As the state House debated the proposed operating budget, it rejected an amendment to subtract $12.5 million from the enormous cash reserves of the Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority.
I was struck during the House debate at the stunning level of misinformation about AIDEA. Many legislators, by their comments, showed that they know nothing about the corporation’s $600 million to $700 million surplus, yet they pretend to be informed.
Read MoreHaving written about his denunciation of the campaign watchdog group, I was surprised Friday when Rep. Kevin McCabe was born again as a champion of the Alaska Public Offices Commission.
He claimed that one of his 10 amendments to a campaign finance bill would “Strengthen APOC—the watchdog tasked with enforcing our campaign finance laws.”
Read MoreThe lamest excuse in favor of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s education veto came from North Pole Rep. Mike Prax.
“I need to point out that we're talking about forcing people to pay things whenever we say you've got to pay for something. There are in fact other options for people that think there needs to be more funding towards education or any other state services,” Prax said.
“Specifically to education, those that say they want to support education can, still can, you can change your PFD application, participate in the education raffle, that all of that money goes into the education fund.
Read MoreThe promoters of the Alaska LNG project hope that the Trump administration will boost the economics of the project by branding it as essential for national security, which could create new ways to subsidize and speed up the project.
A declaration of this sort could go along with long-term contracts in which the federal government would promise to buy gas from the project for decades to supply Alaska military bases.
The Dunleavy administration has not spelled out any of this in detail, but Frank Richards, CEO of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., presented an outline of how the Trump administration could boost the project.
Read MoreThe United States is summoning officials of Japan and South Korea to Alaska June 2 to continue the pressure campaign to get those nations to pledge tens of billions for what Sen. Dan Sullivan calls “America’s Gasline.”
Read MoreThe Dunleavy deficit and his failure to propose to do anything about it went unmentioned in all of the news coverage of the failed legislative attempt to override the Dunleavy education veto.
Read MoreIf the Legislature fails to close the loophole and fails to cut oil tax credits, the consequences will be lower Permanent Fund Dividends and less money for education and other services.
Read MoreSen. Dan Sullivan’s unfortunate vote to defend the idea of reductions from Medicaid helped guarantee that the plan to cut $880 billion—which would lead to tens of thousands of Alaskans losing Medicaid coverage if the state does not pick up the cost—remains alive in Congress.
Read MoreOn Thursday, Dunleavy snarled his way through a press conference in which he failed to take any responsibility for planning to spend $2 billion more than the state is taking in—pushing the state toward a real crisis.
He said he’s not interested in taxing and spending. His actions, not his words, show that he is interested in spending state savings down to zero without doing anything to stop the decline.
Read More“We’re talking about laying pipe as early as the end of this year, the beginning of next year,” Sen. Dan Sullivan claimed to Fox News on April 10 about the Alaska LNG pipeline.
“And it’s got President Trump’s name all over it, cause if it happens, it will be largely due to him,” Sullivan said.
It’s not going to happen, as anyone who looks at the calendar can tell.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy, drinking from the same fountain of wishful thinking as Sullivan, recently predicted on Fox News that the pipeline would be supplying gas to Cook Inlet by October 2027, which is also not going to happen.
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