Jessica Malcolm arrived in Anchorage a couple of weeks ago from California to visit her cousins. It didn’t take long for her to get into trouble.
She was arrested Saturday after shots were fired in the parking lot of the Northway Mall in East Anchorage, not far from the entrance of a trampoline and climbing wall gymnasium where parents like to take their children for parties.
It’s unclear if Malcolm had fired any shots, but she has a felony record in California, and on Saturday the 26-year-old, tatted-up, visitor from Los Angeles had a Glock .45 with a 30-round magazine in her waistband.
As a convicted felon in California, where at age 21 she was charged with theft and forgery, she’d just broken the law, according to police. Felony record — no Glocks allowed.
Malcolm was charged Sunday for misconduct involving a weapon. And although she could face up to five years in jail and $50,000 fine, the pretrial assessment determined her to be a “low risk” offender.
She was released. Her pre-indictment hearing is Tuesday.
The new pretrial assessment tool rates offenders on a scale of 1 to 10, and only if they score a 10 are they considered too risky to release before trial.
According to the story she gave to officers, Malcolm came to Alaska to visit family and on social media she met the two men she was with on Saturday. A car pulled up to theirs and began firing at them.
According to the police report:
“The preliminary investigation found that a group of people got into an altercation in the parking lot of the Shockwave Trampoline Parks. At some point during the altercation, the suspects used gunfire to address the issue they were having with each other. Several shots were fired damaging vehicles parked in the area. No one was injured. As officers with the Patrol Division responded to the scene, the suspects fled. Three of the suspects fled in an SUV and crashed near Rodeo Place. They got out and took off running towards Bragaw Street. Officers caught the suspects in a parking lot near the post office. They were taken into custody, arrested and transported to jail.”
Although police had not yet determined if the other car occupants — Tajean Grant-McKay and Ebon Moore — had actually fired their weapons, the two 23-year-olds “bonded out.”
Grant-McKay has prior arrests, including illegal drugs, burglary, theft, and false report. Grant-McKay also had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Moore had minor brushes with the law, including failure to disclose to an officer that he had a concealed weapon.
Although cars nearby were bullet-riddled as a result of the altercation, no one was hit. Police are still looking for the two suspects they believe were also involved in the shootout in the middle of a Saturday.
By Angela Rodell CEO Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation
Since 2003 the Board of Trustees has endorsed using a “percent of market value,” or POMV, methodology for determining how much should be drawn from the Alaska Permanent Fund.
A POMV establishes a limit to the amount that can be drawn from the Fund and is based on its average annual market value over five years.
A POMV draw has a number of benefits which include protecting the entire Fund from overspending, providing a certainty of liability the Fund can manage for, as well as providing a structured, long-term source of revenue for beneficiaries of the draw. This endowment-style payout method would provide more stable and predictable payout amounts from year to year, even in down market years, and is compatible with the board’s current investment strategy.
In December the Trustees asked one of Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.’s investment partners to “stress” the Board’s adopted asset allocation assuming two different draw scenarios. The purpose of these stress tests was to get a sense of what economic conditions would hinder the capacity of the Fund to provide any required POMV distribution.
History tells us markets go up and markets go down. None of us are concerned about the ability to make contributions while markets are heading up. What we didn’t know was how much a sharp drop in the market or an extended period of really low returns would affect the Fund and our ability to make those contributions. This was the information we were seeking from the analysis conducted by Bridgewater.
There are a number of important takeaways in what was learned.
First, making regularized structured draws allows the Fund to not be overdrawn in up markets, ensuring assets stay invested for longer periods, earning higher rates of return.
Second, in looking at multiple 10-year periods that have occurred since 1925, the analysis told us 40 percent of those periods would cause the Earnings Reserve Account, the spendable portion of the Fund, to be lower than what it was on July 1, 2017.
It also told us that 12 percent of those periods would cause the Earnings Reserve Account, or ERA, balance to be drawn down to zero 10 years from now.
It provided detailed analyses of stress events — for example showing a deep market selloff such as what occurred in 2008 can have the effect of temporarily wiping out the ERA for a short — 1- to 2-year time period — resulting in the Fund’s inability to yield a contribution for those years.
Third, a period of extended lower rates of return will have the effect of providing draws which reduce the ERA balance and not allow the principal of the Fund to grow due to missed inflation-proofing transfers.
The stress analysis demonstrated that there is about a 48 percent chance that returns would fall short of the 6.3 percent required to make expected contributions including inflation.
The Board of Trustees has not changed its support of a structured POMV methodology in light of these takeaways.
Rather, they reinforce the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.’s responsibilities as fiduciaries of the Fund.
Our responsibilities as fiduciaries mean that we will take prudent measured risk; we will adjust our asset allocation as we deem necessary recognizing various risk and reward elements of each type of investment and that we will continue to invest with the goal of creating benefit for all generations of Alaskans.
Since the Fund’s inception and initial deposit of $734,000 in oil royalties, the Alaska Permanent Fund has grown to a current value of more than $66 billion.
In just the past few years, the Fund has increased in value from $52.8 billion at the beginning of fiscal year 2016 to $59.8 at the beginning of fiscal year 2018.
Amid the success of the Fund, there is an ongoing debate regarding both how much of a draw from the Fund should be taken, as well as how that money should be used.
We have had a constitutional and statutory contract with Alaskans in place since the Fund’s creation more than 40 years ago, an agreement as to how deposits and withdrawals are made.
As the Alaska Permanent Fund is central to policy decisions pertaining to the composition of state funding, it’s time for Alaskans to establish a new contract to support the evolution and continued health of the Fund by adopting a POMV structure.
I have complete confidence that we can do it and that we can do it now.
Angela Rodell is chief executive officer of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. and former Commissioner of the Department of Revenue under the Parnell Administration.
If it was not already clear by former statements and letters, Republican Party Chairman Tuckerman Babcock sent a “rejection letter” to three House members who, although elected with Republican support, abandoned their party to join Democrats and overthrow the Republican House leadership.
Tens of thousands of Republican dollars went into the campaigns of Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux of Anchorage, Paul Seaton of Homer, and Louise Stutes of Kodiak.
But as soon as the election was certified in November, 2016, the three joined the Democrats to create a majority that took over the Alaska House of Representatives. Since that happened, the Legislature has been in session for nearly half of 2017, and the House has been a scene of chaos, including having a serious sexual assault scandal.
The letter sent by Babcock, in full:
Dear Representatives LeDoux, Seaton and Stutes,
Pursuant to Article I, Section 4(f)(4) of the Rules of the Alaska Republican Party (ARP), and confirmed by a vote of the State Central Committee of the ARP, you are hereby notified of the following: You are not eligible for any financial or other support from the ARP, its affiliates, or subordinates and we do not recognize you as a legitimate Republican primary candidate in 2018.
The ARP, its affiliates and subordinates are authorized to recruit candidates for the office you now hold and to campaign actively for your defeat.
You have engaged in actions detrimental to the ARP values and goals. Specifically, by forming a coalition in which Democrats hold the majority when a Republican majority has been elected.
Alaskans elected 21 Republicans to the State House – a majority. You abandoned that Republican majority and created a Democrat majority organization.
We respectfully insist that if you run for reelection, have the dignity and honesty to do so as a representative of some entity other than the Alaska Republican Party.
The ARP sees no legitimate reason you should seek to cling to identification as a “Republican” during your reelection after you have chosen to place the Democrats in command of the agenda of the State House.
We do not begrudge you your freedom to align with the Democrats and the goals and political objectives of that Party. We all recognize this is America, the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.” While you have every right to abandon your old team and align with another political party, your old team has every right to abandon you and align with another candidate.
Update: Rep. Zach Fansler’s staff has been taken from him by Rules Chair Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, and reassigned to her office for safety. Must Read Alaska has learned that Fansler has not left Juneau this weekend, as earlier reported. But he has not been seen in Juneau. The House will gavel in on Monday for what is called a “technical session,” which means gavel in and gavel out.
LEFT-STREAM MEDIA WAS SPUN BY THE DEMOCRATS
Remember these names: John-Henry Heckendorn, Robin Brena, Forrest Dunbar, Ship Creek Group, Jonathan Kreiss Tompkins, Vince Beltrami, Joelle Hall, Jim Lottsfeldt, and Gov. Bill Walker.
***
In a lengthy article titled “How to Turn a Red State Purple,”Politico went to great lengths to laud the career path of Rep. Zach Fansler.
The way Politico tells it, it was Democrat Forrest Dunbar who had finally closed the sale for the Alaska Democratic Party and got Fansler to run. The party had to take out a family man, Rep. Bob Herron, Democrat from Bethel.
Herron’s only offense? He had caucused with the Republicans, as rural Democrats often do.
The urban-based Alaska Democratic Party had targeted Herron and Rep. Ben Nageak of Barrow for removal. They succeeded by replacing Herron with Fansler and Nageak with Westlake.
Then they got Republican Representatives. Gabrielle LeDoux, Paul Seaton, and Louise Stutes to join them and stage a coup to flip the House to Democrat control.
Westlake never made it through the year before he resigned in disgrace after harassing numerous women.
Fansler made it until Jan. 13. Then, in Juneau he was prowling the bars as he is known to do, and ended up being accused of beating a woman.
The sordid details are in the Juneau Empire’s report. Caution: The details involve drinking, hitting, slapping, and sexual bondage text messaging that was supposed to be an apology. They involve what can only be described as sexual assault on a woman, fear, and kidnapping — holding someone against her will.
But how is this the same Zach Fansler, the nice Jesuit volunteer glorified by a plainly left-leaning Politico reporter in a story published just one day before he ruptured a woman’s eardrum with the force of his slap?
Here are some execerpts of what Politico published on Jan. 12:
Three men in particular— [Jonathan] Kreiss-Tomkins, Forrest Dunbar and John-Henry Heckendorn—have pointed the way to reviving progressivism in the state by recruiting new, outsider candidates, teaching them how to win, and connecting them with fellow travelers. In bypassing traditional channels—which in Alaska, as everywhere else, tend to elevate predictable, uninspiring pols who have paid their dues—they’ve propelled a wave of untested candidates with little experience and even less party identity, but who believe in the economic populist agenda shared by a coalition of labor, environmentalists and the state’s large, politically engaged Alaska Native population…
According to the story I kept hearing, these three young progressives—at 33, Dunbar is five years older than the others—had found candidates who could win swing districts, coaxed them to run, and taught them how to win. All while persuading labor and Democratic Party elders to support their untested candidates, rather than more experienced pols who had paid their dues.
… several years ago, Heckendorn approached [AFL-CIO’s Joelle] Hall to see if labor might be a willing partner in a new, expansive vision of candidate recruitment. Alaska has the third-highest union membership in the country, after Hawaii and New York, so labor-endorsed candidates get cash and manpower that can make the difference in close races. Immediately, Hall was game…
Zach Fansler is a part-time lawyer, full-time math teacher and seasonal manager of the Kuskokwim 300 dog-sled race in Bethel, a far-western town across the sea from Russia. After graduating from college in 2001, Fansler moved to Alaska with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps; he has the good-guy air of the frat bro you trust to protect you from other frat bros.
On May 31, 2016, Fansler got a phone call from an Anchorage lawyer he’d never met—one Forrest Dunbar.
“And I’m not always the smartest guy,” says Fansler. “I’m thinking he wants me to give him some names, you know what I mean? Eventually he’s like, ‘No, I’m actually calling to gauge your interest in running.’” The filing deadline was the next day.
Dunbar explained that other Democrats would help out by raising money and teaching him whatever he needed to learn. And if he still needed convincing, he should, Dunbar told him, call John-Henry Heckendorn. Which Fansler did.
“We talked for maybe two hours while I kinda walked around the small boat harbor,” Fansler said. By the time Heckendorn explained that he could give Fansler a treasurer, an ad strategy, a graphic designer and filmmaker, and teach him which doors to knock on and what to say, Fansler was close to saying yes.
Later that day, he switched his party registration from unaffiliated to Democrat and filed his papers to run, just ahead of the cutoff.
Gov. Bill Walker, Rep. Zach Fansler, and Rep. Dean Westlake.
ONE YEAR LATER
John-Henry Heckendorn is now the paid top aide to the governor. He is seen with the governor everywhere, and is essentially a campaign manager paid for with State dollars.
Westlake has resigned in disgrace, effective Dec. 25.
Fansler, who said he won’t resign, will be lucky if he lasts the week. He will likely be expelled by his House colleagues.
Forrest Dunbar sits on the Assembly in Anchorage.
The bars in Juneau, especially the Triangle, were curiously empty of all Democratic legislators and staff this weekend (perhaps to the relief of local women).
There have been no signs of Rep. Justin Parish leading the “swinging singles” of the House Democrats around from bar to bar as he does most nights, with himself and Rep. Adam Wool serving as wingmen for the randy, single lawmakers with too much power, too few scruples, too little restraint.
Will readers see a clarification from Politico? Not likely.
Politico was right about one thing: the fundraising and campaigning efforts of Gov. Bill Walker’s top surrogates — Anchorage Attorney Robin Brena, union lobbyist Jim Lottsfeldt, Forrest Dunbar, the Alaska Democratic Party, Joelle Hall and Vince Beltrami of the AFL-CIO, and the Ship Creek Group were “successful” in changing the House of Representatives.
Fansler will find all his friends that brought him to the party are suddenly nowhere to be found. They’re hoping they can sweep this bad episode — and Fansler himself — under the rug before election season gears up.
Must Read Alaska can’t keep up with the humor of its readers, who evidently have no sympathy for Rep. Zach Fansler, now accused of battering a woman and bursting her eardrum this month, just days before he joined in the women’s march. Once the story finally hit the media, the House Speaker was forced to respond and called for Fansler’s resignation.
A compendium of just a few of the memes (photo + caption humor) that readers have sent since the news broke yesterday about an accusation against Rep. Fansler, and the pattern of abuse among the Democrats and Gov. Bill Walker’s handpicked legislators:
YOUR TURN
Not everyone has the knack for a good meme. It helps to have a 14-year-old sense of humor.
Try your hand at memes by using a meme generator such as Imgflip. Here are some photos to work with while you wait for women to march in the street and demand Fansler’s resignation:
Another one of the Alaska Democratic Party and Gov. Bill Walker’s handpicked legislators is in a world of trouble. This time it’s Rep. Zach Fansler of Bethel.
But the rumors have swirled around the Capitol for three days and Democrats have been huddling after Fansler was the subject of a police report about a violent attack that ruptured the eardrum of a woman, after the two had spent an evening drinking in a bar in downtown Juneau.
The story involves a text message from Fansler that refers to “BDSM,” which stands for Bondage, Domination, Sadomasochism, a sexual lifestyle.
Fansler has denied the attack and has a lawyer speaking for him. He is said to have returned to Bethel for the weekend and is not taking calls.
In happier times, Gov. Bill Walker poses with Reps. Zach Fansler and Dean Westlake. Walker and his henchman John-Henry Heckendorn and associates Jim Lottsfeldt and Robin Brena worked to replace two solid family men with the “swinging singles” of Fansler and Westlake, both who have been found to have serious behavior problems toward women.
FORCED TO ACT
The Democrats have huddled for days on this crisis, missing important meetings. Speaker Bryce Edgmon finally today asked for Fansler’s resignation.
“Credible information came to my attention yesterday afternoon that Representative Fansler had possibly behaved in a manner unbecoming of a legislator. Upon seeking out and verifying further information of the incident and meeting with caucus leadership, I have requested his resignation,” said Edgmon in a statement.
“Zach Fansler is someone I and many others respected and trusted, and who worked hard for his district. His behavior is a betrayal of trust which has created feelings of shock and deep sadness among everyone I have spoken to.
“Along with other members of House Leadership, I am overcome with sympathy and respect for the victim. It takes immense bravery to bring these matters forward. I honor and am deeply grateful for her strength and courage and want to make clear our caucus will not tolerate this behavior,” Edgmon said.
“I understand the matter is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation and do not feel further comment is appropriate at this time,” Edgmon said.
In 2016, the Democrats sought to remove two stable family men — Rep. Bob Herron of Bethel and Rep. Benny Nageak of Barrow. To take them out, they hired John-Henry Heckendorn. Heckendorn is now the governor’s campaign manager who is being paid with State funds as a “top aide” — one whose only real job is to get Walker re-elected.
John-Henry Heckendorn and Gov. Bill Walker participate in the “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event in Anchorage last April, shortly after Heckendorn joined the governor’s official staff to work on his re-election campaign. The event was to bring awareness to rape, sexual assault, and gender violence.
Heckendorn and his Ship Creek Group in Anchorage savaged Herron and Nageak for caucusing with the majority Republicans, as rural Democrats quite often do.
Even former Sen. Mark Begich threw his support to Fansler:
By replacing them with “swinging singles” Fansler and Westlake, and with three turncoat Republicans (Gabrielle LeDoux, Paul Seaton, and Louise Stutes), the Democrats were able to take over control of the House of Representatives.
But in December, things began to unravel. Westlake was forced to resign after he sexually harassed numerous women, and was discovered to have fathered a child with an underage girl.
Now, Fansler is accused of a violent attack against a woman. It appears the attack took place on Jan. 13, before the legislature gaveled into session. He was photographed marching in the women’s march seven days later.
Rep. Charisse Millett, House Minority leader said, “I’m sickened. My heart breaks at the news that another woman has been victimized. The details of the report were graphic, unsettling and difficult to read. Reports of dating violence, sexual assault and harassment must not be tolerated anytime, anyplace and by any person, no matter their position or title. While I do not know who this victim is, I commend her for not remaining silent. My thoughts and prayers are with the victim recovering from her attack.”
Millett described her heart as heavy. “We are living in a critical time during history, the culture of harassment and assault needs to end. We respect this victim, and all victims, for having fortitude, strength and courage to report abuse. House Republicans look forward to the day when this type of action is no longer occurring.”
Last May, Fansler scolded Rep. David Eastman for remarks he had made about rural Alaska women and abortion:
It appears that Gov. Walker will have another Democratic vacancy to fill in the House. We can only hope that his candidate vetting process has improved.
In Juneau, Republicans hosted two Friday forums with the declared Republican candidates for Alaska governor and lieutenant governor. The candidates answered questions at a luncheon and dinner, with about 180 participants between the two events:
The combined results of an unscientific straw poll conducted at the events are:
GOVERNOR
Mike Dunleavy – 49%
Scott Hawkins – 34%
Rep. Mike Chenault – 14%
Write-Ins – 3%
Michael Sheldon – 0%
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Sen. Kevin Meyer – 66%
Lynn Gattis – 19%
Edie Grunwald – 15%
Stephen Wright – 0%
Republican officers of District E expressed concern this week that Gov. Bill Walker is secretly contacting people of the district to appoint his own replacement for Sen. Mike Dunleavy.
He is contacting people not on the list of three offered to him by Alaska Republican Party district chairs.
Word has leaked that as many as five people have been contacted by the Governor’s Office for an interview. At least one has already told the governor that he prefers to honor the process.
The district officers had already vetted applicants through an organized and transparent process, and offered the governor three names to replace Sen. Mike Dunleavy, who has resigned the Senate in order to run for governor.
The party-recommended three are District 9 Rep. George Rauscher, Todd Smoldon, and Tom Braund. District 9 and 10 met in a combined meeting and considered 11 applicants, interviewed five, and recommended three.
At least 45 people in the party participated in the vetting of applicants, a process that was overseen by Party Chairman Tuckerman Babcock. The participants followed party rules and spent a combined 500 hours on the decision.
“I am deeply concerned that before the governor even interviewed the three people offered by the party, he is contacting others, some of whom did not make the short list. How could this not be seen as disrespectful to the committed volunteers representing the people of District E?” said Babcock.
District E is a conservative stronghold that reaches from Wasilla to Valdez. In 2014, former Gov. Sean Parnell won the district handily with the exception of Talkeetna and Valdez, which is Walker’s hometown.
“While vetting applicants, my district found some to have conflicting interests with various people groups in our district. I am hoping the Governor will pick from our list to avoid such conflicts,” said Carol Carman, Republican Chair for District 9. Carman said the committee worked long hours and submitted their names in a timely manner to the governor.
But the governor has shown a proclivity to ignore party recommendations and pick his own. After Democrat Rep. Dean Westlake resigned his seat in December, the governor ignored the three names recommended by the Democratic Party and chose a Kotzebue resident — not even a Democrat — who had not even applied for the District 40 seat.
That appointment came on Thursday, and the House Democrats, who have been embracing unaffiliated candidates in order to win elections, approved the governor’s choice of John Lincoln.
The Republican Party State Central Committee is meeting in Juneau today and is weighing a resolution to scold the governor for disprespecting the process.
It appears the Governor’s Office has lent the Alaska State Seal to a group of Alaska nonprofits fighting the Pebble Mine.
The group of anti-mining interests put out a long series of statements today praising the EPA decision to slow-walk any mining in Bristol Bay.
The State Seal was included like a logo along with the other logos.
The question is, did the lieutenant governor lose control of the State Seal?
One of his main jobs is to protect the seal, but it looks like it’s being used in an improper capacity, yet with the governor’s quotes and the contact information for his press secretary
The State Seal implies the joint statement is an official document of the state, which is why guarding it is a constitutional duty, an oath sworn by the lieutenant governor. Here is what Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott allowed to go out today:
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
The issue is not that the governor has an opinion on Pebble, but the mining prospect is on State land, and by opposing Pebble so vigorously along with groups that could eventually sue the state, Walker is putting the regulatory authority of the state into legal jeopardy.
Must Read Alaska wonders if this is what “guarding the State Seal” looks like.
