The former temporary budget director for Gov. Mike Dunleavy is back, hired by Rep. Ben Carpenter, the right-wing Kenai Republican who leads the committee that will allegedly figure out the future of state finances. Donna Arduin didn’t belong on the state payroll in 2019. And she doesn’t belong on it now.
Read MoreWhen Dunleavy said, “I need Alaska to say yes to everything,” he confirmed what has been clear during his first four years as governor—he will say yes to every development project without stopping to think or asking anything in return. He did admit this during either of his campaigns for governor and would probably have denied it had someone made the accusation.
Read MoreGov. Mike Dunleavy introduced his carbon management bills to the Legislature, but the fiscal notes attached to his bills do not use the word “billion” or even “million” about future revenues. They contain no revenue numbers for the next five years.
“Revenues are not specifically estimated because of the market and timeline uncertainty for carbon offset projects,'“ the fiscal notes say.
Read MoreThe right-wing majority on the Borough Assembly refused to allow another member to quote from the newsletters of right-winger Lance Roberts before voting 5-4 to place him on the nonpartisan assembly board of ethics. Presiding Officer Aaron Lojewski claimed Roberts could be fair and impartial.
Read MoreWhen Gov. Mike Dunleavy championed a 41 percent cut in state funds to the University of Alaska budget in 2019—a budget wrecking ball that did lasting damage— Bethany Marcum, a former Dunleavy employee he has just named to the UA regents, was all for it.
Read MoreGov. Mike Dunleavy populated his State of the State speech with straw men and the word “people,” which he repeated 40 times.
Read MoreIt was less than two weeks ago that Gov. Mike Dunleavy said that carbon sequestration “has a very real potential of bringing revenue to the State of Alaska to the tune of millions, if not billions, of dollars.”
But 12 days have passed and Dunleavy has a bigger sales pitch.
Forget about the measly millions. Experts that he won’t name are saying we are talking billions from promising not to cut down trees, the painless cure to state finances.
Read MoreAt long last the borough climate action committee meets Tuesday at 6 p.m. Four of the members have submitted comments about revisions they want in the draft plan. The most valuable are from scientist Terry Chapin and Borough Mayor Bryce Ward.
Read MoreKelly Tshibaka, who is acting as if her next act will be to run against Rep. Mary Peltola for Congress, is trying to keep herself in the public eye with a new nonprofit she has started called “Preserve Democracy.”
She will portray herself as a victim of ranked choice voting, while raising money and generating publicity Outside, trying to preserve her political options in Alaska and claiming that ranked choice voting is a threat to democracy.
Read MoreThe Dunleavy administration has refused to explain how it intends to generate $7 billion in new revenue over the next decade, though it released a state budget forecast saying the money will begin to appear starting next summer, rising to $900 million a year by 2027.
The Senate Natural Resources Committee plans a hearing Wednesday at 4 p.m. that may inject a sense of reality into the carbon capture and sequestration plans that Gov. Mike Dunleavy is promoting as a painless cure to state budget problems.
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