Christmas is just three days away. And the New Year is next week. I turned 40 yesterday. Thanks to everyone who came out to my party. I can’t believe I am 40! There is only one more Sunday Minefield left for 2024. Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska) casually announced the formation of a new department on Friday afternoon. The Senate minority announced their committee assignments. And some more politicos are on the move. 

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Week in Review 

Governor Dunleavy dropped a press release Friday afternoon announcing the formation of a new department, the Department of Agriculture. The Legislature will have to approve it. It frustrates me that Dunleavy is pushing to expand government while so much else is screwed up and we can’t even build any new infrastructure projects. 

It looks like along with the incoming Trump administration, the Maintenance of Equity issue the state has been dealing with with the Department of Education is over. 

The Senate Republican minority announced their committee assignments this week. Senator James Kaufman (R – Anchorage) and Senator-elect Mike Cronk (R – Tok) will be the two minority members on the seven-member finance committee. With six members, they get one seat on five member committees and two seats on seven member committees.

They won’t have much say in what bills are passed, but with six members they can block the three-fourths vote required to access the Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR). With lower oil prices a CBR vote will almost certainly be needed. And with 19 members in the House minority, things could get very interesting when it comes to passing a budget at the end of session. 

The vice chancellor for Research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dr. Nettie La Belle-Hamer, abruptly resigned this week. The press release about it from Chancellor Dan White is only a few sentences. No one I’ve spoken to seems to know what happened. Whatever it is, something definitely went down. 

Some good news from ConocoPhillips. 

Some more politicos are on the move:

• Laura Stidolph, Governor Dunleavy’s former legislative director, will be joining the Confluence Strategies team in 2025 (she can’t do any state lobbying for one year). Lobbyist Royce Weller is retiring next year. Confluence is owned by lobbyist Kris Knauss. 
• Shannon Mason is the new communications director for the Department of Fish and Game. She previously worked for Representative Mary Peltola (D – Anchorage) in her office and on the campaign. 
• Buddy Whitt is going to work for Representative-elect Jubilee Underwood (R  Wasilla). Whitt is a longtime legislative staffer who is currently working for Representative Laddie Shaw (R – Anchorage), who did not seek re-election. 
• Josh Applebee is going to work for Representative-elect Elexie Moore (R – Wasilla). Applebee is also a longtime staffer who is currently working for the Republican-led House majority. 

This Week’s Loose Unit 

This week’s designee is no surprise. This week’s Loose Unit is Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance. LaFrance has been in office for nearly six months. She sent out an end of year update this week. It opened with:

Our top priorities are public safety, more housing, and fewer people sleeping outside. And we’ve been busy at work since July 1! As 2024 comes to a close, my team and I wanted to share an update on what we’ve been up to, and what’s ahead for 2025.

But further down, she said “We’re going to make progress, but it won’t necessarily look different overnight. We define success as measurable, visible reduction in homelessness over the next two and a half years. That means making hard choices and knowing things may look worse before they get better, especially as we prioritize public safety, public health, and housing and break up long-standing camps. 

Yes, according to Mayor LaFrance things may look worse before they get better. A classic Loose Unit statement. The mayor’s term is three years. She won in May and served two terms on the Assembly before that. So she knows how bad homelessness is and has been. We saw how bad things were this summer. She only has two summers left before the end of her term.

The truth is she and her staff are not willing to do what is necessary to clean up the streets, parks, and trails – crack down on homelessness and make it clear we won’t tolerate this any longer. We should offer help to those who want it, but the truth is many of the people on the streets don’t want help. Those that refuse should either be incarcerated or involuntarily committed. 

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.