In the history of the Golden Valley Electric Association, few members in the cooperative have done as much to advocate for GVEA transparency and communication as Gary Newman, who is running for re-election to the GVEA board.
Over a period of many years, Newman attended hundreds of monthly GVEA meetings and showed the dedication necessary to educate himself on utility matters. And that was all before he ran for the board and was elected in 2015.
Read MoreWhen the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority releases its long-awaited $250,000 study praising AIDEA, the report will highlight the Red Dog zinc and lead mine as an AIDEA success story.
In November 2022, AIDEA said it wanted a consultant to "document the authority’s impressive economic and investment history” and its “central role” in supporting economic development. It said the report would be done by June 2023.
Red Dog, one of the largest lead and zinc mines in the world, is always mentioned as the ultimate AIDEA success story.
What rarely gets mentioned is whether one of the largest zinc deposits in the world would have been brought into production without a state subsidy, meaning without AIDEA.
Read MoreThis story needs to be told and retold this year so that Alaskans understand exactly how the public process was corrupted to achieve a 67 percent pay increase for legislators and a $31,000 increase for Dunleavy. Legislators have no one to blame but themselves for going along with Dunleavy’s machinations.
Every incumbent will be on the defensive, especially those who will claim they opposed the 67 percent increase but did not make a serious effort to expose the deception that allowed it to happen.
Read MoreIt’s been eight months since Sen. Dan Sullivan announced his hand-picked “council of Alaskans to improve federal judicial selection.”
I said at the time it was nothing but a delaying tactic by Sullivan. And that’s exactly what it has turned out to be.
Sullivan and his office have had absolutely nothing to say about the Dan Sullivan committee to select right-wing judges since it was launched last fall.
The Alaska federal judgeship has been vacant for nearly 2.5 years because of senatorial stalling.
Read MoreThe ham-handed attempt to silence the group that supported Proposition A is dirty politics, an attack on freedom of speech and not something to be tolerated.
It also appears to be a laughable attempt to co-opt the name of Golden Heart Strong and use it for a campaign to con voters in the municipal election this fall when the tax cap is up for renewal.
The people who led the opposition to Proposition A—state employee and assembly candidate Tammie Wilson and assembly member Barbara Haney—need to make it clear that Golden Heart Strong has a right to exist.
Read MoreThe Legislature needs to begin monitoring the APFC and other state corporations as part of the checks and balances essential to preserve or rebuild public trust.
This is not just a task for the trustees, as Gov. Mike Dunleavy has claimed.
The six-member Board of Trustees is clearly divided over how to deal with the behavior of trustee Gabrielle Rubenstein, who has been described in leaked emails as inserting herself into corporation operations in ways that are inappropriate for a trustee.
That’s one of the takeaways from the special meeting Wednesday, which included a sharp exchange between Craig Richards and Jason Brune. Richards referred to inappropriate actions by unnamed trustees, while Brune complained that Richards was making “large allegations.”
Read MoreThe Alaska Legislature held its annual joint session to consider confirmation or rejection of people placed on boards and commissions by Gov. Mike Dunleavy since last year, rejecting 3 of 81 appointees.
There were legislative confirmation hearings on many of those up for a vote, but the confirmation process is almost always superficial and cursory.
The Legislature rejected three nominees, Bob Griffin, Mike Porcaro and Mark Sayampanathan. Griffin was on the state school board, Porcaro was on the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission and Sayampanathan was on the Worker’s Compensation Board.
Read MoreThe trustees of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation still have time to correct the serious mistake they’ve made on the agenda for the special meeting Wednesday about the leak of documents related to the meddling of trustee Gabrielle Rubenstein in fund operations.
Missing from the agenda is any chance for public comment at the special meeting that begins at 8 a.m.
The trustees may claim that there is no need for public comment on a matter of internal security that should be kept confidential.
No one has suggested that any of the leaked emails are fakes. What they show is the most serious leadership crisis in the history of the fund. This must be dealt with in the open.
Read MoreBy ROBIN O’DONOGHUE
Senate Bill 165, sponsored by Sen. Matt Claman, fixes the harm done by Attorney General Treg Taylor last October when he unwisely implemented a corrupt arrangement to benefit only him, Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom. It simply reads that the Department of Law, including the attorney general, may not represent or advise the governor, the lieutenant governor, or another public officer or former public officer in a matter in which that public officer or former public officer is the subject of a complaint filed under the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.
Senate Bill 17 proposes to reset limits to political campaign contributions. Our campaign finance laws are intended to restore the public’s trust in the electoral process and to foster good government. The campaign disclosure law directly limits the influence of contributors on candidates by limiting the size of campaign contributions.
Read MoreThe spokesman for the group opposing Proposition A, which is on the ballot Tuesday in Fairbanks, says that with “the exception of exceptional anti-faith and anti-family propaganda, our local school board has a dismal record of success.”
Josh Church, who represents Tammie Wilson’s “Citizens for Transparent Government,” expressed his views of the Fairbanks schools last year in a piece he wrote for a right-wing Anchorage blog. He said it’s the fault of the community that the schools aren’t doing a better job.
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