A compendium of news items picked up along the way to Juneau:
GOVERNOR REPLACES INDUSTRY SEAT WITH LABOR LEADER
Gov. Bill Walker has chosen a public employee labor union leader to serve on the Workers’ Compensation Board in a seat that is formally, by law, a slot for private sector representatives. Chad Bolduc’s appointment should make AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami very happy, but makes the small business community cringe. Bolduc was an Alaska State employee and an alternate member of the APEA/AFT Executive Board of Directors, and was formerly a union rep for the Maine State Employees Association.
He replaces small business owner Chuck Collins, but the Legislature must first approve Bolduc’s appointment. They might not confirm it because the appointment appears to violate Alaska Statute Sec. 23.30.005 Alaska Workers’ Compensation Board.
Labor would have 10 people represented on the board, and private sector 8. The commissioner has one seat.
FAIRBANKS CANDIDATE EMERGES
Jim Sackett of Fairbanks has filed to run against Rep. David Guttenberg, the District 4 Democrat.
Sackett, a Republican, runs a ministry for ministers, but has also operated companies throughout his career, such as Nenana Gravel and Toghotthele Corp. He has an MBA from University of Alaska Fairbanks and has been married to his wife Cheryl for 30 years.
Jim Sackett holds an organizational meeting for his campaign launch.
DEMS OUTRAISED BY REPUBLICANS
A review of the financial filings with APOC show that on Feb. 1:
– Alaska Republican Party had $165,781 cash on hand.
– Alaska Democratic Party had $36,976 cash on hand.
– Alaska Republican Party raised $165,221 last year
– Alaska Democratic Party raised $94,413
Nationally, the RNC has $40.7 million cash on hand and no debt. The DNC has $72.1 million and $5.6 million in debt.
BEGICH, BERKOWITZ, CANTWELL – HOAX FUNDRAISER?
Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell is having another Alaska-based fundraiser, and it’s hosted again by Mark Begich and Ethan Berkowitz. Cantwell led the charge to block the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 1002 Area for limited oil exploration. Here’s the invitation, in case you want to attend. We hear her campaign is going to be strongly based on shutting down Alaska:
Must Read Alaska has been informed there is no such fundraising reception tonight. This information is posted by the Sunlight Foundation in cooperation with the Center for Responsive Politics, which runs OpenSecrets.org, although when contacted this morning, neither group would take responsibility for the posting:
WHEELS COMING OFF ML&P SALE?
Now we are finding out that there were higher bids — or would-be bids — for Anchorage’s ML&P? But what did Chugach Electric have that the other bidders did not have?
Mark Begich.
Last time Begich was involved in a sale like this — ATU — the public lost close to $400 million. He orchestrated a no vote on the Assembly on an $800 million sale, only to sell the utility later for $400 million. The voters don’t have all the information on what’s behind the sale of the city’s utility, and what Mark Begich’s cut is going to be.
Gov. Bill Walker has chosen Mike Shower to fill the Senate E seat vacated by Sen. Mike Dunleavy, who is running for governor.
Shower is a United States Air Force retired pilot who now flies for FedEx. He was among the original applicants to the Senate Seat E position.
“I am deeply appreciative that Gov. Walker has appointed a new senator from the list of nominees submitted by the Alaska Republican Party,” said ARP Chairman Tuckerman Babcock. “I have no reservations about Mike Shower and expect he will be confirmed, although that is a decision that is up to the Republican members of the State Senate,” said Tuckerman Babcock.
Shower was educated at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. He flew F-15Cs and F-22s, and was a pilot instructor between 1990 and 2010 and retired as a lieutenant colonel.
After his military service, he transferred to civilian work in support of the U.S. and allied air forces, providing training to aircrews before starting as a pilot for Delta and then FedEx in 2012.
Shower was among four names given to the governor by party members in District E, which stretches from Wasilla to Valdez and wraps around to Whittier. His name was offered in the second round, after Walker tangled with the District in the first round of nominations.
His nomination must be confirmed by sitting Republicans in the Alaska Senate, who are meeting today to discuss his nomination.
“I would like to express my gratitude to Republican leaders in District 10 for nominating me to serve the great people of Alaska in Senate District E,” Shower said in a statement. “I am also deeply honored by my appointment to that seat by Governor Walker. I look forward to to speaking with Senate leadership and to the Senate’s consideration of my appointment.”
Married with three children, Shower and his family moved from Eagle River to Wasilla, District 10, in 2010. He has a son who is a retired U.S. Marine, a daughter who is married to an Army veteran, and a 17-year-old son who graduates from high school in a few months. He and his wife are grandparents of one.
Beth Bolander, an artist from Haines, has just been edited by the precious snowflakes. And now she’s been bullied by them. She may not know it, but her art will never be the same.
Bolander’s elaborate, time-consuming artistic endeavor, Doragon, after winning third place in the Juneau Wearable Arts Show last weekend, was pulled from the final runway lineup because someone of Asian heritage complained about “cultural appropriation.”
Welcome to the world of politically correct runway art.
Christy NaMee Eriksen was offended by the entry. She said that viewing it was like being punched three times. She actually equated it to physical violence against her.
“Culture is not a costume. Real life in this body cannot be made up,” she wrote in a long and anguished essay on Facebook.
“Then you are punched again, bc it was so planned and so supported. Accepted into the show and dress rehearsed. You are punched several hundred times at once, in sync with the applause of the audience. There is not tasteful blackface. There is not tasteful redface. But here are my neighbors. My community’s teachers, reporters, doctors, artists, builders, leaders. Here they all are, cheering for yellowface.
When you approach the JAHC executive director and staff (the organizers) they say “honestly christy it’s been a long day.” And “you’re not making this easy” and “I asked ____[asian person] and she said it was okay.” This is how they punch you again and again on reflex, simply bc they are so used to punching your people this way. So sure of their body, so confident in being, so unused to listening. This punch is the worst bc they scold you with your own name, as though even it can be twisted for their own delight. As though you are a tired child and not a former board member, not someone who has shown knowledge or leadership in racial justice at their org, as though you are not a donor, a gallery sponsor, a ticket buyer, or a real life Asian person with real life thoughts and feelings. From their view, you are punching yourself.
Racism isn’t one act or one person being offended. It is an institutionalized oppression, kept alive by intentional and unintentional practices that center the experience of white people and invalidate people of color. The JAHC should be a leader in the arts and a leader in racial equity in our city. They owe us an apology and they must commit to doing better.
I’d like to ask my community, especially white allies, for help. Will you advocate for racial justice in our town by making this same request of the JAHC, and having the conversations necessary to create change? The honest truth is I am weak of spirit lately. I have to set some boundaries for myself around this. I am posting this with sorrow and with hope and now I am letting it go for awhile so it doesn’t eat me. Thank you in advance for listening. Thank you for being in this community with me. Thank you to people of color who have both courage and faith, sharp teeth and soft lips, you inspire me, thank you the most. Kamsahamnida
THE BULLYING BEGINS
Dozens of people agreed, expressing sympathy for Eriksen’s position and some said they were shocked and appalled at how insensitive the costume was, presumably because the artist is not of Asian descent, the model is not of Asian descent, yet the work of art incorporates Asian themes such as kimono, obi, and chopsticks, along with a mermaid theme.
The Juneau Arts and Humanities Council didn’t do what most arts organizations do first, which is defend the artist (or the model, who cannot help but feel burned by the criticism).
Instead, JAHC piled on publicly to mollify a complainant. It apologized in writing for offending anyone.
“The JAHC deeply regrets the pain that running this piece has caused and disavows all forms of cultural appropriation. In deference to experts more educated on those difficult topics, the artist, production team, and JAHC have made the decision to not run the piece in today’s show.” – Juneau Arts and Humanities Council
JAHC went on to say it would embrace the controversy as a learning moment that would foster community discussion.
One contrarian on Facebook said the criticism went too far, and that equating a costume on a runway with being punched is unfair to people who have really been punched.
That’s how conversations go on Facebook — everyone’s a critic, and this conversation was no different. People chimed in from both sides and the debate rages on.
But it exposed a Chairman Mao-style Cultural Revolution taking place in the Juneau arts community, where certain forms of art will be banned from sale, and now from view. This is a purging of the impure. During the Cultural Revolution, only art representing rosy-cheeked revolutionaries was allowed, and then only expressed in social realism style of art. There was, after all, a correct way to do art.
In 2018, the leading Juneau arts organization is now censoring art that is impure in its imagination. There are incorrect ways to do art in the new cultural revolution in Juneau.
The artistic suppression extends not only to Bolander, but now to every artist who is planning to work on a wearable work of art for next year’s show.
Every performance artist or model will be mindful of the public shaming, and each will hold back just a little, consciously or unconsciously. Children will need to be taught the new rules of first checking to make sure no one will be offended before putting a crayon to a piece of paper.
Some artists will second-guess themselves: “Can I incorporate chopsticks?” “Is this raven head OK?” Without exception, they will seal off areas of creativity for fear of reprisal: No African-inspired elements. No Alaska Native inspiration. No Plains Indian leatherwork. No Asian inspiration.
It’s a brave new world for artists. But we have even more cautions for the wearable art creators: Whatever you do, in the future, no pants. Pants were invented in China by nomadic tribes. Please don’t be insensitive.
Three Southwest Alaska names have been chosen by District 38 Democrats, and two of the names belong to former mayors of Bethel. The third runs a job training program. Anyone of them could be the next state representative. Or the governor could go his own way and pick someone else.
District 38 lost representation when Rep. Zach Fansler had to resign from office, effective Feb. 12. He had been accused of various abuses of a woman in a hotel room in Juneau a month earlier — slapping and such — although charges have never been filed. Fansler had only held the job for a year, after ousting longtime Democrat Bob Herron.
Led by Fansler’s legislative aide Ben Anderson-Agimuk, who suddenly. became District 38 chair for the Alaska Democratic Party, Democrats took applications from interested persons over last week and chose from among them:
Yvonne Jackson
Yvonne Jackson, runs job training programs at the Association of Village Council Presidents, a nonprofit tribal organization in Bethel. Jackson, 28, is registered as a Democrat but in voter roles lists her address in Anchorage, according to at least one recent voter database, and she has spent several years working and studying in Anchorage. Born in Bethel and raised in Kasigluk, she completed her associate’s degree in Anchorage in 2105.
Raymond Williams
Raymond “Thor” Williams, former Bethel mayor who has worked in substance abuse for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. Williams, 50, is a registered Democrat in Bethel. Originally from the East Coast, he has been a resident of Bethel for over 20 years and serves on the Bethel City Council; he was mayor from 2005-2006. He also serves on the Lower Kuskokwin School District Board.
Tiffany Zulkosky
Tiffany Zulkosky, a former Bethel mayor. A database search of Zulkosky, 34, shows that she is not currently a registered Democrat, but is a registered “other. Born and raised in Bethel, she is of Yup’ik and Polish descent and is vice president of communications for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation. She earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from Northwest University and master’s in public administration from the University of Alaska Southeast.
Gov. Bill Walker has until March 12 to pick from among the three names he has received, or a person of his own choosing, such as he did for District 40s replacement of Dean Westlake with John Lincoln, and as he has tried to do in Senate Seat E, with less success.
House District 38 covers a rural part of Southwest Alaska that has Bethel as its hub. One person has filed for the District 38 House seat that will be on the ballot this year: Darren Deacon, a Native from the village of Kalskag, has filed to run for the Fansler’s old seat as a Republican.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission isn’t coddling the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation anymore. And it’s not giving the AKLNG project a trophy for participation.
In fact, FERC dished out a helping of “tough love” to Alaska’s gasline project last week.
In a long and detailed Feb. 15 letter to AGDC, FERC told the State of Alaska that its January answers to 801 questions FERC had asked in August were not up to grade level.
“To date, only minimal drafts, and in most cases just outlines, of these plans have been provided, and/or the development of the plans have been deferred to a later date…” FERC complained about the quality and completeness of AGDC’s responses to questions.
This was like the parent-teacher conference from hell: Johnny’s work was “unsatisfactory.”
FERC went on to say that an application that lacked answers to specific questions “will be considered incomplete.”
And without a complete application, there will be no ‘social promotion’ to a permit.
In addition, the federal authority said that AGDC must go back and do the engineering analysis and environmental workup for routing the gasline to either Valdez or Port MaKenzie. Right now, it’s headed to Nikiski, a destination chosen back when the project was being led by the commercial partners, not the State of Alaska.
That request alone is asking the State to scope out two more huge projects.
Last week’s letter and request for information from FERC is 170 pages long. The ask is enormous.
But the key point is that FERC says it has asked for specifics and has received generalities or a “none of your business” type answer from AGDC. And it’s clear that FERC is not amused.
The federal regulatory body is asserting that it needs studies that AGDC doesn’t think it needs, such as sediment modeling and health impact assessment.
According to the federal agency, if AGDC keeps sending back “not applicable” answers, FERC will keep sending the questions back, wrote James Martin, the project’s point person at FERC. This could go on for a while, if AGDC really thinks it can wear out the patience of the federal regulator.
“Per these regulations, I am informing you that any response from AGDC that states, ‘the information is not required by the state or other agency and will not be provided’ will be considered incomplete and reissued. Incomplete responses and the reissuances of requests for information will affect the schedule for completing the environmental review,” FERC’s Martin wrote.
“Rather than providing specific avoidance and mitigation measures to be adopted or describing potential considerations if the construction schedule cannot be maintained, AGDC has deferred providing information to future plans or the permitting phase (e.g., through Alaska Department of Fish & Game Fish Habitat permit application or other processes). It is imperative that the information provided in AGDC’s responses include definitive commitments to implement specific avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures. Incomplete information or ill-defined commitments by AGDC may compromise our ability to adequately assess and disclose the full impact of the Project.”
Martin is making it pretty clear that his agency is in control and has no intention of advancing the draft environmental impact statement without everything he has asked for.
FERC demanded that a complete response to its request for information should come within 20 days of the Feb. 15 letter. If information is not available, then FERC implied that preparation of the draft environmental impact statement would be likely be impacted: “You should be aware that the information described in the enclosure is necessary for us to continue preparation of the draft environmental impact statement.”
WHAT EXACTLY DOES FERC STILL NEED FROM AGDC?
AGDC’s original application to FERC contained 50,000 pages of material, including maps, engineering and design.
But FERC has given AGDC an 289-item punch list to complete, where it says AGDC’s original application fell short. The items needed are complex and will require time and money.
For example, the first item on the punch list is broken into eight parts:
a. Wildlife Avoidance and Interaction Plan (see also Wildlife data requests). Provide confirmation that AGDC would incorporate the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s (FWS) Polar Bear Interaction Guidelines (Non-Department of Interior Guidelines, November 2010) and Polar Bear Deterrence Guidelines (last updated March 2017) into the Project-specific Wildlife Avoidance and Interaction Plan.
b. Marine Mammals Monitoring and Mitigation Plan (see also Marine Mammal data requests)
c. Revised Restoration Plan (see also Vegetation and Soils data requests)
d. Groundwater Monitoring Plan (see also Groundwater data requests)
e. Noxious/Invasive Plant and Animal Control Plan
f. Fugitive Dust Plan (see also Soils data requests)
g. Public Land Use and Recreational Use Coordination Plans, or the equivalent, to provide site-specific information on each of these areas proposed to be crossed and measures to reduce impacts on these areas. The response to data request No. 17 for Resource Report 8, dated December 29, 2017, indicated that AGDC would develop these plans after the final environmental impact statement (EIS), but before construction. However, FERC needs site-specific information on the construction and operation of the proposed facilities in these areas, as well as measures to reduce impacts, in order to complete the draft EIS.
h. Site-specific plans for residences within 50 feet of Project workspaces. The response to data request No. 10 for Resource Report 8, dated December 29, 2017, indicated that AGDC would develop these plans prior to construction. FERC requires these plans to complete the draft EIS in order to provide all affected landowners the opportunity to comment on the plans.
CAN AGDC DO IT IN 20 DAYS?
On Nov. 16, AGDC ‘got out over its skis’ and asked FERC to speed up review and take action on its application. It believed it would get an environmental impact statement in 12 months for the biggest permitted project in North American history.
But the State agency had not even submitted its answers to the 801 questions it received from FERC after filing its application in April.
In December, AGDC President Meyer wrote that the agency had “asked federal officials to publish a schedule for Alaska LNG’s Environmental Impact Statement process immediately.”
That is an unusual ask, since the federal agency was still waiting for its 801 answers.
And in January, the Alaska agency said it had given FERC its final answers and postured that it was ready to go: “AGDC expects FERC will determine they now have the information necessary to complete their analysis and will soon publish a schedule for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process in the federal register that outlines the activities over the next year to develop a draft EIS and a final EIS. The outcome of this NEPA process will be a FERC order that authorizes AGDC to construct Alaska LNG.”
In January, Meyer characterized his agency’s status as having achieved a milestone: “Today’s accomplishment, on top of recent commercial agreements, is a clear signal to the markets that Alaska LNG is on track to deliver energy stability at competitive prices by 2024/2025.”
That was not how FERC saw it.
FERC’s Feb. 15 response to AGDC was sobering in both its tone and in the scope of items still missing from the application. The Chinese ‘investors’will, no doubt, be taking a keen interest.
To date, AGDC and the Governor’s Office have issued no response to the letter that has, for the moment, left them speechless.
The Supreme Court of Alaska Friday issued a decision that may undermine the safety and security of Alaskans.
In the case of Wassillie vs. Alaska, an inmate at a halfway house in Anchorage was seen by another inmate to be throwing what turned out to be a bottle of vodka into the house through an open window.
Alvin Wassillie was serving out the remainder of a felony sentence at Anchorage’s Parkview Center halfway house in 2010. He left the facility to look for a job. About the time he returned, staff saw someone toss a bag through an open window into the upstairs room.
Staff went upstairs and searched and found the bag with a bottle of vodka in it. The security manager identified Wassillie as the one who had thrown the bag, which presumably contained the contraband alcohol.
Since bringing alcohol into the halfway house was a rule violation, the staff called the Department of Corrections and made Wassillie wait in the lobby, as he was going back to jail. But DOC took hours to get there, so Wassillie decided to walk away.
Police located him later that night about three miles away.
The Superior Court jury found Wassillie guilty of escaping the halfway house, and on appeal, the ruling was upheld. But the Alaska Supreme Court heard the case and ruled that because the halfway house staff member who filed the incident report on the escape didn’t testify before the grand jury, that the incident report was just hearsay.
The conviction was overturned.
A 2015 audit of Parkview Centershows the organization met or exceeded all standards for safety, training, and monitoring of both inmates and staff. Yet, the center’s incident report wasn’t good enough for the Supreme Court, although the State had argued that it fall under Alaska Evidence Rule 803(6). That rule creates a hearsay exception for “business records,” reports, memos, and official data.
The State had countered that the incident report fell under the business records exception to the hearsay rule, and that even if it was inadmissible hearsay, the conviction should not be reversed because any error in the grand jury proceeding was later made harmless by what was ruled an error-free trial.
Two of the Supreme Court judges dissented from the majority position that the incident report was hearsay.
This case is important to the safety of Alaskans because many criminals, under the State’s new relaxed criminal justice practices allowed through SB 91, will spend time in house arrest, in halfway houses, or with electronic monitors while they await their trial, and pre-trial release conditions will include limits on their behavior and movements.
If a corrections staff report is inadmissible at the Supreme Court, criminals will have an advantage if they challenge a charge of breaking the conditions of their release.
Today, the public is safe from Alvin Wassillie, who is behind bars at Goose Creek Correctional Institution, where he awaits trial on a subsequent charge: “penetration without consent” or rape, as it’s usually called. It’s just one in a long list of crimes he’s either committed or been arrested for in his 44 years.
DISTRICT 31 SAYS HE CAN’T RUN ON THEIR PRIMARY BALLOT
Lower Peninsula Republicans — from Soldotna to Homer — penned an open letter from District 31 explaining why they no longer believe Rep. Paul Seaton can claim to be a Republican, and why they are moving to kick him off the Republican primary ballot this year.
The Alaska Republican Party has taken similar measures. Seaton and his fellow “Musk Oxen” House members, Gabrielle LeDoux and Louise Stutues , are not entitled to financial support from the party or any of its affiliates. The party has also asked the State Division of Elections to drop them from the Republican primary ballot. Under Democrat Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, the division has so far rejected that request.
The District 31 letter was released today and included an attachment outlining some of Seaton’s more egregious betrayals to the Republicans who advanced him to the General Election ballot in 2016, where he faced no Democrat opponent.
Seaton, 72, from Homer, is a registered Republican who formed an alliance with the Democrats. The Democrats put him in charge of the Finance Committee, where he serves as co-chair and continues his efforts to roll out an income tax on Alaskans. He is also a perennial advocate for raising oil taxes.
Seaton won his 2016 Republican primary with 48 percent of the vote, with two Republicans opposing him. John Cox won 27 percent and Mary Wythe took 25 percent.
He is seen to be at risk if only one candidate runs against him in the Republican primary this year. At this stage, two Republicans have filed: John Cox and Sarah Vance. A third, from the Funny River area, is rumored to be considering a run.
The District 31 Republican organization would like to eliminate the advantages Seaton enjoys as an incumbent.
The letter from District 31 Republicans, denying Seaton access to this year’s primary ballot, is reprinted here in its entirety, with attachments:
THE LETTER
To our Fellow Citizens and Friends:
District 31 Republicans respect open dialogue and the sharing of opposing views in a constructive format. We believe in holding our elected representatives accountable for what they do and how they represent the people.
That’s why the Alaska Republican Party took the unprecedented step of denying Representative Paul Seaton access to the primary ballot as a Republican in this year’s Legislatve election. We feel it is critical to communicate our concerns to the community directly so people understand why this step was taken and explain how this action will improve our democratic process.
We believe that presenting our position in a clearly articulated open forum removes any cloud of secrecy or “hidden motives” that might cause resentment. In an effort to enlighten the community on the specific issues and legislation that demonstrate how Paul Seaton has turned his back on area Republicans, we have included his positions and voting record on Page three.
The Alaskan Republican Party and local District 31 have the legal authority —backed by precedent—to prevent Seaton from running as a Republican. Political partes are associations of like-minded individuals with broad constitutional protections to define their terms of association. While ARP continues to welcome all people of every race and cultural background who share our values, we are unwilling to let the government force us to accept our rivals’ abuse of our name and our Republican Party label in the upcoming primary election. As much as Paul Seaton may insist that he is not our adversary, his actions prove otherwise. Republican leadership and caucuses are united in their position: Paul Seaton cannot appear on the ballot as a Republican. Not in District 31, not anywhere.
The views expressed here are not those of every Republican, but they do speak for the majority and are the result of leadership votes at every level. Paul Seaton’s actons diverge completely from Republican priorities. His voting record, summarized on the following pages, constitutes such a clear break from his professed party affiliation and its objectives, that we regard him as destructive to our party.
Finally, we acknowledge that this is a big step and it has not been taken lightly. It is a necessary step to preserve our integrity and purpose as a party. This is a grass-roots effort, not orchestrated by outside activists, party bosses or “big oil”, as some will suggest. Republicans in District 31 are speaking up. We are the voice behind this initiative and for too long our voices have been silenced by a person pretending to support Republican priorities.
Representative Seaton is not being denied his right to free speech or free association. He switched his allegiance and association voluntarily and decided to associate with the Democratic party. The Democratic party is where his true allegiance resides and where his opinions are welcomed and rewarded. Paul Seaton has “made his nest”.
The action by ARP has already strengthened democracy and the election process by encouraging other Republican candidates to step forward to seek the endorsement of our party, potentially resulting in several choices to represent our party in the General election. This is precisely what primaries are intended to do. Yet, for too long Mr. Seaton has used our party label to advance his own personal interests, not those of our party.
Mr. Seaton is welcome to run for office as a Democrat. If he is honest and true to his principles, he should do exactly that. In any event, Seaton has no right to complain about “why he cannot be what he is not, a Republican”
Seaton, as Finance Co-Chair, plays “hide and seek” with the budget and government spending. His recent explanation of a $200 million “oops” in a “supplemental appropriation” is an example of dodging accountability.
Seaton has presided over the most contentious, partisan, “do-nothing” session in our history. His defection to the Democrats placed his individual interests (desire for power and status) ahead of the people and led directly to our current impasse on necessary budget reductions.
Seaton has presided over two budgets that have taken half your dividend and cut ZERO from the combined operating budget—at a time when we clearly need reductions in spending. Alaska’s government spending is the highest per-capita in the nation, by a huge margin, and yet Seaton believes we have nowhere left to cut. Seaton supports the Governor’s fuel tax, his payroll tax, and removal of property tax exemptions for seniors, all of which drain capital from our private sector.
Seaton supports reneging on promised tax credits–admittedly generous, but which were promised.
Seaton favors taking more of your dividend through creative “restructuring” and POMV—lower payouts that do nothing to protect the Permanent Fund.
Seaton led the effort to expand Medicaid, with hidden costs and no controls—a decision that is breaking the back of working Alaskans. Seaton consistently disregards the needs and health of the private sector.
Seaton rates among the lowest in the Legislature every year in terms of “Supportive of Alaska Business”. Seaton voted for looser sentencing and drug laws, leading to our present crime wave and drug epidemic.
Seaton’s District has the second highest unemployment rate in the State. After a decade in the Legislature, nothing has changed. His record in support of jobs and economic opportunity reflects ZERO concern for private sector.
For example: he supports HB142 that RAISES unemployment insurance on businesses to fund more unemployment benefits that his policies (or lack thereof) has created!
Seaton consistently fails to support reforms to existing wage and hour laws that kill employment and entrepreneurship in Alaska.
Seaton rejects reasonable repairs to our worker’s compensation system.
Every year, Seaton leads the charge to increase oil taxes, already the highest in the free-market world. He thinks higher taxes creates more revenue.
Seaton has introduced bills to increase mining tax and gravel extraction tax. His sponsorship of bills on mixing zones were so burdensome that our own shore-based treatment plants and ferry system would not comply.
Seaton refused to allow any Republican amendments last session that sought even minor reductions to the budget onto the floor for a vote. His representations that the total operating budget was cut in 2017 (i.e. without capital spending and reductions to dividend) is unsupported by facts.
Seaton, for over a decade, has continuously voted against building strong families, against parental rights, against protections for private property rights, and for increased regulation and Federal Government oversight (Prop 2, Law of the Seas Treaty).
Seaton wastes inordinate amounts of public time on the issue of Vitamin D, spending an entire finance meeting during a special session arguing how Vitamin D can save Alaska $250 million.
PLUS, GOVERNOR’S CHIEF OF STAFF MAKING POLITICAL ENDORSEMENTS?
Just two days after firing off a blistering statement against Republicans, Gov. Bill Walker’s Chief of Staff Scott Kendall today endorsed Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, a hardline Democrat.
Perhaps Kendall sees the writing on the wall for Gov. Walker, whose popularity is dropping dramatically, according to recent polls. Coincidentally, this week’s fundraising reports show Berkowitz has twice as much in campaign dollars as his challenger, Rebecca Logan, and he has the incumbent’s advantage. The mayor’s office would make a soft landing for Kendall.
It’s highly unusual for a governor’s chief of staff for make endorsements, especially in municipal races. An endorsement by a chief of staff or cabinet official reflects directly on the chief executive.
Which begs the question: Is Gov. Walker endorsing Berkowitz or has the chief of staff gone rogue?
Not everyone is so enchanted with Berkowitz. While the governor’s chief of staff and the mayor are drinking martinis, a person known as “Reformed Snowflake” could be launching yet another political Molotov cocktail at the mayor. He has done so for three weeks in a row in videos that show Berkowitz as completely disengaged from his role as mayor and seemingly unconcerned about the deteriorating condition of the city.
Like Parts 1 and 2, which launched earlier, the mayor’s only comments are, “Nothing to report, Madam Chair.”
Our Juneau Assembly’s vote to apply to the Local Boundary Commission for an expansion of borough land area (mostly on Admiralty Island) met with something less than universal approval.
To be fair, the Assembly was merely pursuing the commission’s own recommendation from the 1990s that described what our “model borough boundaries” should look like.
But testimony prior to the vote was universally in opposition and no Assembly member spoke in support. Presumably, the areas proposed for annexation may someday be a source of revenue but today they are primarily sparsely populated wilderness outposts with cabins and campsites only reachable by boat or airplane.
Property owners are naturally asking what benefits would accrue to them by paying taxes and if Juneau building codes and other government regulations would suddenly hijack their wilderness experience.
City leaders have responded that regional services provided by Juneau’s hospital, harbors, and the airport, for example, need to be supported by owners of property using them – even if the property isn’t located in Juneau proper.
I may be proven wrong, but, from the city’s standpoint, this seems like an uphill battle with little reward to show for it. The revenue gained appears marginal and the cost of appraising wilderness properties may eclipse whatever revenue is received.
Why not concentrate on other ways to raise revenue closer to home?
OVER 40 EXEMPTIONS TO SALES TAX
One area to examine is our borough sales tax code exemptions. Other than the highly publicized modification of the senior sales tax exemption several years ago, there has been no serious attempt recently to scrutinize the various sales tax exemption categories – currently numbering over 40.
Exemptions that made sense when drafted years ago may no longer be fair or equitable and may not be serving a legitimate public purpose. Exemptions not commonly offered by most other state and/or municipal entities should be targeted first – especially if significant revenue is involved.
Exemptions of sales where the amount of revenue is minor, or where collection costs outweigh any gain need not be modified. But to the extent we can selectively prune exemptions, this will benefit all residents as it lessens the need to consider raising our sales tax rate in the future.
Last year, Deputy Mayor Jerry Nankervis started the ball rolling by asking the City Finance Director, Bob Bartholomew, to study the exemption currently being applied to charitable organizations. He noted the exemption, as written, was overly generous in that it not only exempts sales to charitable organizations but also sales by charitable organizations – even if the buyer is not tax exempt.
The wording of the exemption in borough code reads – in part – this way:
CBJ 69.05.040 Sales, services and rentals to a buyer, or made by a seller, organized and administered solely by an organization that has a current 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) exemption ruling from the Internal Revenue Service…provided this exemption applies to sellers only if the income from the sale is exempt from federal income taxation.
As Nankervis correctly noted, this allows some non-profit entities to sell goods and services – sometimes competing directly with private businesses – without having to collect sales tax from the customer.
Examples of this are the Sealaska Heritage Institute gallery downtown and the Discovery Southeast gift shop at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center. Both sell products to thousands of tourists visiting Juneau each year in direct competition with local businesses selling the same or similar items.
There are other examples of organizations that could be collecting sales taxes from willing buyers. After all, most visitors expect to pay sales tax when purchasing jewelry, art, books or souvenirs. It’s hard to believe the 5 percent sales tax would make a bit of difference to the buyer.
City staff is now surveying all non-profits in Juneau and notified them of the requirement to file an annual sales tax return. The data from those responses will be compiled by this month and allow initial rough estimates of exempt sales and possible revenue sources.
Stay tuned for a subsequent column following up on that report as well as additional information comparing this exemption to those found in other cities and states.
Win Gruening was born and raised in Juneau and retired as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in 2012. He is active in civic affairs at the local, state, and national level.
