The Anchorage Daily News says Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson has proven himself to be “unqualified, incompetent and out of his depth” during his year-and-a-half as mayor of the state’s largest city. The newspaper backed this up with a powerful editorial, one of the best I’ve seen in years, which stops short of calling for his resignation.
Read MoreI have no doubt that Sen. Cathy Giessel regrets the introduction of Senate Bill 50. I take it as a good sign that she withdrew the week-old bill, which was written at the behest of a single gas company in Cook Inlet.
Read MoreOne sign of how Dunleavy’s approach created lasting damage is the declining number of students eligible for the Alaska Performance Scholarship who choose to attend school in Alaska. The percentage of top students choosing to remain in Alaska and use this program—which is worth up to $4,755 a year—has been dropping since 2016, down from 39 percent to 22 percent.
Read MoreHe wouldn’t dare give this speech in Anchorage. But there is little to no awareness in Fairbanks of what is happening in the big city. With all Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson has done to “save” Anchorage—where the streets are paved with snow—it’s hard to imagine what he will tell people who are expecting a political savior from the south.
Read MoreGov. Mike Dunleavy refused to give a straight answer on public radio’s “Talk of Alaska” Tuesday when asked if he would support getting the $100 million needed to match the nearly $300 million in federal grants secured by Sen. Lisa Murkowski to save the ferry system. Dunleavy made his go-to move, saying there will be a “discussion” on the topic.
One of his PR people says he wants to cut an unidentified $100 million elsewhere in the budget. All to try to preserve the Dunleavy fantasy that the state needs no taxes and can afford bigger dividends.
Read MoreThe 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.
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