Sen. Scott Kawasaki and Senate candidate Savannah Fletcher continue to break the law as well as the clear rules of the Alaska Legislature when it comes to ethics.
Not only are they holding a campaign event in a publicly funded building this week in Fairbanks, they have used an image from inside the Alaska Capitol as campaign material.
The invitation for the event to be held on the University of Alaska campus on Oct 9 is of Kawasaki and Sen. Loki Tobin standing in front of the door to the Education Committee Chair’s office. Tobin is education chair. The two are posing with a sign that says, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
This posed picture uses state property for campaigning.
Savannah Fletcher, running as an undercover Democrat with an “undeclared” label on the ballot, is one of the candidates who will be featured at the Democrat campaign event to be held at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, a public university setting. Tobin will be one of the featured attendees.
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Both Kawasaki and Tobin are now afoul of legislative ethics rules and may be sanctioned. Except the won’t be, because Tobin is on the Legislative Ethics Committee.
The state of Alaska, however, could prohibit these candidates from using state facilities to build support for their elections. It’s clear that less than a month from the general election, these are not nonpartisan town halls.
Using a University of Alaska facility, whether rented or not, is no different than using a Legislative Information Office for a campaign event. They are both owned and operated by the public through state government and partisan political events are not permitted.
In Alaska, school districts are prohibited from using public resources, including school facilities, for political events or activities that promote a particular candidate, party, or ballot measure. State law restricts the use of public resources for political purposes.
School districts may host nonpartisan events, but this is a meet-and-greet that is sponsored by specific active candidates for office and who are in the act of campaigning.
Fletcher and Rep. Mary Peltola are alsoviolating the lawby using a public school in Fort Yukon for a campaign event.
Peltola earlier this year abused the law by using a school in North Pole for a campaign stop. The State of Alaska has done nothing to stop these Democrats from breaking the law, however, and so the pattern continues.
Oct. 7, 2024 marks the one-year anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, which killed over 1,200 civilians. Israelis and Americans are still held hostage today.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Sen. Dan Sullivan, Sen. Lisa Murkowski and congressional candidate Nick Begich offered their thoughts on the day’s importance, while Rep. Mary Peltola remained silent on the matter:
Gov. Mike Dunleavy: Today marks the solemn one-year anniversary of the tragic October 7 attack on Israel, a day that deeply affected all those who cherish peace and security. As we remember the lives lost and the communities impacted, we stand in unwavering solidarity with Israel, reaffirming our commitment to its right to exist and defend itself in ensuring the safety and well-being of its citizens against terrorist organizations such as Hamas, and Iran and its axis of evil. This day serves as a poignant reminder of the resilience and courage of the Israeli people, who continue to endure adversity with strength and resolve. May we honor their sacrifices by supporting efforts to achieve lasting peace and security for Israel and its people.
Sen. Dan Sullivan: One year ago today, on October 7, the people of Israel suffered the worst terrorist attack in their history, a horrendous massacre that took the lives of 1,200 people—many of them innocent civilians in their homes or attending a music festival. Nearly 100 innocent hostages are still being held by Hamas terrorists, including several American citizens, and I reiterate our call for their immediate, unconditional release. America mourns with the Israeli people on this difficult anniversary and remains steadfast in support of Israel’s right to exist in peace and security, free from the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Tehran and its proxies.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski: Our prayers continue to be with the families and victims of the barbaric terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas one year ago. As on day one, we stand with our ally Israel as they defend their people and their sovereignty. We also continue to pray for those in the region and hope for a resolution that will bring a stop to hostilities, safe return of those taken hostage by Hamas, and an end to the rise in antisemitism here at home that has made Jewish Americans feel threatened. The United States is committed to providing Israel the resources they need to defend themselves and providing humanitarian aid to the innocent civilians caught up in Hamas’ deadly war of terror.
Nick Begich: Oct. 7, like Sept. 11 is a sad reminder that terrorism targets the innocent and must be removed from its roots at all costs. Free and open societies demand it and our support for Israel must be unwavering as the nation strives to achieve lasting peace in its region.
Rep. Mary Peltola, who says she likes to avoid controversial topics, was silent on the commemoration of the attacks. She receives funding from groups that have funded campus protests against Israel and its right to defend its sovereign borders.
How did transgenderism and gender identity seem to suddenly overnight become incorporated into our K12 schools and culture?
Would you believe the United Nations plays a big role in the pushing of transgenderism and gender identity?
While you were not paying attention, the United Nations developed Sustainable Development Goals which provide guidelines on the health of trans and “gender diverse” people. These goals are a part of the “United Nations Agenda 2030.”
Don’t put on your tinfoil hats yet!
The World Health Organization has the Department of Gender, Rights and Equity – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which is developing the world’s guidelines on the health of trans and gender diverse people.
These guidelines include, “gender-affirming care including hormones (puberty blockers); health policies that support gender-inclusive care and legal recognition of self-determined gender identity.”
The National Education Foundation (teachers’ union charity arm) has adopted most all the UN’s Agenda 2030 to include transgender/gender diverse health guidelines. The NEF has even included complete lesson plans for grades K-12.
Dr. James Lindsay in his book, “The Queering of the American Child,” tells us exactly what is happening in our K-12 schools today. He says that children today learn that they were “assigned a sex at birth” and can change their sex or gender willingly.
These policies have been put in place today in some of Alaska’s K-12 schools, including the Anchorage School District.
We also know that the National Education Association has published “Transgender Guidelines” and disseminated them to school districts.
The U.S. Department of Education has gotten into the act by issuing this policy in 2021: “Supporting Transgender Youth in Schools.” The Department of Education says that discrimination based on gender identity is prohibited in American schools.
Additionally, the Department of Education recommends that schools should allow students to use different pronouns, and school staffs should support those students while transitioning. The Department of Education does include parental rights and their need to know about their child’s transitioning.
These are not merely guidelines or suggestions. There is an enforcement arm to ensure that these cultural guidelines are implemented in K-12 schools.
The Department of Education has the power to enforce these guidelines in all school districts.
The Department of Education enforces its policies/recommendations by using the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Thus, any school that refuses to follow the DOE guidance directly violates the civil rights of these students. And it will see you in federal court.
The Department of Education also enforces these policies by withholding federal funding from school districts that do not conform to the department’s mandate.
Once again, the purse strings are attached as well as the full force of the court system to require schools to implement the transgender guidelines.
Our K-12 schools are given the choice: “Either follow our transgender guidelines or lose federal funding to include school lunches.” In many areas of our state, the before school and lunch meals are the only meals these children receive.
Does the federal government want to impact the learning of the most vulnerable students if the school district refuses to buy into this agenda??
It’s a lot of money. For the current school year, the federal government kicks in more than $270,551,300 for our Alaska schools.
Does a school district bend to the Department of Education demands on transgender guidance or would it forfeit its federal funds? The Anchorage School District has chosen to bend to the federal government.
Would you rather your children learn about gender identity and transgenderism or be able to read at grade level?
If you want to hear more on how gender identity and transgenderism have invaded your schools, then you must hear Dr. James Lindsay speaking at our Oct. 26 in Anchorage. He will also speak on Marxism in our culture and how you can push back.
Over 100 cars and trucks took part in a road tour of Soldotna and Sterling on the Kenai Peninsula on Sunday. Organized by District 8 Republicans, the convoy ended at Sterling Community Center, where voters and candidates converged for a rally.
Other Republican candidates included Rep. Sarah Vance, Rep. Ben Carpenter (running for Senate), Bill Elam and John Hillyer, both who are running for House. Ron Gillam, who is challenging Rep. Justin Ruffridge but who was at work on the North Slope, had a group there representing him. There was also a table with a volunteer or two for Nick Begich for Congress.
Alaska State Party Chairwoman Carmela Warfield spoke at the event, which was emceed by Kelly Tshibaka, who is chairing the Trump-Vance campaign in Alaska.
Kelly Tshibaka emcees event in Sterling to get out the vote for Trump and Republicans.
Not taking part in the celebration was Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, running for reelection but opposed by conservative Ben Carpenter. Also not attending was Rep. Ruffridge, who evidently did not want to be associated with Trump.
What is Ballot Measure 1? Every two years or so it seems Alaska is at the mercy of another group of Lower 48 billionaires and left-wing groups pushing another left-wing initiative.
Remember these gems? Automatic voter registration when filing for your PFD. The soft on crime law via SB-91. Ranked-choice voting. All were pushed by Outside dark money.
Now we have the infamous “minimum wage increase.” All of this brought to us courtesy of Lower 48 entities who love to use Alaska as the cheap date. They can spend very little money here and pass left-of-center legislation that would be prohibitively costly in bigger states. They then use us as the shining “example” to push this legislation elsewhere.
But wait! There’s more. Ballot Measure 1 is not just a minimum wage increase.
Ballot Measure 1 has three separate areas. Let’s start off with violating the single subject rule for an initiative. Alaska statute 15.45.050 mandates an initiative must have one subject. Those who paid attention to the ranked choice voting initiative four years ago may remember how that also violated the rule with far more than one subject, but the courts let it slide. So far no one has challenged Ballot Measure 1 in court and, frankly, it’s probably too late. Alaskans simply don’t have the money or time to fight off the vast sums of dark money being spent in Alaska for these initiatives. The same dark money that did not go away as promised when they passed the ranked-choice voting scheme.
Ballot Measure 1 starts off with the carrot to get Alaskans to bite. Increase the minimum wage. it sounds great! Here are a few things they’re not telling you.
First, small businesses will be hurt by this. Many of them operate on a razor-thin margin. With government mandating what they must pay they may have to cut workers’ hours, raise the price of their products, or in some cases both. If they can’t, they may be forced out of business. There is a price point consumers are willing to pay for certain things, go beyond it, they stop buying.
Bigger businesses are already paying higher wages and from a corporate perspective they have the resources to do so. Many small businesses do not. And let’s not forget how union wages are tied into this scheme. They’ll benefit too so of course they support it. More union pay equals more union dues equals more political power for union bosses.
Second, it requires businesses of 15 or more employees to provide 56 hours of sick leave a year and, if less than 15 employees, then 40 hours a year.
Once again, that sounds terrific right? It does until you consider the impact, as with pay increases, on small businesses. Big companies already provide this type of benefit. And just like providing higher pay, they have the resources to do this without a significant negative impact on their businesses or ability to survive. Many small businesses today are quite literally on the edge of survival from month to month. Require them to provide paid time off on top of higher pay? It’s quite possible this is a death knell for many a small business owner.
Or take the example which happened to my mom who workred for a major corporation. The government mandated increased wages some years ago in her state. They paid the higher wages sure, then cut her and many other employee’s hours from 40 to 25 so they didn’t have to provide any benefits. In reality her overall pay went down, not up.
You see, it’s never as simple or grand as those pushing these ideas want you to believe. There are almost always downstream consequences and, more often than not, it’s the small business, their employees and the consumer who take the hit in one form or another.
Remember, you will pay more as a consumer to make up for the higher costs to businesses to survive. Don’t forget to open your own wallet if you vote yes on Ballot Measure 1.
Finally, let’s get to the third part. Have you heard of the Colorado baker who’s been hounded and sued nearly into oblivion for refusing to make a cake for a LGBT activist couple? It went against his religious beliefs. Apparently, religious conviction is no longer good enough to protect you from being forced into labor. I want you to think very carefully about the very “reasonable” sounding section about no political or religious meetings being required and the consequences levied on businesses.
This is a poison pill plain and simple. The proponents will downplay this section and laugh off such discussion.
Friends, the left doesn’t do anything without a plan. Somewhere in the legal realm they have inserted this to be used at a later date to file a lawfare complaint against some faith-based business or business owner. This is happening all over the country. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the actual reason for the initiation of this bill is to enact this language for use when they are ready. In a similar manner, like using dark money to scare Alaskans into voting for the terrible ranked-choice voting scheme, they are pulling on your emotions using a minimum wage increase as top cover.
Be careful what you vote for, Alaska. Ballot Measure 1 is not a simple minimum wage increase. And it will have harmful impacts on many Alaska businesses and therefore Alaskans employed by those businesses. Worse still, something more sinister is embedded in the language because that’s just how these left-wing organizations operate.
Had they simply increased the minimum wage I would have still opposed based on wanting the let the business environment drive the economics instead of Soviet Union-style central planning. They went well past that red line on this one. I will be a hard NO on Ballot Measure 1.
Sen. Mike Shower represents Wasilla, District O, in the Alaska Legislature.
Congressional candidate Nick Begich has received the coveted endorsement of Gun Owners of America, a group that is a pro-Second Amendment alternative to the National Rifle Association.
Ron Paul, former U.S. representative and constitutionalist, calls GOA “the only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington.” GOA has gained prominence in recent years, while the NRA angered many of its Alaska members by endorsing Rep. Mary Peltola for Congress. The Peltola endorsement fell flat with the Alaskan and several reported to Must Read Alaska that it was the last straw and they cancelled their NRA memberships.
Gun rights advocates in Alaska point out that Peltola has actually been soft on the Second Amendment. She said she would support legislation to require gun safes in homes of gun owners. Those are called “safe storage laws” and could make guns inaccessible in times of home invasions. The guns she claims to own actually belonged to her late husband.
GOA was founded in 1976 by the late Sen. and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico. GOA’s board of directors is not satisfied with the status quo. “Americans have lost some of our precious gun rights and we want them back! This is why GOA is considered the “no compromise” gun lobby,” the group says.
“After receiving an “A” rating from Gun Owners of America, we’re pleased to announce the ENDORSEMENT of GOA! GOA is the nation’s strongest defender of our 2nd Amendment rights and boasts over 2,000,000 members nationwide. The Constitution is clear: the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” Begich wrote.
Peltola received a score of 55% out of a dozen votes she took that are on the GOA endorsement grid, earning an F.
Last Wednesday, the bodies of two 18-year-old women were found in a Hooper Bay home. Now, a 20-year-old Hooper Bay man has been arrested and charged with the violent murder of Novely Rivers and Abigail Olson.
After an extensive investigation involving numerous agencies, Shaquille Carawan was arrested Saturday. He is charged with two counts of first-degree and second-degree murder in each death, plus single counts of tampering with evidence, controlled substance misconduct, and furnishing alcohol to minors in a dry community. The exact circumstances, including whether weapons were used, have not been reported by Troopers, who only described it as violent.
Facebook art showing Abigail Olson and Novely Rivers, the two women murdered in Hooper Bay. Suspect Shaq M. Carawan is now in custody.
The City of Hooper Bay had offered a $1,000 reward leading to the capture and indictment of the perpetrator. Carawan appears to be related to at least one of the victims. Carawan is now in the Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center. No information has yet been entered into the state court records.
Ten Troopers from the Alaska Bureau of Investigation and Western Alaska Patrol had responded to assist local law enforcement with the manhunt for the killer, who members of the community appeared to identify in advance of the man’s arrest.
A fire overnight broke out in a small strip of businesses in Haines. The Quick Shop, Outfitter Liquor store, Outfitter Sporting Goods, and Mike’s Bikes and Boards were burned to the ground. Four apartments were also destroyed by the fire, which was reported at about 9:30 p.m.
The source of the fire is believed to be in one of the apartments in the building. All persons in the building are said to be accounted for. By morning, the building, owned by Mike Ward, was smoldering but the blaze was under control.
According to Ashbrook, all of residents, about 12 people total, including a new family with a baby less than one year old, have lost their home along with all their possessions.
The building housing businesses and apartments in Haines smolders on Sunday morning after a blaze destroyed four businesses and apartments.
They worked so well that the Mary Peltola campaign picked it up and started using the attack in her ads over the weekend.
The attack vector accuses Republican congressional candidate Nick Begich of calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme and continues down that bunny trail, accusing him of wanting him to shut it down along with Medicare.
Oh, the horror. Oh, the humanity. Oh, the shock.
This line of attack by Democrats is at least half a century old, used early and often 1944 – 1984. Congratulations to Alaska Democrats for updating their campaign to reflect current issues … not.
Alaska Democrats and Peltola should know all about Ponzi schemes. The party and its top candidate benefited from the crypto Ponzi scheme of Sam Bankman-Fried, who gave the party thousands of dollars last election cycle — money that was then passed on to help Peltola win her seat in Congress. He’s now in prison, serving 25 years for the Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors.
Actually, Lottsfeldt and Peltola’s line of attack reflects little more than their personal economic illiteracy. How so? It was Democrats who created the Social Security Ponzi scheme and knew exactly what they were doing in 1944.
What is a Ponzi scheme? It is an investment scheme that pays early investors with money taken from later investors. It is otherwise known as a pyramid scheme. Social Security has always relied on payroll taxes paid by people currently working to pay the benefits of retirees.
As long as more people are working than are drawing retirement, all is well. But as that number decreases, the system gets very tight. Social Security has been under economic pressure for at least half a century and as the number of people in the system increases, most recently by Harris – Biden putting a significant number of newly arrived illegals on it, the more economic pressure it is under. What happens when the benefits to be paid are greater than the income from payroll taxes?
Begich at least recognizes the problem. Lottsfeldt and his fellow travelers in economic illiteracy, like Mary Peltola, do not. Nor do they care.
The Rule of Holes states that when you find yourself in one, the first thing to do is to quit digging. Begich recognizes the hole. Lottsfeldt and Peltola don’t. It’s very difficult to solve a problem you don’t even acknowledge exists.
In a way, I suppose I would feel sorry for Peltola, whose campaign built on Fish, Family and Freedom for the Future appears to be falling flat despite being pumped up by millions of Outside money (something the 2020 ranked-choice voting ballot measure was supposed to stop, but that’s another story).
King salmon runs statewide are crashing, and Russian trawl fleets continue to rake the ocean, in spite of Peltola’s pronouncements.
And it’s tough to be interested in “family” when Peltola’s dark money supporters and the Harris – Biden regime she is supporting is busily shutting down all resource development in the state from Cook Inlet to the Arctic Ocean. No jobs for families under Harris-Biden.
Finally, Peltola is not smart enough to realize that the Supreme Court ruling of Dobbs simply moved the entire abortion decision back to the states. Congress critters don’t play there anymore.
By the way, Mary, what is the Yup’ik word for abortion?
Right. There isn’t one.
So, all Peltola has left is to try to dust off a half century old Democrat smear. Is she really that badly out of airspeed and ideas? At least she still has millions available to run ads demonstrating that she is a smiling idiot with little to no realization of simple economic issues facing all of us, issues she promises to solve should she be reelected.
Nick Begich at least realizes there is a problem, which is the first step to solving it. Peltola, not so much, which makes our election day choice for Congress critter from Alaska pretty easy.
Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.
