With this contract, AG Kevin Clarkson is sending a message to conservative lawyers that he is willing to use state resources to give them extra business, even though it features the “Alaska discount” that deprives them of an extra $350 an hour.
Read MoreNow that she is the former temporary budget director, it’s time to assess Donna Arduin’s failure to understand anything about Alaska politics and Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s failure to demand a more responsible approach.
Read MoreThe Anchorage Daily News editorial board, led by company CEO Ryan Binkley, is wrong on all of this except for the statement that the Dunleavy administration will fight the recall effort all the way.
Read MoreGov. Mike Dunleavy wants to cut Medicaid spending by $700 million over a couple of years. He has been unable to define the level of reduced services this would require or which Alaska health care institutions might survive the bloodletting.
Read MoreThe 2017 Republican tax law, which Congress approved without a hearing, was going to include a provision to collect about $70 million a year from cruise ship companies that don’t pay federal taxes. But Sen. Dan Sullivan led the charge to sink the ship tax.
Read MoreAIDEA Executive Director Tom Boutin told the governor’s press secretary to pretend that he did not know about the no-bid contract with Clark Penney, valued at up to $441,000. Was this to divert attention from the obvious questions about whether this contract was a political gift for the oversized role that Bob Penney played in helping Dunleavy win the election?
Read MoreWhat we know is that an unnamed person or persons in the Dunleavy administration bestowed a no-bid contract on Clark Penney, the grandson of a major Dunleavy donor, and prevented competitive bids on a contract worth up to $441,000.
Read MoreThe state would be better off if the governor focused on improvements to education, both K-12 and the university, to try to better prepare young Alaskans to compete for the demanding jobs of the future, which won’t be in gun factories or casinos.
Read MoreAttorney General Kevin Clarkson will try to assemble a case against the recall of Gov. Mike Dunleavy. He will be tempted to reject or ignore the work of his predecessors in analyzing election law, which would be a mistake.
Read MoreThe recall campaign has proven to be the most effective way to capture Dunleavy's attention, the healthy start of a statewide conversation about Alaska’s future.
Read MoreTuckerman Babcock had a lot to do with the mistakes and bad policy calls that created a growing statewide recall campaign aimed at ending the Dunleavy administration. It’s not clear how much the recall had to do with Babcock’s removal as chief of staff or his “retirement” letter three weeks later.
Read MoreDr. Al Gross, an independent challenging Sen. Dan Sullivan, says his campaign staff will be unionized, a first for a statewide campaign in Alaska.
Read MoreThe Dunleavy administration should take the hint and admit that the only emergency is the result of inadequate planning and execution by the governor, his temporary budget director and the state health department, which tried to enact regulations without due process.
Read MoreThe biggest rate increase in the history of the Alaska Pioneer Homes goes into effect today. As a candidate, Gov. Mike Dunleavy told the 500 residents of the Alaska Pioneer homes, average age 87, that he would not cut the budget, promising no rate increase.
Read MoreTo help the Dunleavy Dental Director, the Legislature should override the Dunleavy dental veto, keeping this cost-effective program—mostly funded by the federal government—that helps some of Alaska’s most vulnerable people keep their teeth.
Read MoreHand it to Pruitt and Giessel for quickly rounding up the usual suspect—our old friend, instability. If the tactic seems familiar, that’s because the playbook hasn’t changed in 40 years.
Read MoreAs a limited liability company, Hilcorp does not have to pay the oil and gas corporate income tax that BP has long paid in Alaska, a tax on which BP may be paying about $30 million a year or more.
Read MoreEight years ago, Forbes said that billionaire Jeffrey Hildebrand, owner of Hilcorp, was “one of the more secretive of American oil-and-gas tycoons.”
Read MoreEvery dentist in the state, as a public service, should make room in September for as many Medicaid patients as possible. Having good teeth is a key requirement for getting almost any job. The governor will figure out how to pay for the program he claimed had ended July 1, but continues until Oct. 1.
Read MoreIn terms of spending on state operations and the size of government in Alaska, Gov. Mike Dunleavy has backtracked more than Alaskans have been led to believe.
Read More