Staff

Dan Fagan

By Dan Fagan
Publisher 
The Alaska Standard 

Just about everyone agrees Governor Sean Parnell broke the law when he hired sitting legislator Gene Therriault. Despite the consensus, Therriault is refusing to resign and the governor seems to lack the courage to fire him.

What stands out to me is the deafening silence from legislators on the scandal. We had two legislators on the show yesterday. But Rep. Charisse Millett and Rep. Jay Ramras had two very different reactions to one of their former colleagues being illegally hired.

Click on the audio link below to hear the different reactions.  

Ramras on illegal hiring.mp3

A C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft assigned to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (its official name) in Alaska crashed just to the northeast of runway 06 at 6:14 P.M. on Wednesday July 28th, 2010. Four crewmembers are said to have been on board; no word as to their disposition as of this post (don't expect confirmation of the latter until sometime Thursday, after the Air Force has had the opportunity to make any necessary notifications).

Local media sources:

-- Anchorage Daily News
-- Anchorage Daily News photo gallery
-- KTVA Channel 11
-- KTUU Channel 2

Roger Herrera saw the plane coming down as he was returning from fishing while driving in front of his wife on Turpin Street northbound towards the base. "We saw straight in front of us – my wife actually honked at me and she was pointing up in the air – and we saw a big ball of fire. By the time I reached for my camera to take photos of it, it had turned into a big black plume of smoke, and it was rising," he said. "Once I got to the end of Turpin… I saw that it was on the other side of the highway so I knew that it must be on base." KTUU news video embedded below:



While the story is still developing, it appears that the aircraft may have been flying maneuvers around the Anchorage Bowl. Two people who live in the Hillside area about 10 miles south of Elmendorf reported a large military transport aircraft flying lower than usual over their homes; one reported a hatch open in the bottom of the aircraft. Both these individuals posted comments to the ADN story; the comments are cross-posted below:

suddenwitness wrote on 07/28/2010 07:48:28 PM:

I was driving down Clarks Road and the plane came over our car just close enough to clear the ridge in front of Flattop. I stopped the car because the plane was so low and remember wondering how a plane that size would clear the mountains and make it to the base to land safely. I pray for all on board and any involved on the ground.

Because the plane was directly above our car, I could see the bottom hatch was open, but couldn't make out that the landing gear had been deployed...

funhog2 wrote on 07/28/2010 08:45:51 PM:

that's interesting suddenwitness. We live near Flattop, and I saw a military plane flying really low, I am guessing it was a C-17 from the pictures I see on the web. The reason I looked because the house was shaking mainly the wood stove pipe so I went out to look. I didn't see an open door but that doesn't mean their wasn't one. I wondered what was happening because I've only seen something that low and close only once and I've been living here 10 years

Here's a comment posted on the KTVA site:

someperspective · 1 hour ago (approx. 9:40 P.M.)
out here in the [Mat-Su] valley some spotted a Very low flying plane that shook the houses...may be they were in trouble and were trying to make it back to the base to fix the malfunction...

The individuals posting these comments did not report the time of occurrence. Thus it is not confirmed that this was actually the same aircraft. I would like to keep the speculation to a minimum in this post, if possible.

Air Force officials have not addressed whether or not this will impact the Arctic Thunder air show scheduled for this upcoming weekend. The U.S. Navy's Blue Angels and the Canadian Forces' Snowbirds headline the event. Military flight demonstrations will include the AV-8B Harrier, F-22 Raptor, C-17 Globemaster III aircraft and the popular Alaskan Joint Forces Demo which will be supported by the pyrotechnic talents of the Tora, Tora, Tora bomb squad. In addition to these demonstrations, the 101st Airborne Screamin' Eagles and the U.S. Air Force Academy's Wings of Blue parachute teams will perform. Arctic Thunder is free and open to the public. The gates open at 9 a.m. and entertainment continues until 5 p.m.

First of all, to quote a commenter at a blog covering this action:

Arab citizens of Israel have full equality and human rights and they can build houses in Jerusalem and eat cherry tomatoes and are not discriminated against at all and anyone who says otherwise is an anti-Semite.

Now that that is taken care of, the ethnic cleansing operation. The people whose village is being razed, are Israeli citizens:




More coverage:

Promised Land

The Guardian

Mondoweiss

Jeanne and Shannyn don't allow people or cartoon characters to talk like this on their blogs, but it is about a Teabagger that accidentally shows up for Netroots Nation, where AKM and Shannyn spent last week:


hat tip - Howie Klein

Blue America, which helped raise about $70,000 for Mark Begich in 2008, but has pretty much disowned him now, created this ad - the first of several coming out:

Imprisoned Veco chief executive Bill Allen will not be a government witness in the trial of former Juneau state Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch, according to a court memorandum filed Wednesday by Weyhrauch's attorney.

In Alaska’s congressional races, challengers to the incumbents are common, particularly because incumbents’ tenures have traditionally been extraordinarily long.

In 1902 a pair of French brothers, Georges and Gaston Méliés, released their movie Le Voyage dans la Lune (that’s “a trip to the moon” for English-only readers) and treated moviegoers around the world to a combination of live-action, animation and special effects the likes of which no one had seen before. Their 14-minute tale of a pioneering voyage to near space also spawned one of film’s more popular—and problematic for viewers and filmmakers who want films to be believable—genres: the futuristic science fiction epic. Today of course we know space explorers are using rockets, and not cannons, to launch spacecraft. And most people agree that while we’ve reached the moon, the explorers sent from Earth did not find insect-like “Selenites” living on the lunar surface, let alone do battle with them.

Twice in four days, semis carrying heavy equipment struck the overpass bridge at the Eklutna exit while traveling out of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway. Monday’s bridge strike appears to have taken a chunk of concrete about the size of a car door from one beam that spans the highway. Commuters gawked, Flashlight stopped for photos, and within about five hours the Anchorage Daily News posted a story, sans bridge expertise, that featured Anchorage Police Department spokesman Dave Parker commenting about how the too-tall arm of a backhoe struck the bridge. Parker said the crash happened during rush hour and the truck driver was adept enough to make it under the bridge without involving other vehicles, except those that followed behind and were hit by debris. No one was injured, Parker reported, and the trucker pulled over to wait for police.

Guest op-ed by Senator Bettye Davis While stories of the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 13 and the funding for the expansion of the state’s Denali KidCare program fade from the media’s news cycle, just under 1,300 children and more than 200 pregnant women will be faced with the daily reality of not having basic insurance coverage. That is why I sponsored this legislation and that is where my interests in this remains. Some may argue that they still have the ability to seek treatment at an emergency room. While that is true, let’s look at some scenarios that Denali KidCare would cover with a less costly visit to a doctor’s office.

The Wasilla-based Conservative Patriots Group, a small collection of tea party ideologues, rescinded its endorsement of Mead Treadwell in the Republican lieutenant governor’s primary, after the group figured out Treadwell had donated money to Senator Lisa Murkowski’s campaign in March of this year. (CPG’s primary goal, it seems, is for Joe Miller to defeat Murkowski in the August primary; Treadwell’s donation was prior to Miller’s entrance into the race.)

On July 28th 2010, just hours before the scheduled July 29th implementation of Arizona SB1070, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton issued a ruling enjoining the state of Arizona from implementing certain portions of the law. The parts stricken are considered much of the heart of the law, although Arizona will still retain considerable immigration enforcement power.

Links to the major Arizona media sources cited and embedded throughout this post. News video from KTVK Channel 3 embedded below:



Read the full 36-page decision HERE. The parts to be enjoined are listed on page four and are cross-posted below:

Applying the proper legal standards based upon well-established precedent, the Court finds that the United States is likely to succeed on the merits in showing that the following sections of S.B. 1070 are preempted by federal law:

Portion of Section 2 of S.B. 1070, A.R.S. § 11-1051(B): requiring that an officer make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if there is a reasonable suspicion that the person is unlawfully present in the United States, and requiring verification of the immigration status of any person arrested prior to releasing that person

Section 3 of S.B. 1070, A.R.S. § 13-1509: creating a crime for the failure to apply for or carry alien registration papers

Portion of Section 5 of S.B. 1070, A.R.S. § 13-2928(C): creating a crime for an unauthorized alien to solicit, apply for, or perform work

Section 6 of S.B. 1070, A.R.S. § 13-3883(A)(5): authorizing the warrantless arrest of a person where there is probable cause to believe the person has committed a public offense that makes the person removable from the United States

The Court also finds that the United States is likely to suffer irreparable harm if the Court does not preliminarily enjoin enforcement of these Sections of S.B. 1070 and that the balance of equities tips in the United States’ favor considering the public interest. The Court therefore issues a preliminary injunction enjoining the enforcement of the portion of Section 2 creating A.R.S. § 11-1051(B), Section 3 creating A.R.S. § 13-1509, the portion of Section 5 creating A.R.S. § 13-2928(C), and Section 6 creating A.R.S. § 13-3883(A)(5).

Bolton's ruling followed hearings on three of seven federal lawsuits challenging SB 1070. Plaintiffs include the U.S. Department of Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, Phoenix and Tucson police officers, municipalities, illegal immigrants and non-profit groups. The July 28th ruling is in the Department of Justice case. Bolton has not yet issued rulings on motions in the case filed by Phoenix Police Officer David Salgado and the case filed by the ACLU and other civil-rights groups.

Reaction: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's office said that the state will file an expedited appeal with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday July 29th. They will ask the appeals court to lift the injunctions put in place by Judge Bolton and allow those provisions to go into effect until a decision is made on the merits of the law. As part of its motion, the Governor's Office will also ask the 9th Circuit to expedite its briefing schedule and its ruling on the matter.

Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, the architect of SB1070, is actually pleased with some aspects of the judge's temporary injunction. He says the judge left in key provisions that eliminate sanctuary cities, and adds that law enforcement will still be able to inquire about immigration status -- although they won't be forced to ask. Judge Bolton upheld the section of SB1070 that forbids a city, county or town from adopting a policy that limits or restricts immigration enforcement -- a.k.a. sanctuary cities. The judge also allowed citizens to sue that city or county if such a policy exists.

Senator John McCain, who opportunistically got behind SB1070 once he saw its popularity, also criticized the decision while on Michael Medved's nationally syndicated radio show and said he was confident Arizona will challenge Bolton's ruling. Because he believes the 9th Circuit Court is not known for strict interpretation of the Constitution, McCain predicted the challenge could go all the way to the US Supreme Court. McCain's opponent in the U.S. Senate race, J.D. Hayworth, said "Judge Bolton has gutted the Arizona law. She has put a hold on major sections of SB 1070 designed to eradicate sanctuary cities and require law enforcement officers to determine the immigration status of those who commit crimes in our state."

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he was not surprised by Bolton's ruling, but it will have little impact on any future crime-suppression operations. Arpaio said the only thing Bolton's ruling changed is the ability for Arizona law enforcement to use a state charge - willful failure to carry documents - to book someone into jail. Now, Arpaio said, the agencies can continue to contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to determine if federal agents will take custody of the suspect. Everyone booked into Maricopa County Jail, regardless of race, will continue to have their immigration status screened by federally trained sheriff's deputies through an agreement with ICE.

Reaction from a whole host of other Arizona notables is recorded HERE.

Gene Therriault should resign!

JUNEAU -- Alaska's Democratic senator said Wednesday he may sign on in support of a Republican energy bill because he's not satisfied with the proposal Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put forth.

Staff

By Anchorage Daily News

Former state Sen. Gene Therriault should follow former Rep. Nancy Dahlstrom's example and resign his position as Gov. Sean Parnell's special energy adviser. That's because Gov. Sean Parnell clearly violated the spirit -- and quite possibly the letter -- of a provision in the Alaska Constitution that prohibits the appointment of sitting legislators to other state jobs.

In both cases, the governor got around that provision with semantic technicalities -- hiring legislators for jobs that don't "exist" until after the lawmakers resigned. As we've said before, this is nonsense at best, contempt for the constitution at worst.

Yes, the governor had legal opinions that said he could do what he did. But Dan Sullivan, his own attorney general, took a longer look after critics like radio talk-show host Dan Fagan began criticizing the appointments. That led to a second, more carefully considered opinion, which found an "appreciable risk" that a court would find a violation of the law in the Dahlstrom appointment.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

Alaska Dispatch reveals the results of a poll of 318 likely Alaskan voters who declared themselves either Republican (47.3 percent of respondents) or non-partisan (52.7 percent) during the period July 22-25, 2010. The poll was conducted by Hellenthal & Associates of Anchorage. Both Republicans and non-partisans can vote in the closed Alaska Republican primary on August 24th.

Hellenthal's verdict - if the primary was held today, Sean Parnell, Lisa Murkowski, and Don Young would win by wide margins. These three principals also lead their respective races in fund-raising as well. Read the raw poll data HERE; a Microsoft Word-compatible word processor is necessary to view it.

(1). U.S. Senate:
-- Lisa Murkowski: 69.0 percent
-- Joe Miller: 27.9 percent
-- Don't Know: 3.1 percent

Analysis: A previous Ivan Moore poll which showed Murkowski leading Miller by 32 points was characterized as "garbage" by the Miller campaign because of Moore's Democratic associations. Marc Hellenthal has no such partisan associations, yet this poll shows Murkowski leading by 41 points. How will the Miller campaign explain this one?

Hellenthal says that it will not be enough for Miller to pick up Undecided voters; he's got to go after Murkowski voters as well. He suggests Miller will have to go negative.

(2). U.S. House:
-- Don Young: 61.8 percent
-- Sheldon Fisher: 33.8 percent
-- Don't Know: 4.4 percent

Analysis: The breakouts indicate that while most of Young's support is "Moderate", most of Fisher's support is "Strong". This means that Sheldon Fisher has developed a core of diehard supporters, while most of Don Young's supporters will vote for him more out of a "sense of duty", primarily because of his seniority.

(3). Governor:
-- Sean Parnell: 60.3 percent
-- Bill Walker: 14.7 percent
-- Ralph Samuels: 13.1 percent
-- Don't Know: 11.9 percent

Analysis: A previous poll by DRM Market Research in May 2010 showed Parnell with 57 percent, Ralph Samuels with 9 percent, and Bill Walker with 7 percent. Two different polls, two different pollsters, similar results. This implies that although Republican opposition to Parnell is noisy, it is not widespread. This also means that Parnell could choose to circle the wagons around Gene Therriault without fear of electoral reprisal on August 24th.

(4). Lieutenant Governor:
-- Jay Ramras: 29.3 percent
-- Mead Treadwell: 22.6 percent
-- Eddie Burke: 11.5 percent
-- Don't Know: 36.6 percent

Analysis: The percentage of undecideds is still too high to project a finish with any degree of certainty, although the order of presentation above is likely to be the order of finish. Eddie Burke's exposure of Mead Treadwell as a RINO will likely be enough to prevent Treadwell from winning. One thing we can say for Jay Ramras; at least he doesn't pretend to be something he's not.

Hellenthal said the poll was paid for by someone with particular interest in the Senate race, although it was not one of the candidates. The poll cost that client $3,000, said Hellenthal, who then approached candidates in the lieutenant governor and U.S. representative races to say that for $1,000 each, he'd include them in the poll too. At least one candidate from each of those races accepted Hellenthal's offer. Gov. Parnell's campaign approached Hellenthal and asked to buy in, and their $1,000 rounded out the $6,000 the firm made on the poll.

Hellenthal & Associates is considered the number four pollster in Alaska behind Dave Dittman, Ivan Moore, and Hays Research Associates. While reasonably accurate, one of Hellenthal's previous polls seriously backfired. In May 2006, a Hellenthal poll showed John Binkley leading Sarah Palin in the Alaska Republican gubernatorial primary race by three percentage points although competing polls showed Palin up by as much as 16 points. Palin, of course, won.

Staff

By Daniel McDonald
Alaska Standard Contributor

The Alaska GOP Lt. Governor’s race is curious in that most people I talk to (other than those personally connected to Ramras or Treadwell) are still undecided. Everyone seems to be searching for the right distinction on which to vote.

Let me offer one: Alaska’s relations with a federal government that is increasingly threatening our livelihood as a state.

Friday on the Dan Fagan Radio Show, Jay Ramras said he wouldn’t fight the feds saying, “We’re not going to fight the feds, that is not what Lt. Governors do.” In one TV spot, Ramras criticized Treadwell’s “Mr. Obama, Fill Up This Pipeline” speech as a “sound bite.” Frankly, I think this is the clearest distinction between Ramras and Treadwell. Treadwell has made it clear that he will definitely use the office of Lt. Governor as a platform to fight federal policies which hurt Alaskans, while Ramras scoffs at the idea, thinking it a waste of his time.

In a recent KFQD interview, Jay rightly pointed out that the duties which the state constitution prescribes the Lt. Governor are quite thin: Run the Division of Elections and guard the state seal. Frankly, that isn’t a lot. The key question for each candidate seeking this post is, can you adequately perform those functions, and secondly, what do you plan to do with the other 23 hours of your day?

Treadwell will spend his time working on state-federal and Arctic issues that are key to Alaska’s economy. This comes naturally to him, seeing as how he has been a leader on these issues for 30 years. From his campaign ads and speeches, Treadwell has made it clear that he sees federal overreaching as Alaska’s greatest threat. He says he is ready to use the office of Lt. Governor with its electoral mandate from citizens and abundance of free time, as the perfect position from which to bolster Alaska’s defense. In the last few days, he has begun laying out the specifics; I look forward to reviewing them over the next few weeks.

It is not so clear what Ramras would do however. His campaign ads and speeches list numerous issues, but what exactly would he do as Lt. Governor as it relates to them? He doesn’t say. The only two things we know at this point is that he will lead trade missions abroad and actively NOT fight the feds. The trade missions promise is an interesting one because Treadwell clearly has vastly more experience and stature in the area of international business and diplomacy. He has something which seems to be quite rare among politicians of today, an actual record of achievement. I mean, come on, a company Treadwell helped found, currently watermarks the worlds currencies and Ramras, well, he owns a hotel. 

This brings us back to fighting the feds. Ramras has made himself clear; fighting the feds is not on the agenda. In fact, in one of his campaign ads, he says he would “let the lawyers fight the feds.” Did an Alaskan really say that? I can’t help but wonder what kind of a response that would draw from Ted Stevens or the late Wally Hickel, two men who spent their entire lives fighting for Alaska, a fight that doesn’t seem worth it to Ramras.       

Currently, the bloated federal agencies with their multitudes of unelected and overpaid bureaucrats have their collective boot on the neck of Alaska’s economic future. They are shutting down our state’s resource development one project at a time, one law suit at a time, one regulation at a time. We need all hands on deck, and that includes the Lt. Governor. Heck, even the janitor, maid, and garbage man too. We need everyone in this fight, and I for one would like a Lt. Governor who understands that.

 

Alex Gimarc

By Alex Gimarc
Alaska Standard Contributor 

As the race for the nominee for Republican Gubernatorial Candidate heats up, a few things fall out of the festivities.  First and foremost, is that labor unions statewide have determined that the Democrat Party candidate does not have a snowball’s chance in a Very Hot Place of getting elected.  As a result of that political calculus, they have gone all-in in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker which ought to present a problem to all conservatives in this state.

At the highest level of basic economic analysis, the unions – public employee and otherwise – have been among the largest impediments to fiscal responsibility in Alaska since statehood.  One needs to look no farther than the Begich Municipal union contracts slammed through his union-friendly Assembly on his way out the door to Washington DC in 2008 as an example.  If those 5-year contracts don’t exist, Mayor Sullivan doesn’t have $10 and $11 million dollar budget gaps in successive years to close.  The value added we citizens of Anchorage get out of those contracts is what?  Zip.  Zero.  Nada.

As this state is a Closed Shop state, people who choose not to be union members are by definition, unqualified by state law for tens to hundreds of thousands of jobs statewide in both the public and private sectors.  If we want to control costs, grow the economy, and empower entrepreneurs statewide to do things cheaper, better and smarter, this one-size-fits-all union stranglehold on jobs will need to be broken – which means that Right to Work is in our very near future.

On the Republican side of the campaign, we have three strong candidates – Incumbent Governor Sean Parnell, former Representative Ralph Samuels, and former Valdez Mayor Bill Walker.  The question is who to support. 

Governor Parnell spent most of the campaign ahead in the polls.  But recent revelations of sweetheart deals with former legislators have cast a pall on any notion of honesty and integrity.  As Governor Palin’s Second, Governor Parnell has been reluctant to move this state away from the horrendous ACES tax increase on oil companies on the North Slope, chasing them, their business, and their jobs out of state as soon as they can leave.  High taxes are no way to grow an economy.

Bill Walker has been running an aggressive and well funded campaign for Governor.  He is best described as a pro-life democrat, a description that I will leave to the reader to follow up upon.  I was most disturbed by his enthusiastic endorsement by Vince Beltrami and the Alaska AFL/CIO the end of June.  In response to that endorsement, I sent a moderately snarky e-mail to the campaign asking why this was a Good Thing and got the following in response three weeks later on Monday, July 26 at 8:53 PM:

Bill worked out of the Teamsters, Carpenters and Laborers unions to put himself through college during the building of the oil pipeline. Union, non union -- EVERYONE went to work during the construction of that project. It became very challenging to retain teachers, policman etc because they could triple their pay working on the pipeline. As governor, Bill intends to put everyone to work again to begin construction of the TransAlaska Gasline in three years, union and nonunion -- and knows we will once again face the challenge of retaining public employees. Our unions will play a vital role in this process. Bill has received the endorsement of the AFL-CIO and does support the unions who represent Alaska's working families.

Thank you for contacting the campaign,

Tessa Linderman

Bill Walker for Governor Campaign

All of which means that Bill Walker is all in for the largest boat anchor on economic growth here in Alaska – the unions.  This also means that he cannot be trusted to do anything that will proactively grow this economy, for it is impossible to grow it while carving of ever increasing slices of profits to mollify the unions that now enthusiastically support him.  Interestingly enough, the fact that the unions have stepped to the plate as strongly as they have for Bill Walker ought to tell every reader that they have determined neither Ethan Berkowitz or Hollis French has a chance of winning in November.

Finally, we have Ralph Samuels, who is running the classic small government, low taxes, high growth campaign for Governor.  He has been there and has done that and none of the Usual Suspects support him, which ought to be a very positive sign for conservatives statewide. 

Note that the next governor will have to affirmatively step up to the plate and take on the feds on a variety of issues.  Who do you think is up to the task?  Will Bill Walker do anything not approved by the democrat supporting Alaska unions?  Hardly.  Will Sean Parnell take on the feds in the legislature, in court and by Executive Order?  Perhaps; as he has done a bit of this already.  Will Ralph Samuels proactively do everything possible to move power illegally and unconstitutionally centralized in Washington DC back to Alaska?  Quite likely.  And that ought to make all the difference when we decide whom to support. 

As an aside, I rule out every single one of the democrat candidates for governor, as every single democrat elected nationally to congress in 2006 and 2008 voted for the unconstitutional power grabs of TARP II, the Stimulus of 2009, ObamaCare, and Financial Reform.  They will say whatever they need to say to get elected and then toe the Party Line once in office.  For proof of this assertion, one needs to look no farther than Mark Begich, who ran as a moderate and once in office has been a reliable Fedzilla vote ever since.  We saw what damage a democrat governor could do to this state with Tony Knowles (Katie John, anyone?).  Never, ever put one in office at any level again.

The choice for the new direction of this state is in our hands.  Do we want to wear the union label (Bill Walker)?  Return to same old, same old, with high taxes on wealth producers in this state (Sean Parnell) and insider deals for supporters? Or do we want to adopt a marketplace oriented approach to our future (Ralph Samuels)?  As always, the choice is ours. Choose wisely.

 

Gov. Sean Parnell has outraised his challengers and has more campaign money left to spend than they do in the final weeks before the Aug. 24 primary. One of his Republican rivals, Bill Walker, is staying in the money race by putting more than $285,000 of his own into fueling his campaign.