Posted by Jeanne Devon on November 5, 2021 · Leave a Comment
SEVEN LEGISLATORS ATTEND COVID DISINFORMATION PARTY The site of the latest COVID disinformation campaign was not the Anchorage Assembly chambers this time. The usual crew of maskless testifiers, along with their de facto leader, Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, migrated to Change Point, a local conservative mega-church, to listen to speakers who disagree with the vast majority of medical providers and science. The event had been hyped as featuring a “Mystery Guest” who turned out to be the Mayor himself. Greeted with cheers by those who’d arrived to hear about how vaccines are bioweapons designed to alter your genes, Bronson made the…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Democratic Party, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Anchorage Assembly, COVID-19, Election 2022, Fairbanks, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Headlines, Mayor Dave Bronson & Co., Mike Dunleavy, Municipality of Anchorage, Oil Tax, Rallies and Events, Redistricting, Republicans, Sen. Lora Reinbold, TALL Tales from Juneau, Voting · Tags Alaska covid, Dave Bronson, Ken McCarty
Posted by Jeanne Devon on October 22, 2021 · Leave a Comment
MURKOWSKI AND SULLIVAN VOTE NO ON VOTER PROTECTION Both of Alaska’s Republican Senators decided to take a ball-peen hammer to the knees of democracy this week. It’s not surprising, but it’s disappointing. As the U.S. Congress weighs the heavy topic of the sustainability of our very democracy, Murkowski and Sullivan aren’t even pretending to care about voting rights – the foundation of everything. They didn’t vote against anything in particular, mind you, they voted to filibuster the entire Freedom to Vote Act. They don’t even want the subject to come up for debate. They have abused the filibuster to harm democracy,…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Governors Race, Alaska Lt Governors Race, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Alaska Senate Race, COVID-19, Democrats, Don Young, Election 2022, Elections, Ethics, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Headlines, Health, Law & Order, Lisa Murkowski, Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, Mayor Dave Bronson, Mike Dunleavy, Militia, Municipality of Anchorage, Public Safety, Republicans, TALL Tales from Juneau, Vitamin Democracy, Voting · Tags Alaska covid-19, Alaska PFAS, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Rep. David Eastman, Sen. Dan Sullivan, Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson
Posted by Jeanne Devon on October 8, 2021 · Leave a Comment
THREE CHEERS FOR FAIRBANKS! Before we dive in to the usual shenanigans from the local to the federal level, let’s all take a moment to marvel at what just happened in Fairbanks and take a look at the faces that will grace the Borough Assembly and the School Board. Some will return, others are new, but all were enthusiastically supported by the Interior Democrats! At a time when the importance of rational local governance and local elections have never been more plain to see (more on that later), Fairbanks rallied the community with great candidates, solid plans and policies, hard-working…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Anchorage Assembly, COVID-19, Elections, Ethics, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Headlines, Health, Lisa Murkowski, Mayor Dave Bronson, Mayor Dave Bronson & Co., Mike Dunleavy, Municipality of Anchorage, Public Safety, Rallies and Events, Republicans, TALL Tales from Juneau · Tags Adam Crum, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Jamie Allard, Mayor Dave Bronson, Meg Zaletel, Suzanne LaFrance, The Blue Alaskan, The Midnight Sun
Posted by Jeanne Devon on August 27, 2021 · Leave a Comment
This week has been particularly mind-boggling everywhere from the Capitol in Juneau to the Anchorage Assembly chamber, to the Kenai Peninsula, Fairbanks, and the Mat-Su. All I can say is suit up, because we’re going to take a dive and look at it all. IN JUNEAU The Special Session took a crazy turn Wednesday night. The legislature was slated to vote on what was shaping up to be an $1100 PFD, to fund scholarships, and get it done, and the floor session was ready to start… But 18 of the 38 legislators who were in the Capitol decided not to show up. Taking into…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Democratic Party, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Anchorage Assembly, COVID-19, Democrats, Education, Election 2022, Ethics, Events, Fairbanks, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Headlines, Health, Mat Su, Mayor Dave Bronson, Mayor Dave Bronson & Co., Mike Dunleavy, Municipality of Anchorage, Religion, Republicans, TALL Tales from Juneau, Women's Issues · Tags Anchorage Librarian, Caitlin Shortell, Elvi Gray Jackson, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Ivermectin Alaska, Lance Roberts, Mat-Su schools, Mayor Dave Bronson, Recall Dunleavy
Posted by Jeanne Devon on August 20, 2021 · Leave a Comment
FINANCE FIREWORKS About the most exciting thing to happen so far in the current special session was the fireworks display in the Senate Finance Committee this week. Granted ‘fireworks’ by Senate Finance Committee standards sounds to most people like ‘stern words’ but for the Senate Finance Committee, that’s FIREWORKS. The purpose of the meeting was to hear from Alexei Painter, the Director of Legislative Finance, to summarize the fiscal situation of the state and to go over the governor’s heinous hacking of the budget. The governor got uniformly raked over the coals for his vetoes. Donny Olson (D-Golovin) was extremely…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Anchorage Assembly, Bill Walker, COVID-19, Ethics, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Headlines, Health, LGBT, Mayor Dave Bronson, Mayor Dave Bronson & Co., Mike Dunleavy, Municipality of Anchorage, Native issues, Republicans, Rural Issues, TALL Tales from Juneau · Tags Alaska budget cuts, Alaska budget vetoes, Bert Stedman, Bill Walker Alaska, Donny Olson, Dr. Shawn Degler, Jennifer Granholm, Les Gara for Governor, Mike Dunleavy, Mike Porcaro, Sami Graham, WWAMI
Posted by Jeanne Devon on May 8, 2021 · Leave a Comment
SEN. DAN SULLIVAN ADDRESSES THE LEGISLATURE BUCKLE UP To say it was mind-numbing to listen to Sen. Dan Sullivan in his address to a joint session of the legislature is an understatement. To say that was surprising wouldn’t be true. Mind you, he’s not up for reelection until 2026. His job security is solid. He doesn’t need to pander and whip up “the base” to get votes any more. This was the perfect opportunity to deliver a positive address, looking to the future, reassuring the 44% of Alaskans who didn’t vote for him that maybe he wasn’t so bad, and…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Anchorage Mayoral Race, COVID-19, Democrats, Don Young, Donald Trump, Elections, Headlines, Health, International Politics, Labor, Lisa Murkowski, Municipality of Anchorage, Nation, Numbskullery, Ohio Dan Sullivan, Oil & Gas, Rallies and Events, Republicans, Rural Issues, Sen. Lora Reinbold, TALL Tales from Juneau, Trump, US Congress, Veterans · Tags American Jobs Plan Alaska, American Rescue Plan Alaska, Dave Bronson, Sen. Lora Reinbold, Senator Dan Sullivan
Posted by Jeanne Devon on March 19, 2021 · Leave a Comment
No, it’s not a sketchy Irish law firm – it’s this week in the Alaska State Legislature. THE BUDGET LOOMS It’s that time in the legislative session, when all the budget subcommittees that take on little bite-sized pieces of the big budget and make recommendations, are starting to wind down. Soon all those little pieces will reconnect and we’ll be on to the next phase. But for right now, part of the draft budget includes a controversial line item we’ve been keeping our eye on. Remember a few weeks ago when there was a hearing about the Dunleavy administration’s move…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, COVID-19, Ethics, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Headlines, Republicans, Sen. Lora Reinbold, Skulduggery · Tags Governor Mike Dunleavy, Rep. Andy Josephson, Rep. Christopher Kurka, Senator Jesse Kiehl, Senator Lora Reinbold, Senator Mike Shower, Senator Shelley Hughes
Posted by Jeanne Devon on October 3, 2020 · Leave a Comment
It’s hard to know where to begin these days, but let’s start with something nasty that’s brewing which will directly affect the policy positions of Republican candidates, and tells us exactly what to expect if Republicans manage to take back the majority in the State House this November. HINT: It’s going to look a lot like the horrific beginning of last session only there won’t be anyone to stop it. WHAT AR THEY DUIN? A strained pun is about the best you can get out of the absolute fiscal disaster the Republican Party is cooking up. Remember when Tuckerman Babcock,…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Democratic Party, Alaska House Race, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Alaska Senate Race, COVID-19, Democrats, Election 2020, Elections, Environment, Events, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Headlines, Municipality of Anchorage, Pebble Mine, Rallies and Events, Republicans, TALL Tales from Juneau, Tuckerman Babcock, Voting · Tags Abe Williams, Anchorage, Bart LeBon, Calvin Schrage, Carl Johnson, Christopher Quist, David Nelson for House, Donna Arduin, Dr. Liz Snyder, Evan Eads, Fairbanks, James Kaufman, Kelly Cooper, Lance Pruitt, Lyn Franks, Marna Sanford, Matt Buxton, Mel Gillis, Mike Dunleavy, Nat Herz, Pebble Mine, Robert Myers, Roger Holland, Running debates 2020, Sarah Vance, Suzanne LaFrance, Tuckerman Babcock
Posted by Jeanne Devon on August 14, 2020 · 2 Comments
ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE Let’s start off with a little Facebook gem from Rep. Steve Thompson (R-Fairbanks). It takes a look at the sunny side of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hey, you guys… Don’t think of it as 168,000 dead Americans – think of how many Americans are still alive! Considering that any day now, COVID-19 is going to be the third leading cause of death in the United States, it’s hard not to wonder when Rep. Thompson will stop thinking that the “panic is out of control.” And if you google Rep. Steve Thompson, here’s his weirdly ironic…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Democratic Party, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, COVID-19, Election 2020, Ethan Berkowitz, Headlines, Ohio Dan Sullivan, Poverty, Public Safety, Rep. Ben Carpenter, Republicans, Sen. Lora Reinbold, TALL Tales from Juneau, Voting · Tags Alyse Galvin Congress, Becker for House, Dan Sullivan Senate, Dr. Al Gross Senate, Ethan Berkowitz Mayor, Leslie Becker Ministries, Pastor Leslie Becker Ketchikan, Rep. Steve Thompson, Ron Gillham, Ted Cruz
Posted by Jeanne Devon on July 24, 2020 · 4 Comments
TALL TALES from Juneau and the D.C. Debacle OOPS After last week’s edition of Tall Tales hit your screen, Dan Sullivan let all Alaskans know how it feels when your United States Senator can’t even tell the difference between two civil rights icons that he served with in Congress. He expressed his obligatory regrets at the passing of Rep. John Lewis by posting a picture of himself in front of the Smithsonian’s new Musem of African-American History and Culture with… the late Rep. Elijah Cummings. He wasn’t the only one to make this cringe-worthy gaffe – His fellow Republican…
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Category Alaska, Alaska Democratic Party, Alaska Legislature, Alaska Politicos, Alaska politics, Anchorage Assembly, COVID-19, Democrats, Election 2020, Elections, Headlines, Health, Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, Municipality of Anchorage, Numbskullery, Ohio Dan Sullivan, Republicans, Sen. Lora Reinbold, TALL Tales from Juneau, Voting · Tags Alaska Democrats, Alaska Republiicans, Dr. Al Gross for U.S. Senate, Elijah Cummings, Jamie Allard, John Lewis, Lora Reinbold, North Pole Santa, Sen. Dan Sullivan, Tall Tales from Juneau, vote by mail, Wasilla Santa