Mommy & Daddy Sullivan’s Cash Floods Into Alaska
While most parents might send grocery money to their son while he’s away at college, or just starting out in a new apartment, Daddy and Mommy Sullivan have been trying to buy their son Dan a whole state. The Center for Public Integrity is reporting that Dan Sullivan’s Dad and Mom donated a cool $300,000 to Karl Rove’s American Crossroads – a PAC that has committed $5.5 Million for ads in Alaska. Originally, American Crossroads filings state the donor is “Glenmede Trust.” Not so fast. According to The Center for Public Integrity: “Glenmede spokeswoman Melissa Stonberg says the wealth management firm —…
‘Grand Oil Party’ Sues Unity.
I was having dinner in New York City a few years ago with some media muckety-mucks. They asked me why I wouldn’t move to The City for work. “I’d be bored,” was my answer. This was another interesting week in Alaska politics and proved sticking around Alaska has been worth the price of admission. The legislative ethics adviser, Reggie Drummond, who just took his job a few months ago, has mysteriously resigned. Perhaps someone took a look at his twitter feed, which included such poetic yarns as “Liberal = industrial sized stupid, put that one in your dictionary” and a…
The Naked Baker Must Go
If you are a Mudflats reader, you know him as The Naked Baker. Bill Stoltze may have earned his moniker by his unfortunate hobby of baking cookies for charity auctions in the nude, but sadly this is not the most horrifying thing about this Alaska legislator. Stoltze figured heavily into the book I co-authored, “Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin” (with Frank Bailey and Ken Morris, Simon & Schuster, 2011), for something worse. He was the force behind the coordination of the 2006 Sarah Palin for Governor campaign, and the Republican Governor’s Association then headed by Mitt Romney. Sounds important, like…
Carpetbagger Flees Fish
I’m guessing that Dan Sullivan was the kind of kid who “stayed home sick” when he forgot to study for a test. Because he just did that. He declined to attend the candidate debate on fisheries in Kodiak. That’s like declining to attend your phD dissertation, or declining to attend your wedding rehearsal dinner, or a Presidential candidate declining to attend the foreign policy debate. It isn’t done. The reason that isn’t done is because this is a candidate’s opportunity to prove he or she is credible. If you’re running for Senate, this is your big chance to prove that even…
Zephyr Teachout – The Anti-Fracking Candidate in New York
A while back, I had the opportunity to interview Democratic primary candidate for Governor of New York, Zephyr Teachout. She’s running against incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo. Teachout has stood out as a progressive voice against Cuomo’s too-business-friendly, anti-environmental take on Democratic politics. She’s strongly anti-fracking, while Governor Cuomo supports test sites, and claims that the science isn’t in on the controversial method of resource extraction. Cuomo unfortunately refuses to debate her – even though she’s polling well enough to warrant recognition. In fact, he went so far as to ignore her at NYC’s Labor Day Parade. [watch the awkwardness here]…
Olbermann on the NFL – FIRE EVERYONE
Man, I miss Keith Olbermann. I know I say this often but it’s moments like this, that one really remembers the old days of MSNBC. Keith would go on a uninterrupted 5 minute rant on something that Bush or Cheney did and it would be glorious. We’d all talk about it on MySpace or on ‘the facebook,’ and then there’d be the inevitable online and print backlash from ‘respectable’ journalists who didn’t like his firebrand ways. Well most of those journalists are out of a job now or working for some think tank figuring out a way to drag us into…
Bill Walker on Choice
Alaskans from all shades of the political spectrum seek answers about the new combined “Unity ticket” for governor, composed of the unified campaigns of Bill Walker (I) for governor, and Byron Mallott (D) for Lt. Governor. Naturally, an issue that has been of some concern to both the Right and the Left is Walker’s position on reproductive choice. A recent article in the Alaska Dispatch news has left many asking for clarity on this issue. The following is a statement from the campaign regarding Walker’s position on choice. The statement was issued after questions stemming from the ADN article. · Bill Walker has…
Jeanne Devon on The Attitude w/ Arnie Arnesen
Thanks so much to Susan Bruce, and Arnie Arnesen for inviting me to appear on The Attitude, – home station WNHN in Concord, New Hampshire, and podcasted to the universe. The governor’s race in Alaska is gaining traction in media outlets across the country, and we had a fascinating discussion with our friends in the east about the Alaska Unity Ticket for governor with Bill Walker (I) and Byron Mallott (D), how we got to that place, political compromise and sacrifice, and the future of non-partisanship in politics. I think you’ll enjoy the conversation. Start listening at 27:15 so you…
Alaska Republican AWKWARD!
Republicans have called for a “Unity Celebration” in Fairbanks on the very night after the opposition Unity Ticket launched in Anchorage. Well, that’s awkward.
Walker & Mallott: Alaska’s Unity Ticket
The mood in the Quarter Deck room at Anchorage’s Hotel Captain Cook was electric. Cameras on tripods ringed the perimeter, and the rows of green chairs reserved for reporters were full. The event was being heralded as the biggest news in Alaska politics since a former governor got the VP nod from John McCain. A large red and blue sign “Walker for Governor” with the yellow stars of the Big Dipper stood in front of a lectern. Another on the wall behind, had a smaller blue sign attached to it, also with the Big Dipper, which said “Mallott for Governor.” There was…