People in the Sun
Sorry I Missed You -.- In last week’s coverage of the big shindig at Gov. Sheffield’s manor to celebrate Ethan Berkowitz’s first 100 days in office, I completely overlooked the news from the night. Fairview community over-activist Chris Constant announced he is officially running for Anchorage Assembly. Wait, you say? There isn’t an assembly race for his downtown district on this spring’s ballot, you say? Shush now, I say, Chris is playing the long game. Downtown Assemblyman Patrick Flynn will term out in spring of 2017 and APOC rules let you start raising money 18 months out, which just happens to be right now.
Whitt-ier -.- Former flack for Mayor Dan Sullivan Lindsey Whitt has moved over to House Majority Leader Charisse Millette’s office. Whitt had slid back over to her old gig as the communications/external affairs person at the Port of Anchorage before the Berkowitz crew came into power. You can’t blame her for finding something new, what with the opposition taking over and looking for jobs to cut. The Mayor’s spokesman Myer Hutchinson says the port comms job won’t be filled.
Judicially Speaking -.- The judicial council had an open seat after two-time candidate for U.S. senate Joe Miller’s wife Kathleen Tompkins-Miller’s term ended in March. I know most might think there was no chance the Unity Ticket Governor would appoint another conservative to that seat, but big Bill does have some pro-life street cred, so there was hope he might appoint social-conservative applicant Rick Solie to the spot. True to form, however, Walker went with Loretta Bullard of Nome instead.
Known Unknowns -.- Speaking of other things about state government you’d never know because the state doesn’t tell anyone about them, you probably saw that the State’s Director of State and Federal Relations in D.C. (aka lobbyist) Kip Knutson and his staff were fired this week. As you probably already saw on our Facebook and Twitter feeds, we continue to hear from high sources that Native leader Willie Hensley will be replacing him.
What you might not have noticed was the story on the Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety Terry Vrabec’s rather abruptly disappeared from his job and the state website. No press release or other public notice was made. ADN beat me to posting about it, (eh, you win some you lose some). Big Bill’s office told ADN they couldn’t discuss any details of it because it was “a personnel matter.” Um, that’s not the way politically appointed government jobs work, so I pressed the department on it and was told Vrabec had officially “retired” and his last day was Oct 3rd. Hmm, not sure I’ve ever heard a spokesman refuse to confirm to a reporter that someone had retired because it was a personnel matter. Can we all just agree he was fired? Starting December 1 his replacement will be Valdez Police Chief Bill Comer.
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Fun in the Sun
Throw back friday, the union shoes edition -.- It’s been 5 years since the crime so you may not remember it, but the amazing story of former state attorney Erin Pohland is finally in front a jury. You don’t remember Erin? Four words: union fraud shoe theft. Now you remember her, right? Well if you don’t it’s well worth your time to read up on the story of the state attorney who was covering up her friend Sky Rubadeau McRoberts’ attempt to forge Union sign-up cards in an attempt to organize part of the university. The only reason they got caught was because they noticed together stealing a shopping cart of shoes from Fred Meyer. You literally couldn’t make this one up. While it seems Rubadeau McRoberts has moved out of state and on with her life, Pohland’s case is just this week before a jury in Anchorage. Maybe we’ll have a verdict to report next week.
Facebook fun -.- So here is a fun pic of Senator Giessel’s newsletter that is floating around Facebook.
Now before Cathy’s people come to gouge out my eyes for posting something mean about her, let me point out that this is only really funny to me because of the irony. Cathy’s staff have a reputation for being wicked smart and she herself is known for her work ethic and attention to detail. This faux pas is like watching Sen. Kevin Meyer cuss someone out or Rep. Les Gara decline to comment for a media story. #thingsyouneversee
Fly Into The Sun
If you have morsels you’d like shared in this column please email me at mnsunak@gmail.com. If it is interesting and true-ish, I’ll put it out there.
Events in the Sun
Where’s the Party? -.- Eagle River Rep. Lora Reibold held a series of fundraisers this week in Anchorage, Eagle River, and Wasilla. They were decently attended, but what catches the eye is who wasn’t at any of them. No Randy Ruedrich, Pete Goldberg, Frank McQueary, or Suzanne Downing, you know, no one from the Republican Party structure. There was also a lot of talk by attendees about how the Party was actively working against her and a few people mentioning how the Party had tried to recruit them to run against Reinbold. That is a lot of work by the Party to defeat a conservative Republican incumbent. Ironically, it’s more work than anyone seems to be able to remember them putting into defeating Democrat Minority Leader Chris Tuck, who represents a winnable district for Republicans. Just sayin.
A little too big for their britches? -.- The big event of the week had to be Eric Croft’s West Anchorage assembly campaign kick-off at his parents place. It seemed like damn near every Anchorage Democrat you ever heard of was there. That included Mark Begich, Mayor Ethan Berkowitz (and most of his staff), Dem Party Executive Director Kay Brown (and most of the party’s staff), every left-of-center assemblymember and school board member, and too many Dem legislators and staff to count. As a matter of fact, so many local Dems have been elected and were there, it prompted Croft to make a joke that, but for the open meetings law, they could pretty much shape whatever city policy they wanted right there in that room. I’d usually make a snarky comment here, but a sharp Dem could simply retort “SCOREBOARD!!!” and I’d lose the snark-off, so I’ll just move on. Word is Croft raked in just under $13,000 on the night.
Forecast
Once More into the breach -.- The third legislative special session starts one week from tomorrow……BRACE YOURSELF!!!!!
Good GOD -.- Kudos to the Alaska Family Council for scoring nationally syndicated talk show host Michael Medved as the Keynote for their “For Such A 
Time As This“- Religious Liberty Dinner on Thursday, Nov. 12th. Thats a good get. But They’ re only charging $25 to get in, way too low for a dinner and speaker of that caliber. Come on Jim Minnery, you gotta #knowyourworth. You can get more info and buy tix at the Alaska Family Council website.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
