The Dunleavy administration is trying a new tactic on its state-funded data mining operation to promote non-existent “petitions” to boost Dunleavy’s efforts to direct more public money to private schools.

In 2019, Dunleavy claimed he was gathering signatures on a petition to submit to legislators to support a Permanent Fund Dividend of $3,000. He also claimed he had a petition to cap government spending. And a petition to pay back PFDs.

But there were no petitions. He was simply collecting names and addresses of people who could be called upon for political support, disguising the nature of the exercise by calling them “petitions.”

He’s doing the same thing again.

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A Fairbanks high school math teacher and mother of two has begun to fill in the gap for those who have asked for analysis of the recent charter school study touted endlessly by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Education Commissioner Deena Bishop and many Republican legislators.

West Valley High School teacher Beth Zirbes, who has master’s degrees in math and statistics from UAF, makes a clear case that the situation is far more complex than the simplistic portrayal by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Education Commissioner Deena Bishop and many Republican legislators.

I commend Zirbes for devoting many hours of her own time to try and put this study in context, showing its strengths and weaknesses and why more work needs to be done. This should not be the end of the analysis, but the beginning.

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Anchorage attorney Craig Richards, who helped defend Gov. Mike Dunleavy against the recall, has been getting $12,000 a month from the state for the past year as “statehood defense coordinator.”

As I’ve written here before, the no-bid contract the Dunleavy administration created for Richards violated numerous procurement regulations.

Now he has a new contract, which again makes a mockery of the state procurement laws. Richards has basically become a part-time political employee of Dunleavy.

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Fairbanks volunteers who have joined Moms for Liberty are looking for books to ban in local school libraries, including books they have not read.

It’s no surprise that they have found plenty of objectionable words and want to read them out loud at school board meetings.

Members of the club, including Ruth Ewig, Gail McBride, and Cynthia Wozniak, want their opinions about acceptable books and objectionable words to become the law of the land. McBride and Wozniak made that clear in testimony to the school board this week.

They denounced “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, with McBride and Wozniak saying it should be immediately removed from school library shelves. Lots of other books should be pulled as well, they said.

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“As the nation’s largest non-profit legal firm solely dedicated to religious liberty, our legal services are always provided at no charge to you,” the Texas-based First Liberty Institute says.

The Dunleavy administration has chosen three lawyers of the First Liberty Institute to help defend the practice of using state funds for private schools, contrary to the language of the Alaska Constitution.

The Alaska Constitution says, “No money shall be paid from public funds for the direct benefit of any religious or private educational institution.”

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Wall Street Journal reporter Molly Ball wrote: “Sen. Dan Sullivan stood beside the newly elected Taiwanese vice president in an orchid-draped room of the island’s presidential palace, making a promise that wasn’t wholly within his power to keep.”

“This is the message our bipartisan delegation wants to send to the people of Taiwan: ‘You can count on the United States of America,’ said the silver-haired Alaska Republican, a recently retired Marine.”

There is nothing “wholly” about this.

Sullivan never questions the brilliance of the convicted felon. And Sullivan cannot keep any promises to Taiwan if Trump wins because a Trump promise is as good as a degree from Trump University.

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Gov. Mike Dunleavy is spending state money on another data mining expedition on Facebook, claiming he has petitions on parental rights and education reform.

Are the petitions real? What do they say? Who will get the petitions? Who knows?

“By clicking submit, you agree to send your info to Governor Mike Dunleavy, who agrees to use it according to their privacy policy,” the Dunleavy ad says. “Facebook will also use it subject to our data policy, including to auto-fill forms for ads.”

One of Dunleavy’s new ads features a fake photo of four lecherous old characters with oversize noses polluting the room with cigar smoke and a headline, “They don’t want you to have parental rights.”

Other ads with alleged petitions claim that teachers are quitting their jobs because the Legislature failed to approve Dunleavy’s teacher bonus plan and families are fleeing the state because of a lack of education “reform,” a word means whatever you want it to mean. Everybody loves reform. And everyone loves parental rights.

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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.

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Whoever 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.

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Suzanne 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.

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