The Alaska House passed House Bill 62, sponsored by Democrat Rep. Matt Claman, which reduces the number of signers needed to witness a wedding ceremony in Alaska. The bill also has a provision that raises the legal age of marriage to 16, an amendment offered by Rep. Sara Rasmussen, an Anchorage Republican who typically votes with the Democrat-led caucus.
HB 62 modifies the marriage witness requirement and will allow Alaska to better compete with popular destination wedding states such as Hawaii and Florida, Claman said.
“With our unrivaled scenic beauty, Alaska has the potential to be one of the most desired destination wedding states in the nation. It’s time to remove unnecessary burdens on the wedding industry so we can welcome more visitors wishing to be married in Alaska,” he said.
The bill’s minor importance was overtaken by the marriage age amendment. Currently, people can get married in Alaska as young as age 14, but only if a judge determines they are mature enough for the responsibility.
“It’s hard to imagine a time when 14 was a reasonable age to marry,” said Claman. “Having carried legislation in the past to deal with the issue, I was pleased to help remove some of the archaic ideas around marriage that still exist in Alaska statute.”
HB 62 passed the House with a vote of 27-13, and now moves to the Senate.
The State of Alaska on Wednesday filed a notice of intent to sue the federal government over ownership of a 15-mile waterway on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska, Attorney General Treg Taylor announced.
The waterway overlies submerged lands that became Alaska’s at Statehood. Alaska will pursue litigation unless the federal government abandons its claims to the land, the notice stated.
In a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Attorney General Taylor gave the required 180 days’ notice of the State’s intent to file a quiet title action to eliminate any federal cloud on title to lands beneath the Sarkar Canoe Route.
The route traverses the Sarkar River and several lakes and connecting waterways inside the Tongass National Forest, which the U.S. Forest Service and commercial tour operators tout as an attractive two-day paddle-and-portage trip through a pristine area.
The legal action is the next step in Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s “Unlocking Alaska Initiative,” aimed at asserting State ownership of its lands in the face of federal resistance and obstruction, said Corri Feige, commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources.
“We firmly believe that title to submerged lands like those underlying the Sarkar Canoe Route became Alaska’s at Statehood, but for too many years federal agencies have resisted acknowledging our ownership,” Feige said. “Our Public Access Assertion and Defense section has worked with the Department of Law to defend our position, which we will continue to press in court as long as it takes to win full control of our Statehood land birthright.”
The State asserts that ownership of submerged lands passed to Alaska at Statehood, based on the U.S. Constitution’s equal footing doctrine, the federal Submerged Lands Act, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, and the Alaska Statehood Act. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, buttressed by two U.S. Supreme Court decisions, also made clear State ownership prevails on such lands even inside federal conservation system units.
The State used the same legal arguments in a similar quiet title notice it filed for submerged lands in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, and in a suit it recently filed for submerged lands at the Koyukuk River. Citing the same claims, Alaska last year won its case before the Interior Board of Land Appeals asserting ownership of submerged lands at the Kuskokwim River.
Don Young, a professional politician, represents Alaska as our only congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives. But who does he really represent?
After serving in the House of Representatives since 1973, Young is the longest-serving, still-active member. He has earned the title of “The Dean of the House.” The record of his legislative accomplishments spans almost 50 years.
The purpose of this column is to highlight a few of his thousands of legislative votes and then comment on their benefits, or not, to the people of Alaska and the nation, who he has promised to represent. I also need to point out that a thorough review of his history in Congress would require many more pages than this article can address.
This column is also a reaction to Fritz Pettijohn’s column on Congressman Young and the benefits of his seniority and experience.
As a member of the House, Young enjoys the constitutional authority with the rest of the House members to raise revenue.
With that authority, Congress has raised the U.S. debt limit or the debt ceiling 65 times since Don Young’s arrival in the House of Representatives. Congressman Young voted to raise the debt ceiling almost every time it has been placed before him.
When we examine where the federal government gets most of its revenue, we must remember that it comes from the people through one of the most progressive tax programs on the planet.
As of March 15, according to the US Debt Clock, U.S. debt is now almost $30.5 trillion. For this debt, each U.S. citizen is obligated for over $91,000. In addition, U.S. unfunded liabilities (debt obligations that do not have enough funds set aside to pay them) are now over $168 trillion. For this debt, each U.S. citizen is obligated for over a half of a million dollars. That’s every man, woman, and child.
Aug. 1, 2019, Don Young voted for H.R.3877 – Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019. This law increased discretionary spending limits, suspended the debt limit, and modified budget enforcement procedures.
December 2021, Biden signed into law a $2.5 trillion debt ceiling increase. Thankfully, Don Young did not vote for that.
Nov. 30, 2021, Alaska saw the Dean of the House vote in favor of the Immunization Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2021, that when signed into law would reportedly “modernize” already existing vaccination database systems and create a $396 million bureaucracy.
Nov. 8, 2021, Don Young voted for H.R.3684 – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This bill authorized a $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending package — the “Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America Act or the INVEST in America Act.”
According to Alaska’s congressional delegation who all voted for this bill, Alaska would be the beneficiary of billions over the next several years. But it wasn’t funded, and after the 2022 midterm elections, most of this may even be repealed by the new majority. A quick review of the bill leads me to believe that the majority of the “pork” in this bill will head to Alaska special interests.
The following are some of Don Young’s votes over the years and the legislative results that became law.
In 2005, Don Young voted for H.R.2863 that made into law the Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006. This gave immunity from any suit and liability under federal and state law with respect to all claims for loss caused by, arising out of, relating to, or resulting from the administration to or the use by an individual of a covered countermeasure against a pandemic.
Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson and all other pharmaceutical companies, who contribute a therapeutic or a vaccine to the Covid crisis, are effectively protected by this law from any claims. Big Pharma is one of the largest lobbies in D.C.
Don Young voted in favor of H.R. 1268, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005, which contains the Real ID Act.
This act requires all US Citizens by May 3, 2023, to meet the minimum-security standards for license issuance and production and prohibits certain federal agencies from accepting driver’s licenses and identification cards from states not meeting the Act’s minimum standards. The purposes covered by the act are accessing some federal facilities, entering nuclear power plants, and, boarding commercial aircraft.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was a result of Don Young’s chairmanship of the House Transportation Committee; that became law as part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act on Nov. 19, 2001. Don Young voted for it.
Don Young voted for the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Title V (Sec. 509) provides that no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable for any voluntary action taken to restrict access to, or to enable information content providers to restrict access to, material that the user or provider considers to be objectionable, whether such material is constitutionally protected.
Don Young co-sponsored and voted for H.R. 2444 – Department of Education Organization Act. This separated federal education functions out of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and instituted the Department of Education in 1979. There is no constitutional authority for this activity. Education was and should remain a state responsibility. Remember, every federal grant has lots of strings.
The U.S. Department of Education is the leading federal agency for the indoctrination of America’s youth. Its policies and programs over the last several decades have dumbed down education outcome, promoted Marxist dogma and imperiled the financial futures of millions of young Americans.
Don Young voted for S. 3066, Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, H.R. 6655 (95th): Housing and Community Development Act of 1977 and H.R. 5334 (102nd): Housing and Community Development Act of 1992.
The original Section 8 program, which was called the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, established project-based tenancy for eligible individuals and families. Subsidies were granted to certain residential properties to house Section 8 housing recipients. This act was the beginning of the modern era of income-based housing as well as the establishment of the federal government controlling the nation’s entire residential real estate development future.
While the history of Don Young’s legislation promoted federal land transactions with Alaska Native Corporations, his record regarding State of Alaska’s lands concerns under the Statehood Act appears to be marginal at best. It has now been 63 years since Alaska was promised lands for its selection. Still, today there are large areas of Alaska that the state selected that have not been transferred to the state. Why?
Young has not addressed issues raised by the state-funded June of 2017 petition submitted by the Citizens Advisory Commission on Federal Areas. The Alaska State Lands Advisory Group recommends the State of Alaska submit the CACFA petition to the president and Congress on restructuring ownership and management of federal lands in Alaska to continue maintaining the environment and biodiversity, allow public access to public resources as guaranteed by Congress, and bolster economic development.
It is perhaps the best statement by the State of Alaska ever published on the status of federal lands in Alaska. CACFA was authored by Sen. Ted Stevens after he and his team exposed significant violations of law by federal agencies, that are now again revealed by this report and petition.
The Jones Act of 1920 is a federal statute requiring vessels that, as Colin Grabow of the Cato Institute writes, “mandates that ships transporting cargo between two domestic ports be U.S.-owned, flagged, crewed, and built. For Alaska this means that goods shipped from Seattle to Anchorage, or between two Alaskan ports, must be performed by vessels meeting these requirements. A Canadian vessel sailing from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, to Anchorage, for example, is prohibited from stopping at Juneau along the way to pick up cargo destined for elsewhere in the state.”
“This is not only a direct assault on Alaskan’s freedoms, but their pocketbooks as well. Besides reducing competition, the law forces carriers who ply routes between Alaska and other domestic locales to buy U.S.-built ships that cost as much as eight times more than those from Asian shipyards. In addition, these ships are, on average, estimated to be 2.7 times more expensive to operate than their foreign counterparts.”
“Alaska is home to a large maritime industry that benefits from the Jones Act’s restrictions on foreign competition. In addition, unions have backed the law—no small thing in one of the country’s most unionized states. The average Alaskan may only be vaguely aware of the law and its costs, but rest assured maritime workers and union members maintain a much keener interest and vote accordingly.”
As with so much of what doesn’t make sense in Washington, the Jones Act represents the triumph of special interests.”
Looking at the above votes, laws and facts, is Don Young representing the people of Alaska and its future generations?
His actions have continued to suffocate free enterprise and freedom, while promoting federal corporatism, strengthening of unions, and establishing the Washington DC collective.
This was never the intent of our constitutional republic.
Instead of cutting federal spending, Don Young has increased spending and debt with every opportunity. Where will these disastrous policies of our nation’s money mismanagement leave our future generations?
Remember, every time you leave or return to Alaska on your favorite airlines think about the House Transportation Committee’s Chairman Don Young’s decision to create the TSA, which became a malignant part of your travel.
Don Young’s history as a swamp creature goes back decades. He is the “Joe Biden” of the Republican side of the House of Representatives, promoting this stampede of collectivist centralization of the federal government.
Since his tenure, the greatest natural resource development potential in the nation has devolved from a sovereign state to a deep state from an independent state to a dependent colony. Because of his actions (or non-actions), Alaska is now a bureaucratically controlled distant outpost whose dependence on the federal government grows with each day he remains in office.
In today’s fear-driven environment, many Alaskans have forgotten the need to be directly involved in examining the political questions of the day.
This amnesia has created a massive state bureaucracy with the costliest and the worst performance outcome for education in the nation and as well as the most costly health care per capita in the nation, and in the world, so costly that health insurance companies want you to fly first class with a companion at their cost to other states to get medical services.
If you are not active politically, you cannot begin to understand the width and depth of the issues we face as Alaskans and Americans. If you don’t vote, you are not using one of the most important rights given to you in this nation. If you don’t vote, you have no room for complaint.
It is apathy, laziness, and blind unquestioning faith that put a politician such as Don Young into office, only to discovery his failure to protect our freedoms and his collaboration in centralizing a behemoth federal government.
The upcoming 2022 election, as with every election, is the most important event in our lives. It will produce either the hard and steep steps necessary for Alaska to turn to liberty or flaccidly meander more than ever to the utopian soft tyranny of colonialism and Alaska’s growing socialist economy.
President Ronald Reagan warned that “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
Alaska with the election results of 2022 will either continue to etch into the rock wall of its history the massive bureaucratic socialist colony it has become or require a change in direction by 180 degrees towards liberty.
Don Young has voted to raise the debt ceiling. He has marginalized freedom in favor of the slavery of increased debt and damaged almost irreversibly our state’s future as an independent sovereign. He has minimized Alaska to a colony and helped reinforce the collective center of an aristocracy which is Washington D.C.
As many have noted more times than counted, the colonies fought to free themselves from the oppressive hand of royalty, the collective hegemony, the elites who will do anything to repress and suppress the remainder’s liberty. The colonies in this effort agreed to a republic of states, a United States, and fought hard the greatest military force on the planet to ensure that a centralized government, an aristocracy, would not unilaterally control them.
Don Young has obeyed the call of unions, collectivism, the Jones Act and hedged his tenancy with repressive acts which do not benefit our freedom.
The federal government and special interests have effectively gouged Alaska since statehood with Don Young doing nothing to change it.
It is time to retire Don Young. It’s time for a change.
Michael Tavoliero is a realtor in Eagle River, is active in the Alaska Republican Party and past chair of Eaglexit.
Anchorage districts 9-23 have endorsed common-sense challengers in the local Anchorage municipal elections. The candidates endorsed for Anchorage Assembly and for Anchorage School Board are all challenging the incumbents now running Anchorage:
Kevin Cross – Eagle River, for the open seat on Anchorage Assembly, with Assemblywoman Crystal Kennedy retiring
Kathy Henslee – Midtown, running against Democrat-endorsed Meg Zaletel for Anchorage Assembly
Stephanie Taylor – East Anchorage, running against Democrat-endorsed Forrest Dunbar for Anchorage Assembly
Liz Vazquez – West Anchorage, running against Democrat-endorsed Kameron Perez-Verdia for Anchorage Assembly
Randy Sulte – South Anchorage, running against Democrat-endorsed John Weddleton for Anchorage Assembly
Rachel Ries – running against Democrat-endorsed Kelly Lessens for Anchorage School Board
Mark Anthony Cox – running against Democrat-endorsed Margo Bellamy for Anchorage School Board
(*District 18 did not endorse; it is still an unorganized district. No word from District 24, Eagle River.)
Ballots were mailed by March 15 to eligible voters in Anchorage, and must be returned to the Municipal Election Office no later than April 5.
Elementary school students returning from spring break found a new feature at some schools in Anchorage: Private restrooms for those who don’t want to use the female- or male-designated restrooms.
Lake Otis Elementary School now has its first gender-neutral restroom, located in the nurse’s office area of the school. The sign on the wall, pictured above, shows an image that represents a half-male-half-female on it. At least two other schools in Anchorage are getting signs that mark single-use restrooms that are available for one of three gender choices to use — Alpenglow in Eagle River and Chugiak Elementary in Chugiak.
The solution comes during a time when more and more people don’t appear to know what gender they are, having been taught that gender is something that is fluid. The gender-neutral restrooms may prevent conflict and heartache over girls’ restrooms in schools being taken over by boys who sometimes identify as girls, in the way that gender-fluid males are now taking over female athletics.
In science, gender is defined by chromosomes. Humans have two sex chromosomes, the X and the Y. Females have two X chromosomes in their cells; males have X and a Y chromosomes in theirs. In modern society, however, science is being discarded and gender is considered “assigned” at birth and may be changed on a whim.
The newly remodeled area of the Lake Otis Elementary School is part of a nationwide trend to accommodate gender dysphoria, a growing cause of the Democratic Party. The restroom is in an area frequented by teachers and staff, and is not in the vicinity of the general student population, although may be used by students who request the privacy of the single-stall facility.
“The committee’s goal is to ensure the fund stays politically independent,” said Sen. Natasha von Imhof, as the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee voted unanimously to issue subpoenas to the entire board of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation.
Over the objection of the Department of Law, which said the committee was acting improperly and politically, the legislators also voted to subpoena four employees of the state-owned corporation and one person from the Department of Revenue.
Angela Rodell, hired to run the Permanent Fund Corporation in 2015, was fired by the board of the Permanent Fund Corporation on Dec. 9. Those close to the matter say her relationship with the board had deteriorated over the past few years. The corporation, which runs Alaska’s sovereign wealth fund, is an independently run agency whose board of trustees is appointed by governors on a staggered basis. On Dec. 9, the board voted nearly unanimously to fire Rodell immediately. Just one of the board members voted against her firing.
The Department of Law, in a letter to the committee, advised against the action the committee is taking, reminding the politicians that “Although the Trustees acted in conformance with law and based on their best judgment when they made the decision to dismiss Angela Rodell, sometimes personnel decisions are not popular either with the employee or with others who are not responsible for managing an organization. This has been the case with the dismissal of Ms. Rodell.”
The Department of Law stated that the Permanent Fund Board believes that the committee’s investigation exceeds its statutory and constitutional authority – and the manner in which the investigation has begun raises serious concerns about its fairness and impartiality. The trustees believe a third party is a more appropriate way to investigate its actions, rather than the political body of the Legislature.
The letter also pointed out that von Imhof is a personal friend of Rodell. “This delegation of subpoena power to one individual and its current use as a threat to APFC Trustees and employees has been made even more problematic because of a clear conflict of interest at the center of the Committee’s investigation,” the State’s letter continued.
“Given the circumstances, the Trustees want to provide a path forward that will permit APFC to continue operating without becoming embroiled in political and legal squabbles, while respecting the public interest in this employment decision. The Board proposes that an independent party, such as a retired judge, be retained to review the issues related to the Board’s decision, and to issue a report. We hope that the Committee will give this proposal serious consideration as the best approach in these circumstances,” the letter said.
Six Republican senators — including Sen. Lisa Murkowski — voted against an amendment on Tuesday that would have eliminated the position of director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a job currently held by Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul made the amendment that would replace NIAID with a trio of national research institutes.
In addition to a “no” vote from Murkowski, Republican Senators Richard Burr-N.C., Susan Collins-Maine, Bill Cassidy-La., Mitt Romney-Utah, and Jerry Moran-Kansas voted no.
Sen. Paul has been on a mission to get rid of Fauci, who has been the leading national expert on Covid-19 pandemic policy since he served in the Trump White House. He was retained under President Joe Biden and is deeply distrusted by conservatives.
Fauci has called for mask mandates, vaccine mandates, economic shutdowns, and the closing of schools due to the pandemic. At the same time, he was spotted mask-free at various public events and his pronouncements have been questioned by other experts.
“We’ve learned a lot over the past two years, but one lesson in particular is that no one person should be deemed dictator-in-chief.’ No one person should have unilateral authority to make decisions for millions of Americans,” said Sen. Paul, who is an eye surgeon. “To ensure that ineffective, unscientific lockdowns and mandates are never foisted on the American people ever again, I’ve introduced this amendment to eliminate Dr. Anthony Fauci’s position as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and divide his power into three separate new institutes. This will create accountability and oversight into a taxpayer funded position that has largely abused its power, and has been responsible for many failures and misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Paul noted that as recently as 2012, Congress passed a law that eliminated the National Center for Research Resources and reassigned some of its programs to a new National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, and assigned other NCRR functions to other institutes within NIH. His amendment follows that precedent of reorganization, and would immediately eliminate Dr. Fauci’s position and replace it with three new directors for:
National Institute of Allergic Diseases
National Institute of Infectious Diseases
National Institute of Immunologic Diseases
Each of these three institutes would be led by a director who is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate for a 5-year term.
You can read the amendment, which failed, at this link.
On Friday, the Alaska Supreme Court has scheduled three hearings on disputes over the Alaska Redistricting Board maps as they pertain to Valdez’s inclusion in a Matanuska-Susitna Borough district; the position of Skagway as it relates to Juneau-centric House districts; and the disposition of a Muldoon-Anchorage neighborhood as part of a primarily Eagle River Senate district.
The hearings begin at 9 am at the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage. They can be watched on the public broadcasting website at this link.The Supreme Court will issue a decision no later than April 1.
9 am – The proceedings will begin with the Alaska Redistricting Board’s petition for review regarding Senate District K, which is wha the new Eagle-River district is named. 30 minutes will be allowed for each side — the Redistricting Board and East Anchorage plaintiffs who are surrogates for the Alaska Democratic Party’s far left wing.
10:15 am – The hearing will take up Alaska Redistricting Board’s petition for review of a decision regarding House District 3 and 4-Juneau, Skagway’s mayor and at least one business leader don’t want to have his city linked with the contiguous north Juneau district, but wants to jump over the Mendenhall Valley and Auke Bay and instead be tied to the hipper downtown Juneau, although other leaders in Skagway are fine with the way the lines are drawn. 30 minutes will be allowed per side: Redistricting Board and Municipality of Skagway.
11:30 am – Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s and City of Valdez’s petitions for review regarding House Districts 29, 30, and 36 will have 40 minutes total for the Borough and City of Valdez (20 min each, absent different agreement); 40 minutes total for Redistricting Board, Doyon Native Corporation intervenors, and Calista Native Corporation parties, to divide by agreement.
Every 10 years the political boundaries are shifted to even out the population that is represented in the Alaska House and Senate. The redistricting process follows the completion of the U.S. Census, which was done late in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and was not made final until August of 2021, when the Alaska Redistricting Board took up the task of redrawing the House and Senate boundaries.
Assemblyman Chris Constant snarked over the phone that it was “a rare political win” for Mayor Dave Bronson, when it became evident that Junior Aumavae had the votes and the support of the room.
The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday night voted unanimously to confirm Aumavae as chief equity officer for the Municipality.
This, after earlier this week the Assembly drafted resolution that would have postponed his confirmation until after the April Anchorage elections and until after a court case relating to the position was settled.
It was unclear what changed the mind of the Assembly’s leftist majority. Many of them were wearing Polynesian leis, which were passed out by members of the Polynesian community on Tuesday night at the regularly scheduled Assembly meeting. The Loussac Library Assembly Chambers were packed with Aumavae supporters, and it may have become clear to some on the Assembly that their very re-elections hung on whether they confirmed the man who has already held the position for five months.
Assemblyman Felix Rivera pointed out that the sudden confirmation of Aumavae came without a confirmation hearing, but the sitting Assembly Chairwoman, Meg Zaletel, allowed the confirmation to proceed, against tradition and precedent. Rules were broken because it was a political decision to break them. Rivera, clearly unhappy to have to go along with the majority, asked that such a confirmation never happen again in that manner.
Assemblywoman Suzanne LaFrance did not rule over the meeting on Tuesday because she has isolated at home with a case of Covid. She called into the meeting, clearly feeling the effects of the virus. Also not attending in person was Assemblyman and Vice Chair Constant, who sounded inebriated, combative, and accusatory on the phone, calling in from Washington, D.C., where he is on a trip to advance his run for Congress. Assemblywomen Jamie Allard and Crystal Kennedy also called into the meeting.
The entire confirmation process took up at least an hour of the Assembly meeting, and Zaletel called for one five-minute break when people would not stop clapping for Aumavae.
The Assembly in 2020 created a position of chief equity officer, and the unelected Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson appointed Clifford Armstrong III just weeks before Bronson took over as mayor. By October, Bronson had fired Armstrong and hired Aumavae. That authority to fire someone on his staff is now being litigated, with the Assembly maintaining the mayor has no right to fire the person appointed to that position.
