Gov. Mike Dunleavy has announced that Susan McKenzie has decided to not accept the position of commissioner for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.
“I was so blessed to have been chosen to lead Alaska Department of Education and Early Development as Commissioner,” said McKenzie. “Thank you to all who encouraged me. Due to personal reasons, I’ve made the difficult decision to decline the offer of position as Commissioner. I will continue to serve in the capacity as Director of Innovation and Education Excellence for AK DEED.”
The Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development will begin the recruitment process for a new commissioner and forward a candidate to Governor Dunleavy for his approval.
The media is condemning officials in Republican-led states for withdrawing from a controversial data-sharing consortium that purports to help manage voter registration rolls and, not surprisingly, the news reports fail to tell the whole story. The system is known as the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) and it claims to be an efficient and cost-effective mechanism for states to maintain accurate voter rolls. ERIC is a nonprofit that was formed by leftist operatives in 2012 and, until recently, had more than 30 member states. It claims that its sole mission is assisting states to improve the accuracy of America’s voter rolls and increase access to voter registration for all eligible voters.
The reality is much different and Judicial Watch offers compelling information deliberately omitted by the media in a White Paper released this week. The document presents facts that directly contradict recent news coverage attacking Republican-led states—including Florida, West Virginia, and Missouri—for cutting ties with ERIC. The New York Timesexpresses fervent support for ERIC, writing that the nonprofit “has faced intensifying attacks from election deniers and right-wing media.” National Public Radio proclaims that “the far right is now running a disinformation campaign against one of the best tools that states have to detect and prevent voter fraud.” The headline of a recent Washington Post story reads: “Election deniers take aim at group that helps states maintain voter rolls.” The list of media critics is extensive and ranges from national outlets to small town newspapers.
The fact is that ERIC has been far more successful at identifying unregistered voters than duplicate or invalid registrations, according to research conducted by Judicial Watch.
The organization reports identifying more than 60 million unregistered voters since 2012. That is not to say that it has not been effective at identifying many potentially improper or invalid voter registrations. However, certain aspects of its operations are incredibly dubious.
For instance, ERIC was founded by the liberal Pew Charitable Trusts, potentially with funding that originated from leftist billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations network. Its founder, who remains influential within the organization, has a history of leftwing activism and unethical conduct. ERIC also shares the vast amount of sensitive personal data it receives from member states with another liberal nonprofit, the Center for Election Innovation and Research, a key player in the Zuckerbucks scandal in which private entities donated millions of dollars to fund government vote counts in the 2020 elections.
Records obtained by Judicial Watch show that ERIC is far more effective at swelling voter registration rolls than at keeping them clean. Our research also determined that the large amount of sensitive data provided to ERIC by member states and the organization’s role in maintaining voter rolls may violate a number of federal statutes.
A Palmer jury on Monday convicted Gavin Sullivan Christiansen, 41, of murder in the second degree, manslaughter, and misconduct involving weapons in the second degree, among other charges related to a vehicle chase after a hit and run incident.
Christiansen, who ran for Senate Seat F, Wasilla, was still on the 2020 ballot as a petition Libertarian candidate, although he had withdrawn from the race, which was won decisively by Sen. Shelley Hughes.
Weeks before the election, Christiansen was involved in a road rage incident, during which he chased, shot, and killed Devin Moorhouse, 35, of Anchorage. The car Moorhouse was driving had a child as a passenger, but the child was not hit by the bullets.
The incident occurred Oct. 11, 2020, when Christiansen contacted 911 to report that his vehicle had been struck in a hit and run and that he was pursuing the person who hit him and was near Mile 37 of Wasilla-Fishook Road in Willow.
An investigation revealed that Chistiansen was outside of his vehicle when his car was struck and that Christiansen had fired from his gun at the departing vehicle approximately 15 times before he began pursuing the vehicle driven by Moorhouse.
The pursuit lasted for approximately five miles before Moorhouse lost control of his vehicle and went off the road, stranding Moorhouse and his juvenile passenger in a ditch.
While on the phone with the dispatch office, Christiansen drove up to Moorhouse’s driver’s side window and announced, “I am about to shoot somebody” and then fired several shots into Moorhouse’s vehicle, killing Moorhouse.
Christiansen told investigators that Moorhouse had pointed a firearm at him as Christiansen approached the stranded vehicle. Moorhouse’s gun was found at the scene, but investigation revealed that it was not loaded, the State Department of Law wrote.
Christiansen had argued it was self-defense, but Palmer Assistant District Attorney Kerry Corliss said in response, “Alaska has a stand your ground self-defense law, but it is stand your ground, not chase them down.”
Corliss stated that the Christiansen had shot at the victim and then pursued him for miles and that the victim had every right to employ self-defense because he had unequivocally communicated his withdrawal from the conflict by fleeing twice.
Christiansen’s sentencing is scheduled for June. The sentence range for second-degree murder is 15 to 99 years.
The Anchorage Assembly is swelling its lavish spending spree to make life easier for street people in Anchorage. The Assembly wants to spend $13 million on a facility sitting on 17 acres in the heart of midtown and turn it into a homeless shelter.
A local church, Faith Christian Community, is selling the property, known by many residents as the Arctic Recreation Center.
The Assembly also wants to spend an additional $12 million on low-income housing near the property.
Assembly members, most of whom are openly antagonistic of Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, approved in the past the funding of a facility located in East Anchorage known as the “navigation center.”
City taxpayers have already spent $3 million on the navigation center. But the project now lies dormant, and the Assembly has refused to approve the funds to finish it.
The navigation center will cost far less to finish than the $25 million project the Assembly now proposes.
The Arctic Recreation Center is surrounded by a large neighborhood to the west of Arctic, including multiple churches, an elementary school, a charter school, dozens of businesses, hotels, and thousands of residents who call the area home.
So why has the Assembly abandoned the mayor’s navigation center after first approving its funding, and why does it now favor a less desirable and more expensive project?
Some say it’s politics. They say the Bronson Administration made a technical error when it came to getting funding for the project. The Assembly, dominated by Left-leaning members, saw the mistake as an opportunity to embarrass the conservative mayor. Critics says it’s obvious Assembly members care more about embarrassing and humiliating Bronson than helping the homeless or wisely spending taxpayer dollars.
Assemblyman Felix Rivera is leading the charge to spend the $25 million on the new midtown homeless center, which would be in his district. Assemblywoman Meg Zalatel also represents the area; she is the executive director for the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, where she takes home a six-figure salary, some of which is paid for by taxpayers.
Critics say Zalatel, sometimes known as the Anchorage homeless czar, has a financial incentive to grow Anchorage’s vagrant problem.
Taxpayers spent $62 million last year alone on the Anchorage vagrancy problem. They’ve spent $161 million in the past three years.
If the Assembly goes through with its new $25 million midtown facility, it will need to undergo significant zoning and code rewrites to make it usable as a homeless shelter.
There is a distinct difference between the Mayor and Assembly’s vision for solving the city’s vagrant problem.
Bronson would rather complete the centralized navigation center, close to medical facilities and away from neighborhoods. That center would get people who are living on the streets the kind of services that will help them most — medical, drug and alcohol recovery, jobs, and shelter.
The navigation center work was under way, but the Assembly then withdrew the money needed to complete the project.
The Assembly however leans toward multiple shelters, evidenced by the body’s desire to buy the Golden Lion Hotel, the former Alaska Club on Tudor, and now the Arctic Recreation Center in midtown.
The Arctic Recreation Center would be a low barrier shelter. That means residents can show up drunk or high and still hang out on the property and have a place to stay.
Anchorage’s homeless population has increased considerably after former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz began to significantly increase the taxpayer money spent on the problem year after year. The more Anchorage spends, the faster the homeless population grows. Rivera and Zalatel are clearly doubling down on the strategy.
Dan Fagan is a reporter for Must Read Alaska. Email him at [email protected].
The U.S. Attorney filed documents yesterday charging 30-year-old Anchorage resident Garrett Elder, sole owner of Tycoon Trading LLC, The Daily Bread Fund LLC, and other entities, with executing an investment scheme that resulted in approximately $25 million in losses to over 130 victims, many who are well known. The State of Alaska has said the investment company was operating illegally in Alaska.
From about 2016 through October 2022, Garrett Elder was running a scheme and convinced investors to give him between $30 and $34 million in investments. Over 138 victims are said to have lost their funds as Elder gambled them away in risky stock trades.
The scheme began about early 2016 when Elder’s parents provided Elder between $10,000 and $20,000 to invest in stocks and foreign currencies. Elder deposited those funds into an entity he had created called Tycoon Trading, LLC. He lost all of his parents’ funds.
Despite the losses, Elder told his family and friends about his trading business, and some expressed an interest in investing. Elder did not tell these targets of his scheme that he had lost the money provided by his parents. Instead, Elder gave victims the false impression that he was a successful trader.
Based on these omissions and false impressions, between 2016 and March 2018, investors transferred approximately $500,000 to Tycoon Trading for Elder to invest. Elder began losing money, yet created false quarterly performance reports for his victims, stating that the investments were earning positive returns. By March 2018, Elder had lost almost all the victims’ money while trading and only had approximately $10,000 to $15,000 left in his trading account.
In March 2018, Elder disclosed to the victims that their investments had failed, but he did not tell them he had falsified the quarterly performance reports he had been providing them.
Notwithstanding the near total losses, Elder continued to seek new investors, still claiming to be a successful trader. By the end of 2018, Elder had approximately 30 new investors who were investing substantially more money than the original group of investors.
In 2019, Elder created another entity called The Daily Bread Fund, LLC.
From 2019 through 2022, Elder continued to solicit new investors through Tycoon Trading and the Daily Bread Fund by claiming to be a successful trader and paying a limited amount of distributions to select investors to provide the appearance of investment successes.
While getting new investors, he continued to lost money. Despite continued mounting losses, Elder again created and emailed to investors fake reports indicating positive returns. Elder also used some of the victims’ money on personal expenditures, including real estate investments, vehicles, a boat, a camper, bicycles, tools, and jewelry.
In total, the amount of funds transferred to Elder via Tycoon Trading, The Daily Bread Fund, and related entities is presently estimated to be approximately $30 million to $34 million from 138 victim investors.
By October 2022, although some money was distributed back to certain investors, Elder had lost the majority of investments, resulting in approximately $25 million in losses to victims.
Elder has agreed to the government filing an “information charging him with wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343,” the U.S. Attorney for Alaska stated.
He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The you believe you are a victim of Garrett Elder’s investment scheme, contact the FBI, which is the investigating agency, at: (907) 276-4441.
Meanwhile there are at least two civil lawsuits in Alaska against Garrett from investors who claim they were harmed by his scheme. In October, the Banking and Securities Division of the State of Alaska ordered him to stop, as he was not licensed for trading in Alaska.
The first was aimed at recruiting and retaining teachers via cash incentives. The second was an attempt to codify parental rights and requires school districts to address physical safety and privacy of students in locker rooms and restrooms.
There’s not much discussion on the first one, but much loud and righteous anger over the second one, from all the usual suspects on the political left.
Given the loud, public pushback from the political left, we will take a deeper look at the parental rights legislation, HB 105 and SB 96.
Here in Anchorage, Anchorage School District (ASD) has chased fewer students with more money over the last decade. The approach clearly isn’t working as test scores continue to fall. On the other hand, they are very interested in a variety of new topics that have nothing to do with public education. These include Critical Race Theory, equity, LGBTQWTF, even a return to seclusion and restraint of disabled students.
When parents bring up their concerns, ASD and the Anchorage School Board typically deny they are doing whatever they are accused of doing, bury the investigation and results, hoping the problem quietly goes away. Unfortunately, this approach has worked pretty well in recent years.
End result of this is that few residents trust ASD anymore. This is a sad, completely predictable outcome. And the entire statewide education establishment is back in front of the legislature with their hand out, asking for more money.
Concern over Critical Race Theory hit the fan a couple years ago as parents nationwide found their online students indoctrinated in it. Parents were predictably outraged and demanded ASD eliminate CRT. ASD denied the presence of CRT in Anchorage schools, though13 current teachers in Alaska (as of 2021) signed an online pledge promising to keep teaching CRT regardless of what they were told to do. Two of them were legislative candidates at the time.
CRT is a loser’s game, as it teaches kids to look backward in life, marinating forever in all the awfulness endured by their forefathers. Rather than teaching a forward-looking approach complete with tools to ensure racism in all its awful forms no longer matters in their lives, our esteemed education establishment is determined to make sure their students never learn how to deal with unpleasantness in life in a positive way.
Next on the list is equity. This is a term meaning equal outcomes. As the left never lifts anyone up, equity means the achievers, the high performers, are pulled down to the lowest possible levels of performance. ASD proudly operates what it calls an Equity Dashboard. The problem is that equity is a loser’s game. The most recent example was the Anchorage School Board hiring an unqualified superintendent last year, whose first action in office was a failure when he did not ensure the bus system was available for the first few months of the fall semester.
Next up is the LGBTQWTF push. Once again, ASD denies it is doing anything other than making sure everyone gets a fair shake. The problem is that books keep on showing up in school libraries that at worst could be described as gay porn and best as instruction manuals for grooming. Every time one of these is discovered, brought to the attention of the administration or the School Board, it quietly disappears without parents knowing how the books got there, who put them there, and who has been checking them out. If the LGBTQWTF world is such a wonderful thing, why is ASD systematically hiding its participation and complicity with it?
For some reason, Planned Parenthood came out loudly and publicly against the parental rights legislation. Why is Planned Parenthood in the public schools? What is it doing with the students that it doesn’t want the parents to know about?
Finally, we have a return to seclusion and restraint for disabled students. This is horrific to parents of disabled students, who generally can’t tell their parents what happened to them at schools. A two-year Department of Justice investigation announced mid-February found it had been going on at ASD for some time.
I get it that disabled students with behavior problems are tough, but everything that happens to them in ASD is defined and controlled by what is written, agreed to, and approved in their Individual Education Plan. Restraint and seclusion never shows up as a solution in IEPs.
HB 105 is intended to get through the wall of silence erected over the years at ASD. It is an attempt to lift up a flat rock and see what scurries out. It is an attempt to shine a little light on what is going on in the public schools. Who knows? If the public schools quit spending so much time on non-academic pursuits, they might even have a bit more time to spend on ‘readin, ‘ritin, and ‘rithmetic. But you have to want to do that, something the Anchorage Education Association clearly doesn’t.
If Democrats, particularly those in the Senate majority, want to have any chance of moving an increase in the foundation formula to the governor’s desk, his proposed parental rights legislation must be equally and honestly considered, as they go hand in hand. At this point in the process, I commend Senate Majority Leader Gary Stevens for not burying it in committee as yet, though Senate Judiciary Chairman Matt Claman will do his level best to find some violation of the Alaska Constitution Privacy Clause as an excuse to kill it, which would be a mistake.
This is a start. It is up to us to help make sure this legislation makes its way fully intact through the process.
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.
The House Oversight Committee said Tuesday that the U.S. Treasury Department is providing the investigatory committee with access to Hunter Biden’s Suspicious Activity Reports after months of delay.
The revelation is the latest chapter in the committee’s ongoing investigation into the president’s son and his associates. The lawmakers concerned with the issue argue the president could be compromised if foreign sources have knowledge of his or his son’s alleged wrongdoing.
“According to bank documents we’ve already obtained, we know one company owned by a Biden associate received a $3 million wire from a Chinese energy company two months after Joe Biden left the vice presidency,” House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky, said “Soon after, hundreds of thousands of dollars in payouts went to members of the Biden family.”
Lawmakers are also looking into Hunter’s associates. They sent letters to James Biden, and Eric Schwerin demanding they hand over documents concerning their foreign dealings.
Now, the committee has reportedly issued subpoenas to some of Hunter’s business associates as well.
“We are going to continue to use bank documents and suspicious activity reports to follow the money trail to determine the extent of the Biden family’s business schemes, if Joe Biden is compromised by these deals, and if there is a national security threat,” Comer said.
The committee still blasted the Biden administration, saying the Treasury Department delayed in providing access to the files.
“After two months of dragging their feet, the Treasury Department is finally providing us with access to the suspicious activity reports for the Biden family and their associates’ business transactions,” Comer said. “It should never have taken us threatening to hold a hearing and conduct a transcribed interview with an official under the penalty of perjury for Treasury to finally accommodate part of our request. For over 20 years, Congress had access to these reports but the Biden Administration changed the rules out of the blue to restrict our ability to conduct oversight.”
Casey Harper is a Senior Reporter for the Washington, D.C. Bureau. He previously worked for The Daily Caller, The Hill, and Sinclair Broadcast Group. A graduate of Hillsdale College, Casey’s work has also appeared in Fox News, Fox Business, and USA Today.
According to a “Gender Inclusion 101” training video produced recently for students and facility at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, misgendering someone (calling someone by the wrong pronoun) is an act of violence.
“Gender is a very complex and personal topic,” says Casey McMillan, during the video that runs for 72 minutes.
McMillan begins the video describing herself as someone with pale skin and using the pronouns she/they. McMillan is the diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility professional for the Department of Equity and Compliance for the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
“It’s important for our campuses and communities to be safe and welcoming places for people of all genders and we will share how participants can be active allies to the LGBTQ21A+ community,” said McMillan.
The YouTube channel for the Department of Equity and Compliance for the University of Alaska has but one subscriber.
The Gender Inclusion 101 video has not been particularly well-received, with just four views in two weeks.
The lengthy video mostly features college-age kids complaining about being misgendered.
“It is constant and such a prevalent part of our society,” said one student. “Being misgendered happens countless times in a day and that builds up really quickly. It can be difficult for a person to hear over and over again because it invalidates your identity over and over and over again. “
Another student on the video took issue with the term “preferred pronoun.”
“It’s not a preference, it’s who we are. You need to use those pronouns. It’s literally an extension of me like an arm or leg. It’s just as much a part of me as a vital organ. My identity, although you can’t see it, needs to be validated just as much as the fact that I have five fingers and five toes.”
Another student on the video compared misgendering with violence: “Misgendering a trans person is an act of violence, and it is. It’s an act of psychological violence. It’s a denial of one’s personhood.”
Along with the “Gender Inclusion 101” video, posted two weeks ago and having had only four views as of this writing, UAF has published a brochure entitled: “Gender Diverse UAF: Understanding and supporting transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming Nanooks.”
One section of the brochure is entitled: “Potty in Peace.” It reads: “If you’re using the restroom with another person, regardless of their gender identity, please respect their privacy, respect their identity, carry on with your day, protect them from harm.”
The section offers a map of gender inclusive bathrooms on the Fairbanks campus.
Another section reads: “Intentionally using the wrong pronoun or misgendering someone is harassment. If you are not sure which pronoun to use, ask the person what pronouns they use or introduce yourself with your pronouns. This acts as a prompt for them to do the same. It’s also acceptable to use the singular pronoun ‘they’ to describe someone you don’t wish to assign a gender.”
The brochure also tells students to, “Show your pride support for the queer community by adding a UAF pride badge to your e-mail signature.”
The brochure chastises students who call a trans person by their old name after they transitioned to a new gender.
“It is deeply offensive and disrespectful to continue using a transgender person’s old name when referring to them. Always use a transgender persons chosen name.”
UAF also has an inclusive language list. You should not use the word homosexual. But referring to someone as gay is OK.
Instead of addressing a crowd with “ladies and gentlemen,” students should say “honored guests.”
Words like mailman, fireman, and policeman are offensive. Instead, students are instructed to use mail clerk, firefighter, and police officer.
Instead of saying female or male, it’s appropriate to use “assigned female male at birth.”
Only 20 percent of full-time UAF students get their degree on time. That’s well below the national average.
College Factual, an organization ranking universities, listed UAF as 1,079th among 2,241 colleges and universities across America in 2023.
When it comes to funding, Alaska’s University system receives a larger share of its budget from the state than any other land-based university in the country.
Dan Fagan is a reporter for Must Read Alaska. His email is [email protected].
U.S. Term Limits, a national organization, announced that former Rep. Sharon Jackson has agreed to be the Alaska state chair.
Jackson brings a depth of public service to this role. She has seen first-hand the need for term limits at the federal level and the depth of support among Alaskans regardless of political affiliation for congressional term limits. Her mission is to see that Alaska adopts a resolution for term limits.
“I am very honored to be serving as the Alaska State Chair for U.S. Term Limits,” Jackson said. “Now more than ever before, the need for congressional term limits is crystal clear. Polls show that over 80% of Americans regardless of political party support congressional term limits. Term limits is truly the one issue that unites all Americans.
“Sadly, serving in Congress has become for many, a lucrative lifelong job rather than a public service,” she said. “This is part of the reason that latest Gallup poll showed that only 7% of Americans have faith in Congress. Term limits will help end career politicians, restore public trust, and make Congress work better for all Americans.”
“We are honored to have Sharon leading our efforts in Sharon to pass term limits on Congress,” said Philip Blumel, president of U.S. Term Limits. “She understands the problems within Congress and the need for term limits. Under her guidance, I am confident we will get our term limits resolution passed in Alaska.”
Jackson was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA and proudly served in the United States Army which brought her to Alaska in 1983. Upon completing her active-duty tour with the Army she enrolled in Charter College where she became a Certified Electronic Technician for the next 13 years.
She dedicated the next 10 years working for the National Federation of Independent Businesss, a state and federal small business lobby and the National Write Your Congressmen where she provided education on legislation that would affect the longevity of free enterprise. Sharon’s passion is to empower the people of Alaska to use their influence in government to preserve their freedoms, just as the Founding Fathers intended.
In 2015 Sharon became the constituent liaison for Sen. Dan Sullivan and has found her role in his office assisting constituents to resolving their pressing issues to be very rewarding.
From 2019-2021 she served in the Alaska State House of Representatives representing Chugiak-Eagle River-JBER, District 13. Jackson currently serves on the Alaska Workforce Development Board and Serve Alaska, also as advisor on Be Better Medicine Media, Ascend Fund and Veterans in Pain national boards.
