The haphazard handling of the Dunleavy administration response to the landmark court ruling on correspondence schools continued Friday with Gov. Mike Dunleavy reversing the position he had taken two days earlier. “This is literally a disaster, potentially, an emergency because of its magnitude,” he told reporters Wednesday. It is not literally a disaster. And it is not an emergency. It is a problem that can be solved. It’s hard to do that, however, when the governor and his attorney general are more interested in creating hysteria and getting people angry than in solving the problem. They seem ..read more

Radio talk show host and adman Mike Porcaro led the “red pen” campaign in 2019 to harass legislators who balked at Dunleavy’s plan for $1.6 billion in budget cuts that would slash every state and local government service. Porcaro claimed the government could be smaller, with no income tax and no reduction in Permanent Fund Dividends. That was a complete fantasy, of course. Porcaro provided links on his website asking his audience to spend $19.99 to send 100 red pens to Juneau for smaller government. His website still includes a form letter calling for budget cuts to government and bigger divid ..read more

In his confirmation hearing before the Senate Education Committee Monday, Bob Griffin recycled the misleading conclusions he draws about the quality of education in Alasksa based on the percentage of Alaska students who earn a score of 3 or higher on an Advanced Placement test compared to Florida. “One of the recent metrics that I’ve been tracking too for judging quality of systems is the number of students that graduate with an AP test of 3 or higher. Florida, again ranked the least adequately funded system in the United States, is third in the nation, 29 percent of their students achieving a ..read more

Matt Glover, 48, traveled more than 5,000 miles a year by bicycle, rising every morning at 4 a.m. and commuting winter and summer from North Pole to Fairbanks along the shoulder of the Richardson Highway. He worked as a locomotive engineer for the Alaska Railroad. “He was very conscientious of being visible on his bike with reflective clothing and lights,” Arleen Glover, his mother, wrote to Alaska legislators. “But with all that, he wasn’t safe.” A 2015 GMC Sierra pickup driven by Fred Aker, 66, hit him on October 13, 2022 at the Badger Road on-ramp to the Richardson Highway. Glover died from ..read more

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority wants approval to borrow $300 million without telling the Legislature or the public where the money would go. Trust us, says AIDEA. It will be a great deal. The agency, run by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s former chief of staff, Randy Ruaro, and a board comprised of Dunleavy employees and political supporters, is telling the Legislature to approve the $300 million and stop worrying. AIDEA will pick the right projects, AIDEA says. The agency claims that once it decides what to do with the $300 million, there will not be enough time to get approval f ..read more

The Alaska Permannt Fund is facing the most serious leadership crisis in its history, triggered by the behavior of trustee Gabrielle Rubenstein, who can’t seem to separate the mission of a trustee from that of an active investor. This will damage the reputation of the Permanent Fund and destroy public confidence. It will make it more difficult to hire and retain first-rate employees. It will create another level of risk and reduce returns. The cost to Alaskans is impossible to calculate. The chief investment officer of the fund, Marcus Frampton, took the extraordinary step in January to privat ..read more

Bob Griffin, the Dunleavy point man on the state school board, has his Senate confirmation hearing Monday at 3:30 p.m. before the Senate Education Committee. Gov. Mike Dunleavy nominated Griffin for a second five-year term on the state board. Griffin works as a pilot for Alaska Airlines and his volunteer job is as “senior education research fellow” for the right-wing Alaska Policy Forum, which propagates many of the same ideas as Dunleavy. I’ve written about Griffin’s confirmation hearing before the House Education Committee and how he presented half-truths about Advanced Placement test number ..read more

A church school can’t exclude religious teaching from any part of its daily operations, so there is an inherent contradiction in claims that some courses have nothing to do with the values inherent in the religion. But the lure of lucre is powerful, especially when the state makes public funds available, contrary to the clear constitutional mandate: “No money shall be paid from public funds for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.” Under the Dunleavy administration, which has encouraged school districts to make up their own rules on what is legal, there ..read more

So here we have Arkansas lawyer and Christian nationalist Bob Ballinger claiming he knows that the late Vic Fischer would support a constitutional amendment to allow state funds for private and religious schools. I can guarantee you that Ballinger, who never met Vic Fischer, doesn’t know what he is talking about. A visitor to Juneau this spring who still lives in Arkansas and has his law practice there, Ballinger is on the state payroll right now courtesy of Homer Rep. Sarah Vance, who hired him for guidance. Plus, he lost a bid to stay in the Arkansas Legislature and he needed a job. He is “p ..read more

“I don’t have any experience whatsoever in commercial fishing. And as I looked at the statutes and as everyone else looked at the statutes, that’s not a requirement to do this job,” said Mike Porcaro when Sen. Scott Kawasaki asked him about his experience in fishing and his job on the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission. “I think it’s actually a benefit, since I have no entangling alliances. I have no preconceived ideas. And I’m learning and believe me I’m learning every day, just as most people do, what’s going on. And I’ve got some excellent teachers. And I’ve got some incredible staff mem ..read more