(GetEr)Dunleavy Steps on His Own Twitter
Oh, dear. Brand spanking new Senator Mike Dunleavy (R) from the Mat-Su Valley, all eager and fresh out of the chute, steps into Juneau and on to his own… Tweet. Now, to non-Alaskans, or those who do not eagerly follow the continual shenanigans an skulduggery of the Alaskan political scene, this may seem like just a regular old tweet. But to those who lived here in the 2000’s, or what we in Alaska like to call the “Naught-ies,” the hashtag #geterdone would by hilarious, if it weren’t so incredibly eerie and seemingly prophetic. You see, way back in the mid-Naughties,…
Rep. Lindsay Holmes Switches Parties
Who’s that in the portrait you ask? Well, let me get my glasses. It’s either Benedict Arnold or State Rep. Lindsey Holmes – it’s kind of hard to tell. Lindsey Holmes, you see, was just elected in November in a strong Democratic district (one of the few in Alaska). She was elected as a Democrat, by mostly Democrats, to BE a Democrat. But she decided that after she’d begged for money from Democrats, denied another actual Democrat (whose color doesn’t run) a chance at the seat, and got ELECTED as a Democrat… that she’d just rather be a Republican. Yes,…
Shell & Water Don’t Mix
Royal Dutch Shell’s Alaska operations could have used a dose of “local knowledge” to prevent their latest debacle: the grounding of the oil rig Kulluk. That phrase, “local knowledge,” should ring a bell for Shell. The company was the one of the largest contributors to a group opposing the restoration of Alaska’s Coastal Zone Management program. Why did Shell spend so much money to keep coastal Alaskans away from the table? Don’t they value the experience of local people along the Beaufort and Chukchi coasts? Oh, that’s right. When you’re drilling in their back yards, you only want silent partners….
Frankenfish or Cut Bait
When Barack Obama was campaigning in 2007, he said something that I’d been yearning to hear from a politician. He vowed, as president, he would strive to “let folks know when their food is genetically modified because Americans have a right to know what they’re buying.” I realize the difference between campaigning and being president is much like the difference between dating and being married — but that seemed like a pretty solid statement. Europe has required all foods containing ingredients genetically modified to be labeled since 1997. Fifty countries, including China and Russia, require food manufacturers to label GMOs….
Leg Office Space for Hate Group?
It’s not every day that an experienced legislative staffer gets ousted, and banned for life from rehire by the legislature. What could cause such a response from the Committee on Legislative Ethics in the Alaska State House? How about literally giving legislative office space and the keys to the Legislative Offices to some guy from an anti-muslim hate group? Oh, you Mat-Su Republicans can still surprise me after all these years. Before the start of the new legislative session, Rep. Shelley Hughes (R-Palmer) has announced the “resignation” of her Chief of Staff Karen Sawyer after the ruling came down. Hughes…
Is Pozonsky Eligible for AK Bar?
This past weekend, Shannyn Moore broke an important story in the Opnion Section of the Anchorage Daily News. She revealed that Governor Sean Parnell hired a new hearing officer for the Workers’ Compensation Board…Paul Pozonsky, a former judge from Pennsylvania. …a “former judge” who was stripped of his ability to hear criminal cases in Pennsylvania this past June and immediately resigned. Jeanne Devon followed-up with a fascinating back-story showing the family connections that give the Pozonsky’s influence over some of the most powerful individuals in Alaska, past and present. Both articles raise many questions as to the circumstances surrounding Mr….
Corrective Action?
By Patrick Flynn Anchorage Assemblyman, Downtown District Everyone makes mistakes. Indeed, if humans were on some sort of mistake quota system I’d likely be cadging ducats from friends in order to keep myself within limits. And I’ll let someone else tell you about the “negative example” marketing plan once proffered on my behalf. But the important thing about making mistakes is learning from them and doing better the next time. Which, of course, leads us to the Assembly’s badly bungled reapportionment process toward which my antipathy knows few bounds (examples here and here). To summarize, three members met…
Drummond. There Can Be Only One.
Well, this is a fine fix you’ve gotten us into, Harriet Drummond! One of our favorite Assembly members had the temerity to win the State House seat for her district. She also had the horrible lack of foresight to not stretch side to side until she divided like an amoeba in a spectacular display of binary fission, creating two Harriet Drumonds so both positions could be filled. More’s the pity. Now we have an issue – an empty Anchorage Assembly seat. By January 15, the first regular Assembly meeting of the new year, and until the next Municipal election (what…
Palin Picker says Rice “Not Very Bright”
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. ~Charles Darwin The reason Great Britain remains a top-tier international economic and political power today is because it did a great job adapting from one reality to another. Seeing the heads of monarchs rolling across Europe, our mother country decided to give this whole parliamentary democracy thing a go, while repurposing the House of Windsor as stately and impotent figureheads and turning Buckingham Palace into Disneyworld. Apple Computer learned some tough lessons at…
Anchorage Redistricted with No Public Input
It was a big night at Tuesday’s Anchorage Assembly Meeting. The Anchorage School District Budget was passed, as was both the Municipal Operating Budget and the Municipal Capital Budget. However, I was there for the item that was slipped in towards the end. It was the first, last and only public meeting dedicated to Municipal Reapportionment…another word for Redistricting. You may be surprised to hear that the Assembly has been working on Reapportionment at all. You are not alone. If you remember the gerrymandering farce known as the State Redistricting process, the public meetings went on for months before anything…