It’s already December! Christmas is three weeks away. The New Year is four weeks away. And the start of the next legislative session is just over six weeks away. The Select Committee on Legislative Ethics dismissed a complaint against Representative David Eastman (R – Wasilla) and former Representative Christopher Kurka. Some politicos are on the move. And Alaska Airlines announced today that they are buying Hawaiian Airlines.
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Dumb Complaint Dismissed
The Select Committee on Legislative Ethics dismissed a complaint against Representative David Eastman and former Representative Christopher Kurka. The complaint, which dates back to May of 2022, alleged that Eastman and Kurka let Pat Martin with Alaska Right to Life use their offices when he was in Juneau. The stupid and frivolous complaint actually used the word “apparently” when describing what happened.
On 4/14/22 and 4/15/22, Mr. Pat Martin, an unregistered lobbyist for Alaska Right Life [sic], visited the Alaska State Capitol with the stated intent to distribute signed petitions to the legislature. He and his assistant apparently used the offices of two different legislators as his “base of operations” spending more than half a day in Representative’s ….. office, and almost a full day and part of the evening in Representative Estman’s office. During that time, he was visiting other offices to lobby legislators and intimidate staffers. No other lobbyist would be allowed to do this and certainly no activist such as Martin. Both Kurka and … and their staffs were present at the time, and it is unknown if he was allowed to use computers or telephones. Allowing an aggressive activist and lobbyist to use your office as his base of operating in the Capitol building is a misuse of State resources IAW AS 24.06.030(a)(2) [sic].
You can see Eastman’s dismissal here and Kurka’s dismissal here. And here is the press release on the dismissals. The committee met four times over the course of a year and a half on the matter, and staff spent time investigating the complaints. Talk about a giant fucking waste of time. Eastman and Kurka both waived confidentiality, but the coward who filed the complaint did not. So we have no idea who it was. But my guess is it was either a Democratic legislative staffer or some woke activist.
Update: It was not a Democratic staffer or woke activist who made the complaint. It was Representative Kevin McCabe (R – Big Lake)! The Alaska Watchman got ahold of the unredacted complaint, which shows McCabe was the one who made the complaint. Very loose!
Other Happenings
Miles Baker, a former staffer who held numerous positions in the legislative and executive branches for the last 20 years, will be getting into the lobbying game in January. He will be working with longtime lobbyist Frank Bickford, and signing up his own clients. Baker most recently served as Governor Mike Dunleavy’s (R – Alaska) infrastructure point person. He spent man years working for Senator Bert Stedman (R – Sitka). And he also served as Senator Lisa Murkowski’s (R – Alaska) state director. Baker is well liked and respected and will do well as a lobbyist.
Drew Cason, who worked as a legislative staffer and who recently worked at the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation, is the new chief operating officer of Kaladi Brothers. Congrats, Drew!
The Seattle based lobbying Strategies 360, who has an office in Anchorage, filed for bankruptcy amid a bizarre legal fight between the current CEO and his former business partner. You can read more about it here.
It looks like Gretchen Guess, the new CEO of the Rasmuson Foundation, is making some moves.
Sources confirm the @rasmuson Foundation has halted grants for six months, citing some kind of realignment in how they award and who they give money too. According to their website, they gave out $35 million in 2022.
— The Alaska Landmine (@alaskalandmine) December 1, 2023
If you are looking for a place to live in Juneau for session, a friend of mine recently bought a two-bedroom house. It’s close to the Capitol, fully furnished, and she’s flexible on dates if session goes long. It’s $2,900 a month with all utilities included. And I am renting the unit below so you can be my neighbor.
For some context, the now horribly managed Driftwood was charging around $1,500 a month last session, but then, without warning, tried jacking up the rates four times for legislative guests in May. That won’t happen with this place. Actually, staying in a tent in a Juneau park would be better than staying in the Driftwood, but I digress.
A friend of mine has a nice 2 bedroom house for rent in Juneau for session. It’s furnished and a 3 minute walk to the Capitol. $2,900 a month with utilities included. She’s also flexible if session goes long. And I’m renting the unit below so you can be my neighbor! #akleg pic.twitter.com/sOFZ5Ti026
— Jeff Landfield (@JeffLandfield) December 4, 2023
Damn. Former Anchorage Mayor Rick Mystrom was cut up in the 1980s! His new wife is nearly half his age.
This Week’s Loose Unit
This week’s designee, from the Golden Heart City, was a no brainer. This week’s Loose Unit is the Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition. To be honest, I had not heard about them before I saw this loose and idiotic Facebook post they made this week.
But I’m glad I looked into them. If you go to the “Meet the Staff” section of their website, it lists 11 people, all with varying pronouns. There is some really loose stuff on there. Four of the 11 go by some form of they. If Arleigh Hitchcock (they/them), who is an organizer, spent a day in Gaza or Ramallah, they might change their mind about “SHUT IT DOWN FOR PALESTINE.”
Several of them also list how they were raised on indigenous lands in their bios. Kenzley Defler (she/her), the energy justice organizer, “grew up in Louisville, Kentucky on the unceded lands of the Shawnee, Osage, and Eastern Band Cherokee.” Emma Sulczynski (she/her), the policy and politics organizer, “was born and raised on Denai’ina lands in Homer, Alaska.” Nels Christensen (he/they), the regenerative economies organizer, “was born on Kumeyaay Lands in San Diego, CA.”
Someone needs to tell these Loose Units the Jews were on the lands of modern day Israel long before anyone else. But they clearly have no intellectual consistency, just dumb woke ideologies. Several of them list bachelor and advanced degrees in their bios, which highlights the level of decay of universities in our country. All classic Loose Units.
If you have a nomination for this week’s Loose Unit, or if you have any political news, stories or gossip (or any old pics of politicians or public officials) please email me at jeff@alaskalandmine.com.
A) As a self-proclaimed Alaskan political expert, Am surprised your not aware that Eastman is a great foil to the Alaska Republican party. The House Republican majority voted to censure Eastman in 2023. Getting rid of Eastman would benefit Alaskan Republican agendas over any Democratic or “woke” goals. B) Nice to see Downing’s vacuum is being filled with your “woke” and anti-trans rants. C) Thnx for pointing out the Fairbanks Climate Action Committee is antisemitic. This group has 1) Not spoken up about sexual violence against Jews on 10/07/23. 2) Claims Jews are perpetrating genocide against a population that has… Read more »
The number of deaths on either side of the Israel-Palestine fight is relevant, and included with damn near every conflict update.
The number of rapes perpetrated by armed combatants on either side is as well, but I have yet to see a single article make that similarly relevant comparison. To my knowledge there is no evidence of any IDF rapes; vs rape being a widespread/core part of the Hamas offensive strategy. It seems relevant, but would complicate the oppressor narrative, sooo…?
I agree with your assessment of the Fairbanks group. Sad to see so many Native Americans and Alaska Native voices siding with Hamas, a terror organization. They all got their PhDs from TikTok. Hopefully this is a case where the dumbest voices are the loudest. Where is their outrage over Darfur? Oh, yeah, there’s no Jews in that equation, so whatever. And these universities are miseducating America’s supposed future leaders. Truly frightening.
PS Native Movement and NDN Collective are a common denominator there.
Someone needs to tell you the Jews were affiliated pastoralist tribes that wandered into Palestine about the same time the Philistines began their acquisition of the – already thriving – cities of Canaan. You might try reading the Christian Bible, or the Tanakh. When they moved in, there was an awful lot of smiting and looting by those original Jews, as they laid waste to the indigenous people of Palestine.
and your point is? There is no stolen land?
The oldest evidence of early humans in the territory of modern Israel, dating to 1.5 million years ago, was found in Ubeidiya near the Sea of Galilee.
Drew Cason is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. Great hire by Kaladi’s.
Another outlet reporting the story of the ethics complaint showed a pic of the unredacted complaint signed by Rep. Kevin J. McCabe of Big Lake. Their story even named McCabe in the headline. So definitely not “either a Democratic legislative staffer or some woke activist.”
Filing a false ethics complaint is a crime. Any bets on whether McCabe will be held accountable?
Hey Mark,
Don’t go repeating facts. The ethics complaint was filed by a trans-woke-progressive-liberal-democrat with Pink hair, who wanted to help the Alaskan Republican party forward their Republican agenda by removing two obstructionists.
Who needs rabid leftists when you have “conservatives” like McCabe?
Man, never thought my fitness goals would one day be “Rick Mystrom circa 1987.” Guy is putting the body in body politic.
Here are my takeaways from the Loose Unit section: Anyone that prefers non-standard pronouns should be belittled and shamed. The impact of losing of ancestral lands and culture via colonization is dramatically overstated. There was no short term or long term damage; anyone asserting so should be belittled and shamed. The Middle East situation is simple: Jews were there first, Palestinians should have voluntarily ceded their land to the Jewish State in the lead up the the 40’s. Anyone that thinks Israel plays any role in the ongoing conflict should be belittled and shamed My Loose Unit nomination: Jeff Landfield,… Read more »
I certainly lime Jeff most when he doing his part to give everyone a voice – which he does an impressive job of. There is this narrow bandwidth of “woke” people that he has seemingly decided should shut up. It is too bad, because it blinds him to some very interesting perspectives.
Princess is many things, but dumb and intellectually inconsistant isn’t one of them. If one thinks that is what they see, they have been blinded.
Shut it Down advocates for Genocide and the rape of Jews and cheers on the 10/07/23 massacre, rape and mutilation of children and teenagers. Tim it sounds like you agree and think living in the British colonies is wrong. Where are you moving too? Gaza? Yemen? Syria? Where diversity is far more supported than in Israel or America?
You know those weren’t my points, but if it makes you feel better, please proceed.
https://www.equaldex.com/region/palestine
Good to see the ethics complaint story revised to include the dishonesty and petty vindictiveness of Rep. Kevin J. McCabe of Big Lake. People need to see the self-dealing and profound lack of character that motivate this guy.