Pozonsky-Gate Demands Answers
I hate messy breakups, and boy did we have one this week. Former Pennsylvania Judge Paul Pozonsky resigned as a workers’ compensation hearing officer for the State of Alaska Thursday, just days after I started asking exactly how he got hired. Pozonsky apparently got the job after a closed application process was reopened just long enough for him to apply. For some reason, the fact that the former judge was under investigation by a Pennsylvania grand jury for ordering the destruction of evidence in 17 court cases, and that he resigned from the job last June after being stripped of…
Parnell Hiring Scandal leads back to Dyson, Kopp, Palin
Chuck Kopp, Chief of Staff to Republican State Senator Fred Dyson, and a two-week Palin administration official, dismissed over a sex scandal is now at the center of another firestorm – the controversial hiring of his brother-in-law Paul Pozonsky by the Parnell administration. Pozonsky, a Pennsylvania judge under investigation for destroying evidence (including crack cocaine and cash) in 17 criminal cases was hired by the Parnell administration as an Alaska hearings officer. He was given the job despite his late application, the fact that the current investigation has stripped him of his ability to hear cases, and that he was…
Connecting the Dots from PA to AK
~Paul Pozonsky, right I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. When someone does something that looks bad, I usually assume incompetence rather than conspiracy. That said, follow along with me and see what you make of this. The job of Hearing Officer for the state of Alaska is a pretty important job. In other states, hearing officers are called judges and wear black robes. Talis Colberg, a former Alaska attorney general, went on to serve as a Hearing Officer for the Department of Labor after leaving the AG job. Hearing Officers decide the fates of Alaskans every…
Twinkie’s Last Stand?
The last Twinkie rolled off the Hostess assembly line this past Friday after labor negotiations broke down, resulting in a work stoppage by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union which affected nearly two-thirds of Hostess’s factories across the country. Hostess responded by closing up shop on three factories and giving the workers until Thursday to return to work. It didn’t happen. The company is blaming the union saying that they can’t afford to keep going. The union is blaming the company and poor financial and operational management, noting that there were some pretty sweet pay increases for…
Post Election Grief from “That Guy”
We’ve seen all kinds of wailing, and sobbing, and rending of garments since Tuesday’s Presidential election. We witnessed Karl Rove’s own mental denial of service attack on Fox News, and we’ve seen whatever right wing Facebook friends we have left indulging in a variety of reactions from head shaking at the idiocy of their fellow Amurrikans, to downright racist screeds about the President. But not until I read through my own emails, and saw this forward of a forward from a friend of a friend, had I seen such a comprehensive, and straightforward regurgitation of right wing gripes, talking points,…
Breaking: UAW files ethics charge on Romney auto bail-out profiteering
The United Auto Workers and the SEIU picked up Greg Palast’s Nation story on Mitt making bank from the US Auto bailout that he claimed to hate. Since my editor here at the Mudflats allowed me some time off from my job as Mudflats NY Bureau Chief to research this story with Palast – I figured that all the mudpuppies would like to hear to that there’s going to be a press conference in Ohio that should make a big hit in that swing state – and the nation. When video is available – I’ll post… until then – watch the…
BREAKING: Bell Sued By Longtime Employee
BREAKING West Anchorage State Senate Candidate Bob Bell (R), who is running against incumbent Hollis French (D), is being sued by a former employee of his engineering firm F.R. Bell & Associates, Inc. Edward Biggs of Wasilla is seeking restitution for discrimination and retaliation in violation of the Alaska Workers’ Compansation Act; interference with his rights under the Family Medical Leave Act; disability discrimination; breach of contract, destruction of evidence, and wrongful retaliatory discharge. Bell was recently fined by the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) for campaign disclosure violations relating to F.R. Bell and Associates. The campaign revelations also…
Cracking Skulls & Playing Fair
I’m thinking about becoming a football fan. American football. I’m already a soccer fan. Frankly, football has always seemed a bit scattered to me. I prefer to watch it on mute. The sounds of helmets crashing reminds me of that “and next time I’m cracking skulls” line from “The Breakfast Club.” Which explains why I had no idea this game had the power to bring Americans together during such difficult and divisive times. We saw pure magic this week: Mitt Romney and Barack Obama in a Kumbaya moment. Both went on record saying the NFL needed to bring back their…
The (Real) Job Creators
I’ve never been a member or employee of a union. But I don’t cross picket lines, I don’t vote against school bonds, and I always side with labor against hostile employers and politicians. I don’t take these positions just out of charitable solidarity, but also because it’s in my self interest. I want the person who educates my two young children every school day to be well paid. We can’t claim that our kids and our future are really important, and then insist the person who helps shape them should be paid low wages. I don’t want to live in…
Solidarity Picnic Photo Album!
Yesterday, labor leaders of all stripes, and the middle class who loves them joined together in solidarity on the Park Strip in downtown Anchorage. It couldn’t have been a nicer day – sunshine, gentle breeze, none of that wet stuff falling from the sky. Hundreds of people and their families were there. Candidates, and elected officials milled about – all there to show their support for the middle class. Alaska has the second-highest union density of any state (New York is first), so Alaskans understand the importance of organized labor and how it improves the quality of life for all…