The ranked choice voting scheme created by Ballot Measure 2 in 2020 has brought a new set of challenges, including an extremely compressed timeframe for the incoming governor.
Rather than having a sense of certainty within a couple of days after the election (barring a close race), and thus putting a transition team in place, it could be three weeks before the next incoming governor knows where he stands. The General Election won’t have the books closed on it until Nov. 23 and will not be certified until Nov. 29. If a candidate wants to challenge the results, he will have until Dec. 4 to do so.
The winner takes office the next day — Dec. 5 at noon.
Because Democrat Les Gara and Bill Walker, the politically homeless man, are running essentially a combined campaign at this point, they could each conceivably end up with about 25% of the vote, and both could say that they will be the winner with the other man’s 25%+1 second votes. If Gov. Mike Dunleavy has 47% of the vote on the first round, there is the chance that either Gara or Walker could win by scooping second place votes.
While this doesn’t appear likely, it is technically possible voters won’t know who won for weeks.
Who, then, gets awarded the transition office in the Atwood State Office Building next week? Usually, the transition team is announced within days by the incoming governor, and the state provides the office space and funding for the transition to the governor-elect. In the event of an incumbent winning, there is no transition team.
This year there is little evidence that either Democrat Les Gara or Bill Walker are seriously working on transition teams. As the election gets closer, and as polling data gives clues to how a candidate is doing, the candidate who believes he is winning typically starts making phone calls to ask people to submit their resumes and to find out who wants to be on the governor’s team and in the cabinet.
Gara and Walker could demand keys to the Atwood and office space, phones, computers, and copy machines, but that would be a presumptuous move in this era of ranked choice voting. The chances are they will just fold up their campaigns and go home.
Another kink is that the new governor must have his budget filed with the Legislature by Dec. 15, which gives him 10 days after he is sworn in, but usually a governor-elect knows weeks earlier and will start getting budget briefings.
For Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who many believe will win reelection, the budget team has already been working on its 2024 budget and is putting finishing touches on it now. But if either Les Gara or Bill Walker win, they would be stuck with the current budget, which they would file a supplemental budget by February for the Legislature’s consideration.
The political calendar:
Nov. 8: Election Day ends at 8 pm
Nov. 10: Questioned Board begins review of questioned ballot envelopes
Nov. 18: Deadline to receive absentee ballots mailed from within the U.S., U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa
Nov. 23: Deadline to receive by-mail ballots mailed from overseas addresses
Nov. 23: Final regional count of Absentee and Questioned ballots
Nov. 23: The elimination of write-ins, fourth-place and third-place finishers if needed, and tabulate final results by 4 pm
Nov. 29: Target date to certify the General Election
Dec. 4: Final day to request a recount for governor/lieutenant governor
Dec. 5: Governor is sworn in at noon
Dec. 15: Budget due to Legislature for Fiscal Year 2024
Jan 17, 2023 – First day of legislative session
Jan 31, 2023 – 15th day of session, supplemental bill introduced
Feb 15, 2023 – 30th day of session, governor’s amended budget introduced
April 16, 2023 – 90th day of session, statutory end of session
May 17, 2023 – 121st day of session, constitutional end of session if extended
NATION CAN’T TAKE TWO MORE YEARS OF MAYHEM AT BORDER
By BETHANY BLANKLEY | THE CENTER SQUARE
After another clash with foreign nationals illegally entering the U.S., the union representing Border Patrol agents is urging Americans to vote on Nov. 8 for candidates who will defend them, the rule of law, and the southern border.
On Monday, mostly single male Venezuelans, Mexicans and Hondurans crossed the Rio Grande River and attempted to illegally enter the U.S. near El Paso, Texas, and allegedly assaulted Border Patrol agents demanding to be let into the country.
The National Border Patrol Council, the union representing the agents, said, “Make no mistake, all of this madness taking place at our border is on Joe Biden. Every single bit of it. We’re stuck with him for two more years and he’s not going to change, but you have the opportunity on Nov. 8 to vote his enablers out of office and put a dent in his agenda.”
The clash at the border came after agents oversaw more than 2.7 million enforcement actions last fiscal year – a U.S. record – and after at least 33 counties in Texas have called on Gov. Greg Abbott to declare an invasion and repel foreign nationals from illegally entering Texas.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a statement, saying, “a group of Venezuelan nationals attempted to illegally enter the United States while protesting. One of the protesters assaulted an agent with a flagpole. A second subject threw a rock causing injury to an agent at which time agents responded by initiating crowd control measures,” including an authorized “less-lethal force pepperball launching system.”
“The crowd then dispersed and returned to Mexico,” it said, adding that Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility would be reviewing the incident.
Several videosof the incident were published on social media; The El Paso Times reported on it also posting a video, as did other news outlets.
Yahoo! News reported the foreign nationals were protesting “on Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez asking to be allowed to enter the U.S. Protesters also held a large U.S. flag with the phrase ‘We the migrants built America’ written on it.”
The ACLU said what happened was “the latest in a long line of abuses carried out by CBP. Our government’s failed attempts at preventing people from seeking protection in the U.S. lead to death and suffering. The Biden administration must restore a humane process for seeking asylum.”
But the majority of those entering illegally don’t appear to have valid asylum claims, former and current Border Patrol agents have explained to The Center Square. And those assaulting federal agents would have likely disqualified themselves from any asylum claims as well.
The NBPC published the section of federal law governing legal entry, adding, “Fact: Aliens crossing our border between ports of entry, for any reason, is a crime. Fact: That criminal act is punishable by imprisonment. Fact: Civil penalties in addition to, not in lieu of imprisonment. Fact: Biden/Garland just choose not to enforce the criminal statute.”
It also took issue with media coverage, saying, “A large group of illegal aliens storms into the U.S. and violently attacks B.P. agents while waving flags of other countries, calling it a ‘protest.’ Nearly 24 hours later not one peep about it from the MSM. Why? It doesn’t fit the narrative they want to feed the American people.”
It defended the agents, saying they “showed great restraint,” noting that “many agents have been hospitalized with serious head injuries from rock attacks. Assaults on agents with any weapon, including flagpoles, will not be tolerated.”
In response to the ACLU, it said, “the ACLU is upset that B.P. agents have the audacity to defend themselves. We have a response for them. Go to hell.”
Former acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan told The Center Square, “Once again the mainstream media immediately pushes a false and misleading narrative. As a massive crowd of illegal aliens rushed our borders and attacked Border Patrol agents the headlines vilified the agents; falsely accused them of using rubber ‘bullets’ and described the actions of the angry mob of illegal aliens as ‘protests.'”
“Sound familiar?,” he asked, referring to remarks made by President Biden, DHS Secretary Mayorkas and the media last year claiming agents whipped Haitians in Del Rio, Texas, when they hadn’t.
Morgan said the agents “demonstrated incredible restraint while employing non-lethal pepper balls and de-escalation crowd dispersing tactics. And it was effective! Where is Secretary Mayorkas using the White House press room to address the American people about what the images’ conjure-up’ of citizens of a foreign country waving a flag of their home country as they aggressively charge across our open border clashing with federal agents. Maybe invasion?”
Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith, who’s called on Gov. Greg Abbott to declare an invasion at the southern border, told The Center Square, “Our border security has deteriorated to such a point that persons attempting to illegally enter our country now brazenly carry their Venezuelan flag while they assault our border patrol agents. Violence and lawlessness runs rampant across our southern border. America’s front door is being kicked in. This is what an invasion looks like.”
What happened evidences “the patchwork policy of selective border enforcement, degradation of the rule of law, and loss of respect for U.S. sovereignty, all caused by the ineptitude of the Biden Administration,” international law expert Jonathan Hullihan told The Center Square. The agents’ capabilities, he added, evidenced “that if a political will existed in Washington, D.C., the United States has a way to use duly enacted legal authority” to secure the border.
Former Gov. Bill Sheffield has passed. He died at his home in Anchorage after an extended illness at the age of 94.
William Jennings Sheffield Jr. was the fifth governor of Alaska, from 1982 to 1986. A Democrat, Sheffield was born on June 26, 1928 in Spokane, Wash. He built and owned hotels under Sheffield Enterprises, eventually owning 19 hotels, which he sold to Holland America. Those hotels are now known as Westmark.
Sheffield had studied at DeForest Training School in Chicago and served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1946 to 1949. He moved to Alaska in 1953 as an employee of Sears Roebuck Company, arriving by steamship in Seward, taking the train to Anchorage, where he eventually founded his hotel management firm. He also served as president of the Alaska Visitors Association and the Alaska Chamber of Commerce and as national director of the U.S. Jaycees. Sheffield was a member of the Anchorage City Planning Commission and the Anchorage Charter Commission.
In the 1982 election, Sheffield won over Anchorage civic leader Tom Fink, a Republican; Dick Randolph, Libertarian; and Joe Vogler of the Alaska Independence Party. During his reelection campaign four years later, he was tarnished by a scandal that had led to impeachment hearings in the Senate, and he lost in the primary to Democrat Steve Cowper, who ultimately won the governor’s race that year.
After leaving the position of governor, Sheffield served as chairman of the Board of Directors for Alaska Railroad from 1985 to 1997. In 1997 he was promoted to President and CEO of the railroad, where he served until 2001. In the past few years he suffered from failing health and until recently, he hosted many political fundraisers at his home. The Don Young summer “Taste of Alaska” fundraiser was one that many in Alaska will remember attending in past years.
Former Gov. Sean Parnell, who had the support of Sheffield during his 2014 reelection campaign, issued a statement: “Sandy and I were saddened today to learn of Governor Sheffield’s passing. Bill’s contagious optimism and his larger than life vision for what Alaska can be and for what Alaskans can do together will remain as his legacy.”
This story is developing. Check back for more details.
The Anchorage School District will close schools on Nov. 8, Election Day, at the request of the Alaska Division of Elections. The officially stated reason is that it will make voting easier and reduce pressure on the parking lots and school campuses at the 54 school voting locations in Alaska’s largest city.
Anchorage is not alone in closing schools to avoid voting day pressures. Schools in Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Richardson, Austin, and other schools in North Texas that are used for polling will be closed on Election Day due to safety concerns.
“Many North Texas schools will be closed Nov. 8 as districts navigate their roles as polling sites and the attendant safety risks in the wake of school shootings and threats to poll workers,” Axios reported. The influx of visitors during school hours poses security challenges, the news site reported.
Texas is especially concerned about security at schools after the Uvalde elementary school massacre occurred on the same day as a statewide runoff election in May.
Most schools in Wake County, North Carolina, will also close on Election Day, after a parents group concerned with safety made the request. Wake County is the home of Raleigh and has a population of more than one million people.
As far back as 2016, schools in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina closed on Election Day out of security concerns for students, teachers, and staff.
In October 1953, my Dad was hanging out with his Army buddies in New York City. They had just returned from their turn occupying Germany. Truth be told, their occupation consisted mostly of playing fastpitch softball, eating schnitzel, and learning to like German beer. Nonetheless, they were happy to be back in the United States, and the Big Apple was a first adventure for most of them, Dad included. So there they were at a bar in the city, when some guys were talking about the World Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees.
“Man, I’d love to be able to see that,” Dad said to his buddy. “Yankee Stadium, Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra. Man, that would be something.” His friend nodded in agreement, knowing full well it was a wish that was beyond their reach.
“You guys part of that crew that just pulled in?” It was a well-dressed man with a slight New York drawl.
“Yeah, that’s us. Just returned from Germany,” my Dad’s rather inebriated fellow soldier answered, “you know, keeping the world safe from Nazis and stuff.”
“Well, I appreciate your service, boys, and I overheard you talking about the World Series tomorrow.”
“Yeah, that would be something else to see in person,” Dad said before his friend could continue on about Nazis and stuff.
“Well, I tell you what. Here are two tickets for tomorrow’s game at Yankee Stadium. They are in the bleachers, but pretty good seats, nonetheless. Enjoy the game.” And the man in the suit handed over the tickets and walked away.
When I was growing up we had family movie nights, which meant we watched home movies shot on Dad’s 8 millimeter camera. One of my favorites was footage from that World Series game from the Yankee Stadium bleachers. Baseball was the bond between my Dad and me. He taught me how to play, love, and respect the game.
Dad passed away 10 months ago, just a few weeks shy of his 94th birthday. It’s been tough allowing myself to think deeply about it; certainly too tough to write about it. But it’s November and during the World Series (and often the playoff games leading up to it), Dad and I would talk on the phone after each game to replay it, give our expert and unsolicited advice on the key plays, clutch hit, bad calls, and genius moves by the managers. It was such a tradition that often times when I initiated the postgame call, Dad would pick up the horn himself – a responsibility he usually left for Mom.
“He shoulda’ kept the pitcher in that eighth inning,” Dad would blurt. No “Hello,” no salutations or pleasantries. He got right to the point.
“Yeah, but I think he reached his pitch limit, and he doesn’t fare well against right-handed hitters,” I would reply.
“Pitch limit, schmich limit. He’s making fifteen million dollars to throw the baseball, and he’s got all winter to rest. Bob Feller would pitch nine innings every game and throw it a hundred miles an hour. If they had the technology back then that they have today, I bet he would still hold the record for the fastest pitch.”
“Well, the manager’s the one that makes the call, and he went with the reliever.” My retorts were meted out as much to get the Ol’ Man going as they were to make a point. More so, actually. I loved to hear Dad analyze the game and tear into the field skippers for their decisions. His beloved Cleveland Indians (now called the Guardians for reasons of political correctness) won an astounding 111 games in 1954 but were swept in four straight by the New York Giants in the World Series. The Series is best known for Willie Mays catching Vic Wertz’ long drive over his shoulder in deep center field, his back turned towards home plate, but Dad blamed Al Lopez for the debacle, convinced the Cleveland manager mismanaged the best pitching staff in the game. “That damned Al Lopez,” Dad would mutter dejectedly, still shaking his head over five decades later.
My baseball buddy Curtis used to love when my parents came to Alaska for a visit because we would take him to Pete’s Tobacco Shop on 5th Avenue in Anchorage (now known as 5th Avenue Cigars), have a sandwich and some cigars and talk baseball. Curtis is a kind man, a true gentleman, but he was also a Navy SEAL, so he had a tweak streak in him. After a while, my friend would inevitably bring up the ’54 World Series just so he could hear my Dad go off on “that damned Al Lopez.” I couldn’t help laughing. Heck, I’m laughing as I’m writing about it.
Cigars and baseball. Two of the Ol’ Man’s favorite things. When we lived in the Bay Area and we had season tickets to the Oakland A’s in the late 1980s, we were fortunate to see some great baseball while sitting in our regular seats 20 rows up from first base. The A’s fielded some phenomenal teams in those days, representing the American League in the Fall Classic in 1988, 1989, and 1990. Dad and I watched a ton of games back in those days and, seeing as how smoking was still allowed in the ballpark back then, we would take turns bringing cigars to the game.
I believe it was in 1989, the year a big earthquake interrupted the World Series for ten days after the earth shook just before the start of Game Two in San Francisco, that set the stage for one of the greatest moments of my life.
Dad and I would be going to Game One, and he would be taking Mom to Game Two, so I called him during the day to ask where he wanted to meet. It was a good 45 minute to an hour drive from San Jose up to Oakland. I also wanted to remind him that it was my turn to bring the cigars and I had the situation well in hand.
“No, I got ‘em tonight,” Dad said with a tinge of glee in his voice.
“But, Dad, it’s my turn,” I argued.
“No, I got ‘em tonight. You bring them the next time.”
“Okay,” I said, knowing when Dad was determined to win an argument. We made arrangements to meet and make the drive up the bay to the Oakland Coliseum. It was a beautiful night. The game was getting ready to start, dusk was approaching, the air was electric with the first all Bay Area World Series.
“Here ya’ go, son,” Dad said to me as he handed over a hand rolled Cuban cigar. He saw my questioned look and said, “I was in Canada last week. You can buy Cuban cigars there.”
Never mind that Dad broke a few laws by importing banned substances from a foreign country. This was my first Cuban cigar. So, there I was, sitting at the World Series with my Dad, smoking one of the best cigars in the world while the sun descended, and millions of people wished they could be in our places. It remains one of the most cherished memories of my life. Time with my Dad. How blessed I was to have that man as my father.
Tim Barto is vice president of Alaska Policy Forum, past president of the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks baseball booster club, and proud to be his father’s son.
The Left’s plan for those who don’t subscribe to its ever-changing ideological orthodoxy hasn’t changed much since the days of Lenin. To dissent from the Left’s core dogmas is to lose your place in society.
Because that orthodoxy is ever evolving, no deeply held conviction is ever truly safe. One feminist group in New York recently discovered it the hard way when their event called “Canceled Women” was itself canceled by the New York Library. Every conviction, no matter how sincerely held, bears the risk of one day being cancelled by the Left.
Many who were reluctant to line up for injections last year (or who were simply reluctant to supply that information on demand) got a taste of this.
To one segment of society, religious objections didn’t matter. Moral objections—didn’t matter. Personal medical objections—didn’t matter.
The fact that you already possessed natural immunity and didn’t need it also didn’t matter.
Skepticism based on your own peer-reviewed research wasn’t considered a valid objection.
To the Left, individual rights, including conscience rights, are only to be respected when exercised in the furtherance of societal goals (the chief of which is always more power to the Left).
If you dissent from these societal goals, no matter how incoherent they may be, you will be marginalized. You will be ostracized. Even your livelihood will be considered fair game if the threat of losing it can be used to bring you (or your neighbor) to heel.
Your right to defend yourself in court won’t fare any better than your right to keep your job or honor your religious convictions.
Your right to vote, to be represented in government by someone who holds your same views, will likewise be forfeit if those views clash with the imposed dogma.
This is what awaits “deplorable,” non-woke Americans.
And remember, that dogma can turn on a dime. One day you are encouraged to dine out and hug a stranger to fight racism. The next you are told to lock down—but attending BLM protests is always ok.
Your measure as a citizen will be the extent to which you can accommodate yourself to the changing narrative. A citizen who does not comply (or can’t) will have no rights in this brave new world.
Ask me how I know this. For the last six years no one in the Alaska Legislature has dissented more strongly, or more consistently, from left-wing dogma than I have. I vote against woke nonsense every time it comes across my desk, and I don’t apologize. And with the state house under Democrat control for the last six years there has been a lot of woke nonsense.
I’ve stood against every attempt to inject race into state law, even when it meant standing alone. When Democrats sought to sideline Columbus Day for Indigenous People’s Day, I voted no. When there was a move to classify Vietnam Veterans based on race, I voted no. When a bill came forward to recognize some veterans, and ignore others, based on the color of their skin, I voted no.
Sometimes the ask is simply to look the other way and ratify the lie. When Democrats sought to memorialize Byron Mallott as a “noble” and “extraordinary leader”, a “visionary”, I was one of three legislators who voted no. I was accused of being a “racist” simply for voting no.
In the economy of the Left, dissent is an existential threat. It is interesting to watch how they have responded.
First there was talk of a recall, and then a public campaign by the PSL and the Democratic Party to have me expelled from office.
Now I am being sued by a left-wing law firm who wants to label me a subversive American and prevent the ballots in my race from counting.
While Alaskans focus their attention on next week’s elections, the Left has already launched an attack in court to make one election irrelevant, and to change entirely the way that future elections are conducted in Alaska.
The name of the case is Kowalke v. Eastman, and if you thought ranked-choice voting would upend Alaska elections, those behind this particular lawsuit want to make even bigger changes. Bill Walker’s former chief of staff, Scott Kendall, is supporting this effort as well. For those watching this train wreck about to happen, I have two words: Buckle up.
Up until now, the Alaska Division of Elections has been empowered to disqualify candidates only based on objective criteria; specifically, date of birth, citizenship, and length of residency. Court cases on these issues have been few and far between. They are fixing to change that.
This lawsuit asks the Division of Elections to begin disqualifying candidates based on the inherently subjective criteria of a candidate’s political allegiances (and the political groups they associate with). If you are saying to yourself that no judge would ever open that Pandora’s Box, the judge in this case just decided that the state now has a legal obligation to do exactly that.
The reason the Division of Elections has never done this before is sound, both legally and practically.
Legally, while there is a prohibition on subversives working in government, there is no prohibition against a candidate running for office who belongs to even the most disfavored political party. Under the Alaska Constitution, you can advocate for communism or monarchy as much and as strongly as you like and still have the opportunity to compete with other candidates for votes on Election Day (though I wouldn’t recommend it).
No matter who you are, you will of course have to come to terms with the Constitution and publicly acknowledge its supremacy before taking office.
Practically, it’s also a sticky wicket to have a state agency making decisions concerning anything as subjective as determining an individual’s political allegiances. No matter what the decision is, there is a good chance of it being appealed to the courts if the outcome of an election is at stake. Plus, any court battle will be taking place during an election campaign, which creates further incentives to tie up the other party’s candidate in court proceedings.
As the Department of Law pointed out, one especially troubling aspect of this case is that it opens the door to sue parties who have never violated a law. In this case, the judge has green-lighted the suit against both me and against the Division of Elections, even though neither of us have violated a law or been charged with a crime.
The complaint against me is that I won an election and am currently serving out my term. Likewise, as a candidate, I am not being sued for a campaign violation, but simply for the act of campaigning while engaged in wrongthink (demonstrated by my refusal to condemn a disfavored group that the January 6th Committee is now prosecuting…I mean investigating).
In another time and place, prosecutors might have first waited for an organization to begin actually proselytizing about the need to overthrow the government before accusing it of doing so and the media trying to label it as a subversive organization. Goodness knows, some of those who have been leading the effort to expel me for the past two years have been loud and proud about the fact that “Capitalism cannot be voted out of power” and that the only solution is to overthrow the government:
“Only a revolution can do away with the rule of the capitalists once and for all.” Source: PSL Official Website
“The standing army and police must be disbanded and replaced by the armed people, organized in workers’ defense councils.” Source: PSL Official Website
They even boasted about their effort to expel me on Communist News.
I hope you understand if I don’t readily accept the argument that, in order to save the Constitution, I must be removed from office for “supporting the violent overthrow of the government” when that argument is being made by individuals who are publicly committed to overthrowing that same Constitution through a violent revolution.
Maybe, just maybe, a more plausible explanation is that these these types of groups would like to see me removed from office because they would prefer the Constitution to be overthrown and, as someone loyal to that Constitution, I am one of the people currently standing in their way. Just maybe.
The truth is, if prosecutors had waited for the Oath Keepers to begin publicly proselytizing for the overthrow of the government, this case would never have gotten started because, unlike some of these other groups, the official Oath Keepers website and bylaws explicitly prohibit such advocacy, without exception. But sure, it makes for a good soundbite that a Republican legislator is committed to the violent overthrow of the government.
Another reason the Division of Elections is concerned about this case in particular is because the judge just discovered a hitherto unknown private right of action for anyone in Alaska to sue the Division of Elections, or any candidate or public officer, at any time over this.
How can you truly be a part-time legislator if even filing as a candidate for office opens you up to being sued at any time, deposed under oath by your political enemies, and instructed to turn over literally thousands of personal emails to the very people who are hoping to defeat you in the current election?
Many Alaskans will not pursue office under such circumstances. Who can blame them?
And that seems to be the idea. If the Left can use threats of lawsuits to keep some conservatives from running for office, and move elections like mine from the ballot box to the court room, that is fewer candidates they will need to run against on Election Day. Remember, the vision being pursued today is one where you, as a conservative, do not deserve to have someone carry your voice and your deplorable views into elected office.
At present, I am the only public official in court defending the results of my 2020 election, and the results of the recent August primary in the Mat-Su. You may be surprised to learn that there is no state agency tasked with defending your legislator if they are sued for simply serving in office.
Obviously, the outcome of this lawsuit will impact me personally. But if you think that those on the other side of this lawsuit will be satisfied with simply suing me, and that they wouldn’t love to turn around and use this suit as a springboard to sue other public officials and candidates, I believe you underestimate their resolve in silencing conservative voices.
I didn’t file this lawsuit, but I will ask for your help in putting an end to it. Help us close the door on those who would use the courts to go after candidates and public figures who have committed no crime. Help us do battle in the courtroom to prevent the Division of Elections from being weaponized against candidates based on their political convictions (either real, or imagined by their opponents).
I would ask you to visit www.DavidLegal.org and please give as generously as you can to enable us to fight against this rather brazen attempt to take an election out of the hands of Mat-Su voters and put it in the hands of a judge in Anchorage. Thank you.
One attorney the Jan. 6 Committee has been working overtime to destroy, John Eastman (no relation) will be assisting me on this case. In my next installment I will address the ongoing campaign to disbar conservative attorneys like John who have had the temerity to defend clients against assault by the Left.
David Eastman is a state representative for Wasilla, District 10.
Although Sen. Lisa Murkowski wishes it were not so, an election is the people’s performance review of the incumbent representing them. In her case, Murkowski has grown increasingly liberal over the past 21 years. She has become so much a part of the D.C. establishment that Alaskans can barely recognize her as the senator whose father appointed her to this seat two decades ago.
This year, we can choose a new direction and elect a senator who will stand with Alaska, our families who are being crushed, and our workers who are suffering. Or we can choose a senator who has been standing with Joe Biden, confirming his radical environmentalist nominees, and funding her own campaign nearly entirely with Lower 48 dark money.
Since Biden became president, Murkowski has been enabling his radical agenda every step of the way, even when it directly harmed Alaska. She cast the tie-breaking vote to advance the nomination of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, even though she knew Haaland was an environmental extremist who would wage war on Alaska workers, resource industries, and economy. Murkowski has voted for more than 90 percent of Biden’s senior administration nominees.
Murkowski also approved “Defund the Police” activist Vanita Gupta, now the Department of Justice official in charge of local law enforcement grants. Alaska’s rural law enforcement grants have dropped from 20 recipients down to 6. During the Obama administration, Murkowski also championed the confirmation of the federal judge who killed the Willow oil and natural gas project and the life-saving King Cove Road. These votes were clearly contrary to Alaska’s interests.
Murkowski says one thing in Alaska, while doing exactly the opposite in D.C. For instance, she ran ads claiming she supported the 2nd Amendment and warned that Biden “WANTS TO TAKE YOUR GUNS AWAY” in all capital letters. Meanwhile, she voted for Biden’s gun control and red flag laws.
Similarly, Murkowski promised big money from the “infrastructure bill” she wrote, but will likely never deliver new roads, bridges, or much infrastructure to Alaska, because as Sen. Sullivan acknowledged, the Biden administration is blocking infrastructure development with insurmountable regulations. In fact, Murkowski admitted this when she co-sponsored Sullivan’s bill to fix the problem.
What did we get from the infrastructure bill? More inflation.
Murkowski recently announced that she is pulling for Nancy Pelosi in Alaska’s House race by pledging support to the only candidate who would support Speaker Pelosi’s radical, leftist agenda. And Murkowski has been the beneficiary of millions of dollars in dark money ads full of lies about me, paid for by Republican Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, who knows he can control Murkowski’s vote if she’s re-elected.
Murkowski has donned the D.C. establishment jersey of Biden, Pelosi, and McConnell, while leaving Alaska with no goalie in net.
If she’s re-elected, she’s not in line for the chairmanship of any major committee, and we lost the chairmanship of the Energy committee two years ago. Why are Alaskans still paying the highest prices for energy if we had the chairmanship for 6 years? Why don’t we have any active major energy projects?
Why haven’t any rural communities seen a dollar of the $50 million Murkowski promised us from the Department of Justice?
Why don’t we yet have the millions of acres locked up by the Bureau of Land Management or promised to us by the federal government at statehood?
Why haven’t federal agencies been held accountable for blowing through their permitting deadlines by years, dearly costing our companies and workers?
Clearly, it’s time for a change. When I’m in the Senate, I will fight to protect jobs and the families and workers who depend on them. My parents were able to pull themselves into the middle class thanks to a job in the oil industry, and I understand what these opportunities mean for our future and our children.
I will only support constitutionalist nominees who will protect our rights and resource development. And I’m proud to have the NRA’s highest rating.
I will advocate for more access to mental health resources and affordable housing across the state, and I will support parents’ rights to be involved in their children’s education.
When I’m the next senator from Alaska, I will be a voice for the Alaskans who have felt forgotten and ignored – not Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell, or Lower 48 dark money. I won’t be bought or bullied by Washington, D.C.; I will fight for Alaska, and that will never change.
Kelly Tshibaka is a born-and-raised Alaskan and a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Alaska who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump and the Alaska Republican Party.
Voters of the Bristol Bay region have a cash incentive to get out and vote — a consortium of 15 tribes known as the United Tribes of Bristol Bay is offering $20,000 to communities in the region that have the highest turnout and most-improved turnout in the Nov. 8 election, compared with 2018. The money will either go to the village’s school or to the tribe to support cultural programming.
Although it has the appearance of vote-buying, the cash isn’t pertaining to voting for a particular candidate and the money doesn’t go directly to individuals. U.S. law makes it illegal to offer or “make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate,” or solicit, accept, or receive such an expenditure “in consideration of his vote or the withholding of his vote.” Violations of this law are subject to fine and imprisonment. State law is less clear.
The communities in the region, however, may be influenced by the prize enough to commit ballot harvesting or illegal voting. For some communities, such as Ekwok, with its registered voting base of 75, or Clark’s Point, with its 45 voters, could do very well, and the cash would likely just be passed through to families or individuals of the village as bonuses, with no oversight.
Such a cash-for-vote scheme is not unusual in rural Alaska. In 1994, the North Slope Borough reimbursed voters for 10 gallons of gasoline if they voted, but the judge said it wasn’t a violation of state election law to pay people to vote, even though the gas reimbursement was specified for Natives only. In addition, a postcard sent to Doyon Limited shareholders offered entry into a $1,0000 cash prize drawing to those who submitted proof of voting, and the postcard mentioned that the Alaska Federation of Natives overwhelmingly endorsed Democrat Tony Knowles for governor.
A complaint was filed that year over those actions but was dismissed by the judge after the election was over and Knowles had eeked out a win. The difference between Knowles’ votes, 87,693, and Republican Jim Campbell’s votes, 87,157, was 536 votes. Jack Coghill of the Alaskan Independence Party was the spoiler that year for Republicans, getting 39,331 votes and handing Knowles the win.
United Tribes of Bristol Bay is a Tribal consortium of 15 federally recognized Tribes in Bristol Bay, representing over 80 percent of the region’s population.
“Bristol Bay Tribes founded UTBB in 2013 after recognizing the need for a united voice in our longtime efforts to protect our way of life,” the group explains on its website. UTBB works in partnership with the Native American Rights Fund, a nonprofit firm that defends the rights of tribes and Native Americans nationwide.
The United Tribes of Bristol Bay members include: Togiak Traditional Council, Twin Hills Village Council, Manokotak Village Council, Curyung Tribal Council, Ekuk Village Council, Clark’s Point Village Council, Aleknagik Traditional Council, Portage Creek Village Council, New Stuyahok Traditional Council, New Koliganek Village Council, Levelock Village Council, Nondalton Village Council, Pilot Point Tribal Council, Pedro Bay Village Council and Chignik Lake Tribal Council.
A campaign mailer pointing out the weakness of House candidate Justin Ruffridge, who is running against Republican Rep. Ron Gillham for District 7, goes for the throat.
The mailer, from Alaska Family Action, reminds voters of the controversy that Ruffridge, who serves on the Soldotna City Council, refused to tackle last summer, when Anchorage drag queens took over a public park in the city and put on a show for children, wagging their naked-appearing butts at the numerous children invited to the sexually charged performance.
The mailer takes a shot at Ruffridge for his inaction as a council member and his apparent disinterest in the topic of drag queen performances for children; the incident created a huge uproar in Soldotna from parents and pastors who were shocked that the city would allow burlesque shows to target children in the community.
Pictured on the mailer is the cheerful face of the candidate, with a big lipstick smooch photoshopped on his cheek, and there’s a picture of the show itself, and a grotesque depiction of a drag queen smiling at the camera, creepily.
Incumbent Gillham and challenger Ruffridge are running for what used to be known as District 30, representing Kenai and Soldotna.
While Gillham is a conservative, Ruffridge is viewed as a liberal or moderate in the vein of former late Rep. Gary Knopp, but the district he is running in is one of the most conservative in the state. He raised the ire of some voters when he voted in favor of mask mandates in Soldotna in 2021 and irritated other voters by his vote on the Board of Pharmacy to make it difficult for Covid patients to get their Ivermectin prescriptions filled. He is a pharmacist who opposes the use of Ivermectin to treat Covid symptoms, even if it is prescribed by a physician or nurse practitioner.
