Gov. Mike Dunleavy skipped the Alaska Municipal League conference last fall so he could attend a GOP conference in Florida. As that Boca Raton meeting ended, the GOP governors association gave him $125,000 on Nov. 22 to fight the recall.
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It is stunning that Gov. Mike Dunleavy says he plans to use federal COVID-19 money to replace most of the things he has vetoed from the budget, instead of using bailout funds to deal with the COVID-19 health and economic crisis.
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Allowing AIDEA to loosen all regulations about interest rates, costs, fees and financing terms is an extreme measure, one that the authority has not justified. It would make far more sense to put limits on this power and to require AIDEA executive director Tom Boutin to explain what he has in mind.
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The idea of working with the Florida Virtual School did not come about in response to the COVID-19 health crisis that forced school buildings to close or because of a suggestion last fall from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. The state was looking at the Florida model a year ago.
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The state budget for the fiscal year that begins in July is not sustainable. But it is a measured response to the crisis facing our state and it leaves room for the Legislature to do more depending upon what happens in the next few months.
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Education Commissioner Michael Johnson didn’t tell school districts about the new Alaska Statewide Virtual School, a partnership with the Florida Virtual School, until it opened.
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“The next 2-4 weeks are a critical time for us. The more we limit the spread, the fewer people become critically ill, and the fewer people die.”
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Young, who is running for re-election and facing a significant challenge from independent Alyse Galvin, needs to take responsibility for his reckless behavior.
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Dunleavy and Clarkson have never given a good reason for throwing state business at Washington, D.C. lawyer William Consovoy, a former law clerk for Judge Clarence Thomas, now a lawyer for Trump. As of the end of February, the state had paid $171,300 to Consovoy’s law firm since August.
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Instead of claiming to be bold, Parnell and Begich should give Alaskans a clue of what they are talking about. The hard part of this is not saying, “Let’s start handing out lotsa cash!”
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Their continued cautious-lawyer silence about Trump’s lies is a disservice to the country.
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No one who claims that he did “not fully grasp the severity of this crisis” 13 days ago should be representing Alaska in Congress.
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AIDEA should not be using an emergency meeting—announced Tuesday and scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m.—to act on a $35 million decision that in no way qualifies as an emergency and has nothing to do with the coronavirus crisis that is creating enormous problems for businesses and workers across the state.
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It’s not an exaggeration to say that any step that keeps a hospital bed vacant could mean the difference between life and death for a family member, friend or neighbor. The health crisis is here. It won’t take much for the system to be overloaded.
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.”We physicians have done everything we can to prepare and educate our families and patients. The next step can only be done through your exercise of executive power. Alaska needs a shelter in place order and a mandated travel ban which are enforced. The time to act is now,” hundreds of Alaska doctors said in weekend letters to Dunleavy.
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This is a time for the Dunleavy administration to focus on the needs of Alaskans and to cut waste in state spending wherever it is found, starting with the $600-per-hour lawyers in Washington, D.C.
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Young’s message that Alaskans should “go forth with our everyday activities” may be the most irresponsible thing an elected official could say at this time.
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The Dunleavy drive to privatize API, which began a year ago with a flawed process to turn over the hospital to Wellpath under a no-bid contract, remains a dubious undertaking that should be halted.
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Either the law about secret oil tax documents needs to be changed or the attorney general’s office needs to be changed so that one hand can ascertain what the other is doing.
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Gov. Mike Dunleavy is right. This isn’t the end of the world. But his proposed budget would mean the end of the Constitutional Budget Reserve and the beginning of the end of the Permanent Fund.
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