Halloween has come and gone. Snow should be on the ground in Southcentral any day. Senator Mike Shower (R – Wasilla) resigned his Senate seat to focus on his campaign as the running mate of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bernadette Wilson. Steve Wackowski was selected as the new president/CEO of the Alaska Oil & Gas Association. He replaces Kara Moriarty, who took a job with the Department of Interior in May. Vernon Edwardson, the chief administrative officer of the North Slope Borough, was arrested in September in Virginia for public intoxication. And a federal judge is finally close to being nominated by President Donald Trump after years of two vacancies. 

A friendly message and reminder to all our readers. The Landmine is made possible by myself and a team of awesome Alaskans. I have been covering the legislative session in Juneau for the last seven years and returned from Juneau in May. I will be heading back this January. If you enjoy the content we provide, please consider making a one time or recurring monthly donation. You can click here to donate. We have a system that makes it super easy. We would really appreciate it. And thanks to everyone who has been supportive. 

Week in Review

Senator Shower, the minority leader, resigned his Senate seat, effective November 3. This will trigger a political process where Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska) will select a replacement, who then needs to be confirmed by a majority of Republicans in the Senate. This Landmine article goes into more detail as well as the likely replacement, Representative George Rauscher (R – Sutton). If it is Rauscher and he’s confirmed, which is likely, then Dunleavy would need to appoint someone to his vacant House seat. 

Steve Wackowski is the new president/CEO of AOGA. The board has been looking for a replacement since longtime president/CEO Kara Moriarty left in May to go work for the Department of Interior. The finalists were Wackowski, Rick Whitbeck, and Curtis Smith. Smith ultimately withdrew his name. Wackowski comes from the oil company Santos, where he was their senior communications manager. Wackowski will definitely have his work cut out for him next session if oil prices continue to fall. 

This one is very loose! Vernon Edwardson is second in command at the North Slope Borough and sits on the UIC board. He was in Virginia for a UIC Foundation golf tournament when he was arrested for public intoxication. I can’t wait to find out what he did. We all know you don’t get arrested for just being drunk in public. I put in a records request with the Fredericksburg Police Department for the police report and bodycam footage. I have to say it was nice calling a police department and having someone answer the phone who was willing to help. I even got an email back the next day acknowledging my request. This is in stark contrast to the Anchorage Police Department, where getting anyone to answer the phone or get public records is like pulling teeth.  

While he’s not yet been appointed by President Trump, it is widely known that he plans on nominating attorney Aaron Peterson for one of two vacant federal judge spots in Alaska. This Alaska Beacon article has more information about Peterson. Two of the three federal judge spots have been vacant for just under four years and just over one year. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R – Alaska) and Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska) have been unable to agree on names to send to the president. It appears Peterson is a Sullivan pick. There is a long standing process where both senators have to agree on judicial nominations for their state in order to move forward in the Senate. It will be interesting how this, and the other appointment, play out with Murkowski.  

While this is different than what former Governor Bill Walker was trying to do with China and the gasline, it’s still amusing that we seem to be coming full circle. 

The League of Women Voters should change their name to the League of NIMBY Voters. If I was the mayor or on the Assembly, I would do whatever I could to eliminate their funding. So-called “nonpartisan” groups like this who take public money should face consequences when they start taking political positions.  

Attorney General-designee Steve Cox announced that he created a new position of state solicitor general, as well as two deputy solicitors general. This could become an issue next session if the Legislature decides to not fund these new positions.

This is interesting. Attorney General-designee Steve Cox has delegated his authority to Deputy Attorney General Corri Mills on all matters related to Pebble Mine. 

I guess Crooked Adam Crum did not get the memo that President Trump and his crew were in Asia when Crum was supposedly having these “high level meetings.” Dude is taking photos by himself in public areas around the White House playing big shot. What a clown. 

Just another day in Anchorage…

This Week’s Loose Unit 

Between Vernon Edwardson getting arrested for public intoxication, the League of NIMBY Voters, and Crooked Adam Crum having “meetings” in D.C. when everyone was gone, there were a lot of options this week. But one definitely stood out. This week’s Loose Unit is the First Alaskans Institute. 

Earlier this week, the First Alaskans Institute announced several award winners for the annual Howard Rock & Ted Stevens Smokehouse Gala. But not long after, they took the award away from one of them. Classic Loose Unit behavior.

John Shively originally shared the Friends of First Alaskans Ted Stevens award with Bill Dann. But after anti-development activists in the Bristol Bay and Calista regions started throwing a tantrum, the First Alaskans Institute board caved. But they must have not known that you can see previous versions of Facebook posts that have been edited. 

They then went fully loose and posted the most bizarre statement on their website about what they did. The statement included a big lie, that he volunteered to not take the award. The board voted to take it away. They took the statement off their website after this Landmine article came out! Maximum loose behavior. I got screenshots of the statement:

Shively serves as the president and CEO of the Pebble Partnership. The board knew this. They also were knew about his long career in Alaska helping to advocate for Alaska Native interests. His career in Alaska spans more than five decades. He came to Alaska in 1965 as a VISTA volunteer. 

From the Landmine article:

In 1970, Shively helped secure a grant from the Office of Economic Opportunity to establish what eventually became the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation and the Norton Sound Health Corporation. 

Shively later worked at RurALCAP and AFN. Ironically, Shively was the executive vice president of AFN from 1972-1975 when Willie Hensley was president. Hensley currently serves as board chair of the First Alaskans Institute.

Shively also overlapped with Hensley when they worked in the administration of former Governor Tony Knowles. Shively served as Knowles’ Natural Resources commissioner and Hensley served as his Commerce commissioner. 

Shively also served as vice president and of COO of NANA, where he worked hard to promote the development of the Red Dog Mine – which funds nearly 90% of the Northwest Arctic Borough’s revenues and has employed thousands of people in the region since beginning operations in 1989.

Shively also served as former Governor Bill Sheffield’s chief of staff.

What kind of people do this to man like John Shively? The answer is weak people. Their bullshit statement – that they deleted – spoke of Native values and said they are committed to “strengthening relationships.” What kind of values does one hold to give an award to someone, take it away, and then lie about why it was taken away? The board members of the First Alaskans Institute should be ashamed of themselves.  

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.