The state announced that it intends to award a contract to Six-7 Strategies for the proposed $9 million public relations and marketing campaign envisioned by Gov. Mike Dunleavy to promote Alaska to companies Outside.

The Dunleavy plan is to sell Alaska as imagined in the colorful pages of this 32-page pamphlet titled the “Alaska Standard,” a document created under a previous state contract. The Alaska Standard, created by Bridge House Advisors of Chicago, promotes development of oil, gas, minerals, renewable energy, etc. in Alaska.

Read More

In a letter to the editor, Randy Ruaro, the executive director of the Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority, accuses me of making things up, waging a smear campaign and opposing resource development and jobs for Alaskans.

He is wrong on all counts.

I suspect Ruaro didn’t intend to do this, but his broadside actually confirms what I wrote here on November 26—that Anchorage consultant Northern Economics completed its $250,000 study of AIDEA’s economics early this year. I concluded that AIDEA did not like the results and refused to release the findings, claiming it was a draft and therefore secret.

Read More

Two state-owned corporations that don’t act without the blessing of Gov. Mike Dunleavy have cooked up a plan to tap into a slush fund to provide a $50 million guarantee to pay for a gasline study.

The corporations excluded the Legislature Wednesday and avoided the sometimes messy process of holding public hearings and seeking testimony when dealing with public money.

Read More

But it appears clear now that the Dunleavy administration never had any intention of weighing all the trucks and made no effort to do so, an issue that is particularly relevant given the wear and tear on highways and bridges.

The heavy-handed intervention by the Dunleavy administration is clear in the report, which now opposes a plan to extend the hours of weigh stations and weigh every truck.

Read More

Contango Ore claims new weight restrictions on the Chena River flood control bridge will mean a 20 percent cut in the amount of ore hauled to the Fort Knox mine.

Contango and Kinross had intended to haul 50 tons of rock per load. A 20 percent reduction means the trucks will only carry 40 tons per load.

But something about this doesn’t add up. The new 80-ton bridge limit should not have led to a 10-ton reduction for each truck.

Read More

The AIDEA study about the economics of AIDEA is not the only important state-funded report that has yet to see the light of day.

A comprehensive $800,000 study on the salaries of state workers and whether they are high enough for market conditions is another. Hiring problems have become chronic at state agencies, leading to a decline in services. Low salaries are one of the recruitment problems.

The salary study was to have been completed by June 30, allowing enough time to work its recommendations into the proposed state budget that is due from Gov. Mike Dunleavy in two weeks.

Read More

The Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority spent $250,000 of public money to complete an economic study that AIDEA refuses to release to the public.

AIDEA hired a respected Alaska contracting company, Northern Economics of Anchorage, to perform an independent analysis of what AIDEA has accomplished or not accomplished over the years.

Read More

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has plenty of time to opine on why Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees deserve prompt approval by the U.S. Senate and he has plenty of time to go on Fox News and praise the wisdom of Donald Trump.

But the Alaska governor won’t take the time to explain to Alaskans what he has done—if anything—about the critical collapse in operations under his watch at the Alaska Division of Retirement and Benefits.

Read More

Either Dunleavy hasn’t found anyone in the Second Judicial District who pledges to be loyal to him and didn’t sign the recall petition or he doesn’t care enough to make the effort to fill the vacancy on the state school board, a key entity in creating state education policy.

Read More

Perhaps Dunleavy didn’t get his face on Fox News often enough to sing Trump’s praises while Trump was watching TV. Perhaps the people around Trump regard Dunleavy as a lightweight. Perhaps it is because Dunleavy’s political constituency is tiny and there are plenty of sycophants in the sea.

Read More