‘Full of madness!’
SEVEN LEGISLATORS ATTEND COVID DISINFORMATION PARTY The site of the latest COVID disinformation campaign was not the Anchorage Assembly chambers this time. The usual crew of maskless testifiers, along with their de facto leader, Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, migrated to Change Point, a local conservative mega-church, to listen to speakers who disagree with the vast majority of medical providers and science. The event had been hyped as featuring a “Mystery Guest” who turned out to be the Mayor himself. Greeted with cheers by those who’d arrived to hear about how vaccines are bioweapons designed to alter your genes, Bronson made the…
Alaska Lemming Caucus Over the Edge
This has been a difficult week for many Alaskans. So much uncertainty as 10,000 pink slips go to our friends and neighbors working for the state. Fairbanks Sen. Pete Kelly argues they aren’t pink slips, because there’s an “if” in them, as in “You’re not laid off if a handful of senators get their poop together.” Of course, we know there’s no chance Pete and his collaborators will get their poop together. Instead of pink slips, people online are calling them “Pete slips.” Our current legislative crisis is the handiwork of a small cabal of senators who refuse to compromise their misguided ideology. The…
Jeanne Devon on The Attitude w/ Arnie Arnesen
Thanks so much to Susan Bruce, and Arnie Arnesen for inviting me to appear on The Attitude, – home station WNHN in Concord, New Hampshire, and podcasted to the universe. The governor’s race in Alaska is gaining traction in media outlets across the country, and we had a fascinating discussion with our friends in the east about the Alaska Unity Ticket for governor with Bill Walker (I) and Byron Mallott (D), how we got to that place, political compromise and sacrifice, and the future of non-partisanship in politics. I think you’ll enjoy the conversation. Start listening at 27:15 so you…
The Silver Lining on Prop 1
Congratulations, Alaska! Thirty-one percent of registered voters decided for 100 percent of us what is “best for Alaska” in an election this week. Last week I knew we were in trouble when employees of oil companies were bussed to the early polls. Buses with gift baskets and snacks. Must be nice. The election worker balked when I asked for a Republican ballot. I smiled. I voted. Voting early on Tuesday, I drove into town and kept seeing signs made of bed sheets on the overpasses. One in particular got to me. It was the eight gold stars with “Vote Yes”…
Primary Post Mortem
Alaska’s primary election night is over, but the election itself is not quite done. About 14,000 absentee ballots remain to be counted, and the final results will not be known for days. That said, it will be a tough hill to climb for the passage of Ballot Measure 1, which would reinstate the ACES oil tax system put in place by former Governor Sarah Palin and a bipartisan coalition in the Alaska legislature. Sean Parnell, former ConocoPhillips lawyer and lobbyist, and Palin’s former Lt. Governor dismantled ACES with Senate Bill 21 which would give billions from Alaska’s treasury to the…
Election Central Live Blog
9:15pm Ok, Mudflatters… I’m martinied (is that a word) up, and here at Election Central. There’s a decent crowd and the first returns are coming in. I’ll report on the Republican Senate race and Prop 1, and anything else that is a surprise. Right now, the first numbers have come up on the big board: Sullivan – 39% Miller – 33% Treadwell – 23% Prop 1 Yes 50.01 No 49.9 Miller has a better showing than people expected. But, he did that last time. A 6 point margin can be made up in the remaining precincts. Prop 1 is an…
Corporate Greed vs. Bedsheets
We’ve been and will be advocating really hard through today for what is a very Alaska specific issue, albeit one which illustrates the larger, nationwide problem of unrestrained corporate power exerting itself at the expense of school children, retirees, a decent infrastructure, and the basic services on which people in a civilized society depend. We‘ve been heavily outspent, with Exxon, BP, Conoco and their lobbyists dropping $15mil on a very small population. The two deciding votes in our legislature for the corporate welfare bill known as SB21 are both on the payroll of—as in employed by—Conoco Phillips. Our governor is an…
Awkward Kid Explains Oil Taxes
Totally confused by Prop 1 on Tuesday’s ballot, or just want to see an awkward kid totally own the oil companies. Either way, here’s a coffee break treat! We love this kid. And this video (especially the sign part). The oil companies have spent millions of dollars to confuse you, and make you think it’s all just sooooo complicated. It’s actually not that hard to figure this whole thing out. This kid sure did. The numbers are close, Alaskans. And to keep from sending our treasury to big fancy glass offices in Houston, and London, we need to do one…
Oil Companies Deceive and Divide Us
I listened to a public radio story this week about Anchorage neighbors and their sign war. They are friends who trade snow plowing for boat storage space, but can’t talk about the most important vote for Alaskans in my lifetime. Instead they keep making their signs taller and bigger. Another woman had her “Yes on One” sign burned in her yard and a “No” one put beside it. I have friends who are on their fifth “Yes” sign because they keep disappearing. That’s what millions of dollars have bought, and brought to our state. Sign wars – millions of dollars…
BREAKING: Guy Smarter Than Big Oil
The oil tax bill SB21 (paid for by BP, ConocoPhillips, and Exxon) is designed for “Alaska’s future” (according to BP, ConocoPhillips, and Exxon). Here’s what Alaska’s future has to say about it. This guy gets it. And he is awesome.