Page 909 – Must Read Alaska

MIA: Josh Revak avoids Juneau job to campaign in D.C., Anchorage, Eagle River

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April 7, 2022

MIA: Josh Revak avoids Juneau job to campaign in D.C., Anchorage, Eagle River

Alaska Sen. Josh Revak has barely been seen in Juneau since the death of Congressman Don Young. He showed up once to make comments on Senate floor in memory of Congressman Young. But since then, Senate President Peter Micciche has been chairing Revak’s Natural Resources Committee, and at times Micciche can barely cobble together a quorum to conduct business.

Meanwhile, Revak is campaigning for U.S. Congress. He campaigned in Washington, D.C. before and after the services for Young, who died March 18. Earlier this week he met with a group of Republican businessmen who are members of the Founders Club, a group that donates large sums to the Alaska Republican Party.

Then on Wednesday night, he and his legislative aide appeared at Eagle River District 22 Republicans’ meeting to answer questions about where he stands on the issues. Eagle River is far from his south hillside Anchorage district. That district has already endorsed Nick Begich for Congress.

Revak is pulling in a state paycheck for being a senator while campaigning for federal office, said some in Juneau’s Capitol. He’s using his professional state-paid staff to attend campaign meetings with him. Senators make a base pay of $50,400 per year, plus per diem when the Legislature is in session. Senators make about $35,400 in per diem for a 121-day session.

“We’re trying to figure out the budget, the PFD, and the sustainability of it, and a lot of senators are frustrated that Revak is MIA,” said one senator.

The Senate attendance has been challenged because several are out sick. Sens. Tom Begich and Rob Myer have both been out with Covid, and Sens. Donny Olson and Natasha Von Imhof have been missing a lot this session.

Revak is trying to raise money for his campaign, so the question is: Is he raising it for his federal race or for his state Senate race? At this point, he is a declared candidate for both seats and no one can see the books until reporting deadlines for Alaska Public Offices Commission and the Federal Elections Commission.

Raising money for a legislative seat is illegal while the Legislature is in session, but Revak would be allowed to raise funds for a federal seat, even if he is essentially a state employee doing so while on state payroll.

Revak will have to decide by June 1 if he is a serious candidate for U.S. Congress, as that is the last day he can file to be on the Aug. 16 ballot for the regular (not special) election. At that point, he’ll have to decide, because he cannot be on the ballot in two places, for two different seats.

Meanwhile, if Revak steps down, the Senate Republicans may not be able to put together a quorum right now.

Revak is next heading to Ketchikan to the Friends of the NRA banquet, where he will be a guest of State Sen. Bert Stedman.

Sarah Palin appears to be suddenly comprehending what Ballot Measure 2 — Ranked Choice Voting — means to Alaska elections

Suzanne Downing

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April 7, 2022

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Sarah Palin appears to be suddenly comprehending what Ballot Measure 2 — Ranked Choice Voting — means to Alaska elections

Sarah Palin, who filed for Congress on April 1 to fill the seat of the late Congressman Don Young, seems genuinely surprised at Alaska’s crazy new voting system. On her Instagram page, it’s almost as if she had not been paying attention for the past two years to the mischief that Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s former campaign team had put together — a wild and wooly jungle primary with no party sideboards, and a Ranked Choice Voting general election. Voters approved Ballot Measure 2 in 2020, as they were told it would remove Outside “dark money” from elections.

Palin also mentioned the mess with Ranked Choice Voting on the Mike Porcaro Show on Tuesday, saying Alaskans had been “snookered” into approving it as a ballot measure. On the show, she declined to endorse Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

In her Instagram post, Palin used a photo of herself that harkens back to the days when she was running for Vice President with Sen. John McCain. She wore a lace-hemmed skirt and spike heels and the crowd grasped at her hands. Her post referenced a column by Tuckerman Babcock, former Alaska Republican Party Chairman, in Must Read Alaska, which describes the nightmare that Ballot Measure 2 has created in Alaska.

That column is attached here.

Tuckerman Babcock: The Scott Kendall Ballot Measure 2 election nightmare — special election edition

Palin is in a field of 48 candidates that include Nick Begich III (R), the grandson of the last Alaskan to serve in Congress before Don Young. Also running are Don Young’s campaign co-chairs for 2022, Tara Sweeney and Josh Revak, both Republicans. Al Gross is running as a no-party candidate but has the support of the Democrats. John Coghill, a former state senator from Fairbanks, and Andrew Halcro, a former state representative from Anchorage, are also known names in Alaska. The primary election for the temporary place holding seat for Congress is June 11. The top four vote-getters will proceed to the Aug. 16 special general election, to be held on the same day as the regular primary election.

Sixth day of heavy flight cancellations at Alaska Airlines

Suzanne Downing

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April 7, 2022

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Sixth day of heavy flight cancellations at Alaska Airlines

At least 38 Alaska Airlines flights were canceled on Wednesday in a streak that continues into Thursday, with 41 cancellations already advised for the airlines on FlightAware.com‘s cancellation tracking website. That amounts to 5 percent of the company’s flights. For Friday, 27 Alaska Airlines flights are already canceled, as of Thursday morning.

Last Friday, cancellations began showing up by the dozens for the carrier that is one of Alaskans’ mainstays for travel, both in-state and to and from the Lower 48.

The airlines published a statement on April 4, saying a pilot shortage is the reason for the cancelations. At the same time, the airlines and the union that represents its pilots are in negotiations that have stalled in recent days, and last week pilots picketed the airlines in its West Coast hub locations. There have been no published statements on the situation since Monday.

Alaska Airlines is not the only U.S. carrier suffering from the pilot shortage and canceled flights. Southwest Airlines has 133 flight canceled today, Delta scrubbed 23 flights, and JetBlue has called off 21.

On Monday, 2,139,084 people went through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at airports. Wednesday’s U.S. airport travel was nearly 2 million, up over 700,000 from that day a year ago, when many travelers were still staying away from air travel.

Alaska Airlines is the sixth largest commercial passenger air carrier in the United States. In 2021, the airline carried approximately 32.4 million revenue passengers, according to Statista.

Bob Griffin: Why I won’t picket Alaska Airlines

Conservatives needed to support Redistricting Board as it considers two maps of Senate pairings for Anchorage

Suzanne Downing

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April 6, 2022

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Conservatives needed to support Redistricting Board as it considers two maps of Senate pairings for Anchorage

Alaska State Sen. Tom Begich, a shadow member of the Alaska Redistricting Board, told the Redistricting Board this week that he was not involved at all in creating a map offered by one of his puppets on the board, Melanie Bahnke. But that is not what the record shows. Text messages show that the Bahnke Plan to divide up Senate districts in Anchorage is the exact plan provided to her by Tom Begich.

That was just one of the many dramas in Alaska redistricting capers this week as the Alaska Redistricting Board continues to try to find a Senate political boundary map that will pass legal muster, after the Supreme Court sent the last map back to the drawing board, saying that not enough time was allotted for public testimony.

Two plans are now being considered. The map offered by Bahnke has been withdrawn.

The first map being considered would give Democrats four Senate seats in Anchorage. It would also quash the military vote by pairing JBER with downtown Anchorage, making it pointless for military members to vote in local and legislative elections, as they would have their votes outnumbered by downtown liberals. If the military voters don’t vote, then it can have an effect on presidential races.

The second map, which is less partisan, would maintain three Republican seats and give the Democrats two seats.

Conservatives are needed to testify in support of what is being called the 3-B map, which preserves most of the political boundaries.

Here are the opportunities to testify:

two plans now. pages of testimony bullets to testify.

The Bahnke plan is no more. Two plans left.

Marcum produced a plan for Anchorage that is .

they all agreed not having names on plans is best thing.

Number 2 is hard core Dem.

3-B is the nonparisatan fair plan. it maintains three of the districts – senate pairings as they are in the proclamation plan. only makes changes to four of eight districts. of those, is one almost the same as current district. district 10-13=seat L, almost the same boundaries.

one is same as we currently haven.

going to have new numbers and letters.

one is same s Dem propose., dis. 20-21.

new districts would be with biggest controversy.

dist. 22 major part of eagle river. paired with 9, which is south hillside.

23 district is Uber churciak and Peters creek.

districts 14-19, Spenard midtown and med. university lake

3 opp to tesimoney this week. one or two more next week.

Thursday at noon.

Friday at 10 am

Saturday at noon.

most important meeting is wed. 13 at 10 am., testimony, and then debate and decide.

in person at LIO, call number or written testimony.

Democrats pushing hard for 17 and 23 to go together. most of JBER with downtown. so different. trying to nullify the military vote.

working class vote. vs hoity toity vote.

quad the legislative but get rid of military for presidential race. up ticket down ticket.

Melanie and Nicole badgering and bullying testifiers. make fools of them they don’t know answers to.

my testimony is give testimony and hang up.

make case for 9-22 together. eagle river with hillside. socioeconomic does not apply to senate pairings.

we have five republicans now.

plan 2 from democrats gives us 2 republicans. our plan gives us 3.

one more plan is hybrid of these plans, would give the dems four hard d seats. even worse than plan out there.

he is considering this hybrid plan. four hard d seats.

our plan is 3 republican and 2 democrats

theirs 2 republic 3 demo.

hybrid is four d seats.

The Alaska Redistricting Board will meet via Zoom. The public is invited to join the Zoom conference or attend in-person at the Anchorage Legislative Information office. Public testimony will be taken in-person or via teleconference using the phone numbers below.

Zoom Link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89928032095?pwd=aHVxTXdNVEhNNTNvL0xMeVhkaXc3QT09

In-Person Location:
– Anchorage Legislative Information Office
– 1500 W Benson Blvd, Anchorage, AK 99503
– Denali Conference Room, 1st Floor

When:
– Thursday April 7 at Noon

The public may listen or testify via the Legislative Teleconference System by dialing:

– Anchorage 563-9085
– Juneau 586-9085
– Other 844-586-9085

Thursday, April 7: 12:00pm (noon)

Public Testimony in Person at LIO or via Dial-in Teleconference

Teleconference public listen-in and testimony phone numbers: Anchorage 563-9085, Juneau 586-9085, Other 844-586-9085

Anchorage election update: Wednesday numbers

Suzanne Downing

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April 6, 2022

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Anchorage election update: Wednesday numbers

Wednesday results from the Anchorage Election Office, as of 4:30 pm. No more results are expected for 24 hours:

Anchorage Assembly

Eagle River: District 2 Seat A

Kevin Cross – 3,908
Gretchen Wehmhof – 2,338
Vanessa Stephens – 328

West Anchorage: District 3 Seat D

Liz Vazquez – 3,447
Kameron Perez-Verdia – 4,521
Nial Sherwood Williams – 417

Midtown Anchorage: District 4 Seat F

Kathy Henslee – 3,502
Meg Zaletel – 3,987

East Anchorage: District 5 Seat H

Stephanie Taylor – 3,365
Forrest Dunbar – 4,595
Christopher Hall -219

South Anchorage: District 6 Seat J

Randy Sulte – 6,083
John Weddleton – 5,736
Darin Colbry -192

School Board Open Seats

Seat A:

Mark Anthony Cox – 16,541
Margo Bellamy – 21,463
Dan Loring – 1,375
Cliff Murray – 3,459

Seat B:

Rachel Ries – 17,563
Kelly Lessens – 21,816
Benjamin R. Baldwin – 1,518
Dustin Darden – 2,052

Prop. 1 – ASD capital improvements bonds

Yes – 22,681

No – 22,989

Prop. 2 – Facilities capital improvement project bonds

Yes – 22,697

No – 22,931

Prop. 3 – Public safety and transit bonds

Yes – 25,244

No – 20,350

Prop. 4 – Road and storm drainage bonds

Yes – 27,931

No – 17,742

Proposition 5 – Parks and Recreation bonds

Yes – 25,121

No – 20,286

Prop. 6 – Fire protection bonds

Yes – 28,396

No – 17,086

Prop. 7 – Mountain Park/Robin Hill amendment

Yes – 108

No – 140

Prop. 8 – Rabbit Creek de-annexation

Yes – 69

No – 12

Prop. 9 – Rabbit Creek annexation

Yes – 51

No – 8

Sarah Palin gets national endorsements, as Nick Begich keeps racking up local Alaskan endorsements

Suzanne Downing

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April 6, 2022

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Sarah Palin gets national endorsements, as Nick Begich keeps racking up local Alaskan endorsements

Since announcing that she’d like to be named Alaska’s next member of Congress, Sarah Palin has won the endorsements of political luminaries, such as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump.

Her closest competitor at this point, businessman Nick Begich, announced more endorsements from influential Alaskans: Rhonda Boyles, the co-chair of the 2020 Alaskans for Don Young campaign, Barbara Haney of Fairbanks.

Boyles is the former mayor of Fairbanks and is the treasurer of the Alaska Republican Party. Haney is an economist with a Ph.D., and is active in Republican Party politics in Fairbanks. Also endorsing Begich is Fairbanks businessman Seth Church. Begich’s list of endorsements also include:

Jesse Sumner – Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly Member
Michael Welch – North Pole Mayor
Glenda Ledford – Wasilla Mayor
Charlie Pierce – Kenai Borough Mayor
Mark Jensen – Petersburg Mayor
Jubilee Underwood – Mat-Su School Board
Shelley Hughes – Senate Majority Leader
Mike Cronk – State House Member
Dee McKee – Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly member
Jamie Allard – Anchorage Assembly member
Ken McCarty – State House member
Kevin McCabe – State House member
Rob Yundt – Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly member
Crystal Kennedy – Anchorage Assembly
Pamela Melin – Palmer Deputy Mayor
Teea Winger – Kenai Council member
Thomas Bergey – Mat-Su School Board
Roger Holland – State Senator
Tom McKay – State House member
Pete Kelly – Former Alaska State Senate President
Mike Prax – State House member
Ron Gillham – State House member

Jai Mahtani – Ketchikan City Council
Bill Elam – Kenai Borough Assembly member
Lynn Gattis – Former State House member
George McKee – Former Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly member
Mike Shower – State Senator
Richard Derkevorkian – Kenai Borough Assembly member
Clay Koplin – Cordova Mayor
Sarah Vance – State House member
Ben Carpenter – State House member
Josh Verhagen – Mayor of Nenana
Matthew Sampson – Fairbanks North Star Borough School District School Board
Jimi Cash – Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly
Charisse Millett – Former Alaska House Majority Leader
Dan Kendall – Former Anchorage Assembly member

Nick has also received endorsements from:

Associated Builders and Contractors, Alaska Chapter
Alaska Outdoor Council
Anchorage Young Republicans
Eagle River District 22 Republicans
Homer District 6 Republicans
Interior District 36 Republicans
Kenai Peninsula Republican Women of Alaska
Republican Women of Fairbanks
Valdez and Mat-Su District 29 Republicans

Others who are in the running for Congress include the Democrats’ favorite candidate, Al Gross, who announced last week he had several well-known Democrats endorsing him, including former Gov. Tony Knowles, Susan Knowles, former Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer, former Rep. Beth Kerttula, former State Sen. Joe Paskvan, Dr. Steve Compton, former State Sen. Mike Szmanski, Chief Mike Williams, Dr. Gary Ferguson, former Sen. Hollis French, former Juneau mayor Sally Smith, Jo Michalski, Cathleen McLoulin, and others.

Democrat Chris Constant, who serves on the Anchorage Assembly, has yet to announce any endorsements and Republican Josh Revak has been silent on his, as his campaign struggles to get traction.

The special primary to become the temporary placeholder for Alaska’s only congressional seat is just 65 days away, on June 11. It’s a mail-in election for the special primary, which means that rather than the usual super-voter, the election will have many voters who don’t normally show up for primaries.

With 48 people on the special primary ballot, the rush to get in front of people will create a lot of noise on the airwaves. Palin called into the Mike Porcaro Show on Tuesday to chat about her interest in being elected to Congress. Porcaro and Palin kept the banter light.

As for Begich, he is hitting the road for a big Fairbanks fundraiser on Thursday that has nearly 150 co-hosts.

Keyboard Cabal: Palmer recall election is now under way

Suzanne Downing

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April 6, 2022

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Keyboard Cabal: Palmer recall election is now under way

The City of Palmer is holding a special election on April 19 to determine if three members — known by some as the “Keyboard Cabal” — of the Palmer City Council should be recalled. The three are progressives who campaigned on their liberal credentials: Sabrena Combs, Brian Daniels, and Jill Valerius.

The three are accused of holding secret discussion groups in violation of the Alaska Open Meetings Act. They were meeting online in a closed Facebook group for several months. Anyone in the group who disagreed with them in the group was removed and anyone who questioned the legality of the discussions was also removed.

The front and back of the ballot is in this image:

Whenever there is a majority of a body gathering to discuss business that can be heard before the public body, it must be noticed, the public must have right to be there, and there must be a recording of the meeting, as well as an opportunity for the public to speak to speak. That is the foundation of the Alaska Open Meetings Act.

The fourth council member who engaged in the secret discussions was former council member Julie Berberich, who was subsequently unelected from the City Council. Now the three remaining are subject to recall after a petition gathered enough signatures, which were certified by the city clerk in January.

The group being recalled was discussing things like mask mandates, use of Covid-19 relief funds, how to get more progressives on boards and commissions, and an anti-police ordinance. These and other items that come before the council were discussed without the knowledge of the other council members.

The council members in question have said that the conversations were innocent and that they meant no harm. Voters will be deciding whether the offenses were egregious enough to remove the three remaining from office.

Early voting is already open at City Hall. Absentee ballot applications are due on Friday, April 8. Palmer does not conduct a mail-in-only election, but uses the traditional in-person method of casting a ballot, and absentee ballots, which must be actively requested by a voter.

absentee_by-mail_application_2022-special.pdf

Secret meetings by three Palmer City Council members has led to a recall petition, and question will now go to voters

Alex Gimarc: Ranked choice voting is a team sport

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

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April 6, 2022

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Alex Gimarc: Ranked choice voting is a team sport

By ALEX GIMARC

I had an extended and moderately contentious discussion regarding the new election system with radio host Dan Fagan on his KENI morning show on Monday. Podcast is available here.

My point was that the new rules around Ranked Choice Voting require Republicans to be one another’s best friends during the primary, freeing them to do whatever they need to do in the general. This is now a team sport.

Fagan’s point was that there is no way on God’s green earth that Republicans can do that and win a primary, even a jungle primary gifted to us by Lisa Murkowski, Scott Kendall, and millions of Outside dollars.

Sadly, my argument did not compute with Dan, at least to the point where I got agreement. So, here is another attempt. Hopefully I can do a better job this time around.

Two of the smarter analysts wrote recent pieces on Alaska’s new election system, one published, one not. Both pieces emphasized the importance of the jungle primary in the election. Top four vote-getters out of the primary get to play in the general election. It is the general election where the ranked choice process takes place.

Randy Ruedrich writing a month ago in Must Read Alaska summarized the new process as follows:

“Vote for your favorite candidate in the primary. Rank your conservative to moderate candidate team members on the general election ballot from first to last. A democrat is never your choice.”

Glen Biegel wrote an unpublished piece suggesting a similar approach a week or so earlier. His take on the process concentrates on the general election, specifically how to rank your candidates. The first suggestion is to never vote for someone who doesn’t represent your core values. Rather, rank them on what you believe your top five or so most important issues are. A 50% match is not a loss.

The bad news out of all this is that it is a more difficult process, as the party label used as a short cut for selecting candidates is gone. This will be more work for the voter. But it is the new world in which we must operate, at least in 2022, for as long as this system is in place. If it works to elect lots of Democrats, it will be in place for a long, long time.

So, what happens in the primary? Better yet, how should voters and campaigns approach the primary?

For years, the primary is where conservatives took care of family business, usually taking out the candidate who was farthest from their core values or worked too closely with Democrats. Primaries were full body contact, blunt force trauma affairs, with Republican candidates coming out of the primary bloodied, bruised, and normally out of money. All of these made it easier for the Democrat to win in the general election.

We can’t do that anymore. The game today is to get as many people as possible who believe like we do into the general election. A very good day for a Republican race would be for four Republicans to be the largest vote getters in the primary and no democrat make the general election. A very good day for democrats would be for four of them to survive the primary. How to do this is something entirely new, as we haven’t run our primary election campaigns this way.

On a strategic basis, conservative and Republican candidates need to become best friends in the primary, as it is now a team sport. Save the full body contact routine for Democrats (and no-party candidates like Bill Walker) in the general election. The other thing is that when the ranked choice sort kicks in, it will be the second or even the third-choice candidates who will determine the winner at the end of the day. We would rather these be someone from Our Side rather than the other.

This means that campaigns need to operate differently in two very different elections. We can’t successfully do what we have been so very good at doing for the last half century in the primary. Failure to do so will open the door for a pair of candidates on the other side to sneak into the general election completely unscathed. There are already rumors of some sort of arrangement between Walker and Democrat Les Gara, which helps explain why they have both gone after conservatives and Republicans, not saying a word about each other.

The world has changed. We can either get on that train or end up under it. Vote smart. Think of the upcoming election campaign as a team sport. And defeat the other side.

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.

Wednesday newsletter: A busy 48 hours

Suzanne Downing

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April 6, 2022

0

Good morning from Somewhere in Alaska … you can get this newsletter in your inbox on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday by signing up at the top of this page under the “Newsletter” tab.

ANCHORAGE ELECTION RESULTS

Early results, which show that Anchorage Assembly will retain a conservative for Chugiak/Eagle River with Kevin Cross, and may pick up a conservative in South Anchorage with Randy Sulte. The school board will remain hard left. There are more votes to count, and Kathy Henslee is within striking distance. Check back today on the website for an update by 5 pm. Read more here.

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TURNOUT HIGH IN SOUTH ANCHORAGE, BALLOTS SPILL OUT ONTO GROUND AT POST OFFICE

The security problems with the mail-in election continue to plague Anchorage. See the photo here.

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AT LEAST 72 NOW REPORTING MISSING BALLOTS IN ANCHORAGE

Mail-in ballots in Anchorage are a democratic disaster. Read more here.

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OTHER NUMBERS

41,316 votes were counted last night out of 235,876 ballots sent out. That’s 17.52 percent. More today, and we’re predicting a 24 percent turnout.

Now, into the thick of it …

NOT SO FAST ON PALIN FOR CONGRESS

There’s a lot of history to unpack, and most of it is unfavorable for our former governor. Read more here.

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OBITUARY: WORLD’S LARGEST AIRCRAFT BOMBED BY RUSSIANS

The Ukrainian former military plane was a thing of wonder. We saw it in Anchorage. Read more here.

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HOW WILL LISA VOTE ON KETANJI BROWN-JACKSON?

To be clear, the answer is in the next story. This one was merely speculative. Read more here.

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MURKOWSKI WILL VOTE TO CONFIRM KETANJI

Lisa explains her reasoning. She doesn’t explain that Jackson is pro-abortion and why Lisa would support a person who can’t define a woman or cannot support the Declaration of Independence. Read more here.

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TSHIBAKA RESPONDS: LISA PUT UP A FIGHT AGAINST TRUMP NOMINEES, BUT NOT BIDEN’S

The challenger for Senate says Murkowski is showing her liberal nature. She has approved 90 percent of Biden nominees, and now a radical justice to SCOTUS. Read more here.

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DEMOCRATS TESTIFY IN DROVES FOR DIFFERENT REDISTRICTING MAP

The Democrats outnumber the Republicans 75-5 in the comments to the redistricting board, which is reconsidering the Eagle River area political boundaries.

Where are all the conservatives in defending the maps? They may lose a Senate seat in Anchorage because of their apathy. Read more here.

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ART CHANCE: PALIN IS EVERY DEMOCRAT’S FAVORITE REPUBLICAN

Chance was in the Department of Administration and had a bird’s eye view of the governor, for as long as she was there. Read more here.

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STRAW POLL: VALLEY SAYS BEGICH OVER PALIN BY A LANDSLIDE

See what the Mat-Su Valley political activists have to say. Read more here.

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NEWS BITS

The week of April 17 is when the Interior Secretary is coming to Alaska. It is likely to be an awkward visit. She is not held in high regard by at least 53 percent of Alaskans, but she won’t be making an appearance in places like North Pole or Chugiak. She’ll be in downtown Anchorage, King Cove, and downtown Fairbanks. It’s certain that at least some elected officials will have to shake her hand, while others will fawn. But what Republican in Alaska wants to be caught in the same photo as Haaland right now?

Spotted at the election after-party for the Anchorage conservative candidates, Nick Begich, running for Congress, Bernadette Wilson of Americans for Prosperity, and Jamie Allard, running for House (and current Assemblywoman).

Gov. Mike Dunleavy had a huge fundraiser in Fairbanks with over 250 people attending yesterday. Looks like he’s finally going to campaign.

PFD: The state operating budget is on the House floor. Yesterday, the House rejected an amendment by Rep. Kevin McCabe to pay a legal statutory dividend. It failed 18-21. Reps. Kelly Merrick was a no, as were Bart LeBon and Steve Thompson, James Kaufman, Geran Tarr, and Liz Snyder.

COLUMNS

TIM BARTO: THEATER OF THE ABSURD AT THE OSCARS

The slap heard ’round the world and other hypocrisies from the Academy Awards. Read more here.

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WIN GRUENING: A POETIC MOMENT IN ALASKA HISTORY, BEGICH, YOUNG, BEGICH III

While this set of events may seem extraordinary, there have been two other similar occurrences in recent Alaska political history. Read more here.

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BOB GRIFFIN: WHY I WON’T PICKET ALASKA AIRLINES

A pilot discusses labor relations and whether the pilot union is taking things too far. Read more here.

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KELLY TSHIBAKA: THANKS TO LISA MURKOWSKI TEAM, ALASKA IS IN TROUBLE

It will be not until late August that Alaska has a member of Congress. The ranked choice voting debacle is to blame, and that’s Murkowski’s team. Read more here.

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RYAN NELSON: REVAK LIED, YOUR PFD DIED. HE WANTS AN UPGRADE?

Revak doesn’t deserve to be elevated to Congress. He cannot even keep his promises as a state senator. Read more here.

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MICHAEL TAVOLIERO: GOVERNMENT EDUCATION IS A FAILURE

There are solutions. The solutions begin with creating real competition between schools. Read more here.

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JAMIE ALLARD: IT’S TIME TO PROTECT WOMEN’S SPORTS WITH SB 140

Women need a level playing field, not one taken over by men who are competing as “better versions of women.” Read more here.

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JOHN QUICK: COMPANIES CAN GIVE BACK WITHOUT GOING WOKE

It seems that company charitable programs drift left over time. How can your company avoid that trap? Take a look at how some do it.

Thank You for Your Donations

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www.mustreadalaska.com

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MIA: Josh Revak avoids Juneau job to campaign in D.C., Anchorage, Eagle River

Sarah Palin appears to be suddenly comprehending what Ballot Measure 2 — Ranked Choice Voting — means to Alaska elections

Sixth day of heavy flight cancellations at Alaska Airlines

Conservatives needed to support Redistricting Board as it considers two maps of Senate pairings for Anchorage

Anchorage election update: Wednesday numbers

Sarah Palin gets national endorsements, as Nick Begich keeps racking up local Alaskan endorsements

Keyboard Cabal: Palmer recall election is now under way

Alex Gimarc: Ranked choice voting is a team sport

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