Still searching for the 2,000 funded but unfilled jobs

Pick your favorite number about unfilled positions—1,500, 2,000 or 3,000—and the hundreds of millions to be saved. The Dunleavy budget has proven that all of them were wrong.

Dermot ColeApril 8, 2019 Comments

Dunleavy keeps peddling false statistic on education expenses for instruction

Gov. Mike Dunleavy keeps spreading a false statistic about Alaska public school spending, unhindered by the facts.

Dermot ColeApril 7, 2019 Comments

Alaska DEC nominee misrepresents Alaska's standing on international mining survey

No one who reads this report can honestly conclude that “Alaska ranks behind the Congo on predictability of our permitting regime.”

Dermot ColeApril 6, 2019 Comments

Dunleavy administration kills regulations on PFAS water contamination cleanup

DEC Commissioner Jason Brune wants the state to sit back and allow the federal Environmental Protection Agency under President Trump to interpret the science and tell Alaska what to do about PFAS water contamination.

Dermot ColeApril 5, 2019 Comments

Time to end no-bid API contract, examine long-term alternatives for hospital

Long-term operation of the hospital under a no-bid deal is unjustified. It seems as if goal was to get hundreds of state employees off the payroll as soon as possible.

Dermot ColeApril 4, 2019 Comments

Walker, Legislature cut dividends, the responsible thing to do

The Legislature should exercise its budget powers in setting this year’s dividend, and then should change the formula in the law so that Alaskans can move on to other debates.

By Larry Persily

Dermot ColeApril 4, 2019 Comments

Dunleavy takes aim at fundamental right of Alaska citizens to raise tax by initiative

The proposed constitutional amendment would make it nearly impossible to raise oil taxes in Alaska. It would do this by mandating a two-step process to increase or enact any state tax, which would give a powerful advantage to those who want to block any change.

Dermot ColeApril 4, 2019 Comments

Dunleavy keeps inflating oil production numbers, as he did during campaign

When Dunleavy talks about oil production numbers he leaves out the all-important bit about the natural decline rate from the old fields and gives the impression that he is talking about an increase from the current level.

Dermot ColeApril 3, 2019 Comments

Alaska's Constitution—don't trade it away with backroom deals

The Alaska Constitution is not a bargaining chip. Alaskans need to tell their legislators that safeguards built into the most important document in state government should not be trading material with the Dunleavy administration.

Dermot ColeApril 2, 2019 Comments

Dunleavy budget expert claims government spending caused Great Depression

While checking into the decision by Gov. Mike Dunleavy to get expert advice from Ohio about the wisdom of his anti-tax ideas, I came across a video in which Donna Arduin claims that economists and historians are wrong about the Great Depression.

Dermot ColeApril 1, 2019 Comments