People in the Sun
T-Money -.- Making his return to legislative work for the special session was everyone’s favorite urban hipster/smokejumper/executive bartender/legislative staffer Trevor Fulton. He signed up to help out Sen. Peter Micciche just for the special session, but maybe be back for the regular session as well. Fulton and Micciche are both even-keeled and all-around good guys , so it seems like a good match.
Filling the Void -.- Stepping into the scandal depleted workplace that is Sen. Lesil McGuire’s office was former Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development Dianne Blumer. McGuire needed the help as she officially lost Amy Saltzman as of October 20th. You’ll remember Saltzman was the second Mcguire staffer to leave in the wake of a travel authorization scandal in September.
Special K -.- Over in Senate President Kevin Meyer’s office legislative veteran Cecill Elliot was brought on board to man the front desk duties. She had been working for Rep. Mike Hawker but came on board during the special session and will continue through the regular session.
Karma Komando -.- I don’t know if anyone has noticed but local campaign manager Cale Green seems to possess the uncanny ability to sick some wicked good voodoo on campaigns. When he signed on with Assemblywoman Amy Demboski’s mayoral campaign her key opponent Dan Coffey’s campaign imploded, then he left Demboski’s campaign and it melted down. When he started helping Jeff Landfield, Landfield’s opponent Lesil Mcguire got struck by the scandal bug. In the past few weeks Green had signed on to help Mike Hawker’s opponent Ross Bieling and Hawker suffered a brutal week as emails surfaced resurrecting the Taj MaHawker scandal. As of last night, however, Green tells me he is freshly no longer working for Beiling. Ross, man, if I was you, I’d eat a bowl of lucky charms every morning for a month.
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Fun in the Sun
Brian’s Swan Song -.- Now that Governor Bill Walker has gotten around to cleaning house in the state’s D.C. office, don’t be surprised if the next head on the chopping block will be Alaska Housing Finance Corporation’s CEO Bryan Butcher. The AHFC gig is one of the plum jobs in the state with a salary north of $250,000. Butcher can only be removed by a vote of the AHFC board, which until now has been controlled by former Gov. Sean Parnell‘s appointees. The board has 7 members, 3 of which are members of the Governor’s cabinet (or their designees) and four members of the public appointed by the Governor to two year terms. Two of the Parnell appointees terms expired this year and were replaced by Walker appointees Alan Wilson and Carol Gore on October 17th. Walker’s people now have effective control of the board and can replace the CEO at the next AHFC board meeting on November 23rd.
As the West Side Turns (Part 1) -.- Last week I told you about West Anchorage assembly candidate Ira! Perman’s sign bombing of the neighborhood his opponent Eric Croft lives in and how that can get under a candidate’s skin. Mission accomplished, well maybe. The electrons weren’t dry on the story when I started getting texts from folks associated with Croft saying how “pissed off” he was about Perman’s move, but saying it had caused Croft to hit the phones hard for cash and put up 5 times the number of signs Perman had in the district.
As the West Side Turns (Part 2) -.- West Anchorage assemblyman Tim Steele is telling anyone he bumps into how much he dislikes the gig and that he won’t be running for re-election when his term is up in 2017. I hear that news was seen as something of an opportunity for lefty power brokers who are encouraging Ira! and Croft to cut a deal whereby everyone supports Croft this year and then Ira! next year. That avoids any messy three way races between them and conservative Adam Trombley and gives both a better chance at victory. So far Ira! is saying “no deal.”
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
Yo Joe!!!!! -.- Last night South Anchorage assembly candidate Joe Riggs officially kicked off his campaign at the home of Tim and Kristina Woolston. It was a good group that attended including former Mayor Dan Sullivan consigliere Larry Baker, Andy Clary, Matt Larkin, Sarah Erkmann, Myranda Walso, Steve Wackowski, Sam Moore, Bill Evans, and Ross Bieling. The key takeaway of the evening is that Riggs is running as the Republican in the race and plans to be a check on the agenda of the Mayor if elected.
John on the Green -.- Tuesday night the other major candidate in South Anchorage John Weddleton kicked off his campaign at O’malley’s on the Green. The event was well attended as about 60 people showed to support Weddleton including David Ramseur, Pete Pederson, Forrest Dunbar, Neal Fried, Ira Perman, and Pat Higgins. Who was there isn’t as notable as who wasn’t. Weddleton isn’t running as the “Democrat” in the race, but as I said above, his opponent Joe Riggs is definitely running as the anti-Ethan Berkowitz candidate, so that alone makes Weddleton the Democrat’s candidate. It’s so odd then that neither the Mayor nor any of his staff showed, nor did any Democratic Party staff. At Eric Croft’s kick-off you couldn’t move without bumping into a legion of them, but at Weddleton’s not one could make it? Maybe it’s an anomaly on a bad weather night, but it’s something to keep an eye on.
Forecast
Here are some fun political events coming up this week:
Tonight
Tuesday
Next Saturday
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.
