Local elections occurred this week all over Alaska. Turnout was abysmally low in many areas. The big upset was in Fairbanks where Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly President Mindy O’Neall defeated Fairbanks Mayor David Pruhs. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and President Donald Trump announced this week they are reversing a Biden era decision halting the long awaited Ambler road. And its been nearly two weeks since anyone has filed to run for governor or the Legislature. 

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. 

A Week of Peace

I spent the week in Rio Rancho, New Mexico visiting my parents. It’s a city of more than 110,000 people directly north of Albuquerque. I grew up here and it’s grown a lot since I moved to Anchorage in 2004. It’s been an extremely peaceful week as I have seen zero homelessness, public camping, or vagrancy – things that are everyday occurrences in Anchorage.

Albuquerque definitely has its share of these problems, but Rio Rancho is unbelievably clean and peaceful. I was in a coffee shop a few days ago. I asked the barista for the key or code to the bathroom. She replied, “There is no key or code, it’s open.” I was shocked to hear that and wished Anchorage could be like that. 

The mayor of Rio Rancho since 2014, Gregg Hull, is a candidate for New Mexico governor. Like our governor, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, is termed out next year. Hull, a Republican, is one of the candidates for New Mexico governor. I was able to get a hold of him by calling his cell phone, which is listed on the city’s website. I was pretty surprised he actually answered.

We chatted for a few minutes about how clean and vagrant free Rio Rancho is. We are scheduled to have a call later this week and I am hoping I can get him on my podcast to talk about why Rio Rancho is so nice. 

Week in Review

Democrat Mindy O’Neall, the presiding officer of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly, defeated Fairbanks Mayor David Pruhs, a Republican, in an upset. Prior to Pruhs, Republican Jim Matherly was Fairbanks mayor for two terms. The Democrats and progressives are organized and dedicated significant resources to the race. Pruhs seems to have lost on turnout. Current results show turnout at just 15%.

Here is where Burgum and Trump announce the decision to move forward with the Ambler road. They also announced the Department of War will be taking a 10% stake in Trilogy Metals, a company pursuing projects in the Ambler Mining District. 

It’ pretty obvious that some people had prior knowledge of the Ambler announcement and the Trilogy Metals deal. The day after the announcement, the stock more than tripled. The day before the announcement, trade volume of the stock increased by 3,000%. As George Carlin used to say, It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it!” I hope anyone with prior knowledge of the deal who is discovered to have bought the stock goes to jail.   

Check out Joe Plesha, Senator Lisa Murkowski’s (R – Alaska) communications director, absolutely manhandle this deranged climate lunatic in D.C. While it was not on the level of Matt Shuckerow’s takedown of another lunatic at a Senator Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska) campaign event in 2020, it was definitely an epic move. 

Another candidate for governor suffering from the dividend delusion! 

This is pretty wild. Senator Sullivan is one of eight U.S. senators the FBI surveilled under the politicized Jack Smith investigation into Donald Trump. 

This Week’s Loose Unit 

There were a few candidates this week, but one really stood out. This week’s Loose Unit is the Southcentral Foundation. The Southcentral Foundation recently announced they were renaming several buildings to traditional Native names to “honor the original caretakers of this land.” But they left out one minor detail. 

They forgot to mention they are probably renaming the Gottlieb Building due to Dr. Kevin Gottlieb’s guilty plea to fraud while he was a Southcentral executive. Maximum loose! You have to read the story about what this guy did. It’s hyper loose behavior for a doctor and executive. 

Gottlieb’s wife, Katherine Gottlieb, resigned as CEO two weeks after he was fired in 2020. She’s also a Loose Unit. Several people told me that she insisted on being referred to as “doctor” when she was CEO even though she is not a doctor. Her “doctor” title stems from an honorary doctorate she received from APU. It’s no wonder her husband got caught falsifying medical records. 

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.