It’s hard to believe we are almost halfway into July. Legislators and some staff are preparing for Governor Mike Dunleavy’s (R – Alaska) special session, which begins August 2. A meeting of the Anchorage Arts Advisory Commission got weird when it was made clear their grant recommendations were being ignored by Mayor Suzanne LaFrance. An attorney for the Municipality of Anchorage made some wild arguments in a court hearing to end the lawsuit of Angela Harris, the woman who was stabbed and paralyzed at the Loussac Library in 2022. And yet another Republican filed to run for governor. 

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Special session less than three weeks away

The August 2 special session called by Governor Dunleavy is just under three weeks away. But legislators and some key staff are already working out their travel and accommodations. Juneau is busy with tourists in the summer, meaning hotel prices are exorbitant and rooms are hard to find.

There are 33 units in the Assembly Building that was converted into legislative apartments, but there are 57 non-Juneau legislators. And there will be at least a few dozen staff coming down. 

Governor Dunleavy asked Republicans not to go down in order to prevent any of his vetoes from being overridden. But he only asked them to not go for five days – the window they have to vote on veto overrides. It’s not clear how many Republicans won’t go, but it’s at least four or five in the House. 

It’s expected the special session won’t last more than a few days. But if it does go longer and some of the Republicans who don’t show up decide to come, they will need to get accommodations figured out sooner than later or it could be a very expensive trip to Juneau.

My prediction is it won’t last longer than a few days. Several legislators have had to change travel plans, and many have plans in August. There is a potential scenario where Dunleavy could go nuclear. Once the session starts, he could theoretically keep calling them back until the next regular session starts in January. His relationship with the Legislature is already at rock bottom, but if he did something like that it would be full out war.   

Anchorage Arts Advisory Commission meeting gets weird

I got a tip that it would be worth attending a meeting of the Anchorage Arts Advisory Commission on Tuesday (7/8/2025). I had never been to one of those meetings and didn’t think anything interesting would happen. But as I didn’t have anything else to do I decided to go. And I am glad I did! 

You can read the thread to get all the details. But long story short, Barbara Jones – Mayor LaFrance’s deputy chief of staff – was at the meeting to explain to the commission that LaFrance did not care about their recommendations for arts grants. Jones repeatedly said it’s ultimately the mayor’s decision. She also said she could not say who the grants were awarded to because the information was not ready to be released. 

Many of the commissioners wondered if the Arts Advisory Commission was even needed if the mayor was going to ignore all the work they put into evaluating grant applications. They also expressed frustration that LaFrance has not met with them and that she did not share the requirements felt were important for the grants. One of which was that art groups or artists do not charge money to see their work. This set off a few commissioners, who said it’s dumb to expect artists to not even charge a nominal fee to see their work. 

The most surprising part of the meeting was just how dismissive Jones was with them. When she promised LaFrance will meet with them soon, she qualified that by saying it would only be fifteen minutes and asked them to keep it at a “30,000 foot level.”     

Municipality of Anchorage says they are not responsible for woman stabbed at library 

A hearing on Tuesday in Anchorage revealed some wild arguments from the Municipality on a lawsuit from Angela Harris. Harris was stabbed and paralyzed in 2022 at the Loussac by a mentally disturbed man with a history of violence. He was cut loose by the state and the Anchorage Police Department before he stabbed her. She was returning some library books. 

The MOA lawyer, Linda Johnson, made several crazy arguments as to why they the city is not responsible. One was so loose that even Judge Laura Hartz said, “seriously.” Johnson basically said if Harris had not gone to the library, or if she had not gone inside, or if she came later or earlier, this would not have happened. After the judge pushed back, Johnson claimed she was not making the argument but was just making a point. It was weird. 

Johnson also said warning signs would not really do much and the city only has so many resources to deal with dangerous, mentally ill people. Harris‘ lawyers pushed back hard on the Muni’s arguments. I really hope Judge Hartz denies the Muni’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. You can watch this live stream I did after the hearing to hear more detail about the lawsuit and what happened to Harris.  

Other Happenings 

The Municipality of Anchorage had its credit outlook revised to negative by Fitch. There are several reasons, but one has to do with the Muni being two years behind on the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.

The Negative Outlook on the IDR, GO, GO refunding bonds, and COPs reflects Fitch’s concerns around delayed audits and potential for a diminished financial resilience assessment. Staffing challenges caused the municipality’s fiscal 2022 audit to be severely delayed (published 589 days past the fiscal YE or over 2x the standard 270 days), which has had the knock-on effect of causing the fiscal years 2023 and 2024 audits to also be very delayed.

Another Republican has entered the race for governor. This makes six Republicans in the race. This time it’s Matt Heilala, a retired doctor who serves on the state medical board. He’s wealthy and is rumored to be willing to put a lot of his own money into his campaign. 

Governor Dunleavy let the Turo bill go into law without signature this year. He vetoed it last year, meaning there was no opportunity for the Legislature to override it as it was after the second session. The other difference this year is it was a bill from Representative Kevin McCabe (R – Big Lake), a strong ally of Dunleavy. Some clever lobbyists definitely asked McCabe to put his name on this bill.   

This Week’s Loose Unit 

This week’s designee is really loose! This week’s Loose Unit is a tie between Assistant United States Attorneys James Klugman and Karen Vandergaw. Both are currently on administrative leave for reasons a smut novelist would have a hard time conjuring up. 

To get the full idea of just what kind of Loose Units these lovers are, you need to read this Landmine article, “Two federal prosecutor lovers in Alaska are on administrate leave for lying to superiors.” It was all revealed in some public motions relating to throwing out a conviction on a case they were both on. 

From lying about their office love affair (while she was married and he was engaged) while he was her boss to taking numerous trips together (some paid for with tax dollars) to her sexting and sending nudes to former Judge Josh Kindred, the whole situation is maximum loose. Keep in mind these two are federal prosecutors, some of the most powerful and prestigious lawyers in the legal system.   

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.