The Mudflats

I’ve had the privilege of knowing Chris Jenkins for a long time. He was one of those kids that you talked to and thought to yourself, “That kid has a busy busy brain. I’ll be interested to see where he ends up…” Now he’s in high school, and his busy brain seems to be turned toward politics, much to our good fortune. And his latest project has been quite interesting and effective.

Sometimes, what it takes to know that you’re being effective is a bit of push back from the opposition. Just ask any Alaska blogger. We’ve all been there at one time or another. It isn’t often, though, that the opposition who is giving you the push back manages to embarrass themselves and display alarming ignorance at the same time. It’s like seeing a rainbow. We need to stop whatever we’re doing and enjoy them when they happen. More on that in a moment.

Chris is an intern for the Democratic Party and he decided to start a new Facebook page, “Hold Mayor Dan Sullivan Accountable.” It was mentioned on Mudflats the other night, and many of you went and checked it out, and signed up. I know I did. It was a great idea, and it was done very well. Obviously others thought so too, because lots of people signed up, and KTVA even did a story on Chris that aired on the news.

The project got noticed not only by people opposed to Dan Sullivan, but also those who support him. As a matter of fact Jason Cline, a Republican house candidate for district 22 (Sharon Cissna territory) decided that he’d file a complaint with the Alaska Public Offices Commission against Chris and the Democratic Party. “An APOC complaint,” you ask? “Why, Dan Sullivan isn’t even a candidate. How can this guy even file a complaint with APOC?” Good question.

It took all of about 24 hours for Mr. Cline to receive a response. We can’t actually hear APOC giggling because the response is in writing. Here is the actual letter to Mr. Cline rejecting his complaint. —> 091208 Cline letter[1] I guess you could say he was “De-Clined.” (I apologize)

The whole thing made me laugh myself silly, but my favorite part is where it says

“Dan Sullivan is not a candidate at this time. A candidate is an individual who has filed for election to a particular office and not the holder of a particular office.”

(dabbing my eyes with a hanky) Way to go Republican Party. Nice to have candidates who don’t actually understand the definition of the word “candidate.” Sharon Cissna may wonder to herself what that little “thunk” noise was as she rolls down the highway to another term.

It looks like Cline sprang to the aide of the mayor by filing… dare I say it… a “frivolous ethics complaint!”

And The Alaska Standard, eager to join the un-researched pile-on has posted an article titled “Alaska Democrats Violate APOC Laws,” when in fact, they did absolutely no such thing according to APOC itslef. I guess waiting to find out if the laws had actually been broken before writing the story just never occurred to the author. There has yet to be a retraction to the article which claims, “Last Tuesday, Anchorage Democrats decided to bring in the month of December by violating Alaska election law.” Now that we know what a “candidate” is, perhaps it’s time to look up “fact checking.”

Cline sheepishly noted on his website blog before he got the rejection letter:

I went to APOC and talked with their people, and the complaint will most likely be rejected on the fact that because it doesn’t influence a particular election, they are allowed to do this. This will ultimately serve as a reminder for the democrats that party communications should be labeled as such.

Perhaps the rejection should instead “ultimately serve as a reminder” to the Republicans that it would behoove them to … I dunno … read the law beFORE they file a complaint. Or perhaps it will “ultimately serve as a reminder” to conservative media to find out if someone has broken a law before they write an article stating that someone has broken a law. These are only humbly offered suggestions, of course.

While our Republican friends are deciding whether, (after filing a frivolous complaint because a high school kid created a Facebook page to demand a better city government), they’d like their crow broiled or Kentucky fried, let’s focus on the positive.

Kudos to Chris Jenkins and all the other young people who are using their tech skills, their energy and their busy brains to work toward a better future for Anchorage. Look at moments like this and use them like rocket fuel. You are making a difference. My father-in-law used to say that if you stand on the dock and push on a boat, no matter how big that boat is, and no matter how much it feels like it’s not moving, at some point it will. Constant pressure moves boats, makes diamonds and creates a better world. Keep it up!

If you haven’t joined Chirs’ “Hold Mayor Dan Sullivan Accountable” Facebook page, click HERE and help him push the boat! It’s got 311 members at this writing, and it deserves many more.

OK, everybody who lives in the Anchorage area, raise your hand.

Everybody who did NOT vote in the mayoral run-off election, keep your hand up.   Be honest…come on.

OK, would that 80% of you line up please, because I’m about to go down the row and bonk you on the head. It won’t hurt. I’ll use a plastic soda bottle or something.  I just want it to be loud, and make a point.  (I go down the row, bonking a very long line of people who are gazing at the floor, not remembering why they actually didn’t get out to vote)

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about the Assembly meeting this Tuesday.

We all know that a big issue these days is the budget.  We’re a bit short on money and Mayor Sullivan has plans to cut the budget to the bone. Cut, cut, cut.  Now, some of this may be necessary, but on Tuesday the budget that was unveiled not only virtually eliminated funding for the arts, but it cut more than $10 million below the tax cap than is necessary.

I know what you’re thinking. “Huh?” That’s what I was thinking. And that’s also what Assemblywoman Sheila Selkregg was thinking about the whole budget in general. She wondered aloud whether we ought to be looking at the budget in terms of (scary organ music) it’s “social effects.” That’s right, she used the “S” word.  Social.  Society.  People.   “Social,” of course, is the secret voice command that wakes up the wingnut robots, and sure enough Assemblyman Bill “Butt Dial” Starr from Eagle River sprang to life.  “Communist!”  That’s not me embellishing or using exaggeration as a story-telling device. He really said it. He compared Selkregg’s proposed budget to the Communist Manifesto. Yes, he did. And he stood by it afterwards. Perhaps next time, he’ll ask her to name names, and see how many Assembly members he can have blacklisted.

But hey, he’s only one guy. We somehow, through a miracle that I do not fully understand, were graced with an Assembly that actually has a left-leaning majority. And so, when a vote was taken, the split was 6-5 in favor of the resolution that thinks about people and the social effects of slash and burn budgeting.

Now we come to the part that will explain why I bonked 80% of Anchorage on the head with a soda bottle at the beginning of this post. Mayor Sullivan VETOED it, right then and there. I believe the exact words were, “I hereby veto Dr. Selkregg’s amendments as amended.”  And that was that.

So what’s the real agenda behind all this? This from Kevin Harun, Communications Director for the Alaska Democratic Party:

Most people do not know the real story of what’s going on at City Hall. Sullivan is using bogus deficit information to cut basic services that we have all come to love about Anchorage — our good schools, parks, libraries, flowers, snow removal — you name it. This $10 million cut below the tax cap is something our city has never done. And it is totally unnecessary.

The administration’s goal is to help the Wal-Marts and other large commercial interests cut their property taxes by reducing public services. Their goal is to pressure the public to choose a sales tax to further relieve their commercial special interest friends. Assembly members Dan Coffey (who has large commercial interests himself) and Bill Starr are carrying Sullivan’s water. Their goal is to paint progressive Assembly members as extreme — when, in fact, these budget cuts are extreme.

Name-calling, wingnuttery, and vetoing the majority because of his own personal agenda and to puff up his already bloated sense of self worth. Yup, that’s about what we can expect from the rest of Dan Sullivan’s term as Mayor. Know how long that is? THREE YEARS.

So, if you’re feeling maybe a little twinge of guilt….a little “why oh why didn’t I get out and vote for Eric Croft?” there is something you can do. There’s even something you can do if you DID get off the couch and vote in that run-off election.

Write a letter to the editor. Call or email your Assembly member, or the entire Assembly. Tell your friends and anyone who will listen, every time Sullivan and his band of minions pulls stuff like this. Get a plastic soda bottle and start waking people up!

And if you live in Eagle River, the land of Bill Starr, the land of Debbie Ossiander, the land of Fred Dyson and Anna Fairclough. Pleeeease, for the love of all that is holy, I’m begging you… Find a strong progressive candidate and support them with everything you’ve got.

Lots of good stuff floating around the internets.  Here’s a little smorgasbord of tasty treats you may have missed.

POP!

Gubernatorial candidate Bob Poe wrote an excellent compass piece for the Anchorage Daily News that begins like this:

I support equal rights for all people. And I support banning discrimination in Anchorage due solely to someone’s sexual orientation. I support a comprehensive equal rights ordinance because it’s the right thing to do, period.

Sh. sh. shhh.  Listen.  Do you hear those faint little noises, like Pop Rocks?  Remember all those people in red shirts who testified at the Anchorage Assembly meetings about men in dresses in the ladies room, and how the ho-mo-sexuals are going to ruin society by “recruiting” our kids?  That’s their tiny little heads exploding.

Alaska Personnel Board Meets September 9 and Ethics Complaints are on the Agenda

Linda Kellen Biegel has an update on the goings on at the three-ring Board of Personnel.  The next meeting is on September 9, and it’s going to be interesting for a number of reasons.

1)  There are a couple of newer, open ethics complaints out there with serious teeth.  One (Zane Henning) is in regards to the per diem Sarah Palincharged the State of Alaska to live in her own home.  Another (Andree McLeod) is in regards to the gifts Palin has received that have gone unreported.

2) (The main subject of this post) We have heard NOTHING regarding Kim Chatman’s complaint over the Alaska Fund Trust since a report unfavorable to Palin from Investigator Tom Daniel was revealed.  (Of course, it barely covered an iota of the violations revealed by other lawyersin the Fund Trust).  While a number of Palinbots claim that there was no violation here, the report very clearly stated that Palin would be in violation of the Ethics Act if she did not accept his remedy.

3)  I was notified through certified letter that the Personnel Board would be dealing with my comments in response to the Arctic Cat dismissal and I would havea chance to speak in Executive session.

You can read the rest of the details HERE.

Finally, a Hat in the Ring!

Finally someone has tossed his hat in the ring to run against Alaska’s lone congressman, Republican Don Young (fondly known on the Mudflats as Yon Dung).  Last time, everyone counted Young out.  Spending millions on defense lawyers over a pending indictment is generally not the way to win an election.  But somehow he pulled it off with the reminder that he held all those plum committee assignments and that Alaskans needed his clout.  Well, he promptly got asked to step down from those, and we got stuck with him anyway – all the headaches and none of the perks.

So, welcome Representative Harry Crawford.  He’s a Democrat, an iron worker, a down to Earth guy with a great work ethic, and he makes one hell of a gumbo.  He proved this at a fundraiser he hosted to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.  And I don’t know how many pairs of shoes he’s worn out knocking on doors in his district, but he has no fear of hitting the pavement and meeting with constituents eye-to-eye.  I think he’ll run a good race, and he just may be the kind of guy that can knock the Don off his perch.  And he’ll do it with a smile on his face.  Go get ‘im, Harry!

(And if the FBI is reading this….come on!  Pleeeeeeeeze?  Just one little indictment.  I’vebeen SO patient.  Don’t I deserve just one??)

The Wizard of Ooze…

That would be President of the AFL-CIO Vince Beltrami’snew nickname for Conservative radio host and columnist Dan Fagan.  Fagan was eerily on target with his vilification of former governor Sarah Palin, and then strangely compelling with his “I apologize to anyone I ever said anything mean about” confessional post in the Anchorage Daily News last month.  But apparently those days are gone.  Whatever planetary conjunction we were living under has now been pulled asunder, and Vince Beltrami takes Fagan to the wood shed for spinning history and blaming former Mayor Begich for every ill in the city, while giving Current Mayor Dan Sullivan a pass.

In your August 1st column of enlightenment you said: “The Bible teaches scripture must back up everything,” and “if my profession calls for tearing down others to be successful, then I’ll just have to find another career.”

In your latest column, just four weeks from your mea culpa column, you’ve already broken at least two promises. Or maybe three, because I doubt after reading this week’s entry you’ve reached out and apologized to our hard-working junior Senator.

~~Thom Hartmann~~

Thom Hartmann is in town! He’s the guest of honor at a dinner tonight in Anchorage, and is broadcasting live from KUDO 1080am this morning.

I just listened to him in the car on the way to work. He spoke with both Acting Mayor Matt Claman, and Mayor Elect Dan Sullivan.

The latter was an interesting exchange.

Hartmann asked how Sullivan thought Sarah Palin was doing. Sullivan said she had become “distracted” by the VP nomination, and that “If I had to give her a grade, I wouldn’t give her one.” Then he said he was glad she was back so she can focus on her job.

Then Hartmann brought up the fact that Alaska has been called America’s only socialist state. Sullivan laughed and explained that it’s written in to the state’s charter that the resources of the state belong to the residents and must be shared with them, and that he thought it worked well. Hartmann suggested that perhaps the whole nation could work like that, and Sullivan agreed, as long as there was a Democratic system in place to ensure the benefits “were distributed fairly.”

Hartmann said it was good to hear a Republican mayor endorse socialism. Sullivan laughed and said, “You betcha! And welcome to Alaska!”

That was truly a classic in Alaskan broadcast journalism.