Posted by Jeanne Devon on April 9, 2021 · 2 Comments
SHOW ME THE MONEY It’s budget time in Juneau, and we’re looking at a strange set of circumstances that is complicating the process. Weirdly, it’s a giant influx of cash! You were not expecting that, were you? Joe Biden’s amazing American Rescue Plan means Alaska will receive about $1.1 billion, plus hundreds of millions more for education from K-UA, tribes and local governments, and infrastructure projects. You’ll recall Sen. Murkowski, Sen. Sullivan, and Rep. Young all voted against this bill. Guess they are not interested in bringing home the bacon anymore. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Now, the Alaska House and Senate must determine how to legally invest the money for the greater good of all Alaskans. Thankfully, there…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Anchorage Assembly, Anchorage Mayoral Race, Anchorage School Board, Bill Wielechowski, Education, Elections, Fairbanks, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Headlines, Lisa Murkowski, Mike Dunleavy, Municipality of Anchorage, Ohio Dan Sullivan, Republicans, Second Amendment, Sen. Bill Wielechowski, Sen. Lora Reinbold, TALL Tales from Juneau, Voting · Tags Alaska SB39, American Rescue Plan, Felix Rivera, ghost guns, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Joe Biden, Lisa Murkowski, Rep. Don Young, Rep. Ivy Spohnholz, Sen. Lora Reinbold, Sen. Mike Shower
Posted by Jeanne Devon on April 6, 2021 · Leave a Comment
TODAY IS THE DAY! If you’re in the Anchorage Municipality, don’t say we didn’t tell you this one is important! You get to decide whether Anchorage has a responsible, decent mayor or a homophobic Alaska Family Council homeless-hating right winger. (yikes!) You also get to decide whether you get thoughtful, intelligent school board members, or ones who joke about corporal punishment and obsess about racism not existing on their social media posts. And if you’re in Midtown you get to pick between keeping Felix Rivera, a caring hard-working Assembly Chair, or letting a bunch of Q-azy, anti-masking, storm-the-Assembly-chambers wackos turn out to vote…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Anchorage Assembly, Anchorage Mayoral Race, Anchorage School Board, Education, Elections, Fairbanks, Headlines, Homelessness, Sarah Palin, Sen. Bill Wielechowski, Sen. Lora Reinbold, TALL Tales from Juneau, Voting · Tags Anchorage Assembly, Bill Wielechowski, Felix Rivera, Ivy Spohnholz, Kelly Tshibaka, Kevin McCabe, Lora Reinbold, Mat-Su Moms, Sarah Palin, Suzanne Downing
Posted by Jeanne Devon on March 26, 2021 · Leave a Comment
“IT’S UNBELIEVABLE” This is perhaps the best way to sum up the confirmation hearing for Alaska’s third Attorney General under Gov. Mike Dunleavy held in the Senate Judiciary Committee this week – a post from the Chair herself. Reinbold, unsurprisingly, spent the bulk of the time complaining about having to follow rules, “drilling down” on the nominee’s opinion on separation of powers, the executive branch overreaching on civil liberties, and the governor’s mandates on “cloth face coverings” in government buildings. “As you know in the building we have negative tests but we still have to wear these,” she said. And…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Anchorage Mayoral Race, Anchorage School Board, Elections, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Headlines, Mike Dunleavy, Municipality of Anchorage, Republicans, Sen. Lora Reinbold, TALL Tales from Juneau, Voting · Tags Ben Stevens, Dave Bronson, Dermot Cole, Ed Sniffen, Judy Eledge, Kelly Lessens School Board, Kelly Tshibaka, Kevin Clarkson, Pat Higgins School Board, Sen. Lora Reinbold, Sen. Mike Shower, Sen. Shelley Hughes, Tiffany Zulkosky, Treg Taylor
Posted by Jeanne Devon on March 19, 2021 · Leave a Comment
No, it’s not a sketchy Irish law firm – it’s this week in the Alaska State Legislature. THE BUDGET LOOMS It’s that time in the legislative session, when all the budget subcommittees that take on little bite-sized pieces of the big budget and make recommendations, are starting to wind down. Soon all those little pieces will reconnect and we’ll be on to the next phase. But for right now, part of the draft budget includes a controversial line item we’ve been keeping our eye on. Remember a few weeks ago when there was a hearing about the Dunleavy administration’s move…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Ethics, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Headlines, Republicans, Sen. Lora Reinbold, Skulduggery · Tags Governor Mike Dunleavy, Rep. Andy Josephson, Rep. Christopher Kurka, Senator Jesse Kiehl, Senator Lora Reinbold, Senator Mike Shower, Senator Shelley Hughes
Posted by Jeanne Devon on March 12, 2021 · Leave a Comment
Welcome to the theater of the absurd. If you’re getting tired of watching Alaska Senator Lora Reinbold’s middle school “you’re not the boss of me” antics, you’re not alone. Even her fellow Republican Senators have had enough – and they’re the ones who thought she’d be just swell as part of their “Caucus of Equals,” and installed her as the chair of the powerful Judiciary Committee. Because what could possibly go wrong? Should we still be talking about this? No. Does Sen. Reinbold (R-Eagle River) make that impossible? Yes. Since the CDC-compliant mask mandate went into place at the Capitol, Reinbold has been wearing…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Legislature, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Headlines, Health, Mike Dunleavy, Republicans, Sen. Lora Reinbold, TALL Tales from Juneau, Whackjobbery · Tags Alaska mask conspiracy, Governor Mike Dunleavy, Senator Gary Stevens, Senator Lora Reinbold, Senator Peter Micchiche
Posted by Jeanne Devon on January 29, 2021 · 1 Comment
NO ROOM FOR NAZIS The good news is that the actual Nazi apologist on the Alaska Human Rights Commission was removed. Gov. Dunleavy felt that her defense of Nazi phrases was… “distracting.” I think the word he was looking for was “wrong” or “abhorrent.” But regardless, Anchorage Assembly Member Jamie Allard is off the commission even though she still sits on the Anchorage Assembly. Tuesday night, when Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson addressed the chamber saying we must speak out forcefully against Nazism and hate, she was booed by a contingent of Allard fans in the audience. It’s irrelevant what your political party is, when…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Bill Wielechowski, Election 2020, Elections, Headlines, Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, Mike Dunleavy, Rural Issues, Sarah Palin, Sen. Bill Wielechowski, Sen. Lora Reinbold, Voting · Tags Alaska voter suppression, Austin Quinn-Davidson, Chris Tuck, Jamie Allard, Lora Reinbold, Mike Dunleavy, scott kawasaki
Posted by Jeanne Devon on November 21, 2020 · 2 Comments
THE BIG BREAKDOWN It took two weeks, but at last we have the final numbers in Alaska’s 2020 election! We can officially say that in 2020, Alaska had more voters turn out than in any other election ever. That’s something! It’s also worthy of note that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won in Anchorage, and performed better statewide than any presidential ticket since Lyndon Johnson! That means Democrats were motivated, showed up, and are a larger force in the state than ever before. The final was 42.8 Biden/Harris to 52.8 Trump/Pence. The state we match most closely with is Iowa,…
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Category Alaska, Alaska House Race, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Alaska Senate Race, Don Young, Election 2020, Elections, Headlines, Joe Biden, Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, Nation, Ohio Dan Sullivan, Oil & Gas, SB21, Sean Parnell, TALL Tales from Juneau, Trump · Tags Alaska election 2020, Alaska elections, Alaska Joe Biden, Alaska Kamala Harris, Alaska state races
Posted by Jeanne Devon on October 30, 2020 · Leave a Comment
DAVID NELSON (Yes, him again) So, hang on just a second… how long HAS David Nelson lived in the district he’s running in? Good question. The rules are very specific – you have to live in your district for a minimum of one year from when you file to run. Nelson filed on February 27, 2020, which means he had to have resided in HD15 since February 27, 2019. On his own Facebook page he says he moved to Muldoon when he got a job on JBER… in December, 2019. Here’s a handy infographic with images from his own…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Election 2020, Elections, Ethics, Headlines, Lisa Murkowski, Ohio Dan Sullivan, Sarah Palin, TALL Tales from Juneau, Voting · Tags David Nelson for House, Lyn Franks for House, Sara Rasmussen, Sen. Dan Sullivan, Sue Levi, Tom McKay for House
Posted by Jeanne Devon on October 22, 2020 · Leave a Comment
Goodness knows, Alaska is a veritable banquet table of bad Republican entrees this cycle. But we think we may have found the worst – the Jell-O salad with liverwurst of candidates. David Nelson May Be the Worst Candidate Ever Just have to say. This 23-year old recent Florida transplant, who has lived in the district the exact minimum amount of time necessary to run for office, is lacking in just about everything but gall. Let’s start here: Lying about military service The Official Election Pamphlet (OEP) is mailed out by the Division of Elections before every election and includes information…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Legislature, Alaska politics, Election 2020, Elections, Headlines, Republicans, TALL Tales from Juneau, Voting · Tags Dan Sullivan, Dan Sullivan China, David Nelson, Dr. Liz Snyder, House District 15, JBER, Koch Brothers, Lance Pruitt, Lyn Franks, muldoon, National Guard Alaska, Republic Powdered Metal
Posted by Jeanne Devon on October 10, 2020 · Leave a Comment
YOU DON’T WANNA BE LIKE MIKE It’s one thing when the “I wanna be like Trump” Governor decides (hours after telling Alaskans to mask up and keep their social bubble small) to show up at a swanky cocktail party fundraiser on the Anchorage Hillside. But it’s another level of irony to be outed by the bumbling ineptitude of your own propagandist. Dunleavy’s blogger, Suzanne Downing/Must Read Alaska, begins this weird video foray into the underground world of unsanitary Republican fundraisers by looking at the sunset and musing, “An orange, orange view for an orange president… although he looked a little…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Election 2020, Elections, Headlines, Mike Dunleavy, Ohio Dan Sullivan, Rallies and Events, TALL Tales from Juneau · Tags Bart LeBon, Bart LeBon for House, Bill Johnson for House, David Nelson for House, George Rauscher, Governor Mike Dunleavy, James Kauffman for House, Leslie Becker for House, Mel Gillis for House, Sen. Dan Sullivan, Steve Thompson, Steve Thompson for House