A new way for the government to skim from families has popped up in the Colorado House of Representatives, where Rep. Regina English, a Democrat, has introduced a pet tax for all pets — vertebrate and invertebrates.
But wait, there’s more: The government, in addition to requiring all pets to be registered and taxed by the Department of Agriculture, would be required to tell the government who the “designated caregiver” is for the pet. Failure to disclose the designee would result in a $25 fine. If the dog or cat pet is not spayed or neutered, the tax would be $16 annually per pet.
The bill requires the commissioner of the Department of Agriculture (commissioner) to develop, implement, and maintain an online pet animal registration system (system). The state registration and tax system would not deduct any locally levied dog licenses.
A fish aquarium with 10 fish would be charged $85 per year, and failure to designate a caregiver for the pet fish would be $250 per year.
According to World Population Review, 64.7% of Coloradans are pet owners who would be subject to this tax. Livestock such as cows, horses, sheep, and other grazing animals are not included. The bill does not specify is service animals are considered pets.
Denver and other cities in Colorado have ordinances limiting the number of dogs and cats that people may own. In Denver, a person may own up to five; if they have three dogs, they can only have two cats. All must be licensed, which is $15 a year for each dog. The city has a restriction of two rabbits per household and a person can own no more than 25 pigeons or doves.
Denver is said to have about 158,000 dogs in the metro area, which would give the state over $1.3 million in registration fees alone per year, not counting the $25 fee for not disclosing an alternate caregiver. Colorado Springs similarly limits households to four dogs and four cats.
An active dog mushing community in Colorado would be impacted by the new tax, but dog breeders are apparently exempted. Sales of pets are covered under Denver and Colorado sales taxes. Denver County has an 8.81% sales tax, which includes the state sales tax of 2.9%.
The new state pet registration tax would ostensibly be used to help connect owners with their pets after an emergency, should they be separated, according to the bill sponsor.
Colorado’s House of Representatives has been controlled by Democrats since 2012. In 2022, Democrats won a 46-19 majority. Once viewed as a swing state politically, Colorado has been trending Democrat, as younger people moved there from California and elsewhere. More than 200,000 people moved from California to Colorado from 2009 to 2019. According to The Visualist website, in 2020-2021, nearly 27,000 Californians moved to Colorado.
A recent major university study on adequacy in K-12 public education spending finds that Alaska not only has one of the most adequately funded K-12 systems in the US, it also has one of the most equitable ones.
In a January 2024 joint report from Rutgers and the University of Miami, Alaska was listed second in the nation for adequacy in K-12 funding in 2021, out of 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Not only was Alaska listed as one of the top most-funded systems, Alaska was also highlighted as having one of the most equitable distributions of education funding to low-income students.
A recent analysis from the Alaska Policy Forum reached a very similar conclusion using a different technique. It’s widely accepted that spending on education will vary greatly based on the affluence of one place or another. It’s no surprise that the U.S. spends more per student on K-12 than Mexico, because the U.S. has a much more affluent population. Although Alaska has one of the highest per-student funding rates in the country, 12 states ranked higher than Alaska in wealth from personal income per capita.
APF found that Alaska led the nation in 2022 in the amount of funding that was dedicated to K-12, compared personal income in the state. The analysis was based on per-student spending figures from the National Education Association and personal income figures from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Alaska’s spending on K-12 in the 2021-22 school year was equal to 6.7% of all personal income. Luckily, oil revenues continue to pay for a very large portion of all state spending. If Alaskans had to fund K-12 at our current level, it would take a 6.7% personal income tax on all Alaskans, rich and poor, with no deductions or exemptions, just to pay for K-12 at our current spending levels.
The national average for K-12 spending relative to the income was 46% lower than Alaska, at 4.6%. Florida, one of the highest performing states in K-12 test results, was less than half the effort of Alaskans at 3.1%.
Alaska does not have a K-12 funding problem. We have a resource allocation problem.
Between 2003 and 2022, Alaska increased spending per-student 98% according to the NEA, while inflation was only 56%. Spending in K-12 in Alaska should be carefully refocused on areas we know will improve student outcomes – like continuing to improve early childhood literacy, reinforcing our best-in-the-country charter school programs, solving our worst-in-the-country chronic absentee problem and recruiting and retaining high quality educators.
Bob Griffin is on the board of Alaska Policy Forumand serves on the Alaska Board of Education and Early Development, but writes this in his own capacity.
Sen. Dan Sullivan officially retired from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves during a ceremony on Feb. 1 at the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C. During the ceremony, Sullivan was honored for his time in the Marine Corps and congratulated for his 30 years of service.
U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. David Bellon (left), commander of Marine Forces Reserve and Marine Forces South, shakes hands with Col. Daniel Sullivan for a photo during his retirement ceremony at Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., Feb. 1, 2024. Photo credit: Lance Cpl. Sarah Pyshe.
Sullivan is a U.S. senator from Alaska who pursued a career in the Marine Corps Reserve simultaneously with his service as a senator, retiring as a colonel, having served from 1993 to 2024 across the globe.
In his remarks at the podium, Sullivan said, “I think [the Marine Corps] represents the best of America, focusing on values that most Americans want and can admire – honor, courage, commitment. Our oath, Semper Fidelis, focuses on fidelity not just for America, but also to each other. Despite the hardness, toughness, and discipline the Marines are known for, there is an intense ethos of taking care of each other in the Corps.”
Feedspot, a database company that ranks podcasts, has named the Must Read Alaska Showas the #1 political podcast in Alaska for 2024.
Second on the list is the East Anchorage Book Club, produced by Rep. Andrew Gray, an Anchorage Democrat, followed by ADN Politics from the Anchorage Daily News and With All Due Respect by Andrew Halcro, also a production of the ADN.
On ListenNotes, another ranking company, the Must Read Alaska Show is ranked in the top .5% out of the 4.3 million podcasts in the world. The Must Read Alaska Show launched in September, 2020 and has completed 376 episodes.
Host John Quick took over hosting the online show more two years ago after the first host, Scott Levesque, moved out of state. Quick has had national figures on his show, including governors, senators, financial advisors, faith and business leaders, and even the president of the nation of Palau. Last week he interviewedthe Alaska president of the AFL-CIO, Joelle Hall.
“I really enjoy hearing from people from all walks of life, and view each podcast as a human interest piece highlighting the work my guest does, regardless of his or her politics,” Quick said. He produces the show from his home in Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula.
Last week, Quick interviewed the former governor of Missouri, Eric Greitens, who is a former Navy SEAL and who now engages in humanitarian work around the world. You can hear Gov. Greitens, who has authored the book, “Strength and Courage,” about his experiences on the battlefield and in the Governor’s Office of the Show Me State, at this link.
Search past episodes of the Podcast at ListenNotes with this app:
You can hear the ust Read Alaska Show on Facebook,at this link, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Senate Bill 88, the public employee union-backed bill to restore defined pensions to all state and local government workers in Alaska, was on the Senate floor for a reconsideration vote on Friday.
Sen. Lyman Hoffman, who co-chairs the Senate Finance Committee, flipped his vote to a no.
The measure still passed, but Hoffman’s vote means that both chairs of Senate Finance oppose the bill, which left their committee with no actuarial fiscal note, and passed the Senate without the fiscal note. It has been sent to the House for consideration.
“That is incredibly significant. We now have two Finance co-chairs opposed to SB 88. A rural Democrat does not believe it is fiscally responsible to reinstate pensions for 37,000 public employees (but several Senate Republicans do,” said one Capitol insider. “It is significant too because it signals to rural Democrats in the House that SB88 is not the best thing since sliced bread.”
Sen. Cathy Giessel, who is the lead sponsor of the bill, was choking up during her “special order” floor speech on Friday, while she talked about public employees. Her husband works for the Department of Transportation and makes between $100,000 and $200,000 a year, according to her financial reports.
She was said to have walked out of a leadership meeting in Senate President’s office crying, perhaps realizing that the prospects for her unvetted bill are weak in the House. Screenshots of her campaign contributions have been circulating on Facebook, showing heavy union support for the Republican who is now caucusing with the Democrats.
“Senator Jesse Bjorkman is up against an army of eco-activists and lobbyists. We Alaskans have the responsibility to hand down the legacy of an affordable and reliable energy system. A Renewable Portfolio Standard is not that.”
The “camel’s nose under the tent” metaphor is: “Don’t allow even small malpractices, because they will grow big eventually.”
Realized or not, the major malpractice in question at this very moment is Alaskans being forced into anti-energy “decarbonization.”
The political war against carbon dioxide (CO2), the building block of life, has wreaked havoc on humanity throughout the world. The implementation of this decarbonization plan is the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). This post updates the issues and what can be done to save Alaska’s largest population center from political plunder.
Background
In early 2022, Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced legislation for an RPS with the press release: “House Bill 301 and Senate Bill 179 will allow Alaska to join 30 states and two territories in creating a renewable portfolio standard in the Railbelt. A key element of the governor’s RPS is a firm commitment to transitioning to 30% sustainable power by 2030 and 80% by 2040.”
Sustainable? That’s a political term. Consumers and taxpayers would beg to differ. So why is a conservative governor no longer disbanding former Gov. Bill Walker’s Green New Deal adherence but going to full-throated adoption and implementation of the anti-energy, anti-industrial globalist agenda?
Much of what is going on today was spawned from policies that were adopted in 2010 when the Alaska State legislature adopted the state’s energy policy and intent. This document outlines a non-binding goal to reach 50% renewable energy by 2025. The sponsor statement written in January 25, 2010, confirms that our legislature had environmental activists writing state policy:
The House Special Committee on Energy Co‐chairs Rep. Bryce Edgmon, D‐Dillingham and former Rep. Charisse Millett, R‐Anchorage used a unique method to draft the bill ‐ they didn’t write it. Instead, they assembled a diverse group of Alaskans with decades of experience in energy policy to come together and write what they believed would make a good energy policy for Alaska.
The Alaska draft climate change policy dated July 27, 2018, is our state-level Green New Deal Implementation Plan. This plan was enabled by the aforementioned 2010 Alaska Energy Policy, which was the creation of Gov. Walker’s 15-person Climate Action for Alaska Leadership Team. This team contains one of the key authors of the 2010 Alaska Energy Policy, who is now lobbying overtime to help push through RPS through at our state capital.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 created massive amounts of inflationary matching funds and subsidies. There has been a full-court press led by the feds, environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs), government agents, academia, and private equity pirates to take advantage of this money and use it to transform and gain control of the reliability and affordability of our energy. This will guarantee inflation and higher energy costs for Alaskans. The current RPS legislation is the final evolutionary step toward the implementation of the carbon reduction plan that we should be protected from.
RPS in Alaska
RPS is carbon management policy. This idea has been sold to well-meaning people as something that is effective in controlling climate change. Carbon control and management was designed to be “people control” policy. Carbon management has no proven ability to control the climate. This control of energy is nothing but government energy planning, a march down the Road to Serfdom (in the words of free-market economist F. A. Hayek). This policy specifically sets arbitrary mandates requiring that utilities generate a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources, not including nuclear.
Many of the advocates for this legislation are against further hydro development, which so strongly makes up their renewable energy percentages. This will greatly escalate the cost to meet the mandates of RPS. Twenty-nine states and the District of Colombia have adopted RPS. Sixteen of these with targets of at least 50% renewable and seventeen states at 100%. Look no further than Germany for an example of how RPS and the premature phase-out of reliable and affordable energy will serve up grade A industrial and economic sabotage, generational debt, and the current aggressive resurgence of carbon based energy power generation.
In one of the most comprehensive studies on RPS completed, at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, the authors concluded:
First, these programs’ mandated increase in renewable generation are often smaller than is advertised. Seven years after passage the RPS programs requires a 1.8 percentage point increase in renewable’s share of generation and 12 years after it is 4.2 percentage points.
Second, RPS program passage leads to substantial increases in electricity prices that mirror the program’s increasing stringency over time. Seven years after passage, we estimate that average retail prices are 1.3 cents per kWh or 11% higher than they otherwise would be. The corresponding effect twelve years later is 2.0 cents per kWh or 17% higher.
Third, the estimates indicate that passage of RPS programs lead to reductions in the generating mix’s carbon intensity, although these estimates can be noisier and more sensitive to specification than is ideal.
And if you are a person that believes that we need to “do something” with carbon, and you buy into putting a price on it:
Putting the results together, the cost per metric ton of CO2 abated exceeds $130 in all specifications and ranges up to $460, making it at least several times bigger than conventional estimates of the social cost of carbon.
While Dunleavy’s RPS bill did not pass, a very similar bill, SB 101, was introduced by Alaska State Senator Loki Tobin (D) on March 15, 2023. The senate bill was followed by HB 121 two days later by “conservative” Alaska State Representative Jesse Sumner (R).
The senate bill is currently in the Labor and Commerce committee. The committee Chair, Senator Jesse Bjorkman, vowed that it would not be taken up in his committee, so hopefully it will languish there and wait.
Green Conflict-of-Interest at CEA
In the throes of all this is a menacing constant: the Renewable Energy Alaska Project (REAP), whose CEO Chris Rose has been involved from the very beginning, having authored the state’s initial energy policy. As such, REAP has been working to force their agenda on the rate payers of Chugach Electric Association (CEA) and the State of Alaska in more than one way.
CEA is the sole electric utility provider responsible for providing power to 90,000 members where roughly 40% of Alaskans reside in the Anchorage area.
REAP’s entire existence relies on their business model being mandated for intermittent and expensive renewable energy on us all. RPS is currently being heavily lobbied by REAP at the capital.
Jim Nordlund is a CEA board member who has been in and out of the boardroom for years. He also serves as the chair of REAP’s board and in more than one capacity.
A CEA board meeting was held on Wednesday, Jan. 24. The agenda took up new business to discuss Jim’s perceived conflict of interest, with the discussion taking place well beyond a reasonable hour. This had to be done because REAP was chomping at the bit for the Board to act on their most important resolution of the night, the support of a renewable portfolio standard.
Ultimately CEA corporate counsel was symbolically trotted out to determine that Jim was not a conflict of interest because a resolution has to be passed before a conflict of interest can be realized.
Chugach Electric Board took up public testimony at the beginning of the meeting and a few rate payers voiced opposition to an RPS resolution. The rate payers presented compelling information to the board regarding their concerns. Most of the testimony in support of RPS was emotional and devoid of facts. One man was permitted to testify well over the two-minute timer, which was manned by the Board Chair, Sam Cason.
The board moved to pass (6-1) a resolution to support “A renewable portfolio standard,” and Nordlund did not recuse himself from this vote.
It is no surprise the board voted this way, as most CEA board members are supported by ENGOs. ENGOs place no value on the reliable and affordable energy infrastructure we have today. These ENGOs, under the guidance of Chris Rose and Jim Nordlund, have played their part by instituting the narrative that we are facing an energy crisis and must act now to transition to their fanciful toys – windmills and solar. Good ideas in the free market don’t require mandates. In a resource rich state, we have the capability to power our grid with reliable and affordable sources for generations.
Also interesting is the Chugach Board’s complete disregard for the unreported fact that two of the testifiers referenced. There was a unanimous decision by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska on Dec. 13, 2023, to unanimously oppose RPS legislation.
Pointing to Germany’s demise, RCA Commissioner Robert Pickett stated:
“We’ve heard about the German miracle for, I would say, at this Commission, for six or seven years at least, that it’s a shining example, points in time where the penetration of renewables has been 70 percent, 80 percent, but if you look at what’s happened in the last couple of years, it is clear it is not an economic miracle. In fact, it has devastated German industry and the German government itself is forced to pour in massive amounts of subsidy and Germany has some of the – if not the highest rates per kilowatt in Europe, it’s right at the very top and it’s getting worse, and reliability issues are associated with that.”
RCA Commissioner Pickett went on:
“And so, I guess what has sort of shaped my thinking, when I look at the bill, and there’s some very aggressive, by admission of the bill sponsors for SB 101 and HB 121, that today, they’re estimating about 15 percent of the supply is renewable. And they’re proposing by 2027 to get that up to 25 percent and here we are almost 2024 and so, how does that work? It takes 50 years to get to 15 percent and you’re going to increase that by, you know, 65, 67 percent in the next three years? It doesn’t make any sense and that’s even if the external environment was more stable. I mean, our financial system is sort of on the cusp right now with 35 trillion dollars’ worth of debt and a massive wall of federal debt coming back to the market in the next two years and the interest rates, compared to what they were a year ago, are astronomically higher and all the project sponsors are going to be confronted with that.”
It is with much fecklessness and hubris that the six Chugach Electric Association board members ignored the Regulatory Commission of Alaska’s ruling.
Deep State Forces at Work
According to their website, REAP is supported monetarily by National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a federally funded program with an annual budget of over half a billion dollars. Their mission is heavily geared towards “Energy Justice,” aiming to convince folks that windmills and solar panels equate to equity and diversity. Equitable distribution does not mean everyone gets ample energy – we are just all expected to be equally energy poor.
REAPs non-profit/educational institution/local government constituency includes the Alaska Center and Launch Alaska.
Launch Alaska is a “non-profit accelerator” according to their mission statement: “We’re on a mission to decarbonize the globe, starting in Alaska. We envision equitable, resilient, and prosperous communities rich in economic opportunities, sustainable systems, and clean energy.” Their website discloses “Launch Alaska receives major support from the Office of Naval Research and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions, as well as McKinley Alaska Private Investment, LLC.”
Alaska Center is an extreme left wing, dark money nonprofit who endorsed three of the two CEA board members (Jim Nordlund and Susanne Fleek-Green) who successfully infiltrated the utility in last years’ election. Along with REAP, Alaska Center also supports a carbon tax.
Nordlund stated in his campaign statement last year:
“While Chugach is a well-managed organization with good employees, they have not been advocating strongly enough for renewable energy since I left the board in 2015…Since that time, the impact of climate change has become more obvious, and Chugach as a member/citizen-owned organization, should do more to reduce our carbon impact by burning less natural gas. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that less expensive natural gas is running out in Cook Inlet. And now, new federal infrastructure acts are providing over $100 billion to electric cooperatives to improve their systems and adopt clean energy. The time to act on renewables is now, and that is why I want to be on the board.”
As these individuals are so convicted in their principles, I’m sure the offices and homes of everyone employed at these ENGOs are 100% powered by renewables, as well as their work products produced from hamster-powered hemp tablets.
Chugach Board “Progress”
Since the board was handed over to the greens last year, the actions of the board, and those who helped put them there, speak for themselves:
– Requested an average 5.8% rate increase for rate payers.
– Gave themselves a 150% increase in regular board meeting base fees escalating from 2023 to 2026. Rate goes from $300/day in 2023 to $600/day in 2025, to $750/day in 2026.
– Approved a resolution supporting RPS
– While adopting the RPS standards, the board currently sits juxtaposed with a situation where over 80% of the board members are currently siding with the Alaska Center, which favors removal of the Eklutna hydroelectric dam in contradiction with supporting a renewable portfolio standard.
The question one really needs to ask themselves is this: Is carbon dioxide truly the evil molecule that it is portrayed to be? If so, why not target the low hanging fruit such as carbonated beverages, dry ice, yeast and beer? Why you say? Outlawing beer would cause a civil rebellion, the likes of which Bud Light has never seen.
Responding to a false crisis has significant consequences. There has never been a more critical time to care about what is going on at your boring local utility. Beginning mid-April of this year, the members of CEA have the opportunity to right a wrong before it takes us down an unrecoverable path. There are two seats up for reelection this spring of the which the current incumbents are in favor of RPS.
Please let your voice be heard, not only figuratively during the voting period, but literally as well – speak with your friends and neighbors about the perilous path we are currently headed.
Defending Our Energy Infrastructure
As of this writing, Senator Jesse Bjorkman is in the unenviable position of stopping the madness. He is up against an army of eco-activists and lobbyists. If we care about the affordability and reliability of Alaska’s energy, we should wholeheartedly support Senator Bjorkman as he fights off the implementers of RPS. We Alaskans have the responsibility to hand down the legacy of an affordable and reliable energy system. RPS is not that. This is for all Alaskans, for all of time.
Please contact Sen. Jesse Bjorkman to reaffirm him that his rejection of this bill within the Labor and Commerce Committee is the right thing to do for Alaska: (907-465-2828; [email protected]).
Kassie Andrewsis an energy expert on Alaska politics and resource development. A lifelong Alaskan, her career in energy has involved project management, construction, and finance. This opinion first appeared in the Master Resource free-market energy blog and is reprinted with permission.
The Republican Party has used the pro-life vote for decades now, and with the exception of President Donald Trump’s judicial appointments, has given very little reason to expect pro-life voters to continue to support the GOP. This realization is dawning on many lifelong conservatives and Republicans.
Let us look at the local level, here in Alaska.
We still find the same shopworn solutions to abortion in Alaska are being offered and are nothing more than dead ends. This is true even from some of the allegedly pro-life support groups, who dutifully warn how bad things will be if pro-life elected officials are not supported. The mindless logic goes like this:
“The courts have ruled that abortion is a privacy right. We must change the courts! Or, we must have a constitutional amendment. Or we must nibble at the edges, wherein the courts permit certain restrictions. That’s all we can do for now.”
Alaska legalized abortion in 1970, three full years before Roe v. Wade … which also struck down the restrictions Alaska had in place, such as parental permission, gestation limits and so forth.
This law was passed for several reasons, one of which was a libertine view of sexuality that has ever-permeated frontier areas, but also because as a new state, misguided legislators wanted Alaska to be seen as “progressive.”
The law was vetoed by Gov. Keith Miller, which was quickly and easily overridden. But let us review the constitutional options that have never been exercised and are still in place.
For starters, the first breath of the state constitution reads as follows: “This constitution is dedicated to the principles that all persons have a natural right to life …”
So, what on earth do we need a constitutional amendment for? Who says that unborn persons are not persons? It was certainly accepted in 1955, when the constitutional convention met, and also in 1958 when the people approved statehood and the state constitution.
And it still is today when a woman is assaulted or murdered while carrying an unborn child. But the evil courts and their case law have decided, on their own warped authority, that the unborn child is protected only if it is “wanted,” or some such illogical nonsense.
It seems impossible, but let us suppose that we had a conservative state supreme court. It could have immediately declared the 1970 abortion legalization law as unconstitutional, citing Article I, Section 1, quoted above.
OK, so we didn’t have a conservative state court, either then or now. But we did have a pro-life governor, who vetoed the law. But then, it was constitutionally overridden.
Let’s play a hypothetical game: suppose the legislature and/or courts declared that Alaska Natives, Jews or other minorities were not fully human, or “persons” before the law. Then, vetoed by a governor, then the veto overridden.
Let’s check out Article III, Sec. 16: “[The governor] may, by appropriate court action or proceeding brought in the name of the state, enforce compliance with any constitutional or legislative mandate, or restrain violation of any constitutional or legislative power, duty, or right by any officer, department or agency of the state or any of its political subdivisions. This authority shall not be construed to authorize any action or proceeding against the legislature.”
You will notice that it does not say “the judiciary.”
The fiction that we have “three co-equal branches of government” is once again shattered with that omission. The Legislature has ever been considered superior over the executive and judicial branches, on both the state and federal levels. But they can make mistakes, too, just like the other branches. And enforcement is not within their purview, it is with the executive.
So, Gov. Miller might have invoked this section, refusing to allow such a hypothetically hideous law in Alaska. Yes, we would have had a constitutional crisis. Yes, they might have impeached him for it. You do not need any legal grounds for impeachment anyway, it can be trumped up on any pretense. But Miller would have had the constitution on his side, for everyone admits that this section gives Alaska’s governors a power not found in most other states.
Now Alaska Natives, Jews and other minorities enjoy sympathy and privilege in this state, so the given example would not happen, at least in the current culture. But we do have a culture that does not see the unwanted/unborn as enjoying such protections.
It is, of course, utterly arbitrary, as we have seen in regards to the death of an unborn child that is “wanted.” It is also selfish, brutal, stone-hearted, unconstitutional, and — this really infuriates the Left — utterly unscientific.
Miller lacked the full knowledge of the constitutional powers he possessed, or determined that it would be a fight not worth engaging. With the abdication of the battlefield, the Left has been emboldened to even more preposterous unconstitutional actions in the decades that have followed.
We can start with the right to privacy, enacted in 1972 for the sake of our personal electronic data being protected at the dawn of the computer age. The amendment was wisely written in anticipation of what we are now seeing, and if you haven’t noticed, it is utterly ineffective for the purpose in which it was approved.
But things get even worse: The understanding that the judiciary was often an enemy of constitutions was fully anticipated, so the amendment further reads, “The legislature shall implement this section.”
Yet, the judiciary has gotten away with impeachable offenses by deciding that they will define, and hence “implement,” what privacy means. And, naturally, abortion quickly became its pet to protect at all costs. From there, it was an easy bridge to cross when “privacy” meant, by their case law reasoning, to extend to public funding of abortion.
They apparently were not concerned at all with the privacy of individual citizens’ consciences, or their purse.
All the while, allegedly pro-life governors such as Hickel, Palin, Parnell and Dunleavy, and allegedly pro-life legislative majorities in the past, have dutifully tried to end this constitutional overthrow by following supposedly “constitutional” boundaries the judiciary invented — only to find that, after time-consuming hearings and testimony … Ta Da! … the goalposts were moved further back, negating all efforts.
We see that the arrogance of the judiciary now extends into new areas that have nothing to do with abortion, such as usurping the powers of grand juries. But the timorous, allegedly conservative legislators have done little or nothing to stop this.
Except, of course, Rep. David Eastman, who is universally detested for not being a “team player.” But Eastman never votes or acts without first asking, “Is this constitutional?” His fellow colleagues, who take the same oath, rely upon the judiciary to let them know what “constitutional” means, as if they are too ignorant or uneducated to think for themselves.
Many likely secretly agree with him, but they don’t dare cross over to his side, for fear of being “Eastmanized” by their colleagues, the media and the bureaucracy. Thus, their oath to support both the state and federal constitutions is turned over to the very people — the judiciary and the bureaucrats — that they use as a way to gain the votes and trust of their conservative constituents, to effect a change that both they and their Leftist enemies, know will never occur.
It’s a squirrel cage.
Bob Bird is chair of the Alaskan Independence Party and the host of a talk show on KSRM radio, Kenai.
Ann Brown, who has been the chairwoman of the Alaska Republican Party for since 2021, is stepping down. The party chair position comes up at the next State Convention for the Alaska Republican Party, which will be in Anchorage April 19-21.
Brown sent her top committee officers a letter today, in which she explained she and her husband wanted to do other things besides party business in the coming years.
“I have tried to serve faithfully, always giving my best to the Party I love. Now the time has come for Fred and me to do the things we enjoy together.
“Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Chairman. There is plenty of time for those who wish to run for state party office to throw their hats in the ring, so to speak. For now, let’s put our noses to the grindstone and work for successful events such as the PPP, district conventions and state convention,” Brown wrote.
Brown took over as chair after former Party Chairman Glenn Clary resigned after being offered a job at Liberty University in May of 2021.
At this point, only Nikki Rose has announced that she is running for party chairwoman, although others are considering throwing their name in the hat.
The Alaska Republican Party has 142,955 registered voters, while the Alaska Democratic Party has 74,961 registered voters in Alaska. The Alaska GOP is the largest organized political group in the state.
During the April GOP convention, the delegates will also choose people to be delegates to the National Republican Nominating Convention, which will be in Milwaukee, Wisc. July 15-18, 2024. That is when the party will formally nominate its candidate for president.
Joelle Hall, president of the AFL-CIO in Alaska, explained today on the Must Read Alaska Show that Joey Merrick, Business Manager for Laborers’ Local 341 has started a company to invest in the Alaska LNG project.
The company, Alaska Gasline & LNG, is working with two firms — a labor insurance and investment company and an asset management business — to take control of the long-awaited LNG project.
Join host John Quick to hear the discussion with Hall. In this episode, Hall opens up about her journey to Alaska, her experiences in the U.S. Army, and her ascent to leading the state’s largest union federation.
She addresses conservative criticisms of public sector unions, offering her viewpoints to bring context to the debate.
Hall also highlights the importance of the LNG project for Alaska, detailing its potential benefits for the workforce and the economy, providing a well-rounded exploration of pressing labor issues in the state.
