Page 1715 – Must Read Alaska

Why so many proxy ballots in District 40?

Politics

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August 28, 2016

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Why so many proxy ballots in District 40?

BALLOTS COUNTED – SURPRISE, IT’S A WIN FOR WESTLAKE, PERHAPS

Although Rep. Ben Nageak of Barrow has reportedly conceded the District 40 election to Dean Westlake of Kotzebue (source: Westlake’s Facebook page), the primary election held on Aug. 16 gave Alaskans a chance to see just how good the Division of Elections is performing under Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott.

Some Alaskans were underwhelmed. Ballots were counted late. Reporting was spotty. Ballot security was, well, insecure.

Numerous serious election violations have cropped up in both District 40 and 38.

So much so, that State Senate Affairs Chairman Bill Stoltze has called a hearing for Monday at the Legislative Information Offices in Anchorage to review the problems.

(Earlier story: Elections were an unholy mess.)

Meanwhile, the Division of Elections’ mysterious media blackout ended late Friday night and it released its final results, which included questioned, absentee, and other ballots that simply appeared out of nowhere.

Among those random ballots that appeared, one set causes a raised eyebrow: A dramatic increase in “personal representative voting” in some places that exceed what would be statistically likely.

People who are unable to vote on election day have many choices:

In person (15 days before an election)
By mail (deadline to apply is 10 days before an election)
By fax (15 days before a Primary or General Election)
Special needs (personal representative) voting for disabled voters (15 days before an election)

Special needs voting can be done 15 days leading up to an election through a personal representative who can bring the ballot application to the home-bound voter, return it to the election official with the filled-out application, pick up the ballot, return to the voter with the ballot. The home-bound voter then marks the ballot, puts in it a secrecy sleeve, and seals it into an envelope. The personal representative brings the voted ballot back to the election official by 8 pm on Election Day.

To be clear, here is how the law reads:

If you are unable to go to the polls due to age, serious illness or a disability, you may have a personal representative pick up and deliver a ballot to you beginning 15 days before an election at any Early/In-Person Voting site. Special needs ballots can also be obtained on Election Day at the polling place. Your personal representative can be anyone except a candidate for office in the election, your employer, an agent of your employer, or an officer or agent of your union. For additional information about special needs voting, please contact your Regional Elections Office.

A HEALTH CRISIS IN BUCKLAND? THE NUMBERS SUGGEST

Buckland is home, it appears, to a disproportionate number of disabled, seriously ill or old people, because although the weather was clear throughout August, and while 69 people made it to the polls in Buckland to vote (or voted with an absentee ballot), there were 11 who voted through a personal representative.

That means 14 percent of the voters voted via a proxy because they were disabled, seriously ill or old.

Statewide, 256 personal representation ballots were processed by the Division of Elections. Buckland represents 4 percent of those ballots, but only .05 percent of the state’s population.

Buckland is in fourth place for special needs voting across the state, if you look at the raw numbers.

But the Northwest Arctic Borough village of 450 is in first place when it comes to the percentage of voters using a personal representative.

There were more special needs voters in Buckland with its 269 registered voters than there were in Fairbanks with its 68,000 registered voters. Buckland also beat out Wasilla, Eagle River, Palmer, Soldotna, Seward, or Valdez, in the number of personal representation ballots cast.

Here’s a snapshot of the special needs – personal representation ballots processed from around the state:

Anchorage – 71 (200,000 registered voters)
Juneau – 35 (22,000 registered voters)
Homer – 16 (7,000 registered voters)
Buckland – 11 (269 registered voters)
Fairbanks 10 (68,000 registered voters)
Wasilla 8
Eagle River 6
Palmer 6
Kiana 5 (245 registered voters)
Newtok 5
Kenai 4
Soldotna 4
Seward 4
Valdez 4

SPECIAL NEEDS BALLOTS ARRIVE SEVERAL DAYS LATER

Not only did Buckland have an extraordinary number of these proxy ballots, but they didn’t arrive in Nome until Aug. 22 — six days after the election.

In all, in District 40, there were 24 special needs – personal representative ballots cast. None was logged in prior to Election Day, and just three arrived in a timeframe that seems normal for Bush Alaska:

3 from Kotzebue logged on Aug. 19 in Nome
11 from Buckland logged on Aug. 22 in Nome
5 from Kiana logged on Aug. 22 in Nome
5 from Kotzebue, Noorvik, Selwik and Shungnak logged on Aug. 22 in Nome

As for flying weather in the region for that week, visibility never dropped below five miles and generally stayed in the 8-10 mile range, so flights weren’t grounded.

Why it took so long for ballots to be logged is yet another mystery of the District 40 election process, which has shown other irregularities.

BUCKLAND HISTORICAL REVIEW

*Dean Westlake with Mark Begich / Begich photo from flickr*

Looking back over the years, Buckland had 6 special needs votes in 2012, and 8 in 2014. But over four years, it has nearly doubled the number of people voting via proxy. This is unusual for a village where the median age is 18, and only 3 percent of the population is older than 65.

Who knows what went on in Buckland with the 11 ballots that showed up in Nome six days past the deadline. Those ballots should have been on the same plane as the others, since they were due back at the local election office by 8 pm on Aug. 16.

Who did Buckland vote for in the hotly contested state House race?

43 voted for Dean Westlake, and 11 voted for Ben Nageak., for a total of 54 people voting on that portion of the ballot, and a total of 54 cards cast.

Between those questionable 11 ballots cast and the pattern of double ballots across District 40, the Monday hearing has a lot of ground to cover.

# # #

Our original reporting on Aug. 18 peeled back the covers on voting problems in District 40.

Alaska Dispatch New story of Aug. 19.

KTVA’s story of Aug. 22.

Juneau Empire’s story of Aug. 24.

Craig Medred’s report.

Other Must Read Alaska Reports on this issue:

Bright, shiny objects: Rescues, jobs, a missing precinct

Unbelievable: Byron Mallot declares election a success

Curiouser and curiouser: Delayed primary results

Suzanne Downing

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August 27, 2016

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Curiouser and curiouser: Delayed primary results

PUBLIC MIGHT WONDER WHAT DIVISION OF ELECTIONS IS HIDING

*Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott on a site visit to Manakotok on Election Day.*

It’s late at night, Friday, August 26, and still no official count of questioned ballots and final results have been posted by the Division of Elections.

This is 10 days and a few hours after the primary election came to a close, and the uncertainty in the District 40 race between incumbent Rep. Ben Nageak and challenger Dean Westlake is still unresolved.

Word on the street is that Westlake has won the questioned ballots by 21. The count is Westlake 819 Nageak 798.

There were 39 questioned ballots that were being allowed as part of the count.

But at this point, the public will never know how that race really went. There were so many irregularities across the district, that it will become part of history books; the sham of the primary of 2016 will be taught in college political science courses. Someone will do a master’s thesis on it.

One hopes that they’ll know that Republicans in District 40 who wanted to vote the Democratic ballot were made to fill out a questioned ballot form first. That was clearly improper.

Was it voter suppression?

Voter suppression is a strategy to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging people from voting or creating unnecessary barriers.

Are the delays reporting the results a way to discourage media scrutiny?

Were there extra ballots that needed to be found to ensure a Westlake victory?

It’s clear as mud. The primary election, with its 105 percent turnout in Newtok and its double ballots in Shungak and Chefornak does not meet the standard of a free and fair election.

Will the Department of Justice care enough about the disenfranchised voters to send in officials now?

Or will Alaskans always remember August 2016 as the year that every vote counted, but some just counted more than others.

Begich needs to come clean — but can he?

Suzanne Downing

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August 26, 2016

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BEGICH ACCUSES, BUT WON’T TAKE A STAND HIMSELF

By ANN BROWN

I read with interest former Sen. Mark Begich’s Aug. 12 Alaska Dispatch News column about our congressional delegation’s support, or lack thereof, for Donald Trump. He managed to accuse others of exactly what he himself is doing.

In his column “Time for Young, Sullivan and Murkowski to take an honest stand on Trump,” Begich accuses our congressional delegation of continuing to “dance around the question of whether or not they will vote for Trump.”

That is just not true. Sen. Dan Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Don Young both said they are supporting and voting for Trump. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has made clear her position on Hillary Clinton.

To her, Hillary Clinton is unacceptable. Unlike Begich, or her challenger, “independent” Margaret Stock — who has not yet been asked the question — Murkowski is on record as saying that she will not vote for Hillary Clinton, based on her policies, which would be a disaster for Alaska.

Begich does not dare to be so clear with the public. In a most evasive way, he managed to write more than 1,000 words in his column falsely accusing the delegation of lack of decisiveness, while not once saying whom he is supporting.

Why wouldn’t Begich write that he is supporting Hillary Clinton, even though it is clear he is doing her bidding? Because, although he does not seem to care about the state’s economic future — as evidenced by the party he belongs to and the national Democrats whom he has supported and who have supported him, he does seem to care about his political future.

Committing himself, in writing, to supporting Hillary Clinton for president would be the kiss of death for him in Alaska. Let’s count the reasons that his support for such a presidential candidate shows a complete lack of regard for the welfare of our state.

First: Hillary Clinton said she will permanently lock up the Arctic against oil and gas development — something that is vital for Alaska’s future.

Second: She said she will make oil production on lands even more difficult.

Third: She wants to kill fracking, which has been part of Alaska’s energy industry and will be important to our future, particularly as the independent companies make smaller pools of oil commercially viable.

Fourth: She has declared war on the coal industry and said she wants to put “coal miners out of work.” Presumably, that also includes the hundreds of Alaskans in the Interior who are employed in the coal industry. Further, if she has her way with coal, it would be the last dagger in the heart of the Alaska Railroad.

Fifth: Alaska has been more negatively impacted by Obamacare than any other state in the country. Recall that Begich voted to pass Obamacare and Clinton has promised to expand it.

Finally, Clinton intends to whittle away further at our Second Amendment rights.

In short, a President Clinton would kill our economy, increase the government’s involvement in our health care choices and make it harder for us to defend ourselves. And she will have a Supreme Court to back her on the implementation of all of these policies.

Donald Trump has said some questionable things, and his behavior at times has been unfortunate. But he has not targeted Alaska’s workers, or our economy, or our values, as his challenger has done.

Begich, and other Alaska Democrats and “Independents,” know this but will support Hillary Clinton anyway. They will then try to distract the public by pointing to whatever Trump story the media happens to be featuring during the campaign.

Of course, it is possible that Begich will come clean with Alaskans, as he did in 2014 when he begrudgingly told the public that he was voting for Obama but that it was “irrelevant.” That he chose the word “irrelevant” is telling, and was likely preying on his mind. It was, after all, about that time Alaskans began to question what he had been able to accomplish in the U.S. Senate in his six years, two years of which were when his party had majorities in the House and Senate.

The answer? Not much, except the passage of Obamacare. He was such a poor negotiator, and cared so little for Alaska, that he got nothing in exchange for his vote, unlike other states that got the “Cornhusker Kickback” and the “Louisiana Purchase.”

To quote from an October 2014 edition of the New Republic, a respected left-of-center publication, “(Begich) has performed without distinction as a senator since winning a fluke election six years ago. He doesn’t have a trademark issue; no important bill bears his name.” His tacit endorsement of an avowedly anti-Alaska candidate isn’t likely to add any distinction to his political career in our state, but it might help him in his new role as a lobbyist.

Ann Brown is a former member of the Alaska Republican Party State Executive and Central Committees. She resides in Fairbanks. This opinion first appeared in the Alaska Dispatch News.

Great Alaska garage sale has THIS amazing benefit

Suzanne Downing

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August 26, 2016

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Great Alaska garage sale has THIS amazing benefit

John Sturgeon with his hovercraft before the U.S. Park Service decided to tangle with him. Photo credit: Unknown — *John Sturgeon with his hovercraft before the U.S. Park Service decided to tangle with him. Photo credit: U.S. Park Service*

THEY DON’T MESS AROUND IN FAIRBANKS

Now that you’re reading, this garage sale event is a fundraiser for John Sturgeon, who took his case against the National Park Service all the way to the Supreme Court.

It cost Sturgeon, an Alaska hunter, more than $750,000 in legal fees to defend Alaskans’ right to navigate Alaska rivers in hovercrafts in pursuit of moose, or for any other reason.

Hovercrafts are useful when rivers are low. They make a lot of sense for hunting. The Park Service wants to ban them.

Sturgeon battled through the courts all the way to the Supremes. And he won.

About $600,000 has been raised for the Sturgeon legal fees, but it’s not over. The case has been remanded back to the Ninth Circuit and could go back to the Supreme Court. This case will cost close to a $1 million before it’s over.

And that’s why you might want to head up to Fairbanks on Saturday where you can buy all kinds of amazing Alaska gear at a garage sale, where 100 percent of the proceeds will defray the legal fees that Sturgeon is still staring at.

“I just thought, how can we raise money for a guy who has put his foot down, did what needed to be done, and carried the heavy load? Everybody has an outdoor item they can spare, so why not turn it into cash and help pay down his legal bills?” said his friend Craig Compeau, who is organizing the fundraiser.

“Anybody who has ever picked up a fishing pole or used a rifle to hunt in Alaska has skin in the game and should help,” Compeau said.

You can donate your items until 6 pm tonight and you can go online to stoptheoverreach.com where you can make a tax-deductible donation.

If you go to the Great Alaska Garage Sale, you’ll get to meet Sturgeon, who has achieved folk hero status in Alaska. You’ll be able to find some outstanding outdoor gear for a great price and an even greater cause.

For instance, you can get your very own airboat. Sure, it’s not a hovercraft, but it can still do some pretty sick moves:

Airboat, because it makes the Park Service irritable. — *Airboat; it’s not a hovercraft but your wife is going to love it anyway.*

OR THIS…

All kinds of hunting stuff. — *All kinds of hunting stuff, because…guns!*

OR THIS…

Canoes, cars, snow machines, and gear. — *Canoes, cars, four-wheelers, snow machines, and all kinds of nifty survival gear, because…Alaska!*

GREAT ALASKA GARAGE SALE BENEFITS JOHN STURGEON LEGAL FUND

Place: Compeau’s Inc.

Location: 4122 Boat Street, Fairbanks

Date and Time: Saturday, Aug. 27, 11 am – 4 pm

Why: From the legal brief: “What is at stake here for Alaska is not just a different view…about permissible weekend recreation or the best method of routing tourists through national parks…[It’s because] unencumbered access to Alaska’s waters and meaningful use of Alaska’s natural resources is necessary to sustain life in much of rural Alaska.”

BACKGROUNDER

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court reversal of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision made Alaskan John Sturgeon into a giant-slayer.

Back in 2007, Sturgeon was on the Nation River in the middle of the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, using a hovercraft to get to place to hunt moose, as he had since 1991.

But the National Park Service rangers he encountered that beautiful fall day decided he could not use his small rubber boat (which had broken down) because it was too noisy for a national park.

Sturgeon wasn’t even allowed to take his boat out of the preserve under its own power. The rangers told him he’d have to get another boat to haul it out.

Sturgeon was mistreated by Park Service personnel, but the underlying case he brought against the Park Service was not just a grudge. Since when does the Park Service have authority over navigable waters in Alaska? ANILCA gave that to the state.

With 60 percent of Alaska owned by the federal government, many Alaskans say, “not one more inch!” And John Sturgeon’s case became a cause for hunters, recreationalists, and states-rights advocates.

While he lost at the district level and at the Ninth Circuit, John Sturgeon fought on. It was now David vs. Goliath. Fundraisers took place across the state to help raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars it was costing him to fight on Alaskans’ behalf.

“It’s a victory for all of Alaska,” Sturgeon wrote.

Governor Sean Parnell and the State of Alaska, with then-Attorney General Dan Sullivan, filed a brief in support of Sturgeon, saying such federal overreach “threatens not only the state’s sovereignty . . . but also the way of life of ordinary Alaskan citizens.”

Parnell celebrated the unanimous victory in March, 2016: “As governor, I was proud of John Sturgeon for standing up for his rights as an Alaskan against the Park Service, and I was honored to fight with him for the state’s interest in our waters and lands.”

The Supreme Court decision is here.

Why did BP support the governor’s AK-LNG project?

Suzanne Downing

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August 26, 2016

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BP drilling rig / BP photo credit — *BP drilling rig, Doyon 25, Prudhoe Bay / BP photo*

GOVERNOR WALKER HAS BP IN A VISE OVER PRUDHOE

During two days of legislative hearings that concluded Thursday on the Alaska gasline project, also known as AK-LNG, the three private-sector partners had a chance to tell legislators where they think the massive $55-65 billion project is going.

*Sen. Cathy Giessel, co-chair Senate Natural Resources Committee*

“The Legislature strongly supported the gas project, passing SB 138 by a vote of 52 to 8,” said Sen. Cathy Giessel, who co-chairs Senate Natural Resources Committee. “Along with our producer partners, we evaluated the cost and competitiveness of the project. Now we have learned that the project is not economic in today’s price environment, and should slow down.”

ConocoPhillips said energy markets are flooded with natural gas and the project doesn’t look like a “go” to CP at this time, although the company would be agreeable to shipping its gas through the line.

ExxonMobil, the lead partner in the project, said it’s ready to hand it over to the state, and will ensure a smooth transition. Like former partner Trans Canada, it may be ready to step back for a while.

And then there’s BP. The company took a curious stance.

BP said it “supports” the state-led option that Governor Walker is pursuing.

Saying so makes sense, since Governor Walker has not approved BPs plan of development for its Prudhoe Bay leases and has threatened to essentially foreclose on the leases within a few short weeks. Those leases provide the lion’s share of oil into the Trans Alaska Pipeline System.

Observers asked whether BP was fully in support of the governor’s gasline proposal or if it was being essentially blackmailed by the governor.

Walker has insisted that BP release its marketing plans for natural gas; the company has said that sharing that information would violate anti-trust laws. Publicly traded companies have a duty to their shareholders and cannot simply give over competitive information that could hurt the company. In this matter, you have a government asking a private business for its highly speculative marketing plans.

The state Division of Oil and Gas rejected BP’s 2016 plan for Prudhoe Bay, but then extended the deadline until Sept. 1, just a few days from now. The governor is pressuring BP, with an absolute drop-dead date of Nov. 1. After that, it’s an “or else” situation, and no one knows if the governor will simply “nationalize” the leases.

After all, this is the governor who decided to sue Exxon this week over global warming. He’s the governor who grabbed half of Alaskans Permanent Fund dividends and is paying his consultants millions of dollars. Such a governor might do anything.

BP and the Oil and Gas Division have had volleys of letters arguing whether BP’s plan is complete, and even ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil weighed in on behalf of BP, saying the company’s plan is complete. The governor won’t speak of it to the media, but companies say that he’s making demands that have never been made before.

Gov. Walker has referenced that there is a legal “duty to produce” gas that the companies must meet, but the companies say they have no duty to produce anything if there’s no gasline to put it in.

Prudhoe Bay is operated by BP on behalf of ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil. It has as much as 30 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.

“The governor wishes to press on, with the State going it alone,” said Sen. Giessel. “We in the Legislature must conduct due diligence – just as a person would do before building a house – by asking the tough questions, and that’s what we did this week.”

New direction for Alaska gasline ends in questions

Politics

Suzanne Downing

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August 26, 2016

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TWO DAYS OF HEARINGS BRING MORE DOUBTS

The governor has spent the past two days in Jackson Hole, Wyoming at the Federal Reserve conference talking about sovereign wealth funds. With him was Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott and former Attorney General Craig Richards.

Meanwhile, back in Anchorage, his pet project the Alaska gasline, was being scrutinized by the board of directors of the State of Alaska, also known as the Alaska Legislature. Like any good loan officer, they were asking: How does this get paid for? The response from Keith Meyer? An emoji shrug.

At the close of two days of detailed testimony and a parade of witnesses, the Alaska Legislature’s consultant, Nikos Tsafos of enalytica, gave a strong closing presentation, during which he raised questions for members of the House and Senate Natural Resources Committees to consider.

But before the committee members had assembled their paperwork and left the building, the governor had already fired off a press release with his directive: Now is the time to move ahead with a government-owned gasline project. The man knows what he believes when it comes to the gasline.

Tsafos didn’t indicate that a rush to judgment is merited. He pointed out that early on in the project’s history, during the writing of the SB 138 enabling legislation, there were two primary contacts — Joe Balash and Mike Pawlowski, who were with the Parnell Administration.

But since the Walker Administration took over, producers and consultants have dealt with a parade of people in charge: DNR’s former Commissioner Mark Myers, his Deputy Marty Rutherford, then Audie Setters, then the governor’s million-dollar man Rigdon Boykin, and then back to Marty Rutherford. Then Marty also quit. Now it’s Commissioner Andy Mack. There was AGDC’s Dan Fauske under Parnell, and now Keith Meyers under Walker.

Under the Walker Administration, the gasline team has been a fast-moving parade. Fair point, Mr. Tsafos.

Tsafos asked why, when there are so many permutations that a project could take, did Gov. Bill Walker take the project from a majority private sector project to something completely owned by the government.

The consultant asked rhetorically who the target investors are. He said he had not seen similar projects that had attracted investors, and that it’s reasonable for the Legislature to ask for examples in the world where such investors exist for this type of project.

He raised a red flag about risk, and stated that the direction that Gov. Bill Walker is taking the gasline project puts all the risk on the State of Alaska. “How far are you willing to for to get this project? How badly do you want it? If you are willing to lose $50 billion it’s very easy to build a $50 billion project.”

“I would be a lot more worried than I feel folks are worried,” he said of the governor’s plans for the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation. “There is a whole other world of what you are getting into. One should be a little skeptical.” He kept apologizing for his candid remarks, but he seemed to want to indicate that this project is bad.

WALKER IS CONVINCED

Governor Walker issued a statement quickly at the close of the two-day hearing. He lauded the testimony of his consultant, “world-renowned energy analyst Wood MacKenzie on the viability of the current AK LNG project. This independent analysis, contracted by our producer partners and AGDC, indicated that the traditional model of a producer owned and financed gasline is not likely appropriate given today’s market environment. However, I was very pleased to see that there remains a strong potential for an economically viable Alaska LNG project, even at $45 /bbl oil prices, by exploring some of the alternate project structures currently being investigated by AGDC. Alternate ideas such as third-party investors, project financing and other advantages resulting from a state led project could make the difference.”

But the Legislature’s consultant said that the market viability remains marginal, even after removing all income taxes and property taxes, as the governor envisions. Under the governor’s plan, Alaska would be giving up all of its taxing authority and would only be left with production tax and royalties.

Tsafos asked how much the State is willing to give up just to build this pipeline project

He might have also raised the a question about the constitutional obligation for the “maximum benefit” for Alaskans. Does the governor’s plan meet that fuzzy standard?

The governor continued on, “I am pleased the AGDC Board and staff continue to work with our industry partners and the Legislature to advance viable options that could bring billions of dollars of revenue to Alaska each year, while lowering the cost of energy state-wide. If the AK LNG project can prove to be competitive on the world market, we would see untold advantages of what it would do to propel Alaska’s economy, well beyond the bounds of this project alone.

“What is most needed now is a collaborative cooperative spirit by all decision-makers and stakeholders to adapt to changing conditions and work together to determine if there is a viable path forward,” the governor said.

Unfortunately, Walker has not set up the conditions for collaboration and cooperative spirit with legislators, who have the power of the purse and may ultimately decide to defund the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, at least for a while.

As one legislator said after today’s hearing, ” We’d be giving up our taxing authority and what will we have for collateral? It appears that the cost of the project is exactly the amount that is in the Alaska Permanent Fund. That should give everyone pause.”

The governor, however, was quick to say it’s a misconception that the project would be financed by the Permanent Fund.

“If economically viable, it will be financed by long-term purchase contracts secured before the first piece of pipe is laid, not by the permanent fund. This is how projects around the world are financed and Alaska’s will be no exception,” he said.

Who would finance something for which you have no idea what the costs will be? As Tsafos told the committee, long-term contracts are not where the market is going these days.

The governor said, “Now is not the time to shelve that excellent work and start again at a future date.”

For a person who has said the number one priority is the fiscal situation and stability to be so cavalier about taking the state into $50 billion or more debt is troubling. It appears that no amount of information will dissuade him from his gasline dream.

Governor walks back administrative order

Suzanne Downing

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August 25, 2016

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ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER 279? OH, NEVERMIND

In February, Governor Bill Walker decided to transfer most of the duties of the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission, which is a fiscally self-sustaining organization, over to the Department of Fish and Game. He did this through Administrative Order 279.

He characterized it as a cost-saving measure, although he had no study to show what those cost savings would be. Here’s what his order said:

The administrative and research functions of the Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (Commission) are transferred to the Department of Fish and Game (Department) under authority of the Commissioner of Fish and Game. This transfer is necessary for efficient administration and will provide for appropriate and effective performance of these functions.

What ensued was an immediate lawsuit led by fishermen Robert Thorstenson and Jerry McCune, and possibly another followup lawsuit, and a whole lot of pushback from the commercial fishing community.

AO 279 caused enough turmoil that it never got implemented. The political cost and potential ongoing bitter litigation with fishermen was just too high for Walker.

Today he simply walked back the administrative order by placing a moratorium on it. The order will likely just go onto the burn pile.

Although a judge ruled that the governor was within his rights to restructure functions in government, Walker has now acknowledged that he did not consult with key stakeholders.

How does the fishing community describe the debacle?

They say the governor ambushed them. He had lots of opportunities to tell them what he was up to, because United Fishermen of Alaska has any number of representatives in Juneau during the legislative session. He had been meeting with commercial fishermen representatives, even that very week. He just chose to not tell them what he was about to do.

They felt blindsided by the governor’s sudden transfer of duties from the more independent Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission to the very political Department of Fish and Game.

The functions that were to be moved included:

Licensing and permitting
Information technology
Accounting
Payroll
Procurement
Budget

That’s most everything. In one fell swoop, Gov. Walker was eviscerating the commission’s authority to conserve and maintain the health of Alaska’s commercial fisheries by managing the limits on the number of participating fishers through permits, vessel licences and due process hearings and appeals.

To say the fishing community was taken by surprise is a vast understatement. It went ballistic.

WHO ADVISED THE GOVERNOR?

*Gov. Walker introducing Sam Cotten as his commissioner of Fish and Game.*

Who originally got to the governor and convinced him to move duties to under the supervision of Fish and Game Commissioner Sam Cotten?

Very likely Cotten himself, but possibly also in alliance with Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott, whom Gov. Walker has tasked with running most of state government so Walker can focus on the gasline he wants to build. Mallott has his own set of advisers.

United Fishermen of Alaska has opposed the order because that department manages for all types of fisheries — sport, personal use, subsistence and commercial — and there could be a conflict of interest.

Besides, according to UFA, the commission is profitable enough that it pays for itself, and it’s funded entirely by commercial fishermen, all of whom probably prefer to leave things as they are.

Eviscerating the duties of the commercial fishing commission came at the same time Gov. Walker was allowing the federal government to take control of more land in Alaska, and also allowing tribes to move their lands under federal control.

Knowing his allegiances to greater federal control of Alaska lands and federal fish and game management, it appears that Byron Mallott’s fingerprints are all over this embarassment. An embarrassment the governor now has to own.

More double ballots handed out? It looks that way in Chefornak

Politics

Suzanne Downing

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August 25, 2016

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More double ballots handed out? It looks that way in Chefornak

CHEFORNAK VOTES LIKE A BOSS

On Primary Election Day, Aug. 16, the people in Shungnak were given two ballots to vote on — a Republican ballot and an “everyone else” ballot, which for this story we refer to as the Democrat ballot.

This mass voting mistake or intentional fraud has been acknowledged by the Division of Elections.

By state law, people don’t get to vote more than one ballot.

And yet that was not the only strange result on Aug. 16.

In Chefornak, District 38, it appears that voters also were given two ballots, but only allowed to vote one of them. If you give everyone two ballots, how do you know that Democrats didn’t vote the Republican ballot?

In Chefornak, the turnout was 204 voters. Exactly 16 voted for the U.S. Senate seat on the Republican ballot. Exactly 86 voted for one candidate or another on the Democrat ballot, for a total of 102.

Turning to the U.S. House of Representative race, once again we see 16 voted on the Republican ballot, and 86 voted on the Democrat ballot, for a total of 102 votes.

Dropping down to the contested Alaska House seat, where Zach Fansler was challenging Rep. Bob Herron, a total of 86 voted the Democrat ballot and there was nothing on the Republican ballot for this race.

But 204 cards cast is exactly twice the number of people who voted. A question for the Division of Elections is since they only counted 102 of the votes in Chefornak, how did they decide which ballots to count?

Statistically, everyone doesn’t vote every line in every race, but in Chefornak, they do. This is an anomaly. Could it be that someone sorted through the ballots, or are Chefornak voters more fastidious about voting?

BETHEL: There were 850 cards cast, and 85 voted the Republican ballot, while 765 took the Democratic ballot.

But of the 765 who took the Democrats’ ballot, 107 of them didn’t vote for anyone. Evidently, they are not as fastidious as Chefornak voters. They just filed an empty ballot.

Why would 107 people, one out of seven voters, bother to go to the polls and then proceed to not pick anyone at all?

QUINHAGAK: It’s the second largest precinct after Bethel’s two precincts. This village had an 11 percent turnout. It’s the lowest turnout in the District. Why did Quinhagak not vote? Hint: Herron carried that town two-to-one.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG

There are strange results all over District 38: 100 percent of the people who voted in Chefornak voted in 100 percent of the races. In Bethel, one out of seven voters went to all the trouble of showing up, getting a ballot, and then didn’t vote for anyone at all. And in Quinhagak, 89 percent of the voters did not show up, but those who did went for Herron.

Who is Len Blavatnik and why is the governor helping him?

Suzanne Downing

-

August 24, 2016

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Who is Len Blavatnik and why is the governor helping him?

THE QUINTILLIONAIRE

At 58, Leonard Blavatnik seems to have it all. The billionaire’s net worth is about one third of the Alaska Permanent Fund. He owns Warner Music, the flashiest of his multiple holdings through Access Industries.

Blavatnik is the owner of a stately mansion on the Kensington Palace grounds. He has a penthouse in New York, because that is what men like him do.

Blavatnik throws extravagant parties where there are plenty of of gilded women and noticeably fewer men. In 2015, he was named Britain’s richest man. He’s close with Vladimir Putin.

Born in Ukraine when it was a subset of the old Soviet Union, and now with American and British citizenship, Blavatnik is what is referred to as an oligarch. He’s straight out of Central Casting for a Putin-friendly, Russian-linked high roller.

Blavatnik is the type of guy of whom you simply do not ask how he made his first million.

All of this is laid out in painstaking detail in a 2014 long-form story in the New Yorker Magazine, titled “The Billionaire’s Playlist.” The story centers on how Blavatnik acquired Warner Music.

What is not told in the magazine is the story of how the billionaire now intersects with Alaska’s future fortunes.

Blavatnik does not need money from anybody, but evidently one of his companies, Quintillion, needs Alaska to put some skin in the game through the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA.

Because Governor Walker has all of a sudden appeared on the scene to publicly boost one of Blavatnik’s companies doing business in Alaska, that makes this man of mystery an item of public interest.

It raises the question of why Alaska’s governor would put his thumb on the scale for one telecommunications company over another, especially when that other company is GCI. In the recent debate over the state’s fiscal future, GCI has been a good friend to the governor.

It also raises the question of whether Governor Walker is using AIDEA as his private bank for his chosen projects, just as he has brought the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation under his total control. This is a pattern.

BLAVATNIK UNLIMITED

Blavatnik conglomerates, trusts, sub-trusts, and companies are what’s behind Quintillion, the company that describes itself as a “private operator headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska.”

Quintillion is led by an Alaskan, the founding partner and CEO Elizabeth Pierce, whose goal is to bring telecommunications fiber from Europe to Asia, across the top of Alaska and Canada, through the Arctic Ocean. Connecting points to Alaska villages along the coast are the icing on the cake. Some say the point of this would be to give high-speed stock traders a nano-second’s worth of advantage, but there are advantages to coastal Alaska communities like Barrow and Wainwright, where Netflix connections could dramatically improve.

The company will sell its capacity wholesale. Already it has just about completely installed the Alaska portion of the project, also known as Phase 1. In this phase is a terrestrial fiber optic cable network, connecting communities across the Arctic to the rest of the world through existing fiber int the Pacific Northwest.

A project like this comes at a very large cost, perhaps $290 million, without cost overruns. To put together financing for such a project, Quintillion had to look for deep pockets. Now, it appears the deep pockets own the company, but the reality is, unless one is a private equity expert, one could never get to the bottom of where the money comes from in this particular project. All that can be determined is that all paths lead back to Blavatnik.

As one of their spokesmen was quoted, “Quintillion has different investors, such as ASRC and Calista’s subsidiary Futaris are invested in different aspects of the project. We treat the nature of these investments confidentially and we’re not going to disclose details.”

QUINTILLION’S CASH FLOW

Quintillion’s web site says it is majority funded by the U.S. private investment firm Cooper Investment Partners. The head of Cooper Investment Partners is Stephen Cooper.

Cooper is the president and CEO of Warner Music Group Corp — owned by, you guessed it, Blavatnik. These two have finances that are tightly braided.

Cooper comes from a high-finance background, including being the man who was called in to fix Enron, after that company went into the largest bankruptcy and reorganization in US business history. Enron’s collapse was fraught with the company’s now-legendary fraudulent practices.

All that occurred before Cooper came to straighten it out. He’s a fix-it guy for distressed companies.

It’s through Cooper Investments that Stephen Cooper is connected Matthew P. Boyer, a senior member of the Cooper group.

Matt Boyer is formerly with the Carlyle Group: He served as Managing Director of Carlyle Partners III. Launched in 2000 with $3.9 billion, the fund conducts leveraged buyouts in North America.

Also, Boyer was the managing partner of Carlyle Partners IV, and Carlyle Partners V. When he was at Carlyle, he focused on U.S. buyouts in the telecommunications sector, specializing in wireless and wireless industries.

Boyer is a point person on the Quintillion project. His ties to Carlyle are interesting to Alaskans because Carlyle’s founder and principal manager is David Rubenstein, married to the wealthy fortune-hunter and Alaska Dispatch News owner Alice Rogoff.

Rogoff sat with the governor in meetings as he tried to figure out how to run a state with a sudden cash flow problem, all the while brushing off the $6 million a year losses at her new newspaper investment. Rogoff has also stated great interest in assisting the development of Western Alaska. She’s not known to be part of the Quintillion project.

While the Alaska portion of the main cable project is just about done, word on the street is that Blavatnik has invested as much as he is going to and that Cooper Investment Partners needs to raise the rest of its financing from other sources.

AIDEA HAS CASH

*Gov. Bill Walker and First Lady Donna Walker inspect the cable that is being laid under the sea from Asia to Europe, across the top of Alaska.*

On Aug. 8, Governor Bill Walker appeared in Dutch Harbor to review the work being done by Quintillion as it completed the Alaska portion of the cable project. Walker declared it promising for Alaska.

“Alaska is changing,” he told KUAC radio. “Alaska is changing because the Arctic is opening up. So to be able to have this opportunity for Alaska — the connectivity with the rest of the world with the high-speed internet this is going to provide — it’s pretty exciting.”

Two days later, at the board meeting for AIDEA, who should show up but the governor’s deputy chief of staff, Marcia Davis, sitting alongside Quintillion’s Elizabeth Pierce. At the end of that meeting, the board went into executive session to discuss the financing of telecommunications in Alaska.

Marcia Davis, it’s known, drove the Calista investment to Quintillion when she was Calista’s general counsel.

If AIDEA is getting ready to make a decision about financing a portion of this project, then the public will want to know a lot more about it because it’s an unusual piece of investment with an uncertain outcome.

Not long ago, the governor erased the bright line between the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation and his office, as he pushes ahead to build a gasline that fewer and fewer people believe is a solid investment.

Now is he also pressuring AIDEA? In any project like this, the big investor dictates the terms. Does AIDEA really have the sophistication to play in this international pond?

Word is that Quintillion needs an answer right away from AIDEA, and that in itself might signal it’s best to slow down.

ALL THE QUINTILLIONS

There are all kinds of reasons why a corporate structure might be too difficult for most people to understand. Sometimes its financing, taxation or international investors that cause complicated structures. Sometimes it’s simply to hide who owns what.

There are three known groups of entities in the Quintillion group:

Quintillion Networks, LLC, which appears to be the original Alaska group led by Elizabeth Pierce and Hans Roeterink.
Quintillion Holdings, LLC, jurisdiction unknown.
Quintillion Subsea Holdings, LLC (Delaware), which is 95 percent owned by Cooper Investment Fund LLC. The equity interest in Cooper Investment Fund is ultimately held through various entities in a Bermuda trust controlled by Len Blavatnik.
Quintillion Subsea Operations, LLC (Delaware), which is the owner of the entire Quintillion submarine fiber optic cable system, controlled by Cooper Investment Fund.

GOVERNOR STEPS OVER BRIGHT LINE

AIDEA, like the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, is a separate entity authorized by the State of Alaska. Its charter is to “promote, develop, and advance economic growth and diversification in Alaska by providing various means of financing and investment.” Decisions made by the board are supposed to be free from political intervention and crony capitalism. Its investments are supposed to bring returns to the state’s general fund.

Created in 1967, since its reconfiguration in 1987, AIDEA’s financing has purchased more than $1 billion in loans, issued more than $1.5 billion in conduit revenue bonds, developed AIDEA-owned projects, and put back $379 million of dividends into the general fund.

Whether the governor is putting his thumb on the scale for one telecommunications company or another in Alaska is an outstanding question. At the very least, it appears that, as with Alaska’s gasline agency, the governor is crossing over the line and putting political pressure on the formerly independent boards, over which he now has enormous control.

Why so many proxy ballots in District 40?

BALLOTS COUNTED – SURPRISE, IT’S A WIN FOR WESTLAKE, PERHAPS

A HEALTH CRISIS IN BUCKLAND? THE NUMBERS SUGGEST

SPECIAL NEEDS BALLOTS ARRIVE SEVERAL DAYS LATER

BUCKLAND HISTORICAL REVIEW

Curiouser and curiouser: Delayed primary results

PUBLIC MIGHT WONDER WHAT DIVISION OF ELECTIONS IS HIDING

Begich needs to come clean — but can he?

BEGICH ACCUSES, BUT WON’T TAKE A STAND HIMSELF

Great Alaska garage sale has THIS amazing benefit

THEY DON’T MESS AROUND IN FAIRBANKS

OR THIS…

GREAT ALASKA GARAGE SALE BENEFITS JOHN STURGEON LEGAL FUND

BACKGROUNDER

Why did BP support the governor’s AK-LNG project?

GOVERNOR WALKER HAS BP IN A VISE OVER PRUDHOE

New direction for Alaska gasline ends in questions

Governor walks back administrative order

ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER 279? OH, NEVERMIND

WHO ADVISED THE GOVERNOR?

More double ballots handed out? It looks that way in Chefornak

CHEFORNAK VOTES LIKE A BOSS

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG

Who is Len Blavatnik and why is the governor helping him?

THE QUINTILLIONAIRE

BLAVATNIK UNLIMITED

QUINTILLION’S CASH FLOW

AIDEA HAS CASH

ALL THE QUINTILLIONS

GOVERNOR STEPS OVER BRIGHT LINE

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