Assembly candidate Jimi Cash claims in a campaign flyer that the so-called “education investment reserve” approved last week by the assembly on a 5-4 vote will bring “long-term stability to education funding.”

It will do nothing of the kind.

The so-called reserve is an obvious campaign gimmick by Aaron Lojewski and Cash, created to allow right-wing candidates to claim they are all in favor of funding education 30 or 40 years from now and have found a painless way to do it—divert money that would be used for borough operations into a slush fund.

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On Feb. 13, 2019, with lots of fanfare, Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed an executive order to consolidate the procurement functions of state government in a single office.

He said that about 100 non-construction procurement staff in various state agencies were to be transferred to the Department of Administration and he created the new Office of Procurement and Property Managment.

It would save money, lead to staff reductions, streamline ordering, make state government more efficient, end redundant purchases, and make it easier to enforce procurement policies, he said in Administrative Order No. 304.

On July 17, 2023, with no fanfare, Dunleavy signed an administrative order saying never mind.

The new order revoked Administrative Order No. 304, declaring an end to statewide procurement consolidation.

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For the second straight year, Permanent Fund investment advisor John Skjervem denounced ESG and fossil-fuel divestment in the presentation prepared for the Alaska Permanent Fund trustees annual meeting. Skjervem is repeating many of the same points he made to the trustees a year ago.

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Far too much power to control Alaska’s most important financial institution is vested in one individual, the governor.

When the governor chooses trustees from a small circle of supporters, as Dunleavy does, the risk of concentrated power in the handling of tens of billions is far too great to be ignored.

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Alaska news organizations have still not reported on the bureaucratic machinations that led the Alaska Permanent Fund’s chief operating officer to quit his job without notice just as the fund announced plans to open a new office in Anchorage.

This story by the Alaska Beacon treats the decision to open an Anchorage office as normal state business, buried in two paragraphs at the bottom of this financial update.

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The Legislature was never going to call a special session to deal with a fiscal plan.

That’s because 40 members would have to agree to it and we don’t have a legislative supermajority on any contentious topic.

So it’s not because of the Legislature that there won’t be a special session, but because of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, the only single person with the ability to make something happen .

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What we need in a school board member is someone with sound judgment, a person grounded in reality who can accurately interpret what is going on around them.

We don’t have that with April Smith, the incumbent running for reelection against challenger Bobby Burgess.

She has a tendency to misinterpret what is going on around her, whipping up hysteria at every opportunity.

In a textbook case exposing Smith’s abysmal judgement a few days ago, she defamed longtime Fairbanks writer David James on Facebook, accusing him of being a criminal, which he is not.

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Sen. Dan Sullivan wants to remake the federal judiciary in Alaska in his own image.

He doesn’t want any of the Alaskans who applied months ago to reach the federal bench and wants to recruit people more to his liking.

A true test of character for the nine people who are taking part in his partisan stunt is whether they will now withdraw from the Dan Sullivan Council Charade. He is using all nine for political cover.

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The nine friendly people chosen by Sen. Dan Sullivan to serve on his so-called “Alaska Federal Judiciary Council” won’t speak with one voice. Some of them will even disagree with him on major issues.

But the alleged council might as well be a product of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping School of Law for all the credibility it starts off with, which is zero.

Whatever this group is, it doesn’t warrant a trumped-up name like “Alaska Federal Judiciary Council.” The group is to give advice to Sullivan on names of potential judges. Sullivan will be free to do whatever he wants with the advice.

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Gov. Mike Dunleavy has increased the monthly payments he is making to Washington, D.C. publicist Mary Vought, under what started as a no-bid state contract at the height of the recall drive nearly four years ago. The total cost is nearing $185,000.

In August alone, Dunleavy paid Vought’s company $5,000 on Aug. 23 and $5,000 on Aug. 24, according to the state’s online checkbook. On July 17, she received $5,000.

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