It’s always interesting to hear who shouts that first and loudest after an election. The statement implies a fundamental truth about our democratic republic: Unlike dictatorships, we have a direct say in who writes our laws and makes the calls on how our government is run. But politics is, unfortunately, more based on optics and power than truth.
The whole thing was likely ghostwritten by Democrat political operatives, and we congratulate the Democratic Party for “flipping the House,” as they are now taking credit for it everywhere. Let’s give credit where it’s due:
The Democrats’ Tuesday op-ed is a bit “TLDR,” so let me save you the trouble and the clicks to the ADN and give a quick summary of what was said: “the people voted for us (Dems and friends) to oppose a conservative Governor and legislature, to ram budget busting pensions through, look at taxes, and jack up spending. We can prove it because we are here and in charge. And we are ready to get to work.”
Hold those horses people, especially what comes out of them.
The people of Alaska, like our country, did vote overwhelmingly in a clear voice for some things. They voted to change out the White House leadership, which is run either by an elderly mentally incompetent guy or a network of unelected advisors carrying out a shadow government, with our former and now incoming President Trump, who has been slandered, vilified, persecuted, and literally shot at. The people voted to send Mary Peltola, a nice, photogenic Democrat clone for the D.C. special interests, away from Congress and put a real conservative in.
Here in Alaska, the people voted in waves for Trump, Nick Begich for Congress, and for Republicans in the House and Senate. Let me say that again: We have a majority of lawmakers in both bodies registered as Republicans. So the head scratcher to many folks is this: Why are four Republicans in the Senate and two in the House putting Democrats in power?
To be crystal clear, in the state House, of which I and my fellow conservatives are members, there are 21 Republicans, exactly enough to lead in that chamber.
Instead, two Republicans have crossed over, and given power to 19 Democrats and “Independents,” those people who do not affiliate as Democrats and yet the Democrat party funds their campaigns and celebrates their wins.
Why?
There are two reasons. One is good old fashioned power. When you are in the majority, you get to be in charge of everything, from what bills get heard in committees and put on the floor, to what size the budget is, to whether the Permanent Fund Dividend is honored, to the petty issues of office sizes, travel allowances, and other perks. Members of the “big office caucus” like the trappings of power as much as what power can do.
The other reason is more important, and Alaskans should make no mistake about why this majority got put together. Special interests want to gut the finances of this state and make you pay for it. I don’t have to say anything except what some of these people have said on the record and in their own opinion pieces. What is their number one priority: more education funding, and returning Alaska government employees to a pension system that nearly bankrupted us twenty years ago.
Alaskans need to know how serious this will be. If pensions are returned for state workers, local governments get to bring them back too. That means property taxes, and local sales taxes will certainly go up to cover those costs just at the city level.
At the state…that’s a whole other story. What is left of the PFD will be on the chopping block. But don’t worry: The majority will try finding a way to pay for it by bringing back statewide taxes. Don’t believe me? Just look at the current leadership coming in. They did it before, when the original PFD raider, Bill Walker, was governor. We were lucky we had conservatives in the Senate who killed those bad ideas. But we don’t anymore.
And we haven’t touched one of the major issues Alaskans and Americans voted this year: declaring a war on woke. We have fought for years to make commonsense changes to our laws, like preventing biological boys from competing against our girls in school sports, and not pushing gender mutilation through government policy. I guarantee you the folks in charge do not care one bit about your concerns on these issues; in fact, they relish being against you on it.
The silver lining is this: Alaskans voted for really good conservatives throughout the state, and the House cannot run wild with such a thin margin of Democrats and supposed Republicans. Your conservatives will be in every room where your wallet, your families interest, and your rights are going to be threatened. But this is will take a team effort. Those in power think they can steamroll you, but working together, conservatives in Juneau and back in regular Alaska can shine the light of common sense and truth on them.
Enjoy Thanksgiving — and be thankful change is coming to D.C., and be ready to roll in January. The people HAVE spoken; let’s remind those who cling to power about that.
Rep. Jamie Allard represents District 23, Eagle River, in the Alaska Legislature.
The mainstream media will have to find something else about which to wring its hands, now that the incoming Trump Administration has signed a transition-of-power agreement with the Biden regime.
Susie Wiles, Trump’s White House chief of staff, announced that the Donald Trump transition team had signed an agreement to formally begin the transition of power, The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding allows cabinet nominees to begin their preparations to take over agency work.
“After completing the selection process of his incoming Cabinet, President-elect Trump is entering the next phase of his administration’s transition by executing a Memorandum of Understanding with President Joe Biden’s White House,” Wiles wrote in a statement. “This engagement allows our intended Cabinet nominees to begin critical preparations, including the deployment of landing teams of every department and agency, and complete the orderly transition of power.”
For several days, the media has been expressing shock that the Trump team had not yet signed the usual agreement.
Among the concerns of the Trump Team is that they didn’t want to use Deep State assets because of their prior experience with the Deep State actors in the alphabet agencies sandbagging Trump from before he took office in 2016. Instead, the transition team will use only private funds for the work. Here’s the statement from Wiles:
This is the second article in a three-part series on Alaskan election integrity. Part 1 is below.
Alaskans are frustrated with the state’s election system—delays in counting, late ballot swings, limited in-person voting, a push for mail-in voting, and proposals to eliminate identification requirements. Many issues could be fixed administratively, yet officials seem unwilling to challenge the entrenched bureaucracy. Are they prioritizing political safety over their constitutional duty? Reform is needed to prevent cheating and corruption and to restore trust in our election system.
Alaska’s election system faces challenges in four critical areas: data, voting, fraud exposure, and ballot security.
In this installment of a three-part series, the focus is on data, with particular attention to two pressing issues: inaccurate voter rolls and the vulnerability of voter data.
Since 2019, Alaska’s legislature has blocked several election reform bills aimed at reducing errors, corruption, and cheating, instead prioritizing protectionism and preserving control over meaningful change. Using tactics like the binding caucus, government-first policies, and sidelining citizens, officials have kept voters uninformed and excluded. Many Alaskans lack the knowledge to ask tough questions or demand improvements, but it’s time to change that.
Apathy is no longer an option for the executive branch. Indifference to flaws in the system undermines electoral integrity, and inaction amounts to nothing less than malfeasance.
Rather than addressing genuine election concerns, too many politicians rely on divisive tactics, dismissing reform advocates as “election deniers” to shift focus away from the need for accountability and reform. This strategy targets individuals, making debates personal instead of policy-driven, and seeks to discredit through demonization—akin to playground name-calling. The problem worsens when government surrogates amplify these attacks, whether on social media or behind closed doors. This climate of fear silences citizens and even lawmakers, as many avoid speaking out to escape being unfairly labeled and dragged into controversy.
Restoring public trust in our voting system is essential. Politicians and bureaucrats unwilling to face tough questions without becoming defensive should reconsider their roles—if they can’t stand the heat, they must leave the kitchen.
The reality is stark for Alaskan residents: Between 2012 and 2024, there’s a great chance that malicious actors have compromised your personal information from a state database. This is a wake-up call for urgent action and accountability.
On Oct. 27, 2020, the Alaska Division of Elections revealed a data breach exposing the personal voter profiles of 113,000 Alaskans, including Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, driver’s license numbers, signatures, and party affiliations. The lieutenant governor downplayed it, claiming the breach was intended to “spread propaganda” and asserting the division “believes” the 2020 election integrity was unaffected.
Given the breach’s gravity, the Division of Election’s solution—a year of Lifelock protection for Alaskans whose data was compromised—was insufficient.
Hackers gained all they needed to exploit Alaska’s vulnerable vote-by-mail system, where ballots can be requested online and printed at home. Officials delayed informing Alaskans about the hack until after the election was certified, leaving voters in the dark. Inactive voter rolls and weak safeguards further enable fraudulent ballots to be cast in the names of those who rarely vote.
Dismissing the breach as a “ruse” overlooks the real danger. If a bank mishandled a data breach this severely, offering only Lifelock as a remedy, it would be deemed unacceptable. Alaskans deserve better—accountability and real action to secure elections.
The Division of Elections is grappling with tens of thousands of inactive and ineligible voters on its rolls, making Alaska’s voter registration system the most inflated and inaccurate in the country. With 611,000 registered voters—approximately 117 percent of the state’s eligible voting population—the rolls should reflect closer to 500,000 voters more accurately. An Oracle election data expert testified to the Senate State Affairs Committee in 2021 that Alaska’s voter rolls could be cleaned up in just two hours.
From 2019 to 2022, the Division of Elections provided its full voter database to legislative offices upon request. A bipartisan review exposed significant inaccuracies: individuals with multiple profiles, non-citizens with foreign addresses, deceased individuals, felons, and voters who had moved out of state, including one serving as an elected official elsewhere. Senators Mike Shower (R-Wasilla) and Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchorage) submitted 30 detailed concerns to the division via the Lieutenant Governor’s Office. Still, instead of addressing them, the division denied future database access.
In communities like Anchorage, this dysfunction explains why households receive ballots for strangers or multiple ballots for the same person. The division spreads flawed data statewide, like a virus, by failing to maintain accurate voter rolls, eroding public confidence in the electoral process.
The Division of Elections must conduct a comprehensive, nationwide voter verification process but instead relies on a fragmented and incomplete system of database checks that fail to ensure accuracy.
The Permanent Fund Dividend application process automatically sends applicant data to the Division of Elections without proper filtering. Even if a PFD applicant is ineligible, their voting eligibility isn’t verified—an oversight confirmed by Department of Revenue officials in 2021, undermining voter registration integrity. Implementing Multi-Factor Authentication could address this issue. Already used daily for banking, email, social media, and more, MFA adds a layer of security by requiring verification through multiple factors like passwords or physical tokens.
We must reject the notion that requiring proof of identity and reasonable time requirement before an election is discriminatory. Additionally, every ballot must be accounted for. A credible, high-integrity election system relies on trusted data and a reliable method to verify voter eligibility in Alaska’s elections.
Without accurate data and verified voters, the system is vulnerable to failure—what could possibly go wrong?
Without action, one thing is certain: Inflated voter rolls are a breeding ground for corruption. The executive branch holds the key to improving our election system.
Stay tuned for Part 3, where we’ll tackle Ranked Choice Voting, Fraud Exposure, and Ballot Security.
Terrence Shanigan is a lifelong Alaskan of Sugpiaq descent from Bristol Bay. He is also the co-founder of Mission Critical, is a combat veteran, an honored husband and a dedicated father.
The mysterious and elusive creature dubbed “Gary the Wolf-Dog,” whose image was shared on social media from various people in Anchorage, died in October; the Alaska Department of Fish And Game has done a DNA test on the animal.
ADF&G collected samples and sent them to the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (VGL) at UC Davis for a wolf-dog hybridization test, “recognizing the curiosity of both the public and ADF&G biologists alike,” the department said.
“Due to the potential for broad variation in physical and behavioral traits in a hybridized animal, a determination cannot be made by observations alone. It is illegal to possess wolves or wolf hybrids in Alaska; how the animal ended up suddenly appearing on the streets of Anchorage, and where or how she lived her days until then, remains a mystery,” the department said. Evidently, Gary was a female.
“Results from the UC Davis lab returned this week and indicate that ‘Gary; tested positively as a wolf hybrid. The degree of hybridization, or percentage of wolf DNA, is not determined. The wolf-hybrid test consists of 3-4 types of assays and analyses and can detect hybrids within 3 generations.”
“Anchorage is home to many species of wildlife, but wolves are rarely seen. The behavior of this animal, including traveling across the city on main streets and sidewalks at all hours of the day and night in close proximity to people, would be extremely unusual for a wolf—most wild animals try to keep their distance. If you see an animal behaving unusually, personal safety is most important,” ADF&G said.
Police found the carcass of the animal on Oct. 7 alongside Minnesota Blvd. It weighed about 67 pounds at the time.
A wolf hybrid is produced by mating a domestic dog with a gray wolf, eastern wolf, red wolf, or other wolf. Statistics show that wolf hybrids are difficult to manage, are likely to be more dangerous and more prone to attacking both humans and other animals. Wolf hybrids hold the No. 6 spot for dog-bit fatalities by breed.
The Anchorage Assembly, which gave a grant to Henning Inc. to manage 200 beds at the Alex Hotel and Suites for homeless people needing shelter during the coldest months of winter, today gave a grant to a different provider, MASH Property Management, operated by Mark Begich, to operate up to 132 beds at the same hotel, which is located in Spenard.
It’s a grant that is 25% higher than what Henning got a few weeks ago.
The new grant, agreed on a vote of 7-4 during a special meeting called Tuesday, totaled $2,343,000 to run from Nov. 25 though April 15, 2025.
The reason given was that the city wanted to diversify its use of Henning, which some members of the Assembly don’t like, because of its association with the now-out-of-office Bronson Administration.
But the contract to Henning in September was for $98 per client per night, while the Assembly has given MASH, which was the second highest bidder, a contract for $125 per client per night. MASH is co-owned in a 50/50 split with Sheldon Fisher, former Department of Revenue commissioner in the Gov. Bill Walker Administration. Mark Begich was mayor of Anchorage from 2003 through 2009.
Between the two contracts, Henning and MASH have been awarded over $6 million since October to manage hotel rooms for the homeless. Henning and MASH will have some redundancies at the Alex Hotel, while Henning also operates hotel rooms at the Merrill Field In and Henry House.
There are several other homeless hotels around Anchorage, but a growing number of homeless are sheltered in Spenard hotels, increasing the crime and general lawlessness of the area along Spenard Road. The Chelsea Hotel serves as a cold-weather homeless shelter in Spenard, for example.
In addition to the cold-weather homeless hotels, the 56th Avenue congregate shelter (mass shelter) can accept 200 persons per night. The feeding of all of the homeless people being sheltered in hotels and at the mass shelter is done under separate contracts.
Assembly Chairman Chris Constant said the Assembly had little time to work on solutions, blaming the “stain of the previous administration” and referring to the homeless crisis as “the mess we were given.” The new mayor, who was on the Assembly before she ran for mayor, has now been in office for six months.
Assembly members Zac Johnson, Karen Bronga, Randy Sulte, Mark Littlefield, and Scott Myers were no votes on the memorandum. The item had been “laid on the table” at the last minute, a technique used to avoid public scrutiny. The public had received no notification about the sudden expenditure.
Although the Alaska Senate is made up of 11 elected Republicans and nine Democrats out of the 20-member body, the Democrats are in charge in 2025 once again because of the recent “transRepublican” phenomenon in Alaska, where GOP members align with the opposite party to form a power base.
The Alaska Senate Majority has announced committee chairs for the 34th Alaska State Legislature. That list shows that Sen. James Kaufman of Anchorage, a Republican, is not staying with the 14-member Democrat-led majority this time, as he did when it formed up in 2020.
Other Republicans decided to stay with the Democrats, including Senators Gary Stevens, Cathy Giessel, Kelly Merrick, Jesse Bjorkman, and Bert Stedman.
Bjorkman of North Kenai-Nikiski, Merrick of Eagle River, and Stevens of Kodiak were recently reelected by their districts, which are usual Republican strongholds, but voters did not punish them for staying with the Democrats. Voters also reelected Kaufman of Anchorage this time around, even though he was playing on the Democrat team; he left for reasons of his own, likely due to policy differences involving defined benefits and the binding caucus rule to keep the majority together on the budget vote. Must Read Alaska attempted to reach Kaufman but he is out of the country.
Republicans Stevens will continue as president, Giessel of Anchorage, will continue as majority leader, and Merrick of Eagle River will be majority whip. Finance co-chairs will be split between Democrats Lyman Hoffman of Bethel, Donny Olson of Golovin, and Republican Stedman of Sitka. Democrat Elvi Gray-Jackson of Anchorage will chair the Joint Legislative Budget and Audit Committee. Democrat Bill Wielechowski of Anchorage will continue to be Rules Committee chair. Those make up the leadership positions.
The Republican minority has doubled in size as a result of election of Mike Cronk and Rob Yundt, as well as Kaufman moving back over. It now is made up of six members, rather than the three (Hughes, Shower, Myers), which was such a small super-minority it did not even quality as a minority, under Senate rules.
The new Republican minority consists of:
Sen. Shelley Hughes, Republican of MatSu
Sen. Mike Shower, Republican of Wasilla
Sen. Robert Myers, Republican of Fairbanks
Sen. James Kaufman, Republican of Anchorage
Sen.-elect Mike Cronk, Republican of Interior
Sen.-elect Rob Yundt, Republican of Wasilla
Unlike the last four years, the group will at least have a couple of staff members budgeted to them, likely press and communications people.
Committee chairs for the 34th Alaska State Legislature:
Community & Regional Affairs: Sen. Kelly Merrick (R-Eagle River)
Education: Sen. Löki Tobin (D-Anchorage)
Health & Social Services: Sen. Forrest Dunbar (D-Anchorage)
Judiciary: Sen. Matt Claman (D-Anchorage)
Labor & Commerce: Sen. Jesse Bjorkman (R-Nikiski)
Resources: Sen. Cathy Giessel (R-Anchorage)
State Affairs: Sen. Scott Kawasaki (D-Fairbanks)
Transportation: Sen. Jesse Bjorkman (R-Nikiski)
Legislative Budget & Audit: Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson (D-Anchorage)
Legislative Council: Vice-Chair, Sen. Gary Stevens (R-Kodiak)
Joint Armed Services: Co-Chair – Sen. Scott Kawasaki (D-Fairbanks)
Special Committee on World Trade: Sen. Gary Stevens (R-Kodiak), Sen. Cathy Giessel (R-Anchorage)
Special Committee on Arctic Affairs: Sen. Gary Stevens (R-Kodiak), Sen. Cathy Giessel (R-Anchorage)
Full committee membership will be released on the first day of the legislative session once the Committee on Committees finalizes the committee report, the caucus said.
President Trump on Monday said a 25% tariff on all products from Mexico and Canada until the invasion of illegal aliens invasion is stopped and the flow of deadly fentanyl into the United States is ended.
More than 15 million illegal aliens – most of them military-age males – have come through the open border since Joe Biden became president and relaxed border policies in 2021. The number of illegal immigrant men of fighting age now inside U.S. borders outnumbers the enlisted men in the U.S. military.
The fentanyl crisis, according to a congressional study, costs the United States a record of nearly $1.5 trillion in 2020, up 37% from 2017.
The mainstream media pounded on Trump’s tariff statement, saying tariffs will raise prices on everything:
Trump is delivering on a promise to Americans that he will do everything to stop the invasion, starting Day One. He said both Mexico and Canada have the power to stop the illegal alien invasion and the tariff will remain in place until the tsunami of deadly Fentanyl and illegals is curbed. Trump said he would add an additional 10% tariff to Chinese goods, most of which already have a tariff that he imposed during his first term, which President Biden did not remove.
Here’s what the mainstream media is not explaining:
The federal government spent over $66 billion on illegal immigrants in 2023 alone, not including what states, counties, and cities spent last year, or the pass-through funds given to nonprofit organizations working with illegal immigrants.
From testimony by Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, before a congressional committee in January:
“The current surge of illegal immigration is unprecedented. Some 2.7 million inadmissible aliens have been released into the country by the administration since January 2021. There have also been 1.5 million “got-aways” — individuals observed entering illegally but not stopped. Visa overstays also seem to have hit a record in FY 2022.
“We preliminarily estimate that the illegal immigrant population grew to 12.8 million by October of 2023, up 2.6 million since January 2021, when the president took office. This is the net increase in the illegal population based on monthly Census Bureau data, not the number of new arrivals.
“Using the National Academies’ estimate of immigrants’ net fiscal impact by education level, we estimate that the lifetime fiscal drain (taxes paid minus costs) for each illegal immigrant is about $68,000, although this estimate comes with some caveats.”
Since Biden took office in January of 2021, over 54,366 pounds of fentanyl have been intercepted crossing American borders— more than enough fentanyl to kill the entire human population on the planet. Yet federal officials estimate they are only intercepting 5-10% of what is being smuggled across the border. Much of that fentanyl is coming from China, through Mexico.
According to a congressional study, the cost of the fentanyl epidemic was $1.5 trillion in 2020. The report can beread here.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s long-standing position as Alaska’s senior senator should, by now, have made her an unshakable advocate for her state’s prosperity. However, her record tells a different story.
Her antagonism toward former and now President-elect Donald Trump has been so all-consuming that it appears to guide her decision-making, even at the expense of Alaska’s interests.
Nowhere is this more apparent than her potential and likely opposition to critical Trump Administration initiatives and appointees.
As one potential example, Trump has appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Her expected opposition may reveal not just Murkowski’s disdain for Trump, but a glaring hypocrisy that undermines her self-proclaimed advocacy for Alaska.
Empty Rhetoric on Health and Reform
Sen. Murkowski likes to tout her commitment to addressing Alaska’s healthcare challenges, but her actions betray this claim. Not only does she continue to support the genocide of America’s unborn as a matter of moral convenience, but America’s health outcomes are horrifying:
Estimated 129 million Americans have at least one major chronic disease; 42% of these Americans have two or more chronic conditions with 12% having at least five.
40% of school-aged kids have at least one chronic health condition.
Autism diagnoses have skyrocketed from one in 150 children in 2000 to one in 54 in 2024.
American life expectancy has declined to 76.4 years (lowest in 20 years).
One in nine American children are diagnosed with ADHD
Alaska’s rural communities face significant barriers to healthcare, nutrition care and physical education access.
Despite this, Murkowski may choose to oppose RFK Jr., a nominee who has pledged to tackle systemic corruption in federal health agencies, eradicate chronic diseases, and prioritize evidence-based medicine. His vision aligns with reforms Alaska desperately needs.
This may be more in line with Murkowski’s interest in opposing anything associated with Trump than in supporting initiatives that could benefit her constituents.
The Hypocrisy of Murkowski’s Covid-19 Record
Murkowski’s contradictions are glaring when it comes to her stance on Covid-19. On one hand, she voted to overturn vaccine mandates for private businesses, acknowledging the dangers of federal overreach. On the other, she championed federal health protocols during the pandemic — policies many Alaskans blame for unnecessary suffering and loss of life. Alaska recorded over 1,200 Covid-related deaths, many of which were linked to hospital protocols dictated by federal guidelines.
Her willingness to stand by these protocols, while simultaneously claiming to oppose government intrusion, exposes a troubling inconsistency. This isn’t the behavior of a senator committed to her state’s well-being; it’s the mark of a politician picking and choosing her principles based on political expediency and longevity.
A Loyalty to Bureaucracy Over Alaska
At the heart of DHHS lies a sprawling $1.7 trillion budget and a bloated bureaucracy, including 294 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion staff members with a collective annual salary of nearly $40 million. These resources could be redirected to address Alaska’s pressing health crises, but under current leadership, they are squandered on ideological initiatives.
RFK Jr.’s implementation of Trump’s pledge to eliminate inefficiencies and focus on reducing chronic disease rates within two years offers a clear path forward.
The Food and Drug Administration, a subagency of DHHS, where Big Ag/Big Pharma/Big Labor feed Americans with chemicals and pesticides that contribute to the America’s health decay, is riddled with corruption.
The National Institutes of Health, another subagency of DHHS, spent $34.9 billion to 59,000 recipients of its total $47.7 billion appropriation in FY 2023 for competing and non-competing grant awards. Many of these government funded projects intentionally are designed to back ideological and social transformation through the use of “science-based” propaganda.
As one example, the Committee on Oversight and Accountability revealed on Nov. 4, is that one of America’s most prominent gender-transition providers, Johanna Olson-Kennedy, recipient of an NIH $9.7 million grant to an ongoing research project, has intentionally not published the results of her “multimillion-dollar federal project” on puberty blockers in minors — because she found that “puberty blockers did not lead to mental health improvements.”
Olson-Kennedy “was concerned the study’s results could be used in court to argue that ‘we shouldn’t use blockers’” in minors.
Murkowski’s potential rejection of RFK’s nomination reveals her loyalty, not to Alaska, but to the Washington establishment, Big Pharma, Big Labor and the rest of the Big Cronies who have made Washington DC the cesspool it is today.
Her potential opposition is a product of her irrational hatred for Trump and anyone associated with him. This vendetta blinds her to opportunities for reform that could directly benefit her state.
The Cost of Personal Vendettas
Murkowski’s disdain for Trump has led her to consistently prioritize personal grievances over Alaska’s needs. She could dismiss RFK Jr. as unsuitable, despite his clear alignment with conservative values of reducing waste, eliminating corruption, and prioritizing the public good. Her decision may also mirror her earlier dismissal of other Trump appointees, such as Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, as “not serious” — a critique grounded more in personal animosity than in substantive evaluation.
Additional evidence of her hatred for Trump can clearly be observed during Trump’s first administration where she was a true embarrassment to Alaskans.
Her behavior underscores a dangerous pattern: Murkowski places political feuds above her duty to represent Alaska and her oath of office. Her choices hinder reforms that could address the chronic diseases plaguing Alaska’s children and reverse the state’s declining health outcomes.
Alaska Deserves Better
Lisa Murkowski’s actions paint an ugly portrait of a U.S. senator more invested in unreasonably and smugly opposing Trump than in delivering results for Alaska and America. Her rhetoric about supporting the state’s health and prosperity is empty, as may be evidenced by her future opposition to RFK Jr. and other reform-oriented nominees. Alaska faces real challenges, such as declining life expectancy, rising chronic illness, and systemic barriers to healthcare. Its children deserve a senator who prioritizes their future over political vendettas, not a senator who puts personal grudges over improving and saving the lives of Alaskans.
Murkowski’s hypocrisy isn’t just frustrating, it’s irreparably harmful. Her resistance to change keeps Alaska trapped under the weight of federal inefficiencies and bureaucratic overreach. If she truly cared about Alaska’s future, she would set aside her personal grievances and embrace the reforms with genuine constructive discernment that could secure a brighter, healthier future for the state.
We’ve had the unique pleasure of observing Murkowski perform her political theater over the course of the Trump administration, and what a show it has been! Her histrionics against the former president were nothing short of Broadway-worthy, a combination of sanctimonious indignation and procedural stonewalling. Yet, for all her dramatic flair, where are the results for Alaska? Spoiler alert: They’re nowhere to be found.
In the years since she became a prominent voice of “principled opposition” (read: unbridled Trump hatred), Alaska hasn’t exactly blossomed under her leadership.
Natural resource development? Stalled. Healthcare reform? A mess. Advocacy for Alaskan families and children? Lukewarm at best. But at least she’s consistently been there to “resist”, whatever that means, while federal overreach and bureaucratic bloat chug along unimpeded.
It seems Murkowski has mastered the art of throwing tantrums while avoiding responsibility. And sure, she claims to champion Alaska’s interests, but the receipts tell a different story. Instead of using her seniority to secure tangible benefits for her constituents, she’s spent years waging ideological battles that produce a lot of noise but very little impact.
Perhaps it’s time for Alaska’s senior senator to do some soul-searching. Grow up. Step into the adult world. Maybe even try something revolutionary, like focusing on results instead of rhetorical doublespeak. After all, Alaskans deserve better than a full-time embarrassment who moonlights as a senator.
Michael Tavoliero is a senior writer at Must Read Alaska.
On behalf of the Northern Forum, a trans-Arctic association of Arctic states and regional governments, I attended COP29 (29th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Baku, Azerbaijan this month.
In technical diplomatic terms, the Northern Forum (northernforum.org) is a subnational governmental organization. Our guiding principle is “A Peaceful and Prosperous Arctic.”Gov. Wally Hickel led The Northern Forum’s organizational formation in 1991, and former Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and I, as Wally’s Commissioner of Commerce, set up the legal, administrative, and financial structures. I serve as the group’s Arctic Goodwill Ambassador.
We sponsored an Arctic Pavilion during the eight days of the conference where we held many panels and presentations on climate change from an Arctic perspective.
Our main goals at the conference were:
Defending the Arctic against calls for discriminatory policies to eliminate all Arctic oil and gas production.
Promoting trans Arctic cooperation and the resumption of the activities of the Arctic Council which have been cancelled due to sanctions of the Ukraine conflict.
Advocating for safe shipping on the Northern Sea Route.
Let’s break down these three goals:
Discrimination against Arctic oil and gas
The European Union, and many U.S. and international nongovernmental organizations have taken the extreme position that “all Arctic oil and gas must remain in the ground.”
In response, we pointed out that of course we support alternative energy sources when they are practical. In fact, the Arctic is leading the world in renewable energy transition. Norway and Iceland 100%, Denmark 32%, Finland 25%, Sweden 55% and Alaska at 30%.
Shamefully, even after all the mandates and subsidies, the U.S. is only at 9% renewable energy and the European Union stands at 13%. We also pointed out that halting Arctic oil and gas development would not mean even one drop less oil being burned, it would just be produced somewhere else, usually under far less environmentally responsible standards.
The consensus was that this position of “all oil and gas must remain in the ground” was meaningless in reducing fossil fuel consumption and was just something politicians said to make it look like they were doing something, when, on balance, it is actually harmful.
As an example, we pointed out that at 500,000 barrels of oil per day, Alaska represents 2% of U.S. consumption. By comparison, the Alberta tar sands, the dirtiest oil in the world, provides 16% of U.S. consumption and they stand ready to replace Alaskan production. With current reserves, they claim they can produce 4 million barrels per day for the next 149 years. For the U.S., that is the alternative.
As for climate change, it’s not the 4 million people of the Arctic producing fossil fuels; it’s the 8 billion people of the rest of the world who are burning them. It is a consumption issue, not a production issue.
Resumption of Arctic Council Cooperation
Sanctions over the Ukraine conflict have halted the cooperative operations of the Arctic Council, which was established to address non-security issues. As a result, Russia is prohibited from reporting climate data even though Russia constitutes more than 40% of the Arctic. Climate modelers at COP29 openly lamented the loss of this data and say that their climate models do not work without it.
On of the items at stake are the ability to share best practices in renewable energy, engineering best practices for managing melting permafrost, cooperation in fisheries research and management, safe shipping practices and response capabilities on the Northern Sea Route. We advocated for an immediate resumption, or at least a provision in a negotiated settlement of the Ukraine situation, that we could immediately resume our Arctic cooperation. Hope was expressed at the conference that the election of Donald Trump would facilitate an end to the war.
Prevention Measures on the Northern Sea Route
Due to sanctions against Russian oil and gas in Europe, these shipments are being diverted through the Northen Sea Route to China, India and other Asian nations. The shipments of crude oil through ice covered waters presents a substantial risk. The panel discussing this issue focused on the extensive Russian monitoring of environmental conditions on the route. I promoted enhanced prevention measures and presented the offer from Alaska to jointly cooperate with Russia in the vessel tracking, monitoring and emergency response system of the Marine Exchange of Alaska Arctic Watch system. (mxak.org)
Other Conference issues
Negotiations at the conference revolved around transtitions to renewable energy and paying the developing nations of the world for climate change impacts and financing for alternative energy.
The subject of reparations to less developed nations was the real heart of the conference by the voting national delegates. A popular banner worn by activists at the conference was “Pay us $5 trillion dollars”. In the meantime, the European Union had put out an initial offer of $200 billion. Amidst protest by less developed nations, they settled upon $300 billion, although payment enforcement measures were considered weak.
The rest of the conference focused on energy efficiency and technical improvements in the production of alternative energy. One breakthrough of recycling was presented by a Singapore company that was offering a beer thay had made from processed sewage water although I must confess that I did not try it.
Our Arctic Pavilion was one of the few that presented an overall assessment of the history, current use and future projections of human energy consumption as represented in the graph below.
The clear conclusion is that rising energy demand is outpacing renewable energy capacities, requiring similar increases in fossil fuel production. And this increase is even before considering feeding the 730 people of the world who are starving and before the expected growth in human popluation from 8 billion today to a projected 11 billion by 2050. Food production, processing and distribution consumes 30% of overall energy use and people at least must be able to eat. It is estimated that by 2050 the world will need 70% more food production.
Artificial Intelligence is expected to provide another 160% increase in energy consumption in server farms. About 2 billion people of the world don’t have any modern energy and many are doing their cooking with dried cow dung. Their desire for a better standard of living is sure to create additional demands on energy production. The only time there was an actual reduction in world energy use was during covid and frankly, no one at the conference said they wanted to go back to that situation.
As human beings, we are also a major source of CO2 ourselves, emitting 2.3 pounds or 1 kilogram of CO2 per person per day. At 8 billion people, that is a lot of CO2, but we do have to breathe.
It is also projected that by 2050, production of plastics, synthetic fabrics and other materials will consume 50% of oil production, so it will be needed for quite some time. Although plastics have their own issues since they do not break down, they are probably the most effective carbon capture process to date.
Another point of reality we presented was that if the most ambitious of green transitions to electrification are realized, we are going to have to strip mine the planet for all the metals that will be needed. An electric vehicle takes 6 times as much metal as an internal combustion engine. Despite the obvious need for these metals in a non carbon transition, several of the organizations attending the conference have been involved in efforts to shut down Arctic and Alaskan mining projects.
The issue of sea level rise was also a large issue, since over the past couple of hundred years we have built up this massive infrastructure of housing, buildings, factories and ports at sea level and 95% of world trade is carried on the ocean. A rapid rise would have a substantial economic impact.
While we are entering the end of a period of glaciation, and temperatures and water levels would be expected to rise naturally, regardless of human impact, it is clear we are accelerating the rate of increase. I was able to provide some historical reference which was once given to me by an Inupiat elder from the North Slope, who told me “Yes, we have been here for at least 10,000 years at a time when the ocean levels were 300 feet below what they are today, so yes the oceans are rising and you people are just starting to figure that out?” He said with a wry smile… that was not mean spirited in any way. 300 feet of ocean level rise in the short period of 10,000 years….quite a sobering figure.
In the meantime, given the world’s trajectory of increased energy use and the practical limits of renewable energy, it seems that climate geoengineering in one form of another is going to have to be considered. There are several options, and we should at least be working with them now to test their effectiveness. However, most of the people at the conference were more interested in blaming the oil companies rather than considering this but it is probably where we are headed.
The country of Azerbaijan, which I must say did a wonderful job of managing a conference with 50,000 attendees, came under criticism for being a producer of oil and gas, just like the Arctic.
President Ilham Aliyev defended Azerbaijan’s progress in renewable energy and stated that “the fake news media, NGO’s and politicians” were “slandering and blackmailing them” when their CO2 emissions only represented 0.1%. He defended their right to produce, stating that “oil and gas are a gift of God” and that “oil, gas, wind, sun, gold, silver, copper, all… are natural resources and countries should not be blamed for having them and should not be blamed for bringing them to the market because the market needs them. People need them.”
Of course, a prevailing sense of uncertainty pervaded the conference, due to the election of Donald Trump as president. For better or worse, the rest of the world expects the U.S. to lead and foot the bill for whatever conclusions are reached. I think it’s at least safe to say that that a fresh set of eyes will be looking at this.
I was proud to represent our interests at the conference and we were well received, even though some may not have agreed with our approach. Nevertheless, we have to keep telling our story and defend our interests as Arctic people.
Paul Fuhs grew up in Anchorage, attending Denali Elementary, Central Junior High and graduated from West High in 1967. He was enlisted in US Army Military Intelligence, MOS 97 Delta, and a North Vietnamese linguist during the Vietnam War era, 1969-1971.He served as the commissioner of the Department of Commerce during the Hickel Administration and is one of the founders of Marine Exchange of Alaska, which was established to share information that aids safe, secure, efficient, and environmentally sound maritime operations in Alaska.
