The Exxon Valdez Oil Trust still exists, holding about $150 million, but the state and federal officials directing its future have fetched up hard aground—spending an inordinate amount of money on administrative expenses and apparently concluding that the best thing to do now is to spend the money as quickly as possible.
Read MoreI can’t imagine that Ben Stevens, then the chief of staff for Gov. Mike Dunleavy, had the power under state law to appoint someone to do the work of the attorney general. But that’s what happened in secret on July 31, 2020.
Read MoreThat GCI is now a relatively small part of billionaire John Malone’s cable and tech empire is one reason why it is easier for the company to transfer jobs to the Philippines, a decision it would probably have never made when GCI was an Alaska company.
Read MoreBut there comes a time when GCI, part of a corporate behemoth in which Alaska is not the main focus, stops imagining and starts making a better future for itself by shipping Alaska jobs to the Philippines, claiming it’s all about providing better service to Alaskans.
Read MoreIn Fairbanks, the Dunleavy plan would open the likes of College Road, Airport Way, Geist Road and Van Horn Road to snowmachines, four-wheelers, garden tractors and tracked vehicles. What could go wrong?
Read MoreThe surprising thing about Sen. Lora Reinbold is not that she doesn’t understand the first thing about the separation of powers in Alaska’s Constitution. It’s that she remains the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee after proving time and again that she is unfit for the position.
Read MoreAttorney General Treg Taylor offered an absurd explanation Monday for his failure and the failure of Gov. Mike Dunleavy to insist on protecting the state and requiring a public interest waiver for former Chief of Staff Ben Stevens.
Read MoreIf there is a real budget strategy by the governor for the ferry system or anything else, it seems to be one in which he hopes to keep his head above water until after the 2022 gubernatorial election.
Read MoreThere is a state law that says for two years after a state official leaves public office, that former official cannot work on certain issues. This protects the state. It’s not enough for the governor and a company that hires a state employee to announce, as Dunleavy and ConocoPhillips did, that there is nothing to see here.
