Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota is soon going to be endorsing Kelly Tshibaka for the U.S. Senate, Must Read Alaska has learned.
During her first term as governor and her tenure in the United States Congress, Gov. Noem emerged as a conservative leader, and brought America First policies to South Dakota, which now has the #1 economy in the nation. She was named the top governor in the country by the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Noem, when she served in Congress, helped pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which put $2,400 back in the pockets of the average South Dakota family. Importantly, that was the legislation that also opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 1002 Area for limited oil development, after decades of stonewalling by the federal government.
“Kelly Tshibaka will be an America First senator who knows that what’s good for Alaska is also good for America. She will fight for the constitutional rights of all citizens and work to revive the Alaskan economy, which has been devastated by the horrendous policies of the Biden administration. I am proud to endorse Kelly and look forward to working with her on issues we have in common for years to come,” Noem said in a statement.
“It is a high honor, and I am grateful to have the support of Kristi Noem, one of the nation’s most successful governors,” Tshibaka said. “She understands what it’s like when the federal government seizes control of huge chunks of your state’s land and when it interferes with people’s livelihoods. When I’m Alaska’s next senator, I will always stand up for the rights of our people, and I will never forget who hired me to represent them.”
Tshibaka is the Republican challenger for Sen. Lisa Murkowski and has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, the Alaska Republican Party, and a growing list of conservative groups. She filed for office in March of 2021.
Next month, Alaskans will vote in a special primary election for the state’s single congressional seat, left vacant by the death of Republican Rep. Don Young in March. Young, the longest-serving Republican in the history of the U.S. House, was Alaska’s sole congressman for 49 years, so the election to replace him is in some ways an historic event for the state.
But it’s also historic in another way: it will be Alaska’s first ever statewide mail-in primary election. That is, there will be no in-person voting at all. Every single voter on the state’s bloated and error-riddled voter rolls was automatically mailed a blank ballot.
What’s more, there will be no verification requirements for these mail-in ballots. Voters will simply need to fill out their ballot and have a witness observe them sign the envelope. The state’s Division of Election has explicitly said it will not verify the authenticity of the signatures on the ballots.
Normally, to vote by mail in Alaska you have to submit an absentee ballot application ahead of time, which includes a signature that can be used to verify the signature on the completed ballot. But not for this special mail-in election, which is already a chaotic and confusing mess, with 48 names on the primary ballotand a new ranked-choice voting process in place that will send the top four vote-getters from the primary to the in-person general special election in August (which is on the same day as the regular statewide primary election for the November midterms).
By any measure, Alaska’s special election is a mess. But why should the rest of the country care? Because Alaska’s insane statewide mail-in election is a template for how the left wants to run elections nationwide. Democrats and left-wing activists would love nothing more than to hold elections entirely by mail with as few safeguards in place to prevent ballot fraud.
Indeed, Alaska presents a unique and in some ways ideal test case for the left. For one thing, Alaska’s voter rolls are a mess. As of 2020, voter registration was 118 percent of the estimated vote age population, meaning there were more registered voters than actual people who could vote (this problem is getting worse in Alaska; in 2018 it was only 103 percent). Making matters worse is a 2016 Alaska law that automatically registers residents to vote when they submit an application for the state’s Permanent Fund dividend.
An ordinance that would give the Anchorage Assembly the power to override the will of the voters and remove the mayor from office was introduced on Tuesday, over the objection of Eagle River Assemblywoman Jamie Allard, who attempted to have the ordinance tabled indefinitely.
Several members of the public spoke against the ordinance, accusing the Assembly majority of trying to thwart the will of the people and violate the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of government.
Assembly Chairwoman Suzanne LaFrance threatened the public on several occasions for their applause for the speakers objecting to the Assembly’s actions.
The liberal majority was unmoved by public testimony. The ordinance, introduced by Assemblyman Chris Constant, will be set for a public hearing for May 24.
Mayor Dave Bronson’s office issued a statement on Wednesday, calling on the public to come to his support and prevent the Assembly from setting up its coup:
“As evidenced by the outcry of residents to this ordinance at last night’s Assembly meeting, the Mayor firmly believes Assembly Member Constant has gone too far with his proposal. The Mayor fundamentally believes in the separation of powers doctrine that underpins our republican form of government. As the Chief Executive of this city, the Mayor has a duty and obligation to defend the powers of the executive branch and considers this ordinance an attack on the Office of the Mayor. The Mayor intends to use every tool at his disposal to protect the integrity of the office, and oppose Mr. Constant’s overreaching and draconian ordinance,” the Mayor’s Office said.
“Removal of any elected official, especially when that removal is done by another branch of government, should be a last resort – a nuclear option – under our system of government. We have elections; we have referendums; we have recalls. All these options are preferred and are less divisive tools than impeaching and removing an elected official, which is what Mr. Constant’s ordinance allows. Mr. Constant’s ordinance will do nothing but divide our community further, and give enormous power to the Assembly, enabling them to remove ANY mayor (not just Mayor Bronson, but all future Mayors) for any reason the Assembly deems to be a “breach of public trust.”
“In the nearly 50 years since Anchorage became a unified government, our community has never needed an ordinance like this. It’s clear this is a partisan and politically driven ordinance by a member of the Assembly seeking attention in their bid for Congress.
“No Mayor should be subject to a coup by an Assembly that doesn’t agree with him politically. Mayor Bronson calls on the people of Anchorage to oppose AO 2022-60 and to let Assembly Member Constant know that he has gone too far,” Bronson said.
Alaska’s all-mail-in election was a hurry-up solution by the Division of Elections for the empty seat left vacant by the late Congressman Don Young. The ballots, including the instructions and the “secrecy sleeve,” that the voted ballots go into, went in the mail to Alaska voters on April 27.
With 30 days to go until the June 11 deadline, 25,000 ballots have been returned to the Division of Elections.
But one Alaskan wanted to see if the ballot and the secrecy sleeve really protected his vote. He assembled his ballot packet, sealed it, and then shined a mini flashlight to the opposite side of it. Indeed, it was easy to see the names on the ballot and exactly what bubble he had filled in. The same could be done with a light table or a car headlight.
This makes Alaska’s mail-in ballots especially vulnerable to ballot harvesters, who could collect ballots from communities, elders, or by going house to house, hold them up to a light, and toss or shred the ones they don’t like.
Another security flaw of the mail-in ballot is the instructions telling voters that if they make a mistake and fill in the wrong oval, they should put a line through that candidate’s name and write the word “No.” Then, they should fill in the bubble for the intended candidate. That method is insecure, critics say, as it allows someone else who has access to the voted ballot to re-vote that ballot by following that instruction.
“This seems sketchy,” said a voter who contacted Must Read Alaska about the technique for fixing the ballot. While it would be difficult for an election worker to change many ballots surreptitiously, on a ballot with 48 names on it, the top four will advance to the general election with fewer votes than what people would normally expect to see. The voting system that confuses many Alaskans is brought to them by Ballot Measure 2, which they passed narrowly in 2020. It established a jungle primary and a ranked choice voting general election.
Alaska is conducting the special primary election to finish out the term of Congressman Don Young, who died March 18. The special primary election has 48 names on the ballot. The top four vote-getters from the special primary will appear on a special general election ballot for this fill-in seat. That general election will be held the same day as the regularly scheduled primary election, Aug. 16, where many of the same names will appear on the ballot to serve a regular two-year term in Congress.
Alaska House Rep. Christopher Kurka made it fairly clear today he will be a “no” vote on the $5,500 dividend, and he called out the Senate majority for not having anti-abortion language in the operating budget that passed the Senate and is headed to the House for concurrence.
Kurka, attacking his fellow Republicans, said the removal of an amendment that zeroed out abortion funding from the State of Alaska’s budget, was done by the “Benedict Arnold’s of the pro-life movement.”
He continued, “Senate Republican Leadership’s alliance with the Left on State funding for abortion is outrageous. In both my years in this process I have introduced amendments to zero out funding for abortion in the budget, and both years it passed the Democrat-controlled House. Yet, Senate Republicans, who comprise about 65% of the Senate have not held the line and Senate Leadership is directly responsible.”
“Even with national attention on the right to life issue through the leaked Roe vs. Wade opinion reversal, Senator Josh Revak joined the Democrats and Judas Republicans to become the deciding vote to kill the amendment and keep it out of the final budget that was sent back to the House for concurrence,” he said, singling out Sen. Revak for his vote.
Kurka concluded, “This pattern of betrayal by Senate Leadership, and the latest defection by Senator Josh Revak should be an affront to every pro-life Alaskan. Republican voters should not reward the Benedict Arnold’s of the pro-life movement with reelection. Furthermore, if Senator Micciche fails to appoint pro-life Senators to the Conference Committee, he too should be shown the door. Throwing the weakest and most vulnerable among us under the bus for crass political purposes is not acceptable and should not be tolerated.”
Kurka represents a district in Wasilla that is strongly pro-full Permanent Fund dividend. In November, he filed to run for governor against Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, with the endorsement of Joe Miller, who has run for U.S. Senate in the past as a Republican and later as a Libertarian.
Patricia Chesbro has filed with the Federal Elections Commission to run as a Democrat for U.S. Senate. Already in the race are Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, and Kelly Tshibaka, also a Republican.
Chesbro is a long-time Democrat activist who chairs the MatSu Democrats and who ran for Alaska Senate in 2014, losing to Republican Bill Stoltze for District F.
Her campaign will be called Chesbro for Alaska, according to her filing with the FEC.
Chesbro was part of the Facebook group “Mat-Su Moms for Social Justice,” which led to the removal of three member of the Palmer City Council due to violations of the Open Meetings Act. She was an advocate for ending the Colony Days Festival and renaming it Braided River Festival, which failed, once it became public. She is a progressive liberal.
The Alaska Democratic Party has been hinting for several days that it will try another candidate, after Alaska Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson dropped out in late March after a brief stint as a candidate. Chesbro is a retired educator in the Mat-Su School District and has been involved with the Palmer Community Foundation.
Alaska Democrats have been excoriating Sen. Murkowski lately over her unwillingness to go along with Senate Democrats and open the abortion valve wide open through legislation that allows even late-term abortions without limits. Abortion, or “abortion care,” as the mainstream media is calling it, has become the Democrats’ rallying cry to try to regain ground lost to Republicans during this election cycle.
A navigation center to help steer Anchorage’s homeless population to the proper resources to meet their individual needs and to provide temporary shelter passed the Assembly after a long and contentious debate that began last summer, upon the swearing in of Mayor Dave Bronson.
The navigation center was part of a negotiation participated in by the Assembly and the Mayor’s Office, and the agreement included purchasing the Sockeye Inn to house medically fragile people, with the navigation center being a centerpiece as a place where homeless people could start their journey back to sobriety, stability, and functionality. The center staff will help them get the proper services.
The other parts of the plan, including purchase of the Sockeye Inn, had already been started when it appeared opposition members of the Assembly were ready to pull the rug out from under the Mayor’s Office on the one piece that he wanted — the navigation center. A bait-and-switch was under way during Tuesday night’s meeting.
In the end, the Assembly approved $6.2 million for constructing the navigation center, after Assemblyman Kameron Perez-Verdia changed his mind at the last minute and voted in favor of it.
Currently, the city is spending over $3 million a month to shelter people in the Sullivan Arena, which was converted to a shelter by the Berkowitz Administration. Taxpayers may be on the hook for the costs, since FEMA is unlikely to pay for it. The restoration of the Sullivan Arena to become a venue for arts, sports, and entertainment will cost the city millions of dollars, as the destruction has been extensive to that facility. It may be years before it can be used for its intended purpose.
From the mayor’s team, Larry Baker made a last-ditch appeal on Tuesday to the Assembly, which was balking at the cost and size of the center. It’s now been whittled down to a 150-bed shelter and navigation center.
Voting against the plan that had been negotiated and agreed to by its own members on the negotiating team were Assembly members Chris Constant, Forrest Dunbar, Pete Petersen, and Austin Quinn Davidson. Constant had been part of the negotiating team that forged the agreement that he ultimately voted against.
The entire plan to address homelessness comes with major commitments from the nonprofit community, including the Rasmuson Foundation.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski today reiterated her strong support for the putting abortion rights into law, as established by Roe v. Wade (1973) and affirmed by Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). But the law being considered in the Senate on Wednesday is a bridge too far for Murkowski.
“While urging the preservation of those important rights for women, Murkowski will vote against S. 4132, the Women’s Health Protection Act, which has been described as codifying Roe v. Wade, but in reality goes much further—nullifying state and religious freedom laws across the country in the process,” the senator’s office released in a statement.
“I strongly support women’s reproductive freedoms, including the right to abortion established by Roe and Casey. I also believe in limited government and an individual’s liberty to make choices about their own health,” Murkowski said.
“Consistent with Roe and Casey, I support reasonable limits on abortion services related to maternal health. I oppose late-term abortion, as long as there are clear and workable exceptions in the case of rape, incest or when a woman’s life is threatened. I also oppose the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions, and oppose any requirement for individuals to provide these services against their religious beliefs.
“Congress should codify the important protections from Roe and Casey into law as they currently exist. That’s why, in February, Senator Collins and I introduced our Reproductive Choice Act, which would prevent women’s reproductive choices from being weakened or eliminated. Our bill would reassure women that the rights they have relied on for almost 50 years will continue to be the law of the land.”
But the legislation in the Senate on Wednesday goes far beyond the precedent established in Roe and Casey, Murkowski said. It doesn’t include the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer dollars from being spent on abortions, which has been law almost as long as Roe. It does not include the conscience protections for healthcare workers, so they may refused to perform abortions if it violates their religious beliefs. And it overrides the Religious Freedom Restoration Act for the first time. It also allows late-term abortions without notable restrictions.
“Instead of taking yet another failed vote on a wholly partisan measure, I urge Democrats and Republicans alike to recognize that what Senator Collins and I have offered is in line with the views of a strong majority of Americans—who support a woman’s right to choose but believe that legal abortion should include reasonable limitations,” Murkowski said.
In Alaska, courts have interpreted abortion rights as protected under the State Constitution, so the repeal of Roe v. Wade will have no immediate effect in Alaska.
Details About S. 3713, the Reproductive Choice Act:
Would prohibit states from imposing an “undue burden” on the ability of a woman to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability;
Would continue to allow states to enact regulations to further the health or safety of a woman seeking to terminate a pregnancy, while clarifying that unnecessary health regulations that have the purpose or effect of presenting a “substantial obstacle” to a woman seeking to terminate a pregnancy constitute an “undue burden”;
Would continue to permit states to restrict the ability to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability, except when necessary to preserve the life or health of the woman as consistent with Roe and Casey; and
Would not have any effect on laws regarding conscience protections, including laws that protect health care providers who refuse to provide abortions for moral or religious reasons.
No Bull Wool: Adam Wool, pictured above, has filed for the regular primary election for U.S. House. He’s already in the special election primary, which is now underway, and he is polling at about 2 percent, but there’s time. It’s 31 days until June 11.
Deadlines: The deadline to register to vote in the Special Primary Election is May 12. Register or update your info here: https://voterregistration.alaska.gov
Revak gets another hall pass: Josh Revak, running for Congress to replace Don Young, has asked for another excused absence from Senate work that lasts through Sunday. He has been about a 50 percenter in the Senate since declaring his run for Congress. Full paycheck and per diem, though, so there’s that.
“WordPress AF” guy on Revak: Commentary on Josh Revak’s rant about Santa Claus being a “commie” and a “fraud” caught the attention of a commentator on Twitter, who thought going after Santa with a stick was by far the craziest thing yet.
Changing language: Abortion is the big issue for the 2022 election cycle, with the pending Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Anchorage Daily News, which is the newspaper of record for the state, is no longer calling it “abortion” in its news stories. Now it’s called “access to abortion care.” In the way Planned Parenthood calls it “removing pregnancy tissue.”
Palin gets dissed by lamestream bloggers: While critics in Alaska merely remark about the competence of Sarah Palin when she was governor, former John McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt has written a savage take-down of Palin, and he also plows under the McCain family a few times in his shocking essay on his Substack account. Clearly, he has Palin Derangement Syndrome. Read it here.
It’s worth noting that neither Steve Schmidt nor Sarah Palin, who hate each other, were invited to John McCain’s funeral.
Then Newsweek and New York Times writer Seth Abrahmson then piled on with more alleged Russia plottied to Palin during the Trump campaign. Lunatic fringe stuff from leftist writers who have nothing to write about now that Trump isn’t in the White House.
Patience, Grasshopper: Alaska Democrats are strongly hinting they have someone from their party who is about to step up and challenge Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the moderate Republican. Their last candidate, State Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, quit after just a few weeks. The Democrats are telling people to “stay tuned,” and “there is another.”
TV ads running: Nick Begich, Mary Peltola, and Tara Sweeney, all running for Congress, have television ads that began running this week. Here are the ads, as they appear on YouTube:
Santa Claus endorsed by Ray Metcalfe: The Democrat at times known as Disco Ray has endorsed Santa Claus for U.S. House because he’s a Sen. Bernie Sanders guy. Metcalfe served in the Alaska House of Representatives as a Republican from 1979-1983, and he later ran for U.S. Senate as a Democrat, but lost.
In a note to his email list, Metcalfe wrote:
“Don’t laugh, it’s not a joke. Years ago, North Pole Alaska resident Thomas O’Connor officially changed his name to Santa Claus. He is on your ballot and he is committed to supporting Bernie Sanders agenda. He has been twice elected to North Pole’s City Council, has has a background in law enforcement, and he is committed to Bernie’s agenda. Open-up that ballot and vote for just one candidate; Santa Clause. And forward this note to your Bernie supporting friends.”
More from Alaska Survey Research Poll:
Sarah Palin (R) 19%
Nick Begich (R) 16%
Al Gross (I) 13%
Santa Claus (I) 6%
Christopher Constant (D) 5%
Mary Sattler Peltola (D) 5%
Josh Revak (R) 4%
Tara Sweeney (R) 4%
Jeff Lowenfels (I) 3%
John Coghill (R) 2%
Andrew Halcro (I) 2%
Adam Wool (D) 2%
Local politics, Anchorage style: Daniel Volland, running for Anchorage Assembly for the new downtown 12th seat, is worried that so many others have signed up for that race. He said, “Now that North Anchorage finally has equal representation, we need an Assemblymember who will advocate for the priorities of District 1 and not simply be a rubber stamp for the Bronson administration.” He is, of course, referring to Stephanie Taylor, who just announced she’s running for the 12th seat.
