House Republican Minority Releases Organization and Leadership Positions
Late this afternoon the House Republican Caucus, who will be in the minority in the next legislature, released their organization and leadership positions.
November 2016
Election Changes Already Make 2018 Anchorage Mayoral Contest Unpredictable
Delays in implementing two important changes to election procedures will impact not only Anchorage’s spring 2017 Assembly races, but will now reverberate into the larger race for Mayor in the spring of 2018.
New Court Case May Dramatically Impact Alaska Redistricting
A federal court decision striking down gerrymandered legislative districts in Wisconsin could have major impacts in Alaska over the next 15 years.
The Midnight Sun Podcast (November 27)
In our post-Thanksgiving episode, Casey Reynolds and Forrest Dunbar discuss Trump exhaustion, a federal redistricting decision out of Wisconsin that may impact Alaska races, and the timing of the Vote-By-Mail and PFD Automatic Voter Registration system implementation. In addition, Senator Bill Wielechowski stops by for an in-depth discussion of oil tax policy, the budget deficit, and his ongoing lawsuit regarding the Permanent Fund Dividend.
Miller Breaks Libertarian Record
Here is another interesting article by Dr. Eric Ostermeier on the site Smart Politics. This one shows Joe Miller outperformed any previous Libertarian Party candidate in a U.S. Senate race since at least 1976.
But was Miller really a Libertarian Party candidate? It sure looked to a lot of people like was he just renting their slot on the ballot and using it as a base from which to once again wage war against his white whale, Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Either way, Miller still showed he was a far more voter-friendly candidate than anyone else to appear on Libertarian line possibly ever.
UPDATE: Millett Gains In Last Significant Batch Of Votes To Be Counted
As we reported last week, Millett was leading Higgins by 76 votes after most questioned, early vote, and absentee ballots were counted.
Here is how today’s count went:
Murkowski’s Consistent Lack of Mandate Historic
“Smart Politics reviewed the nearly 1,900 U.S. Senate contests conducted during the direct election era and found that Lisa Murkowski is the first senator to win a seat to the chamber with a mere plurality of the vote three times.”
Anchorage Receives Improved Bond Rating Outlook
Despite the inability of the Alaska State Legislature to adopt a comprehensive solution to the State’s fiscal crisis and the huge uncertainty that creates for both the private sector and local governments, at least one bond rating agency is looking more favorably upon the Municipality of Anchorage’s credit worthiness.
Inside The Numbers: What Americans Are Thinking Post-Election
The Pew Research Center, of whom we’re huge fans, put out some interesting post-election survey numbers today we feel are worth a gander.
The Midnight Sun Podcast (November 18)
The Midnight Sun’s Casey Reynolds is joined by Assemblyman and former Alaska congressional candidate Forrest Dunbar to discuss Governor Bill Walker replacing his Chief of Staff, former Senator Johhny Ellis coming out as a gay man, Alaska Republicans and Alaska Democrats both shaking up their staffs, and we interview Representative-elect Jennifer Johnston.