Gov. Mike Dunleavy and a disaster response team returned from a four-day survey of numerous towns and villages in Western Alaska, where he has deployed over 120 personnel from the National Guard, Alaska State Defense Force, and Alaska Naval Militia Alaska to assist with materials for immediate emergency temporary residential repair and storm debris cleanup, including clearing public areas and assisting private residences. The 120 are in addition to specialists from the State of Alaska departments.
So far it appears three homes were destroyed, another 19 have major damage and three have minor damage.
The governor, Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson and Military and Veterans Affairs Commissioner Torrence Saxe met with local incident commanders to ensure the state is responding to all the needs of communities after the storm that hit the weekend of Sept. 17.
FEMA employees were already in the state before the storm hit, as they had flown north for disaster-related exercises with the Division of Emergency Management.
By Sept. 14, the National Weather Service started warning the state about the monster storm. FEMA employees stayed in Alaska and helped state officials with the process of notifying the communities that were in the path of the storm.
Dunleavy declared a state disaster on Sept. 17, the day the storm made landfall, and requested a federal disaster declaration on Sept. 21. President Joe Biden has yet to respond to the state’s request; his daily schedule has him focused on meetings with the Democratic National Committee and a celebration of singer Elton John.
In a similar storm in 2011, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell declared a disaster on Nov. 5 and submitted a federal disaster declaration request on Nov. 12, approximately the same time frame. That disaster status was granted by President Barack Obama in late December of that year.
With a state disaster declaration, however, the state can proceed with making repairs to local infrastructure and ensuring shelter, food, and water for people in impacted areas. The State can dip into the legislatively pre-funded state disaster funds, and then hope the federal government will come in with funds to help and to restore the expenditure. The State of Alaska has a close working relationship with Region 10 FEMA and the head of FEMA was set to tour Western Alaska on Friday.
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is working on reports of local contaminant spills and water/wastewater issues in Branch I and II, the south and middle parts of the west coast of Alaska. DEC is evaluating community water systems in the storm impact area and is publishing boil water notices as appropriate. DEC has deployed a representative to the Anchorage-based USCG Incident Command Post on Thursday to coordinate assessment and clean-up efforts.
United States Coast Guard continues to survey environmental impacts in the storm area and has a ready response for search and rescue. The storm impacts have not impacted west coast communities from receiving bulk fuel deliveries with over-the-shore “soft hose” delivery available when a coastal fuel header is inoperable.
Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys is in the storm impact area collecting high-water marks to record and calibrate the storm’s historical impact. The National Weather Service is these findings to adjust forecasting for impacted communities due to seawall and sea barrier damages.
All airports in the region have been reopened by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, which is working to repair roads and state facilities. Crews continue to assess roads across the impacted area, and have started drone surveys in several communities. Crews are also assisting local jurisdictions with repairs as possible.
Most of the power has been restored in Golovin and Hooper Bay, towns that were hard hit by the storm. The tanks that had tipped over in Newtok were empty. In Chevak, the Coast Guard reported approximately 1,000 gallons of fuel/oil containers strewn over about a mile of river shoreline. An oil sheen was observed and DEC is deploying to join the USCG.
United States Army Corps of Engineers has checked the Port in Nome and found no issues. Engineers are evaluating the Nome Seawall and Shismaref Bank Protection projects. The Nome Harbor Causeway Bridge has been deemed safe for passenger traffic, but some damage was observed to the rock breakwaters and the entrance channel is shoaled on the west side.
Kivalina’s revetment wall was evaluated and sustained damage to the south end. The Army Corps has 3 personnel in Nome en route to Shishmaref pending good weather and has contracted a survey team to visit St. Paul Harbor on Monday.
On Thursday, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Jack McKenna said the trial against Rep. David Eastman’s eligibility to hold office must go on. The judge indicated he thinks Eastman is disqualified from serving because he belongs to the a group called the Oath Keepers. By extension, Oath Keepers is being put on trial as a group dedicated to overthrowing the government.
On Dec. 12, the case against Eastman and Oath Keepers, will be heard in Anchorage. McKenna ruled that whatever the outcome of the Nov. 8 election, if Eastman wins he can’t be seated if the jury agrees with the judge. It’s the kind of case that most likely will be appealed to a higher court, and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court, over freedom of association and free speech issues. The matter could take months or years.
Oath Keepers is a social organization that the mainstream media and groups such as Southern Poverty Law Center describe as a “far-right anti-government militia whose members claim to be defending the Constitution of the United States.”
The group has as many as 35,000 members who are primarily those who have already, in their capacity as a sworn officer, taken an oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution. Founded in 2009 by former Army paratrooper Elmer Stewart Rhodes, some of its members were present at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the date that the mainstream media and Democrats say there was an insurrection against the government.
The federal trial for seditious conspiracy against Rhodes and four other members of the Oath Keepers who have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 incursion into the U.S. Capitol will go forward on Sept. 27, and is expected to last six weeks, but will more likely last months, as appeals are filed.
Rep. Eastman was at the U.S. Capitol on that Jan. 6, along with tens of thousands of Americans. Like all but about 100-200 of them, he just stood around outside and waved flags with his friends. He never went inside the Capitol. But it’s his membership in the Oath Keepers that opponents say is what disqualifies him from holding elected office in Alaska, as they say it violates the U.S. Constitution.
Eastman last took an oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution on Jan. 19, 2021, two weeks after the Jan. 6, so-called insurrection. That was after his most recent reelection to the Alaska State House.
Around the country, Oath Keepers serve in public office, as police officers, and in other capacities.
The question that Judge McKenna says is legitimate for trial is whether Eastman’s membership in Oath Keepers itself is a violation of the Alaska State Constitution, which says that if you advocate the overthrow of the government, you can’t serve in the Alaska Legislature. His evidence seems to be the descriptions given by far-left organizations and the mainstream media. And the experts brought in by the plaintiffs, including Randall Kowalke of Wasilla, who last ran for office against Republican Sen. Mike Shower.
Kowale has brought in two university-related terrorism experts to support his case that Eastman is part of Oath Keepers, and that Oath Keepers is a government overthrow group.
Oath Keepers doesn’t appear to have a website and doesn’t appear to be active as of this writing.
Ethan Schutt is the new chair of the Alaska Permanent Fund Board of Trustees. Schutt takes over for Craig Richards, who has chaired the board for the past two years. Richards, who has served since 2019 as chair, made the motion to elect Schutt as the new chair. Richards remains on the board of trustees.
Raised by public school teachers in the Eastern Interior highway town of Tok, Schutt spent two decades in roles of public service and executive management in Alaska.
After graduating from Washington State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and then from Stanford Law School with a Juris Doctorate, he worked for Alaska Supreme Court Justice Walter “Bud” Carpeneti in Juneau.
He worked for a law firm in Anchorage and as general counsel for Tanana Chiefs Conference in Fairbanks before returning to Anchorage in 2005 to work for Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI). Schutt spent 13 years as an executive with CIRI and a decade leading and overseeing its energy investment portfolio and the development of several projects including the Fire Island Wind Project.
He was also responsible for the land management of CIRI’s approximately 1.5 million acres of land in the Cook Inlet which included substantial oil and gas leasing. Schutt then worked in several leadership roles with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. Schutt is currently Executive Vice President & General Counsel for Bristol Bay Native Corporation, where he leads legal, compliance, and records management.
Schutt was appointed in 2020 to a four-year public seat by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Schutt was voted in as chair at the 2022 Annual meeting that concluded Thursday.
Steve Reiger remains vice chair, as he has been since 2020. Rieger grew up in Palmer, Alaska, and received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard College, and his Masters in Business Administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He later returned to Alaska, competed in the 1983 Iditarod Sled Dog Race, and was elected to the Alaska State House of Representatives in 1984, where he served six years. In 1992, Rieger was elected to the Alaska State Senate, where he served four years. He currently serves on the Alaska Community Foundation Investment Committee, and as chairman of the Municipality of Anchorage Salaries and Emoluments Commission.
Trustee Rieger was reappointed to the Board of Trustees by Governor Dunleavy in 2020 to fill the vacancy left by the passing of Trustee Brady. He previously served as a Trustee from 2009-2013. Trustee Rieger served as Vice-Chair from 2020-2021, and 2022 to present.
The schools in the Mat-Su will have one minute of silence at the beginning of each day. On a vote of five to one, the Mat-Su School Board enacted a school district policy on Wednesday, one that has students and teachers observing 60 seconds of silence each school day.
That time is the opportunity to pray. Or students may think about the last lesson in Marxist ideology that was presented in their history class the day before, or which version of LGBTQ a student wants to identify as on that particular day. Students can use the time to memorize their times tables or think about who to ask to prom. Or they can just take a moment to enjoy silence, which has its own important lessons, according to many educators.
One member of the school board voted no: Dwight Probasco said it’s just one more thing teachers have to do. And, he said, moments of silence should be reserved for death.
The resolution was introduced by School Board President Ryan Ponder at a recent meeting. Other than member Probasco objecting, there was little negative response from the public. In fact, the most forceful response came from the Anchorage Daily News, which called the minute of silence “compulsory” and reported that some students will have a hard time sitting still for one minute.
Teachers in the Mat-Su are prohibited from suggesting to students how they use that minute of silence and may not encourage prayer or no prayer.
In Florida in 2021, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law that have schools across the state holding a daily moment of silence for at least one minute, and up to two minutes. The legislation that made its way through the Florida legislature said, “The Legislature finds that our youth, and society as a whole, would be well served if students in the public schools were afforded a moment of silence at the beginning of each school day.”
During the debate over that state law, atheist organizations spoke out against the bill, saying it was a way of sneaking prayer into schools.
An election data analyst who writes a Substack blog on election science describes Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, implemented for the first time this year, as an example of what not to do, because the person who got the most votes — Nick Begich — did not win election to Congress on Aug. 16. Instead, Mary Pelota won, the person who got the second-most combined votes.
The writer, who uses the pseudonym Draper, wrote that this is called the “Condorcet failure,” one of the big problems with ranked choice voting, also called instant run-off voting. For Alaska, it’s an election system failure that advanced a Democrat into Congress, even though voters clearly preferred a Republican, 60 to 40.
Begich was the person who got the most votes by a significant margin, with all first, second, and third votes combined, but that wasn’t enough in the Alaska system of voting.
He would also have defeated Sarah Palin in a head-to-head, and he would have won against Mary Peltola in a head-to-head, the data shows. Instead Peltola was the winner.
“This paradox is known in fancy-speak as ‘Condorcet Failure,’ (named after an 18th-century French mathematician),” Draper wrote. “Electing the Condorcet (or consensus) winner is a hallmark of a ‘good’ election method. IRV (instant run-off voting) failed this test in Alaska.”
To be specific, Begich defeated Palin with 101,229 vs. 63,619 preferential votes; he also defeated Peltola with 87,883 vs. 79,458 votes, Draper wrote.
But that’s only part of the math. Draper points out a more difficult concept to understand: If Mary Peltola would have gotten 5,163 more votes, she would have actually lost.
“This ‘More is Less’ IRV pathology has been known for decades and it is beyond the pale that it alone hasn’t stopped the push for more IRV adoption. Similar defect(s) showed up in Moab, UT (documented here),” Draper wrote.
In addition, Palin was the spoiler in the race, he said. Although ranked choice voting proponents say there is no “spoiler effect,” Draper said that if Palin had dropped out, Begich would have won, and that is the definition of a spoiler.
Finally, Peltola failed to win the true majority.
Peltola won with 91,266 votes out of 189,112 votes cast, which means Peltola was actually 3,026 votes short of a true majority.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, on the Senate floor, condemned President Joe Biden for his policies that weaken America’s military and distract from the military’s core mission of lethality.
Sullivan said Biden has continually proposed cuts to the defense budget, while American soldiers are being advised to use food stamps. Biden politicized America’s armed forces by ordering Marines to stand as props in a partisan speech in Philadelphia.
Sullivan also criticized Biden for breaking precedent and firing appointees to the nation’s military academy boards, and establishing an unnecessary committee in the Pentagon to search out extremism.
On the 5% cuts to the military, Sullivan said, “We’ve had a war in Ukraine. We’ve had the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of Defense testify in front of the Armed Services Committee that we’re probably seeing the most dangerous time globally in any time in the last 40 years. So what about the Biden budget this year? Mr. President, he did it again. This is actually [the] EPA, a 25% increase. . . You get down to the Department of Defense with now the nine percent Bidenflation. We’re talking a five percent real cut to our military. So that is not prioritizing our military.”
On the Army advising soldiers to go on food stamps, Sullivan said, “Mr. President, you’re starting to see how this inflation and other things are really impacting our troops. The Army last week in an article suggested that the American military members who are having trouble meeting ends meet because of high levels of inflation should go on food stamps.
“Yeah you heard that correct: We’re gonna give the EPA a 25% raise. We’re gonna cut defense spending by a five percent real cut, and if you’re a soldier struggling because of high inflation to actually put food on the table, you can go get food stamps. That’s the perfect example of not prioritizing our military. . . But the President finds it absolutely essential to forgive $560 billion dollars in student loan debt just a couple of weeks ago? Who are the preponderance of Americans that will benefit from that lawless bailout? High-earning Americans, the elite White House staffers certainly. They’re going to get a half-a-trillion dollar bailout and our troops are being told to go on food stamps. This should shock every single American.”
Regarding using the military as stage props, Sullivan it was unwise for any president “to give the kind of partisan speech that President Biden gave on September 1 in Philadelphia, in which he vilified millions, tens of millions of his fellow Americans who don’t agree with his administration’s policies. Some of you may have seen that speech. The President told the country that many of his fellow Americans, all of whom are Republican, don’t ‘respect the Constitution’ ‘are destroying American democracy. . .
“He did all this, a clearly partisan speech, while being flanked by two active duty Marines as his political props.
“Look at that. In my view, a sickening abuse of authority from a commander in chief who’s never served in the military. I think he got five Vietnam deferments and knows nothing about the Marine Corps’ ethos of honor, courage, commitment. . .
“The presence of these Marines was meant to politicize the president’s speech and politically benefit from the honor and respect the few and the proud have earned in the hearts of Americans over decades, over millennium. This should disturb every single American, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican. This was just wrong.”
“When President Biden came into office, he looked at West Point, Annapolis, the Air Force Academy, and somebody said to him, you know what Mr. President, let’s fire all the Trump appointees, let’s fire them right now, all 18 of them, to clearly politicize the service academies of America. So that’s what they did. Something that had never been done before by any president in the history of the country and they did it regardless of the qualifications of the current members serving on these boards.
“Let me give you some examples: Retired Army Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster was fired off the West Point board. Ironically, the same day he was fired by President Biden’s White House, he was honored by the West Point Association of graduates as the distinguished graduate of the year of West Point. So one president fires him and West Point gives them a great honor. General Jack Keane, a former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army fired from the West Point Board. Retired Army Colonel Douglas MacGregor an Afghanistan war veteran, clinical psychologist Meaghan Mobbs, a Bronze Star recipient, businessman David Urban, and a retired Army Lieutenant General, Guy Swan.
“18 qualified people, all fired. The politicization of the service academies of America was undertaken by this administration. First president, first White House ever to do it – all fired by Joe Biden and not allowed to fill their terms.”
His speech in full:
Mr. President, there’s been much made in the Biden administration about the value of diversity, and I agree that having diversity in any organization, it’s positive. You get different viewpoints, but diversity encompasses much more than race or gender or religious orientation. Those are all important. Diversity actually means having people around you with varied experiences. And as I mentioned, in my mind that’s certainly important, but it’s particularly important in the Oval Office. It’s particularly important in the White House. It’s particularly important in the leadership of our federal government. Let’s take the example of military experience in this administration. You think that the Biden administration would think it’s important to have members in his cabinet or senior White House officials who have served in the military. After all, he’s the Commander-in-Chief, very important part of his responsibilities, but in fact, Mr. President, virtually no one in this administration, with the exception of Secretary Austin at the highest levels, cabinet officials, senior White House officials have any significant military experience at all. Why does this matter? The President doesn’t have it of course, the secretary of the V.A., chief of staff, national security adviser – just go down the list.
Nobody has any experience. In the federal government of the United States. Why does this matter? It matters, Mr. President because it’s obvious by the people this President surrounds himself, the people who are giving him advice on big decisions for America that this president doesn’t prioritize military, our national defense, and our troops and their families. And this manifests itself in many, many ways.
First, most importantly, it matters in how we fund our national defense. Now, I was on the floor last week, speaking about this very topic. This is President Biden’s first budget. If you can see this here, that he proposed, it has the increases to every federal agency. This is a multi-trillion dollar budget and it says this is what we’re prioritizing in the Biden administration. And you see heck, double-digit, that’s education, commerce, E.P.A over 20%, interior over 15%, on and on and on, all the green. Just a massive expansion of federal agencies, except two agencies: Department of Defense and Homeland Security. The two agencies that actually protect Americans.
If you look for this line of inflation, which when the Biden administration put out their budget last year was about 4.5%. These are actual inflation-adjusted real cuts by about two to three percent to our military. That was the Biden budget, not prioritizing our troops, our national security at all. My view is that’s the number one job of this government. Not the President’s view, not his team’s view.
Okay, so in the interim, that was last year’s budget. We’ve had a war in Ukraine. We’ve had the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary Defense testify in front of the Armed Services Committee that we’re probably seeing the most dangerous time globally in any time in the last 40 years.
So what about the Biden budget this year? Mr. President, he did it again. This is actually EPA, a 25% increase, wow okay, but here we go, all the big double-digit increases. You get down to the Department of Defense with now the nine percent Bidenflation. We’re talking a five percent real cut to our military. So that is not prioritizing our military.
And Mr. President, you’re starting to see how this inflation and other things are really impacting our troops. The Army last week in an article suggested that the American military members who are having trouble meeting ends meet because of high levels of inflation should go on food stamps.
Yeah you heard that correct: We’re gonna give the EPA a 25% raise. We’re gonna cut defense spending by a five percent real cut, and if you’re a soldier struggling because of high inflation to actually put food on the table, you can go get food stamps. That’s the perfect example of not prioritizing our military and I want to unpack this further, Mr. President.
The Army is saying that our troops don’t have enough food to eat – they should look at going on food stamps. But the President finds it absolutely essential to forgive $560 billion dollars in student loan debt just a couple of weeks ago.
Who are the preponderance of Americans that will benefit from that lawless bailout? High-earning Americans, the elite White House staffers certainly. They’re going to get a half a trillion dollar bailout and our troops are being told to go on food stamps. This should shock every single American.
So we know the President and his team don’t prioritize the military. Look at these budgets for our troops or our national security, but that doesn’t mean they don’t find the military useful.
Now. Mr. President, I’m gonna put up a picture of a recent speech that I will tell you, every time I look at it, my blood boils and so should every American’s blood boil.
It’s this picture. Now, Mr. President, every president gives partisan speeches. Now, I don’t think it’s wise for every president to give the kind of partisan speech that President Biden gave on September 1 in Philadelphia, in which he vilified millions, tens of millions of his fellow Americans who don’t agree with his administration’s policies. Some of you may have seen that speech. The President told the country that many of his fellow Americans, all of whom are Republican, don’t “respect the Constitution” “are destroying American democracy.”
He gave this speech against a blood-red backdrop fists clenched. Look at him, yelling that millions of his fellow Americans embrace anger while he embraced anger in his speech and chaos. This President who continually issues lawless executive orders like shutting down ANWR in my state, his half a trillion dollar student loan bailout, then says that Republicans are quote against the rule of law. He went on and on, the insults, very partisan, somewhat deranged, attacking tens of millions of his fellow Americans.
Now look, Presidents do that. I don’t think it’s a good idea. But here’s the thing about this speech, Mr. President. To make matters worse. Look at this. He did all this, a clearly partisan speech, while being flanked by two active duty Marines as his political props.
Look at that. In my view, a sickening abuse of authority from a commander in chief who’s never served in the military. I think he got five Vietnam deferments and knows nothing about the Marine Corps’ ethos of honor, courage, commitment.
Remember, when General Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and was Chairman under President Trump as well, released a video where he apologized for standing beside the President, then President Trump, when that could have been perceived as political. This is what General Milley said: “I should have not been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military being involved in domestic politics.”
I thought that was a good speech by General Milley. He made a mistake. He apologized and that was the right thing to do. Mr. President. This is much worse. This is much worse, these Marines, unlike General Milley, they’re being ordered to stand next to the President of the United States while he rants against millions of his own fellow Americans and the President certainly didn’t apologize for this speech.
In fact, when criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for the politicization of the military with these Marines propped up next to him, the Biden administration actually doubled down in terms of their use of these two active duty Marines as political props in a very partisan speech. Here’s what the spokesperson at the White House said, “the presence of the Marines at that speech was intended to demonstrate the deep abiding respect the President has for these service members to the ideals in the unique role of our independent military plays in defending our democracy no matter who is in power.”
This is Orwellian doublespeak. What a bunch of nonsense. Here’s the fact, Mr. President. The presence of these Marines was meant to politicize the President’s speech and politically benefit from the honor and respect the few and the proud have earned in the hearts of Americans over decades, over millennium. This should disturb every single American, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican. This was just wrong.
Let me provide another example of the politicization of our military by the Biden administration. Now, this is something hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, some people like hey, it wasn’t really a big deal. I actually think it was a big deal.
We have some of the best service academies in the world. They are the best in the world, the U.S. Naval Academy, West Point, Air Force Academy, Coast Guard Academy. Each of our military services’ academies has board members, some of whom are appointed by the President of the United States for three-year terms. Now I am honored to serve on the U. S. Naval Academy Board. I was appointed as a member of the Armed Services Committee.
Here’s the tradition in our country that every single president has abided by when they come into office: They let the board members finish out their terms. So for example, when President Trump was elected, the Obama administration officials who are President Obama’s appointees, finished out their terms on the Naval Academy board, The West Point Board, the Air Force Academy Board. That’s what we do. The point is not to politicize the service academies. That has always been the tradition. Every single president except for Joe Biden.
When President Biden came into office, he looked at West Point, Annapolis, the Air Force Academy, and somebody said to him, you know what Mr. President, let’s fire all the Trump appointees, let’s fire them right now, all 18 of them, to clearly politicize the service academies of America. So that’s what they did. Something that had never been done before by any president in the history of the country and they did it regardless of the qualifications of the current members serving on these boards.
Let me give you some examples. Retired Army Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster was fired off the West Point board ironically the same day he was fired by President Biden’s White House, he was honored by the West Point Association of graduates as the distinguished graduate of the year of West Point. So one president fires him and West Point gives them a great honor. General Jack Keane, a former Vice Chief of staff of the Army fired from the West Point Board. Retired Army Colonel Douglas MacGregor an Afghanistan war veteran, clinical psychologist Meaghan Mobbs, a Bronze Star recipient, and businessman David Urban, a retired Army Lieutenant General, Guy Swan.
18 qualified people, all fired. The politicization of the service academies of America was undertaken by this administration. First president, first White House ever to do it – all fired by Joe Biden and not allowed to fill their terms.
And of course, Mr. President, the Biden administration loves to use our military to push other agendas that have nothing to do with lethality in winning our nation’s wars. Many, many examples. Let me give you just a couple from the beginning, issuing executive orders, not focused on how we have a stronger military but using taxpayer dollars to establish a committee within the Pentagon to do what ended up being witch hunts on so-called extremists in the military, of which, when they came back with their report, they said they had actions of .005%.
They also issued executive orders to use taxpayer dollars to mandate transgender transition surgeries for active duty soldiers. Importantly, they become non deployable when that happens.
So, Mr. President, back to my original point. No one in senior positions in the White House or the cabinet with the exception of Secretary Austin has significant military experience. And on so many of these issues there’s no adult in the room.
Think about these White House conversations where they’re talking about, hey, let’s cut the Defense budget and will grow the E.P.A. by 25%. That’s a great idea, Mr. President. Let’s make sure we give a partisan speech at Independence Hall and oh yeah, let’s grab a couple of active duty Marines and stand right next to the President as his props. That’s a great idea, Mr. President. Let’s come in and politicize the service academies and fire all the Trump administration appointees, even American heroes like H. R. McMaster, General Keane, despite the fact that no president had ever done that before. Great idea, Mr. President.
This is really problematic what we’re seeing right now in that lack of prioritization extends here in the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, as it relates to our military, as we know with regard to Defense budget cuts.
In the 2020 NDAA, we had a debate right here on the Senate floor, where my colleague, the junior senator from Vermont proposed an amendment to dramatically cut our military – almost by 15% across the board cuts. He even actually wrote an op-ed in Politico, remember this is when the Democrats were pushing defund the police.
Here’s the op-ed. It actually is called “Defund the Pentagon: the Liberal Case.” I’d like to submit this for the record. The junior Senator from Vermont wrote that. The Majority Leader put out a tweet saying he was a proud supporter of the defund the Pentagon amendment. That’s right here on the Senate floor.
And of course, Mr. President, there’s the National Defense Authorization Act, The number one bill that focuses on national defense for our nation, that passed out of committee, the Armed Services Committee in June, in a very strong bipartisan vote, 23-3, passed the House in July, will have pay raises for our troops so the Army doesn’t have to tell them to go line up for food stamps because they’re hungry and we need to bring it to the floor right here.
So what are we doing? As far as I can tell, the Majority Leader doesn’t want to bring up the Defense Authorization Act until December. That’s why I joined a letter led by Senator Tuberville who I serve on the Armed Services Committee with, signed by twenty of my colleagues to say to the majority leader, Mr. Majority Leader, we have a dangerous world right now. Bring the NDAA to the floor. It’s gonna pass. It’s got great support. By the way, Mr. President. I know that Democrat senators feel this way too on this topic.
So we need to get this body back to what’s important for our country, bolstering our economy, fighting inflation, bringing down energy costs, unleashing American energy, and definitely passing the legislation that funds our military that provides pay raises for our troops during this very dangerous time.
So I ask the Majority Leader to bring the NDAA to the floor. We need it, and I call on the President and his administration, the President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief, to truly prioritize our military and their families. And that begins with putting an end to using them in a disgraceful way as political props for your partisan agenda. I yield the floor.
The Anchorage Assembly majority has a plan: Reclaim the Sullivan Arena for housing the homeless and put homeless in the Golden Lion Hotel near the preschool run by the Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska, which has objected to the plan of putting homeless people near children.
The Assembly backroom deals to create a large and spread-out homeless industrial complex is evident in its latest proposal:
Increase of capacity at Brother Francis Shelter of 20 individuals
Increase of capacity at Covenant House of 25 individuals
Semi-congregate sheltering at Bean’s Café of 40 individuals
Non-congregate use of the former Golden Lion as housing of 120 individuals
Congregate sheltering at the Sullivan Arena of 150 individuals
This Assembly leftist majority will have the plans available for the public by Friday, and has scheduled a special meeting for Monday from 6-8 pm in the Assembly Chambers, when the majority has pre-arranged to have the votes to pass the plan. Go to www.muni.org/Assembly for the agenda and meeting information.
“I look forward to the Assembly approving this plan on Monday. After that, it will be up to the Mayor to officially sign off on and quickly implement the plan. I was glad to see representation from the Administration at today’s meeting. They said loud and clear that they want to hear from the public before making final decisions, so I encourage people to review our plan and give your feedback to the Mayor before next Monday’s meeting,” said Assemblyman Felix Rivera in a letter.
Mayor Dave Bronson said he awaits to hear from the public about the plan the Assembly has devised.
But Reclaim Midtown, a group of neighbors in Anchorage, says the Assembly promised in 2020 that the Golden Lion would never be used as a homeless shelter. Reclaim Midtown produced a letter from Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel, who wrote that the hotel, purchased by Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, was only for drug rehabilitation and that information being spread that said otherwise was inaccurate:
In 2020, Zaletel also wrote, “Felix and I have an amendment that would prevent this facility from ever being used as a homeless shelter while owned by the municipality.”
The missing portion of a recording of the Sept. 13 Anchorage Assembly meeting has evidently been found and restored to the public record.
Late on the night of Sept. 13, the final two public participants in the Assembly meeting were people who had stayed through the several-hour meeting to give final public testimony. Each was allotted three minutes. For reasons explained as “technical glitches,” those remarks were edited out of the YouTube. Must Read Alaska was able to contact one of the testifiers and get a fairly close transcript of her comments, which were critical of the Assembly.
On Sept 21, that section of the recording suddenly reappeared on the Assembly’s YouTube channel without explanation. However, the prior meeting recording, which was over 5 hours and 45 minutes, is now edited down to 5 hours and 7 minutes, with no explanation as to what other portions of the meeting were edited out. At least the final comments from the public, and the final comments from Assembly members have been restored.
The Assembly does not broadcast all of its meetings. Whenever there is something that occurs out of order, such as an “actual disturbance,” as defined by the chair, Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance has the recording stopped so the public cannot see what is going on in the Assembly Chambers. The recording, which is broadcast live on YouTube, is reposted the morning after the meeting, but members of the public have become critical that some portions of the meeting appear to have been edited out.
We may never be able to quantify how much Kelly Tshibaka’s first-name campaign has benefitted Buzz Kelley and Kelly Merrick. However, the difference in ideology between the Kelly running for US Senate and the one running for State Senate from Chugiak/Eagle River is verifiable.
Kelly Tshibaka is a true conservative, supporting limited government, personal liberties, Christian values, and Alaska- and America-first principles.
Kelly Merrick, on the other hand, has been censured twice by the Republican Party as her most noticeable accomplishment in the Alaska House was earning co-chair of the finance committee by joining the Democrat Caucus and betraying her Republican base.
As candidates for the State Senate, District L primary against Kelly Merrick, Joe Wright and I have subsequently dropped out of the race in part because we want to give Alaska Rep. Ken McCarty a greater chance to beat the “Other Kelly” — Kelly Merrick.
The “Other Kelly” single-handedly gave the leadership of the Alaska House to the Democrats in exchange for a chairmanship. She caucused with the Democrats and honestly should have a D after her name.
She voted against the full PFD, but took credit for the $3300 PFD this year.
Kelly Merrick has been censured by the Republican Party because she sold out. She went against her campaign promise and joined the Democrat caucus, and thereby handed the control of the state house of representatives to the Democrats when there existed a Republican majority.
Kelly Merrick is funded by unions who are gaining access to the legislature though her. Free-enterprise is a Chugiak/Eagle river ethic! “The Other Kelly” with her union boss husband represents union control.
Kelly Merrick needs to be defeated because she betrayed our trust and does not reflect the conservative values of Chugiak/Eagle River.
The “Other Kelly,” Kelly Merrick, should not be confused with the dedicated conservative Kelly Tshibaka who is focused on doing what is right for the nation.
Vote and support Ken McCarty for State Senate District L, and Kelly Tshibaka for US Senate, but say “no” to the “Other Kelly’s” liberal values.
Voters have a real opportunity to change the future of Alaska by electing Kelly Tshibaka as US Senator and Ken McCarty as State Senator. They will bring the values of faith, family, and freedom to our government for Alaska’s future.
Clayton Trotter is a former candidate for Alaska Senate.
