It’s almost certain that former Congressman Don Young would have voted for Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. McCarthy squeaked by with 216 votes in the midnight hour of Friday night, after 15 rounds of voting were conducted in the U.S. House of Representatives over the course of four days.
More than a year ago, Rep. Young was a defender of McCarthy’s eventual rise to the Speaker’s Office. Back then, McCarthy was the leader of the Republican minority in the House, and Nancy Pelosi was Speaker.
Young, in an interview with The Washington Post in December of 2021, dismissed the Freedom Caucus in the House, who were already talking about blocking McCarthy, of Bakersfield California, from being elected Speaker if the Republicans won the majority in 2022.
“Show me anybody else can do the job better than he can,” Young said to a reporter. He also criticized the Freedom Caucus members who wanted to punish Young and 12 other Republicans for voting for an infrastructure bill that year. “These guys shooting their mouth off are just not really thinking very well.”
Young’s successor, Rep. Mary Peltola, voted against McCarthy 15 times over the course of four days this week, casting her vote instead for radical Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who called Donald Trump a fake president who had won office only because of Russian interference. Trump handily won both of his elections with Alaska voters, and Trump endorsed McCarthy for Speaker.
Although Peltola ran on the promise that she would honor the legacy of Congressman Young, it’s clear she has her own path, a distinct agenda, and loyalty to the Democratic Party and the lobbyists who helped her win.
Peltola, while voting for Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker, sent out a campaign-style mailer at taxpayer expense this week:
Peltola campaigns on taxpayer dime in this January mailer encouraging people to call her office.
Alaska, with just one member of Congress, is now represented by a member of the minority party in the House for at least the next two years.
Peltola ranks 358 out of 434 elected members in terms of seniority, down in the 18% range, and in her own political party she ranks 178th in seniority, which puts her in the bottom 16%. Only 35 Democrats in the House have less seniority than Peltola, due to her having won the special election to replace Congressman Young in August, ahead of the Nov. 8 regular election, during which Alaska voters chose her over the Republicans on the ballot.
Washington, D.C. – On Oct. 1, 2021, Dinesh D’Souza said the quiet part out loud when he wrote, “I wonder if history will view January 6, in retrospect, as America’s Tiananmen Square. Desperate protesters seeking to have their voices heard. Vicious government crackdown and prosecution. No dissent policy enforced across society via mass censorship and one-party media”
Journalist Taylor Hansen recounts a more up front view of what happened that day on his thread here:
Unfortunately, that brutality did not end on Jan. 6. Apparently, burning police cars and local businesses in a MPP (mostly peaceful protest) is “democracy at work”, but venturing to the Capitol building on Jan. 6 has already earned hundreds of Americans a prison sentence, whether they engaged in violence or not.
Democrats in Congress, unsatisfied by the 950 arrests reported by the Department of Justice, recently added more than $200 million in funding for additional arrests and prosecutions stemming from Jan. 6.
To mark the tragedy, the White House handed out awards Friday to individuals like former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, for working to ensure that Arizona’s electoral votes would be counted for Biden on Jan. 6, and Ruby Freeman, who scanned ballots as an employee of Stacey Abrams’ temp agency Happy Faces.
But my thoughts on Friday were not of Rusty Bowers or of Ruby Freeman. On Friday, I journeyed, along with hundreds of others, to the DC central detention facility.
Like so many others, I was there to keep faith with those who committed no violence on Jan. 6, and yet remain in prison. On my last trip to D.C., I had the privilege of singing the national anthem with several of the J-6 prisoners. As on so many nights over the past two years, at 9 pm the national anthem was sung from both outside and inside the jail.
David Clements, one of the speakers at Friday night’s vigil, mentioned The Prisoner’s Record, where the names of more than 900 Americans being prosecuted over Jan. 6 were recently posted.
Some, like former Green Beret Jeremy Brown, were imprisoned though they never engaged in violence with police, and never set foot inside the capitol. In Brown’s case, he even rescued a woman that day. Brown’s political crime appears to have been that he declined to be a federal informant in the weeks leading up to January 6th, and later released video of the event, which embarrassed Christopher Wray and the FBI. Like so many others who have become political targets of the Biden administration, Brown’s home was raided by the FBI.
The website American Gulag chronicles the story of Brown and hundreds of others.
Absent from that site are the names of countless Americans who experienced political persecution simply for being in D.C. on January 6, 2021.
Friday evening bore neither the jovial atmosphere of our arrival in D.C. to years ago, or the shock as we left. As I watched the 14th round of voting for Speaker of the House Friday with a group of others from the vigil, I was reminded of Sir John Harington.
It was Harington who observed in 1612: “Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
Those who ventured to the D.C. jail are among the number of those who continue to speak truth to power when it comes to The Real Story of January 6. Like the tragedy of Tiananmen Square, it’s a story that the current regime cannot abide.
Insurrection is a crime. It’s also a crime to try to overthrow the government. Over the last 24 months, how many times have you heard the White House use the word “insurrection” to describe Jan. 6, despite no one even being charged with the crime of insurrection? How many times have you heard that someone or other tried to overthrow the government on Jan. 6, despite no one ever being charged much less convicted of that crime?
Even so, it is a political truth today that there was a Republican-led insurrection on Jan. 6. This is designed to lead to the next political truth, that any official who questioned the integrity of the 2020 election (i.e. any Republican official to the right of Liz Cheney) should therefore be expelled and permanently barred from public office for life. Remember, a former director of the CIA already declared publicly that the Republican Party is the most dangerous political force in the world. The heck with dismantling ISIS – it’s the Republican Party that must be dismantled!
To oppose the NEA is to oppose education. To oppose the Democratic Party is to oppose democracy. Therefore, any threat to the power of the Democratic Party must be eliminated so that democracy may be saved.
My family just spent more than a quarter of a million dollars doing battle with these ‘political truths’ and defending the right of voters in my district to vote for a candidate that the Left has labeled a threat to Democracy. The Alaska Democratic Party declared me unfit for office and demanded that I be expelled, and a radical law firm then brought in an Anchorage judge to somehow make it all legal. At first they argued that I was in D.C. on January 6th and needed to be expelled because of that. Then they argued that I had joined Oathkeepers in 2010. Then they went back to arguing that by attending Trump’s speech on January 6th I was guilty of insurrection.
After a two-week trial, we were successful in defending the right of Alaskans in my district to have their votes counted over and against the protests of the Alaska Democratic Party. Despite the welcome outcome, as they intended, this battle has been truly exhausting for my family, both physically and also financially. Even so, the idea of forfeiting these rights was even more terrifying. If you can help us find the funds to cover our legal expenses we would be truly grateful.
Even so, the challenges our family is currently facing do not compare with the families of those who lost loved ones on January 6th or whose loved ones still remain behind bars today because of January 6th. Americans must never forget these men and women and their families. As Taylor Hansen declared exactly one year ago today, “I never stopped talking about January 6th because it would morally be the wrong thing to do after the number of horrors I witnessed.“
Rep. David Eastman serves Wasilla, District 27, in the Alaska Legislature.
The Alaska Senate majority has been meeting as a caucus in Girdwood at the Alyeska Hotel. That means all but three members of the Senate are invited — Sen. Shelley Hughes, who is the outgoing majority leader, Sen. Mike Shower of Wasilla, and Sen. Robert Myers of Fairbanks. All three are fiscal conservatives.
The caucus meetings started earlier this week, as some members came to Anchorage for the Resource Development Council breakfast on Thursday, during which two members of the caucus, Sen.-elect Cathy Giessel and Sen. Click Bishop, both Republicans, gave their views on the budget and how they hope to increase it.
The Senate organized into a bipartisan coalition after the Nov. 8 election, and the members of the majority excluded three budget-minded Republicans, but included radical Democrats such as Sen.-elect Forrest Dunbar of Anchorage and Juneau Democrat Sen. Jesse Kiehl.
The coalition gave most of the control to the Democrats by naming Anchorage labor lawyer Sen. Bill Wielechowski as both Rules Committee chair and Transportation Committee chair. There are nine Democrats and eight Republicans in the majority caucus.
In the last recent pre-legislative organizational meetings, now-outgoing Senate President Peter Micciche held the conversations in Anchorage and ordered Subway sandwiches for lunch. Micciche, who hails from the Kenai Peninsula, called his caucus of 13 Republicans and one Democrat a “caucus of equals” and took the view that they should not spend lavishly on themselves.
Stevens, a liberal Republican from Kodiak, has richer tastes and will now spend untold thousands of state dollars hosting the 17 caucus members at Alaska’s ritzy vacation destination in the middle of a ski season weekend, as legislators prepare to head to Juneau next week and face reduced revenues and a budget deficit of over $1 billion.
The resort reports that the skies are clear above the lower-mountain fog today. “Join us on the slopes for a beautiful inversion, some fresh mountain air, & breathtaking views! Today’s forecast is calling for mostly sunny skies, calm winds, and a high temp around 20*”
Silvertip and Mighty Mite have both been groomed off the top. Groomer’s choice today is Mighty Mite. Tonight there will be live music at the Sitzmark venue starting at 9 pm with the band Zero Miles to Empty.
The Alaska Legislature begins on Jan. 17, and although the Senate has organized and given Democrats control, the House is still struggling to agree on its leadership team, as the House is nearly evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats and those without a party.
After four days of Republican dysfunction and 15 rounds of voting, the Freedom Caucus paved the way for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a Republican son of a firefighter from Bakersfield, Calif., to be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. The victory came after midnight on Jan. 7.
Alaska freshman Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola, although having made statements to the press that she would help form a bipartisan coalition, voted for radical Queens, N.Y. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrat nominee, every one of the 15 times her name was called, ensuring that Alaska will be in the minority in Congress, as control switches over to the Republicans.
The final vote went late into Friday night and was filled with shouting, finger-pointing by Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, and drama. In the end, McCarthy received 216 votes, one more than the 215 votes needed to win on that ballot, because six conservative members called the Freedom Caucus simply voted “present.”
The floor proceedings became chaotic at one critical juncture on Friday when a clearly worn-out Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Alabama, angrily burst into a group that centered around Freedom Caucus member Rep. Gaetz and Rep. McCarthy, who were negotiating, surrounded by their supporters. As Rogers lunged in to tell Gaetz what he though of him, Rep. Richard Hudson, R-North Carolina, laid his hands firmly on Rogers’s shoulders and yanked him back, at one point smashing his hand over Rogers’ face and pulling him away forcibly.
Dramatic debate continued past midnight on Friday, as Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida negotiated with Rep. Kevin McCarthy. Watch as things get physical when Rep. Hudson pulls Rep. Rogers away forcibly by smashing his face with Hudson’s large hand.
Although some members wanted to gavel out until Monday, several key Republicans had at that point asked McCarthy to ask for one more vote. McCarthy asked two of his supporters to return to the Capitol, and Gaetz and five other Freedom Caucus members voted present, allowing McCarthy to win in a tension-filled chambers filled with tired lawmakers.
In the upper left corner of this screenshot taken from the CSPAN video above, Rep. Richard Hudson pulls Rep. Mike Rogers from a Republican negotiation that was key to getting the vote for McCarthy as speaker
McCarthy is an ideological moderate who has led the Republican minority for several years. During the most recent midterm elections, he angered some members of the Freedom Caucus wing of the minority by working to unseat them in their House races. He had the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, but that endorsement held no sway with some of the 20-ish members of the Freedom Caucus.
McCarthy, upon being given the gavel by Rep. Jeffries, gave some prepared remarks: “It’s time for us to be a check and provide some balance to the president’s policies. We commit to stop wasteful Washington spending, to lower the price of groceries, gas, cars, housing, and stop the rising national debt.”
But the deal he made to get there with the Freedom Caucus appears to diminish the powers of the Speaker, giving the Freedom Caucus more ability to disrupt the order of business, if they choose. The bad blood between McCarthy and Gaetz makes that appear likely. Former Speaker Pelosi called it “the incredibly shrinking speakership.”
One of the concessions made by McCarthy is to allow any member to call for an immediate vote at any time to oust the speaker, which McCarthy earlier viewed as simply a political death warrant.
Deep inside the final report from the the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th (2021) Attack on the United States Capitol is a spreadsheet of weaponized sensitive information, released to the world.
Nearly 2,000 Social Security numbers associated with visitors to the White House in December, 2020 were posted online by the committee. The numbers include at least three members of the Trump cabinet, Republican governors, and many Trump supporters. The information was first reported deep inside TheWashington Post, which buried the story on Friday evening.
Some of the Social Security numbers released were South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, former Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, a federal district court judge, a federal appeals court judge, several people who testified before the Jan. 6 committee, and a lawyer who represented a witness before the committee, the Post reported.
The spreadsheet that contained the names has now been eliminated from the online report, but had been exposed and no-doubt downloaded by unknown entities for several days. Many of the Social Security numbers were redacted but about 1,900 of them were not, according to The Post.
The Government Publishing Office, the agency responsible for publishing the file, did not notify any of the individuals whose private information was released, the newspaper reported.
Gov. Noem took the matter to her attorneys, who sent a letter to the committee and the GPO, demanding answers for why her Social Security number and those of there entire family were published.
“Perhaps most troubling and outrageous is the fact that each of you had an opportunity, and an obligation, to prevent the wrongful disclosure,” her lawyers wrote. The letter, addressed to the White House General Counsel, and Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the committee, was copied to Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the committee, and committee members Adam Schiff, Zoe Lofgren, Stephanie Murphy, Peter Aguilar, Plain Luria, Jamie Fashion, and Adam Kinzinger. It was also sent to the director of the U.S. Government Publishing Office and the Acting Archivist of the National Archives:
Alaska will have another 5,000 jobs open in 2023, but there will be even fewer workers to fill those jobs, according to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s latest report.
“Nonresidents fill about 20 percent of Alaska’s jobs. Some stay — about 10 percent each year — but most come temporarily to work in our seasonal or remote industries: seafood processing, tourism, and oil and gas. A record number of job openings across the country means less draw to Alaska for both temporary and long-term work,” economists said in the the department’s January Trends magazine.
“We expect some industries to regain and then top their 2019 employment levels while others will take longer,” the report said.
“The easiest gains appear to be behind us. In 2021, rebounds from pandemic lows came from re- openings and massive infusions of federal money through household stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment benefits, and direct support to businesses and state and local governments. Rising oil prices and strong Alaska Permanent Fund investment returns that year also lifted state revenue projections. In 2022, Alaska continued to add jobs as students went back to school, cruise ships returned in full, more people traveled and ate out, and oil prices climbed,” the state report said.
Fewer people have been moving to the state and staying long enough to even apply for a Permanent Fund dividend, which is how the department gauges residency. As a share of the population, Alaska has always had the biggest yearly population flows both in and out, but in the last decade, the scale tipped to more loss than gain.
Net migration losses were large enough in some years to cause an overall population decline, although those losses leveled out and the total population increased by a tenth of a percentage point in 2021, the department said.
“Another consequence of net migration losses is that movers are disproportionately in their 20s and 30s — people of working age and those most likely to bring children with them,” it added.
The department expects all Alaska industries to grow or hold steady. Many of 2022’s patterns will continue this year, and no major changes are on the horizon, except from the federal infrastructure bill.
That infrastructure spending will just begin to ramp up and span at least five years, so the resulting growth and its timing are difficult to predict, the state report said.
A challenge for Alaska is that the worker shortage is exacerbated by an aging population and migration losses, especially of working-age Alaskans.
“Anything is Possible” is a registered trademark of the Ironman Triathlon competition, capturing the challenge of one of the most difficult single-day sporting events in the world. In that spirit, the Juneau community whole-heartedly embraced the opportunity to hold Alaska’s first-ever Ironman sanctioned race last August.
Despite Juneau’s remote venue, small population, and lack of amenities, Travel Juneau, the city’s travel and convention bureau, and an enthusiastic group of boosters and volunteers worked hard to secure the bid, believing, indeed, anything was possible. They also felt that Juneau’s spectacular scenery, unique location, and community support would compensate for any deficiencies.
When announced a full year before the event that Juneau had secured the bid, the city celebrated the victory with a splashy press conference on the shores of Auke Lake, the site of the triathlon’s 2.4-mile swim.
That the event ultimately wasn’t as successful as hoped is not a reflection on Juneau’s effort or commitment but rather on other factors. Although the community welcomes over a million cruise passengers annually, it soon discovered that hosting a substantial influx of independent visitors has its own challenges.
The signed 3-year contract with the Ironman Group required Juneau to pay $50,000 in 2022 with the possibility of hosting additional competitions in 2023 and 2024. This was to be offset by an anticipated $7-8 million lift to the local economy with the expected arrival of 1,300-1,600 participants plus families and friends who would stay for up to a week or longer.
Initially, this all seemed workable but as the event approached, problems began to surface.
Before arrival, competitors had already invested up to $3,000, including an $800 registration fee and airfare. Then they learned how much it would cost for sleeping accommodations. Early registrants snagged reasonably-priced rooms but later, many found that hotel rooms had doubled in price and air-bnb’s were going for $1,000/night. After available rooms disappeared, some complained that their original reservations were canceled and re-listed at higher rates.
Travel Juneau suggested residents offer rooms in their homes or rent their houses to fill the gap. A Facebook page was launched to inform contestants when rooms or homes became available.
Eventually, the participant base shrank to about 850 competitors, almost half what was originally expected.
It also became evident that transportation logistics were lacking. Taxis were scarce and visitors soon discovered there were no rental cars left available in town. Participants didn’t have a way to get their bikes to and from the airport. A local company, Cycle Alaska, stepped in and organized a bike transport operation to assist.
On the day of the race, the weather was not ideal. Due to low water temperature in Auke Lake, the swim leg was delayed and shortened. Rain and cold weather plagued runners and bikers during the race.
Obviously, some of this was beyond the control of the host city or race sponsors. But, as a community, it seemed Juneau promised more than it could deliver.
In early December, Ironman officials announced the cancellation of Ironman Alaska in Juneau for 2023 and 2024, citing impacts from global inflation and economic pressure.
While officials also complimented Juneau as a host city, few people believe that the reasons cited were the only considerations.
It’s tough to admit that your community may have fallen short in staging an event like this. However, it should be instructive in how to plan for the future. Every community has assets and liabilities. Juneau is no exception.
Juneau boasts world-class scenery and outdoor opportunities, a diverse and welcoming community, and thriving arts and cultural organizations.
However, ways to access Juneau are few and expensive, independent visitor accommodations and amenities are limited, and weather can be problematic.
A realistic recognition of these limitations should be considered whenever city leaders contemplate expending public resources or make infrastructure investments to attract significant numbers of out-of-town guests. This is a point worth remembering in light of the Juneau Assembly’s continuing effort to fund an expansion of its convention center that may cost in excess of $77 million.
“Anything is possible” is an optimistic catch-phrase but it’s not a strategy. Scaling events and public buildings to better match a community’s size and capabilities will be what determines their success or failure in the future.
After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has issued an order banning the social media app TikTok from State of Alaska-issued equipment.
“Simply put, TikTok poses a risk to any network or user it touches,” Dunleavy wrote in a memo to commissioners.
In November, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned of security concerns regarding the Chinese-owned company ByteDance. U.S. officials have said that the Chinese government can force the company to share the extensive data it collects on its users. Wray said theChinese company “doesn’t share our values.”
“National security experts continue to highlight TikTok as a national security concern, including the possibility that the Chinese government may use TikTok to control data collection, influence TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, and compromise personal devices. Use of TikTok on state-owned electronic devices or on private devices that are connected to state networks poses a risk thata foreign government may access confidential or private data from State agencies and employees,” Dunleavy said.
“Therefore, effective immediately, all State Executive Branch agencies, including all departments, corporations, authorities, divisions, offices, bureaus, or other entities may not use TikTok on any State-owned electronic device, download or use the TikTok application or visit any TikTok website on the State network. Additionally, if TikTok is currently downloaded on any State device, it must be immediately removed, and appropriate steps shall be taken to secure the device,” his office wrote.
“Alaskans must remain vigilant to evolving threats both domestically and abroad and work together to defend ourselves against these threats, in order to defend our way of life and right to privacy.”
Today’s announcement from Gov. Dunleavy comes as states across the country, as well as the federal government, move to prohibit TikTok from government devices. TikTok has more than 1 billion active global users.
Joey Sweet will become a temporary seat-filler on the Anchorage Assembly, after the votes were counted today to replace former Assemblyman Forrest Dunbar, who won a seat for Alaska Senate.
Five people applied for the position. On the first round of voting, the breakdown of votes by members of the Assembly:
Joey Sweet: 5
Hilary Morgan: 2
Harry Crawford: 2
Jim Wojciehowski: 1
Rich Foehner: 0
Wojciehowski and Foehner were eliminated and the Municipal Clerk and her staff then huddled and tabulated the final results using ranked choice voting.
After an explanation of the exceedingly complicated elimination process that was dictated by municipal code, the finalists were:
Joey Sweet: 6
Harry Crawford: 4
Ballots were redistributed to the Assembly with those two names, and with a binary choice in front of them — one of them an old guard from the Democrat Party and one a young turk in the same vein, the final vote was:
Joey Sweet: 7
Harry Crawford: 3
Crawford, the longtime legislator and water-carrier for Democrats was out.
Sweet was raised in Wasilla and graduated from the Mat-Su Career and Technical High School. He enrolled at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and studied political science, and then transferred to the University of Alaska Anchorage to complete his studies.
Sweet is a former student regent on the University of Alaska Board of Regents, appointed by former Gov. Bill Walker. He was an intern for the Alaska Democrats and worked at the Alaska Center for the Environment; he sold products at the Apple store and attended at University of Alaska Fairbanks. He earned an MPA from the University of Alaska Anchorage and graduated in 2021. His LinkedIn profile lists his pronouns as he/him.
Sweet, who lives in UAA campus housing, will serve until April 25 for the District 5, Seat H neighborhoods in East Anchorage.
At the end of the meeting in which he was elected by the Assembly, who are now his equals, Sweet was seated on the dais in Assemblywoman Jamie Allard’s seat, rather than Forrest Dunbar’s seat. Allard was not at the meeting, although she is on the Assembly until Jan. 17.
Sweet thanked the Assembly and said he plans to make it a full-time job and will take the job seriously.
Assemblyman Chris Constant noted that Friday is Jan. 6 and he hopes everyone “will get passed all these fake arguments about fraudulent elections. My spirit feels bigger today that we had an election here and it’s done.” Assemblyman Felix Rivera noted how nice it was that ranked choice worked, and it was to have a young person on the Assembly.
Like Assemblyman Rivera, Sweet is starting out in elected government early in his life. Rivera moved to Alaska from Texas and worked for Mayor Ethan Berkowitz as an intern, and then ran for Assembly when he was 24 years old. The seat will be on April 4 ballot, when voters will choose who will represent them through the end of Dunbar’s term, which ends in April of 2025.
