Nome, Home

Moving On

2007-07-29T23:53:00.001-08:00

It is no secret to anyone in Nome but I realize I have not mentioned to this audience some important news: I am moving to South Africa and will be leaving Nome this Wednesday.

There's so much I will miss about Alaska and Nome in particular. But I'll also miss the give-and-take that has occurred on this blog and the connections I've made with people beyond Nome through it. The internet is a powerful medium and I feel I have been able to take advantage of it in some small way through my postings here.

There are a number of great Alaskan bloggers on the web and I don't think I'll be missed much. My only parting advice is this: a) don't be afraid to write what you think - it's more interesting and b) post regularly - that is what makes people keep coming back.

If you're interested in what I'm up to in South Africa, check out my new blog, http://mthathamission.blogspot.com.

A Hollow Answer

2007-07-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

Lisa Murkowski's comments on the Kenai land deal continue to strike me as hollow:

Murkowski voiced irritation with the Alaska media on how the story has been portrayed. In an interview this afternoon, she claimed to have been friends with Penney since she was five years old and it was simply a deal between longtime friends.

The senator also emphasized that she paid a fair price at the Kenai Borough's assessed value.

I believe Penney is 25 years older than her. So if she's "been friends" with him since she was 5, either it's an odd relationship (a 30 year-old and a 5 year-old?) or Penney was pals with Frank and thus knew Lisa as the daughter of his friend. If the latter is the case, then it seems that Penney is trying to use to his advantage an old relationship now that Lisa is a position of power, which would confirm everything that seems bad about this whole situation.

But I have friends who are 25 years older than me (I just went fishing with one last night, as a matter of fact) so I can believe the former. If it's the former, the problem is that Lisa is no longer just a long-time friend. She's a senator and therefore barred from taking gifts over a certain amount of money.

And even though she says she paid a fair value, which is objectively true (if any of us can actually define "fair"), she should have paid the market value, which is almost never fair.

I like Lisa a lot and I don't think there was any malicious intent here. In fact, I hope now that she's looking for property again, she checks out some of the great places available on the Seward Peninsula. I'd love to have her as my neighbor.

Who wants it?

2007-07-26T16:43:00.001-08:00

I asked yesterday how many people would be considering a shot at Alaska's House of Representatives seat, given Don Young's recent performance. But the more I think about it, I wonder who really wants the job.

Here's why: in order to win the seat, you have to run a statewide campaign and all you get in return is the chance to be one of 435 people in Washington in the same job. The only time you get any national attention is if you screw up and the only way you can do anything for your state is if you have a ton of seniority.

But if you run for Senate, you still need to run a statewide campaign but you only have 99 peers, whose words are treated much more seriously. You can get national attention much easier and it is far easier to give the perception that you are doing something by frequent, weighty pronouncements.

I can't see why Mark Begich or Ethan Berkowitz would want to condemn themselves to years of back-bench drudgery in the hopes they can hold the seat in a Republican-leaning state and have Democrats be in the majority when their turn for a chairmanship finally rolls around.

Gimme a brake

2007-07-25T16:46:00.000-08:00

Someone in Ted Stevens' office is looking forward to the August Congressional recess:

The CPSC’s warning centered around several specific safety features that are missing from the imported Chinese ATVs, including front breaks, parking breaks, and an ability to start the vehicle in gear.

Would that be the August break or brake?

(Yes, I am not exactly perfect in this regard on this blog but I don't get paid for this.)

Does this surprise anyone?

2007-07-25T14:07:00.000-08:00

Does the news that Don Young is under federal investigation come as a surprise to anyone at all? It seems to me that he long ago stopped caring about what Alaskans wanted and opted to use his position as he saw fit.

A couple of questions:

Why is the Wall Street Journal, and not say, KTUU or the ADN or Alaska AP, breaking this story?
How does this tilt the mental scales that people like Ethan Berkowitz, Mark Begich, and others are considering as they weigh a run against Young?
Is there any Republican free of the taint of scandal who might consider challenging Young in the primary?
Will Young ever answer any questions from the media to address any of the issues raised by the investigation or will he continue to give Alaskans the middle finger, both figuratively and literally? The fact that his office cannot even be bothered to release a statement is a testimony to his tremendous disrespect for his constituents.

Safety

2007-07-24T16:29:00.000-08:00

I was quizzed in the comments recently as to why I said the recent mine fatalities at Rock Creek would add fuel to the fire of controversy about the mine.

I don't think I was journalistically "salting the story" (though that may just be an unconscious reflex by this point) and yes, it is true, the controversy is primarily about procedural and environmental concerns.

But here's at least one connection: one concern about cyanide mining is that the mine operators could make a mistake and the cyanide could get free, no matter how well-designed the tailings facility is. Attention to detail and safety are crucial parts of this argument and, while the investigation into the accident is still on-going, I don't think it's a huge stretch to think that the accident will reveal something about the level of attention to detail and safety at the mine.

More than that, anything about the mine will gradually get worked into the conversation and change the argument and controversy over time. As I remember it, this controversy started over distaste about cyanide mining, which rapidly led to concern about wetlands-destruction and the permitting process. Who's to say the controversy won't take another tack?

As for the accident itself, there is little knew to report (I haven't exactly been in town keeping my ear glued to the ground, however) but rumour and innuendo. One question I'd like to see answered is what the criminal liability is for the mine operators and contractors. What does the law say?

Who cares what we think?

2007-07-24T15:51:00.000-08:00

Every morning when I check out KTUU's web site, my stomach sort of twists when I see KTUU's latest survey of its viewers on the pressing issue of the day. Normally, the question is some sort of innocuous, leading question of the viewers and I pay it little attention. But I found this one particularly fantastic:

Do you think there will be another major oil discovery on the North Slope?

Definitely 35 percent
Probably 44 percent
Doubtful 21 percent

Well, you can rest assured, Alaska's fiscal future is safe. All those worry-wart legislators in Juneau clearly don't have their fingers on the pulse of their constituents. All those geologists and wildcat explorers in the general public used their collective wisdom and came up with a solid answer to this question.

This, I believe, is what we call the wish being the father of the thought.

My general problem is that even though there is always the "this is an unscientific poll caveat," they are never treated as such. They are reported on and read about and have a similar effect, I imagine, as any other poll. And we are never told how many people bothered to respond to the poll so we can't even get a sense of who is bothering to respond.

How come there's never a "this is a stupid question" choice to these polls?

Gone

2007-07-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

I'll be out of town and away from Internet access (yes, such places still exist) until Tuesday so don't bother checking back until then. There's too much beautiful country around here not to take advantage of it.

While I'm gone, see how the state media covers (if at all), the deaths last night of two workers at the Rock Creek mine north of Nome. Troopers should have the report soon.

Given how controversial this mine has been locally, I imagine this will only add fuel to this fire.

Lost his way

2007-07-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

Poor Don Young. He's forgotten what he was sent to Washington to do and his career is collapsing around him.

The people of the Great Land want him to represent their interests in Congress. But Don keeps forgetting that.

When he's asked perfectly legitimate questions last month about his connection to an earmark in Florida, he responds with a middle finger. The message I get from that is one of complete and utter impunity, i.e. don't ask me any questions because I am going to do whatever I want regardless of what you say.
As his former aides get indicted, he spends more money than any other representative on legal fees and yet can't apparently bring himself to tell his constituents why that might be necessary.
He acknowledges taking illegal donations but won't return all the money because the statute of limitations has expired. So what that tells me is that he has no problem taking money illegally, he just wishes he hadn't been caught.
When he finally decides to act on behalf of Alaskans, it is to preserve funding Democrats would have preserved anyway... and he does it in such a patronizing and embarrassing manner, I wish he weren't speaking for me. Young, of course, missed the Iraq debate and his job in Washington because he was cavorting in Zambia of all places with lobbyists.

In the midst of this impunity and complete disregard for the opinions of his constituents, Young is raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for a re-election campaign that will no doubt airbrush his record and his service and make him once again palatable to Alaskans.

Aside from the small matter of money, the opening does seem to be particularly ripe for a challenger, either Republican or Democrat.

Dillon notes the Alaskan press contingent is back up to three, the same size as the Congressional delegation. But he worries he may not be a full Alaskan reporter. Hmmm... at the rate Don is representing everybody but Alaska, the Congressional delegation can hardly be considered to be at full strength.

Sun Cancellation

2007-07-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

It's too beautiful outside to blog.

Cosmetic Changes

2007-07-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

I hadn't taken a close look at the web site of friendly neighborhood mining company NovaGold lately but I noticed some modest changes when I surfed over there this afternoon.

Nova is building the Rock Creek mine just north of Nome and the permitting process and the mine itself have been criticized by a vocal group (majority? minority?) in Nome for its putative lack of attention to environmental considerations. Some people in town have just said Nova wants to make a quick buck and get on out.

I was intrigued then at the new section of the web site, which explains what Nova means when they say their goal is to generate wealth. They're responsible miners don't you see and that means they want to build healthy communities as well as take the gold out of the ground.
More significantly, Nova has just hired a VP of Environment and Sustainability. She looks like she has a lot of experience but it's not clear from any information I've seen just what her job entails.

In love?

2007-07-16T14:04:00.000-08:00

The local Republican bigwig in town (so he fancies himself) owns a store near downtown that is festooned with campaign posters of yesteryear - Young, Murkowski (Frank and Lisa), Stevens are all over the place.

Last fall, there was a new name up here - Halcro. Our local bigwig turned away from our future governor and actively supported Andrew Halcro.

Well, today as I strolled down to the post office, I noticed a pile of trash outside our local bigwig's store and in it was a Halcro campaign sign. A cursory look of the side of the building revealed that where Halcro's blue and white had once festooned the walls, there was but fading yellow paint.

You might think this has something to do with a desire on the part of local bigwig to clean up. After all, it makes sense to throw things out after a while. But I quickly rejected this thought when I remembered that our local bigwig has a Don Young '74 campaign sign, a Frank Murkowski for Senate sign, and still sells 8-tracks ("sells" might be too strong a word; perhaps "stocks" is better).

Could it be that our lovely new governor is winning over the Republican establishment she claims not to need? Is her style of governing turning out to be so appealing that those Republicans who fled to Halcro are now joining the Palin gang?

On that note, the Palin media love affair has spread to Pittsburgh. I particularly like this author's interpretation of the governor's references to the Constitution. "Gratuitous" is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.

This is news?

2007-07-16T13:59:00.001-08:00

This statement from American Dental Association president Kathy Roth about the settlement in the dental health aide lawsuit was moderately mind-boggling:

It brought everyone and a very public face to a serious problem. And if anything good has come out of the litigation, it's the fact that the public and legislators and many professions understand there's a serious problem, a serious need to get care in remote Alaska.

Well, speak for yourself, Dr. Roth. If it took a lawsuit to bring the sorry state of rural dental health to your attention then you haven't been paying attention to Alaska. It's not like tooth decay in rural Alaska is a new problem.

Suicide

2007-07-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

I thought the story that led off this Globe and Mail story about native suicide rates was telling:

Rebekah Williams was a young Inuit girl growing up high above the Arctic Circle when word spread across the tundra that a man in another community had killed himself.
"We still talk about this," said the 57-year-old former social worker and Nunavut MLA who now lives in Iqaluit, the territory's capital city. "Things like that just didn't happen. Our people didn't do this."

Less than 50 years later, Nunavut has, by far, the highest suicide rate in the country, sometimes reaching nine times the national average.

Since the territory, which has a mainly Inuit population of 30,000, was created in 1999, 40 per cent of deaths investigated by the coroner's office were suicides. Many of the 222 suicide victims were young, Inuit and male.

Check 'er out.

Cause and Effect

2007-07-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

It's a well known fact that cause and effect are closely linked. Why, then, do Alaska's politicians refuse to talk about the causes of global warming and instead focus almost exclusively on the effects?

To wit:

The Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission, which is charged by the legislature with figuring out how the state should respond to global warming and what impacts global warming has, but it expressly is not to talk about the causes of global warming;
Governor Sarah Palin, who forms a climate change sub-cabinet to look at how the state can respond to global warming and refuses to say (when I have asked her) if she thinks global warming is caused by greenhouse gas emissions;
Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens, who have f inally signed on to the need for mandatory greenhouse gas emissions but primarily (I surmise) because the bill contains billions of dollars for Alaskans suffering from global warming. Stevens says the bill is important "regardless of whether these changes are caused by human activity."

When you have a problem, it makes sense to figure out what's causing it rather than just dealing with the effects. When you're sick, you don't want to just treat the symptoms, you want (if you can) to treat the underlying cause. Looking at causes helps establish a long-term solution.

Perhaps no one wants to talk about global warming causes because when we do the finger gets pointed right at ourselves.

More on Anonymity

2007-07-13T09:11:00.000-08:00

This has absolutely nothing to do with Alaska but I enjoyed this article that is more than tangentially relevant to my recent post on anonymity:

John P. Mackey, the co-founder of Whole Foods Market, has never lacked for personality.

Using the pseudonym Rahodeb — a variation of Deborah, his wife’s name — Mr. Mackey typed out more than 1,100 entries on Yahoo Finance’s bulletin board over a seven-year period, championing his company’s stock and occasionally blasting a rival, Wild Oats Markets. The story was first disclosed on The Wall Street Journal’s Web site last night.

Check 'er out.

Chutzpah

2007-07-12T11:14:00.000-08:00

One of the great parts about living in small-town Alaska is seeing all the different hats people wear on a daily basis. So many people are involved in so many different activities and occupations because there are so few people to go around.

During the winter, we had a bit of a tussle in Nome over trapping in city limits. One or two trappers had (accidentally?) caught some dogs in their traps and dog-owners wanted trapping banned in city limits. Mike Quinn was a prime spokesman for the trappers and he said the dogs should have been under better control and they were keeping down the fox population and the rabies that went with it.

So I was amused to read through the responses to the city's request for an animal control officer. There was the usual proposal from the existing animal control officer who met all the requirements of the city's description. Then there was one from Nome Animal Control Services, LLC, which said it would only take loose animals after work hours, not on weekends, and wouldn't operate the pound. The operator of Nome Animal Control? None other than Mike Quinn.

I wonder how he would get those loose animals?

Wikipedia

2007-07-12T10:22:00.000-08:00

I was particularly intrigued by this National Guard-produced story on the Alaska Guardsmen serving in Kuwait. I liked the tag:

KYUK 640 AM/TV of Bethel, Alaska, and Wikipedia contributed to this report.

Hmmmm, if Wikipedia contributed to the report, how did they end up with this sentence?

Nunooruk, an Inupiaq from Nome, Alaska's northernmost town, said many Eskimos choose the National Guard for the educational opportunities, training and discipline.

"Alaska's northernmost town"? I don't see that in Nome's Wikipedia entry.

And have we really reached the point where Wikipedia is a legitimate source of news?

But the overall story is nice to read and get a reminder of all the people missing from Western Alaska right now.

On Anonymity

2007-07-11T12:20:00.000-08:00

The ADN's politics blog has an interesting post on anonymous comments and whether they should be allowed. I've been thinking about this a bit lately because I seem to be a in a minority among Alaskan bloggers in that I post under my real name.

(This particular line of thinking was prompted by this post in the KodiakKonfidential blog where I am - ahem - said to provide "some of the most insightful political analysis around." I realized I was about the only one with a real name attached to it.)

My reasons for doing so are fairly straightforward - I think that if you believe in a position strongly enough to share it you should also be willing to put your name on it. I understand in some societies this is not the case but I am sufficiently confident of my free-speech rights (for now, at least) to write under my own name.

I've been a bit burned by this before. When I was in college, the faculty went on strike. I frequented a university message board and posted under my own name my beliefs as to why they had been wrong to strike. I was about the only person to post under my own name (though not the only one to criticize the faculty) and when the faculty returned, I was a target of a lot of their frustration and anger and kind of got blackballed (fortunately it was spring semester of my senior year). But that was more a function of their inability to handle criticism than anything else.

I think that not being anonymous has brought me several benefits. It has definitely raised my profile, made (some) people return my calls when they might otherwise have not, and led to many interesting meetings with people who recognized me from this blog. The internet is a powerful tool as I have found out in numerous other situations and I want to use that to my advantage as best as I can. Yes, I know it is easier to find out information about me than it is about the average person out there and if anyone's stalking me they've got a plenty of information to work with but I'm willing to take that chance.

Of course, I understand that not everyone shares my views and that's perfectly understandable. I have no problem with anonymous comments or comments posted under a pseudonym. Anonymity can be abused, of course, but no one has done that yet.

Would you think differently of this blog if you didn't know who I was?

Timing is Everything

2007-07-10T10:45:00.000-08:00

The governor - displaying an impeccable sense of timing - signs the ethics legislation on the same day Tom Anderson is convicted.

John Bitney resigns just before the ethics legislation becomes law. Under its conditions, he would have had to take two years off before getting a private-sector lobbying job. Now, I presume, he is not bound by that. The revolving door takes one last swing.

(How come only APRN reported the Bitney bit?)

UPDATE: The AP picked up the story on Bitney's resignation but, of course, did not mention the timing issue. Nor, I think, did the two-year rule merit a mention in AP's coverage of the ethics bill signing. I have no problem giving people the benefit of the doubt, which I will gladly do for Bitney, but I think the media has an obligation in this situation to point out the context of the resignation.

Looking for work?

2007-07-10T10:43:00.000-08:00

City manager jobs are popping up all over this state. Palmer's is open, Kotzebue's is open, and - after last night's Council meeting - Nome's will be open in December.

Being a city manager strikes me as one of the most thankless jobs in all of public service. All politics is local and the city manager bears the brunt of complaints about whatever happens to be making folks upset. And the city manager has to be subservient to a city council that may not always know as much about the issues as the manager but has ultimate control. I imagine a good city manager has to have an internal compass that keeps him or her in line with serving the public and does not allow criticism to detract from that goal.

Fortunately, Nome has been blessed with a fine city manager who will soon be missed. Wonder how many people want the job? Public service is less and less appealing to folks of my generation.

Development / Anti-Development

2007-07-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

I'm surprised this offering from Tom Irwin hasn't received more media attention:

Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin today spoke out against the growing trend of anti-resource development initiatives in Alaska, and defended the state's resource permitting and regulatory system as effective, fair and responsible.

"Anyone willing to connect the dots can see that our resource industry is being targeted by multiple efforts to deprive developers of the tools they need to operate in Alaska," Irwin said. "Our Constitution mandates responsible resource development for the benefit of the people of Alaska, and I take significant exception to efforts to interfere with that mandate or the corresponding public process."

Maybe it's not "news" that the DNR Commissioner supports resource development but it does strike me as odd that the commissioner would make this an issue at this particular point. Where he sees roadblocks to development, I really only see hiccups. His list of anti-development initiatives is also surprisingly comprehensive, including our very own Rock Creek mine and the cyanide ban ordinance in Bethel.

Irwin trumpets the state's permitting process, saying it will guarantee the proper result. That, I think, gets to the core of the issue, as, at least in the Rock Creek case, people are not objecting to the mine per se but to the process which allowed the mine to go forward. Process, as I have written before, can be more important than product.

On a similar note, I'm about a week late getting to this, but there was a good Compass piece on the effect of the Habitat Division re-organization during the Murkowski administration:

Recently, Ginger Johnson, board member of Truth About Pebble, the organization devoted to seeing the giant Pebble Mine Project come to fruition, said in the Daily News: "There are strict laws that must be followed for any mine to be built. Pebble will require 67 different permits. There are processes in place to ensure that developments like Pebble mine are safe."

What she and Truth About Pebble neglect to tell us is that those "strict laws" that are supposed to "ensure that developments like Pebble mine are safe" were watered down considerably by the Murkowski administration in order to grease the skids for more resource development like the Pebble Project.

I asked Irwin about the Habitat move this morning (he was commissioner when it was moved after all) and he seemed to indicate the move has worked out fine. He said when he first met with the Habitat folks, he told them to make sure their own concerns were answered but instead of saying no, "figure out how you can say yes" to a project to let them go forward.

"So many people have been through it"

2007-07-06T10:08:00.000-08:00

I was struck by this comment from Ted Stevens on APRN last night:

It's sort of a family. The Senate family comes around when someone's got a problem. They've all encouraged me just don't get excited about this because so many people have been through it in their own states and it's not an easy thing.

Stevens, of course, is referring to the federal investigation that is apparently looking into his connection with VECO.

What does it say about our polity that "so many" senators have been through a federal investigation? Are senators particularly enticing targets for over-zealous prosecutors? Do Americans just naturally elect people with a predilection towards corruption? Is money such an important part of our political system that it skews the priorities of our elected representatives away from serving the people and towards gathering ever more money, even by potentially illegal methods?

The casualties of global warming

2007-07-05T14:00:00.001-08:00

I was in Kotzebue last week for the meeting of the Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission. One thing that is great about big meetings like this one is that it generally brings together a lot of important players on a particular topic which gives me an opportunity to speak to them in person (rather than over the phone).

I was really impressed by the people who are community leaders in villages facing coastal erosion, like Kivalina and Newtok. (The folks from Shishmaref didn't show.) You can just hear the frustration in their voice at the red-tape that is tying them up and see the weariness on their faces at having worked for so long on a problem they really have no control over.

I interviewed Stanley Tom, the tribal administrator in Newtok, and was just overwhelmed at what that community is going through. If you want to hear my whole interview with him, you'll just have to move to KNOM country but here's a couple of highlights.

He told me the barge landing there has been eroded so fuel has to be flown in. I asked what fuel costs now:

Our unleaded gas is at $11.87 a gallon. That's way - three times, four times - much more than what the United States is crying over $3.59 a gallon. And now we're paying $11.87 a gallon. These families cannot afford to pay $11.87 a gallon.

He's been on the job for at least a decade and I asked about the personal toll:

I'm tired of fighting this erosion problem. It's really stressful work. It's like every day, five days a week, I have to do lots of e-mailing with federal and state agencies. There's competition, you know, with other villages. We need to move and we're completing the deadlines and that's a very stressful part.

We talked about global warming and he said he thought increased emissions were causing their problems. He acknowledged Newtok was a tiny fraction of overall emissions but said the community is doing its part anyway:

We all did quit using trash bags already in the stores. We're using shopping bags. And we're trying to help the problem that they are telling us, you know, and I don't think we're the big impact. We're just a small amount and we're trying to help the problem right now.

Maybe calling Tom a "casualty of global warming" is going a little too far but at the very least his life has been completely and utterly changed by what we are doing to the world. How come that never figures into the debate about global warming?

Timing is Everything

2007-07-04T18:30:00.000-08:00

I was intrigued by the timing of DNR's decision to allow cyanide heap-leaching at Fort Knox: late in the afternoon before a holiday. Hmmm... want to shuffle things off the radar screen now, do we?

(Speaking of timing, why is the governor releasing the RFP for a gas pipeline right before a holiday?)

The News-Miner article is - as you would expect - solid and even takes pains to mention how the use of cyanide has become an issue in both Bethel and Nome, which I appreciate.

The Fort Knox application shows one important part of mining: you should never assume the first permit application is the final one. At Rock Creek in Nome, we've been hearing that cyanide vat-leaching is a lot safer than heap-leaching and that's why they picked the former. What happens when Rock Creek ends up with a big pile of low-grade ore? Back to DNR they go, asking for a heap-leaching permit is my guess.

Public comment

2007-07-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

Commerce Commissioner Emil Notti was in Nome the other day and, when I asked him what his goals for the department were, responded, in part, with this:

When you start talking about alternative energy, the costs are prohibitive and the hundreds of millions of dollars to put that in place around rural Alaska just take too long to do it if we had the money even. So the other way to approach that is to enable the people out here to earn enough money to pay the cost of fuel and living out here and that means jobs.

He had many comments about life in rural Alaska (he is a bit of an expert after all) and many were intelligent and insightful. But this particular cut provoked the longest e-mail I've ever seen in response to one sound bite:

I heard on KNOM, Commissioner Notti's comments on the high cost of renewable energy in rural alaska; that we as a state couldn't afford the investment in renewable energy infrastructure; that economic development and jobs was the answer in rural alaska to the ever increasing cost of heating oil and gasoline.

Well, that was a stupid... dumb... and an unreal comment from a commissioner of what... Economic development... community sustainability... where has he been living...urban Alaska! What sandbox has he been playing in?

Does he expect rural alaskans to work on a natural gas pipeline to sustain an urban Alaska...
with an ever increasing world market price for natural gas? Tell me, which Alaskans,
urban or rural... can afford to pay for natural gas to heat homes and power utilities with electricity... how high will the fuel surcharge be... in 5... 10... 20 years...

Doesn't he understand "peak oil depletion"? Tell me again... Commissioner of WHAT?

Doesn't he know that the ever increasing cost of fossil fuels is unsustainable for subsistence
economies in rural Alaska.... and when does urban Alaska become unsustainable...

As customers paying heating and utility bills...What will AVEC and NJU charge this year and every year after.... as fuel increases in price? Is the Commissioner expecting oil and gas to decrease in price over the next 20 years for rural Alaska?

Or will rural Alaskans work in urban Alaska in 9 to 5 jobs and fly home on weekends
to pay the AVEC and heating bills, oh, I forgot the babysitter...

Rural Alaska without renewable energy is the end of sustainability... unless we use past oil profits to build a renewable energy future, we'll be unable to sustain ourselves or have any rural jobs, or continue with subsistence.

We will never control the price of oil and gas. We will control the cost of renewable energy.
It will always be affordable...our way of life is affordable once we adopt renewable technologies. How long has the wind and sun been in rural Alaska?

This is the path we must follow... every windy...sunny day in rural Alaska is another 1000 years of sustainability... we will endure forever with renewables in every village, every home, and with every mode of transportation...

Rural Alaskans own the same resources that urban Alaskans own... the oil and gas on the Northslope... we as Alaskans have an endownment of past oil profits... what's the name of that fund?

What other path is there; sustainability from our past oil profits for wind, solar, geothermal
hydro, and tidal energy projects is the beginning of a 1000 years of sustainability.

BP can only offer us 50 years of what... higher profits for oil company shareholders!

What shares do we own? What's the name of that fund... that we as Alaskans own!

SOMEBODY... YELL IT OUT... LOUD AND CLEAR... I CAN"T HEAR YOU... AGAIN HOW MUCH HAS IT GROWN...

Is it nearing 40 billion dollars? Do we as rural Alaskans need to hire VECO to get the votes we need to follow the path of RENEWABLE ENERGY IN ALASKA from the Alaska Legislature?

Where is our path to sustainability in Alaska!

Is milk production in Alaska sustainable... with or without renewable energy?

Dear Gov. Palin:

Our wellbeing... our opportunities to sustain ourselves... to work... depends upon our ability to invest in renewable energy in Alaska... our schools, our public infrastructure are sustainable with renewables as the initial investment in WHAT, IN WHO... OURSELVES.

Texas is the #1 wind producing state in the US. What year did TEXAS deplete it's oil and gas as a sustainable source of energy, of revenue...!

Iceland has made a 50 year commitment to hydrogen production as the sole source for transportation fuel... for buses, private vehicles, and their fishing fleet. SAY IT AGAIN, FISHING FLEET...

The Gov. of Iowa has set up a 100 million dollar fund for making IOWA a renewable energy state. Am I worried about ALASKA... YOU BET I AM...

GM is planning on shipping the first hydrogen/electric vehicles to CHINA called the VOLT by 2010. The car will have a 300 mile range. HOW MANY MILES ON THE NOME ROAD SYSTEM!

Gov. Palin... the commissioners that will lead Alaska on the path of renewable energy...who are they... where are they... are they... OUR CHILDREN.

All Alaskans will benefit from renewable energy infrastructure, make the commitment to us today... DEAR GOVERNOR...future generations will know we wasted no more time on pipe dreams...

PS. Commissioner Notti needs a good press secretary to review his comments! DON"T LET HIM MAKE ANYMORE STUPID COMMENTS about renewable energy!

Dear KNOM:

Needless to say, I'm passionate about renewable energy... you have my permission to air it, talk of Alaska it, as much as you like, AP-it to the rest of Alaska...

We have to wake up the State...winter is coming.

Jim Stimpfle

I particularly like the line about hiring VECO to lobby for our interests.

Check 'er out

2007-07-03T08:15:00.000-08:00

Seen APRN-dot-org recently? It's changing quickly - and for the better. Not quite as staid anymore. Nice work.

With apologies to Mastercard

2007-07-03T08:11:00.000-08:00

Standing strong on "public safety, transportation, and education" in the capital budget: $237 billion, give or take;

Cost to governor's popularity: a few points, maybe

Keeping Matanuska Maid open for a handful of Valley dairy farmers: $600,000

Amount of teen centers in Savoonga the Mat Maid money could buy: 8

Being "biased toward the Valley": priceless.

(Thanks to a reader for pointing this out.)

(Yes, I admit consistency is false goal. I just wish politicians would be a little more upfront about it and not try to insist that their decisions are perfectly defensible.)

Every day

2007-07-02T15:39:00.001-08:00

I'm a bit of a Luddite, I'll admit, despite my perch on the cutting edges of social media revolution (that lofty perch high in the Alaska blogosphere - oh dear, this is all going to my head).

So it is was with surprise that I learned about RSS feeds from a comment on a recent post of mine. I was trying to minimize my importance by pointing to my tinsy-wheensy number of hits. But then I learned you can actually read this blog without activating the hit counter.

I'm curious, then, just how many people read this blog off an RSS feed. If you do, wouldn't you please be so kind as to click over here and leave me a comment? A simple anonymous "hello" would do. It's in the interests of science, don't you see?

Principled Stand?

2007-07-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

The more I think about the governor's capital budget vetoes, the less I think the ADN's editorial page is right:

BOTTOM LINE: Some of Gov. Palin's cuts are pretty painful, but they reflect solid principles.

My initial inclination was to agree with that but now I'm beginning to wonder. How, for instance, do you say your three goals are "education, transportation, and public safety" and then go and cut $4-million for a public safety building in Nome. Your goal is in the title of the project!

(Yes, I am being parochial. So is everyone else when it comes to the capital budget.)

Rather, I think what happened is that the governor wanted to show off her fiscal conservatism and started cutting projects, not at random but neither with the impartial, even-handed due process that seems to be attributed to her.

(Andrew Halcro is persistently critical but worth reading on this.)

Of course, perfect consistency is an impossible goal. If 60 lawmakers in 121 days can't produce a near-perfect capital budget (or even a moderately decent one), we shouldn't expect one governor to do so with only the power to subtract.

And yet I imagine the sniping will continue for some time. To the point of any veto overrides?

How did it happen?

2007-07-02T14:46:00.000-08:00

Very good article in the Juneau Empire asking just how the feds managed to pick up on corruption in Alaska before any state agency did.

Two of my favorite parts:

Berkowitz has another entity to blame for corruption problems in the state. He thinks the media bears a share of the responsibility as well.
"The media failed to engage for too long," Berkowitz said.
Alaska's media didn't do enough to tell the public about what was happening in the state's government, he said. It is like when drivers slow down when they see a state trooper. Legislators would not have attempted some things they did if they knew the public was going to find out about them.
"The media was not peering into the workings of government," he said.

Readers of this blog will not be surprised to hear me say a big "Amen!" to that. (How come the ADN didn't write this article?)

Also:

Equal numbers of Democratic and Republican legislators on the committee ensure balance. The Republican members last year included Stevens, who is under investigation, and former Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch, R-Juneau, who has been indicted on corruption charges and is awaiting trial.

Sounds like a classic case of foxes guarding the hen house.

Anyone in Juneau willing to push for the necessary institutional change? I thought not.

What's Left?

2007-06-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

Well, she's nothing if not thorough.

Taking a look through the governor's capital budget vetoes is fascinating reading... and tragic in many ways. How could the governor possibly have cut the money I wanted for the new ice-skating rink in Nome?

The governor has finally made a decision that people can disagree with and I think people will. I wouldn't be surprised if this dents her popularity a bit (of course, she has plenty to burn) because as much as Alaskans act like we're a bunch of independent people who don't need the government, the capital budget gravy train seems to be more appreciated than people would care to admit.

There are a lot of projects on the veto list that have been vetoed because they're "not a state responsibility." In my neighborhood, money for a new teen center in Savoonga was cut. I'll grant that is not a state responsibility but given the high suicide rate in Savoonga (and numerous other social problems), if the state has the money to help out, shouldn't it? There's numerous other projects like that on this list and I wonder what the backlash will be.

The governor campaigned as a fiscal conservative and is now revealing herself in full glory. I admire her for not taking the easy way out and blindly signing a flawed document (viz. Murkowski, Frank, 2006) but I wonder what people will think of her now?

And will the legislature manage to override any of these?

Check the Hit Counter

2007-06-29T13:08:00.000-08:00

I want to take another opportunity to emphasize just how few people read this blog. At max, I get about 40 a day, more likely 20 to 30. (If you don't believe me, click on the hit counter at the very bottom of the right-hand column.)

Now, I am gratified for each and every visit and please, tell your friends. But let's be careful not to overrate my importance. I have none. Just because blogs have started showing up in mainstream media accounts and there are several powerful lower 48 political blogs, does not mean I am the same for Alaska. As much as I wish I were a mighty blogger, dispensing wisdom that all in authority scurry to obey, all blogs are not created equal.

I mention all this because of late I have received a few phone calls and e-mails that would seem to suggest otherwise. To which I can only say, please, don't overrate my significance; I certainly don't.

(None of this, of course, should stop you from visiting here.)

On Tenterhooks

2007-06-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

Can't wait to see just what the governor is going to veto from the capital budget... and apparently we'll find out tomorrow.

I particularly like this line from Meghan Stapleton:

“The red pen is out, and it will be millions."

Will the governor reveal the "bias" towards the Valley she (accidentally) pledged during the campaign? Now that she is making some decisions will her popularity begin to fall? Will she uphold all those necessary rural Alaskan infrastructure projects and cut all that unnecessary artificial turf in Anchorage? Will Bert Stedman and Kevin Meyer be righteous in their indignation at the vetoes or will they just roll over and say, "Gee, I guess we spent too much."?

What happens to the money that is not spent on a vetoed project? Does it just get added to the surplus (to be spent by an over-eager Finance Committee next year)?

Are Bong Hits Illegal in Alaska?

2007-06-27T13:05:00.000-08:00

I'm a bit late to the party on this "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" ruling. (I was having too much fun saying "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" on air.) But I do have one thought. The core of the ruling appears to be the assertion that schools can limit a student's freedom to promote illegal behaviour at school-sanctioned events.

Leaving aside whether or not the banner actually "promoted" anything (kind of nonsensical to me) and whether the event was "school-sanctioned," were bong hits illegal in Alaska in 2002? I thought possession of marijuana in this state (up to 4 ounces then, since reduced) was de-criminalized. Perhaps our banner-holder was only encouraging people to engage in their constitutionally-guaranteed (in Alaska, at any rate) rights. What's wrong with that?

And one other note: is Beth Bragg (and me too) wrong when she wrote several months ago that giving the case all this publicity only made the Juneau School District look bad? Seems to me it's might lead to a good conversation on free speech and the rights of students, even if the decision is a little loopy.

Which Eskimos?

2007-06-26T16:53:00.000-08:00

I was surprised to see this headline in The Globe and Mail this morning: "Edmonton takes pity on homeless Eskimos." What exactly is Edmonton doing, I wondered. Why is the Globe and Mail using the word "Eskimos" when they usually write "Inuit"?

Then I realized the story was about the Canadian Football League team Edmonton Eskimos and it all made sense.

Homelessness (let alone any other social issue) among the native people of the Arctic is, unfortunately, hardly newsworthy. There's nothing "new" about it. It's a fact of life.

Temporary Safety

2007-06-26T09:19:00.000-08:00

I've had some guests in town of late and been unable to devote my full attention to my little corner of the Internet. So how about another e-mail from Bill Scannel?

Guys:

We have less than 48 hours to stop our nation from having a National ID card scheme.

The US Senate is scheduled to vote either today or tomorrow on two amendments that will remove Real ID provisions from the immigration bill.

Real ID is a very, very real national identification card. Sixteen states have passed legislation rejecting REAL ID: now it's time for the Senate to do their part. You can fax Senators Stevens and Murkowski; and take immediate action by visiting:

http://unrealid.com/action.html

Ted and Lisa need to hear from us on this one...let's get them to do the right thing, for once.

All the best,

Bill

··· --- ··· ··· --- ···
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin

This was sent to Bill's VIP e-mailing list. Boy, doesn't this blogging thing make me important!

Alaska style

2007-06-22T09:25:00.000-08:00

I was intrigued by this picture of the governor at the AGIA signing in Carhartts and work boots. I won't pretend to be able to read the governor's mind but no doubt the idea was to send the message about being a regular, Carhartt-wearing, sleeves-rolled-up, Alaskan, ready to start working on a gas pipeline, which, to give her credit, she more or less is.

What made me pause, though, was just how new those Carhartts look. It's like she picked them up on the way to the bill-signing. As anyone who lives in rural Alaska knows, new Carhartts are a dead give-away of "newbie" status. In fact, I've heard of people who drive over their new Carhartts with a truck before wearing them to take some of that shine away and break them in.

So the message I take from the governor's dress in this picture is either a) she's never done any hard work in her life but is ready to start now (unlikely, as she is a mother of four); b) the governor wants to look like a "regular" Alaskan but because she isn't (she's the governor after all), she doesn't have the clothes to do so; or c) the governor has her own unique sense of style. People clearly like Sarah as she is - why bother playing dress up to convince us she's something else?

A job I don't want

2007-06-22T08:13:00.000-08:00

After listening to Joel Southern's Tuesday story on efforts to get Ted Stevens to talk about the investigation into his relationship with VECO, you have to feel sorry for Stevens' unnamed press aide.

Reporters are pressing Stevens for comment and the press aide keeps saying, "If you give me your card, I can get you our statement." But no one pays any attention to him because they know what the statement says and they want Stevens to say something. But the press aide is persistent and keeps offering the statement. Finally, Stevens himself gets fed up and says to the press aide, "Let me answer the questions!" To which the press aide can say nothing but "Yes, sir!" and shut up.

Given Stevens' reputed penchant for being unable to remember the names of any of his staff members, the poor press aide is looking pretty sorry indeed. Not only does he get ignored by the press (his apparent constituency), his boss belittles him in public, likely without even knowing who he is.

Is all that abuse really worth the resume line of working in Stevens' office?

If you don't like him...

2007-06-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

...why did you vote for him?

A new poll shows Don Young is not too popular in the state. I still think any potential challenger has huge (dare I say insurmountable) hurdles to surmount in knocking off the C-Man for All AK but it is an interesting snapshot nonetheless.

But, really, given that Young got nearly 60-percent of the vote last November, couldn't people at least have the decency to stick by him when he gets in trouble? Because those of us who didn't vote for him, really wish that those of you who held your noses and voted for him had not.

Predictions

2007-06-19T21:16:00.001-08:00

I - ahem - accurately predicted, I believe, two items making headlines around the state today.

The first is Vic Kohring's resignation, which I predicted at the beginning of the month.

The second is ChangePoint's decision to turn down the 1-point-5 million for its SportsDome. I didn't predict this one, per se, but I did make clear that I thought the governor was likely to veto it. Given Sarah's presence at the announcement today, I'd like to think she played a fairly significant role in the decision, even if she never actually pulled out her pen.

(Along with my Lance Mackey prediction, these are the only three predictions I've ever gotten right in my entire life.)

The larger point here is about the power of the media. When the ADN or KTUU shines a light on an issue in this state, things happen, particularly when the light is shined on any of the number of egregious examples of stupidity that take place in state government.

Kohring has been complaining these last few weeks that he's being tried in the media. He's right about that and I doubt he'd be making the same decision today if the ADN hadn't pressed him so hard on it. My difference with Vic, though, is that the ADN just pushed him towards the right decision he should have had the honor to reach on his own.

Given all this, how come the ADN and KTUU don't use their spotlight more often? Rather than sending more reporters around the state to ferret all the stories they routinely miss, the ADN continues its trend of reducing staff, filling its pages with stories from organizations, and generally failing us as a newspaper. Maybe the indictments that led to Kohring's resignation wouldn't have been such a surprise if the ADN or KTUU had more than one reporter in Juneau. Perish the thought.

Doing us proud

2007-06-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

In his continued quest to do Alaskans proud, Mike Gravel has this to say... or, more precisely, not say

More on the philosophic meaning and value of a presidential candidate communicating without speaking here.

Naked Alaska

2007-06-18T12:38:00.000-08:00

While I was away these past two weeks, I reconnected with an old acquaintance. In the time since our acquaintance had dropped off, he had developed an Alaska connection and directed me to this video, which gave me some wonderful new ideas about how to spend my summer.

Anchorage-centric

2007-06-18T12:26:00.000-08:00

I called Mike Hawker's office today to find out if his education taskforce had any meetings in Bush Alaska planned. Those, I was informed, have all been canceled by the committee, in favor of meetings exclusively in Anchorage.

So it seems that the committee charged with addressing the disparity between urban and rural school districts won't even get to see what a rural school district looks like. That sure inspires confidence they'll do a good job.

Taking a quick look at precedent, the Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission is meeting in Kotzebue next week after meetings in Anchorage and Juneau. They did not appear to have too much difficulty getting their schedules to mesh.

To the rescue

2007-06-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

Sarah Palin is rushing to the rescue of the state's dairy industry. It's not clear to me quite who the "Matanuska Maid" is in this situation.

But I think we can agree that if you're a struggling industry from the Valley, with this governor, "You've got it made... Matanuska Maid."

Back in the saddle

2007-06-17T18:59:00.000-08:00

Back in Alaska, in time to read the New York Times' treatment of Alaska's troubling future:

Now, as oil production continues its steady decline, and the temperature creeps higher, it is far from clear what the next big boom might be, or what Alaska might become without one. Nearing a half-century of statehood, the wildest and most mysterious of American places could use a reliable map to the future. Fog seems to be rolling in instead.

There's nothing new in here for a regular consumer of Alaskan news but I suppose the combination of a good-looking new governor and political arrests was too long for the Times to ignore for too long.

For those commenters displeased by my absence, let me just note that there are still places one can go in this world that don't have internet access and things one can do that make blogging - as rewarding as it is - pale in comparison.

Away

2007-06-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

I'll be out of Alaska and away from this computer for the next two weeks. No posts then, sorry.

Finished

2007-06-02T08:55:00.000-08:00

You might recall a few months KTUU gave fairly heavy coverage to the first hearing on the impeachment of Jim Hayes. Hayes resigned within two days.

I think the same is likely to be true of Vic Kohring, after the fairly lengthy piece on efforts to get him to resign. The resignation makes a fair degree of sense:

His trial is scheduled for October 22. So his choice at a special session coming just before that would be to rescue himself, thus depriving his constituents of representation or to participate, raising who knows what questions about votes he would take. The latter scenario in particular is one his colleagues don't want to see.

KTUU is a huge spotlight in this state and putting it on Kohring like this I think will likely lead to his resignation in the near future.

The fact that someone (Harris? Samuels?) tipped KTUU to the visit means someone else recognize the spotlight KTUU has and is seeking to put it to their advantage.

Straight talk

2007-06-01T09:05:00.000-08:00

I once heard a joke that when the Vatican decides to ordain women, the encyclical will begin, "As the Vatican has always taught..." Such is the emphasis on appearing to be consistent among politicians and leaders that when they change their mind, they don't want to be seen to be changing their minds. If you listen to President Bush, it's as if the country has been in Iraq all along to "honor the sacrifice of the troops" and start a democracy, when we all remember some conversation about weapons of mass destruction a while back.

With that in mind, it's refreshing to read this from John Coghill about the apparently for-sure special session on Senior Care:

Coghill attributed other lawmakers’ change of heart to media attention and pressure from the senior group AARP.

“The AARP has made it a full-court press,” he said.

It would be tempting in this situation to say something like, "We always wanted to ensure we took care of seniors - and in fact we did by funding a variety of other programs - and we've now decided this needs to be taken care of before the fiscal year ends, completely independent of any outside pressure." But Coghill doesn't say that - he's upfront and honest that the coordinated campaign from Democrats and seniors has worked.

(How come the News-Miner keeps scooping the ADN on important political stories?)

Old News

2007-06-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

Here's how to make your job a lot easier if you're in the newspaper business: run old news.

This morning's ADN has an extensive article on the recent ruling by a FERC judge that the tariffs on oil flowing through the pipeline should be reduced. This a ruling that could have a tremendous impact on the state's bottom line. The ADN didn't write this particular article but we'll give 'em credit for giving the issue coverage.

One problem: the ruling is two weeks old! The plucky little Fairbanks Daily News-Miner had some nice coverage of this issue two weeks ago when the ruling was, you know, made public.

If you look at the ADN story again, you'll see there's no reference to time. It fails to answer the important "W" question reporters ask of "when." Clearly, someone in the money pages at the ADN was a bit short of content and stuck this in to fill the pages.

The ADN clearly subscribes to the theory that news is like wine: the older it is, the better it gets.

"Hollywood Stars"

2007-06-01T07:17:00.000-08:00

I don't recognize a single one of the "Hollywood stars" quoted in this KTUU story about celebrities pushing to save the whales. Is that more of a reflection on my relative distance from popular culture or the quality of stars endorsing this movement?

Which One?

2007-05-30T14:27:00.001-08:00

Amid all the important questions concerning the re-authorization of the subsistence bowhead hunt, the allegations against Ted Stevens, the corruption investigation more generally, whether $50 is enough for a hamburger and so on, the more basic question occupying my time right now is when (not if) I become a major recording artist, which picture should grace the cover of my debut album?
Of course, now I need to learn to write a few songs.

$50 hamburger

2007-05-30T08:03:00.000-08:00

It seems to me that our lawmakers are missing the point of imposing new ethical limits on themselves:

In the Senate Finance Committee, Co-chairman Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, pushed for the limit to be raised to $50, "which would cover a reasonable meal, nothing too elaborate."
Sen. Donny Olson, D-Nome, said even a hamburger in his bush district could top the limit.
"Maybe not a $50 hamburger, but you'd be approaching it pretty quickly," he said.

The point of the rule is not to affect a lawmaker's ability to have a "reasonable" meal with a lobbyist. It's that when they have that meal they let everyone know about it.

A "reasonable" meal (and $50 is way over the reasonable limit for me) is exactly the problem here. It buys a lobbyist access to lawmakers to pitch them on whatever they want. The average voter who shows up in Juneau may not get that uninterrupted access, particularly if it is late in the session. If my lawmakers are spending a lot of time with lobbyists, I want to know about it and the $15 rule makes that possible. I won't necessarily judge the lawmakers for eating those meals but I do want to know about them.

If lawmakers are worried that the list of people they eat with would make them look bad in public, then they should really ask themselves who they're eating with and whether it's what they're in Juneau to do.

Also, a note to my good senator, I had a good salmon burger, french fries, and iced tea for less than $15 at Fat Freddie's last week.

By Association

2007-05-30T07:39:00.000-08:00

I'm prepared to let the investigation continue and see what links actually end up getting proven between Ted Stevens and Bill Allen even after yesterday's ADN story about the possible link between re-modeling on Stevens' home and Allen.

That being said, at the very least the charges raised in the article taint Stevens just by association. Bill Allen has said he bribed state lawmakers. There's no evidence, of course, Stevens took cash directly from Allen's wallet (nor would he - he's a bit smarter than that) but the fact that Allen "reviewed" the invoices for the project has to at least raise some huge flags, given Allen's admitted behavior. Not only that, Stevens apparently paid for the project out of a separate bank account, which should also raise some flags. Combine this with the payments Allen apparently made to Ben Stevens and it paints a troubling picture of just whom the Stevens associate with and how they associate with them. Everything the contractors in the story say could be wrong except for the link between Allen and Stevens and it would still be a cause for concern.

Again, I'm not saying Uncle Ted has done anything wrong but the story seems to demonstrate that he was associating with people who may not have had the highest ethical standards. That alone raises concern.

Of course, if we judge people by who they hang out with we'd all be in trouble.

Jewelry Stores

2007-05-28T17:10:00.000-08:00

I've been very interested by this story out of Ketchikan:

A Ketchikan citizens' group can begin collecting signatures for a proposed initiative seeking to limit jewelry stores in the Southeast town. Sponsors say proliferation of downtown jewelry stores area has resulted in a monotonous retail atmosphere. They want to see a broader array of retail choices.

When I was in Juneau, I was amazed at the number of (seasonal) jewelry stores it was able to support, though I later realized they - like much else in Juneau - was tied to the cruise ships.

Two thoughts I have on this:

First, I'm not sure how successful I think they'll be. All the businesses wouldn't be there if the market couldn't support them. The key to getting rid of jewelry stores is getting rid of cruise ships.

Second, what would a similar petition look like to you? In Nome, it's as if someone decided to protest the number of bars on Front St. That's practically what Front St. is for.

Third, why don't more people in Nome take advantage of the petition process? I think there's a huge group of people in Nome who would be interested in having bars go smoke free. The issue would never make it through the Common Council but I'd give it fair odds of passing a vote in the city. But no one ever seems to organize it.

And that's three thoughts and why I wasn't a math major.

"Frontier of Climate Change"

2007-05-26T12:12:00.000-08:00

The New York Times introduces the world to "climate change refugees" with its lengthy treatment of erosion in Newtok in tomorrow's paper:

The earth beneath much of Alaska is not what it used to be. The permanently frozen subsoil, known as permafrost, upon which Newtok and so many other Native Alaskan villages rest is melting, yielding to warming air temperatures and a warming ocean. Sea ice that would normally protect coastal villages is forming later in the year, allowing fall storms to pound away at the shoreline.
Erosion has made Newtok an island, caught between the ever widening Ninglick River and a slough to the north. The village is below sea level, and sinking.

Check 'er out.

Don Young

2007-05-25T12:13:00.000-08:00

KTUU has a hard-hitting story on Don Young:

Alaska Rep. Don Young is pushing legislation to bolster the country's eagle population.

Young is introducing a bill that would fund eagle research and education programs. Money for the programs would come from an existing Commemorative Coin Act.

Meanwhile, Don was part of a very small minority that voted against the House of Representative's large-scale ethics reform package yesterday. I have not seen this reported in any Alaska media today.

I wonder what our ethical governor thinks of her representative's vote?

Don Young: trying to save the eagles AND the lobbyists.

(Thanks to a reader for tipping me to this.)

Front page

2007-05-25T12:03:00.000-08:00

I occasionally am critical of the Nome Nugget for its front-page layout (well, not just the layout). They always seem to put the insignificant stories above the fold and the substantial (such as they are) items below the fold. It just never grabs my attention.

But once I saw the picture they put above the fold this week... well, let's just say my criticisms will be considerably muted in the future.

"Lower 48 Bias"

2007-05-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

My co-worker David has an interesting post on a new sort of news bias he's identified in the mass media: the lower-48 bias:

So you'd think that the problems faced in Alaska - objectively worse, when it comes to gas, than almost anywhere else in America - would merit at least a phrase or two in the AP story that keeps getting such fantastic airplay on ABC News. After all, our state is by far the biggest in the nation; we're as wide as the distance from Tallahassee, Florida to San Francisco, and twice the size of Texas. And plus, we provide a substantial proportion of the national oil; just one region in Alaska (Prudhoe Bay) provides 17% of our domestic production alone. Right?

But I guess AP just couldn't fit us in. Either that, or their conception of "national news" is about the same as they held in December 1958, when the "nation" still meant the 48 contiguous states from Maine to California.

Check it out.

Shaping the news

2007-05-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

It should come as no surprise to anyone that politicians frequently try to "game" the news media to produce the best possible coverage for them. Even so, when there's a particularly blatant example of it, it's fun to break it down.

Let's take a look at the events surrounding yesterday's announcement that the Palin administration is putting money into Senior Care on an emergency basis. And since press releases are now sent by e-mail and e-mails are time-stamped, we can get a really good picture of the timeline.

Tuesday, 4:48PM - House Democrats issue a press release announcing a press conference on Wednesday in which they say they will call on the governor to add Senior Care to the special session call.
Wednesday, 11AM - House Democrats begin their press conference and call on the governor to add Senior Care to the special session call. There's numerous media here - AP, KTUU, APRN, ADN, etc. No doubt, they are already writing the lead in their head, "House Democrats today called on Governor Sarah Palin to add..."
Wednesday, 11:50AM - While the press conference is still going on, the governor's press office releases an announcement that says the governor is continuing senior benefits on a short-term basis. The announcement is long on the history of the administration's attempt to add Senior Care funding but short on where exactly the money for this extension is going to come from. There's no mention of the Democrats.
Wednesday, 12:52PM - The governor's press office lets reporters know the governor will be available at 2PM (just one hour away), at a senior center, to discuss benefit programs for seniors. This is a blatant and obvious attempt to comment on the story that will no doubt be the story that political reporters in the state write about today. Even though Democrats aren't mentioned, the timing of the announcements makes it clear that it is in response to the Democrats' press conference.
Thursday - Media coverage of Senior Care almost exclusively begins with reference to the governor's action: ADN, KTUU, News-Miner, APRN, and so on. Democrats are mentioned secondarily, if at all. Governor Palin - depending on the version - looks more or less like the seniors' savior.

As I said, that politicians try to make themselves look good isn't exactly an earth-shattering revelation but it's neat to see how it unfolds step-by-step over time.

Interestingly, something similar happened with the original Senior Care legislation. Nome Senator Don Olson introduced Senate Bill 4 to extend the sunset date, the bill was heard in committee, the Palin administration said, "Of course we support this idea. In fact we're working on a version of our own," a day or two later a press release comes out trumpeting the new plan (similar to Olson's), and media coverage focuses on the Palin plan. You might recall I got up in arms about this some time ago.

Having it all ways

2007-05-23T12:25:00.000-08:00

At some point, Sarah Palin is going to have to make a decision. It'll be hard but she's going to have to make somebody upset. I think the issue is going to be aid to seniors.

Here's why:

House Democrats had a press conference today urging Palin to add Senior Care to the special session call in the fall. They're disappointed that their attempts to get a vote on the measure failed on party line votes this year. Les Gara said he's confident the measure can pass if they can get the governor on side and have her start exerting some pressure on lawmakers. It's reasonable to expect - after all, she did make the longevity bonus a center-piece of her campaign.

Meanwhile, Republicans are no doubt stewing about all this. If you ask them, they took care of seniors this year by continuing funding for several programs.

So what's a governor supposed to? So far Governor Palin has responded with a perfectly-timed press release that promises to extend the program for a month while "state searches for long-term solution." She also challenges the Democrats - without mentioning them - by saying the issue can't wait for a fall special session. Essentially, this is kicking the issue down the road a bit. Notice it's the "state" searching for the solution, not the "governor" or the "governor's office." Gotta put a little distance between the office and the starving seniors.

Governor Palin has thus far been touting how her accomplishments have been bipartisan and inclusive. But at some point she needs to do something here. Either, it's going to be to offend the Republican leadership and include Senior Care in the call (to which they would no doubt say, "we have already taken care of them"), not include Senior Care in the call (and offend Democrats), or implement sort of solution by regulation (which might please Democrats but offend the Republican leadership who've already "taken care" of the issue).

Which will it be?

Pork per lawmaker

2007-05-23T12:13:00.001-08:00

In response to an earlier comment, I've found a document from the Legislative Finance Division to be moderately helpful in figuring out how much each district gets from the capital budget. You can access it here:

http://www.legfin.state.ak.us/BudgetReports/Capital/FY08/Approp/99-ProjectDetailbyHD.pdf

The problem with this document is that it lumps together all the districts in a city. So, for instance, the dozen-plus lawmakers in Anchorage can take credit for all the projects in that city even if they had little to do with it. I suppose it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how the money for, say, artificial turf on a high school football field got in there if you knew who represented that particular high school. But I'm not that familiar with Anchorage to pick all that out. You also can't really tell if a senator or a representative added the money unless you compare the Senate and House versions of the bill.

All I know is my own Richard Foster - as he so often does - brought home the bacon!

(But it's a horrendous document overall... with the exception of any project in District 39.)

The Backlash Continues

2007-05-22T21:56:00.000-08:00

I'm surprised I'm saying this but thank goodness for Alaska's media. They are the ones bringing to light - as is often the case - the numerous ill-conceived projects that are funded (but don't deserve to be) in this year's capital budget.

The latest example is a Christian school that received some money. House Finance co-chair Kevin Meyer, one of two prime overseers of the capital budget process, appears to completely abdicate his leadership role:

Meyer said that he wasn't aware of the exact wording of the constitutional funding prohibition. But he also says there are checks and balances. Even if the governor does not veto the appropriation, it will be reviewed by a state agency before a check is cut.

Well, yeah, but aren't there also checks in the legislative system? Like the oath you swore to uphold the constitution? I don't think that oath said you'd let a state agency uphold the constitution. And if a state agency is doing all that work, why not let them examine all the projects in the state and then decide which ones get funding, rather than letting a lawmaker's seniority and partisan affiliation be the judge? Shouldn't the House Finance committee - as a general rule - leave enough time to ensure its work meets a basic standard of constitutionality? Perhaps the 15 minutes you gave the Senate to examine your work was not sufficient?

Just a thought.

Top of the list

2007-05-21T15:59:00.000-08:00

If there's one project that I'd bet is at the top of Sarah Palin's to-be-vetoed list in the capital budget, it's the money for the SportsDome in Anchorage.

Not only is it an obvious use of state dollars to bail out a failing venture, it's also attracted a negative article on the front-page of the ADN, been criticized by Democrats, and would allow the governor to burnish her image as a fiscal conservative who doesn't like spending state dollars.

I hope her pen crosses through some of that money for artificial turf in Anchorage high school athletic fields too.

Patriot Act

2007-05-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

If you listened to Alaska News Nightly last Thursday, you might have caught the story about Lisa Murkowski seeking action on the issues raised by the recent Amnesty International Report about rape and sexual violence among Alaska Natives.

You might have also heard mention that Murkowski wanted "acting" U.S. Attorney Nelson Cohen to be more involved with the Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission. That's the commission started by Ted Stevens to look at life in rural Alaska. It's co-chairs are, I believe, supposed to be the Attorney General of Alaska and the U.S. Attorney for Alaska. Talis Colberg spent quite a few hours towards the end of the legislative session stumping for a piece of legislation proposed by the Commission even though the idea was developed before he became a co-chair but Cohen, apparently, is nowhere to be seen.

Believe it or not, this is an example of the Patriot Act at work. The law allows the president to appoint "acting" U.S. Attorneys (for indefinite periods of time) without having them be subject to Senate confirmation. Traditionally, the president has appointed U.S. Attorneys only with the consent and advice of the senators for that state. You might recall the kerfuffle when Cohen was appointed. Ted Stevens was upset he wasn't consulted and that Bush appointed a non-Alaskan to the job.

Now we see that this particular non-Alaskan - in the words of one senator - is apparently not altogether interested in what happens in the vast landmass of the state outside its cities. And we have the Patriot Act to thank for that... and a presidential administration apparently intent on putting political lackeys into the U.S. Attorney position around the country.

I'm sure Nelson Cohen is a very nice man but wouldn't it be nice if an Alaskan held the job?

Moderate Republicans

2007-05-18T16:03:00.000-08:00

The Economist has an interesting article about a newly-elected Republican governor who's reaching out to Democrats, sharing credit, and winning over the people of the state. No, not her:

For much of his political career Charlie Crist, the new Republican governor of Florida, was seen as a bit of a lightweight. With his tanned face and neat silver hair, he looked a standard-issue moderate conservative. But since his election last November he has impressed both the left and the right. A poll by Quinnipiac University in March found that 73% of Florida's voters, including 71% of Democrats, approve of the job he is doing. Amazingly, that is 11% better than the highest approval rating of his popular predecessor, Jeb Bush.

In his first 100 days Mr Crist has called for a fight against global warming, an expansion of stem-cell research and the introduction of paper ballots to replace the state's infamous touch-screen voting machines. He also wants to restore voting rights for criminals released from jail: quite a reversal for someone once nicknamed “Chain Gang Charlie” for advocating forced prison labour. And his efforts on behalf of minorities have prompted some to call him the state's “first black governor”. He prodded the state legislature to give $5m to the family of a 14-year-old black boy who died after a beating by guards at a boot camp for juveniles.

But for the silver hair, that almost sounds like a description of Sarah Palin, right down to the lightweight comment. Sarah's ratings are - ahem - no measly 73%, though.

I post it only to note that perhaps Republicans (and Democrats as well) are actually learning from the disastrous Bush years: people don't like incompetent and divisive government that seeks partisan goals before policy goals. Now if only this lesson would spread to Congress as well.

R.I.P. Good Ideas

2007-05-18T12:13:00.000-08:00

The statistics for the legislative session are just astounding sometimes: 449 bills get introduced and only 66 pass both chambers. That's got to be disappointing for all those lawmakers who show up in Juneau with great ideas to change the state.

A couple bills that didn't make it through that I think deserved more consideration:

HB41 that would have moved the Habitat Division back to Fish and Game. This never even made it out of the Fisheries Committee. Even though it got a couple of public hearings, it would have been nice if people had been able to vote on it, rather than just let it expire slowly in committee.
HB80 that would have explored the feasibility of ferry service on the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers. I know this idea might not go anywhere because of the general malaise afflicting the ferry system and the necessary capital investment but I'd at least like people to keep talking about.
HB32 that would outlaw coin-toss runoffs. As much as I appreciated - from a reporter's perspective - last year's Edgmon/Moses showdown, I don't really think it's way the things should work.
SB112 that would waive the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases for one year. I don't quite know how I feel about this bill but it deserved a better fate than its ignominious demise in the Rules Committee. Think someone from the church got to John Cowdery?

There's always next session, I suppose, though remember that under the new 90-day session rules, any bill that doesn't make it out of its first committee of referral by the end of the first session is dead.

Clean Elections

2007-05-18T11:48:00.000-08:00

I really like the idea of Clean Elections and am glad to see it gets play in the ADN today:

With Clean Elections, corporations and special interests can't buy their way into the halls of government with large campaign contributions. Special interest money is simply taken out of the equation. This puts people back in charge of the electoral process and their democracy. Candidates are no longer beholden to a small number or large donors, but are free to serve the actual voters that elected them.

The objection that I always hear about government-financing of elections is something like this: free speech is constitutionally-guaranteed and donating money is an example of free speech and so can not be regulated. (In fact, I believe the Supreme Court has ruled that way.)

I believe in free speech as much as the next person but I even more believe in free AND EQUAL speech. And money makes speech unequal because - and this is undeniable - it privileges some speech over others. The only reason Bill Allen was able to get people to vote his way was not because of the inherent virtue of his beliefs but because he was able to buy access and votes with his cash.

Free speech works just like pure economic competition - a free marketplace in which each idea (or business) competes equally and the best one wins. But when one of those ideas is given undue prominence because of the access money buys we no longer have free speech.

That's why I think Clean Elections at the very least deserve to be discussed.

UPDATE: There's bi-partisan sponsorship (including Lesil "My Husband is Indicted for Bribery" McGuire) for the two clean elections bills introduced late in the session. That should at least make the issue viable next session.

Shishmaref

2007-05-17T17:40:00.000-08:00

I find myself this first post-legislative day in the delightful community of Shishmaref, that poster-child of global warming. The story, for those of not in the know, is that increasingly severe fall storms and later-forming sea ice have devasted Shishmaref's shoreline leading to dangerous erosion.

I arrived with this knowledge and eager to see the shoreline for myself. But when I took a walk along the oceanside of town this morning, I thought to myself, "How can erosion possibly be a problem? There's a good 50 to 75 feet between the nearest house and the waterline."

Then I actually started talking to people and almost immediately heard this comment from one store-owner who lives near the shore: "We lost 40 feet of beach in the last severe fall storm we had. And we've had two of those storms in the last three years."

It's amazing what happens when you talk to people who actually know what they're talking about rather than leaping to whatever first conclusion enters your mind.

One "Scandal" or Two?

2007-05-16T16:51:00.000-08:00

One phrase in the media coverage of today's plea by Bill Bobrick caught my eye:

Bobrick becomes the seventh person to be charged in a corruption investigation that burst into public view last summer with the searches of state lawmakers' offices. Anderson, state Rep. Vic Kohring, former Reps. Pete Kott and Bruce Weyhrauch and Veco Corp. executives Bill Allen and Rick Smith have been hit with charges. Allen and Smith have pleaded guilty.

Is their one investigation going on here or two? As I see it, Kott, Weyhrauch, and Kohring are a separate and unrelated in investigation dealing with VECO, an oil tax, and a natural gas pipeline. Anderson/Bobrick deals with the state legislature but is more about a prison. Yet another question for the feds to answer.

I understand that both these cases can be made a part of a larger "culture of corruption" that apparently permeates Juneau but I don't find it helpful to conflate the two cases into one, as the media appears intent on doing.

Also... how big a scumbag are these lobbyists? Not only do they buy off the lawmakers for peanuts (or the promise of peanuts in Weyhrauch's case) but when the feds get on their case, they turn around and reach a plea agreement. At least they could have stood by their corrupt lawmaker stooges and pleaded not guilty. Now Kott, Weyhrauch, Kohring, and Anderson are left to twist in the wind.

Not a bad place for them, come to think of it.

Testing the governor

2007-05-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

The ADN is making the imminent demise of SB80 a story about the influence of the oil industry on Mike Chenault:

But here we are with less than two days to go in the session, and the bill appears dead. At last report, it was stalled in the House Finance Committee, caught in the annual end-of-session legislative logjam.

Ordinarily, the bill would be handled by Finance co-chair Kevin Meyer. But he's employed by Conoco Phillips, the state's largest oil producer. He turned the bill over to his co-chair, Kenai Rep. Mike Chenault.

That's the same Mike Chenault who has taken thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Veco during his political career. In his most recent election cycle, Rep. Chenault collected $5,000 from five Veco executives, including the two who admitted to a bribery scheme, Bill Allen and Rick Smith.

This is a compelling critique, I have no doubt, but I wonder what this end-of-session struggle says about the power of the governor. She has sky-high approval ratings and has had two of her major legislative priorities (ethics and AGIA) passed almost without opposition. And yet none of that apparently transfers into the necessary impetus to get a bill co-sponsored by a majority of both bodies passed.

Is it because

a) she's not pushing as hard as she could be because it's not as big a priority as she makes it out to be?
b) she doesn't have the political skills to get it through?
c) legislative leaders have decided to give her two accomplishments but are otherwise unimpressed with her and prefer to ignore and/or minimize her importance in the capital?

Obviously, there's tons of factors that affect whether or not a bill passes, particularly this late in the session. But I've been wondering lately if the governor is as strong as she seems and I'm wondering if this is an example of the relatively limited extent of her power.

Still cold

2007-05-14T16:06:00.000-08:00

The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately - bright sun, blue skies, with a nary a cloud in sight. This naturally turns one's mind to thoughts of being outdoors.

This weekend seemed a particularly apt moment to wash the car after a winter's worth of dirt and mud had accumulated. The bright sun seemed to make it an ideal time. Of course, once I got out there and started in at it, I realized just how cold water can be and the foolishness of parking the car in the shade. I sped through that job much quicker than I had anticipated and still finished with frozen fingers.

Then on Sunday I decided it was a good time to read on the back porch or even play the guitar. So I headed outside and got comfortable, only to head back inside in about three minutes when I realized my hands were so cold they didn't have the dexterity to turn the pages.

I had thought that after two years in Nome I would be acclimatized to the cold (and maybe I am - not everyone's first thought when the mercury hits 25 is to wash the car). But every time I think I am, I realize just how much I am not.

Capital Budget

2007-05-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

There's so much to criticize about the capital budget.

You could start with the tens of thousands of dollars going to projects that, for me, are marginal state priorities, like artificial turf on high school football fields in Anchorage.

Or you could point to the eleventh hour at which all the decisions were made and wonder just how clear-headed lawmakers were under such a severe time pressure.

Or you could wonder about how a lawmaker's seniority - and not the intrinsic need for a project - affects how money gets spent. And Kevin Meyer calls that a fair process?

Or you could ask why revenue-sharing and some education funding gets included in the budget but when Democrats ask to spend more on a few specific social services additions they get told those concerns should go into the operating budget.

But then I read through the budget and see there is 2.25 million dollars for (much-needed, of course) repairs and renovations to the Nome Recreation Center and the construction of a covered ice-skating rink and I think how great it would be not to have to shovel snow for an hour before I play hockey or dodge puddles when I play racquetball and I say, "This is a great budget. It can't pass soon enough!"

Voting no

2007-05-11T12:02:00.000-08:00

AGIA passed the House this morning and the only dissenting vote was Ralph Samuels. Not only was it odd to see the majority leader voting against his entire caucus (and the other caucus) but the vote gives reason for pause.

Samuels is routinely described as the most knowledgeable lawmaker on oil and gas issues and that alone should give anyone second thoughts.

(It could be - though I doubt it - that he's in the pocket of the oil companies, like several of his colleagues appear to have been. But if that were the case, surely when he saw the vote was going against the producers he would have covered by supporting the measure. If I were Vic Kohring, I'd be voting "yes" on this bill no matter what was in the bill, simply because the bill is seen as anti-producer.)

On the floor, Samuels described his objections to the bill as concerns that it won't generate a sufficient number of serious bids to build the pipeline and the state will get stuck with a bad project that won't come to fruition. Is that a harbinger of the future?

One thing that Samuels said, though, is for certain. I paraphrase: "This is not the important vote. The vote that matters is next session when we have to pick a project."

UPDATE: I see Vic skipped the session and dodged the vote.

Invigoration

2007-05-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

Now that the Voice of the Times is leaving the ADN, what will take its place?

Mike Sexton is promising change:

As it concludes, I want you to know that we intend to introduce an invigorated Opinion section that not only continues to embrace the broadest range debate in Alaska but expands on that and incorporates new media opportunities as well.

Why the use of the word "invigorated" and not, say, "re-invigorated"? At least by using the latter, you can make it seem like the Opinion section is regaining some last stature. But with the former, it just seems to acknowledge the current lameness of the section overall.

I would like to see regular local columnists and by regular I mean folks who write about Alaskan issues once or twice a week. (And yes, I am volunteering.) Right now, the stable of columnists at the ADN appears to produce columns (sometimes only tangentially related to Alaska) only at random. And I'd like to see more submissions to the Compass section that aren't from activists or lawmakers.

In order for both of these ideas to work, the ADN is going to have shell out some cash. (Pay people for their well-written Compass pieces?) I know they might not like that idea but if they really want to "invigorate" their Opinion section, this would be a good start.

This is surprising?

2007-05-10T17:14:00.000-08:00

Are we supposed to be surprised by the news that a drilling company struck oil in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska? After all, isn't that why it's there?

Beyond VECO

2007-05-10T12:25:00.000-08:00

In all the media coverage of these arrests, I have not seen any mention of the connection between VECO and the major oil producers, like BP, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil. VECO is described simply as an "oil field services company" and there's not a lot of coverage of what it is, exactly, that VECO does or what its relationship with the North Slope producers is.

Yet the obvious point is that the producers benefited from the positions that VECO bought last session, as we've seen in the PPT payments this year and would have seen had the Murkowski contract gone ahead. I'm not accusing anybody of anything but it does seem that we should at least consider how closely Bill Allen, Rick Smith, et al. worked with lobbyists and representatives of the Big Three. After all, the Big Three couldn't have been completely in the dark about what Allen and Smith were up to.

Back to business

2007-05-09T20:19:00.000-08:00

Let us steer our eyes away from Bill Allen et al. and direct our eyes to other matters in Juneau. After all, the session ends in a week and there's plenty of work still to be done. Both the House and Senate have had extensive calendars lately and numerous bills are moving through the chambers.

Let's take a look at one: HB229. This bill, as near as I can tell it, allows up to 2.9 billion dollars to be bonded to fund the transport of coal by the Alaska Railroad for gasification to fuel Agrium.

So a couple of questions:

Isn't 2-point-9 billion dollars a lot of money? Who's ultimately responsible if somebody defaults?
Doesn't coal-burning contribute to climate change? What's the difference between gasification and regular ol' coal-burning?
What has been Agrium's role in all this?

I am sure there are good answers to all these questions. After all, in less than a month and a half a bill that spends nearly the amount of general fund spending in last year's capital budget (admittedly, not of state dollars... at least, not directly) has moved through the House and on to the Senate floor with nary a voice of dissent. That surely must mean this is good policy and all the questions about it have been answered.

And they surely could have been. But this strikes me as a fairly major bill that has a fairly significant impact and has not been covered by any members of the press (can anyone provide any links to stories about this bill?). Surely, with the links between some members of the Republican party and energy businesses under scrutiny it makes sense to take a look at this bill.

Actually, my point is not so much about this bill. It's about all the many bills flowing through the House and Senate at the end of session as the media engages in some collective hand-wringing about VECO without looking at what else is going on. I sure hope we can trust our lawmakers to be taking a good, unbiased look at these bills with only the best interests of Alaskans at heart. They've proven so good at it in the past.

UPDATE: Thanks for the links to the news stories on this bill. I had overlooked those. Take a look at how much support this is getting in the Senate Finance committee, though. Not much.

Questions, questions, questions

2007-05-07T19:07:00.000-08:00

I have a lot more questions right now than I do answers. If you have any thoughts on what's below, let me know:

Who is State Senator A in the Allen indictment? If he/she started in the senate in 2000, that means it could be either John Cowdery or Don Olson, both of whom had their offices raided last summer. (It could also be Bettye Davis.)
Did State Senator A get a bum deal? This person is not mentioned in most of the charges that involve State Representatives A, B, and C or State Senator B or "an elected official." In fact, the only thing State Senator A is accused of doing is proposing a plan to buy off "an elected official" and participating in a meeting between the "elected official" and Allen.
Who is that "elected official" mentioned in the Allen indictment? And why aren't they referred to as a State Senator or a State Representative? Could it be because they don't fall into one of those two categories? If so, I think that means it is either Don Young, Lisa Murkowski, Ted Stevens, Frank Murkowski, or Loren Leman. Or could it be a non-statewide elected official?
When is Ben Stevens going to get indicted? It is obvious he is State Senator B in the Allen indictment and likely State Senator A in the Kott/Weyhrauch indictment. Is he negotiating a plea agreement right now with prosecutors?
How did Bill Allen avoid the perp walk? Kott, Weyhrauch, and Kohring had the "indignity" of having to be photographed in handcuffs. How did Allen get in and out of court before anyone knew about it?
How big a scumbag is Bill Allen? Not only did he apparently mock the lawmakers he was buying off, but when it actually came time for him to face the music and get indicted, he pleaded guilty, making all those not guilty pleas on Friday ring a little hollow. So much for presenting a united front.
Is there any enthusiasm for re-considering PPT? And if so, is there any enthusiasm for re-considering it in a special session? If AGIA passes this session, there might be a contract to consider in next year's regular (90-day) session. If re-considering PPT is so important, perhaps it make sense to devote 30 days to it this summer.
Are Alaska's lawmakers really as cheap as Friday's news makes it seem? I actually do have an answer to this question in that I think the Allen indictment makes clear that there was a lot more than a few $100-bills changing hands or polls being paid for. "Consulting" and lobbying jobs could provide a comfortable existence, I am sure, not to mention the campaign contributions.
What did Pete Kott's constituents know that Vic Kohring's did not? How come Kott got booted in the primary and Kohring got re-elected?
In last fall's election, did the governor vote for Kohring, the representative of her district?
Is Bruce Weyhrauch the most incompetent of the bunch? At least with Kott and Kohring, they got money before actually prostituting themselves. The picture of Weyhrauch in his indictment is of a slightly more pathetic lawmaker who doesn't quite know what he's doing but is looking for some extra money. So he gets strung along on the promise of future work (still illegal but at least he'd be working for the money he'd be getting), changes his votes, and doesn't get anything but an indictment out of the deal.
Have Kott, Kohring, and Weyhrauch already spent more in legal fees than they ever managed to get out of Allen?

Your thoughts?

UPDATE: KTUU is identifying Senator A (of the Allen indictment) as Cowdery.

Official Information Needed

2007-05-07T16:42:00.000-08:00

When you take a look through the indictments in the VECO investigation, one thing that becomes immediately clear is that the federal government has done their homework before bringing these charges. Clearly, they had some sort of recording device in Suite 604 and potentially even some one, given that there are parts of the indictment that refer to the actions of people (i.e. "he pointed").

What's also interesting about this investigation is how few leaks there have been from it. Before the August raids, it wasn't really on the radar screen. Since then there may have been gossip and rumor swirling among people who are well-connected but nothing that's really made it into state media sources. Based on the indictments, I know there are two people from the U.S. Attorney's Office and a couple of people from the Public Integrity Division leading this investigation but I don't know who they are or what their methods have been.

So what I think is needed is for these federal officials - who are apparently quite good at their jobs - to hold a press conference and tell us a bit about this investigation. In particular, I'd like to know the answers to the following questions:

How long has this investigation been going on? In particular, was bribery and extortion by VECO executives under investigation before the 2nd session of the 24th legislature or did an investigation of the corrupt activity of lawmakers in the 24th legislature lead to VECO executives?
To the extent allowed without compromising anyone unnecesarily, what were the methods of investigation used that lead to these indictments?
How does the alleged behavior in Alaska compare to other investigations conducted by the Public Integrity folks?
I doubt this question would be answered but it would of course be nice to know how many other people are under investigation.

There is precedent for a press conference like this. Think of Patrick Fitzgerald, who also ran a leak-free investigation of a sensitive matter. When he finally got an indictment against Scooter Libby, he held a press conference and answered a lot of questions about the case.

These charges go right to the heart of Alaska state politics and it's only fair that Alaskans be able to learn as much as possible about the investigation.

Melting Sea Ice

2007-05-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

Before we turn once again to the inane behaviour happening in Juneau (and, this morning, in Anchorage) let us turn briefly to this passage from this morning's ADN:

Right now, however, the forecast is for western Alaska and North Slope communities to enjoy a relatively early summer, with ice-free shipping lanes opening up a couple weeks earlier than last year, National Weather Service ice forecaster Kathleen Cole said Friday.

"We have some good open areas this year already near the eastern Russian coast and Norton Sound," Cole said. "Things will open up faster than they did last year -- and that's mostly due to the lack of multiyear sea ice in the Bering."

In the short term, at least, that's good news for northern Alaskans. A longer ice-free season means barges can reach Kotzebue and Barrow earlier and later in the summer, thus eliminating the high cost of receiving food and supplies by air that much longer. And summer seismic crews employed by oil companies won't be hampered as much by ice.

Said Cole: "I think everybody is going to be happy about that."

I assume by short term, we mean very short term. Let's of course keep in mind the long lead time on barge orders, meaning folks have to be able to count year-to-year on when the ice will go out in order to take advantage of those (putatively) cheaper prices. And what of Diomede, the village that relies on an ice runway for "cheap" groceries. When the ice melts, things come by helicopter only once a week, if that.

It's true summer seismic crews might not be hampered by ice but what about all the oil exploration that takes place on ice pads or trucks that drive on ice roads. Will they be happy?

And, of course, let's not forget the Alaska native subsistence hunts that depend on the ice pack being around at certain times to access certain animals (whales, walrus). If the ice pack leaves before the migration begins, everyone's out of luck.

So, no, I don't think everybody is going to be happy about the melting sea ice.

$15.07

2007-05-07T11:09:00.000-08:00

Watch this if you haven't already, though it's not clear to me where the $250,000 figure comes from. Pete Kott appears to have sold out for a lot less than that.

Thanks to AlaskanAbroad for the link.

Sine Die

2007-05-04T17:22:00.000-08:00

In the midst of digesting today's news about the arrests of Pete Kott, Bruce Weyhrauch, and Vic Kohring, I was reminded of a moment in last summer's PPT debate that I still don't quite understand.

Last June 4th, as the first special session on the petroleum profits tax was reaching its conclusion, the bill came before the full House of Representatives. A handful of representatives proposed increasing the tax rate with amendment 1. That measure passed, with a group of Republican lawmakers opposing it. Take a look at the journal text and focus on these names: Anderson, Chenault, Kohring, Kott, Meyer, and Weyhrauch.

Then, the House passed amendment 2, which, as I understand, made PPT more expensive for the oil producers. When you look at the journal text, you'll see that same group of lawmakers opposed it: Anderson, Chenault, Kohring, Kott, Meyer, and Weyhrauch.

And then came the part I completely did not understand - Bruce Weyhrauch moved to adjourn sine die. That means the session would adjourn for good and all the committee work on PPT - as well as those harmful amendments - would vanish until the legislature next meet, either in special or regular session. This move caught me off guard since it came right in the middle of a policy debate on an oil tax and I wondered at the back of my mind whether Weyhrauch was looking to protect the oil companies.

A vast majority of lawmakers voted against the move since they wanted to keep talking about PPT. But six lawmakers voted in favor of cutting off debate altogether: Anderson, Chenault, Kohring, Kott, Meyer, and Weyhrauch. Of those six names, four have now been arrested and charged with bribery in connection with an oil services company. The two others? They're chairing meetings of the Finance committee.

As Alaskans probe their memories for indicators that this might be coming, this is just my little contribution. I don't pretend to understand even a small portion of what's at play but it sure is interesting to watch.

UPDATE: The federal investigators picked up on this too - page 17 of the Weyhrauch/Kott indictment, paragraph 60, though it doesn't appear to mean much to the rest of the indictment.

Who's Next?

2007-05-04T16:09:00.000-08:00

Yikes! Just when I thought I should post about something not related to the legislature, this news comes across the wire:

Former Alaska state legislators Pete Kott and Bruce Weyhrauch have been indicted by a federal grand jury on several counts of extortion, bribery, wire fraud and mail fraud.

For Weyhrauch, this news falls into the "just when you thought it couldn't get worse..." category, given his recent rescue from Auke Bay. (As I heard one person say today, "Perhaps this is why they were looking for him so hard.")

So far the FBI appears to be rounding up the former lawmakers, who apparently thought they were getting out while the getting was still good. But given the FBI raids last August, there's got to be some folks still in Juneau under the microscope. I'm interested to know if they'll be arrested before the end of the session or after and if before just what impact that will have on the end of session fervour. My feeling is it will ensure the ethics bill gets passed right away and will only give added impetus to passing AGIA, given how closely associated it is with that paragon of virtue, the governor, and how it is seen as the anti-Murkowski.

But given how relatively tight-lipped the FBI has been about this case, I guess I'll just have to sit here with my questions but no answers.

Graveltas

2007-05-04T15:18:00.000-08:00

I've already written about how much I like language so it should come as no surprise that I like a new word coined by the New York Times:

Nobody really managed to steal the show and display graveltas, the ability to steal a debate with outrageous, curmudgeonly statements the way former Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska did in the recent Democratic debate in South Carolina.

Of course, all the graveltas in the world won't make a candidate viable. All it did for Gravel was to bring his polling numbers up to Kucinich land, which is to say, an asterisk, but a slightly larger one than before.

End-of-session fireworks

2007-05-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

I was getting a bit disappointed that AGIA appeared to be moving so uncontroversially through committee. Actually, I didn't have much of an opinion on it but I'm glad nonetheless for the heightened level of debate surrounding the "most important piece of legislation" this term.

I don't have any particular opinion on this debate since - like many Alaskans, I am sure - I'm not quite sure I fully understand the terms of the debate. So here's a series of disconnected thoughts.

First, the Palin administration is in a very strong position. The governor is popular and her stance in opposition to the producers is inherently popular. Plus, she's got Wally on her side!

Second, where have the producers been before this? When they testified in the four previous committees of referral did they make similar statements and they just were not reported? Or did they save their big threats until the end-of-session when the stakes are higher and their game of chicken would be taken more seriously.

Third, I wouldn't have been surprised before but I'll be especially un-surprised if AGIA winds up in a special session now. To all those lawmakers who have been saying they want to avoid one of those, I can only say, "Sorry, no one forced you into this job.

Fourth, I was surprised - and pleased - at how Bill McAllister wrote about the Senate majority yesterday:

As the clock ticks toward the May 16 adjournment of the Legislature, the position of the senate majority remains in a fog.

House Democrats and the Senate Republican minority appear generally to be supporting AGIA and yesterday House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, said he foresaw the bill passing that chamber with few changes.

So at this point, the big question mark is the Senate bipartisan working group.

I listened to the press conference and I think he portrays their lack of clarity accurately but it's surprising to see reporting in Alaska that actually, you know, calls it like it is.

I would love to know what sort of conversations are going on behind the closed-doors of majority Senators. I also wonder if the lawmakers sitting in those chairs have the gravitas, sense of purpose, and general wherewithal to be able to come to grips with the magnitude of what they're doing. On the one hand, there are energy professionals who have studied the issues for a long time. On the other hand, there are some citizen-lawmakers with a wide variety of educational and professional backgrounds.

The Decline and Fall

2007-05-01T17:17:00.000-08:00

Four thoughts about how we can observe the decline and fall of Juneau reporting in Alaska's only remaining statewide paper:

As a reporter, I find I check bylines all the time. Notice how much of the Juneau-relevant stories are written by Associated Press authors and not by the ADN's staff in Juneau. As the pace of the legislative session increases and important end-of-session decisions are made, I've been surprised not to see more content from the ADN's in-house staff.
The ADN's Alaska politics blog, put together by Kyle Hopkins (with apparently occasional help from Ayres), focuses more and more each day on Anchorage politics with an occasional post based on a press release thrown in. There's very little original reporting or thinking on Alaska politics. The "Eye on Juneau" blog the ADN started earlier in the term has completely vanished.
I was changing my subscriptions to daily e-mails from the ADN the other day and noticed I was signed up for the legislative briefing e-mail that is supposed to come every day while the legislature is in session. I have never received a single one. This could be because there's something wrong with my e-mail but I'm more inclined to think it's indicative of how the ADN is dropping the ball on legislative coverage. They just don't produce enough content to justify a daily (or even weekly) e-mail.
A big story out of the legislature recently was the news that BP isn't buying into AGIA. The only way this story saw the light of day was that the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner's reporter Stefan Milkowski was (doing his job) at the hearing and wrote a story on it. The AP picked it up and the ADN ran the story but if the News-Miner hadn't been there no one would have ever found out. Where was the ADN's capital correspondent? In fact, when was the last time we saw a story in the ADN about any of the AGIA hearings?

People who want to move the legislature from Juneau say it would provide for better citizen oversight. Nonsense, say Juneau-philes, we've got a great press corps which keeps the citizenry up-to-date on everything that's going on.

I used to buy the argument of the Juneau-philes but when I see what the ADN is doing for us, I really have to wonder.

An Argument for 90 Days

2007-05-01T11:09:00.000-08:00

Even though I didn't support the 90-day voter initiative, I think this press release is a strong argument for it:

In response to the creation and sale of an action figure named "Rapist Number One" based on a movie character of the same name in the movie "Grindhouse," Representative Anna Fairclough (R-Anchorage) today introduced a resolution denouncing the doll and calling on Alaskans to recognize the consequences of rape.

It's remarkable that it never occurs to any of these representatives that using the platform provided by one's seat in the legislature can actually do more harm than good in a situation like this. Rep. Fairclough has brought this issue to the attention of quite a number of people who would never otherwise have heard about it (me, for instance). In return, she gets a fairly meaningless resolution (that takes committee and floor time to hear) that won't have any impact on the people this doll is targeting.

The important question is whether resolutions like these will fall out of the legislative process in a 90-day session or whether there will be an equal amount of them, leaving less time for more pressing matters.

"Stunnel" enters the English language

2007-04-30T11:59:00.000-08:00

One of my hobbies is language, languages, and the grammar and etymology that goes along with it. For instance, I really like words that entered the English language as someone's name, like "sandwich" or "boycott."

I'm hopeful then that I've succeeded in creating a new word. As some of you might remember, I have christened the proposed tunnel under the Bering Strait, the "Stunnel." I admit, it's not the nicest sounding of words but given the history of naming tunnels under bodies of water by combining the name of the body of water with the word tunnel (e.g. "Chunnel"), I figured it was the only option.

Last week, I was speaking with the governor off-record and asked her if she'd heard from her friend Wally Hickel about his trip to Russia to learn more about the Stunnel. In the course of that conversation, I mentioned how I had started calling it the "Stunnel" and she laughed.

The next day, at a press conference for the Sonya Ivanoff bill-signing, I decided the best way to get my new word to enter the English language would be to get someone in a position of power to use it. So I asked her the same question about Wally Hickel - on record - and she said:

I am sure that he will want to talk to me about the Chunnel, tunnel...

at which I prompted her with "Stunnel" and she continued

Stunnel, yes, as Jesse calls it, I'm anxious to talk to him about it. He's a visionary.

Admittedly, it's not the ideal since she did attribute it to me but at least she said it. Now, if I can just get the ADN or KTUU to use that cut, it'll be official.

Back

2007-04-29T15:30:00.000-08:00

As some of you particularly perceptive types figured out, I was away in Juneau this past week, seeing what the legislature is like up close and personal. It was certainly an edifying trip and I had many, many Socratic moments in which I learned the depth of my own ignorance time and again (an important note to those of you who take these writings without the requisite grain of salt).

This trip will, of course, influence these posts as I return to my daily existence in Nome but I'm not sure there are too many particular observations I feel tremendously compelled to share right now.

But I did want to make this note: Bert Stedman, at last Tuesday's press availability, said his Finance committee is focusing on a couple of major issues like AGIA, PERS/TRS, and the capital budget. He didn't come right out and say it but he did strongly intimate that it would be difficult for any other major (or minor) piece of legislation to make it through Finance before the end of the session.

I think this sets up a good test case of relative influence in the capital and a way to figure out what's going on behind closed doors. It seems to me that the only way legislation (beyond the big three) is going to get passed is if someone is well connected enough to convince Stedman and Hoffman to move it through committee.

For instance, let's keep an eye on the Ocean Ranger legislation and see just what the cruise ship industry is able to accomplish in these remaining weeks.

Away

2007-04-22T11:29:00.000-08:00

I'll not be posting here for about a week, while I am out of town and have less time for this sort of outlet.

But before I go, let me point you to the ADN's front page treatment of the All-Alaska Sweepstakes. This has been news in Nome for about a year and I would point out that not everyone in town shares the same optimistic outlook that the article appears to portray.

New favorite web site

2007-04-20T11:35:00.000-08:00

Thanks to that Alaska Newsreader, this is my new favorite web site:
The Russians are joining the party late! And - as hard as it may sound - someone has a more far-fetched idea than they do!

Incidentally, I've changed my mind: this project should not be known as the "Runnel" but rather as the "Stunnel."

I might be developing an unhealthy fixation on this topic.

More on the Runnel

2007-04-19T15:19:00.000-08:00

There's some interesting articles out there about the proposed tunnel under the Bering Strait today (none, naturally, from Alaska media).

Here's a bit that grabbed my attention:

This time, it is being promoted as an economic, not a political, project, said Viktor Razbegin, a deputy head of industrial research at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and longtime proponent of a bridge or tunnel for the roiling strait.

"It is a strategic for us to develop this land," he said of Russia's poor northeastern district, Chukotka, and neighboring areas in Siberia. "We cannot do it without a railroad."

Part of me wonders to what extent the economic viability of this project is linked to the widespread warming temperatures in the Arctic.

Gregg Easterbrook in last month's Atlantic mentioned Siberia in his article on winners and losers of global warming:

For generations poets have bemoaned this realm as cursed by enormous, foreboding, harsh Siberia. What if the region in question were instead enormous, temperate, inviting Siberia? Climate change could place Russia in possession of the largest new region of pristine, exploitable land since the sailing ships of Europe first spied the shores of what would be called North America. The snows of Siberia cover soils that have never been depleted by controlled agriculture. What’s more, beneath Siberia’s snow may lie geologic formations that hold vast deposits of fossil fuels, as well as mineral resources. When considering ratification of the Kyoto Protocol to regulate greenhouse gases, the Moscow government dragged its feet, though the treaty was worded to offer the Russians extensive favors. Why might this have happened? Perhaps because Russia might be much better off in a warming world: Warming’s benefits to Russia could exceed those to all other nations combined.

I wonder if there's be any implicit or explicit discussion in the halls of Russian government about future warming trends and the viability of this particular project. The "Runnel" has been widely scorned in many media accounts because of what previous ideas have produced. But I haven't seen anything that takes into account what future warming trends might mean.

The times they are a-changin'. Perhaps the project is more viable now.

"Forward" Funding

2007-04-18T14:56:00.000-08:00

It's not quite clear to me why lawmakers deserve the pat on the back they seem to think they deserve for putting a billion dollars away for future education funding.

As I understand, this is a billion dollars that gets put in the bank so that next year when lawmakers sit down and decide how to fund education, they've already got the money to do it. (Of course, what happens to the money generated from oil taxes next fiscal year - will that be saved as well?) Lawmakers are trumpeting this as the end of pink slips for teachers because school districts will know how much money they're getting.

But will they? I haven't seen any coverage of this billion dollars being tied to a particular base student allocation or funding of the ISER study or any of the other numerous variables that affect how much school districts get from the state. As I understand it, all that's different now is that school districts know they're getting money from the billion dollars next year, they just don't know how it will be apportioned, which is essentially the same position they're in now.

As well, it doesn't even seem to me that this money is formally tied to education (which may be unconstitutional at any rate). Could lawmakers next term, if need be, put the dollars into some other program? There'd be pressure for them not to, of course, but I can envision scenarios in which the money doesn't go to education.

Lawmakers should get a pat on the back for saving the money, particularly for education and particularly compared to last year's capital budget. But it doesn't seem to me like they deserve a pat on the back for forward funding education like they've always been asked to because, in fact, they have not done that.

Advice for the ADN

2007-04-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a study I wish someone at the ADN - and every other cost-cutting, reporter-firing, we-only-print-fluff newspaper in the country - would read:

Even as newspapers around the country send reporters packing at the behest of the papers’ investors, a new study finds that the fastest way to profits may be spending more, not less, on the newsroom. Two marketing professors crunched four years’ worth of economic data from 1,400 daily papers in the United States, and they came up with a formula to determine the most profitable mix of spending—whether in the newsroom, to improve news quality; in the circulation department, to hook more readers; or in the ad sales department. They found that investing in the newsroom has the biggest impact on a paper’s bottom line: Improving news quality not only increases circulation; it’s actually as effective in luring advertisers as putting money into ad sales teams. (The authors also found that having more ads in a paper increases circulation as well, because Americans love to flick through them.) The researchers then ran the newspapers in their sample through their formula and found that most papers (60 percent of papers with small staffs and 80 percent with large staffs) are near the right spending balance; however, many (22 percent of small papers and 15 percent of bigger ones) could raise profits by putting more money into the newsroom. On the other hand, cutting newsroom spending, because it exerts a negative influence on other forms of revenue, inevitably forces further cuts and sends a newspaper into a “suicide spiral.”

—“Uphill or Downhill? Locating Your Firm on a Profit Function,” Murali K. Mantrala et al., Journal of Marketing

On the other hand, if I didn't have the ADN to critique I'd hardly have anything to write about. The foibles of lawmakers are only interesting for so long.

The "Runnel"

2007-04-18T10:43:00.000-08:00

Though this will likely come to naught, here's news that sends a frisson of excitement through some Western Alaskans:

Russia plans to build the world's longest tunnel, a transport and pipeline link under the Bering Strait to Alaska, as part of a $65 billion project to supply the U.S. with oil, natural gas and electricity from Siberia.
The project, which Russia is coordinating with the U.S. and Canada, would take 10 to 15 years to complete, Viktor Razbegin, deputy head of industrial research at the Russian Economy Ministry, told reporters in Moscow today. State organizations and private companies in partnership would build and control the route, known as TKM-World Link, he said.

This is an idea that has been tossed around before but the Russians seem pretty serious, though I note the costs are based on a "pre-feasibility" study and this could just be yet one more example of Russia beating its chest on the world stage.

Here's my favorite part:

"The project is a monster,'' Yevgeny Nadorshin, chief economist with Trust Investment Bank in Moscow, said in an interview. "The Chinese are crying out for our commodities and willing to finance the transport links, and we're sending oil to Alaska. What, Alaska doesn't have oil?''

This is one thing that will torpedo the idea.

The other is this: when the tunnel emerges from the Bering Strait on the Alaskan side, what infrastructure will it meet? I've been to both Diomede and Wales and I'm not sure they're quite primed for economic development. Nor is Nome, for that matter.

Still, it's fun to think about.

One by one

2007-04-17T17:25:00.000-08:00

Governor Palin clearly has a strategy to minimize bad press: hire all the good reporters in Alaska.

At least, that's the conclusion I reached after reading this bit of news:

Governor Sarah Palin announced today the addition of long-time Alaskan, Larry Persily, to her Washington, D.C. office. Persily currently works as Editorial Page Editor at the Anchorage Daily News.

This announcement follows the previous news of Sam Bishop's departure from the staff of the News-Miner. Meghan Stapleton, the governor's press secretary, is also a former media type as well.

(When I spoke with candidate Palin in October, she mentioned something to the effect of "well, the folks at the Anchorage Daily News editorial page don't want to see me elected." Ah, irony.)

I, incidentally, am weighing an offer from the Palin administration myself...not.

Meth Letter

2007-04-17T09:12:00.000-08:00

So I took my disgust with the ADN's article on suicide to its letters page over the weekend. Ironically, the ADN re-wrote my letter to make it less critical.

The letters editor removed all reference to Alex deMarban who wrote the piece. That might be paper policy (a curious one) but it has an effect on my point. I wrote this:

However, I was disappointed by a sentence early in the piece in which Mr. deMarban says "state and tribal officials" attribute the high rate to several causes, including methamphetamine.

The ADN changed it to this:

However, I was disappointed by a sentence early in the piece, in which state and tribal officials attribute the high rate to several causes, including methamphetamine.

That might not seem like much but what it does is put the onus on proving the connection between meth and suicide on the "state and tribal officials" and not on the reporter who made the claim, Alex deMarban.

But, you might say, surely deMarban is just a reporter who is reporting what people told him. Yes, that's true but the whole point of my letters is that the meth point was not followed up on, which is deMarban's job.

Also, "state and tribal officials" can't "attribute" the high rate to anything because they don't exist as a single entity. deMarban got that sentence by - presumably - talking to a number of people and then lumping them together into one sentence. That's fine but it makes it even more incumbent on him to back up those claims later in the article.

Annexation

2007-04-12T17:11:00.000-08:00

Some folks on the Nome Common Council are looking at expanding Nome's city limits, given the gold mine that's expected to start producing gold at Rock Creek, just a few miles north of town. The idea is that if the city can generate more tax revenue from the mine, then tax rates in the city can be lower.

Sounds straightforward enough to me and I've been busy educating myself on what the Local Boundary Commission is and how annexation can happen according to the state constitution, statute, and regulation.

You can learn all sorts of neat stuff when you start looking at a new topic. For instance, did you know city governments can charge differential tax rates and provide differential services? There's been some grumbling about this idea among folks who live just outside of town and folks in town who don't want to, say, bus children in from the expanded limits. But that might not have to happen if the city didn't want it to.

The annexation procedure also seems remarkably detailed and extensive. I can understand why the state doesn't want city governments just taking over territory at will but it does seem like Alaska law creates a presumption against annexation and expansion.

Who knows where this idea will go. The mayor and city manager wanted to create an ad hoc committee to look at the idea and explore the issues at play but a powerful councilmember (he's of the "grumbling set") put his foot down and delayed its creation at least until the next meeting. The Nome Council is a status quo body and I wouldn't be surprised if they can't even get their act together and create an exploratory committee.

My read on the issue is that there's some support for this idea from a "silent majority" in this town, particularly among those folks who don't like this mine and would like any opportunity to stick it to NovaGold. But the grumbling set is always a bit louder and might prevail.

Hopping on the bandwagon

2007-04-11T17:28:00.000-08:00

ConocoPhillips jumped on the bandwagon today and is now calling for some sort of regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. I particularly liked this part of the announcement:

ConocoPhillips has said it will spend $150 million this year to research and develop new energy sources and technologies – a 50 percent increase in spending from 2006.

This is a company that is making between 3 and 4-billion dollars a quarter in profit. And 150-million is all they can kick in.

What I don't understand is why private industry isn't investing all they've got into non-petroleum R & D. Everyone knows oil is warming our world, that it's going to run out at some point, that before it does that it's going to get more expensive, that even if it doesn't get expensive it'll still likely come from unstable regions of the world, and that we should all wean ourselves off of it. Whoever comes up with the next big thing in energy - cheap, clean energy - is going to be a gazillionaire. Just imagine what the patent to a workable and large hydrogen fuel cell would be worth. Conoco - and every other major energy producer that has hopes of sustaining profits well into the century - should be putting all it has into research.