Dismantling Alaska Bipartisanship
Alaska Family Action, the political arm of the Alaska Family Council, recently welcomed Governor Sean Parnell to a fundraiser. The event brought together social conservatives who seek to add their voices to those supporting the governor’s oil tax plan. With the specific goal of destroying the State Senate’s bipartisan coalition next month, the organization is banking on a new fundraising strategy and new access to personal data about voters to fuel its “Reclaiming Juneau Initiative” in November. Jim Minnery addressed the event’s roughly 25 attendees, explaining that his Alaska Family Council became frustrated by the political limitations it encountered via…
Bob Bell Enabled Corrupt Bastards
I sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t be more honest for us to turn our elections into auctions. Put a law or candidate on eBay and let the bidding begin. Of course school lunch subsidies, minimum wage and other “special interests” wouldn’t have a hope, but a governor willing to give $10 billion to the oil industry would be going-going-gone in seconds. Wait a minute … Did I forget? We used to have public policy on the auction block. A company called Veco Corp., which depended on Alaska’s oil majors to survive, purchased favors from elected politicians for decades. That finally…
Parnell Headlines Evangelical Fundraiser to Break Up Bipartisan Coalition
Governor Sean Parnell will headline a fundraiser today at 4:30pm for Alaska Family Action, the political wing of the Alaska Family Council headed by Jim Minnery. The Alaska Family Council is an activist group whose “pro family” agenda includes promoting extreme anti-choice and homophobic policies. They also advocate public funding of private religious schools, and other “matters of religious liberty.” And try to screw up elections by encouraging voter fraud. So, why is a sitting governor headlining this fundraiser? The answer is two-fold. First, it is because he aligns with everything espoused by the organization. His extreme stances on social…
Bell’s Firm Got $1 Million+ from BP
Well, well, well. Ask not for whom Mr. Bell shills – he shills for BP. We practically needed the jaws of life to pry the truth out of candidate Bob Bell, but it has finally been liberated from the mangled wreck of his financial “disclosure” forms. If you remember from the other day, Mr. Bell decided first that he didn’t want to tell us who gave his engineering firm money. Then APOC told him he had to not only disclose who, but how much. Then he disclosed who, but NOT how much. Apparently it became more uncomfortable for Mr. Bell…
Bob Bell is Oh So Super Special
You know those politicians whom nobody can stand – the ones that think the rules apply to absolutely everyone? No exceptions. Except for them. I got one for you. Remember that scandal that had Director of the Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation, Corey Rossi, in the headlines for weeks? Rossi and his croneys from the Board of Game got busted flying into rural Alaska and pretending to subsistence hunt muskoxen for food. You see, there’s a really really expensive way of hunting muskoxen, and there’s a much less expensive way. One way, you have to enter a lottery for a permit…
Happy Walter J. Hickel Day of the Arctic!
“All of us own the seas in common. We own the air and space. If we can learn to use these resources productively for the benefit of all, not just for a few powerful groups or a handful of corporations, the world would stand today on the threshold of wealth and social advancement we cannot yet imagine.” —Former Alaska Gov. Wally Hickel On the day I was born, Wally Hickel was the Republican Governor of Alaska. On the day I moved to Alaska, Wally Hickel was the governor of Alaska for the second time, having run successfully as an Alaskan…
Parnell Kills His Own Special Session. Blames Senate. Pouts.
Things aren’t going well for Sean Parnell. It all started last week when he called the legislature into special session to talk about three things, the most difficult and contentious of which was oil and gas production taxes. The governor sent his team to Juneau with a bill. For purposes of readability, we’ll refer to this bill (SB3001) as what it is metaphorically – a cow pie. Hatching the Idea What the governor wanted in this new “hybrid” bill was to give all kinds of breaks to big oil companies for fields that are already producing, and not so much…
Quitter 2.0 – Parnell Breaks Hockey Stick, Says ‘Puck You.’
And the crowd goes wild! Remember when I compared the Resources Committee meeting of the State Senate to a hockey game, and said I thought that they ought to have a rule just like in the peewee leagues, where when one team is like 20 points up they just call the game so the other side can slink away and lick their wounds instead of continuing to endure the public humiliation? Well, guess what? Even though that rule doesn’t exist, Bryan Butcher, Bruce Tangeman, and Co. have been recalled back to the locker room. That’s right – Parnell’s…
The Senate Heros vs. Captain Zero – Get Ready to Rumble!
The internet is a beautiful thing. How else could a political junkie snuggle into the couch in jammie pants with a cup of coffee, and commiserate with other like-minded souls for an event that rivals all this baseball stuff that everyone else seems to be talking about. I speak to you of…. (dramatic pause) the Alaska State Senate Resources Committee Meeting to discuss the governor’s newest oil tax plan. Before you roll your eyes, and click to anything but this, hear me out. Especially if you’re an Alaskan, this is one of the best reality TV shows around. It’s got…
Denali Kid Care Now! (Photos)
Several dozen protesters showed up yesterday at noon at the Legislative Offices in downtown Anchorage to show their support for Senate Bill 5 which would restore the level of inclusion in the Denali Kid Care program (SCHIP) to where it was in 2003. Last session, a bill was introduced that would have restored health care services (matched 70% by the federal government) to more than 1200 poor children and infants, and 200 pregnant women. The bill was vetoed by Governor Sean Parnell because the Alaska Constitution, according to a Supreme Court decision, provides that medically necessary legal…