Four of the six Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation trustees refused to follow a legislative directive to close their new five-employee Anchorage office, claiming the Legislature doesn’t have the power to stop them.
This is not a smart move by Jason Brune, Adam Crum, Ryan Anderson and Gabrielle Rubenstein, who may think they are free to ignore the Legislature because they operate with the political blessing and protection of Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
Read MoreWhoever wrote the column in the Wall Street Journal published under the name of Alaska Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum has him puffing himself up for a national audience, claiming that he manages more than $138 billion for Alaskans and state retirees.
“I manage more than $138 billion in fiduciary assets as Alaska’s commissioner of revenue and as a trustee of the state’s retirement management system and the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.,” says Crum, who earned a master’s degree in environental health sciences in 2015 at Johns Hopkins.
As a legislative candidate in 2016, Crum described himself as a “business owner, truck driver and carpenter.” He also said gold could be a significant revenue source for the state.
Read MoreSuzanne Downing has yet to retract the story on her website that falsely claims Larry Persily, one of the most accomplished political reporters in Alaska, can’t be trusted when he talks about taxes because he doesn’t have a current Alaska business license.
“Take your tax advice from this guy???’ Downing said on Facebook.
Better to take advice from someone with Persily’s strong credentials than a person who can’t look up a business license on the state website.
Read MoreThree 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.
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