Dunleavy urges anti-vaxx cops to come to Alaska
MURKOWSKI AND SULLIVAN VOTE NO ON VOTER PROTECTION
Both of Alaska’s Republican Senators decided to take a ball-peen hammer to the knees of democracy this week. It’s not surprising, but it’s disappointing. As the U.S. Congress weighs the heavy topic of the sustainability of our very democracy, Murkowski and Sullivan aren’t even pretending to care about voting rights – the foundation of everything. They didn’t vote against anything in particular, mind you, they voted to filibuster the entire Freedom to Vote Act. They don’t even want the subject to come up for debate.
They have abused the filibuster to harm democracy, and benefit their own party. They tell us *exactly* who they are, and do exactly what Mitch McConnell tells them to do. This is not the way a representative democracy works.
Trying to consolidate the power of the vote to only those you think will vote for you, and restricting the right and ability to vote for those you think will vote for Democrats is foreshadowing some very dark times. As our country is sliding down the slope of authoritarianism, Murkowski and Sullivan have shown us where they stand. And it’s not with Alaskans or the American people.
And let’s not forget about Don Young this week. Alaska’s lone Congressman just voted NOT to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Which brings us to the next question.
WHO’S RUNNING?!
Wonder who’s running as a Democrat for Senate and U.S. Representative? We get that question a lot, and we know it’s tough to be patient. But know that we’re working behind the scenes fitting Democrats into the best seats, waiting for redistricting maps to be finalized, and doing all the prep work behind the scenes to run successful races. But if you want to encourage things along, here’s something you can do.
First – does the thought of having State Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson representing Alaska in the U.S. Senate excite you? We have reasons to believe with the right candidate, this is a winnable race for Democrats, FINALLY! Just think of it… A Senator who doesn’t bob and weave, no tiptoeing around positions, no more equivocating and backtracking, no being “concerned” and then doing the wrong thing. No more being Charlie Brown while our Senator is Lucy with the football.
Elvi is solid. She’s decisive. She says what she means and means what she says. She believes in people, and that they deserve a leader not someone who licks their finger after every question to see which way the wind is blowing. She’s a rock, she’s whip smart, and she works really hard. AND, she’s thinking about running for U.S. Senate.
If you support Elvi, and you want her to run, and you want to be in the loop, click HERE and sign up to get the news!
DAVE BRONSON IS WRONG AGAIN
Contrary to what’s happening in the right-wing echo chamber headed by the Anchorage Mayor, droves of Anchorage doctors and nurses are NOT, in fact, quitting their jobs because their FreedomLiberty™ is being trampled by the TyrannicalLeftists™ running the hospitals.
As a matter of fact, Providence Hospital and Alaska Native Medical Center are reporting over 98% participation for vaccine requirements.
From The Anchorage Daily News:Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, who has publicly stated his opposition to hospital vaccine requirements, in an interview last month said he believed up to 20% to 30% of employees would lose their jobs over their opposition to vaccination requirements at hospitals such as Providence and Alaska Native Medical Center.Bronson cited anecdotal evidence, including news reports of staff resigning in other states over vaccine mandates as well as testimony during an invitation-only listening session for health care workers opposed to mandates hosted by Assembly member Jamie Allard. Municipal human resources director Niki Tshibaka triggered a standing ovation at one point when he asked if the crowd opposed mandates.
Pro Tip: Getting your data by listening to right-wing news reports, anecdotes, Jamie Allard, and an invitation-only listening session of vaccine conspiracy nuts may not yield the most accurate results.
In other Bronson news this week, Bronson’s campaign volunteer who got appointed as Director of Boards and Commissions calls pro-mask Assembly members “criminals.” You can read about that at The Blue Alaskan HERE. I guess when Bronson asked people to “turn down the heat” he wasn’t talking to his own people.
HMMM…THAT GUY ON THE RIGHT LOOKS FAMILIAR
Hey isn’t that the guy who showed up on ‘Storm the Capitol and Overturn the Election Day,’ and blamed it on ANTIFA? The guy who showed up in Maricopa County to get a personal tour of the secret watermarks and bamboo fibers that would prove election fraud, the one who fanboyed all over the Pillow Guy at his marathon conference where there would be irrefutable evidence that Trump is still President? Yep, that would be Rep. David Eastman of Wasilla.
This time he’s in the news because he’s one of the 28 elected officials in the country who is a registered (Lifetime!) member of Oathkeepers, the militant extremist group that figured heavily in the January 6 violent attack on the Capitol. Many of the other electeds have backed away, or said they relinquished involvement some time ago. But not Eastman.”Eastman, on the other hand, is happy to discuss his affiliation with the group. An Army veteran and West Point graduate, he was formally reprimanded by the Alaska legislature early in his first term for claiming that “poor women in rural Alaskan villages” intentionally got pregnant so they could get free trips to Anchorage or Seattle for abortions. Last month he made headlines again for apparently comparing President Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler and the COVID-19 vaccine to Nazi experimentation on Jews and others held in concentration camps.”He has not previously been identified as an Oath Keeper, but in written responses to inquiries from BuzzFeed News, the Republican legislator said he’d joined the group ‘when it first started’ and that he ‘will always consider it a privilege to stand with those in the military and first responders who strive to keep their oaths to the Constitution.’”
I guess “striving to keep their oaths to the Constitution” involves attempting to block the peaceful transfer of power that assures the continuation of representative democracy? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You can read the article about the hack/leak and revelations at BuzzFeed HERE.
THE NUMBERS CAME HOME TO ROOST
This is the ‘we told you so’ that we never wanted to have.
In an interview with Alaska Public Media, Governor Mike Dunleavy reiterated that he will not endorse mask or vaccine mandates. A few weeks ago during a press conference, he touted Alaska’s death rate per capita as one of the lowest in the nation to justify that Alaska was doing well, despite the desperate pleas from hospital staff saying that they were having to make life and death decisions because not all patients were able to receive care.
He was still at it recently. Here’s what Dunleavy said on October 15.
Dunleavy: We still have the fourth-lowest death rate per capita. We did have the third. Forty-six other states have done worse. It’s a tough one, to say that when somebody dies, ‘Are we doing good?’ Our hospitals are holding, they have assistance. None of what we’re seeing is unnecessarily unanticipated. And I would say that we’re hanging in there, and we’ll get through this.
We pointed out last month that Dunleavy’s “low death rate” claim wouldn’t hold up for long. Not only did we have a known lag in reporting deaths from over the summer (which the governor knew about), but the spike in positive cases that were happening right when Dunleavy was choosing death rate as his benchmark, would inevitably lead to a spike in deaths down the road.
We are now down the road.
On Tuesday, four days after Dunleavy’s brag, Alaska shot up the charts in a very bad way.
Alaska ranks #1 in COVID cases.
Alaska ranks #3 in deaths (not #47 as the governor said)
And we are #7 in hospitalizations with a mere 12 staffed ICU beds in the state, only two of which are in Anchorage where half the state’s population lives.
We are not “hanging in there,” we are in free fall. And the stubborn refusal of the governor and his Republican cohorts to push for policies that work instead of pandering to their political base is negligent, and literally comes at the cost of Alaskans’ lives.
COULD THIS BE A NEW LOW?
Hang on because it just keeps going. It’s hard to say anymore with so many “lows” under his belt if the governor has hit bottom. But bearing in mind what you just read up there ^^, this appeared on Twitter Thursday morning in response to an article from the Chicago Tribune talking about police officers who refuse to be vaccinated.
Yes, you read that right. As covid surges in Alaska, Mike Dunleavy is trying to poach police officers from across the nation from the pool who refuse to take the minimum basic step to keep themselves and their communities safe. And he wants them all to come work here. It should be noted that the biggest cause of death for police officers last year was, you guessed it… COVID. A staggering 65% of officers’ deaths were attributed to the disease.
The governor isn’t using the power of his platform to urge OUR police and first responders to get vaccinated so they stay safe and don’t infect others, he’s bragging about NOT doing it and trying to increase the ranks of the unvaccinated among law enforcement.
Remember the Gov. Mike Dunleavy of last summer who made a tourism commercial boasting that “Having one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, our people are safe and you will be too!” You can rewatch that “didn’t age well” commercial HERE.
Rep. Liz Snyder (D-Anchorage) said it best.
NO MORE DOUBLE DIPPING?
And as the state burns, Dunleavy is off campaigning for reelection so he can do to us for another four years what he’s been doing for the last three. This invite went out for his kick-off campaign in Fairbanks this week.
Look again… No Dunleavy commissioners as co-sponsors like lastt time? No stealth “cabinet meeting” at Pike’s Lodge? It just goes to show that when you throw yourself a party, the guest list is a lot smaller when you’re not paying people to attend.
The governor must not have enjoyed everyone noticing half his administration went on a jaunt to Kenai last month for a coincidental roving “cabinet meeting” where Dunleavy did his Peninsula campaign kickoff for the election in 2022. “It’s so weird! We were going to have a cabinet meeting in Soldotna ANYWAY!” Riiiight. You can read more on that HERE.
Interestingly, the name of Lt. Governor Kevin Meyer appears. Dunleavy all but said he’d be dropping Meyer like a bag o’ dirt as soon as he could find someone else to replace him on the ticket. The new rules overhauling election law instituted by Ballot Measure 2 means that Governors and their Lt. Governors now run on the same ticket. Dunleavy and Meyer ran and won on separate tickets in 2018. Looks like the lite gov is hanging in there for now, but stay tuned.
A HAPPY NOTE!
Not one, but TWO pieces of good news for Alaskans from the Biden administration to finish us out:
1) Last week, the most recent in a series of child tax credit checks were sent to Alaskans. The child tax credit isn’t new, but President Biden expanded it and also ensured it was sent out monthly instead of making families wait until tax time. This means kids can get what they need when they need it, it reduces the use of predatory payday loans that bilk users for outrageous interest rates, and families are less likely to be living paycheck to paycheck. Here’s how the stats play out for Alaska.
***Both Senator Lisa Murkowski, and Dan Sullivan voted against the American Recovery Act that ensured this critical relief for Alaska families.
2) If you live in Fairbanks, North Pole, King Salmon, Dillingham, Moose Creek, Gustavus, Yakutat, or any of the little glowing green dots on this map, you’ll be glad to know that the Biden administration has your back.
Instead of delays and sweeping matters under the rug, the President this week laid out a roadmap for dealing with toxic carcinogenic PFAS chemicals (known as ‘forever chemicals’ because they are retained and stored in the human body for long periods of time). In Alaska PFAS problems are most commonly associated with firefighting foam, and contaminate ground water, soil, and local food. You can read about what’s happening HERE.
This article was reposted with permission from the Alaska Democratic Party.