PROTESTS PLANNED
Mayor Ethan Berkowitz’ new gasoline tax goes into effect on Thursday, costing motorists 10 cents per gallon more than they will pay before midnight on Wednesday.
For gasoline costing $2.89 per gallon, that’s a 3.5 percent increase at the pump for regular. A 20 gallon tank of gas will cost $2 more.
The gas tax was approved by the Assembly, and it offset a slight reduction in property taxes that came after Anchorage homeowners started voicing opposition to increasing property tax bills that began under the Berkowitz Administration.
The Berkowitz Administration says the gas tax will raise $11-14 million its first year.
The Anchorage municipal budget has exploded since Berkowitz took office, going up from $471 million in 2015 to now over $521 million.
“In reality this is a $531 million budget because they are kicking $10 million in pension liabilities, which are typically accounted for in the budget, to 2019,” Assembly member Amy Demboski explained earlier this year.
To compare, the similarly sized city of Cincinnati, Ohio has an operating budget of $388 million.
The gas tax, supported by every Assembly member except Demboski, is supposed to help increase services for the homeless, as well as pay for employee pay raises and health care benefits.
An average driver will pay $43 more per year in taxes. Last April, the Assembly raised property taxes by 5.3 percent, costing the average homeowner more than $240 more per year. The latest budget rolled half of that increase back, but sent the rest of the bill to drivers.
It spreads the tax out to residents living in the Mat-Su Valley and Girdwood, who commute farther to work than people in the urban core.
Political activist Judy Eledge said she and others will be protesting Thursday and reminding people that their taxes just went up.
“We’re going to show our mayor and Assembly that many of us are struggling to live in a city with a property tax increase of 8 percent in less than four years, and we’re not going to stand for more taxes so the mayor can build more homeless shelters. If he keeps it up, we’ll all be homeless,” she said.
Eledge said that there will be signs available to wave at 442 Gambell Street in Anchorage, near the Tesoro gas station, starting at 8 am on Thursday.
The former mayor of Hoonah, “Kenny Karl” Skaflestad, has filed to run against Sitka’s Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for House District 35.
Skaflestad is Tlingit and Aleut, and works on and off as a commercial fisherman. He attended Petersburg High School and graduated from Juneau-Douglas High School in the 1970s. He has worked in construction as well as being a power troller.
Skaflestad served two terms on Hoonah City Council, helped establish a short-term Chamber of Commerce, the Citizen’s Community Support Team and Hoonah Citizen’s Task Force.
“I began my career in civil construction at a young age,” he said. “Experience in rural Alaska helped me to thrive as Hoonah’s mayor and prompted the founding of the Alaska Hubzone, which is a non-profit corporation serving rural areas. Most of all, the early construction experience developed my strong support for economic development.”
He will focus on jobs and economic growth for the District 35 region that includes places like Kake, Klawock, Thorne Bay, Petersburg, and Sitka.
Incumbent Kreiss-Tompkins dropped out of Yale University to run for legislative office and has not held any other actual job.
The district is evenly split between conservatives and liberals, although Sitka is a liberal stronghold for hometown boy Kreiss-Tomkins, who recently filed legislation to change the Alaska constitutional designation of marriage as between a man and a woman. His earlier legislation was to enshrine 20 Native languages as official languages of the State of Alaska. He has advocated for an income tax along with the Democratic majority that controls the House.
Feted by the mainstream media, Kreiss-Tomkins was featured prominently in Politico for having been recruited by the Alaska Democratic Party to run for House in 2012.
KREISS-TOMKINS BUILDS WAR CHEST FROM SAN FRANCISCO, NEW YORK DONORS
Skaflestad, who filed as a Republican, has some catching up to do in the fundraising department.
Kreiss-Tomkins has a busy online fundraising effort, but of the 56 donors he declared in his recent Feb. 15 required fundraising disclosures, 45 were from out of state; 11 donors were from California and 17 were from the East Coast, including New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Chicago, and Maryland.
Over half of Kreiss-Tomkins donors have not yet disclosed their job titles and/or employers, which is information required by Alaska election laws, and others have not listed their actual home towns, or have listed fake towns, such as Washington, Alaska.
At a conference in Anchorage last week, Congressman Don Young was asked his views on gun control, and Young offered them:
“How many millions of people were shot and killed because they were unarmed? Fifty million in Russia,” Young said. “How many Jews were put in the ovens because they were unarmed?”
The remarks were recorded as opposition research by Anchorage Democrat Dimitri Shein, who is running against Young. Dimitri gave his audio to a willing news reporter.
Alaska Public Media, with a slight side-glance at Young, decided to run with it as a story and used the opposition research audio in their story. The story and audio clip is here.
What are your thoughts on firearms and the Holocaust?
House candidate Anthony Lekanof issued the following statement tonight:
“Following a situation last Friday, I was arrested on suspicion of OUI while attempting to recover my stolen wallet and cell phone from an event I was attending.
“As a candidate for office, I’m aware of what this situation looks like from the outside.
“While some will use this to diminish my campaign and my ability to lead, I hope that, over the coming weeks, I’ll be able to earn back the trust that I may have lost as a result of this decision.
“On the advice of my mentors and campaign team, I’ve chosen to focus on the issues at hand, and will let the process run its course. I greatly appreciate your support and prayers.”
Lekanof is running for House District 18, a seat now occupied by Democrat Harriet Drummond. He is 21 years old and has been a rising force in the Alaska political scene as an Alaska Native and a Republican.
When the Rev. Dr. Billy Graham died last week, some in Alaska thought immediately of his son, Franklin Graham, who has strong ties to the 49th state and who has brought his ministry, Samaritan’s Purse, to remote places like Eagle, Hooper Bay, Galena, Marshall, Nunapitchuk, and Togiak. Through Franklin, Alaskans have come to have close ties with Graham family.
The Samaritans organization rebuilt housing after floods, built churches and youth centers, and brought Christian love and prayer to many far-flung corners of Alaska.
Franklin Graham has traveled to Alaska nearly every summer with Operation Heal Our Patriots, providing faith-based marriage retreats for wounded warriors and their spouses in the Lake Clark retreat center that the organization built for that purpose.
Known world-over for its disaster recovery and rebuild services, Samaritan’s Purse is offspring of the Graham ministry begun by the Rev. Billy Graham some 70 years ago.
Franklin Graham in Togiak, Alaska. (Samaritan’s Purse photo)
Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin is in the process of arranging the final resting place for his father’s remains, which are in repose at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte for two days, where thousands of fellow Christians and his many admirers are paying their respects. The Rev. Graham will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump ordered flags lowered to half-staff at all public buildings on the day of Graham’s interment.
GOVERNOR PARNELL RECALLS MEETING
Former Gov. Sean Parnell recalls meeting Billy Graham several years ago, when as governor he was an invited speaker at a Samaritan’s Purse conference for volunteers.
After the conference, the Parnells — Sean, Sandy, and their daughter Rachel — were asked to come to Billy Graham’s home, which was a modest, cabin-like structure on a beautiful site in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
They entered the home to find Dr. Graham, dressed in a suit and tie, sitting by the fire. He was in his early 90s, Gov. Parnell recalled, and he asked each of them about their lives, and their interests.
“He cared about each one of us as individuals. He was asking about our personal interests, what we enjoyed doing, asking for insights about the people of Alaska, asking about our spiritual life, our own life in Christ,” Parnell told Must Read Alaska.
“Probably the highlight was when he asked Rachel, who was 16 years old at the time, to sit next to him so he could talk with her. He was so focused on her and her interests, asking her about her life and what was important to her and what she wanted to be when she was an adult. And this from a man who had spoken personally — and in crowds — to millions of people in his lifetime. His willingness to engage with a 16-year-old about her life was extraordinarily special,” Parnell said.
“Later, when we were in our own cabin, I asked Rachel what she would remember most about her visit and she said something to the effect (and this she said to her own dad) ‘I’ve never been in the presence of such love before.’ It was being in the presence of God’s love through a man, a human. And for me that really sums it up. He came across as charismatic, but that came out of his own faith — that God so loved him, that He gave His only Son.”
Rachel had also asked Rev. Graham what he was most thankful for in his life.
“He spoke so highly of his wife Ruth who had passed away, and he mentioned how he was looking forward to seeing her again when he himself passed away. That stood out in the meeting — his marriage to her and how he honored her with all of his words,” Parnell said.
“We were with Franklin and his sister Gigi, and both of them were extremely close and loving toward their father. So the love of his wife, and love among his family members, his love for Ruth. — those are memories I will cherish. And if God grants me 99 years, I want to finish my life and be known for loving others,” Parnell said.
Parnell’s former Deputy Chief of Staff Cindy Sims is now the executive assistant to Franklin Graham in Boone, N.C.
Do you get the Monday newsletter in your inbox? If not, here’s your complimentary Feb. 26 edition, a glimpse of what 11,000 Alaskans receive on Monday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter at the right-hand side of this web site.
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The plow-out edition from somewhere in Alaska … Plowing out the mainstream media with Must Read Alaska … Anchorage has the largest municipal operating budget in its history, topping $520 million dollars (up from $474 million in 2015), yet the streets are still knee-deep in the biggest shovel-ready project in the state …At least it’s keeping the car thieves from getting too far with your new truck … But first …
DON YOUNG ON TOUR
Steve Tyler of Aerosmith makes a cameo appearance with Congressman Don Young.
Between Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks, more than 450 Alaskans attended one of three “Young Guns” events celebrating the 45th year of Congressman Don Young as Alaska’s U.S. Representative. In Juneau on Wednesday evening, Sen. Lisa Murkowski gave gracious remarks about the congressman, and Capital City Republicans Paulette Simpson, Andy Mills, and Ben Brown produced a video about Young’s storied life. The video was shown at all three events across the state.
(See if you can spot the photograph of a young mini-skirted Lisa Murkowski, working as an intern in his office).
NATION
PEACE OUT, OLYMPICS
With the Olympics in the rear view mirror, the US and South Korea will announce dates for their next joint military exercises, which had been put on hold. Stay tuned for jets leaving JBER.
STATE DINNER AND A SHOW
Gov. Bill Walker, head shown on far right, listens to President Donald Trump at the White House dinner for governors.
A smaller-than-usual group of governors gathered at the White House for the annual dinner with the president; 36 governors and their spouses attended, including Alaska Gov. Bill Walker and First Lady Donna Walker. Those not attending were Democrats. They’re in D.C. for the National Governors Association meeting.
CONGRESS IN SESSION
The U.S. House gavels in today and considers a resolution to allow the late Rev. Billy Graham’s body to lie “in state” in the Rotunda on Wednesday. H. Con. Res. 107.
The Senate gavels in this afternoon to consider a judicial nominee.
GUN OWNERSHIP IN AMERICA
40 percent of Americans live in households that have guns (62 percent of Alaskans).
48 percent of Americans grew up in a house with a gun.
67 percent of gun owners cite protection as their number one reason for owning one.
Are these numbers understated? Probably. A lot of gun owners are skeptical of polls that question whether they own a gun and how many they own.
PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNION DUES AT SCOTUS
Today, the Supreme Court will take up the case of Mark Janus, who objects to the $45 per month he is forced to pay to the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. Janus doesn’t belong to the public employee union but has to pay dues.
UNIVERSAL INCOME? YOUR TAX DOLLARS NOT AT WORK
Widely shared by the mainstream media (because Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has made basic income his cause) is research coming from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, which says the Alaska Permanent Fund represents a form of universal basic income, and getting it doesn’t cause people to quit their jobs.
Therefore, the research infers, everyone in America should receive a basic a income just for being here.
It’s a shame that publicly funded universities are producing this level of work. Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend has always been highly elastic — it was as little as $330 and as high as $2,072. And with half of it being sequestered now by government, it’s not exactly something people can count on. Alaskans are not going to leave their jobs for $1,000 a year, ($2.74 a day).
STATE
‘CULTURAL APPROPRIATION’ MOMENT OF THE DAY
Juneau’s Rep. Justin Parish and Bethel’s former Rep. Zach Fansler wear traditional kuspuks on the House floor in this file photo. Is it appropriate for these and other non-Iñupiaq to wear kuspuks? Doesn’t it fall under the new liberal crime of “cultural appropriation” of style? We’ll ask the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council for a ruling.
DAN SULLIVAN AT 11
Sen. Dan Sullivan will speak to a joint session of the Legislature at 11 am today. Watch it via internet at 360north.
AN UNFORTUNATE OVERSIGHT … OR SNUB
Normally, the Governor’s Office lowers the flag when a former Alaska legislator passes, but although Joe Hayes, Republican and Speaker of the House from 1981-1983, died on Feb. 16, there has been no mention of it 10 days later by Gov. Bill Walker, who has been in Washington, D.C. for several days and who dined at the White House last night.
Surely Gov. Walker will lower the flag for the late Rev. Billy Graham, whose son Franklin Graham has done so much for Alaska with disaster relief on the Yukon and elsewhere, and restorative retreats for war veterans and their spouses. Surely Walker’s office will say something.
REP. ZULKOSKY
On Thursday evening, House Democrats confirmed Tiffany Zulkosky’s appointment as House District 38’s representative. One of her first orders of business will be to take the sexual harassment training mandated by Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux after former Reps. Dean Westlake and Zach Fansler both got themselves kicked out of the Legislature for inappropriate touching — butt slapping for Westlake, and (upper) cheek slapping for Fansler.
Calendar note: The next training date is Tuesday.
Must Read Alaska is supported by readers like you.
The House Majority has sent up the white flag. Last week Speaker Bryce Edgmon said he doesn’t see how they’ll be done in 90 days. That’s because the Senate doesn’t seem interested in the governor’s proposed budget, which is even larger than what he proposed last year.
POLL IN THE FIELD
There’s a poll being conducted in Alaska. Someone — likely a candidate — wants to know:
1. What you think about these candidates or potential candidates:
(They were read in alphabetical order)
Mark Begich
Mike Chenault
Mike Dunleavy
Scott Hawkins
Lisa Murkowski
Dan Sullivan
Donald Trump
Bill Walker
Don Young
2. Your likelihood to vote next state election.
3. Are you more or less likely to vote for someone who supports or opposes (on a sliding scale):
Income tax
Sales tax
Using a portion of Permanent Fund dividends for state government
Drastically cutting state government costs
Large increases in state spending to fight crime
State funding of abortion
4. If state had to raise funds to balance the budget, which would you prefer:
Income tax
Sales tax
Permanent Fund Dividend
LOCAL
ANCHORAGE
Planned Parenthood is issuing endorsements in school board races with greater frequency, and Tasha Hotch of Anchorage got the latest nod.
Why? Because Planned Parenthood sells sex assistance (contraceptive) kits to schools. Our story from Sunday.
WRANGELLThe City of Wrangell has declared a water shortage and asks residents to cut their water usage by 10-20 percent. Yes, in Wrangell, where the shortage is due to a lack of rain. The measure went into effect Friday and will last indefinitely, or until another deluge hits.
SITKA
Unlike Wrangell, Sitka is looking at a proposal to sell water to Cape Town, South Africa, which is suffering from severe drought. Sitka has a permit from the State to sell 9 billions of gallons of water per year from Blue Lake. Such proposals have gone on for years, and so far, not a drop of water has been sold, but maybe this one is the breakthrough for a thirsty world.
Then JAHC apologized to everyone concerned and said the council should never have let the work of art go in the wearable arts exhibit in the first place. That story is here.
Now, some Juneauites on Facebook are posting a protest on their profiles:
PEOPLE
Weston Eiler left his job in the Legislature, where he worked for Sen. Mia Costello, and now works for Miles Baker, the University of Alaska lobbyist.Grace Jang, former communications director for Gov. Bill Walker, now has the title “Deputy to the Chief of Staff.” At least on her LinkedIn page, if not on the State’s directory.
Sam Kito, Juneau’s representative, made a big stink in the Capitol Building because there were two chairs placed outside his office and people were sitting in them and talking. Kito lost his head and flipped the chairs over.
Andy Pennington, above,is the new publisher of the Anchorage Daily News, coming from Idaho, where he has been publisher and president of Idaho Falls Post Register, Idaho State Publishing in Pocatello, Standard Journal in Rexburg, and Teton Valley News in Driggs.
Kyle Hopkins, once at the Anchorage Daily News, is back at the Anchorage Daily News as special projects reporter. He had been at KTUU, where he had done some outstanding work. Michelle Theriault Boots and Erica Martinson both are back after family leave.
Chris Dimond, above, has filed a letter of intent to run for the House District 33, Juneau downtown. Dimond….Dimond….rings a bell. That name goes back to even before Judge Dimond. Chris’s great grandfather, Anthony Joseph “Tony” Dimond was the Alaska Territory delegate to the United States House of Representatives between 1933–1945 and was an early champion of statehood.
Tony Dimond was also a territorial legislator and a Democrat. Chris Dimond has filed as an undeclared. He’s a union guy and a Douglas boy who has worked all over Southeast.
Rep. Mike Chenault had a birthday on Sunday and spent it at home in Kenai.The candle tells the whole story about what happens when you get to a certain age.
JOBS
KTUU has a listing for an investigative reporter. Those Kyle Hopkins shoes will be hard to fill.
INTERNSHIPS
Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. has an internship for the summer. That would burnish a young resume.
OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK:
WHAT IS THIS SYMBOL?
A student in Louisiana thought another student had drawn a picture of a gun. Police were called. On Feb. 20, detectives investigated a report of terroristic threats at the school, and even searched the home of a student who had been completing a math problem that required a square-root symbol.
MUST READ’S BOOK OF THE WEEK:
Back in the 1950s, when spying was so simple, Witness became a bestseller. Whittaker Chambers had just participated in the Alger Hiss trial, and claimed Hiss was a spy for the Soviet Union. Chambers, himself, claimed to be a former member of the Communist Party and said he was once a spy for the USSR. He beae an informant for the FBI, and later became an editor for Time magazine.
In hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee, Chambers made accusations against Hiss that resulted in Hiss’ eventual conviction for perjury. This is Chambers’ autobiography.
POETIC
“My home is in Heaven. I’m just traveling through this world.” – The Rev. Billy Graham
Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Northwest is endorsing in school board races with greater frequency, and Tasha Hotch, candidate for Anchorage School Board Seat E, just got the Planned Parenthood nod.
Hotch has never served an elected position before, and thus had no voting record on controversial topics such as the limits of sex education in schools.
Planned Parenthood endorsed Hotch last year when she ran for Seat C against a slate of others that included Dave Donley, who won that seat with 42 percent of the vote.
Why did Planned Parenthood endorse her?
Because the abortion provider sells “safe sex” kits to schools. Planned Parenthood originally called them “Birth Control Training Kits,” but now market them as “Birth Control Educator Kits” and they are $150 a their web site. The kits have male condoms, female condoms, birth control pills, dental dams, water-based lubricants, spermicides, contraceptive sponges, and a syringe with Dep Provera.
Planned Parenthood as a nonprofit is unable to endorse candidates without losing their 501(c)(3) status, but this is the Planned Parenthood PAC, which goes by Planned Parenthood Votes.
Others running for the Board’s E seat are Alisha Hilde, Ron Stafford, David Nees, and Don Smith. The election begins when ballots are in the mail March 13, and ends on April 3.
Information is fungible. If you don’t give in to the press’ demands and you’re toast – they think. They don’t run up against many who have a pretty decent foundation in civics, history and law or one with a heckuva lot more life experience and integrity individually than they have collectively.
Freedom of the Press is for individuals, not organizations. The corporate “press” has no “right” to break ANY laws.
Channel 2 (KTUU) News trespassed on my clearly posted property uninvited to do their story, not mine. If they do it again, I will arrest for trespassing and violating my privacy (Alaska law).
The media may ask a public figure questions, which I am under no obligation to answer. If you don’t answer, they roast you with lies and invented scenarios.
If you answer, they probably will roast you with lies and invented scenarios if you are 1. Christian, 2. Patriotic, and/or 3. honest.
Once you withdraw, you’re no longer a public figure. I am Christian, patriotic and honest; the grounds for their War On Tom. They could not intimidate a Marine or shoo me away, as they like you to think they have.
Why I really withdrew has to do with a principle out of The Human Being Operator’s Manual (the Bible): Relationships are more important than institutions.
On Feb. 14, 2018, I accepted the governor’s appointment (offered through his Legislative Director Darwin Peterson, not the governor) in the early morning.
My intent: Do what’s best for Alaskans, come what may. Within a couple of hours, my friend’s desperate need became apparent to me. She had nobody else who would “be there” for her since the State withdrew its long-supplied assistance.
She tried to get me to continue with the appointment. I refused because a person is not one to be thrown into the gutter when helping is uncomfortable or inconvenient and no other “duty” supercedes. I could not be both in Juneau and available to her need, simultaneously. Hence, my decision a few hours later – to withdraw.
There is nothing more to my decision. The press may have a field day with this; don’t believe a word they say.
Nat Herz of the Anchorage Daily News deals quite well in lies and backstabbing. I get truth from Suzanne Downing of Must Read Alaska and Joshua Fryfogle of The People’s Paper.
The Establishment press made libelous statements and twisted three of my Facebook entries to look like evil. Not one word of evil is in them. One was about a relationship. Another was about a U.S. senator who turned on Alaskans and her duty. The third obviously is a much-circulating internet joke.
Gov. Bill Walker’s administration, without asking me one question, took the media’s lead and published that they didn’t know of these bad things prior to appointing me. I will publish more detailed follow ups on Facebook as No Middle Ground Part 2, etc., as I am able.
Alaskans, ask for specifics at Tom Braund on Facebook. Please identify yourself.
Tom Braund was appointed by Gov. Walker on Feb. 14 to serve as the senator for District E, but withdrew within the day. Mike Shower was appointed and has been confirmed as the senator.
The State hiring freeze has devolved and faded into memory.
In December of 2014, several GOP lawmakers from both the House and Senate encouraged Gov. Bill Walker to institute a hiring freeze in advance of coming budget shortfalls. He refused.
But by Jan. 5 2016, Walker had run up a $3.5 billion budget deficit and the optics were not in his favor. Walker instituted a travel restriction and hiring freeze for all State jobs not connected to protecting life, health, and safety.
It was clearly worded in a memo from then-Chief of Staff Jim Whitaker, who said every hiring waiver would have to get his approval:
2016 HIRING RESTRICTION
“A general restriction on hiring is effective immediately. This applies to all positions, including part-time, except those that are necessary to protect the life, health and safety of Alaskans. Departments may pursue a waiver due to extraordinary circumstances, as noted below.
“A department commissioner may request a waiver to the hiring restriction if the Commissioner believes a position is mission critical and the position function cannot be achieved by reassignment or reprioritizing functions of other employees. Please make note that “mission critical” refers to core service functions, not administrative functions. A waiver may also be requested if a vacancy occurs as a result of poor employee performance. All hiring waivers must be approved by the Chief of Staff or his designee.
“The hiring restriction does not apply to: Positions that are essential in protecting the life, health or safety of Alaska citizens. This includes Alaska State Troopers, corrections and probation officers, and employees that provide patient and resident services at 24-hour institutions; Revenue generating and revenue collections positions, such that the failure to hire would result in a net reduction in revenue; Positions fully paid other than by General Funds, such as federally funded programs or program receipts.”
The hiring freeze did not apply to the University system or other quasi-governmental agencies.
2016 HIRING RESTRICTION, SOFTENED
By August, 2016, the freeze had thawed a bit. The authority for hiring shifted from the chief of staff to commissioners, relieving Whitaker of having to approve each hire, except for positions above Range 22, which he still would need to approve:
“With the exception of the University of Alaska and the Alaska Railroad, the hiring restriction continues and is extended to all executive branch entities. Approval from the Chief of Staff or his designee is required before recruitment can begin.
“Agency requests must be signed by the Commissioner and cover the elements identified in the attached request template. Before submitting a request, agencies should consider alternate service delivery options that may reduce overall cost, including internal reorganization.
“While all positions supported with general funds will be scrutinized, positions fully funded by federal or other non-general fund receipts will also be reviewed to ensure all public dollars are being used to maximize public services.
“Blanket approvals will be considered for specific classes of positions if they are essential to life, health and safety, are essential to the operation of 24 hour facilities, or are directly engaged in revenue collection and enhancement. All blanket approvals currently in place will expire on December 31, 2016. Agencies must resubmit blanket approval requests to extend them into 2017.”
2017 HIRING RESTRICTIONS
By Jan. 6, 2017, there was a new chief of staff, Scott Kendall, and he issued even less restrictive language, except that now Kendall also wanted to know who, specifically by name, was being hired into a job at a Range 22 or higher:
“All hiring wavier [sic] requests will be presented to, and approved by the Commissioner responsible for the position, with the following exception: before an offer is made on any exempt or partially exempt position at or above Range 22, an agency must submit a hire request to the Chief of Staff, or his designee, which must include the proposed salary and the individual’s resume. All salaries in excess of $150,000 must provide adequate justification and will be thoroughly scrutinized.
“Before approving a request, Commissioners should consider alternate service delivery options that may reduce overall cost, including internal reorganization or outsourcing.
“While all positions supported with general funds must be scrutinized, positions fully funded by federal or other non-general fund receipts must also be reviewed to ensure all public dollars are being used effectively to maximize public services.
“Blanket approvals can be given by Commissioners for specific classes of positions if they are essential to life, health and safety, are essential to the operation of 24 hour facilities, or are directly engaged in revenue collection and enhancement.”
2017 EASY-PEASY WAIVERS
In June of 2017, the Attorney General had hired a lawyer to focus on LGBT and tribal issues, and Health and Social Services had hired away the governor’s press secretary, Katie Marquette, who serves as the department’s communication director, although her official job listing says she is a project analyst. Between the two of them, they are paid more than $250,000 a year plus nearly that amount in benefits.
The governor also hired his own personal photographer, whose title is “director of public engagement.” David Lienemann is the former longtime photographer for Vice President Joe Biden, where he documented the Obama Administration for eight years.
Walker hired John-Henry Heckendorn to serve as his campaign liaison and strategist. Heckendorn founded the Ship Creek Group, which has the Walker-Mallott campaign account. It is not a stretch to assume that Heckendorn is advising the governor on how to win in November, since managing political campaigns is his background.
By January, 2018, there were no more updates to the hiring restriction. Today, 172 job openings are advertised with the State of Alaska, including administrative assistants, recreation therapists, and an information officer IIfor Health and Social Services, who will write press releases for the department.
The overall workforce for the State of Alaska government exceeds 18,000.
