Page 1667 – Must Read Alaska

Rogoff to bankruptcy judge: ‘Don’t know, can’t remember, don’t recall, can’t say’

The 907

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August 18, 2017

2

Rogoff to bankruptcy judge: ‘Don’t know, can’t remember, don’t recall, can’t say’

When Alice Rogoff took the stand in an Anchorage court today, she phoned it in.

Possibly from Nantucket.

And presumably, Rogoff was with an attorney passing her notes to help her dodge the questions of attorneys who were in the courtroom and who were valiantly attempting to “pierce the corporate veil” and get access to her personal assets to satisfy her many creditors. Rogoff played dumb a lot.

That “piercing the veil” line of questioning was apparent in this afternoon’s expedited bankruptcy hearing, and her “I don’t recall,” “I don’t know” and “I do not remember” answers were equally apparent in their attempt to obscure the financial trail that leads back to her alone.

“It depends on the definition of immediately,” she said, when asked how long it would take to get her presses out of the warehouse she’s rented on 59th and Arctic. “I’m not in that business so I am giving opinions that are not worth very much,” she continued, when asked about how much her presses were worth and if there were any potential buyers.

The case in front of Judge Gary Spraker was to determine if, in the current emergency in which Rogoff finds the Alaska Dispatch News, she can access $350,000 in loaned money from the only potential buyer that seems to be real, the Binkley Company LLC. That would be just enough to keep operating another two weeks, pay off the past due insurance, and keep the delivery contractors from ditching her newspapers in the inlet.

In the end, both the judge and Northrim Bank agreed to allow the Dispatch, which Rogoff still officially owns, to use just $80,000 in cash collateral to pay the delivery crew tonight.

Friday, the remaining questions surrounding the “Debtor in Possession,” or DIP loan, will continue in court, and those will be stiffer headwinds. Rogoff and the Binkley Company LLC are trying to hammer out a deal that keeps the newspaper from going under.

Rogoff told the court that she has been a largely absentee manager of her newspaper, with people running it on a day-to-day basis whom she considers highly competent.

She disputed the notion that any radical changes were needed before the proposed sale to the Binkley Company closes, saying any major changes might make it more difficult to sell, if the Binkley deal fell through.

“It’s prudent for the purpose of a growing concern — is to let it exist in its present size and fashion until it is determined who the next owner will be,” she told the judge by phone.

She also asserted there is no need for a manager to be appointed to oversee the operations as the Chapter 11 bankruptcy makes its way through the process.

“The need for a manager at this time is quite exaggerated,” she told the judge. When asked if she had a management agreement with the Binkley Company, she said “No.”

Just last week, however, she signed an agreement with the Binkley Company that included this provision:

“2.8 Manager Appointment. Debtor will appoint a manager of Buyer’s choice effective immediately following the filing of the bankruptcy petition”

This clause certainly has the look of a management agreement to us, which raises questions about the veracity of Rogoff’s testimony.

The Binkley Company has hired former Anchorage Daily News publisher and turn-around expert Jerry Grilly to help keep the place running, and the Binkleys have been in charge of operations since the newspaper rolled off the presses on Saturday night.

Even Erin Austin, the lead accountant for the company, told the court she believes she works for the Binkley Company now. The staff box has been changed to reflect that Ryan Binkley and Jason Evans are co-publishers.

Rogoff, answering questions from her own bankruptcy attorney Cabot Christianson, said that she had lost a painful amount of money. She is attempting to sell the newspaper for $1 million, which will only settle a small number of her debts and obligations. She has sunk more than $37 million into the paper since buying it in April, 2014, she said.

“That is an extraordinarily high price,” her attorney remarked.

“The simple reason, my goal was to increase and expand the quality and quantity of journalism in Alaska. We have done that successfully,” Rogoff told the court. She then talked about the employees and their families, and that how Chapter 11 is the only way for her to not harm those employees.

Rogoff seemed unaware that she “expanded the quality and quantity of journalism” in Alaska by not paying bills to many other Alaskans, including several small business owners who are out several hundred thousand dollars. Those weren’t families that greatly concerned her, apparently, but by taking the newspaper to the brink of abrupt closure, the question about whether she truly cares about her “newspaper family” is a reasonable one.

In fact, when Ryan Binkley, the head of the company now attempting to save the paper from extinction, took the stand, he laid out the many efforts that he and his family had made to salvage the paper months ago.

Binkley said they were contacted by Rogoff in April, as she was looking for investors or a buyer. The discussions with Rogoff went “hot and cold” until last week when there were apparently no offers on the table from any other buyers.

Rogoff had already accepted one of the Binkleys’ offers in June, but then rejected it at the last minute. Meanwhile, the Binkleys had uncovered more liabilities than were originally revealed by Rogoff. There could be even more, he said, acknowledging the significant risk his company is taking.

Rogoff’s representatives called the Binkleys last Thursday and pleaded with them to save the paper, or last Friday’s edition would be the final one. The Fairbanks family business has worked feverishly since then to hammer out an agreement with her that would allow them to buy the paper, but not all of her debt.

As the bankruptcy hearings continue tomorrow, Rogoff will find that at least two entities are objecting to the terms of the settlement that could cut them out: The Municipality of Anchorage, and Arctic Partners, which owns the building where Rogoff began installing two presses, but then abandoned the presses and the building upgrades when costs became too great.

JUDGE’S DECISION: PAPER CARRIERS ARE LIKE EMPLOYEES

For years, publishers in America have fought the notion that newspaper delivery people are employees. They are, in the eyes of the law, independent contractors.

But Judge Spraker, in deciding to allow them to be paid tonight when they arrive to pick up their bundles, said he was considering this in the same category as a wage for the purpose of establishing a priority. “This is an elegant solution to an evolving situation and problem,” he said.

Cabot Christianson, Rogoff’s bankruptcy attorney, agreed, saying the judge was spot on. But as the new owners take possession, they’ll want to watch that one.

In June, the California Court of Appeal ruled that carriers for the San Diego-Union Tribune are employees of the company, not independent contractors. The court said the workers are entitled to reimbursement for business expenses. This, after the delivery carriers sued the newspaper in 2009 in a class action lawsuit for failing to pay minimum wage and reimburse for expenses or allow meal breaks or rest periods. The restitution is likely to be in the millions.

While the San Diego Union has appealed, it’s the kind of situation that publishers do not wish upon themselves, as they work in a business where margins are already difficult to achieve.

[Read CraigMedred.news: Tough neighborhood]

[Read: Ruh-roh: Judge will decide who gets paid; Northrim is first]

Ruh-roh: Court to decide who will get paid first; Northrim first in line

The 907

Suzanne Downing

-

August 17, 2017

2

Ruh-roh: Court to decide who will get paid first; Northrim first in line

TRUSTEE FOR DISPATCH CREDITORS OBJECTS TO DEAL

The Trustee appointed to represent the many creditors of the Alaska Dispatch News has posted an objection to the settlement that owner-publisher Alice Rogoff has presented.

In a written statement, the acting United States trustee Gail Brehm Geiger and her attorney Kathryn Perkins say that they can’t immediately determine if the only “secured creditor,” Northrim Bank, would even approve of having unsecured creditors paid before the bank is paid.

The trustee doesn’t speculate, but it’s clear Geiger is making a point that the Alaska Dispatch News, and much of Rogoff’s other assets, are collateral for her $13 million loan with Northrim. The secured creditor always comes first, and it appears she owes the bank in excess of $10 million.

Can, then, the court decide that Premera, an unsecured creditor, get payment first? Why not any other unsecured creditor, such as GCI, Precision Mechanical, or even her own attorneys, who are on the list of top-20 creditors?

The trustee is also saying in the objection that the matter is being rushed, and that not all potential interested parties have had a chance to review and consider the proposed settlement:

“The hearing on the Debtor’s DIP Financing Motion is occurring very shortly after the bankruptcy petition was filed and without the benefit of the Debtor’s schedules or statement of financial affairs,” the trustee wrote. “Most parties in interest have not been given notice of the case or the first day motions.

“Hence, the United States Trustee will oppose any action that substantively affects parties’ rights on a final basis. With respect to each of the motions, the United States Trustee will advocate that the Court grant interim relief only to the extent necessary to avoid irreparable harm between now and the time that a final hearing, on notice to all parties in interest, can be conducted.”

The trustee goes on to say that Rogoff’s petition reflects estimated assets of $10-$50 million and liabilities of only $1-410 million, “suggesting that the Debtor may be solvent…”

That is just the first objection.

The trustee goes on to say that the Binkley Company, led by Ryan Binkley and Jason Evans, by taking over the operations of the newspaper and loaning it money, has become more of an “insider,” and thus may “chill” the interest of any other potential purchaser of the newspaper at auction because Binkley can cut the funding at any time.

Also, with Binkley running operations, the trustee said that all of Binkley’s transactions with Rogoff are now subject to a higher level of scrutiny “because of the opportunity for abuse.” That means as insiders they are become a subject of interest to all the creditors.

The duties of a “Debtor in Possession” are at odds with Binkley’s interest in getting the newspaper at the most rock-bottom price, the trustee says, citing the example of how another potential purchaser could begin negotiating with the Dispatch’s landlord and the landlord might prefer that purchaser, and then refuse to negotiate further with Binkley.

If that happened, the trustee says, Binkley could simply cease its Debtor in Possession financing and leave the newspaper without the ability to reorganize, and also it would put Binkley in the first position for compensation of the amounts it had already expended.

The trustee is telling the court that authorizing a loan from Binkley to the Dispatch would at the same time prohibit Binkley from terminating the court-approved financing agreement, and that Binkley could not refuse to provide the funding in the agreement without another court hearing, during which Binkley would have to explain why it wanted to cut funding.

The trustee also questions whether Binkley constitutes a “good faith lender,” because Binkley is not at an arms length, but is actually attempting to purchase the company. The trustee explains that the decision by the court will have “substantial and lasting implications for creditors going forward,” and that the burden of proof about good faith lending is on Binkley.

In closing, the trustee reiterated her concern about whether Binkley is now an insider in control of the Dispatch and its operations. As such, the Binkley Company could no longer try to negotiate deals for the newspaper that would jeopardize the positions of the current creditors. The trustee is going to want to know about each and every transaction.

Meanwhile, if Rogoff doesn’t pay her newspaper carriers today, few of them will show up tomorrow to deliver the paper.

[Read: Dispatch seeks court help to allow news carriers to get paid]

The court may decide that the hundreds of newspaper carriers would need to join the already 200-plus creditors — including insurance companies — that Rogoff owes, since each news carrier is considered an independent, self-employed contractor. If so, will the judge decide that those creditors should be paid before all the other ones that are already suing her?

Dispatch seeks court help to allow news carriers to get paid

The 907

Suzanne Downing

-

August 17, 2017

2

OPINION: ROGOFF HAS BEEN RECKLESS, AT BEST

Earlier this week, the owner of the Alaska Dispatch News asked the court to allow her to borrow money to pay Premera Blue Cross some $262,557 in back due premiums for her 212 employees, whose medical bills are no longer being honored by Premera. That hearing is today.

Alice Rogoff also is behind in her workers’ compensation insurance and general liability insurance — tens of thousands of dollars behind.

To keep the newspaper’s doors open, she must pay these premiums immediately, she will tell the court through her attorneys. She needs a loan to do that.

On Wednesday, Rogoff added on another request for the court to consider: It’s now payday for her news carriers, who make about as little as anyone in the workforce, work awful hours, and who usually need the pay more than just about anyone.

Rogoff has no money to pay them, she is telling U.S. Bankruptcy Court. May she please also borrow $160,000 from the Binkley Company LLC to keep this workforce from walking out?

But even that will not be enough: Friday is another payday for employees, she said, and although her pleading to the court doesn’t indicate the amount due, she obviously owes hundreds of thousands.

That Rogoff took her newspaper all the way to the edge of the cliff before declaring bankruptcy is a sign of someone who is either reckless or delusional. Or both.

As she returns home to a palatial lakefront estate each night, one that is filled with art and fine furnishings, and as she flies all over the world to meet with Arctic leaders, and hosts Arctic conferences and Presidential dinners, all along Rogoff has been playing a game of chicken with the lives of her workforce.

Newspaper carriers work 365 days a year. They are not employees, but independent workers and the newspaper business has fought to keep them in that category to reduce company liabilities.

These one-man or one-woman operations, often delivering by vehicle, get up by about 3 am each day, meet a newspaper circulation worker at a distribution spot, get their bundles and their lists of subscribers, and hit the neighborhoods in the wee hours of the morning. It’s a thankless job that requires carriers to use their own vehicles, pay their own gas and maintenance, carry their own car insurance, and encounter all kinds of weather and other hazards of the north.

People who deliver newspapers are sometimes doing it as a second or third job. Some are trying to work their way back into the workforce, but cannot be hired at most other jobs because of something on their record, like a felony conviction. Others are retired or newly washed-ashore immigrants just trying to make ends meet.

Once upon a time, these carriers were the neighborhood kids, tossing papers, but the job now goes to a nocturnal workforce of low-income workers. The distances are too great and the hazards too real.

Sometimes they have very young children with them, asleep in the backseat. There is no minimum wage, and no health insurance policy for these independent workers. Without the pay, today, the circulation of the newspaper drops from about 22,000-25,000 a day to zilch.

That is how close the Dispatch is to complete collapse. Now a judge must decide if it can even last another day.

[Read: Rogoff borrowed, but not enough to save paper.]

[Read: List of debt owed by Dispatch goes into millions]

A committee on behalf of the creditors filed a motion fighting Rogoff’s proposal to pay Premera and her employees before she pays the people she has owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to for months.

Rogoff will have to convince the judge that by borrowing money from her potential buyer, the Binkley Company LLC, that the greater good of all has been served.

That’s a high hill to climb for Rogoff because she has, it can be argued, been operating negligently for months, if not years.

Rather than focusing on her clearly failing business, which she acknowledged to readers in a message she wrote earlier this year, she attended Arctic conferences and symposiums, such as being a speaker at the Fourth Annual Arctic Encounter Symposium in Seattle in April, and the Wilson Center Polar Initiative in March.

She has flown her planes around Alaska until crashing into the waters of Halibut Cove, but she continues to travel with the help of a private pilot. She has fresh flowers on the table and maintains a lifestyle most Alaskans would consider lavish. This is all at the expense of at least 200 creditors and now some 212 workers who might not get paid.

[Read: The summer of Alice Rogoff’s discontent]

“Like news organizations everywhere, we’re searching for the best way to navigate our industry’s ever-evolving landscape. We intend to serve Alaskans for generations to come, and we are taking these steps to ensure we will be able to do so,” she wrote in January, when she announced the end of Saturday’s edition.

By then, she was already late paying several of the creditors, such as M&M Wiring, who are now hoping the courts will provide them with the same kind of relief Rogoff is proposing to give Premera, a multi-billion out-of-state company. The Dispatch owes M&M some $459,000-$500,000.

Meanwhile, several of the companies fighting Rogoff on this proposal are small local businesses, many of whom cannot afford health insurance on themselves.

Rogoff has argued to the court that the morale of her workforce is low because she has not paid their health insurance premiums:

“Employee morale has suffered significantly due to Premera not processing medical claims other than pharmacy benefits. This past due amount, $262,556.99, is included in the cash budget for which Debtor seeks approval in its motion for a DIP [Debtor in Possession] loan, and use of cash collateral, and is a major reason why the first week’s advance under the proposed DIP loan is $350,000, whereas subsequent weekly loans are $200,000. Going forward, Debtor seeks approval to pay post-petition monthly payments to Premera on a timely basis,” she wrote the court.

Getting your doctor bills paid is important, but there is a safety net in the system called Obamacare.

Likely there are other reasons for sagging employee morale — such as the uncertainty created by a business owner who has not been a good steward of her company and its finances. The uncertainty of not getting a paycheck at all is probably the greatest impact on morale, especially since jobs in Alaska are few and far between for newspaper professionals.

And nothing affects morale of a newsroom more than having to print fake news about fictional investors in the newspaper, or even worse, to report no news at all about the collapse of one’s own organization, which has been losing as much as $8 million a year since Rogoff bought it from McClatchy in 2014 for $34 million.

The deal she is trying to make today with the Binkley Company LLC is to sell them the paper for $1 million, all of which would go for current expenses that must be paid to even keep the doors open through the end of August.

[Read CraigMedred.news: More News troubles]

Alaska’s losing battle against farmed salmon

The 907

Suzanne Downing

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August 16, 2017

3

BY CRAIG MEDRED
CRAIGMEDRED.NEWS

Bristol Bay – Alaska’s highest profile salmon fishery – had a banner year, and yet everywhere in the global market Alaska salmon fisheries look to be in more and more trouble over the long-term.

A $2 to $3 dollar per pound commodity in the 1980s ($4 to $6 when corrected for inflation)Bristol Bay sockeye is today a $1 per pound commodity, and there is no sign the pricing is going to get much better. It could actually get worse.

Chilean farmed salmon production is again on the rise and production costs in South America are falling.

“AquaChile lowered costs by 13 percent in the first quarter of 2017, in line with other competitors,” Reuters reported from Santiago in mid-July. “The company’s shares rose 60 percent in 2016 and 13 percent in the first half of the year to 323 pesos and could rise another 25 percent, Guillermo Araya, analyst at local brokerage Renta 4 Chile said.

“‘According to technical indicators, this stock I see easily at 400 pesos,’ he said. ‘(AquaChile) isn’t the only one that looks good, the whole industry does.’”

“Lower costs” and an industry that “looks goods” are about the worse news possible for the Alaska fishing business given that University of Alaska Institute of Social and Economic Research economist Gunnar Knapp in a 2004 report observed that the “costs of farming, processing and distributing Chilean coho salmon to the Japanese wholesale market are about $1.63, and that future costs are likely to stay at about this level.”

The 170-page report is full of charts that show farmed salmon production costs and global salmon prices trending steadily downward for two decades. The news out of Chile would indicate the trend is continuing.

Why does it matter?

Chile is number two in global salmon production with an output of close to 400,000 metric tons. Norway is number one at about 1.2 million metric tons. Alaska, in a good year, can challenge Chile for production, but generally ranks number three overall.

And it lags way behind Chile in production of the premium product – fresh and frozen filets.

[Read more at CraigMedred.news.]

This will be a weird election season, ‘and we can prove it’

Suzanne Downing

-

August 16, 2017

0

POOP, TEA PARTY, TROLLS

If Alaska Public Offices Commission filings are any indication, the Anchorage Municipal election in April is going to be, well, weird.

An independent expenditure “group” has filed with APOC under the name: “Everyone Poops and We Can Prove It!” It appears to be in opposition to a ballot initiative that is asking Anchorage voters whether men’s and women’s public bathrooms and locker rooms should be generally separate, as they have always been since the beginning of public bathrooms.

The Everyone Poops entity lists its abbreviation as: ??. For those whose computer screens don’t translate, that is a poop symbol and a police symbol.

Everyone Poops’ purpose is stated: “An entity independently formed in the spirit of humorist/ special counsel, Saul Molliver to investigate election fraud and defeat the ‘Regulating Access to Facilities such as Locker Rooms and Bathrooms’ Bathroom Bill.”

In other words, the group seeks to allow bathrooms to be open to any gender, something traditionalists oppose. The Protect Our Privacy bathroom bill will be on the April 3 ballot.

Paul M. Oliva is the only officer listed and he gives his title as ??. That appears to be “Poop Police,” if we’re reading it correctly.

In social media sites, Oliva lists himself as “Alaska’s resident smartass” and as the founder and lead developer at DataShark LLC.

Oliva appears to also be the creative genius behind a second registered campaign entity: Alaska Tea Party Watch / ???

The entity’s abbreviation is: ???. As in three cups of tea.

The purpose of the group is: “We pay protesters and internet trolls to annoy important people and make others laugh at them. Basically we elevate the dialogue, man.”

His title at Alaska Tea Party Watch is “Captain Paul and Troller in Chief.”

Oliva lists his address on “Potlach Circle” in Anchorage for both independent expenditure groups. (And yes, he spelled the name of the street wrong.)

Other than that, and the fact that this will be the first municipal election in Alaska to be conducted entirely by mail, the election season appears to be shaping up normally.

Sick: Dispatch health insurance hearing set for Thursday

The 907

Suzanne Downing

-

August 16, 2017

2

ROGOFF WANTS COURT TO OK INSURANCE PAYMENTS PRIOR TO FINAL DEAL

Alaska Dispatch News employees may be looking for individual health insurance policies in the Obamacare marketplace soon.

Either that or they should just plan to stay healthy during the newspaper’s bankruptcy proceedings, which may take a few weeks.

Rogoff, through the Alaska Dispatch News LLC, is asking U.S. Bankruptcy Court this Thursday to allow her to pay the past-due health insurance covering the newspaper’s 212 employees. The hearing is at 2 pm.

Premera Blue Cross is withholding payment on any claims until the Dispatch gets caught up, according to documents and at last count about $262,557 is owed by the newspaper to the insurance provider for both July and August. Right now, Premera is paying for pharmaceuticals only.

“Employee morale has suffered significantly due to Premera not processing medical claims other than pharmacy benefits,” Rogoff’s attorneys wrote to the court. The past due amount is part of a plan to sell the newspaper and declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a plan that Rogoff is seeking approval for from the court on Aug. 21.

But on Thursday she is simply asking for special dispensation to pay insurance payments with borrowed funds from the Binkley Company LLC.

Rogoff is also asking the court to approve her payment to Liberty Mutual, which carries her general liability insurance. The company is owed $10,227.75 for August. Without such payment, the ADN would need to close quickly.

The publisher also owes Berkshire Hathaway for July and August for workers compensation insurance; the July 26 payment of $26,733.68 is in arrears.

The court must decide if Rogoff can accept a bridge loan from the Binkley Company so it can pay these insurance bills, without which the newspaper will stop operating, or if the proceedings must wait for the full bankruptcy hearing later this month. The Binkley Company is attempting to buy the paper during the bankruptcy process.

Creditors are expected to crowd the courtroom on Thursday and plead their own case to the judge — that their workers, too, deserve to have their insurance paid, and that Rogoff’s workers should not take precedence over the needs of her other creditors.

They will also likely argue that she has enough personal wealth to pay the insurance, should she choose to sell some of her extensive art collection or liquidate her other properties. She still flies back and forth to Halibut Cove with the help of a private pilot, they’ll likely argue, so she has money somewhere.

[Read: Deathwatch for the Dispatch?]

The staff of the ADN losing its health insurance may not be everyone’s biggest concern right now — it appears that if the newspaper is to continue at all past the next payday, it will need to be smaller in size and operate with a far-leaner staff than today. That means layoffs are almost certain under the direction of the interim publisher, Jerry Grilly, who is leading the reorganization and stabilization of the newspaper.

[Read: Rogoff borrowed, but not enough to save paper.]

[Read: List of debt owed by Dispatch goes into millions]

Rogoff borrowed, but it wasn’t enough to save newspaper

The 907

Suzanne Downing

-

August 15, 2017

1

Rogoff borrowed, but it wasn’t enough to save newspaper

EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE BILLS ARE PAST DUE

The owner of the Alaska Dispatch News borrowed $13 million from Northrim Bank at the outset of her adventure in Alaska newspaper publishing in 2014, according to documents filed in bankruptcy court today.

The final sale price to the Binkley Company is $1 million, and that would just go to keeping the lights on at the newspaper. There is not expected to be much if anything left over for unsecured creditors.

The $13 million Alice Rogoff borrowed was a personal loan, and she contributed it as capital to AK Publishing LLC to buy the Anchorage Daily News from McClatchy. She also brought $6 million of her own money to the table in that fateful March, 2014 deal.

“From the time of the purchase, I was willing to operate ADN at an operating loss to both maintain robust journalism in Alaska, and as an investment in the future of the company. This included purchasing a new primary printing press, new print and online publishing systems, and development of new revenue streams,” Rogoff wrote to the court. “At the same time, ADN’s overall revenue from print declined, reflecting national trends in print readership and print advertising, and amplified by Alaska’s current economic recession.”

Her statement to the court shows the ADN had 2.6 million unique viewers of its online platforms in June, and she claims 4,000 digital-only subscribers — people who pay to access the paper in full online. Her newsprint circulation is not given, but may be as high as 25,000 daily. Sundays are 30,000.

She pressed her case that keeping the newspaper alive is essential for the entire state.

Without a sale, Rogoff wrote, “there is little choice but to cease ADN’s operations to the detriment of its subscribers, employees, advertisers, and the State of Alaska as a whole…”

“But the company requires major restructuring,” she wrote, and the paper is losing $125,000 per week. The Dispatch’s print circulation is losing between 7-10 percent each year, as most newspapers are doing in this era.

Rogoff said she could not find a suitable building to move her presses from what became GCI’s building on Northway Drive. After a search and “due diligence,” she entered into a long-term lease with Arctic Partners for the 59th and Arctic warehouse.

[Read: Deathwatch for the Dispatch?]

The retrofitting of the warehouse hit major snags and became untenable for Rogoff. The project was shelved in March and is now in litigation.

“Since the purchase of ADN, I have personally financed ADN’s operations, cash shortfalls, and capital expenditures. In addition to the Northrim Bank loan, I guaranteed the (i)Arctic Road lease and (ii) certain removal costs related to the GCI Lease. However, personal financing the future operations of ADN in addition to the current personal guarantees is no longer feasible.”

Rogoff said that the ADN employes 212 people: 58 in production, 52 in newsroom, 31 in advertising, 49 in circulation, 9 in the publisher’s office, 7 in finance, and 6 in information technology/web.

The health insurance policies for her employees are past due by $158,361.27, and payroll was made and covered through Aug. 6. Premera Blue Cross has agreed to not cancel the health insurance of employees until Sept. 15, giving the newspaper some time to make the payments.

But in the meantime, employee health claims will not be paid; only pharmaceutical bills will be covered.

Other insurance policies are also past due, as is workers compensation.

PIERCING THE CORPORATE VEIL

Rogoff wrote that “all payments I receive from a Marital Settlement Agreement with my husband, David Rubenstein, were directed and paid into my account at Northrim Bank.”

The bank received partial payment of its loan, which was extended on two occasions, the last being in March. The loan is due on September 30, 2017, in the amount of $10,165,000 plus interest of at least $81,459, and attorneys fees of $11,597.

In March, Rogoff made an additional security pledge to the bank, including security interests in the Dispatch, pledges from her marital settlement, and her personal investment accounts at Wells Fargo Bank.

In the filing, Rogoff describes how the newspaper overstayed the lease at GCI, ran into problems with the new leased space, and ended up with lawsuits and eviction orders.

[Read: Dispatch gets eviction notice] [Dispatch files Chapter 11]

“Finally, GCI is seeking to ‘pierce the corporate veil’ and hold me personally liable for the companies’ debts and obligations,” she wrote.

“Piercing the corporate veil” is a legal decision to treat the dealings of a corporation and its shareholders as the same, rather than treating the corporation as a separate legal entity. In these situations, the piercing of the veil allows creditors to go after personal assets.

Rogoff was stating that GCI is trying to make her personally liable for over $1 million.

The Binkley Company, LLC is attempting to buy the newspaper and has agreed to loan the newspaper up to $1 million. Rogoff said the first order of business with any installments from the Binkley Company would be to pay off the past due Premera Blue Cross health insurance premiums.

According to the settlement being proposed, very little would be left over are the sale of the paper to make whole the multitude of creditors; or as Rogoff puts it, there would be “little or no cash proceeds paid to the bankruptcy estate.”

[Read: List of debt owed by Dispatch goes into millions]

List of debt owed by Dispatch goes into millions

The 907

Suzanne Downing

-

August 15, 2017

3

MOM AND POPS AND MULTINATIONALS LINE UP FOR PAYMENT…

As the Alaska Dispatch News plunges deeper into Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, owner Alice Rogoff was required to give the U.S. Bankruptcy Court a list of the top entities to which the Dispatch owes money.

Rogoff’s bankruptcy filing occurred Saturday night. Must Read Alaska acquired the list of creditors late today.

The list equals more than $2.08 million, and there are dozens upon dozens of other creditors whose amounts are not included. They are writers, suppliers, marketers, airlines, and lawyers.

Whether all the employees of the Dispatch actually have health insurance paid up is a legitimate question, as Premera Blue Cross is a major creditor. Even the Municipality of Anchorage is owed $56,516.

On the petition for bankruptcy filed by Rogoff, the now-former publisher checked the box to indicate that she believes as many as 199 entities are owed money.

The biggest amount listed is nearly $500,000 she evidently acknowledges is owed to M&M Wiring, which has taken her to court over the amount past due.

But by far the biggest debt at play is the more than $900,000 she owes to her former partner, Tony Hopfinger, based on a contract written on a bar napkin. She did not include that on the bankruptcy filing. It’s as though the debt just doesn’t exist.

*Straight out of the movies, a contract for $1 million on a bar napkin, signed by Alice Rogoff.*

Rogoff is in a legal dispute with Hopfinger in a case that goes to trial in March, with Rogoff claiming she does not owe him anything and the contract is unenforceable. She owes tens of thousands to the law firm that is defending her in the case — they made the Top 20 list.

[Read: Dispatch founder sues current owner]

Also not included on the list is Northrim Bank, where Rogoff is believed to have a financial relationship that required her to apparently put the entire newspaper up for collateral and purchase a $10 million life insurance policy on herself this spring, according to documents filed with the State Recorders Office. She also had to pledge her marital income stream (allowance) as a guarantee.

It may be that the Northrim debt is the responsibility of Rogoff personally, which could explain why Northrim is not listed in the Dispatch’s top 20. Rogoff herself has not filed for bankruptcy, nor is she thought likely to given her substantial family wealth.

[Read: Pressures mount on owner of Alaska Dispatch News]

Here, then, is a list of the top 20 Alaska Dispatch debts that are part of the bankruptcy filing, which means these companies are very likely to only get pennies on the dollar as the bankruptcy proceeds.

M&M Wiring: $491,219.55
GCI: $304,393.91
Premera Blue Cross: $262,556.99 (presumably this means health insurance of employees has not been paid).
J. Birket: $161,044.27 (press manufacturer)
Newscycle Solutions: $145,914.63
Arctic Partners: $143,891 (presumably for rent and other valuables at 59th and Arctic)
Frontline Construction: $68,901.31 (presumably for contract picked up after M&M Wiring was let go)
Eagle Web Press: $58,817.34
Municipality of Anchorage: $56,516.30
Centro, Inc: $52,736.51
Catalyst Paper: $51,307.56
Anchorage Printing: $45959.19
John McKay: $43,776.65 (legal consultant)
GCI: $36,694.00
Journal Graphics: $36,480.36
Ponderay Newsprint: $34,891.84
John Hancock Life Insurance: $33,300.00
Birch Horton, Bittner, Cherot: $30,086.81 (her legal team)
Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Co.: $26,733.68
North Pacific Paper Corp: $26,544.93

Among the 21 pages of other creditors who did not make the top 20, Rogoff lists debt to staff and freelance writers, such as Dermot Cole, Charles Wohlforth, Erik Hill, Nancy Lord, and other creative types, as well as companies large and small, in Alaska and as far away as New York.

360VINspin LLC, Ozark MO 65721
Adpay/Memoriam, Denver CO 80256-0101
AdPerfect Dynamic Advertising Inc., New Westminister BC V3L 3Cl
Advanced Vision Technology Inc., Alpharetta GA 30005
Air Land Transport Inc., Anchorage AK 99515
Alaska Airlines
Alaska On Point Service, Anchorage AK 99504
Alaska Waste, Anchorage AK 99519-6097
Alliance for Audited Media,Carol Stream IL 60197-5998
Allison Harvey, Palmer AK 99645 – Alaska Center for the Environment
American Fast Freight, Pasadena CA 91189-1833
Anchorage Convention Centers
Anchorage Printing Inc., Anchorage, AK 99503-3699
Arctic Office Mach & Furn Co., Anchorage AK 99510
Arctic Partners LLC, Tacoma WA 98422
Arrow Marketing Group, Cary, NC 27511
Ashley Adams, Anchorage, AK 99501
Bangerter Creative, Eagle River AK 99577
Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Co.
Bethany Goodrich, Sitka AK 99835
Birch Horton Bittner & Cherat, Anchorage, AK 99501
Bjorn D. Olson, Homer AK 99603
Boostability Corp., Lehi UT 84043
Boot Country, Anchorage AK 99518
Carlile Transportation Systems Inc., Seattle WA 98124-8448
Catalyst Paper Corp, Chicago, IL 60674
COW LLC, Vernon Hills, IL 60061
Centro Inc., Palintine IL 60055-0762
CENVEO,Pasadena CA 91110-1187
Charles Wohlforth, Anchorage AK 99517
Chartbeat Inc. New York NY 19993
ChicoCallCenter, Chico, CA 95927-8684
Christine Cunningham, Kenai, AK 99611
Chugach Electric, Anchorage AK 99519
Cinthia Ritchie, Anchorage AK 99517
Circulation Technicians, Gilbert AZ
Civil Co., Portland, OR
Clark Bryan Fair, Homer, AK
Continental Bag Professional Image, Mexico, MO
Continuous Printing of AK, Anchorage
Cornerstone Credit Services, Anchorage
Coul Productions LLC, Yorba Linda, CA
Creators Syndicate Inc.
John McKay, Anchorage, AK
David Allan James, Fairbanks, AK
Dermot Cole, Fairbanks, AK
Dexter Jackson, Anchorage, AK
Digital Direct Inc., Marysville, CA
Done Rite Cleaning, Anchorage, AK
Dow Jones & Co Inc, NY
Wall St Jrnl or Barrons
Doyle E. Woody, Anchorage, AK
Eagle Web Press, Salem, OR
Edgil, Danvers, MA
Ediwise, Mississaugua ON L5L 3R6
Emily Rohrabaugh, Anchorage, AK 95517
Enjoy the City North Inc., Binghamton NY 13095
Equifax CreditAtlanta GA 30348-5835
Eric E. Sain, Eagle River, AK 99577
Erica Rogers, Anchorage AK 99508
Erik Hill, Anchorage, AK 99517
Erin Austin, Anchorage, AK 99508
Erin K. Kirkland, Anchorage AK 99504
Erin McKittrick, Seldovia, AK 99663
Evelyn Elliot-Perez, Anchorage AK 99501
Events Air Cargo, Fairbanks AK 99706
Express Delivery Service Inc., Anchorage AK 99503-6604
Federal Express Corporation, Palatine IL 60094-4515
Firefly Marketing Communications, Kansas City MO 64184-3771
Fleet One, Nashville TN 37241-5000
Flint Group, Chicago, IL 60674
Frontline Construction LLC, Anchorage AK 99502
Gary Curtis Kanakis, Soldotna, AK 99669
GCI, Anchorage AK 99503
Geoffrey Z. Kirsch, Juneau AK 99807
Getty Images (US) Inc., St. Louis MO 63195-3604
Green Connection, Anchorage AK 99501
Heather V. Lende, Haines, AK 99827 – writer
Innovative Systems Design, Ponte Claire, QC H9R 1A6 Canada
J Birket Inc., Lebanon, TN 37087
Jason Thane Curry, Anchorage, AK 99504
Jerod C. Gunther, Anchorage, AK 99508
John Hancock Life Insurance, Los Angeles CA 90189-4764
John Schandelmeier, Gakona AK 99586
Joseph Robertia, Kasilof, AK 99610
Journal Graphics Inc., Portland OR 97210
Kayla Anderson, Anchorage AK 99502
Kelsey Lindsey, Anchorage AK 99503
Kenneth Thistle, Anchorage AK 99503
Kids Across Parents Down LLC, Matteson IL 60443
King Features Syndicate, Prescott, AZ 86304-9007
Legacy.com Inc.,Evanston IL 60201
Legal Notice Org, Rockville MD 20850
Lewis & Lewis Computer Store, Anchorage, AK 99503
LexisNexis, Los Angeles CA 90189-4166
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Boston MA 02116
Lincoln National Life Insurance Co., Carol Stream IL 60132-0821
Lisa K. Demer, Bethel, AK 99559 – writer
Liveintent Inc., New York NY 10007
M&M Wiring Service Inc.,Anchorage, AK 99516
Mail Finance, Dallas TX 75312-3682
Mary I. Young, Wasilla AK 99623-4964
Mather Economics LLC, Atlanta GA 30350
Meghan Mackey, Eagle River, AK 99577
Meyer Plastic LLC, Yakima, WA
Michael Engelhard, Fairbanks, AK
Michele L. Bennett, Chugiak, AK
Millwood Transit, Anchorage, AK
Miscellaneous Advertising Refunds
Miscellaneous Subscriber Refunds
Monster Worldwide Inc., Los Angeles, CA
Municipality of Anchorage
NACM Business Credit Services, Seattle, WA
Nancy J. Lord, Homer, AK – writer
NELA USA, River Falls, WI
New Neighbor Marketing, NYC
New York State Ins Fund, Albany, NY
New York Times Syndicated Sales, Pittsburg, PA
News Media Alliance, Arlington, VA
Newscycle Solutions Inc., Bloomington, MN
Newspaper in Education Inst, Cheverly, MD
Newspaper Subscription Service, Houston, TX
North Pacific Paper Corp, Federal Way, WA
Olive Software Inc., Auror, CO
Online Publications, Troy, MI
Opti Staffing Group, Anchorage
Paul A. Veilleux, Anchorage, AK 99504
Peninsula Airways Inc., Anchorage, AK 99502
PIP Printing, Anchorage AK 99501
Ponderay Newsprint Co., Philadelphia, PA 19178-1933
Premera Blue Cross, Seattle, WA 98111
Quad Graphics Marketing LLC, Sussex WI 53089
Quality Business Systems Inc., San Francisco CA 94139-8160
Rapid Action Mailing Service, Anchorage AK 99502
Rare Group Enterprise, Ontario, CA 91761
Ravn Alaska, Anchorage AK 99520
Red Wing Shoe Store, Anchorage Ak 99503
Reed Brennan Media Association, Orlando FL 32803
Rita Gelino-Beguette, Wasilla AK 99654-0269
Roger P. Weinfurter, Anchorage, AK
Rose Mason, Anchorage AK 99508
Serena Joseph, Anchorage AK 99515
Sizmek Technologies Inc., Austin TX 78701
Social News Desk Inc., Orlando FL 32891-9440
Software Business Systems Inc., Edina MN 55439-2313
Southern Lithoplate Inc, Atlanta, GA 31374-1887
Span Alaska Transportation Inc., Pasadena CA 91189-1714
Steve Meyer, Kenai AK 99611
Steve Vasquez, Anchorage AK 99507-2951
Steven H Kahn, Port Alsworth, AK 99653
Suburban Propane, Fresno, CA 93776
Suzanna Caldwell, Anchorage AK 99503
Syncronex LLC, Issaquah WA 98027
Tamara Dodds, Big Lake AK 99652
Thomas Head & Greisen, Anchorage, AK 99503
Thomson Reuters (Markets) LLC, Boston MA 02241
Thunder Industries, San Francisco CA 94108
Tribune Content Agency LLC, Chicago IL 60693
Tribune Media Services LLC, Boston MA 02241-5106
Trustees of Columbia U., New York, New York NY 10027
TSI North America LLC, Bellevue WA 98006
Tundra & Associates Inc., Wasilla AK 99687
United Feature Syndicate
Commerce Bank, Kansas City MO 64184-3771
Universal U-Click, Kansas City MO 64184-3345
Valley Transport & Storage, Palmer AK 99645
Washington Post Writers Group, Baltimore MD 21275-5442
WGA Independent Contractors, Camp Hill PA 17001-0008
William E. Sherwonit, Anchorage, AK 99517
WP Company LLC (Washington Post), Washington DC 20071

Haines recall election is Tuesday

The 907

Suzanne Downing

-

August 14, 2017

0

In Haines, the politics is unusually contentious this summer.

And that’s saying a lot for a city that has been through at least 14 city managers in 14 years, four school superintendents in four years, and which has a revolving door on its assembly. This year, the assistant harbormaster and the tourism director quit, and so did two assembly members — Margaret Friedenauer and Mike Case — following the controversial appointment of Debra Schnabel as the latest in the parade of borough managers.

Tuesday, voters will decide if three of the six Assembly members should be recalled: Tresham Gregg, Heather Lende and Tom Morphet.

Two of them are accused of exerting undue pressure on the police department.

Morphet, who until recently owned the local newspaper, the Chilkat Valley News, ran for assembly and won a seat, while retaining his role as a member of the media.

Lende, an author who also writes obituaries for the Chilkat Valley News, also won a seat.

Those two picked a fight with the police chief when he didn’t provide the newspaper with a police blotter.

The chief said it was very time consuming to write the blotter each week and in his judgment it was not a good use of his staff’s limited resources. But Lende and Morphet pressured him — and some in the community felt it was wrong to do so, since the two had a financial interest in the paper where the blotter is printed.

Morphet is also accused of making public accusations against specific employees of the police department, a violation of their employee rights.

The third allegation has to do with a series of emails between assembly members, where they appeared to be making a secret pact on how they would vote in an upcoming meeting. That could be a violation of the spirit of the Alaska Open Meetings statutes.

UNION STEPS IN TO PROTECT POLICE FROM ASSEMBLYMAN

While a Haines Voters Against the Recall Facebook page was launched this summer, another Facebook page, Haines Votes for the Recall, was also launched.

A public employees union has also weighed in on Facebook, specifically on the recall of Tom Morphet, saying he showed a disregard for the privacy rights of two police officers about whom he made unfounded accusations during an open meeting.

Morphet violated the borough’s collective bargaining agreement because the complaints constituted personnel matters, according to Tom Brice, business representative of Local 71, which has a political action committee that has gotten involved. The police officers had the right to an established complaint process, which starts with their supervisor, the police chief, before proceeding to the city manager, mayor and assembly.

Some have objected to the union’s political action committee getting involved, but Brice said that his group has a right to free speech just like anyone else.

“The purpose of this campaign is to inform and continue to bring to light facts about an inappropriate action by an elected official who used their position of power to violate borough code, contract, and due process of Haines Borough Employees,” the according to the union PAC’s Facebook post. “We are not engaging in the wider recall effort regarding Tresham Gregg and Heather Lende because they did not violate the contract between Local 71 and the Haines Borough.”

Morphet maintains he did nothing wrong, although he has also apologized for airing the personnel matters in public. The voting public will decide on Tuesday whether he, Lende and Gregg should be removed.

The regular Assembly election is Oct. 3.

Rogoff to bankruptcy judge: ‘Don’t know, can’t remember, don’t recall, can’t say’

Ruh-roh: Court to decide who will get paid first; Northrim first in line

Dispatch seeks court help to allow news carriers to get paid

Alaska’s losing battle against farmed salmon

Why does it matter?

This will be a weird election season, ‘and we can prove it’

Sick: Dispatch health insurance hearing set for Thursday

Rogoff borrowed, but it wasn’t enough to save newspaper

List of debt owed by Dispatch goes into millions

Haines recall election is Tuesday

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