Three Fairbanks school board members are taking issue with assembly candidate Tammie Wilson’s claim that Hunter Elementary School provides such a poor education, based on standardized test scores, that no students should be attending school there.
I asked all the school board members to comment and receieved responses from Brandy Harty, Meredith Maple and Bobby Burgess.
Read MoreFairbanks financial planner Josh Church complains in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that I quoted him out of context, but fails to give any specifics to back up his claim.
I did not quote him out of context.
Here is what I wrote on May 18, an opinion column in which I said that Church has extreme views on education and politics that he concealed from the public.
Church was the spokesman for the group Tammie Wilson created to oppose the education ballot proposition and to participate in the October municipal elections.
Read MoreThe most important piece in the Financial Times story is that Rubenstein is now directly contradicting—through her father’s spokesman—claims made in emails by two of the leading executives of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.
She claims she did not set up an APFC meeting with her dad and that she did not attempt to get investment associate Catherine Hatch, a corporation employee, fired. Her spokesman claims these are “falsehoods.”
Read MoreIt’s not the leak that matters, it’s the substance of the leak, the conflicts of interest.
But the trustees of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation want to focus on preventing future leaks, ignoring the behavior of trustee Gabrielle Rubenstein as documented by Marcus Frampton, the chief investment officer of the corporation, and Allen Waldrop, the director of private equity for the fund.
Read MoreBorough Assembly candidate Tammie Wilson claims the standardized test scores at Hunter Elementary School are so low that no students should be going to school there.
"Would you attend a school in which 15.69 were proficient in English, 9.8 percent was proficient in math and 28.26 in science?” Wilson lectured the Fairbanks school board Tuesday.
“I don't think many of you would send your kids there and I don't think we should be sending any kids to there or find out why they're so low."
Read MoreIf you are going to compare a court proceeding in the United States to the regime of murderous dictator Joseph Stalin, you need to be careful or you will expose your ignorance of history.
Sen. Dan Sullivan is a case in point, now claiming that Trump’s trial is “eerily similar to the show trials Stalin launched against his political opponents.”
Sullivan’s claims are eerily similar to those made by all the GOP handmaids debasing themselves in the obsequious Trump sweepstakes.
Read MorePrioritize efficiency in spending. Fiscal responsibility and accountability. Allocating resources wisely. Responsible budgeting. Developing budgets that align with taxpayer expectations. Proactive planning. Careful consideration of spending priorities. Allocate resources effectively. Prioritize improving student outcomes. Embrace change. Make tough decisions. Drive meaningful changes that elevate our education outcomes. Equipping students for success. Work together to enact positive change. Engaging actively in the education process. Enact positive change,
The tsunami of empty phrases quoted above are all from the opinion column the Daily News-Miner printed by Josh Church, the right-wing spokesman for Tammie Wilson’s campaign group, Citizens for Transparent Government. Wilson’s group is facing a fine for failing a campaign transparency test.
Read MoreIn 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.
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