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.)

The only thing more humiliating than a public figure’s gargantuan screwup-by-retweet (see above) is an alert citizen grabbing a screen shot of it before the perp’s hapless attempt to scrub it.

When not embarrassing herself on Twitter, Karen Handel, the now famous, Palin-endorsed former gubernatorial candidate and reactionary from Georgia, has been busy making liars out of her new employers at the Komen Foundation.  The latter, inexplicably, thought it a great idea to put a right-wing pro-life zealot in charge of developing policy for women’s health care

The lavishly compensated Komen CEO may spin all she likes about how she doesn’t consider cancer screenings for lower income women “high impact,” and how cowardice constitutes “high standards,” but Handel herself would seem to not merit association with Komen by those alleged standards. Nor, one assumes, will the foundation help itself to any more cash from Bank of America—a corporation facing investigations from the feds as well as all 50 state AGs. As in real investigations of wrongdoing, not ideologically motivated fishing expeditions and harassment.

The most effective way to fight back is not via useless “petitions” that accomplish nothing and serve only to swell the spam lists of political non-profit groups. If you are able, and really want to make a difference, join me here.

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…

By Carl Johnson

While preparing to head off alone into the bowels of the Death Star to disable the tractor beam holding theMillenium Falcon captive, Obi Wan Kenobi rhetorically asked of Han Solo, “Who is more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?”  I think of such questions sometimes when my legislators act foolishly.

You don’t have to be a lawyer to be a state legislator.  You also shouldn’t have to know all the relevant facts in relation to a proposed law in order to sponsor it.  But somewhere along the way, someone who knows the law and the facts should step in before a law is proposed.  Alaska State Representative Kyle Johansen shows his ignorance of the law and the facts with his sponsorship of HJR31, which calls upon Congress to designate Central Park in Manhattan a wilderness area, and thus prohibit any development absent approval from Congress.

“WTF?” you may rightly ask.  Rep. Johansen claims that the goal of the resolution is to bring to light the ridiculousness of Alaskans being prevented from developing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  Apparently Rep. Johansen is not afraid of looking like a total and complete idiot, and also disparaging the intelligence of Alaskans on a national stage, by making this proposal.

The resolution is legally and factually flawed in several ways.

First, only existing federal lands can be set aside as wilderness.  The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) was established by the Wilderness Act of 1964.  Under the Act, only existing federal lands are eligible for selection as wilderness, and five specific factors must be satisfied: (1) the land is under federal ownership and management, (2) the area consists of at least five thousand acres of land, (3) human influence is “substantially unnoticeable,” (4) there are opportunities for solitude and recreation, and (5) the area possesses “ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.” Not surprisingly, Rep. Johansen’s proposed resolution does not address these requirements.  Central Park would not satisfy at a minimum the first three factors: it’s not federal land, it consists of only 843 acres, and the influence of humans is substantially noticeable.

Second, under the Alaska Statehood Act – similar to all states that joined the Union following the original 13 Colonies – the State of Alaska was entitled to select 103,350,000 acres of land not already set aside by the Federal government for other uses.  Alaska has been granted an additional 1.5 million acres of land for university and mental health trust uses.  The lands encompassing what is now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge were never eligible for State selection and have, since the purchase of Alaska from the Russians in 1867, always been Federal lands.  Thus, creating the Arctic Refuge never took away from Alaska any land that was ever granted to Alaska.

Third, under the Alaska Constitution, the people of Alaska agreed to be bound by the terms of the Alaska Statehood Act that exclude certain lands from use by Alaska.  Specifically, Article 12, Section 12 states: “The State of Alaska and its people forever disclaim all right and title in or to any property belonging to the United States or subject to its disposition, and not granted or confirmed to the State or its political subdivisions, by or under the act admitting Alaska to the Union … The State and its people agree that, unless otherwise provided by Congress, the property, as described in this section, shall remain subject to the absolute disposition of the United States.”  Thus, by insisting that the Federal government allow Alaskans to do what they want with lands retained by the Federal government, Rep. Johansen (and virtually every other elected State official on this issue) has violated his oath of office, which includes a promise to “support and defend … the Constitution of the State of Alaska.”

Fourth, as noted above, Central Park is not federal land – it has always belonged to the people of New York. But, if Rep. Johansen is concerned about protecting it from abuse, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1963.  Plus, simply looking at the park not only in photographs and maps but in person (Rep. Johansen, have you ever been to Central Park? I have …), you can tell it is not under threat of development.  There is only one building in the park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and if the park hasn’t been developed by now, it won’t.  One could also say that it is a model for management, as most of the expenses for maintenance of the park are raised by a private non-profit, the Central Park Conservancy, thus alleviating much of that burden from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

Finally, the claimed motivation behind Rep. Johansen’s resolution strongly suggests that the portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where oil companies and State legislators want to develop, what is known as the 1002 Area of the coastal plain, is designated wilderness under the Wilderness Act.  It is not.

One could say that Central Park is already like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  An oasis of habitat, surrounded by development (the North Slope region to the immediate west of the Refuge is a vast network of oil and gas infrastructure), it should be left alone to continue providing the valuable habitat it does to the many species that thrive within.  In fact, Rep. Johansen’s stunt is a compelling argument in favor of wilderness designation for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s 1002 Area on the coastal plain.  The biodiversity and importance of the Arctic Refufe far outweighs that provided in the mere 843 acres seen in Central Park.

Oh, and Rep. Johansen, I would fire your research staff.

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.

The other day, presidential hopeful Rick Santorum was quoted singling out black people for entitlement reform by saying to an Iowa audience, “I dont want to make black people’s lives better by giving them someone else’s money.”

His point was about putting people to work, rather than welfare, but the racial characterization of the problem was telling, and caused some blowback for the former Senator from Pennsylvania. It was sort of refreshing. We thought all he ever thought about was sex. He’s broadened his scope to minorities causing the financial decay and lack of work ethic in the nation. Nice change of pace.

It turns out that the Santorum campaign felt the wrath of the non-minorityphobes out there, to the point where the candidate has had to do a little pr work. A humble apology perhaps? No. An “everyone makes mistakes” confession? No. A teachable moment about unintentional racial bias? No, no, no.

He preferred that old classic – denial.

He never said it. Nope. Don’t believe you’re lyin’ ears. It was all a figment of your imagination.

Santorum appeared with Bill O’Reilly to explain the terrible mistake that everyone else made. O’Reilly asked Santorum, due to the fact that most welfare recipients are white, did he feel that the remarks would hurt him.

Santorum – I looked at that, and I didn’t say that. If you look at it, what I… what I started to say is a word and then sorta changed, and then sort of “bllluuuuhhhh” came out, and people said I said “black.” I didn’t. No one in that audience, and I talked to a lot of people and I’ve talked to reporters and this was…”

O’Reilly – We looked at it. It was a little blurry

Santorum – I looked at it very closely. It is. I’m gonna tell you, I don’t use… I don’t… I … First off, I don’t use the term black very often. I use the term African-American more than I use black…”

Santorum then went on to talk about how proud he was of his record, and support of historically bllluuuuhhh colleges.

It’s a good thing that Santorum forensically examined the video, so he could determine from that what he may or may not have said. And he was also able to back up his findings by asking members of the audience what THEY thought he might not have said.

Fortunately, with the miracles of modern technology, you can decide for yourself.

HERE is a link to a better version of the video clip of Santorum singling out bllluuuhhh people for entitlement reform. Pay close attention to the “blurriness.” You’ll need to focus. A nice cup of bllluuuhhh coffee might be in order.

It kind of sounded more like blaaaahh, or maybe blaaaigh, or…

After you figure out that one, you can enjoy today’s Santorum news where he compares gay marriage to polygamy.

A few days ago, Jeanne recounted the tale of Anchorage City Attorney, Dennis Wheeler and his role in the Mayor’s no-lying down/no-sitting sidewalk Ordinance. If you remember, Municipal Attorney Wheeler lied used “a poor choice of words” when he claimed the ordinance had been “run by” the Alaska ACLU to determine whether it was vulnerable to lawsuit. (As it turns out, “run by” is only a poor choice of words when it actually means “never spoke to the ACLU about it once.” It would only be an outright lie if…ummm when…uhhh…errr…well…back to our story…)

Assemblyman Dick Traini was the one who had the discussion with Mr. Wheeler about potential lawsuits and ACLU involvement:

Assembly Member TRAINI: Dennis, since this will end up probably in the court system if it is approved, the ACLU takes this to court, is this defensible in your
point of view?

Municipal Attorney WHEELER: Mr. Traini, this ordinance was run by the ACLU.

Assembly Member TRAINI: Did they have any problems with it?

Municipal Attorney WHEELER: They did not have any problems with it. And, that’s primarily because we drafted it after a law that was already challenged in
court.

Assembly Member TRAINI: Because I’m wondering why ACLU is not here. Normally when something like this comes forward, if they have a problem, they
are here to testify. So, I appreciate that. Thank you.

He then voted for the Ordinance, based on Mr. Wheeler’s response.

Ooops…

While not always in agreement with those of us here at Mudflats, we know Assemblyman Traini to be a good guy. His response to Attorney Wheeler’s behavior (with the support and co-sponsorship of Elvi Gray-Jackson and Paul Honeman) didn’t let us down. It is “An Ordinance to Procedurally Repeal for Good Cause Retroactively to November 22, 2011…” AO 2011-112. In simple terms, if passed, this would throw out the no-lying down/no-sitting sidewalk ordinance.

The Ordinance itself is two pages — the legal document to be signed by the Assembly and the attached letter/explanation from Mr. Traini. The letter shows me why I could never be a member of the Assembly. The emphasis is mine and my comments are in a very festive red & green:

The vote taken on the Mayor’s Sidewalk Ordinance, AO 2011-112 was taken in reliance on specific information requested from the Municipal Attorney, as set out in the excerpt transcribed and attached  for ease of reference.

(Note: The first place I saw the Traini/Wheeler discussion transcribed was on Mudflats…just sayin’… )

The intent of this ordinance is to reverse action taken by the Assembly on November 22, 2011 to pass and approve AO 2011-112, in light of corrections in that information from the Municipal Attorney, received by the Municipal Clerk on November 29, 2011, after the vote was taken and the time for notice of reconsideration by the Assembly had expired.

(Coincidentally, this also happened AFTER ACLU attorney Thomas Stenson handed Wheeler’s butt to him in an email exchange, and threatened to go public with his lie “poor choice of words” unless he said something to the Mayor & Assembly first.)

As noted in e-mail communication from the Municipal Attorney dated Tuesday, November 29, 2011, included as Attachment 1, the information provided by the Municipal Attorney at the
Assembly Meeting on November 22, 2011, immediately prior to the vote on the ordinance, was not accurate and the choice of words was misleading.

(Misleading, as in a fabrication, an untruth, a distortion, a deception, a fable, a falsity, a myth, a BIG, FAT, FRIGGIN’ LIE!!!  Yeah, I’m repeating myself…)

As Assembly Members, we often place legal counsel “on the spot” and it speaks to good character when the misstatements and/or misinformation are corrected. This repeal will not
foreclose future consideration by the Assembly. Repeal will simply allow for a “reset” of the matter, and ensure that the integrity of Assembly action on an important ordinance is not
clouded by misinformation from the Municipal Attorney’s Office, corrected later in good faith.

(Yeah, good faith…as in, I have “faith” that Dennis Wheeler wanted to save himself from the embarrassment of being publicly (and eloquently) called-out by an ACLU attorney.  Did he think no one would find out?  Silly, silly lawyer…)

This Ordinance is only being introduced tomorrow (Tuesday). I am unsure at this time if there will be public testimony.  I also do not know if the vote will occur during the last Assembly Meeting of 2011, December 13th or sometime in January. We will find out more tomorrow night. If it isn’t repealed before the Ordinance takes effect on December 22nd, I know where I’ll be…occupying a lunch break on the City Hall sidewalk!

Last week Mr. Reynolds was talking about environmentalists and how unreasonable they are. He mentioned that they were all up in arms about big bad outside corporations coming into Alaska to work on resource extraction projects like the controversial proposed Pebble Mine, and the Chuitna Coal project. But the Pebble Mine people are just from Canada, he reasoned. “They’re Canucks!” What’s the big deal?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against our neighbors to the east. There’s is a lot to love about Canada. I’m grateful they haven’t built a double layered electrified barbed wire fence to keep us from sneaking over there for health care. They have a cool non-violent flag, and a rousing national anthem. They gave us Leonard Cohen, and Peter Jennings, and the guy who invented the snowmachine. But I’m pretty sure that some of them, and some corporations that may be based there, are not all made of goodness and light – even with the adorable “Canuck” moniker.

Then he went on to talk about the Chuitna Coal Project, and the giant strip mine they plan to put across Cook Inlet, 45 miles from Anchorage. Here’s why we’re not supposed to be scared witless by the company that plans to dig up 11 miles of salmon stream, drain the surrounding wetlands down to 350 feet, dump 7 million gallons a day of waste into Cook Inlet where resides a commercial fishing industry and endangered beluga whales, and displace communities whose Native and subsistence roots and culture depends on the pristine watershed. Here’s why they’re good guys. Ready?

Casey Reynolds:

“In the Chuitna case it’s Delaware; a Delaware corporation funded by Texas investors. When was the last time someone from Delaware did anything bad? It’s Delaware. It’s the most trankful (sic) place on earth. It’s the whitest most homogenous place on the planet. It it it…Nothing bad happens there. And now we’re terrified of them? Seriously? The two evil Outside forces that we’re worried about in Alaska are Canada and Delaware? OK you-I’m sorry guys, you lost me on that one. En en environmentalists? You lost me when you started going after evil Canadians and evil Delawarians.”

And by “Delawarians and Canadians,” Mr. Reynolds means “homogenous white people who never do bad things.” Only other-colored people do bad things, apparently. Why, Mr. Reynolds asks, would we be scared of white people?

(I give you a moment to sit with that and let it sink in.)

I’m tempted here to start making a list of scary white people that do bad things, but I’m sure that you, gentle reader, can come up with your own exhaustive list. And maybe we should just excuse them all anyway – after all it’s just “white people crime.” How bad could it be?

Even if PacRim Coal shared Mr. Reynolds’ racist views, that’s not really why they decided to incorporate in Delaware. If they simply wanted to support “the whitest, most homogenous place” in the country, they would have chosen to incorporate in Maine, where over 96% of the population is white. And they certainly wouldn’t have gone from Texas, which is 70.4% white, to Delaware that has a paltry 68.9% white population (less than the national average of 72%). Heck, if it has more non-white people than the national average, that may not even be suitable for Mr. Reynolds to take a safe and non-dangerous white vacation!

Getting back to business, Delaware attracts many who are looking for a place to incorporate. Why? Delaware has long tried to attract businesses by being a corporate haven. It has an extremely business-friendly and extensive body of case law. A simple Google search would have revealed to a certain racist blowhard many sites extolling the virtues of Delaware corporate law. The very first reason listed is not the fine upstanding caucasian populace, but rather this:

“Delaware’s large body of business laws helps a company plan carefully to avoid a lawsuit.”

Delaware also does not require director or officer names to be listed in the formation documents providing “anonymity from snoopers.”

That’s right. Delaware is for corporations that don’t want people to be able to sue them, or know who they are, or have to face a jury trial, among other things. Mr. Reynolds will be shocked to learn that it’s not just for Texans looking for an idyllic state full of good, upstanding white people to support with their business. Go figure.

I can accuse PacRim Coal of many insulting things, but being racist is not one of them. Casey Reynolds on the other hand…

What better way to start your Thursday morning than with a little elephant-on-elephant violence? That, and a cup of coffee, and you’re all set.

Cain is not just accusing Rick Perry – he’s also blaming Politico, the outlet that first broke the story. Ayup.  It’s a conspiracy plot is what it is. A former consultant for Cain (whom Cain thinks he told about the false charges seven years ago when there was nobody else in the room) has now gone to work for Rick Perry and spilled the beans, so says Mark Block, Cain’s campaign manager.  And Rick Perry needs to apologize – not just to Herman Cain, but to Herman Cain’s family, and to America itself.

Block said the Cain camp had no hard evidence to support the allegations—but thought the timing was peculiar.

“Approximately two weeks ago Mr. Anderson went to work for the Rick Perry campaign. What else happened about two weeks ago? Politico began this smear campaign citing anonymous sources citing Mr. Cain acted inappropriately,” Block said.

A-HAA!!!

~The smoking gun

When contacted, Anderson immediately denied leaking the information, saying he didn’t know about harassment allegations until recently.

Hey, you know what? I was just thinking about it, and you know what else happened about two weeks ago? That earthquake in Turkey, that’s what. Now, I don’t have any hard evidence to PROVE that Rick Perry’s guy had anything to do with that… I’m just saying that the timing on that is a little bit “coincidental,” a little too “peculiar,” if you know what I mean.  Oh sure, he’ll deny it… you just wait and see.

I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.

No one knows how this entire Cain incident. (Counting women on my fingers) Actually, it would be five incidents at this point…  OK. No one knows how the handling of these five incidents will affect Cain’s polling numbers, but here’s how it stands now. A Quinnipiac poll that just came out yesterday, and covers the period of time in which the sexual harassment allegations were revealed (undoubtedly by that scurvy dog Rick Perry and his minions), shows this:

Cain and Romney competed for the top spot in national polls for much of October, but a Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday shows Cain breaking ahead to take a solid lead.

Cain took 30% of support among registered Republican voters, according to the survey, with Romney following at 23%.

The poll, taken almost entirely before reports emerged of sexual allegations against Cain, also reveals Cain leading in a hypothetical matchup against Romney, 47% to 39%.

The sample was also taken before Cain warned us all about how China was “trying to develop nuclear capabilities.” (Their first nuclear test was in 1964) Next thing you know the Ruskies and going to want nukes too! THEN what?

Will Cain’s lack of basic knowledge about world nuclear powers, or the fact that he absolutely botched his response to a scandal that he knew was coming ten days before it broke have an impact? Will Mitt Romney capitalize on the squabble and finally break through his 23% glass ceiling?

Or perhaps, the accusation will backfire, giving Perry a much-needed lift. Let’s face it, when you have to issue a statement to the press saying, “During that last speech I was not drunk, or on drugs” things aren’t going well. I noticed how Perry parsed his words, tiptoeing around my personal theory that he was drunk AND on drugs.

Perry’s campaign said that he was simply “loose and passionate.” Ironically, it sounds like the same problem plaguing Herman Cain.

Mudflats readers will remember coverage over the last year of the issue of the “Unsuitable Lands Petition” that Cook Inletkeeper and the Chuitna Citizens Coalition submitted to the state. Basically, what this petition did was to put forth the idea that certain areas are just plain unsuitable for coal strip mining – specifically the areas directly on either side of the Chuit River (above), and its tributaries that were deemed “important salmon habitat” for Cook Inlet. The petition, if successful, would ensure that a narrow ribbon of land – 50 feet on either side of tributaries, and 100 feet on either side of the main river would escape being completely dug up and mined for coal if the Chuitna Coal strip mine were to be permitted.

It’s not asking a lot. It’s similar to what they require in areas where logging occurs, because destroying river banks, particularly those of waterways that are teeming with large numbers of salmon, is a bad idea if you are trying to save that resource. The petition said nothing about halting the mine itself, only about saving these precious little pieces of land on either side of a river that is home to large numbers of all five species of Pacific salmon. PacRim coal, naturally, would prefer to just bulldoze right through the river and its tributaries, mine it to 350 feet below the surface and call it a day. Why wouldn’t they? It’s a heck of a lot easier. You don’t have to take into account all those annoying fish, and people.

And so the process began. The petition was submitted, and public testimony was heard in Kenai. I wrote an article on the hearing, and the Associated Press reported that supporters of the petition outnumbered opponents by a count of 150 to 2.  More public testimony was heard in Tyonek (the small Native village on the south side of the river), where 98% of villagers oppose the mine.

“What am I going to eat? I can’t eat money, I can’t eat coal. I eat moose meat. I eat fish. I live off this land. My grandfather showed me how to do that… He passed it down through generations. How to take care of this land, and what to do about it. I knew him, and what he said. … I lived off that land, I lived off that fish. I drank that water. I didn’t go over there and buy it from California. I went over there and I chopped that water hole, I drank that water, and I packed that water…for my Grandma. That water came from that river right there, and it still comes from there. And you’re going to pollute it!”

Alaskans submitted over 1200 letters and cards to Governor Sean Parnell in support of the unsuitable lands designation.  Various groups, including the United Fishermen of Alaska, the United Cook Inlet Drift Association and others also opposed the project and the dangerous precedent it would set.

Then, we waited. The state took its sweet time. Apparently, it took a while to come up with a 109 page rationale for why it’s totally fine, for the first time in Alaska history, to mine through a productive wild salmon stream where hundreds of thousands of fish in various stages of development live at a given time. But that’s what they did.

Russell Kirkham from the Department of Natural Resources issued a statement. He was there for the public testimony too. He heard the outcry. He knew that the ONLY people to testify against the petition were those who worked for the mining project. Everyone else said no – Hell, no. The state heard from recreational fishermen, residents of Beluga and Tyonek, commercial fishermen, Native elders, teachers, pilots, and most importantly scientists. They explained in great detail how you cannot just destroy a river, the soils underneath, the fragile ecosystem on the banks, and every living thing in it, and then hope that 25 years later you can move a bunch of fill back there, and carve out something that looks and acts  like the river you destroyed two and half decades earlier. Well, you can do that, but you won’t have anything resembling what you had  in terms of biodiversity, wild salmon, and everything needed to support the delicate chemistry required to make a river thrive. You will, however, end up with a nice trench.

Then Russell Kirkham stood and thanked everyone so much for turning out. Sincerely. He thanked them for their testimony, and said that the state would really consider it. Really they would. He’d keep everyone posted. And thanks again.

~Brandy Standifer gives impassioned testimony to Russel Kirkham of the DNR at the public hearing in the Village of Tyonek.

Opponents of the mine had no illusions about this one. The Parnell administration had already made up its mind, and it was just a question of creating facts to support the decision they had made before they ever heard the first piece of public testimony. But the tragedy here goes beyond the Chuitna coal mine itself. Mining through Middle Creek and digging up eleven miles of it will set a dangerous precedent for many other places. This has never been done before in the state of Alaska. They’ve never annihilated a salmon population, or bulldozed through a river, but now they’ve told us that it’s OK to do it. They tell us not to worry our pretty little heads about it, and that in two and a half decades it’ll be juuuust fine.

Alaskans need to ask themselves this – If this mine goes through, and destroys this river, the fish in it, the homes and communities around it, and the way of life of the residents, and dumps 7 million gallons a day of mine waste into Cook Inlet, and if it does so literally within sight of Alaska’s biggest city, what will they NOT do? Where will they NOT mine? What fisheries are safe? Alaska’s coal mining law allows citizens to petition to have certain lands designated as unsuitable for surface coal mining if the mined lands cannot be returned to their pre-mining functions and values.  If actual productive salmon rivers don’t qualify under this law as “unsuitable land” for coal mining, then what does?

Yes, it’s a rhetorical question.

And it’s interesting how the decision was framed by the DNR. Commissioner Dan Sullivan (no relation to Mayor Dan Sullivan) said in the official announcement,“Today’s decision is not a green light for specific mining projects in the Chuitna watershed. What we did today is reject the petitioners’ request to ban all surface coal mining on these lands.”   I added the emphasis to show how the state is making it sound like something it was not.  The petition would NOT, as Sullivan claims, have prevented coal mining in the area, only in the narrow buffer zone at river’s edge. But don’t confuse the state with accuracy or facts.

“Governor Parnell should be ashamed of himself,” said Judy Heilman, President of the Chuitna Citizens Coalition, and one of the residents of Beluga I visited during my trips there.  “We trusted the Governor when he said his administration would never trade one resource for another.  But now it’s clear.  The Governor is willing to trade our salmon and fishing jobs in exchange for coal to power China.”

~Judy Heilman at her home in Beluga, Alaska

“Governor Parnell always criticizes the federal government and says Alaska can manage its resources responsibly,” said Heilman.  “But mining through a wild Alaska salmon stream is not responsible development, and it will set a horrible precedent throughout the state.”

Various expert reports have argued PacRim Coal cannot simply bring in earth movers and re-create the complexities of a wild Alaska salmon stream once it’s been mined. And for those concerned with the bottom line, a recent report addressed those issues too.

The report “Net Public Benefits of the Chuitna Coal Project – A Preliminary Analysis,” was prepared by the Center for Sustainable Economy, a non-profit consulting firm with a strong background in Alaska energy and mining issues. You can read the report yourself HERE.

“Federal and state law require decision makers to assign a price tag to the project’s toll on fish, wildlife, clean water, clean air, climate and subsistence using best available methods and sources of information,” says Dr. John Talberth, the report’s primary author.  “Our preliminary analysis shows that these costs could be three to six times higher than any benefits the project generates. As such, it is unlikely the Chuitna Coal Project can fulfill the Alaska Constitution’s mandate to manage the state’s natural resources ‘for the maximum benefit of its people.”

Petitioners are currently reviewing DNR’s decision, and will provide a more detailed response in the near future. In the meantime, we now know the meaning of the Governor’s word when he said he would never trade one resource for another. He won’t do it, unless of course it’s trading salmon for coal.