Page 1676 – Must Read Alaska

What pink slips? House Resources holding climate change hearing

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May 25, 2017

*Rep. Andy Josephson and Rep. Geran Tarr co-chair the House Resources Committee and are holding a hearing on their bill to establish a climate change commission in the Office of the Governor.*

NEED A SLUSH FUND? CREATE A COMMISSION

There may be a fiscal crisis in the State of Alaska, but that’s not stopping House Democrats from doing what Democrats like to do: add new agencies and even more taxes to fund them.

Next Wednesday, the day before pink slips are sent to thousands of State of Alaska employees, the House Natural Resources Committee, led by Reps. Geran Tarr and Andy Josephson, will hold a hearing on one of their favorite projects: Creating a commission on climate change within the Office of the Governor.

The cost for such a commission would be paid for with a tax of 1 cent on every barrel of oil through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System.

That equates to $5,000 a day, or $1.825 million per year, at current production levels.

The Tarr-Josephson bill, HB 173, establishing the Alaska Climate Change Response Commission, will be heard at 1 pm, May 31 in Room 124 of the Capitol. It will be teleconferenced.

By then, the Legislature will have blown through 14 days of a special session called by the governor to pass a budget and create a funding plan for that budget.

Neither of those tasks have been completed, and the Legislature has basically disassembled for the long Memorial Day weekend.

Both Tarr and Josephson have been assigned to the House Democrats’ side of the conference committee on HB 111, which seeks to change taxes and tax credits on barrels of oil. It’s a critical piece of legislation that has had versions pass both the House and Senate. Neither Tarr nor Josephson has agreed to meet in conference committee on that legislation until after Memorial Day.

Tarr and Josephson’s plan to use special session time on their commission bill drew swift rebuke from Sen. Cathy Giessel, who chairs the Senate Resources Committee.

“Alaska is in a recession. Our economy is hampered by our government’s unstable public finances. While multi-billion dollar questions await answers, the State House decided today was a good time to advance an environmentalist agenda.”

Her vice-chair, Sen. John Coghill of North Pole, echoed the sentiment.

MAJOR COMMISSION, MINOR EXPECTATIONS

The Climate Change Commission would be made up of 15 members, including five state commissioners and nine elected municipal officials from around the state. An executive director would be hired to advance the commission’s agenda, and the primary work product of the commission would be to seek grants, aid, and other financing to assist rural communities.

The commission would become part of the Governor’s Office. It would apply for grants for agencies and tribes.

“The federal government has spent about $38 billion on climate change, directly and through aid, since 2003. Globally, public and private entities spend about $392 billion per year on climate change financing. Alaska is missing out on these opportunities due to a lack of a dedicated office, an assistance program, or governmental spending on the upfront costs of securing climate change aid,” Tarr and Josephson said in their sponsor statement.

Beyond grant writing, the commission would monitor climate change, consult with experts, publish reports, coordinate with the University of Alaska, advance green technology, reach out to non-profits and rural communities, and seek out ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the public and private sectors, the sponsors say.

It will develop a program to distribute money from a climate change response fund that it will amass, according to Tarr and Josephson.

But the kicker is how the commission would be funded. A new tax on oil would be created. Called a surcharge, this one-cent tax would be added onto the tax already dedicated to the Spill Prevention and Response Fund, which has received $2 million per year over the past four years.

The Climate Change Response Fund will have a limit of $50 million after which the surcharge will not be collected, the sponsors say.

How that $50 million would be spent is not specified, but it appears to be a type of slush fund that the Governor’s Office would use to send people to conferences and travel around the state, with no deliverables required. The 15 commissioners would earn per diem and travel, but would not otherwise receive compensation.

The bill is supported by dozens of established environmental groups and new protest groups that have formed in response to the electoral losses of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Those groups include Indivisible Alaska, Alaskans Stronger Together, March on Fairbanks, Our Revolution Alaska, and Take Action Skagway.

The support documents for the bill include no information on what the carbon footprint of the commission itself would be, for its offices and well-funded airline travel budget, should it pass both House and Senate.

Sticker shock: The insurance costs Obama didn’t want you to see

Suzanne Downing

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May 25, 2017

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Sticker shock: The insurance costs Obama didn’t want you to see

Alaskans saw their health insurance rates triple under Obamacare. They pay more than twice the national average for insurance on the government’s health insurance marketplace.

After years of offering incomplete and misleading information on the true costs to consumers of the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report this week showing that Americans using the government’s marketplace pay nearly $3,000 more in annual premiums now than they did before President Obama signed his signature legislation into law.

It’s not as though they have a choice — the law mandates they buy insurance.

Alaskans are the outliers in the report in terms high premiums, but the report shows costs rising in most states.

In 2013, Alaskans paid an average of $344 for individual health insurance. Now, they pay $1,041, or nearly $700 more per month. The national average is $476.

The HHS survey did a deep dive into the true costs of the government mandate by looking at 39 states that use the federally run health insurance marketplace. All states using the marketplace have seen costs rise, and the average increase is more than double what it was in 2013. The highest premium increase wasn’t Alaska, however, but Alabama, with premiums rising 222 percent. But Alaska is still the highest cost insurance market by far.

President Obama promised that the Affordable Care Act would drive rates down.

“So when you hear about the Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — and I don’t mind the name because I really do care. That’s why we passed it. You should know that once we have fully implemented, you’re going to be able to buy insurance through a pool so that you can get the same good rates as a group that if you’re an employee at a big company you can get right now — which means your premiums will go down,” Obama said after signing Obamacare into law.

Obamacare passed on strictly a party-line vote in a Democrat-controlled Congress using “budget reconciliation” sleight-of-hand to overcome a Senate filibuster. Now, as Republicans try to figure out how to unwind problems of affordability, access, and fairness, public opinion is mixed.

Some 54 percent of Americans disapprove of Obamacare, with 44 percent approving, according to a Pew Research Center national survey done just a year ago.

But an NBC/Wall Street Journal survey reports a different view in February of 2017.

When asked the question in a different way, more people supported Obamacare. This poll asked whether Barack Obama’s health care plan was a good or bad idea. With that question, 45 percent responded that it’s a good idea, and 41 percent said it’s a bad idea.

The change in opinion may not be a result of better or more affordable care. In fact, competition has declined dramatically.

While Obama claimed that the use of emergency rooms would decrease if people had health insurance, the opposite has occured, according to HHS Director Tom Price.

By law, emergency rooms cannot turn patients away, and they have been used by the poor and uninsured as a primary health care provider as well as a provider of last resort, even for minor conditions that could be handled more inexpensively through a doctor’s office.

A 2015 survey of more than 2,000 emergency-room doctors showed that 75 percent of doctors reporting increased usage since Obamacare went into effect.

Why? Medicaid patients aren’t being seen by doctors because government reimbursements are too low. They go to emergency rooms to get their care, just like they did before.

WHAT’S IN THE NEW AHCA PLAN?

President Donald Trump identified Obamacare as one of his top domestic priorities, and the House has recently passed the American Health Care Act, which now faces Senate scrutiny and, almost certainly, big changes.

The AHCA, as currently written, repeals the mandates for purchasing insurance, and makes significant other changes, but retains the current health insurance marketplace system, open enrollment time periods, and special enrollment periods.

The current version of the law also creates state patient and stability funds, to help states provide financial help to high-risk individuals, similar to what the Alaska Legislature did last year when it dedicated $55 million to help contain skyrocketing Obamacare costs in Alaska.

AHCA changes the premium tax credits and applies credits to coverage sold outside of exchanges, as well as to catastrophic policies. In 2020, the tax credits are adjusted for age, and phased out at income levels between $75,000 and $115,000. This part of AHCA is in contention, since it hurts the middle class the most.

The new law changes the Medicaid expansion structure into block grants for states, which could adversely affect Alaskan adults who are in the Medicaid expansion pool of working-age Alaskans. And, depending on how the block grant program is structured, it could result in sharply higher Medicaid budgets for high cost states like Alaska.

In 2015, Gov. Bill Walker used his executive power to expand Medicaid to what he said would be 40,000 additional Alaskans. But fewer than 25,000 Alaskans enrolled in the expansion.

Walker was the last governor to sign onto Obama’s Medicaid expansion, which covers adults who earn up to 38 percent more than the federally recognized poverty level. Thirty-one states expanded Medicaid during the Obama presidency.

So, while many Americans think that Obama’s intentions were good in theory, most are aware that the massive program was so badly designed that its goal of reducing costs has completely backfired, with the middle class left holding the bag. Nowhere is this more the case than in Alaska.

The long arm of federal overreach catches renown ornithologist

Suzanne Downing

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May 25, 2017

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ALASKAN RUNS AFOWL OF FEDERAL AGENCY

In 2008, Henry Springer was an Alaskan of epic proportions in the scientific and engineering worlds. The University of Alaska Board of Regents and the University of Alaska Museum of the North honored the longtime Alaskan — not as the engineer, former legislator, or construction industry leader, or even as a Board of Game member.

They hailed his work as an accomplished ornithologist.

They loved him so much, in fact, that they named the University of Alaska Fairbanks museum’s ornithology lab after him: The Henry Springer Ornithology Lab, as it’s known today.

Less than 10 years later, Springer is no longer lionized. He has accepted a plea on multiple charges of alleged smuggling.

Smuggling dead birds, of all things. Felonies.

The list of offenses involves 48 bird specimens that he possessed in violation of the Migratory Birds Treaty Act. Springer has over 6,000 specimens in his collection, which has taken a lifetime to amass.

According to the search warrant, Springer had purchased the 48 birds on eBay, using the university’s federal permit. He also imported specimens from Peru, the feds said. Because of the plea deal, the public will never know which of the charges were legitimate, or if Springer was just being picked on by federal agents with too much time on their hands.

STORIED CAREER

Born in West Germany, Springer came to America first as an exchange student to Pennsylvania, and then came for good, and moved to the “wilds of Alaska” before statehood in 1959. He was just 23.

His career included being commissioner for the Alaska Department of Transportation, where his photo hangs on the wall in Juneau. He was also elected to the Alaska House of Representatives for Nome, serving one term in the late 80s. He became president of the Associated General Contractors of Alaska, representing the commercial builders of Alaska.

But those were career achievements. For his avocation, Springer was a self-taught ornithologist, who for more than four decades worked with the UAF museum’s ornithology department — giving of his time, talent, and treasure to add to its bird specimen collection. It’s become one of the top collections in the world, due in no small part to his efforts.

Springer was a hunter, taxidermist, carver, and artist — an old-school Alaskan with authentic credentials.

A decade ago, the museum’s bird curator Kevin Winker described Springer as “a classic 19th century naturalist” who was not only a talented taxidermist but an expert on international permitting for the transportation of bird specimens. He was a member of the American Ornithologists Union, the Wilson Society, the Cooper Society and the Audubon Society.

During the dedication ceremony for the museum lab’s renaming, Springer donated four more specimens: A passenger pigeon, which has been extinct for more than 100 years, a Socorro dove, now only found in zoos, a mourning dove, and an eared dove.

*Depiction of a pigeon shoot northern Louisiana, (Smith Bennett, 1875)*

“It’s almost impossible for a collection like ours to add historically important research material without contributions like Henry’s,” Winker said. “The value to science and education is huge.”

Flash forward to 2014, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service obtained a 41-page search warrant application to investigate whether Springer was using the museum’s permits to illegally smuggle bird specimens for his extensive private collection, which was said to have 6,000 birds. Fish and Wildlife alleged he bought 48 specimens in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

During his arraignment last August, Springer pleaded not guilty on all 20 of the ultimate charges that the Federal government had on him. The trial was to take place in district court in Gainesville, Florida, and he’s already had to start showing up for pre-trial proceedings.

Now, three years later, Springer is 80 years old and not willing to fight a long list of charges. He is copping a plea. Yes, it’s possible that during his lifetime of collecting there might be a technical violation, but to him it is not worth spending the rest of his life fighting it.

After lots of soul searching, Springer decided it just wasn’t worth it to fight any more. He decided to take the plea bargain being offered instead of going through what would be a costly trial.

Did he cut some corners in service of the old-Alaska school of getting important things done? Things that matter to people and also to nature? Things that he has accomplished his entire life? Perhaps. We don’t know. And once the judge accepts the deal, we may never know.

The prosecution offered to drop most of the charges and limit it to three counts that he would plead guilty to: In connection to imported birds he would be guilty of conspiracy, violation of the Lacey and Migratory Bird Acts, smuggling and import violations.

When the deal is done, Henry Springer will be a convicted felon. He’ll probably avoid jail time, and he’ll have to give over the birds in question. And he’ll have a probation officer for a while.

Of course, this is all up to a judge in Florida. The next phase has plenty of peril for Springer, because an officer of the court will interview him, before making a recommendation to the Florida judge. Springer will have to appear in Gainesville for sentencing. The judge has the final say. He could, technically, go to jail.

Why would Springer accept such a harsh deal? It is a question of money. He knows if he goes to trial it will cost him as much as $100,000 to fight for his reputation. With so many charges against him, it’s pretty certain a jury would find him guilty of something — and he’d still be a felon in the end.

He also has his family to think about, and his health. He’s fought cancer during the past few years, even while fighting these accusations, and he wants to make sure his wife, who is much younger than him, is taken care of should he die first.

It all comes down to interpretation of the laws — and laws and interpretations of them change. Also, there’s the question of prosecutorial discretion unique to the jurisdiction of the regional U.S. attorney. It is a politically driven calculation, especially in the current era.

Although Springer stands firm that nothing he did was for his own personal gain, he also knows that with the complexity and variability of international and national laws, regulations, and the whims of bureaucrats, a person can make mistakes. He just wants it all behind him.

PARALLELS TO THE GIBSON GUITAR FACTORY RAID

The Springer case brings to mind the raid on Gibson Guitars by a paramilitary wing of U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

Federal agents, with automatic weapons on their hips, entered the company’s Nashville plant in 2009 to look for hardwood that the guitar maker had allegedly brought into the country.

*The Gibson Guitar plant is raided by armed federal Fish and Wildlife Service officers.*

The Department of Justice said that using rosewood from India to manufacture guitars is illegal according to India’s laws, unless it’s finished by Indian workers.

The U.S. agency was enforcing its interpretation of laws of other countries, India in this case.

The federal government executed four search warrants and seized several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars.

Gibson maintains that the wood seized was verified as legal “FSC Controlled Wood,” from a certified supplier in accordance with Forest Stewardship Council. It was not illegally harvested or imported, the company said.

Gibson, with its reputation on the line, vowed to fight the charges. But even they succumbed, settled for $250,000, a $50,000 payoff to an environmentalist groups, and more than $2 million in legal fees. And who is to say what the untold cost to the company was for not only the shut down during the raid, but the damage to the corporate brand.

If a strong company like Gibson had to settle against the heavy boot of the feds, how could Henry Springer have stood a chance?

A LIFETIME OF ADVENTURE AND ACCOMPLISHMENT

Henry Springer, who is but one man who was on a mission to build the UAF museum’s ornithology collection, can’t fight the government at his age and in his health. Instead, he’ll settle for a felony, if it means he can work on restoring his health again.

But those who know Springer will always know him as much more than this dust-up with the federal government.

Back during the pipeline era, the State of Alaska tasked Springer with supervising the pipe hauling and distribution for all the pipe that made up the Trans Alaska Pipeline System.

Before that, he was in charge of building much of the infrastructure Alaskans still use today, including the bridges at Hurricane Gulch and the Nenana Canyon on the Parks Highway.

More of his incredible life and times were documented here by Alaska business writer Shehla Anjum. It is worth a read, as Alaskans consider whether the University Museum should peel his name off the lab door, or leave it there as a warning to others about how perilous the scientific field can be in an era of zealous federal authority.

Straight Outta Juneau: Won’t back down on income tax

Suzanne Downing

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May 24, 2017

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Straight Outta Juneau: Won’t back down on income tax

Photo of Alaska House Democrats with their arms folded, looking at camera. — Special Session: The taxing House Democrat-led majority posted this photo this week to show their determination to stand tall for taxing working Alaskans. Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux of Anchorage was missing.

‘WE WON’T LEAVE UNTIL WE TAX YOU’:

One week from tomorrow, pink slips will go out to 20,000 or more state employees. They are being told by the Governor and the House Democrat-led majority, that unless Republicans cave on income taxes, they’ll take this budget to the brink.

The Democrats’ strategy is to prevent passage of the state budget for 2018 unless they get an income tax to skim as much as $700 million from working Alaskans.

Rep. Chris Birch, a Republican from South Anchorage, posted on his Facebook page earlier today: “Disappointed that the House Democratic Majority has made up their collective mind to send out pink slips to state employees next Thursday, June 1st. By slow rolling the budget and conference committees, killing time on non-fiscal issues, and insisting on a job killing income tax on Alaskans, House Majority Democrats are purposefully running out the clock.”

Birch was referring to the newest bill in town, HB 159, which the governor introduced as part of the Special Session, and which has nothing to do with the fiscal crisis. At 30 pages, it is a bill that would create databases for opioid prescriptions and licenses. Although opioid use is a serious problem in Alaska and the rest of the country, Birch expressed doubt that it should be at the top of the list for special session at a time when the Legislature’s only duty is to pass a budget.

“Given the crushing impact addictions have had on our families, friends, neighbors and Alaskans I welcome the debate but would have preferred first engaging this subject last January,” Birch wrote.

At the end of the first week of special session, little work has been done in Juneau on either an operating budget, or much of anything else. Most Republican lawmakers have returned to their districts because no meetings are scheduled, and those legislators who stay, such as Justin Parish of Juneau, are getting $250 a day in per diem. For guys like Parish, this is the dream job of a lifetime. Last year, salary and per diem gave lawmakers between $10,590 and $11,610 per month during session.

The word throughout the political circles are that no work will be scheduled until after Memorial Day. That will leave lawmakers with about 15 days to finish, or the governor can and probably will call a second special session.

June 1, however, will most likely come and go with no budget passed, since House Democrats and the governor are insisting on an income tax and no meaningful budget cuts — in fact, the House budget is $200 million larger than the one the governor proposed back in December. And Senate Republicans have said that the income tax is their Hamburger Hill: They’ll defend it no matter what the personal or political cost to them.

That means pink slips go out on June 1. And, as Must Read Alaska Senior Contributor Art Chance has written on these pages, without a passed-and-signed budget, State government ceases to exist on July 1.

Budgets, taxes, and other addictions

Suzanne Downing

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May 24, 2017

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If it seems quiet this week in legislative news, that’s because the focus is on negotiations taking place in conference committees on several of the items on Gov. Bill Walker’s call for special session.

Conference committees are where legislators hammer out differences between the versions of bills passed by the House and Senate. Here is the list so far:

HB 57 – Operating Budget

HB 59 – Mental Health Budget

SB 26 – Permanent Fund restructuring (use of earnings to pay for government, and set amount for dividends)

HB 111 – Oil tax credits, was changed by the Senate to end the program altogether, and this will need to be worked out in conference committee.

HB 60 or SB 25 – Motor fuel tax, still undergoing committee work.

HB 159 or SB 79 Opioid legislation, HB 159 passed the House on May 22 and now returns to the Senate.

Income tax? – The governor has asked for a broad-based tax on his call for Special Session, but has not offered one.

On Tuesday, the House Democrat-led leadership appointed Reps. Geran Tarr and Andy Josephson, both Anchorage Democrats, to represent the majority on the HB 111 conference committee. The Republican House minority will be represented by Rep. Dave Talerico of Healy.

Senate President Pete Kelly is expected to appoint three Senate members to the HB 111 conference committee but the committee isn’t expected to meet until after Memorial Day weekend.

ANOTHER TAX COMING? Gov. Walker insisted it’s either an income tax or an income tax. His first tax, offered last year, would have raised $200 million a year, but would have required hiring up to 60 new revenue officers. His latest tax, HB 115, would have garnished closer to $700 million from wage earners. The fiscal note for funding tax collectors on that bill, which involves a complicated system of tax brackets, is unclear as it was voted down by the Senate.

Walker, for two years, has pursued an income tax, but has met with resistance. But this year there was a hitch — he didn’t offer an income tax under his own name. Not even for Special Session.

After all, that’s what Rep. Paul Seaton of Homer is for.

Walker also predicted, through Revenue Commissioner Randy Hoffbeck, that pipeline throughput oil will drop 12 percent next year. Yes, those were bad numbers, he admitted…”stale numbers.”

Then Commissioner Hoffbeck mysteriously found a spare $111 million in an oil production estimate. No word on where or how he found it, but that’s about half of what Walker’s first income tax bill would have provided.

Walker told Alaskans it’s math — workers need an income tax because of “the math.”

We did the math: 34 legislators are on record as disagreeing with the governor on income taxes. That 56 percent of legislators is on track with the Alaska Chamber of Commerce poll that found 58 percent of Alaskans feel the same way.

Is an income tax dead? In the infamous words of Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, “If the Senate thinks they’re going to get out of here with just a POMV [Permanent Fund restructure], they’ve got another think coming.”

But in the infamous words of Sen. President Pete Kelly: “The only thing standing between Alaskans and an income tax is the Alaska Senate.”

ADDICTED TO TAXES? Alaska is one of seven states without an income tax. Connecticut started its income tax at 4 percent, but converted to six brackets of 3% to 6.7%. Now, the Nutmeg State has a bigger budget gap than ever, with the worst fiscal shape in the nation. Add to that this problem: The wealthy people are leaving. Will they raise taxes again? Alaskans should take heed.

Homer recall election goes forward, says judge

Suzanne Downing

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May 24, 2017

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*Homer City Council members facing recall: Donna Aderhold, Catriona Reynolds, David Lewis.*

The recall election in Homer, Alaska may proceed, according to an Anchorage Superior Court judge.

The lawsuit by three Homer City Council members, who sought to avoid facing voters in a special recall election, came before the court on Monday.

By Tuesday, Judge Erin Marston had filed his ruling: The three city council members who claimed that a recall election would violate their “free speech rights” were sent back to Homer to face the music with the voters.

Not to go all constitutional on you, but the voter-centric language in this ruling is worth a good look.

“The statute provides the electorate with the ability to recall elected officials for cause, but requiring ‘misconduct in office’ to be criminal conduct overly limits the statute and would deny the voters’ right to effectively seek recall of their elected officials. It would also not be a ‘liberal construction’ of the statute,” Marston wrote. He meant liberal with a small “l”.

“Plaintiffs also argue [that] the petitions reference ‘unfitness’ and unfitness is not grounds to recall a municipal official. However, this interpretation ignores the language of the recall as a whole as well as the intent of the petitions. ‘Unfit’ versus ‘committed misconduct in office’ is not decisive here. Misconduct is referenced in the recall petitions. To reject the petitions for this small distinction would be to ignore the Supreme Court’s direction to liberally construe the statute and not to create ‘artificial pleading barriers.’

“Plaintiffs claim the certification of these recall petitions is an impermissible restriction on their Constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression. Defendant and Intervenor argue that certification of the petitions does not constitute state action for First Amendment purposes. Alternatively, they argue that these protections do not protect Plaintiffs from the regular functioning political process,” the judge continued.

Judge Marston was not buying it. “Here the City of Homer Clerk is administratively doing what she was legally required to do by the recall statutes,” he wrote.

“These are not recall petitions drafted by the City of Homer; they were prepared and filed by private citizens exercising their rights under AS 29.26.250. First Amendment protections against abridgement of speech by the federal or state government do not apply to actions by private citizens. The City of Homer did nothing to suppress speech.

“It is not what the Alaska Constitution and statutes contemplated and it is an unreasonable interpretation of the law”. – Judge Erin Marston

“To conclude that anytime a recall petition is based in part or in whole on what a politician said is protected by the First Amendment would be to eviscerate the recall statute to such an extent that the populace would almost never be able to seek recall of any of their elected officials. It is not what the Alaska Constitution and statutes contemplated and it is an unreasonable interpretation of the law. The recall statutes contemplate a political process initiated by the voters. Elected officials cannot exempt themselves from the process by claiming First Amendment protections.”

The American Civil Liberties Union attorney, Eric Glass, represented the three council members.

“It’s important to remember that, in Alaska, elected officials cannot be subjected to recall simply for a political disagreement but instead can only be subjected for recall for cause,” he argued during Monday’s trial. He did not, evidently, convince the judge that the ACLU should be the determiner of what “cause” is.

That right there was the crux of the matter. Do voters determine misconduct and unfitness for office, or do ACLU and their attorneys make those distinctions?

*Kesha Etzwiler, Jill Hockema, and Sarah Vance, and about 10 other Homer citizens attended the hearing in Anchorage on Monday. They support the recall election.*

The recall effort started after the three worked privately to craft an official city resolution that was “anti-Trump Administration” in nature, and was attempting to have Homer designated a “sanctuary city” that would shelter illegal immigrants. A later draft of that resolution was voted down by the council, even though it had been watered down to be an affirmation of Homer as a welcoming city to all.

The recall alleges the three council members are unfit for office. It also alleges misconduct, claiming damage was done when the draft of the resolution about “inclusivity” was made public.

[Read: Smoking gun: Homer council members intended to create sanctuary city]

[Read: Homer city council to considered softened language after blowback]

Sen. Sullivan gets grilled by left-leaning mob at town hall

Suzanne Downing

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May 21, 2017

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*Crowd gathers for Sen. Dan Sullivan’s town hall meeting. (Photo screen shot from Twitter account of former ADN editor Pat Dougherty.)*

COMMENTARY AND OBSERVATIONS: LOTS OF BERNIE VOTERS

The auditorium at Bartlett High School was filled and the crowd lined the walls for Sen. Dan Sullivan’s Anchorage town hall meeting. Most of the more than 600 attendees were activists representing Planned Parenthood, teachers unions, the Alaska Democratic Party, and the Democratic Socialists of Anchorage. An opposition tracker was observed video recording the entire exchange.

They found no redeeming qualities in the senator who had come came before them at their demand. They showed him little respect, and many of them seemed to want to outdo each other with their shouted invectives.

The town hall was not going to be civil, that was evident from the start.

*Left-leaning activists such as the Democratic Socialists did a good job getting their people to the town hall. Conservatives mainly stayed away.*

But the Marine at the front of the room treated the audience with respect. Although taunted, he didn’t insult them when they yelled out that he was “racist” or a “liar.” He acted as though they were mature adults who could be reasoned with.

About 25 members of the audience were in his court, but by-and-large, this was a hostile town hall and played into the hands of the Indivisible movement that was born of frustrated Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders voters.

Attendees were given green and red cards to use to show their approval or disapproval of the senator’s remarks, which opened with about 25 minutes of comments.

When he wasn’t interrupted by boos, jeering laughter or taunting insults (“You’re not from here, go back to where you came from!”) Sullivan spoke to the importance of the American economy, national security, and especially about tackling the opioid crisis in Alaska.

The remaining hour was devoted to questions from the audience, which were not prescreened, but drawn at random.

Some questions pertained to health care. Sullivan made it clear that the American Health Care Act passed by the House of Representatives still needs work, and the Senate’s version will be vastly different.

The crowd roared “Single payer!”

Sullivan tackled that issue head on: “I’m pretty sure I’m going to get the biggest amount of red cards for this, but single payer is not a workable option for me.”

If showing up was an act of courage, so were his instincts: The red cards went up.

Questioners from the audience frequently demanded a yes or no answer to their questions, and that demand was supported by the people in the stands. When asked if he supports keeping Medicaid expansion, Sullivan went into an explanation about the unique characteristics of the population covered by Obamacare Medicaid expansion: They are able-bodied adults. They are far over the poverty line. They do not have children. They have the ability to work.

Sullivan’s answer was met with even more verbal abuse.

One audience member asked the senator, in all sincerity, to tone down the rhetoric around health care. That person, however, didn’t give Sullivan the courtesy of allowing him to respond without ridicule.

Mr. Whitekeys asked the senator, a Marine standing in front of a nearly universally hostile audience, if he had the courage to vote in the best interest of Alaska. Whitekeys is a bar singer and comedian in Anchorage who makes a specialty of skewering politicians, particularly Republicans.

Red cards waved when Sullivan pointed out that the reduction in greenhouse emissions former President Barack Obama touted came primarily from natural gas development.

But perhaps the harshest reaction from the audience came from people who shouted down Sullivan for pointing out, correctly, that for many Alaskans, the biggest threat to the economy is the cost of health care, which was made worse by Obamacare.

Throughout the event, Sullivan was self-deprecating and deft at diffusing tensions, handling the situation with grace and dignity.

Sullivan’s staff may prefer to characterize the crowd as “spirited,” but this observer will stick with “raucous” and “disrespectful.”

At the conclusion, around 35 people rose to applaud him for his efforts. The activists were already moving to the exits to wave their signs at the departing motorists.

One observer was reminded of a James Madison quote in Federalist Paper 63, which said, “Such an institution (the Senate) may be sometimes necessary as a defense to the people against their own temporary errors and delusions.”

The wisdom of the quote was proven throughout the evening; statesmanship was in short supply, but had a quorum of 1.

Light at the end of the tunnel? That’s a train

Suzanne Downing

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May 19, 2017

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Photo of author Art Chance — *Art Chance*

OUR SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR PONDERS THE GAME OF CHICKEN

By ART CHANCE

To no one’s surprise, there was no budget at the end of the regular legislative session on May 17.

To my slight surprise, the governor immediately called for a special session to begin at 11 am on May 18.

I thought he’d wait a bit to let the Legislature stew some and to put more time pressure on them.

The Legislature has 12 days to agree to an operating budget or layoff notices must go out to most State employees on June 1^st for an impending layoff effective at 12:01 am on July 1.

Many other employers reliant on State funds will also begin issuing layoff notices.

The ferry system will begin to put up notices of potential cancellations of sailings.

The State-operated airports will also give notices of a potential cessation of operations.

Both the ferries and the airports have some program revenue with which they could continue at least limited operations, but they have no authorization to spend program receipts absent an authorizing appropriation. Then it gets serious.

Jim Duncan, a former legislator and commissioner of administration and now the business manager of the 8,000-odd member Alaska State Employees Association, tried to sound optimistic in his remarks for the Rogoff Rag. He acknowledged that the pink slips are likely to go out, although he predicts it will be resolved with a compromise before July 1.

I don’t know how honest Jim was really being, but he needs to put on a brave face because his members will panic when they get those notices.

As July 1 gets closer, the unions will begin encouraging their members to cash in leave. The union-owned Walker Administration will cooperate with that, though it shouldn’t, but the State doesn’t appropriate for leave, so many agencies may have difficulty paying for leave cash outs this close to the end of the fiscal year.

Supplemental appropriations are on the call for a special session so some agencies may already be out of money. The State pays two weeks behind, so if employees get laid off on July 1, they’re entitled to one more pay check for the last two weeks of June. Some are on different schedules and may have a different pay schedule, but pretty much all will be entitled to one more pay check and that’s it.

The State is self-insured for unemployment insurance but I don’t know how it would get paid or who would be working to process the claims. The Department of Labor has program receipts so it could keep some operations going, but like the ferries and airports, it won’t have an authorizing appropriation on July 1.

This is unknown territory. So far as I know, the State has never before reached the end of the fiscal year without some sort of authorization to operate. Unless an accommodation is reached between the House, Senate, and Governor, the government of the State of Alaska virtually ceases to exist on July 1.

There may be some appropriated but unexpended capital funds that don’t revert to the General Fund, but the State can’t buy anything, or pay for anything, and unlike the federal government there is no way to assure continuity of operation of even the most vital services.

Democrats have made much of “throwing Granny over the cliff” in federal shutdowns. In a State shutdown, there won’t be anybody at work to throw her over the cliff or keep her from going over it on her own because the most vital State services are paid for almost entirely from general funds.

At 12:01 am on July 1 the Alaska State Troopers cease to exist, as do the courts, the State lawyers, including State paid defense attorneys, and the prisons. Many, probably most, of these employees would come to work on faith that they would eventually be paid, but they cannot be compelled to if there is no money to pay them.

The Pioneers’ Homes, API, the juvenile detention centers, the welfare offices, the people who handle the Medicaid funding and other funding will be at work only if they’re willing to volunteer and hope that they get paid.

Finally, there is no assurance whatsoever that the unions will cooperate with employees working as volunteers; this is after all their bought-and-paid-for Governor and House Majority at loggerheads with the Republican Majority in the Senate.

If the State has done any continuity of operation planning, they’ve been awfully quiet about it. My money is on their not having done any because they’re that confident the Senate will fold.

In the past, there was strike planning, but that always assumes that the most vital functions will not be on strike and there will be at least appointee-level management in place. I suspect those old strike plan books are deep in archives now. No one is left in Labor Relations who was involved in any of it, and I could probably count on my fingers the people left in State government who ever participated in it or had ever seen a layoff notice until Walker made the feint with one a couple of years ago. You couldn’t just open the old notebooks and start following the plan, but they would give a lot of insight into continuity of operation planning.

Duncan expressed his belief that there would be a “compromise,” but it is hard to visualize just what that compromise would look like. Duncan is Alaska AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami’s second in command and his union is the single largest group in the AFL-CIO.

That makes Duncan a principal in the ownership of the governor and the House majority and it is evident the AFL-CIO and its allies will not accept any budget cuts that impact Democrat constituencies, and they will not accept any cuts to the Operating Budget that will result in any reduction in the pay or the numbers of unionized State employees.

So, it appears there cannot be a compromise. The only options are a capitulation by the Senate or a government shutdown; there is no Door C.

Art Chance is a retired Director of Labor Relations for the State of Alaska, formerly of Juneau and now living in Anchorage. He is the author of the book, “Red on Blue, Establishing a Republican Governance,” available at Amazon. He only writes for Must Read Alaska when he’s banned from posting on Facebook. Chance coined the phrase “hermaphrodite Administration” to describe a governor who is both a Republican and a Democrat. This made the Left very mad at him.

Tailings of two cities: Juneau and Treadwell

Suzanne Downing

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May 19, 2017

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Historic photo of men building the road to the Perseverance Mine in Juneau, Alaska in 19908. Tailings from mining created land for a city to grow. — *Building the road to the Perseverance Mine in Juneau in 1908.*

By WIN GRUENING, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

For those who regularly read this column, you may be familiar with my use of Charles Dickens’ references. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens’ most famous work, resurrection is a major theme. In a broad sense, the story foresees a resurrected social order, rising from the ashes of the old one.

While Dickens’ novel is historical fiction, the real-life mining history of Juneau and Treadwell draw interesting parallels. In our community’s version of the story, efforts now underway can help resurrect our long-forgotten gold mining fame to its former glory.

Photo of author Win Gruening — *Win Gruening*

After gold was discovered around Juneau in 1880, several of the most technologically advanced mines in the world were established. These included the Treadwell complex on Douglas Island and the Alaska-Juneau mine located across the Gastineau Channel on the steep mountainside behind Juneau. Both mines, during their respective lives, became the largest low-grade gold mines in the world.

At its height, Treadwell employed over 2,000 people. Five different mills – equipped with 960 stamps – ran continuously 7 days a week. Between 1882 and 1922, over 3 million ounces of gold were extracted. After the mine tunnels caved and flooded 100 years ago, the town of Treadwell never recovered.

The Alaska-Juneau Mine opened in 1897. By its close in 1944 due to manpower shortages, it had produced over $80 million in gold – 11 times the purchase price paid to Russia for Alaska in 1867.

At current gold prices, the mines would be multi-billion dollar companies today. However, the dollar numbers don’t begin to describe how these mines shaped Juneau’s history.

The mines provided most of the employment as well as electrical power and fire protection for their respective towns. Even today, Juneau owes part of its hydroelectric power grid, its water system as well as its extensive trail system to miners who made their living here. Even our visitor industry owes its beginnings to thousands of curious tourists, traveling by steamship to Alaska, who were awed by the wonders of the Treadwell Mine.

According to Alaska-Juneau Mine records, nearly three million tons of AJ rock were used in projects around town. Due to its extreme hardness, along with its non-absorption and compaction qualities, the rock made excellent construction fill.

At the time of settlement of Juneau and Treadwell, Gastineau Channel was characterized by long tidal flats and meandering creek deltas. A very significant impact was how mine tailings were used to augment Juneau’s shore lines, adding acreage and prime real estate.

Before the mines were established, the Juneau shoreline ran along what is now South Franklin Street and Front Street. High tide rose to where the State Office Building now sits along Willoughby Avenue and then further along Glacier Avenue past the high school.

Alaska-Juneau waste rock was placed between the high and low tide line along two miles of Juneau shoreline. Across the channel, Treadwell fine tailings placed on tidelands formed “Sandy Beach” in Douglas where generations of future Juneauites would picnic and play.

By some reports, there were two good reasons for filling in the tide flats. The initial incentive was related to bad smell. Without modern infrastructure, that’s where waste and sewage ended up. Burying them under tons of tailings helped cure that problem.

More importantly, Juneau needed room to expand. Filled tidelands presented opportunities for additional commercial and residential development. Under prior agreements, the fill was provided free of charge. It also was used in construction of modernized streets, the Douglas Bridge, Juneau’s “Rock Dump” industrial area and our airport.

Many facilities in Juneau, including City Hall, Centennial Hall, the Federal Building, and JD High School are built on mine tailings. Approximately one-third of modern Juneau is built on fill from the AJ Mine.

Interestingly, largely due to the unique characteristics of the mined rock, there have been no negative environmental consequences associated with either the AJ or the Treadwell mines.

Today, both mine sites are historical outdoor museums. Underground tours of the AJ workings are available to summer visitors. The Treadwell, maintained as a historic site, contains many artifacts and a few building structures that are being preserved. Interpretative signs and walking tours are provided by the Treadwell Historic Preservation and Restoration Society.

While providing a valuable glimpse into Juneau’s past, these sites may be a herald of our future. The gold is still there and resumption of mining in Juneau is possible.

Our assembly recently voted to appoint a committee to review the current CBJ mining ordinance. Their goal is to standardize and streamline the ordinance to more closely follow the permitting process followed by the Greens Creek Mine and Kensington Mine – two highly successful mines that have significantly added to Juneau’s economic stability.

Mining was once Juneau’s most important industry, it could be again.

Win Gruening retired as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in 2012. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is active in community affairs as a 30-plus year member of Juneau Downtown Rotary Club and has been involved in various local and statewide organizations.

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