The Dunleavy administration is trying for a second time to spend up to $9 million on a public relations campaign aimed at executives and investors in mining, forestry, transportation and other industries, having cancelled the first effort because the state was unhappy with the results.

The request for proposals was first issued August 15, with a requirement that firms be at least 10 years old, have “five years or more experience in providing public relations support for Alaskan issues or entities” and three years of “worldwide” experience.

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Donald Trump has added new lies to his package of falsehoods about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, claiming that the refuge could have been supplying oil by now to all of Asia, including China and Japan, had he remained in the White House.

He also is now claiming that oil from ANWR would have prevented the war in Ukraine and helped the U.S. provide all the energy that Western Europe requires. He has lied in the past that money from ANWR oil is the key to saving Social Security.

There is no end to the money miracles that would come from ANWR oil, according to Trump, who has been repeating and inflating bubble-brained lies about ANWR since 2017.

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The office of Gov. Mike Dunleavy contacted me today to report a “glaring error” in this blog post and suggest that I take down the post and rewrite it. According to the governor’s spokesman, Russell and Mary Vought ended their long-time marriage in 2023.

Now we know more about the Vought relationship than we do about what Mary is doing for $5,000 a month under a no-bid contract that has been extended time after time since 2020.

Mary Vought is in charge of PR for the Heritage Foundation, which led Project 2025. Russell Vought is a key contributor of Project 2025. They have two children.

“Families comprised of a married mother, father and their children are the foundation of a well-ordered nation and healthy society,” says Project 2025.

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I’m sure it is uncomfortable for former Sen. Mark Begich and former Sen. Tom Begich to have their nephew, Nick Begich the Third, espousing ideas that contradict the positions taken by Mark and Tom during their days in office.

But with their deliberate silence about Nick III, they are effectively endorsing him.

Tom Begich submitted a column to the Anchorage Daily News saying he’s fed up with Donald Trump and his “enemy within” threats.

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Suzanne Downing, the voice of Trumpism in Alaska, whined Sunday about those comparing Trump’s rally to a pro-Nazi event held at the Garden in 1939.

Downing, who advertises herself as “A Force for Good,” falsely claimed that Hitler headlined the event in 1939 at what she falsely called “Madison Square Gardens.”

There is no evidence that Hitler ever traveled to the United States.

According to Downing’s logic, which she falsely claimed is the Democrats’ logic, all of those who have ever appeared at the Garden are now to be branded as Nazis.

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“Sadly,” Senate candidate Rep. Mike Cronk of Tok complained on Facebook a few days back, “politics of negativity has become the norm. Voters are tired of it. Again, thank you for your support and voting positive!”

“Where there is fear, there is often desperation. Where there is desperation, integrity and character are too often compromised,” Cronk claims.

Sadly, that paean to the power of positive thinking comes from a guy who is lying about his Senate opponent, Borough Assembly member Savannah Fletcher.

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The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, which limits public involvement to whatever it can get away with, plans to act Wednesday on a plan to draw $20 million from a slush fund for new oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Before AIDEA acts, there should be a real public hearing with real public notice. Something far more than the limited opportunity that AIDEA is giving Wednesday at 9 a.m.

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At first glance, the obvious hole in the new Dunleavy data center drive is that he started it with a September 5 form letter to top executives of the tech companies, a missive that was no better than a piece of junk mail.

The state employee or employees who wrote the letter for Dunleavy didn’t even bother to revise the text of each letter to mention anything specific about Microsoft, Google, Apple or Meta in the body of the message, simply referring to each company as “your organization.”

It didn’t matter if he was addressing Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook or Satya Narayana Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, the letter was exactly the same.

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If Donald Trump wins the presidency a second time, Gov. Mike Dunleavy has an exit strategy from the struggles of state government.

“I would not rule it out,” Dunleavy told reporter Nat Herz when asked about whether he would seek a job under Trump. Dunleavy said he hasn’t had “that conversation” with Trump.

Dunleavy could have responded that he intends to fulfill his duties as governor and that he has no intention of quitting. “I would not rule it out,” is what a politician says when he is dreaming of a new job.

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The longer this ridiculous bureaucratic battle goes on, the more money and time will be wasted and the more uncertainty will be created about which road projects will move ahead and which will be delayed or cancelled.

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