Gov. Mike Dunleavy did not say how much the new Alaska General would cost or why the lieutenants of the Dunleavy administration are not already identifying careless and fraudulent spending. No-bid contracts with relatives of donors come to mind.
Read MoreIf the state pays the dividend Gov. Mike Dunleavy wants, we’ll see a deficit of close to $2 billion. Something has to give. And Dunleavy is happy to be a bystander. That was the message from his State of the State speech.
Read MoreGov. Mike Dunleavy should read the state reports that show why no one should assume that a decrease in the Alaska unemployment percentage is a positive sign. The drop in the size of the labor force makes the jobless percentage misleading.
Read MoreThe debate about creation stories and state jobs for legislators should have been settled a decade ago when Rep. Nancy Dahlstrom quit the Legislature to take an executive branch job, only to trigger constitutional questions that led to her resignation.
Read MoreTammie Wilson’s new job was created while Wilson is serving as a legislator. The Alaska Constitution prohibits legislators from accepting a job created under these conditions for at least a year.
Read MoreThe Dunleavy wing of the Legislature, a minority group, got some bad information about Alaska school districts and ran with it. The wing members didn’t hesitate to repeat a false claim that schools have $500 million in extra cash.
Read MoreRather than tell the truth, the leaders of the executive branch chose to lie about the “I’m going to run right now” press conference in December. Now there is proof that Gov. Mike Dunleavy did not split to attend an urgent meeting.
Read MoreMany legislators will oppose the Dunleavy plan to flunk third-graders who are not doing well in reading. The bill may be amended to strip this language and make flunking subject to parental approval.
Read MoreHe portrays himself as an innocent bystander, waiting for Alaskans and the Legislature to decide what he should do next. But neither the Legislature nor the public will ever speak with a single voice on the complicated public policy choices that must be faced immediately.
Read MoreBy calling for talk, not action, the governor is trying to shift all blame for the budget crisis to the Legislature, an institution incapable of doing the work required of the governor.
Read MoreAfter all the expenses are tallied in a few months, the final government services budget for the current fiscal year will show little change from the previous fiscal year.
Read MoreWeather-conscious attorneys for Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s group say a delay in gathering signatures wouldn’t harm the recall campaign because “signature-gathering is easier in April or May than in February.”
Read MoreThe reading initiative was launched Wednesday at a press conference that featured everything except the text of the bill or details about what it contains.
Read MoreIt would have been awkward for the consultant, Northern Economics, to mention Dunleavy’s campaign promises because he has abandoned everything he said regarding the ferry system when he was trolling for votes in 2018 in communities that rely on the blue canoes.
Read MoreDunleavy says the court ruling on the recall is “problematic.” One big problem is his false claim that the decision from an Anchorage judge allows a recall for “any reason at all.”
Read MorePerhaps Attorney General Kevin Clarkson low-balled the original deal at $50,000 because a legitimate cost estimate would have generated bad publicity about Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s big government footprint.
Read MoreGov. Mike Dunleavy remains in full budget retreat mode because of the recall. He has included $2.5 million in his proposed budget for the next fiscal year to continue a vital earthquake monitoring project, reversing another one of his vetoes.
Read MoreGov. Mike Dunleavy will have money from Republican business leaders, his brother Francis in Texas and others to fight the recall. What he won’t have is a good legal argument to keep it off the ballot, which was clear from Friday’s hearing in Anchorage.
Read MoreNo public official subject to a recall campaign in Alaska ever admits that he or she deserves to be recalled. Gov. Mike Dunleavy is no different.
Read MoreAlaska leads the nation in cutting state spending for higher education this year, the past two years and the past five years. If Gov. Mike Dunleavy has his way, Alaska will continue the record of decline in the years ahead.
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