State can't defend $441,000 no-bid contract with grandson of Bob Penney

In trying to justify his approval of a no-bid $441,000 state contract to a fellow Dunleavy loyalist, Tomas Boutin, CEO of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, claims there was no need to waste time with competitive bids.

Dermot ColeMay 31, 2019 Comments

State hides details on decision to accept more contamination in drinking water

Almost everything about the decision is being withheld from the public, with Dunleavy claiming “executive communications privilege” as a justification for secrecy. The release of emails that are empty except for the salutations and closings makes a mockery of the public process.

Dermot ColeMay 26, 2019 Comments

Dunleavy disclaimer should tell the truth on his state-funded attack ads

If Mike really wants to run ads attacking those he is supposed to work with, he should call up his brother in Texas and have Francis spend hundreds of thousands on image ads, trying to rehabilitate what’s gone wrong with the Dunleavy administration in its first six months.

Dermot ColeMay 25, 2019 Comments

Attorney general tries to shift blame on education bungling away from Dunleavy

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has made more promises about education than any politician in state history—most of them contradictory.

Dermot ColeMay 24, 2019 Comments

Dunleavy's intransigence may force massive school district layoffs across Alaska

Gov. Mike Dunleavy continues to bungle state education funding, which could force immediate layoffs of school district employees across the state in June. The governor now says that districts won’t get state money after July 15 because of a procedural fight.

Dermot ColeMay 21, 2019 Comments

Better to have Dick Randolph's picture in the governor's mansion than his ideas in the Constitution

The latest in State Farm Insurance man Dick Randolph’s series of letters that he has nothing more to say about the Cole Brothers now compares us to his old friends Niccolo Machiavelli and Saul Alinsky.

Dermot ColeMay 21, 2019 Comments

VPSO cuts and Dunleavy's empty talk of 'war on criminals'

In seeking to eliminate funding for vacant VPSO positions, Dunleavy employs the circular argument that the positions are vacant and there is no need to appropriate money for vacant positions. He ought to be talking about what it would take to fill those positions.

Dermot ColeMay 19, 2019 Comments

Quick and dirty Medicaid overhaul study isn't worth $100,000

A one-month Medicaid study to prove the value of a one-page “concept paper” from Gov. Mike Dunleavy will be heavy on boilerplate and light on the real challenges to improving health care in Alaska.

Dermot ColeMay 16, 2019 Comments

State scientists objected to Dunleavy plan to allow higher drinking water polllution

It was a political decision by the Dunleavy administration to accept higher levels of so-called PFAS pollution in drinking water, a move that generated internal opposition from scientists at the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Health and Social Services.

Dermot ColeMay 15, 2019 Comments

State contract with Bob Penney's grandson should have been open to competitive bids

Clark Penney, one of many deputy treasurers of the Dunleavy campaign to get a job or a contract out of the administration, is to help develop new business in Alaska, which is No. 1 in every governor’s book of recycled campaign promises.

Dermot ColeMay 14, 2019 Comments