Putting the goober in gubernatorial
POLITICAL THEATER Oh, fantasy! I love that genre! This week’s big dose of live entertainment fiction was Governor Dunleavy’s State of the State address, and thank goodness we didn’t have to pay for a ticket. The state of the state, (often referred to as the SoS) was an SOS indeed, and was met by those who’ve been in the thick of the Dunleavy disaster with slack jaws and utter disbelief. Dunleavy apparently believes that Alaskans have the long-term memory of a goldfish and have completely forgotten the first three years of his administration and the vital state services he fought…
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,…
Mayor Pulls Security AND Spit Guard
THREE CHEERS FOR FAIRBANKS! Before we dive in to the usual shenanigans from the local to the federal level, let’s all take a moment to marvel at what just happened in Fairbanks and take a look at the faces that will grace the Borough Assembly and the School Board. Some will return, others are new, but all were enthusiastically supported by the Interior Democrats! At a time when the importance of rational local governance and local elections have never been more plain to see (more on that later), Fairbanks rallied the community with great candidates, solid plans and policies, hard-working…
GOP “leadership” & Alaska’s COVID catastrophe
NOT THAT SPECIAL Welp. Another special session has come to a close, with the legislature settling on an $1100 PFD – pretty much the same as we’ve had for years and no thanks to the governor who could have had this outcome long ago, but in an interesting choice vetoed the PFD down to nothing, and started the process all over again. It was actually a nail-biter for a second and it looked like Alaskans might have no PFD at ALL. But we drove back from the edge of that cliff. There will be no veto this time, but before you think…
The Good, the Bad, & the Beginning of the End
NO BY PROXY Remember a few months ago when an angry rioting mob stormed the Capitol in Washington D.C. armed with bear spray, flag poles, baseball bats, and other assorted weaponry and tried to hunt down members of Congress, and overthrow a legal democratic election? Apparently some members of Congress would like to just gloss that over. Last week the House of Representatives voted 252-175 to create a bipartisan committee to investigate how that happened and what we ought to do about it. 35 Republicans voted for it. Don Young was not one of them. Don Young has missed 14.2% of roll…
Alaska Politicians Exposed – Stooges, Shills & Shenanigans
TALL TALES from Juneau and the DC Debacle AND IT’S ALLLL ON TAPE Sometimes you know things, but it’s nice to have them proven right out loud, through dramatic and surreptitious means. Such is the case with the immediately infamous “Pebble tapes.” If you haven’t heard them, make yourself a beverage and get ready to be a fly on the wall as your beautiful state and all its salmon get sold down the river (not the beautiful blue Nushagak of today – the contaminated, cyanide-filled Nushagak of tomorrow). We now know what our elected Republican leadership thinks of us,…
The COVID Caucus Out on the Town
ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE Let’s start off with a little Facebook gem from Rep. Steve Thompson (R-Fairbanks). It takes a look at the sunny side of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hey, you guys… Don’t think of it as 168,000 dead Americans – think of how many Americans are still alive! Considering that any day now, COVID-19 is going to be the third leading cause of death in the United States, it’s hard not to wonder when Rep. Thompson will stop thinking that the “panic is out of control.” And if you google Rep. Steve Thompson, here’s his weirdly ironic…
Hey, Alaska! Stop being Big Oil’s Giving Tree.
TALL TALES from Juneau Eyes on the Dunleavy/Babcock administration THE END OF THE ROAD -ish SINE DIE The first of at least two legislative special sessions is over. They have gaveled out “sine die” which is Latin for “without day,” meaning “without assigning a day for a further meeting or hearing.” Most people pronounce it “SY-nee DIE” which is completely wrong. If you want to impress your friends at a post-special session barbecue or cocktail party this weekend you can tell them it’s actually “SIN-uh DEE-uh.” So, now that we’ve got our obscure procedural Latin phrases in order, here’s…
Governor’s Appointments – Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down
TALL TALES from Juneau Eyes on the Dunleavy/Babcock administration The Governor’s appointments and how they went down THUMBS UP/THUMBS DOWN Well, that was a whopper. The governor’s appointees to commissioner positions and to boards and commissions were up for confirmation yesterday, and the joint floor session with members of the House and Senate took 7 hours and 48 minutes to wind up. At the end, all of the governor’s picks for Commissioner positions (even the most controversial) were passed with a majority of votes, but 6 appointees to the many boards and commissions in the state were rejected. And…
Governor/Koch Brothers’ Roadshow Ends. Alaska Shows Up.
TALL TALES from Juneau Eyes on the Dunleavy/Babcock Administration The End of the Road(show) That’s all, folks! The Dunleavy/Americans for Prosperity/Koch brothers’ roadshow hit the end of the road. Let’s just say it didn’t go quite as the sponsors or the governor had hoped. After a giant protest and a RECALL DUNLEAVY banner in Anchorage, and a schooling in civic engagement in Nome, the roadshow had its final stops in Fairbanks and Wasilla. There were notably zero stops in Southeast where the governor plans to gut the Marine Highway system. THE ROAD SHOW, FAIRBANKS – THE 400 Fairbanks was having…