Rally at Tonight’s Assembly Meeting
At some point, Anchorage residents are going to believe Mayor Dan Sullivan when he tells them who he is. At five minutes before quitting time on Friday afternoon, Mr. Mayor decided he’d tell municipal employees that the very next Tuesday, the Anchorage Assembly was going to be taking a vote to freeze their pay and benefits. Forever. Yes, forever. Not only that, they’d be deciding whether to gut their collective bargaining rights. And guess when these employees who were notified at 4:55pm on Friday were told they could meet to learn all about these huge changes to their jobs? 8am…
‘Crock of Shit Gate’ Latest Developments
The legislature is in full swing, things are heating up in Juneau, and the emails are flying. But one recent email in particular has painted the office of boorish lout, Speaker of the House Mike Chenault, in a particularly boorish, loutish, light. Go figure. Picture if you will, the lovely and hard-working Sheri Pierce, City Clerk for Valdez ,Alaska, sitting in her office one morning. She’s clerking away for her fine city, fires up the computer, takes a sip of coffee, and sees something in the in-box. Look, it’s an email from Rep. Mike Chenault! She clicks on the email,…
Sullivan’s War on Unions
Inspired, no doubt, by the biggest asshat governor in the nation, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, our own smaller version, Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan has fired the first shot across the bow of the working men and women of Alaska. Alaska has the second highest union density of any state in the country, topped only by New York. But that seems to be irrelevant to Sullivan who may have his sights on a US Senate run in 2014. Sullivan trails Senator Mark Begich in a Public Policy Poll done at the end of January by only 6 points (47/41). If that’s…
Alaskans Gone Wild – Say No to Frankenfish!
(Insert Jaws theme here) The Frankenfish is coming! Unless we all speak up… The push to introduce a genetically-modified, farmed Atlantic-Pacific-Salmon-Eel hybrid into the marketplace continues, but we have time to stop it. Alaska’s entire congressional delegation is all on our side on this one, so no excuse to call it a “partisan political issue.” This is about Alaska’s greatest sustainable treasure, our wild and wonderful salmon. The FDA has already issued a draft Environmental Assessment with a finding that genetically modified Atlantic salmon caused no significant environmental impact. Really? Sorry, FDA. Alaskans are smarter than that. We know that contamination…
Gov Kills Palin’s Climate Change Sub-Cabinet
Here’s another reason why Sarah Palin was a better governor than Sean Parnell. (SPOILER ALERT: He killed an entire sub-cabinet, and never bothered to tell the public) Remember that special group Palin created to address the warming of Alaska due to climate change, and the threats this poses to Alaska’s coastal communities? It’s easy to forget, but it was 2007 when the Palin administration created that group, after she expressed her concern over the unwelcome changes that global warming was bringing to the state. They even had an “Immediate Action Plan” for the most at-risk from sea level rise, loss…
Parnell Dumps Citizens’ Initiative Overboard
This just in from the Alaska Democratic Party. Republicans overthrowing the will of the people to serve their own self-interest and that of their corporate donors? I’m shocked. Shocked, I say. Today House Republicans passed Gov. Parnell’s bill to allow discharge of sewage and untreated wastewater in Alaska waters, repealing a provision of the 2006 citizen initiative that protected Alaskans’ health and state fisheries. Parnell’s bill would allow the release approximately 1,064,448,000 gallons of sewage and wastewater into Alaska state waters every year. Republicans rejected Democratic amendments which would have required disclosure of the location of sewage discharges and protected…
Senate 2014 – Begich v. Palin?!
Here’s a little bright spot for Alaska Democrats. I know, right? How often to you hear THAT? Harper Polling, a Republican-leaning outfit, has done a survey in Alaska of 1157 likely voters. They asked about hypothetical match-ups in the 2014 senate race, in which giddy Republicans are lining up to take on freshman Democratic Senator Mark Begich. The poll was taken on January 29 – 30. After Begich’s narrow win in 2008 over Senator Ted Stevens, who at the time was a 7-time convicted felon, the right has had their knickers in a twist over the “illegitimacy” of Begich’s win….
Oyster Roundup! Mush, Mountains & Miscreants
~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more! We’ve got irons in the fire, and as one of our editors put it, “enough on our plates to feed a third world country.” So enjoy a platter of newsy sliders to tide you over until we get back into full swing this weekend. Mush and Track The Yukon Quest 1,000 mile international sled dog race starts on Saturday in Whitehorse, Yukon. It’s a tough field this year, and fans are gearing up for what should be an exciting competition. It will be easier to track…
It’s Splitsville for Palin and Fox
No more fireside chats from big echo-ey rooms. No more standing by Lake Lu-sill shrieking over the wind while trying to keep the hair piece on. No more fake mountain backdrops hung in the studio/garage. It’s confirmed. Sarah Palin is no longer working for Fox News, sources close to the network’s now former spokeswig confirm. Palin, of course, says that she turned down their new contract offer. Fox merely “wished her the best with her future endeavors.” Now that she is being defined in the national conversation mostly in terms of her own irrelevance, we can assume the offer was considerably…
Guess Who Came to the Office?
Sorry. Didn’t mean to alarm you. No, this is not a clever photoshop job. “You never know who will stop by the office,” was the status update accompanying this photo on Senator Mark Begich’s Facebook page. It seems that former Republican nominee for US Senate Joe Miller (right), and his wife Kathleen happened to be in DC, and stopped by the Senator’s office. It wasn’t to discuss a potential contest between the two for Senate in 2014, but something of a more personal nature. The Millers’ son Jacob was nominated to the US Military Academy at West Point. Mr. Miller…