Page 1747 – Must Read Alaska

Governor kicks Juneau’s road down the can

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December 19, 2016

screen-shot-2016-12-18-at-6-59-05-pm

WALKER CAVED

By Win GRUENING

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker’s recent decision to take no action on the Juneau Access Project certainly might have some people dancing in the streets. However, it may be a decision he eventually regrets – not just because of the implications for our state and regional economy but because it was done for purely political reasons – and rarely does good policy come from bad politics.

Anti-road forces helped Gov. Walker get elected and now he has paid them in full. But how this decision benefits our community, our region or the state is hard to see.

The Governor cloaked his decision in bureaucratic doublespeak by saying in part that he was, “very concerned with our current multi-billion dollar fiscal crisis and must prioritize the need for fiscal resolution.”

But Alaskans should realize that Gov. Walker didn’t just say no to building a road – he said yes to continuing operation of ferries in Southeast Alaska with an expensively subsidized, unreliable, aging fleet that simply deepens the hole in which the Alaska Marine Highway System finds itself.

He also caved to the demands of the ferry union who saw the efficiencies and cost savings of a road as threats to their traditional job structure. Gov. Walker has now removed any incentive the ferry unions might have to restructure the system, reduce costs, and make operations more efficient.

The only way to achieve the kind of efficiency and economy in our ferry system that will be acceptable to most Alaskans is to significantly shorten ferry routes by building roads and utilizing day boats.

How is Gov. Walker prioritizing the need for fiscal resolution when he says yes to maintaining the status quo in our regional transportation system – forcing many working people in our region and across the State to choose between unaffordable travel options to our capital city?

By saying no to $500 million in federal transportation dollars, Gov. Walker has not mitigated the fiscal crisis, instead he has further diminished our workforce in the construction trades which will be vital to eventual recovery from our economic recession.

With no state projects of any consequence on the horizon, we can expect workers to head south for jobs and a more welcoming environment – where jobs presumably will be prioritized over political payback.

The anti-road interests have also moved swiftly to make sure that prior appropriations for Juneau Access are zeroed out quickly so that they can truly drive a stake through its heart. It is no coincidence that Gov. Walker’s FY2018 budget has re-allocated most of those dollars to other “undefined” projects in our region.

But didn’t the Governor say we couldn’t afford to spend that money? I guess he meant we can’t afford to build the project he didn’t pick – but we can afford to build other projects – no doubt favored by special interests that supported him.

It is ironic that after a decade of lawsuits, studies and public process, the funding for the one project that Gov. Walker could have built to help our state may end up being siphoned off to a variety of inconsequential projects no one will remember 5 years from now.

Even more ironically, Gov. Walker has said yes to moving much of the funding to Haines and Skagway – two communities with road access that have loudly and vociferously denied Juneau needs a road as well.

Juneau Access was the best opportunity any governor of our state has had to improve the inadequate transportation system in SE Alaska. But Gov. Walker said no to making travel more affordable, facilitating more commerce, lowering freight costs, increasing independent tourism and expanding recreational opportunities.

Instead, Gov. Walker said yes to decreased ferry service, higher fares, and increased subsidies – all dragging on our economy at the very time we need to invest in infrastructure and stimulate our economy.

screen-shot-2016-09-11-at-4-57-44-pm — *Win Gruening*

Unfortunately, Gov. Walker’s legacy will be one of short-sightedness and poor decisions harming our economy instead of nursing it back to health.

Despite this setback, I do not believe the road is dead. The economics supporting it are too powerful to ignore. We will need our next governor to have the foresight and political courage to champion it. Eventually it will be built.

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.

Governor’s budget strips fund that pays Permanent Fund Dividends

Suzanne Downing

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December 17, 2016

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JAY HAMMOND’S VISION OF PERMANENT FUND MAY BE ON VERGE OF SUNSETTING

Gov. Bill Walker’s $6.06 billion operating budget (unrestricted and designated funds combined) uses the Alaska Permanent Fund Earnings Reserves Account (ERA) to pay for government operations.

This is a new condition that has raised some red flags among budget hawks.

The ERA has always been used to pay Alaskans their Permanent Fund Dividends and inflation-proof the corpus of the fund.

Walker’s budget relies on the use of the Permanent Fund by taking roughly $5 billion from the ERA within the Permanent Fund, leaving just $3 billion in the fund.

By stripping the ERA, the governor will tap close to 10 percent of the Permanent Fund’s entire value to pay for state operations for both FY 17 and FY18. This maneuver may be why his cuts to unrestricted general fund spending are a paltry 0.6 percent.

Senator Mike Dunleavy, a budget hawk from the Mat-Su & Copper River valleys, said that while the drawdown of the ERA may be legal, this also may be the biggest fund transfer in state history, and it comes with a budget that has minimal reductions in spending.

“The people of Alaska should be greatly concerned by a transfer of funds of this magnitude,” he said, adding that FY17’s budget is already paid for and did not need the injection of cash.

Appropriating funds from the Permanent Fund’s ERA into the general fund of the current year’s budget also is unusual because additions to current year budgets are normally done through a supplemental budget request for unexpected expenses.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

The governor’s move to strip the Earnings Reserve Account may have another, more political goal.

If the Legislature has less money “available for appropriation” in the current year than what was appropriated in the previous year, the legislative majority can access the Constitutional Budget Reserve without a three-quarters vote. No super-majority is needed.

With the budget he has proposed that drains the ERA, the governor may be attempting to marginalize the House Republican Minority.

Since the ERA is technically available for appropriation, by stripping it of most of its money, the governor could set up the condition described in Article 9, 17b of the Alaska Constitution.

Walker will only need the Democrat-led House Majority and a compliant Senate majority. The minority in the House — the Republicans — could not withhold their support in order to get deeper budget cuts. The governor will have removed their leverage to downsize departments.

Last year, Governor Walker proposed rolling all the reserve accounts into the principal of the Permanent Fund, and then restructuring the fund entirely, under SB 128, to provide stable ongoing support for state services. That bill did not pass.

But his current budget proposal is, in essence, enacting portions of SB 128. Only this year, he’s moving money the opposite way — instead of moving all the funds into the Permanent Fund, he is moving nearly 10 percent out of it.

Our sources in the Capitol tell us that is precisely the governor’s thinking.

To what end? Walker is keeping budget cuts to a minimum and maintaining spending at unsustainable levels by diverting 10 percent of the Permanent Fund.

Alaskans get coal in their stockings, no road to their capital

Suzanne Downing

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December 15, 2016

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You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch
You really are a heel,
You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch,
You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel!

GOVERNOR WALKER EMULATES MR. GRINCH, SALLY JEWELL

Juneau’s working families are reeling with today’s news: Gov. Bill Walker, a multi-millionaire who flies in and out of Juneau on a State Trooper plane, has just killed the one shovel-ready project the State had going for it: Juneau Access, a road extension that has been in the queue for more than 20 years.

Juneau Access is a major Juneau priority, yet Walker gave it up without a fight, saying the State cannot afford it.

The truth is, the State has the funds already appropriated for Juneau Access. The balance of project funds would come from federal dollars. Not a penny more of State money is needed.

Walker said in a statement: “I am a builder by background and understand the importance of construction projects, but I am very concerned with our current multi-billion dollar fiscal crisis and must prioritize the need for fiscal resolution.”

However, in the next paragraph of his press release he contradicted himself with the statement:

“Governor Walker will take steps to ensure that the $38 million in remaining state funds for the project will be available for other transportation and capital projects in the area. Governor Walker committed to working with Juneau and the surrounding regional communities to determine the best use of those dollars.”

Gov. Walker noted in his press release that the public process had been robust. Then he ignored the process when, among all the alternatives listed in the lengthy environmental impact statement, he simply chose to “do nothing.”

screen-shot-2016-12-15-at-11-51-37-am — *Sally Jewell, DOI Secretary*

Walker’s decision aligns him with Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, who sided with the birds rather than humans when she denied an 11-mile road from King Cove to the all-weather airport at Cold Bay.

Walker has become Alaska’s Sally Jewell. The eco-elitists, led by Gov. Walker adviser Bruce Botelho, a road opponent, must be dancing a jig. After all, Botelho and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott put the governor in office, and he certainly owes them.

“I participated in many of the dozens of Juneau Access meetings initiated by Governor Walker,” said Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, who has always opposed the road to Juneau. “The review was exhaustive and thorough. Alaska’s need for fiscal certainty loomed large throughout and in that light the correct decision was made.”

Juneau is long-criticized by Alaskans for being out of touch with the rest of the state. The capital is known as a petri dish of liberalism, but even 60 percent of Juneauites now want the road built. They understand that access to and from the capital is the best protection for their economy, and for retaining the capital in Juneau.

The option the governor chose is the most expensive alternative: Running slow, mainline ferries that are unreliable and woefully inadequate to the transportation needs and are expensive for working class families. Ferry worker union contracts will continue to explode the cost of operations and require ever-expanding subsidies. Eventually service will have to be cut.

The access road would have allowed the state’s new shuttle ferries to make a 27-min run between Haines and the road ending at Katzehin, cutting travel time, costs, fees, and enabling service throughout the day. The current sailing from Auke Bay takes 4.5 hours.

Today’s decision ensures that the people who will be able to afford to get in and out of Juneau will be the monied class.

They won’t be the regular people wearing Southeast sneakers. They won’t be the independent tourists who could add to the capital’s economy. They won’t be families who just need a break from the weather, but cannot afford the ferry or jet service for a weekend away.

Governor Walker has caved to the environmental lobby. He has gone from being a self-proclaimed “build-it governor” to one who will have no new infrastructure to show for himself when he leaves office. He has taken a shovel-ready project with funds already in place, and canceled it without even identifying the other projects that are apparently more important to him.

All Juneau needed was a small dollop of political courage, something in short supply these days on the third floor of our Capitol.

Alaska electors get sued by single Clinton voter

Suzanne Downing

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December 15, 2016

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A last-ditch effort to stop the election of President-elect Donald Trump is underway in the U.S. District Court of Anchorage, with a lawsuit filed on Dec. 12 against all three of Alaska’s electors who will cast their votes in Juneau on Dec. 19.

Janice Park, a Hillary Clinton voter in Anchorage, filed the lawsuit against former Gov. Sean Parnell of Palmer, Carolyn Leman of Anchorage, and Jacqueline Tupou of Juneau.

The lawsuit claims that because Hillary Clinton won 2.84 million more votes than Donald Trump nationwide, Alaska’s electors would be denying Park her Fifth Amendment right of equal protection if the electors do not cast their vote for Clinton.

In Alaska, Trump won over Clinton 53 to 38 percent.

The basis for the lawsuit is complicated: Park claims that unless the court stops the electoral vote from proceeding, the electors “will effectively cause a single vote for Clinton to be valued less than a single vote for Trump. Calculating roughly based on the total votes available to PARK at the time of this complaint, the value of each Clinton vote will be only about .97 of each Trump vote. If Clinton’s margin expands as projected, that value will decrease to about .95.”

Park has asked for an expedited hearing, which Judge Timothy Burgess granted her. The matter will be heard Thursday at 4 p.m. in Anchorage. The State Department of Law will field the charges, as it is required to do by statute.

Before the election, Clinton supporters and the media blasted President-elect Trump because he would not go on record saying he would unequivocally agree with whatever the election results were. On Oct. 19, the New York Times wrote in a news story:

“In a remarkable statement that seemed to cast doubt on American democracy, Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that he might not accept the results of next month’s election if he felt it was rigged against him — a stand that Hillary Clinton blasted as “horrifying” at their final and caustic debate on Wednesday.

“Mr. Trump, under enormous pressure to halt Mrs. Clinton’s steady rise in opinion polls, came across as repeatedly frustrated as he tried to rally conservative voters with hard-line stands on illegal immigration and abortion rights. But he kept finding himself drawn onto perilous political territory by Mrs. Clinton and the debate’s moderator, Chris Wallace.”

No such outrage has been articulated by those on the Left regarding this lawsuit, which ignores the entire purpose and role of the Electoral College. The College was designed by the Founders of the country to be a buffer and to fairly distribute power to all states, regardless of size. It is written in the Constitution.

The creation of the Electoral College came at the end of the Constitutional Convention, when the Founders settled on a two-part, state-based election process that forces presidential candidates to reach out to all states, not just the most populous ones, in order to build a broad base of support.

The electors will gather in all state capitols on Dec. 19 to cast their votes.

It is believed that Trump has 305 of the total 538 electoral votes available. (One Texas Republican elector has said he will not honor the electoral rules requiring him cast his vote for Trump). Two hundred and seventy electoral votes are needed to win the White House.

Electors are generally required by law to vote according to how their states voted during the November General Election. Most states have a winner-takes-all-electors law that governs the process. Pressure on electors has been unprecedented, with reports of hundreds and even thousands of emails arriving each day for some of them, pressuring them to change their votes, and even threatening them.

The six states with the most electoral votes are: California (55), Texas (38), New York (29), Florida (29), Illinois (20) and Pennsylvania (20). They control 191 electoral votes, but in the popular vote, California actually gave Clinton at least 3.1 million, which would have been enough to swing the general election for her. If the Electoral College balancing process were not in place, states like New York and California would own the presidency.

Finally, without the Electoral College, Alaska’s 318,608 votes cast in the presidential race would have very little impact on the outcome nationally and candidates and presidents would pay no attention to the state or its concerns.

But with the Electoral College, Alaska’s three electors represent 10 percent of the 35-vote margin that Trump has today.

Percentages like that make Alaska a lot more important in the grand scheme of presidential politics.

The public is invited to the Electoral College ceremony in Juneau on Monday:

Zinke to Interior: Worrisome for Alaska?

Suzanne Downing

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December 14, 2016

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President-elect Donald Trump may be nominating a Secretary of the Interior shortly: Congressman Ryan Zinke of Montana. The official announcement has not yet been made, but the handwringing in Alaska has begun.

Zinke is on record opposing the transfer of federal land to the states. That’s a position that President-elect Donald Trump also shares, something that raised concerns during his campaign for president.

In June, Zinke voted against a bill offered by Alaska Congressman Don Young. HR 3650, would have permitted up to two millions of acres of the 17-million acre Tongass National Fores land to be transferred to state ownership.

That would have allowed more reasonable and responsible management of the many uses that the Tongass is supposed to provide — timber, recreation, hunting, and fishing, for example.

Every other Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee voted for the State National Forest Management Act of 2015. Zinke was the only Republican who opposed it.

But he didn’t stop there. At the Republican Nominating Convention this summer, Zinke also resigned as a delegate when the transfer of federal lands to state control was placed in the Republican platform by Alaska delegate Judy Eledge. It became part of the platform, and Zinke was having nothing to do with it and made some brash statements as he left the convention.

The platform item reads: “Congress shall immediately pass universal legislation providing a timely and orderly mechanism requiring the federal government to convey certain federally controlled public lands to the states. We call upon all national and state leaders and representatives to exert their utmost power of influence to urge the transfer of those lands identified.”

Zinke may have his reasons for his positions. The people he represents in Montana are concerned that federal land could be sold off to extremely wealthy people who would then prevent public access to those lands. In Montana, they have the problem of billionaires buying out millionaires’ land and then transferring it into land trusts, where it gets locked away. His constituency likes their federal landlord.

But Zinke clearly did not respond to the actual legislation nor the concerns expressed by the party platform.

Alaskans are going to want to know a lot more about how Zinke thinks when it comes to federal lands. The 49th State is owned 60 percent by the federal government, and our economy suffers from a colonial bureaucracy that has all but killed the timber industry in Southeast Alaska, mining in Western Alaska, and offshore oil development in the Arctic.

Young’s bill would have addressed the Tongass directly and helped Southeast Alaska from losing jobs and families.

Young, serving in the U.S. House, will not be part of the official advice and consent process for the nomination, although no doubt he will be one of the key influencers. That approval role belongs to the Senate.

Alaskans can send their concerns about Zinke to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who chairs the Senate Natural Resources Committee, or Sen. Dan Sullivan.

Those who favor transfer of federal land in Alaska will want our delegation to ask Zinke the tough questions and get commitments out of him prior to confirmation. They’ll also want to be sure the Alaska delegation gets a familiarization tour on Zinke’s schedule right away. He’ll need to understand the state over which he is about to become a landlord.

To be clear, forestry does not come under the purview of the Department of Interior, as it is under the Secretary of Agriculture.

But Zinke’s actions relating to federal control of western lands needs to be examined. And he’ll have a lot of explaining to do for some of the statements he is on record making:

“I’m starting to wonder how many times I have to tell these guys in leadership I’m not going to allow Montana’s public lands to be sold or given away,” Rep. Zinke said, after his vote against Young’s bill. “Two million acres is a lot, even in Montana.”

In Alaska, two million acres is a fraction. Alaskans will want to know just how squishy Zinke is when it comes to resource development. Because our lives and our state depend on it.

Media played an unwitting role in Trump victory

Suzanne Downing

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December 14, 2016

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screen-shot-2016-12-14-at-10-31-50-am — *Dickens’ Dream by Robert William Buss, portraying Charles Dickens at his desk at Gads Hill Place, surrounded by many of his characters.*

“Politics are much discussed, so are banks, so is cotton. Quiet people avoid the question of the Presidency … the great constitutional feature of this institution being, that directly the acrimony of the last election is over, the next one begins.” — Charles Dickens, American Notes, 1842.

Admired by his contemporaries and a hugely celebrated writer of his day, Charles Dickens is now remembered as one of the greatest English novelists of all time.

Less well-known was his commentary regarding America after traveling here on a public reading and speaking tour. Following that trip, Dickens wrote American Notes for General Circulation — a travelogue detailing his visit to North America from January to June, 1842. Later, Dickens’ American journey inspired his novel Martin Chuzzlewit.

He met Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe in Baltimore and President John Tyler in Washington, D.C.

Having arrived in Boston, he visited Lowell, New York, and Philadelphia, and travelled as far south as Richmond, as far west as St. Louis and as far north as Quebec.

The American city he liked best was Boston: “The city is a beautiful one, and cannot fail, I should imagine, to impress all strangers very favourably.”

He also singled out Americans generally: “… People are affectionate, generous, openhearted, hospitable, enthusiastic, good humored, polite to women, frank and cordial to all strangers.”

Despite his admiration for our cities and our people, Dickens was not so enamored with other aspects. Dickens was horrified by slavery, appalled by the common use of spitting tobacco and indignant about his treatment by the press. He was a fierce critic of our political system and what he perceived to be a lack of freedom of opinion.

In a letter to William Macready, a noted British Shakespearean actor, Dickens lamented: “I see a press more mean and paltry and silly and disgraceful than any country ever knew — if that be its standard, here it is. I speak of Bancroft and am advised to be silent on that subject, for he is ‘a black sheep — a democrat.’ I speak of Bryant and am entreated to be more careful — for the same reason. … I speak of Miss Martineau, and all parties — slave upholders and abolitionists; Whigs, Tyler Whigs, and Democrats — shower down upon her a perfect cataract of abuse. But what has she done? Surely she praised America enough. Yes, but she told us of some of our faults, and Americans can’t bear to be told of their faults.”

Yes, but she told us of some of our faults, and Americans can’t bear to be told of their faults.

Much has changed in the last 174 years since Dickens wrote this. Yet, but for some of the names, outdated party labels and stilted language, he could easily have been writing about the 2016 presidential election.

Indeed, “freedom of opinion” today remains stifled by a political correctness so ingrained in various elements of our society and the media that many politicians’ answers to questions of the day are reduced to inconsequential blather.

Which brings me to Donald Trump. It’s not a stretch to posit that much of Trump’s attraction to voters in no small part relates to his complete disregard for political correctness. His unfiltered tweets and offhand comments may not in themselves articulate complete policy positions but they nonetheless effectively circumvent the biased press and reflect what many people are thinking. Some say he is being divisive but isn’t he often saying what many others are reluctant to say? And once said, whether you agree with it or not, isn’t it healthy to debate it?

The media also played an important role in Donald Trump’s victory — in the primary races as well as the general election. By providing free nonstop (generally uncritical) press coverage during the primaries, the media helped Trump win the Republican nomination, perhaps assuming he would be the weakest candidate against Hillary Clinton.

Later, media coverage became extremely critical in the hopes that by exposing his foibles, voters would reject him in the general election. Eventually, it became clear many in the media misjudged the mood of the electorate and their unrelenting campaign against Trump worked in his favor.

Yet, the media seems to have ignored this lesson as their attacks continue to energize the left’s obsession with the popular vote and their perception of Trump’s illegitimacy, encouraging further division and distrust. Irrelevant vote recounts are underway. Electoral College voters are receiving death threats. Coddled students and malconten
ts, many of whom either did not vote or chose to vote for fringe candidates, are offered counseling, are excused from attending class but encouraged to demonstrate in the streets. To what end?

It’s time to move on. The election is over. The enormity of the political upset notwithstanding, this political season isn’t more divisive or much different
from the one Dickens described in 1842. Our republic survived then, even flourished, and Americans can believe it will again.

Win Gruening was born and raised in Juneau. He retired as senior vice president of Key Bank and is active in community affairs and is involved with several local, state, and national organizations.

Bright, shiny objects: Governor’s cancer removed, state income taxes ahead

Suzanne Downing

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December 13, 2016

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screen-shot-2016-10-14-at-1-38-08-pm — *Gov. Bill Walker, file photo*

WALKER RECOVERING: Gov. Bill Walker underwent surgery for four hours on Monday to remove cancerous tissue from his prostate.

According to the news release from his office, no further treatment is expected.

“I would like to thank the talented medical team who made this surgery a success, and the countless Alaskans who have sent their well wishes over the past month. The outpouring of support my family and I have received since announcing my cancer diagnosis has been incredibly humbling. This is an important reminder for all Alaskans to schedule regular checkups with their doctor so early detection of health issues can provide more treatment options. I look forward to returning to work very soon.”

The governor announced his cancer diagnosis on Nov. 4 during a press conference that included his entire family and said his surgery would take place out of state, where he presumably is recovering today.

STATE TAX PROPOSAL AHEAD: Word from inside the Governor’s Office is that the budget that must be submitted to the Legislature by this Thursday will include two tax proposals for Alaskans. One will be an income tax. One will be a sales tax.

The sales tax is a red herring. The governor is hoping the business community will raise a stink about the sales tax and cave on the income tax instead.

Earlier this year, the Rasmuson Foundation offered the suggestion that the income tax proposal, which would have raised just $200 million for state workers, needed to be increased. Look for a proposal from the governor this week that will at least double that amount, taking a serious bite out of Alaska workers’ paychecks to pay for State services.

What is the business community likely to say? “Cut government first before you look at revenue measures,” is the likely response. There’s more work to be done in cuts. Business leaders are not likely to take the bait and support an income tax without significant budget cuts.

MORE CHANGES IN GOVERNOR’S OFFICE: Word is circulating in political circles that the governor’s new Chief of Staff Scott Kendall is going to make some staff changes. We don’t know what they are yet, but some questions are in order:

Where is Commissioner of Revenue Randall Hoffbeck? He has not been seen much lately, even as the budget deadline grows closer. Instead, Tax Division Director Ken Alper is making the rounds on the governor’s budget proposal.

Hoffbeck has let it be known he’s ready to return to mission work, but is Alper being groomed to take his spot? Come to think of it, where has Office of Management and Budget Director Pat Pitney been?

OCEANS OF SPECULATION: Beth Kerttula, former Juneau representative who left to work on ocean issues and ended up in the Obama Administration, is back in Juneau and clever politicos are speculating that Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Juneau, will soon announce his retirement and make way for a gubernatorial appointment.

Kerttula, an affable and smart legislator, was highly speculated in the Department of Law as the one who would be the governor’s choice for attorney general last year.

As a capable political leader and a close associate of Bruce Botelho (former attorney general and governor’s advisor), it’s no surprise her name will continue to circulate for an influential position somewhere in government.

Stay tuned, as you have not seen the last of Beth Kerttula.

Phone survey is for sex worker law changes

Suzanne Downing

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December 13, 2016

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Hays Research performed a telephone survey across Alaska last week with some unusual questions.

The survey explanation to the respondent was posed this way: Community United for Safety and Protection is investigating if Alaskans support Amnesty International’s policy position to not arrest people for prostitution, which would stop the State from spending money, as there are already laws on the books to address rape, robbery, theft, coercion, extortion, assault, battery, sex trafficking, kidnapping, and murder.

The surveyor continued: The following questions relate to this position and how it may affect the State’s budget.

Here are four related issues currently being dealt with in Alaska. Which is most important?

Arresting minors for prostitution.
Arresting consenting adults for prostitution.
Investigating cases of murder or missing sex workers.
Processing Alaska’s backlog of rape kits.

Are you aware under current Alaska law police officers are permitted to have sexual contact or intercourse with women before arresting them for prostitution? Y / N
Do you think it should against the law for police officers to have sexual contact or intercourse with individuals they are investigating? Y / N
Should the State stop spending resources arresting consenting adults for prostitution? Y / N
Sex trafficking is commonly understood to mean forcing people into prostitution, but in reality it has many legal definitions. Here’s a list of situations. Let me know if you think they should be charged with sex trafficking:

Should someone who forces a child into prostitution be charged with sex trafficking? Y / N
Should an abusive partner of a sex worker who pressures them to serve more clients than they want to serve be charged with sex trafficking?
Should landlords or roommates of adult sex workers, even if they are not aware of prostitution occurring on the premises, be charged with sex trafficking?
Should adult sex workers who carpool back and forth between Fairbanks and Anchorage be charged with sex trafficking one another?
Should outreach workers who provide adult sex workers with condoms be charged with sex trafficking?

Who is the Community United for Safety and Protection?

They are sex workers and former sex workers who are lobbying to decriminalize aspects of prostitution. Last year they sent one lobbyist to Juneau and this year they plan to send three.

Last year, the lobbyist for the group left material on the tables during a State Chamber of Commerce reception, which…wait for it…got a rise out of some attendees. The materials were quickly gathered up by the organizer of the event and tossed, as CUSP is not a member of the State Chamber.

Be that as it may, at least one part of Alaska’s economy is growing.

A big project for Walker: Why not build a road to Juneau?

Suzanne Downing

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December 13, 2016

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A big project for Walker: Why not build a road to Juneau?

It could have been the William Walker Highway. And it still can be.

In early 2015, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker halted the one project that could be built during his time in office: The Juneau Access Project: Preferred Alternative, 2B.

His move to kill Juneau Access was an Alaska-sized mistake by a rookie governor who got snookered by hard-left elitists.

But it’s not too late for him to leave a legacy.

Gov. Walker was never going to get to build a dam at Susitna-Watana. The money is just not there, and the project would have to work its way through the environmental lawsuits, which would have dragged on for years.

He wasn’t going to get a crossing over the Knik Arm — again, it’s 10 years, was not yet a federal priority, and was multi-lawsuits away. His left-leaning political base would never have tolerated it.

But a 50-mile road to Juneau? He can get that built. It’s doable.

The environmental impact statement was nearly done when he took office. The project was about as shovel-ready as a project could get when he simply shut it down.

The $574 million road would be funded primarily by federal dollars. State funds have already been appropriated.

Juneau Access would provide employment for more than 500 Alaskans during its construction. And this is a time when Alaskans sorely need the jobs.

The road to Juneau would wind its way north up Lynn Canal, around Berner’s Bay and end at a new ferry terminal at Katzehin.

From there, a 27-minute shuttle ferry crossing to Haines and a ferry to Skagway would run several times a day, the way ferries do between Port Townsend and the San Juan Islands. The two Alaska-class ferries for the Juneau Access Project are under construction in Ketchikan.

Later, Walker somewhat sheepishly put the project back on the stove because, as he learned, it’s a federally backed highway and he’d have to pay the feds tens of millions of dollars if he stopped the environmental impact study midway.

Thus, the EIS was completed, the preferred alternative was identified, and the project now awaits Walker’s decision.

THE WAIT OF A LIFETIME IS NEARLY OVER

This week it looks like the decision on Juneau Access may be at hand, after what has become two decades of waiting.

Governor Walker’s Legislative Director Darwin Peterson, is calling all three members of Juneau’s legislative delegation to the Third Floor of the Capitol on Wednesday. The meetings will be done separately, we are told. The governor will not be present.

When a governor gives good news, he does it in person, typically. When it’s bad news, he has a functionary do the work. The tea leaves on his decision are hard to read.

The Juneau delegation is split on the road: Rep. Cathy Munoz and Sen. Dennis Egan favor it; Rep. Sam Kito and incoming Rep. Justin Parish oppose it.

Juneau, as a community, is also somewhat split, with a majority favoring it. But this is more than about what Juneau wants. It’s about the state and what is best for the state.

We Alaskans need a road to our capital city, and Juneau needs a road out. The current mode of travel is for the elite only, as it can be afforded only by the well-heeled, not the working class.

The status quo limits access to our elected officials. The lack of a road creates inefficiencies that accentuate the pressure for a capital move.

Ferries, for example, only meet seven percent of the total travel demand for Lynn Canal, and are extremely costly to use. They’re breaking the bank of a State with precious little money to spare.

Right now, if a family of four wants to go from Juneau to Skagway for the weekend, it will cost over $600 round trip.

Yet that only pays for a fraction of the cost: For every $3 a ferry ride costs, the state pays $2 and the rider pays $1. That family going to Skagway is costing the state $1,200 roundtrip. Alaskans also subsidize visitor travel at that same rate.

The drive to Skagway on the road with short shuttle ferry would cost the same family $134 round trip.

Twenty years ago, the annual State subsidy was $28.8 million. Today it’s over $120 million per year. Alaskans are subsidizing the ferry system at nearly 70 percent, more than double the subsidy for the Washington State Ferries.

What else is at stake? Freight would be cheaper if Juneau had better access. Tourism access would be improved, and independent travelers would become a significant source of tax revenue for the capital city, as well as for Haines and Skagway, both already connected to the rest of the road system. Shipping fresh seafood would be far cheaper.

The Walker Administration has been lobbied by both sides — pro-road types on the one hand and the anti-road, eco-elitists on the other.

But within his Administration, it’s an anti-road club that wants to keep people out of Juneau. They’re likely to swing the decision.

The pro-road people in Juneau are nervous this week. And rightly so: This administration has yet to come down on the side of generating economic activity anywhere in the state.

WHERE IS UNION SUPPORT FOR ROAD CONSTRUCTION JOBS?

The unions back the Juneau Access Project. This highway would bring construction jobs by the hundreds. It’s a project of bonanza proportions.

During a time when Alaska jobs are at their lowest level since the catastrophic crash of the 1980s, and there are precious few construction jobs left in the economic pipeline, union representatives are one of the few influential classes that has the governor’s ear.

It’s been two years of quiet diplomacy for union leaders. They helped get Walker where he is today, and now they are wondering if he’s forgotten their support. They’ve talked to Walker numerous times, but is he listening? They don’t know.

Union representatives like Corey Baxter, Joey Merrick, Tom Brice, and Don Etheridge have met with the governor in his office and at the Governor’s Mansion on this very topic. They catch his ear wherever they can, whether at the ice rink or a local store.

Ken Koelsch, Juneau’s mayor since March, has done his part to convince Walker to approve the preferred alternative identified by the road study.

WILL THE GOVERNOR TRY ALTERNATIVE 4D?

Some say the governor may choose a different alternative — the one known as 4B, which would be known as the “Walker Culdesac.”

This five-mile version would be a way for him to use up some of the federal money, and it would extend the road as far as Berner’s Bay. But it would cost almost $1 billion. It’s the ridiculous alternative of splitting the baby in two.

This is not how Walker wants to be remembered in a year when we’re commerating the 75th anniversary of the Alcan Highway: Building the equivalent of a back alley.

If that is his choice, he should just shelve the entire project right now: It’s a nonstarter that has none of the benefits of the preferred alternative and will cost more money to maintain in the long run. It’s an insult to Alaskans.

The decision Gov. Walker announces this week will tell the working people of Alaska everything they need to know about whether he is supportable as governor in 2018.

The business community, working Alaskans, and union leaders are united on this one. Will Walker go with them or with the disconnected no-road elitists?

It’s not too late for Gov. Walker to be the governor who, as he says, “likes to build things” — and then actually builds them.

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