Republican Party Picnic continues this year, and for the first time ever it’s organized by the Young Republicans, or YRs, as they are known. It will be epic, as the kids all say.

They’ve moved the location from Kincaid Park to the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

Mark your calendar for Aug. 11 and if you want to get involved as a volunteer, contact Ryan McKee. Youthfulness is not a requirement, he assures us — all hands are needed.

Ryan is also your point of contact if you’re a campaign that wants a table at the picnic. They’re going fast.

The next planning meeting is July 6, 5:30 pm at Serrano’s Restaurant on Northern Lights Blvd. in Anchorage. “Anyone who wants to join the meeting is welcome to do so,” McKee said.

LET THEM EAT PEONIES

Bill Walker’s carrot and beer economy has been joined by peony farms. Modern Farmer says that in the state had no peony farms in 2004 but the number grew to more than 200 in 2014. It’s July, and that means is officially “Alaska Peony Month,” per governor’s proclamation.

DOC DEE, BUSH VET

Animal Planet filmed Dr. Dee in Healy on Saturday. In the next season, which starts July 16 she remarks to a cow in a barn, “It’s kind of like a crap shoot back here.” Not that you’re watching TV in July. You aren’t, are you?

FRANKLIN GRAHAM FINDS JUNEAU PRAYER WARRIORS

Franklin Graham had wanted to pray at the Capitol, as he has done in the other states on his #DecisionAmerica tour, but since it was under construction, the event took place at Savikko Park at Sandy Beach on Douglas Island, where the evangelist reminded the good-for-Juneau sized crowd:”It was men and women of God who built this country.” Graham first preached in Juneau in 1989. He’ll be in the state for the month, we’re told.

NEWSLETTER WILL BE JULY 5

Subscribers to the Monday newsletter, Must Read Alaska, will see it in their inboxes on Tuesday this week, as we take a day to celebrate and reflect on our independence and the God-given right of liberty. Fireworks and beer may be involved. Subscribe to the newsletter, but trigger warning: It is conservative and sometimes sassy.

Expired license ends fireworks in Haines

Suzanne Downing

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July 3, 2016

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OH SAY CAN YOU SEE FIREWORKS (IN SOUTHEAST)?

Regulation has hit Haines and Skagway: For the lack of a license, there will be no grand fireworks this Fourth of July. Because nothing says Independence Day like OSHA.

Haines Borough code requires a licensed pyrotechnician for firework displays within 250 feet of the port. The fireworks are often exploded from a barge offshore. But Borough manager Bill Seward doused the fireworks show because local pyrotechnician’s Phil Wilde let his license expire.

For years, Wildefire Pyrotechnics put on a show at Portage Cove on July 3, and then July 4 in Skagway. It would have cost the borough $10,000 to bring in a legally licensed pyrotechnician from Anchorage, according to KHNS radio.

Residents will be allowed to light fireworks at at waters edge at local beaches, but the closest traditional grand display will be in Juneau on the night of July 3, where Independence Day weather is predicted to be ideal.

Summer Book Club: Roosevelt’s Rough Riders

Books

Suzanne Downing

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July 3, 2016

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Screen Shot 2016-07-02 at 3.19.06 PM — *Rough Riders, by Mark Lee Gardner*

ROUGH RIDERS: THEODORE ROOSEVELT, HIS COWBOY REGIMENT, AND THE IMMORTAL CHARGE UP SAN JUAN HILL, by Mark Lee Gardner

Continuing a summer of adventure reading, here’s the swaggering story of larger-than-life
Theodore Roosevelt, written in narrative style and as much of a page-turner as any novel you’ll pick up this summer. We love our narrative nonfiction. Could it be that Donald Trump is really the modern day version of Teddy Roosevelt, but with cufflinks?

Right after the USS Maine went down in the Havana Harbor in 1898, President McKinley threw together a few cigar-chomping cowboys and cavaliers to drive Spain out of Cuba.

That was the birth of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, a regiment of western cattle drivers, rag-tag adventurers, and Ivy-elite reprobates, whose famed Battle of San Juan Hill immortalized them and made Roosevelt a legend.

A side story is the relationship between the Rough Riders and the Buffalo Soldiers who fought alongside them at San Juan Hill.

Gardner brought in obscure diaries from private collections in Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Boston, and Washington, DC.

Found at Amazon for $15.99 hardback, Prime.

Read on.

Experts weigh in on Gov. Walker’s fistfight with oil companies

Suzanne Downing

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July 2, 2016

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ALASKA’S GOVERNOR LOOKS LITIGIOUS

Must Read Alaska has asked experts in the energy sector to provide insights on Gov. Bill Walker’s pre-litigation moves against BP, the operator of Prudhoe Bay. Here’s a list of observations gathered in the past 24 hours, which will be updated as they arrive:

This is headed to court. Court will be where everyone loses.
The remedy for failing to provide information under the plan of development is not to take leases back.
The governor’s move does not instill confidence that Alaska is a good investment environment.
Walker does not look like a stable or reasonable partner.
Walker’s move will have a very real chilling effect on investment in the state.
The Prudhoe Bay unit operators may have an obligation to produce – but do not have an obligation to build the pipeline needed to get that production to market.
The four-decade-old problem of how to get the gas to market remains unsolved.
AK LNG should already have the marketing data Walker wants.
The highest value of North Slope gas remains its ability to be reinjected into the fields to enhance oil recovery.

Walker’s staff provided KTUU’s Austin Baird with terse written answers to a series of questions he asked:

Senator Giessel statement on governor’s Prudhoe action

Suzanne Downing

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July 2, 2016

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‘TROUBLING’

Senator Cathy Giessel issued the following statement on Gov. Bill Walker’s rejection of the Prudhoe Bay Plan of Development, reported here earlier today.

“This is very troubling. Why, after 40 years of producing billions of barrels of oil, is a company being threatened with eviction?” Giessel asked. “Why are engineers being told they need to violate federal law and tell about a marketing program they don’t even know about (because, they’re engineers, not marketers?) Why does the state government demand information they’ve never asked for before? Lots of questions. Hopefully this is not a step in the state wanting to sue the North Slope out of existence.”

The Alaska Journal of Commerce has a more complete report here.

GOVERNOR DISTURBING THE PEACE

The Department of Natural Resources letter to BP’s Manager of Reservoir Scott Digert discusses BP’s “duty to market the PBU gas.” The letter, in its entirety, has the appearance of the State of Alaska setting the stage for litigation, one attorney said after reviewing the letter.

“No one disputes those implied duties exist under the leases. The argument is about when the duty to market gas must be fulfilled by the companies,” the attorney said.

In its letter, DNR admits, “While DNR acknowledges the proposed use of gas in the current POD time period to enhance the production of oil, the state and WIO’s must prepare for the time when such use will no longer be necessary or appropriate.”

Therefore, DNR acknowledges that the use of the gas is adequately covered for the time period for which the Plan of Development pertains. But since the gas might be needed at some point in the distant future for a gas line that may or may not be built, the State is requiring marketing information now.

“This is saber-rattling for something companies have no obligation to provide in this Plan of Development, in this year’s scope of work,” said one industry analyst reached in Houston. “Sheesh, this governor is not just disturbing the peace. He’s setting the state back a decade. Who is going to trust him now?”

KTUU has a report here.

DNR’s says the State of Alaska will give BP “one final opportunity” to provide a compliant plan.

“As previously indicated, the proposed 2016 POD cannot be approved at this time because it is not yet complete. Given the importance of the gas resource to the State and teh need to protect all patties in interest, including the WIOs, DNR wil allow yet more time for an adequate submission on this topic…A modified proposed POD shall be due by September 1, 2016…the 2015 POD (as amended) will expire on November 1, 2016.”

November 1, 2016 is the date when the State could enter into litgation with the companies that provide the oil to the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. Once again, the governor told KTUU’s Austin Baird that he has no intention on entering litigation. But he told the Alaska Dispatch earlier this week he had no intention of defaulting the leases, which he has done, without actually doing.

Vice President Sullivan?

SULLIVAN IS BUSY WORKING FOR ALASKA

Recall Walker? Careful what you wish for

JOE MILLER AIMS, COULD GET A HOLE IN ONE

ON THE OTHER HAND, SIGN IT ALREADY

Best political float: Lynn Gattis for Senate

HAY BALES, MINIONS, AND A WHOLE LOT OF LAUGHS

In the drink; no injuries in Rogoff plane crash

UPDATED: ROGOFF SAYS SHE IS PHYSICALLY OK

LAST WEEK A DOCK, THIS WEEK AN EAGLE TREE

Fireweed follies: No Governor’s Picnic?

NO PICNICS THIS SUMMER, GOVERNOR SAYS

HOLD THE PICKLES

ONWARD: ALASKA REPUBLICAN PARTY PICNIC

LET THEM EAT PEONIES

DOC DEE, BUSH VET

FRANKLIN GRAHAM FINDS JUNEAU PRAYER WARRIORS

NEWSLETTER WILL BE JULY 5

Expired license ends fireworks in Haines

OH SAY CAN YOU SEE FIREWORKS (IN SOUTHEAST)?

Summer Book Club: Roosevelt’s Rough Riders

Experts weigh in on Gov. Walker’s fistfight with oil companies

ALASKA’S GOVERNOR LOOKS LITIGIOUS

Senator Giessel statement on governor’s Prudhoe action

‘TROUBLING’

GOVERNOR DISTURBING THE PEACE

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