2010 Hanshew Middle School Band

Not many people in political circles know that I credit music with saving my life.

I started playing the piano when I was six-years-old. I often kicked and screamed about practicing, but my mother was determined and I continued through my entire school career.

In sixth grade, I discovered the snare drum and concert band. I absolutely loved playing music with a group. That was around the time that I discovered that music was an escape from the insanity of my life at home.

Unfortunately in high school, I discovered that drugs and alcohol provided a different kind of escape. I dropped out of any band activity, though I continued with piano. My grades plummeted and it became clear that with only a 2.5 GPA junior year, I wouldn’t be getting into a decent college…

…until I started auditioning as a piano major. Suddenly, I was accepted at schools we couldn’t afford, like Temple University and Berkley School of Music. I received some modest scholarships to a couple of smaller schools but ended up going back home to Ohio and The University of Dayton. It was there that I truly fell in love with their much-touted marching band and was a member all four years. My membership in that band was my lifeline at a time when I was sinking deeper into alcoholism and depression.

When I made it to Alaska and sobriety, music reclaimed me. I even made a very tiny living for several years in the Anchorage music scene. Those were some of the best years of my life.

Music has now come full circle in my family. Morrigan took piano lessons for awhile. However, when a music teacher in grade school taught the kids to play penny whistle, we discovered that my daughter had a knack for the woodwinds. She started on the clarinet in sixth grade band and after only a couple of months, auditioned and was accepted into the Honor Band.

While the idea that music enhances math skills has been long claimed, recent studies show a more direct correlation between music and algebra:

Helmrich divided the students into three groups: Those who had received formal instruction on a musical instrument during the sixth, seventh and eighth grades; those who received choral instruction during those same years; and those who received no formal musical training.

She found the students who studied music significantly outperformed their peers. “Formal instrumental instruction impacted algebra scores the most,” she reports. “Choral instruction also affected scores, but to a lesser extent.”

From our experience, my husband and I noticed that as our daughter started to learn clarinet in sixth grade, she began to struggle less with her algebra assignments. Now, she’s two-years ahead in mathematics.

The video below is of the 2010 “Sonic Boom,” the end-of-the-year mass-performance of all sixth grade bands in the Anchorage School District.

If Governor Sean Parnell and Mayor Dan Sullivan have their way, this long-time Anchorage tradition may disappear, along with the entire sixth-grade music program.

Per the Anchorage Symphony website:

We learned that last week the ASD Music Supervisor received a request for information from a school board member about the potential cost savings if 6th grade band and orchestra were to be eliminated.

The school board will have its final reading of and will be voting on the ASD budget on Thursday, Feb. 9, starting at 5:00 p.m. in the ASD Education Center Board room.

We can express our opinions regarding the importance of 6th Grade Band and Orchestra in the following ways:

1. Call or email the school board. To email the school board, send one message to SchoolBoard@asdk12.org and all seven members will receive it.
2. Testify at the Feb. 9 meeting. People can sign up to testify via the same email address or can call 742-4312. Testimony is taken in the order received.
3. Attend the meeting [5530 E Northern Lights Blvd, Anchorage] to show support for music education. Please wear concert dress or all black.

The most important message is children must start an instrument early in life; middle school is too late. Personal stories have a big impact, especially from young people. This program has been cut over the years. Students used to start instrumental music in 4th grade, then the program was cut to starting in 5th grade and several years ago the program was cut to a 6th grade start. This year, 91% of ASD 6th graders are taking band and orchestra!

Remember: in order to testify at a School Board meeting, you must sign up with the Superintendent’s Office to testify at the meeting any time before 5:30 p.m., or one hour prior to the start of the meeting, whichever is earlier.

Cutting the sixth grade music program is just the latest of the bad possibilities from a school board that is desperate to find a solution that is least hurtful to the least number of students. If there is no increase in funding, the prospects are bleak. Those of you who read The Mudflats know that we’ve been spending quite a bit of time explaining what is happening to education in Alaska. We’ve told you about the several $$ million in outrageous fees Mayor Dan Sullivan has tacked on to the Anchorage School District and how he refuses to tax to the property tax cap. We’ve shared in several posts about Governor Parnell’s severe underfunding of the Department of Education in the budget currently before the Alaska Legislature. We’ve also described the horrible cuts the Anchorage School District is facing.

It is very, very important for folks to attend the Anchorage School Board Meeting and let their voices be heard. However, that MUST be followed up by contacting Governor Sean Parnell, Mayor Dan Sullivan, the Anchorage Assembly Members and the Alaska State Senators and Legislators. They must be told how important Alaska’s public schools are on a personal level.

I’ll see you on Thursday!

**UPDATE** (NOTE: There is no official action on the table at this time to cut 6th grade band/orchestra programs. The concern of music teachers/parents/musicians across the city comes from the fact that a member of the Anchorage School Board requested information as to the cost of the programs and currently, the Board is trying to figure out what cuts to make. When you testify Thursday, realize the Anchorage School Board is not the villain. Anger and frustration over the budget situation must be directed constructively (in a civilized way) at Governor Sean Parnell, Mayor Dan Sullivan, the Anchorage Assembly Members and the Alaska State Senators and Legislators. They are the ones who hold the purse strings.)

Last school year, I wrote a post about the proposed cuts in the Anchorage School District budget and how they would affect a family of a middle school student. It was then I became aware of the outrageous fees Mayor Dan Sullivan was charging the school district–for example: 100% of the salaries and benefits of those Anchorage Police–called Resource Officers–who only service the School District about 70% of the time. I tried to show how they were taking millions of dollars away from our kids. (Note: As of this week, these fees have not changed.)

Sadly, this week Jeanne wrote a post about this year’s cuts. They are much worse than last year and are precipitated by both Governor Parnell’s under-funding as well as Mayor Sullivan’s refusal to tax to the cap.

But it’s not just Anchorage that is suffering. Fairbanks, Juneau and many smaller and more rural schools are in deep trouble if things don’t change. The worst part: this is all orchestrated as part of a larger and more national attack on public education. Alaska is just next-in-line.

For over a year now, I’ve watched how the anti-public school drama has played out in Alaska on multiple fronts. From the Municipality of Anchorage to the Legislature to the Governor’s Office to outside organizations, the forces at work are performing a complex dance in multiple venues…a dance that is impossible to follow unless one is a complete research nerd (and then, only tenuously). I’ve wanted to write about it all in that context…I’ve started a number of posts. However, I haven’t been able to figure out how to present it. I started writing a list, like an outline…

…and realized that was the best way to start.

So here is a list of the characters in this drama and the means they are using to achieve their agenda — a summary of their activities so far. Jeanne and I will be writing multiple posts in the future on these education issues. This gives you a place to look up the various characters and refresh your memory about their place in the story.

Disclaimer: I want to emphasize that while the characters supporting these false “reforms” in Alaska seem to be Republican, the issue is not a partisan one. From what I can see, the majority of Alaska’s Republican Legislators are not yet “sold” on this bill of goods and are more than happy to receive input from their constituents.

The problem: Like every other Alaska issue, these strategies are generally pushed forward by those religious ideologues and/or those beholden to businesses/corporations who want privatization across-the-board. These businesses/corporations who are pushing this “education reform” agenda can do so with tons of money and the help of friendly politicians. We must contact our State Senators and Representatives to counter any misinformation. I hope this and future posts help you to do that.

Leading the attack:

– Governor Sean Parnell — I covered some of the issues with the Governor at the beginning and discuss his budget below. Since the election, Governor Parnell has truly shown his religious extremist leanings and tea party philosophy, which includes a strong “Christian” influence in the interpretation of law. An alarming number of his appointees also seem to reflect his beliefs.

– Representative Wes Keller — Originally appointed by Sarah Palin to fill a vacancy in the Legislature, Mr. Keller is a religious extremist and tea partier through-and-through. He is a state chairman for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Mr. Keller is the sponsor/creator of House Bill 145 and House Joint Resolution 16 (see below) with some help from ALEC’s “model bills.”

– Senator Fred Dyson — He wasn’t appointed by Palin but “ditto” to everything else. Dyson is sponsor of the companion legislation in the Senate, SB 106 and he attended the ALEC Conference with Keller last year.

– ALEC — A slightly re-worded summary from Pro Publica — I encourage you to follow the link and read the entire post: “For decades, a discreet nonprofit called the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC has brought together state legislators and corporate representatives to produce business-friendly “model” legislation. These “model” bills form the basis of hundreds of pieces of legislation each year, and they often end up as laws.”

– The Friedman Foundation — Per the Nation: “For most of the half-century since economist Milton Friedman first advanced the idea of school vouchers, it’s been the ultimate weapon in our educational debates, always ticking just under the surface, never quite going off. But after last November’s Republican statehouse victories, the right, sometimes abetted by Democrats and liberals, has brought back vouchers and school privatization with a vengeance.”

The Foundation has been heavily involved in most of those voucher battles across the country. As I will discuss below, they have turned their sites on Alaska by conducting a poll of residents regarding school vouchers.

– Mayor Dan Sullivan — I have recapped some of the Mayor’s anti-education moves at the beginning of this post and Mudflats as a whole has covered many more. His “Education Summit” is ongoing and I discuss it below.

– Jim Minnery–Minnery’s Alaska Family Council lists “School Choice” as one of their top issues. Minnery has been a proponent of changing the AK Constitution in order to use State money for religious education since back in 2008, as this email between Gov. Sarah Palin and then Atty General Talis Coleberg shows.

– The Catholic Archdiocese of Anchorage It’s not hard to guess the motivation behind the Archdiocese’s push for school vouchers, as reflected in the “Catholic Anchor.” A story in the Chicago Tribune on what the results of Indiana’s voucher program revealed: “…Just as backers had hoped and opponents feared, a new statewide school voucher program in Indiana is draining money from public education and offering new life to struggling parochial schools.” My understanding is that the economy has taken a serious toll on the enrollment in parochial (as well as private) schools in the state. Last year, one of them had a Senior graduating class of three. These schools may be counting on our State money to keep them afloat.

– KIPP Charter Schools — I included KIPP on this list even though their only actual appearance in the state was in the form of Dr. Mike Feinberg, who taught 5th grade for three whole years with Teach For America and then founded the “Knowledge Is Power Program” (KIPP) Charter Schools. The reason I list them is because the presentation by Feinberg at the Education Summit (third video, first speaker after Superintendent Comeau) sounded like he was trying to sell a Veg-O-Matic or a set of Ginsu knives rather than inform a group about education alternatives. And it makes sense…Alaska is a rich oil state with a surplus when most other states have deficits. You could almost see the man drooling.

The Artillery:

– Governor Parnell’s Operating Budget (HB 284 — starting on page 8) — The Governor promised that his budget was a “full funding of K-12 Education”. In actuality, the budget doesn’t even cover inflation (which averaged 3.16% in 2011) and now has school districts across the state scrambling to cut much-needed programs. How much of a slap-in-the face was it to K-12 Education in Alaska? The “Teaching and Learning” line-item in the Department of Education budget makes up the bulk of the money shared by every school district in Alaska. If the budget stays as-is, Alaska schools will receive a little over $237 million this year…an increase of about $3 million from last year or about 1.3%. However, the Office of the Governor “Executive Office” line-item (which includes the Governor’s Staff) will be receiving over $13 million this year — an increase of almost $2 million or over 13%!

– House Joint Resolution (HJR) 16 — A resolution which, if passed, would place an amendment to the Constitution on the ballot, allowing for public (education) money to go for a “public purpose.” According to the text of the resolution, it still specifically does NOT allow state money to go towards private or religious institutions. However, it DOES seem geared to allow state funds for privatized education. Also, I have been told of one more possibility (which will require more research)…it could leave open the option of a for-profit business that owns a religious school receiving funds. From Wes Keller’s Sponsor Statement:

HJR 16 opens some of these doors for both public and private education by allowing the release of funds to more than just public schools. This Constitutional Amendment allows those students seeking to excel in secondary and post secondary education to attend a school that meets their needs.

Like I said…more research…

– House Bill (HB) 145 (Senate companion bill SB 106) — Titled the same as the ALEC template voucher bill, HB145 is intended to establish: “…the parental choice scholarship program to be administered by school districts for the purpose of paying the cost of attending grades kindergarten through 12 at public and private schools…” In other words, it will establish school vouchers with State of Alaska money.

At this time, it suffers from some major drawbacks:

1) It’s unconstitutional per Article 7 Section 1 a) State money cannot be used to fund private or religious education (see HJR 16) and b) We must “establish and maintain a system of public schools open to all children of the State,” — since many village parents will be unable to utilize this “choice” (voucher), it could quite possibly get decimated in the courts.

2) Because there have been amendments on top of amendments in an attempt to get it to work, it is a huge pile of gobbledy gook that most of the members of the House Education Committee don’t even completely understand, based on their Friday meeting. Those pushing the bill (Rep Keller, Rep Dick) seem to think it’s been in the Education Committee “an embarassing” amount of time and just needs to get moved along…whether it functions or not.

**There is another meeting scheduled for Wednesday Feb 1st and I intend to send my testimony to the Committee beforehand. I encourage you to do the same.**

– “Alaska K-12 School Choice Survey” — Several months ago, I was listening to a conservative show when the host started discussing a poll that proves Alaska wants to have vouchers private charter schools. It turned out to be a poll that was funded by the Friedman Foundation. The host was quoting numbers over 60% in favor of various types of alternative education…pretty impressive. When I researched the poll, I discovered the most important question:

How familiar are you with [Charter Schools/Virtual Schools/School Vouchers] in K-12 education? Not that familiar/Never heard of it — 62%

So basically, the vast majority polled had no idea what these folks were talking about. So, when these Alaskans who were quite used to receiving free money in the form of a Permanent Fund Dividend Check each year were asked a question worded like this:

“An education savings account allows parents to withdraw their child from a public district or charter school and recieve a payment into a government authorized savings account with restricted but multiple uses. Parents can then used these funds to pay for private school tuition, virtual education programs, private tutoring or saving for future college expenses. In general, do you favor or opppose this kind of savings account system?”

61% were all for it!

Note that 61% is about the same percentage of folks who had no idea what “school choice” really is. In other words, the same percentage of folks who know what all of this means said “no” to the free money.

Another note: if you look at the survey demographics, only 13% were Alaska Native. That does not match the State of Alaska demographics according to the 2010 Census, but it does match the Municipality of Anchorage demographics. In other words, while these folks were claiming that their “sample size” was Alaska, it was probably just Anchorage.

Why is that significant?

Anchorage School District already has really nice charter schools within the system (and there is no reason we can’t have more). If you ask someone from Anchorage about charter schools, especially if they don’t know about the lower-48 kind, that will completely skew their responses.

– The Education Summit — Per Municipal Code, Mayor Dan Sullivan’s roll in enacting School District changes is generally signing or vetoing what’s been passed through the School Board and the Anchorage Assembly. However, being that it’s an election year, he adopted the role of Superintendent by collecting corporate and private business money for an Education Summit. It was set up in three parts:

1) He hired Viewpoint Learning, a company of professional “handlers,” then hand-picked a mostly-conservative 100 participants. They brought up seven panelists. All but two of them were clearly pushing a privatized charter school and/or voucher agenda, four of them worked for organizations whose funding was provided directly by privatization advocates and only one had proof of an education plan with long-term success…a non-privatization pro-union strategy in Finland.

2) Now in phase 2, The Mayor’s Office is currently asking for Anchorage residents to attend the “community conversations.” This is the only time that the general public will have any input n the “scenarios” reached during the Education Summit. I’ve already signed up for one and I encourage everyone to do the same.

3) There will be a “Capstone Summit” in June where some of the Summit participants and some of the Community Dialogue participants will get together and finalize “recommendations.”

To be continued…

There’s no doubt about it. Alaska is blessed. Just ask Governor Sean Parnell. These are golden oily days indeed. In his state of the state address last week, he told us that financially, we’re doing just fine, thankyouverymuch But what if…  What if some day we aren’t? We should really start cutting the budget just in case. Besides, swashbuckling with a red pen looks really good, even if you have a patch on both eyes. It can even make a chief executive/oil lobbyist look like a sound-minded fiscal conservative. Don’t look over there where the state is readying itself to shovel pallet loads of cash into the waiting pockets of the Big 3 oil companies…. Instead, check out Captain Zero and his mighty red Bic sabre, slashing and hacking with wild abandon. HYAAAAH!

And what makes the most sense to cut, just in case things get bad in the future? How about cutting the future itself – yes, that’s it!  Education!

Of course Parnell says he wants things to improve – test performance, graduation rates, drop out rates… And things are improving.

Just five years ago, Anchorage’s high school graduation rate was staggeringly low. Superintendent of Schools, Carol Comeau noted “Now, more than ever, our young people are leaving school with a high school diploma. Our graduation rate is near 72 percent, up from 62 percent just five years ago. We still have a long way to go but our efforts are working, and this is good reason to celebrate.”

Part of this success is due to the fact that in 2008, the Anchorage School District hired Graduation Support Coordinators, or “graduation coaches”, to help increase graduations and reduce the dropout rate.

We’ve seen good things happen when we’ve had the money to invest in making class sizes smaller, and creating jobs for those committed to helping kids be successful. We can all hope really hard that momentum continues now that they don’t have the money any more. I bet that will work. Ready everyone? 1 – 2 – 3…. HOPE!

For now, we can watch those who have devoted their careers and their souls to the calling of helping kids succeed, tell us how they are going to spend less per kid, put more of them in the classroom and eliminate the people in positions to help the most vulnerable succeed. That’ll fix their little red wagons.

Yesterday and today, Carol Comeau presented the 2012-2013 budget to the Anchorage School Board.”These are extremely difficult cuts to make,” she said.  ”If we had the funds, I think we would have made very few cuts to these programs that are helping our students, particularly our struggling students. But we have to make tough choices in order to produce a balanced budget.”

Program eliminations include:
Summer school – elementary, middle and high school (No problem making up credits as long as your family can afford a private program, though)
Middle school career guides
Middle school in-school suspension teachers
Student support program supervisors, and
High School Graduation Coaches

Right wing talk radio bloviators have recently taken to mocking High School Graduation Coaches. They roll their eyes and chuckle… What are “graduation coaches” anyway? I’ve never heard of them… What do they even DO? Just another librul money-sucking made up job… Bla bla bla.

Here’s a little something for the Google challenged on the right wing airwaves who apparently use their own narrow sliver of pre-existing knowledge as a benchmark for the worthiness of a program. Watch and learn.

Programs reductions include:

Elementary counselors
Elementary librarians and assistants
Special Education/Related Services
English Language Learner services
Gifted Education services
Curriculum & Instructional Support
Maintenance positions and project funds
Warehouse positions
Custodial positions

In total, the new budget will kill almost 90 jobs.

The administration is also recommending a class size increase for students in grades 3-12.

Grade 3 – 0.5 increase
Grades 4-8 – 1.0 increase
Grades 9-12 – 1.5 increase

“Class-size increases are the last thing we look at when trying to balance the budget,” said Comeau. “We know this is a very important issue for our teachers, principals, students and the community.”

“Over the years, we have added more programs to try to address individual learning needs,” said Comeau. “Many of these programs have proven effective but we’re in a place now where we have to make hard calls based on available funding. I don’t like this budget but I think it’s as responsible as we can make it… These cuts are necessitated by the lack of revenue increases at the state level and only a slight increase at the local level.”

Meanwhile back at the Governor’s office, Sean Parnell says he has problems with things like raising the base student allocation.

Parnell says in difficult economic times, domestically and abroad, Alaska must remain as liquid as it can financially.

So, what have we learned? Things are really great here in Alaska. We’re not having the problems everyone else is. BUT, down in the Lower 48 and abroad, things aren’t so rosy. And that’s really what should drive our policy. So, just in case bad things happens here, we need to underfund education while giving billions away to the oil companies, and everything will work out just fine. See how that works?

Fortunately, there are those in the legislature whose priorities differ from those of the governor, and haters of the biggest of all entitlement programs – edjacation.

I give you one Joe Thomas. Through the Senate Education Committee, Senator Thomas is the prime mover on SB 171, which would increase the Base Student Allocation by $125 this year, and more next year.  As co-chair of  Senate Education, he already has SB171 scheduled for this Friday morning. 

Here’s where you can help, by taking your daily dose of Vitamin Democracy.

That’s you all hopped up on Vitamin Democracy on the left, wielding your internet activist hammer against the snaggle-toothed forces of ignorance who think it’s too expensive to have educated children who contribute to a happy and healthy society.  >THWACK<  Here’s how you do it.

Help Senator Thomas, by giving him the evidence (via your emails) to demonstrate that people actually care about education and believe that children, even the ones who don’t have all the advantages, are the key to a successful and prosperous future. We can either invest now in happy, successful kids who graduate, get jobs and pay into the system, or we can abandon them, and pay later for prison, entitlement programs, and thereby create adults who take from the system. It’s our choice. Being compassionate and supportive actualy pays off monetarily too. It’s nice how that works.

Please send an email to Senator Thomas before Friday morning AND copy your own senator, to tell them that you support raising the base student allocation. It’s an investment in the future that’s easy to afford.

Senator_Joe_Thomas@legis.state.ak.us 

Last week, I listened-in on an Alaska Public Offices Commission hearing regarding an old friend of ours here at Mudflats, Mr. Bob Griffin.

You remember Bob:

– In April 2011, he ran on his status as a veteran and a pilot in order to win a seat the Anchorage School Board (he lost), in a campaign best-known for the accusations of illegal yard signs. He was also one of Mayor Sullivan’s chosen-ones in that campaign, receiving donations from the both the Mayor and his wife.

– In May 2011, Mr. Griffin showed some questionable judgement through the methods he used to conduct an unscientific study for a local conservative organization.

– In July 2011, he was appointed by Mayor Sullivan to the Budget Advisory Committee advising the Municipality and the School District on how they should budget their money.

On Griffin’s campaign website from last year, he went out of his way to make us feel good about donating to his School Board effort. He stated: “I haven’t accepted any special-interest donations for my campaign, only small individual contributions…”

However, it’s what Mr. Griffin did (or didn’t do) with the donations he received that got him in trouble.

On October 14, 2011, the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) Staff filed a complaint against Bob Griffin. In the complaint, they alleged that he “filed inaccurate and incomplete campaign disclosure reports for the 2011 Anchorage Election” and “failed to disburse surplus campaign funds within 90 days of the election.”

During the investigation, it got even more interesting.

The APOC Staff discovered that Mr. Griffin also:

–accepted a cash contribution “in excess of the statutory limits”;

–accepted anonymous contributions;

–converted campaign funds to personal income, and…

–did not forfeit the anonymous funds to the State of Alaska.

After hearing and reading the Staff report, we can see that the money amounts involved are small. However, that’s a point that cuts both ways. It should have been easy for Mr. Airline Pilot to rectify the problem. APOC Staff gave Mr. Griffin from July 26, 2011 to October 14, 2011 to fix the errors in the reports and rectify the financial issues…three 1/2 months. Griffin was warned in September that if he didn’t fix the problems, APOC Staff would be forced to file a complaint. However, the thing that makes me shake my head in utter disbelief is the blatantly disrespectful, disgraceful and uncaring behavior exhibited by Bob Griffin during the entire process. The fact that this is a Mayoral appointee is beyond-the-pale.

Directly from the Staff Report:

Staff acquired the full scope of Respondent‟s violations through the investigation process. After the Complaint was filed, APOC Staff repeatedly requested Mr. Griffin‟s bank records, both orally and in writing. The bank records were not provided voluntarily and Staff subpoenaed the records from Mr. Griffin. The records were not provided until the original due date of the staff report, November 14, 2011.

Respondent’s records showed a number of irregularities. While the records did show the majority of the campaign money was disbursed in a timely fashion, deposits did not match the reported contributions. Moreover, cash withdrawals were made from ATMs in various states. Mr. Griffin told Staff he transferred money from his personal checking account into the campaign account to access cash on work layovers in Hawaii and California because his personal bank cards were not working. However, due to bank fees for the withdrawals, Mr. Griffin withdrew $11.75 more than he transferred.

Staff asked for detailed bank records for the campaign account. On November 21, 2011, Mr. Griffin provided specific records to help explain the discrepancies. At that time, Respondent self-reported an undisclosed contribution of $250 during the 24 Hour reporting period and $64 dollars in undisclosed, anonymous cash contributions (one from March 3 and one from March 25). As of the date of this Staff Report, no 105 Day Report has ever been received and the public still does not have information regarding that reporting period.

That brings me to the day of the hearing, January 12, 2012. I called-in to the teleconference number at APOC, expecting a hearing like the ones I’ve attended before. However, all we heard was the Staff report because Mr. Griffin was too craven to show up and testify.

As a result, the Commission was left with only the Staff Report on which to base their ruling:

After consideration of the Staff report and evidence, the Commission adopts the Staff report in full including the recommendations that Respondent forfeit $79.61 to the State of Alaska; return $100 to Rob Timmons within 60 days; pay a civil penalty of $4000 and pay $1700 for Staff costs; and, that Respondent attend an APOC candidate training program prior to running for office again.

$4,000 is one of the highest civil penalties I’ve ever seen lodged against a candidate.

Meanwhile, we have this deplorable, corrupt individual serving as an appointee to Mayor Sullivan. (Sound like Bill Sheffield, anyone?) Currently, Griffin is shadowing School Board and Assembly Meetings and giving budget advice. Bob Griffin did not turn in one accurate finance report from his own campaign! What business does he have giving anyone advice?

After all, in Griffin’s own words…from the blog on his campaign site titled “Privilege to Serve”:

During my 20 years as an Air Force fighter pilot and Army attack helicopter pilot, I made a pretty universal observation about my coworkers: the best public servants are not very motivated by money; many of the worst ones are.

Yes, Bob, we couldn’t agree more.

Mr. Mayor, get rid of this guy.

—————————————————————–

If you want to contact Mayor Sullivan about Bob Griffin:

Use this EMAIL FORM.

Call the Mayor’s Office at (907) 343-7100

If you wish to contact the Anchorage Assembly about Bob Griffin:

Here is the email for all Assemblymembers: wwmas@muni.org

If you would rather call your individual Assembly member, here is the PHONE LIST.

STOP THE PRESSES! This just in – Mayor Dan Sullivan finds way to grease palm of incompetent corrupt crony! Also, sun appears poised to rise tomorrow at daybreak.

There’s an old expression – “A boat is a hole in the water into which one pours money.” Boat… port… whatever. The same definition could apply to the infamous Port of Anchorage expansion project, which until very recently was run by former almost-impeached governor Bill “I never sold my soul” Sheffield.

The 83-year-old Sheffield has been port director since 2001. He has been at the center of controversy recently because of serious construction problems and escalating costs for expansion and renovations of the port. (snip) The cost of the port expansion project, as envisioned by Sheffield, has jumped from $360 million in 2005 to about $1 billion. Sullivan has proposed a less ambitious project. The city late this year asked the Legislature for $350 million to continue port construction work. “The project has faced challenges but we have worked hard over the last two years to get the management and construction back on the correct course,” Sheffield said in a written statement.

$360 million… $1 billion… Whatever. At least Mayor Sullivan has a solution. When confronted with a much higher price tag, simply modify things to make it a “less ambitious project.” Less for more.

You do have to give Sheffield credit, though. For an 83-year old guy, his deftness and skill shoveling money into the watery hole rivals that of a much younger man. And despite all those “challenges,” at least he found a solution to getting the “management back on the correct course” – his own resignation.

Mayoral candidate Paul Honeman had called on Mayor Sullivan to relieve Sheffield of his duties before the city and state hemorrhaged more cash into the Cook Inlet whirlpool. Sullivan, of course, defended his friend and blamed the feds. But then, Sheffield announced his retirement at  a fundraiser he was hosting in his swanky Turnagain home for (you guessed it) Mayor Dan Sullivan.

Then, the mayor announced that part of Sheffield’s “retirement” would involve a no-bid, sole source $60,000/year contract as a “consultant” on the project because he’d made some good “connections” while he was being incompetent for a much higher salary. And apparently, as Sullivan and those of his ilk know, he holds one hell of a fundraiser.

A commenter on the Anchorage Daily News story summed up the crony count well:

Let’s see: $193,000 love offering to Sully for a non-existing insurance scam. $80,000 for Dan Coffey’s sweetheart contract to hijack Title 21, $60,000 to Dan Coffey’s sweetheart contract for lobbying for the disastrous Port, $60,000 to Bill Sheffield sweetheart contract to ‘advise’ on the disastrous Port. ~Half a million dollars of sweetness under Sully! That’s a lot o’ love!

By Shannyn Moore

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” – Edmund Burke

In 2006, the FBI raided the offices of legislators. Lawmakers were prosecuted for selling their votes to help pass Gov. Frank Murkowski’s Big Oil Bailout, the Petroleum Profits Tax (PPT).

The PPT tied 85 percent of state revenue to the efficiencies of the oil producers while simultaneously incentivizing them to be inefficient; the higher their costs, the more they could write off, the lower their taxes, the less money for Alaska. Great deal for the producers at the expense of Alaskans.

And now, just five years later, Gov. Sean Parnell is trying to pass his own Big Oil Bailout, known as HB110. History, it seems, is repeating itself.

Bob Bartlett was prophetic. As Alaska’s congressional delegate, he addressed the Alaska Constitutional Convention on Nov. 8, 1955. He spoke of the importance of our natural resources and predicted an influx of resource development interests. “Unfortunately some of these interests will not be scrupulous in the choice of measures to achieve their ends . . . lobbying activity on a scale never before seen will take place in the capital when Alaska becomes a state.”

Bartlett also warned of “exploitation under the thin disguise of development. The taking of Alaska’s mineral resources without leaving some reasonable return for the support of Alaska governmental services and the use of all the people of Alaska will mean a betrayal in the administration of the people’s wealth.”

Bartlett’s words were never more relevant to the lobbyist-infected political landscape we find ourselves in today, one where the oil industry has literally bribed legislators and raised millions to elect oil-friendly politicians who have returned the favor by ignoring their constitutional obligation to secure the “maximum benefit” for Alaskans.

The oil companies have systematically taken over the Chamber of Commerce, Resource Development Council, and policy groups. One of those groups recently ginned up fake legislative report cards. A nonpartisan Legislative Research Report showed that lawmakers who received F and D grades voted virtually identically to those who got A’s and B’s. The difference? Those who supported the governor’s bill to give $2 billion a year to the oil companies with no strings attached got A’s, while those who didn’t got D’s or F’s.

This past week, Senate President Gary Stevens — one of the legislators with the audacity to question Parnell’s oil tax giveaway — walked into the lion’s den. He addressed Commonwealth North, a group pushing to roll back oil taxes while billing itself as “Alaska’s premier nonpartisan public policy forum.”

Stevens didn’t mince any words. He noted the bogus legislative grades were “sort of like a target. A giant Scarlet Letter. Though I prefer to think of it as a Red Badge of Courage.” Stevens, a retired history professor, then schooled the chamberesque crowd.

You could have heard a pin drop in the room as he reminded Alaskans about the Amerada Hess court case. The court found that from 1977 to 1992 the oil companies were guilty of “deliberate falsification in computing the price paid to Alaska for its royalty oil.” The judge said the state was guilty of “inexcusable trustfulness” in dealing with the oil companies.

Stevens recalled the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, which destroyed the fishing careers of thousands of Alaskans. He noted that the Alaska Oil Spill Commission said Alaskans were abused by Exxon’s approach toward risk management, saying the company showed “a corporate culture of irresponsibility” that put profit over safety and risk mitigation.

Stevens brought up Bill Allen and the Veco scandal that led to the former speaker of the House, chair of the House Oil & Gas Committee, Senate Rules chair and others being convicted of corruption for trying to sell out Alaska to the oil companies.

Stevens noted the oil companies have an obligation to make as much money for their shareholders as possible. But the Legislature has a constitutional obligation to maximize the benefit of our resources for Alaskans.

For the past five years, Alaska’s Senate has been led by a statesman-like bipartisan coalition. While most states are broke, Alaska has more than $15 billion in savings — the largest in the country, without counting the Permanent Fund — because of the oil tax reform called ACES.

Jobs, investment, exploration, the number of companies on the North Slope, and oil company profits are all at all-time highs. Though you’d never know it from the oil industry report card, evidenced by the F the bipartisan Senate group received.

Former oil company executive Randy Ruedrich recently orchestrated the redrawing of Alaska’s legislative lines. His goal? Destroy the Senate coalition and restore power to the oil industry.

Will we Alaskans stay the course? Or have we forgotten our history and thus become destined to repeat it?

Yesterday, Senate President Gary Stevens (R) spoke to Commonwealth North at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage about a variety of issues facing the Legislature in its upcoming Session, including HB 110 (also known as Governor Captain Zero’s oil tax plan). Below, you will find a copy of his prepared remarks. Senators Kevin Meyer (R), Hollis French (D), Bill Wielechowski (D), Bettye Davis (D), and Linda Menard (R) were also in attendance for the organization’s annual Legislative Meet & Greet.

Kudos to Gary Stevens for putting Alaska first. He nails this from beginning to end, and calls the Chamber of Commerce’s “grading system” out for the farce that it is.  One observer described the reaction from the crowd as “stunned silence.”

The Mudflats has not awarded one of these as of late, but bestows upon Gary Stevens, the coveted Golden Spine Award.

To listen to Senator Stevens’ Speech, click here.

Senator Stevens’ Prepared Remarks

Thank you for inviting me to speak. Frankly, you’ve got a lot of nerve. I stand before you as the recipient of an “F” from the Alaska Chamber of Commerce and the Resource Development Council. Legislators were given grades by these organizations, apparently based on our support or lack of it for the Governor’s Oil Tax Bill, HB 110. So, the biggest issue facing the legislature this year is STATE OIL TAXES. Big surprise, right? This has been the biggest issue for many years running.

All Representatives who got A’s voted for the Governors oil tax bill, while those of us who got D’s and F’s either voted against it in the House, or like myself, dared to question it in the Senate. Former Governor Jay Hammond was a constituent of mine for several years after he left office. Hammond, liked to quote Article 8, Section 2 of the Alaska Constitution:

The legislature shall provide for the utilization, development, and conservation of all natural resources belonging to the state, including land and waters, for the maximum benefit of its people.

That’s people, not businesses or corporations, but the people of Alaska – You.

It’s a very unusual constitution in this regard. Now, you should know, I love the oil industry. I want to see more oil flowing through the pipeline. Oil provides jobs to Alaskans as well as lots of jobs to outsiders. But it is our oil, and Prudhoe Bay belongs to us. It is true oil pays the bills here in Alaska. Some 90% of our annual revenue comes from oil taxes. So, we like you, we respect you, and we need you. We want you to be profitable.

So let’s not forget the constitution or Jay Hammond. But, to be fair, let’s not forget the abuses we have suffered at the hands of the oil industry.

Remember Edmund Burke’s famous quotation – “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” I don’t want to dwell on those abuses but I would ask you to remember just 3 events in our historic relations with the industry, so we won’t repeat them. Surprisingly enough, so many Alaskans don’t know or remember these events:

1. Remember Amarada Hess, when the industry was found guilty of falsification and depriving the state of nearly 1 billion dollars

2. Remember the Exxon Valdez, when the industry despoiled our environment from which it has not fully recovered even today

3. Remember Bill Allen, when some of our elected politicians were bribed and sent to prison

Those 3 events are not the only abuses we have experienced. These are just the 3 I’d like you to remember.

Alaska v. Amarada Hess was a court case which found that from 1977 to 1992 companies were guilty of “deliberate falsification in computing the price paid to Alaska for its royalty oil.” It ended with the judge saying that we, the state, were guilty of “inexcusable trustfulness” in dealing with the oil companies.

You did get that, didn’t you? : The judge said we trusted the oil companies too much. That we were guilty of inexcusable trustfulness, WOW. I think you can get into heaven for that.

The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill was a disaster I well remember. With enormous damage to Prince William Sound, the Alaska Oil Spill Commission said Alaskans were abused in Exxon’s approach towards risk management, saying the company showed “a corporate culture of irresponsibility” and was unwilling to jeopardize profit when it came to safety and risk mitigation.

I was elected to the legislature in 2000 and was surprised to see Bill Allen and Veco employees so often in the halls and offices of the capitol. As we now know, some of our elected public officials were bribed yet still voted on oil tax bills, and even went to prison for their actions.

So, that’s all in the past. You may say things have improved greatly and I want to believe that.

Still, the wise person learns from history and remembers our past. We don’t want to be accused again of inexcusable trustfulness. We don’t want anyone to think that a culture of irresponsibility is OK, and we don’t ever want to see our elected politicians bribed. To maximize benefits to the industry and to the people – What’s good for the industry may not be good for you.

So, let’s get back to our current situation and the bill introduced by the Governor. It is HB 110 and readily, if barely, passed the House and was sent on to the Senate. It gives away billions of dollars in taxes to the oil industry. Upwards of $9 to $10 billion of your money with very little in return to Alaska.

We have been asking the Administration for months to give us some proof this will do Alaska some good. We asked them to make their case. Give us reasons to vote for it. Show us the proof that we get something out of giving up billions. What does it mean at various oil prices? We have yet to receive that information. And I hope it will be forthcoming before our session begins in January.

Jay Hammond was asked how he would tax the oil companies and he said, “For every cent we could possible get.” Sometimes, even I think Governor Hammond may have gotten a little carried away. I think what he meant was that Alaskans need to get their fair share. He knew the job of the oil company CEOs was to maximize benefits for their shareholders, and they have done that. They have made enormous profits. And I don’t question that they should make enormous profits. They have done well for themselves and for us. But Hammond saw his job, as Governor of Alaska, to do the same for his shareholders – to maximize benefits for you – to make sure Alaska got its fair share.

So, the Senate still has the Governor’s bill, HB 110. Right now, it is in Senate Labor and Commerce Committee. They are studying the issue of jobs. We all know how important this is to Alaskans. We have been told, if we pass HB 110, that more Alaskans will be hired on the North Slope. But as the committee has done its work, they have found we have nearly as many jobs now as we have ever had and they found that the lion’s share of new jobs have gone to outsiders, not to Alaskans.
The normal course for HB 110 would be to go to Senate Resources, to Senate Finance, then to the Senate Floor. Many Senators have concerns about the bill – real and important questions. I suspect if it does make it out of the Senate, it will only be with major changes. A big issue is that of progressivity, which is the tax we charge when oil reaches high levels of value. This I think is something that could be done and might give the oil companies the relief they seek. Also we will be discussing heavy oil. My priority is and will remain to provide for the maximum benefit to the people of Alaska

It is quite telling that Pedro Van Meurs, an international oil consultant, in his presentation here in Anchorage earlier this month implied that Alaska tax rates are not particularly out of line with other regions and suggested that there may be no need to make significant changes in Alaska’s oil tax program. He did not recommend approval of the Governor’s HB 110. This is the best evidence yet that the Senate was right. Let me say that again, Pedro Van Meurs comments are the best evidence yet that the Senate was right.

The past session and this interim have been most contentious. The Senate did not rush to pass the Governor’s oil tax give away bill. We were called a “do nothing” senate because we would not be rushed into a precipitous decision that could cost the state billions with little in return.

In conclusion – Have I mentioned the State Chamber of Commerce and the Resource Development Council? I think I did. As you know they gave those of us who dared question the Governor’s oil tax bill failing grades. They gave D’s and F’s to just about every Representative who voted on the House floor against the bill. Realize the vote was 22 to 16, so that’s hardly a landslide. They also gave failing grades to all the Senators who dared ask questions about the bill.

Many of those representatives and senators are right here in this room, right now. Look around you and maybe you will see members with giant letters on their chests. It’s right there if you can’t see it. Sort of like a target. A Giant Scarlet Letter. Though I prefer to think of it as a Red Badge of Courage.

Anyway, thank you for inviting me.

Fast forward to October 23 of this year. I was reading an opinion piece in the Anchorage Daily News about oil taxes. It became clear pretty quickly that whomever had written the piece was a good friend to the oil companies. Now, there’s nothing wrong with the oil companies per se. If they didn’t exist, Alaskans might own the oil, but it would still be in the ground and the state would be in serious financial tough straits. But the job of Alaska, as an owner-state, is to balance the tax system so it’s good for the oil companies and also good for us. Our state Constitution even says so. Unfortunately, it always seems that the oil companies have more people in power (financial and legislative) on their side than Alaskans do. Funny how that works when you have gobs of money.

The author of the opinion piece went on with the usual oily talking points – grumbling about how Alaska is going to disincentivize exploration if we don’t give the oil companies lots more of our money that currently goes to schools, roads, bridges, and that kind of thing. Then he made a swipe at Senator Bill “Wielechow-ski” [sic.]. I was beginning to get irritated now because Senator Wielechowski (no hyphen, by the way) is one of the few white knights we have in Juneau who is actually thinking about Alaskans before Big Oil – you know, like his oath of office said he should.

As I went on, I envisioned the author dipping his metal-tipped pen into an inkwell full of North Slope crude to continue scrawling.

The good news is we have lots of oil left on the North Slope and lots of capacity in the pipeline to ship it to market. The bad news is Alaska is simply not as attractive a place to invest as other oil provinces.

Riiight. They’ll abandon us for other, more friendly and attractive oil provinces they’re already working with, like Libya where oil companies are taxed 95%? Or how about Argentina, Algeria, or maybe Khazakstan. They’re much tougher on the oil companies with their tax policies than we are, and yet somehow drilling still happens.

“So, who is this shill who’s so far in the oil companies’ pockets that he’s picking the lint out of his teeth,” I thought to myself?  Then, I saw it…

Marc Langland is chairman, president and CEO of Northrim Bancorp. He is also co-chairman of the Make Alaska Competitive Coalition.

~Me

But… but… but… Northrim Bank is MY bank – my LOCAL bank! It’s supposed to be a good guy. How did I not know this? How could I have been giving my money and my business for twenty years to this “ass [hyphen] hat?”

Looks like I was going to move my money after all. If Marc Langland and Northrim Bank had declared their allegiance to the oil companies over the people of Alaska, this was one person from Alaska who wasn’t going to take that lying down. And I certainly wasn’t going to give those so-and-sos one more red cent. They didn’t have to be one of the big banks like Wells Fargo, or Bank of America to be undeserving of my money.

I plotted my strategy, and after talking to some people, I decided to go with a local credit union – Credit Union 1. I found that pretty much everyone who had experience with any local Alaskan credit union raved about it – Alaska USA, Denali Alaska, True North, and many others. But I had to pick one, so I did.

It turned out to be a rather delightful day. I pulled in to the “Customer Only” parking spot at Northrim with squinchy Clint Eastwood eyes, and said to the building in general, “Not for long, pal…”  It took about a half hour to close two accounts, and get a cashier’s check. The teller was very nice, and gave good service. It wasn’t his fault, so I tried to hold all my feelings of righteous indignation and contempt inside.

We didn’t have to wait long to see how the latest mix-up in the cast of GOP presidential wannabes played out in the polls.

Here was our lineup:

Herman Cain – Blinking and stammering his way through allegations that he sexually harassed multiple women over the years, we heard him tell a variety of stories, none of which seemed to be consistent. The thrashing and squirming ended up with his campaign manager blaming Rick Perry for leaking the information even though there was no solid evidence to back up the claim.

Rick Perry – Suddenly, the Perry campaign was on the receiving end of demands to apologize to Herman Cain, Herman Cain’s family and “frankly, America” for allegedly leaking the allegedly false story to Politico. This came on the heels of a speech in New Hampshire in which Perry appeared to be drunk – frat boy, sloppy, drunk. His campaign denied the alleged drunkenness by saying that Perry was simply “loose and passionate.”

Mitt Romney – For Mittens, 22-25% is the new LaBrea tar pits. No matter what he does, or what he says, or what anyone else does or says, there he is stuck. Bachmann has spiked, Perry has spiked, Cain has spiked, but Romney has never been “the flavor of the week.” Jon Stewart said it best. “If he were an ice cream flavor, he’d be beige.” Nothing can make people like him. But maybe now, while Blinky and Tipsy duked it out, he stood a chance of breaking free…

So how would the Cain blaming Perry debacle play out in the polls? We have our answer.

>>>LOUD BACKFIRE NOISE<<<

Compared to the Quinnipiac poll which was taken largely before the elephantine kerfuffle, Cain was in the lead with 30%, compared to Romney with 23%, and Perry down in the single digits with only 8%.

A new ABC/Washington Post poll, taken post-drama, shows Cain at 23% (down 7 points), Perry up to 14% (up 6 points), and Romney… wait for it… at 25%.

[No actual Republicans or mammoths were harmed in the shooting of this photograph]

I think the Cain campaign should demand an apology from Rick Perry for stealing 6 out of his 7 point drop.

Many have commented on Herman Cain’s vigorous denial of sexual harassment allegations on Fox News the other day. As I watched the interview, something struck me. As someone who is intrigued by nonverbal communication of all sorts, I found myself mesmerized not by what Cain was saying, but by what he was doing. Blinking.

I had to watch the clip a second time because I couldn’t even concentrate on the words the first time through the rapid-fire visual blink assault. Then I thought to myself, “Wow. I wonder how many times a minute he’s blinking? I bet it’s a lot. It would be interesting to know just for the heck of it. But what idiot would sit there and watch this thing and count how many times Herman Cain blinked and then figure out his blink rate?”

You know where this is going, Mudflatters, don’t you?

Yes, I am that idiot.

So, during the six segments in which Cain was speaking we find this:

Segment 1

47 seconds, 50 blinks = 64 blinks/min.

Segment 2

23 seconds, 24 blinks = 63 blinks/min.

Segment 3

31 seconds, 36 blinks = 70 blinks/min.

Segment 4

44 seconds, 53 blinks = 72 blinks/min.

Segment 5

26 seconds, 24 blinks = 55 blinks/min.

Segment 6

52 seconds, 65 blinks = 75 blinks/min.

This averages out to a whopping 69 blinks per minute! Pretty impressive if you think about it, or if you try to repeat the blink rate yourself.

You do hear all the time about how one of the ways to tell if people are lying, or under incredible duress (often from lying) is that they’ll blink a lot. It’s one of those nonverbal cues like lip licking, and stammering. It seemed a little suspicious to me, but of course, it is an inexact science.

There certainly is reason to think that Mr. Cain may not be speaking entirely truthfully. Just on Monday, he gave wildly different accounts of what he knew, and if or when he knew anything, regarding a settlement for the sexual harassment charges that were levied against him when he was head of the Restaurant Association.

From Politico, here’s a video montage of Cain’s conflicting stories just on Monday alone.

Despite all this, I did wonder if maybe it’s just the case that Herman Cain is a naturally blinky person. You never know.

So, then I thought, “If this were to mean anything, you’d really have to compare it to another instance of Cain being interviewed where the interview was about something totally different – something that we presume he’s not lying about, when he’s not under stress from having to distort the truth. It would need to be a nice easy relaxing interview so you could compare the two blink rates. But what idiot would seek to find another Cain interview and repeat this whole mind-numbing process?”

(I raise my hand sheepishly)

Do you remember when Sarah Palin called him “the flavor of the week?” He went on CBS’ Early Show to address that, and to talk about the rising popularity of his campaign. It was pretty easy – pretty softball stuff.

During this interview we find:

Segment 1

48 seconds, 33 blinks = 41 blinks/min.

Segment 2

60 seconds, 58 blinks = 58 blinks/min.

Segment 3

58 seconds, 48 blinks = 50 blinks/min.

Segment 4

41 seconds, 32 blinks = 47 blinks/min.

The average is a comparatively paltry 49 blinks per minute.

So, from my calculations, that’s a 40% increase in blinkage in the sexual harassment interview, over the flavor of the week interview. What does this mean? I have my theories, but ultimately, gentle reader, that’s up to you to decide.