Begich claims credit for born-again bills pushed by Peltola in last Congress
Dermot Cole
by Dermot Cole
20h ago
Rep. Nick Begich the Third didn’t tell Alaskans the full story when he praised himself for getting the House of Representatives to pass two bills on February 4. The Begich bills were copied word for word from bills introduced by former Rep. Mary Peltola. The hearings on both took place in November, before Begich took office, and they won unanimous backing from the Republican-controlled resources committee ..read more
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Here's why the attempt to keep state salary study secret deserves to fail
Dermot Cole
by Dermot Cole
2d ago
It is a safe bet that the contractor discovered that the state is not paying enough to remain competitive, which is the real reason why Dunleavy is sitting on the study. Had the contractor’s research shown that state pay rates are more than competitive, copies of the state salary study would have been in every mailbox of every politician in Alaska last summer ..read more
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Trump's Alaska gas line bloviation
Dermot Cole
by Dermot Cole
3d ago
The Anchorage Daily News had the best coverage about Trump’s emissions about the Alaska gas pipeline. Read it here. Elsewhere the news was not so good. “President Donald Trump today announced a joint venture with Japan for the Alaska LNG project,” Alaska Public Media reported. There are no signed documents about a joint venture. That’s because there is no joint venture. This truth was completely missing from the Alaska news coverage ..read more
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New Dunleavy support group forms to promote Golden Age of Alaska
Dermot Cole
by Dermot Cole
4d ago
A new video from a campaign group that appears to be aimed at elevating Gov. Mike Dunleavy on the national scene claims that the Dunleavy policies that have worked so well in Alaska should be exported to 49 other states. Dunleay allies, including Alaska Airlines pilot Bob Griffin, have created the new Dunleavy support group, called “Future 49,” in which Dunleavy and Trump are the lead characters. “Alaska’s Golden Age is here,” the support group says, thanks in large part to Trump and Dunleavy ..read more
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State claims secrecy for state salary contract, hiding big policy change from legislators, public
Dermot Cole
by Dermot Cole
5d ago
The Dunleavy administration continues to claim that drafts of the $880,000 state salary study are secret, which contradicts a state law that says draft reports are public documents. But a more egregious action took place last week when the Dunleavy administration refused to tell legislators and the public what data it asked the salary study contractor to provide last summer. The state redacted a key phrase from an $80,000 contract amendment that conceals a major change in state policy, setting a lower target for state pay rates ..read more
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Look for Trump to declare a gas pipeline victory, but it won't be real
Dermot Cole
by Dermot Cole
6d ago
I expect the meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and President Donald Trump Friday will be followed by noise from the White House about Japan backing an Alaska natural gas pipeline. Trump will declare victory and strut upon the stage, praising himself, but as Macbeth moaned about the course of all life, look for a “tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing ..read more
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Musk attacks federal agency that funds pro-democracy group led by Sen. Dan Sullivan; Begich 3 joins the parade
Dermot Cole
by Dermot Cole
1w ago
Elon Musk, who bought the presidency and the Republican Party for $290 million, claims he has shut down a U.S. agency that bankrolls the International Republican Institute, a organization head by Sen. Dan Sullivan. Sullivan is the chairman of the International Republican Institute, which is supposed to advance democracy worldwide. The institute’s grants include tens of millions from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Sullivan is silent about the Musk attack ..read more
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Canada is Alaska's closest and best neighbor. The dumb Trump trade war damages Alaska.
Dermot Cole
by Dermot Cole
1w ago
The headline above says it all. So why have Alaska’s Republican leaders had their mouths sealed about the dumbest trade war in history? Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan, Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Rep. Nick Begich the Third should have condemned the dumbest trade war the moment it was announced. Instead, they hide, probably secretly sending thoughts and prayers that no one will notice. The Legislature needs to fill this leadership vacuum by declaring that Canada is Alaska’s closest and best neighbor and we have a relationship that will be damaged by Trump’s antics ..read more
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With superficial ease, Dunleavy declares Mississippi education a success and Alaska a failure
Dermot Cole
by Dermot Cole
1w ago
There’s an easy way to get higher fourth-grade scores on the National Assessment of Education Progress standardized test, the one that Gov. Mike Dunleavy is using as a public relations weapon to brand public education in Alaska as a failed system ..read more
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Dunleavy tries again to strip power from local school boards on charter schools, give three-year teacher bonuses
Dermot Cole
by Dermot Cole
1w ago
Good policies are in the eye of the beholder. In Dunleavy’s eye, anything that helps push public dollars toward home schools and charter schools—and away from neighborhood schools—is good policy. Dunleavy wants to give more power to his appointees on the state school board to create charter schools, bypassing local school boards. Local governments and the University of Alaska—controlled by regents appointed by Dunleavy—would also be able to create charter schools. He also wants to give cash incentives to teachers for three years, an approach that would do nothing to keep teachers more than thr ..read more
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