Assembly Report for April 15, 2008

TESCHE MADE IT OUT OF ALASKA: “My work there is done” said former Assemblyman Allan Tesche who was recently spotted on a beach Outside. Neither Tesche nor his wife Pamela would say exactly where they were ended up after he left the Anchorage Assembly last week, except that the air is warm there and house plants are grown outdoors.

Tesche was elected three times to represent the downtown district on the Anchorage Assembly and served since April 1999. He was elected vice chair for two years and at various times headed the Assembly’s Finance, and Public Safety, and Elections Committees.

He wrote countless pieces of legislation addressing issues as varied as design standards for Big Box Stores, a ban on smoking in restaurants and public places, several Charter revisions dealing with elections and municipal budgets, dog parks, resolution of the Simonian Little League controversy, economic development and neighborhood planning, including a new Downtown Comprehensive plan.

Tesche introduced many new words and phrases into the Assembly’s lexicon, including the terms “bloviate”, “trifurcate” and most recently, “butt dialing”. He once used Assembly member Debbie Ossiander’s last name as a noun to describe a “sticky, gaseous swamp of questions asked only to confuse other assembly members and to stop good legislation.” He branded Assembly conservatives as “Troglidites” and dismissed their colleagues as “furry little friends.” In turn, he was vilified by the Wuerch Administration as a “Communist” and named by Assembly chair Dan Coffey as the “meanest, nastiest, most rotten Assembly member ever.” He was a gut fighter for the left.

Although he loved to talk to reporters, Tesche denied was a “media hog” or that on slow days he simply made up stuff for the evening news. He poked fun at former mayors by holding press conferences in a “media center” put together in the Assembly office festooned with its own blue curtain, an oval Assembly seal and flags. In 2005 he teamed up with Aaron Selbig for a weekly radio show on KUDO 1080 where he scorched Assembly conservatives and argued incessantly with callers. You can still call 569-1080 during Aarons’s show if you have something to say.

Tesche did not leave quietly as his term ended. In February, 2008 Assembly Chair Dan Coffey carelessly “butt dialed” a cell phone recording to the Tesche home of a saucy conversation between Coffey and Assemblyman Bill Starr. On tape, the pair bantered about Coffey’s role as a “bag man” for political contributions and Starr’s own attempt to shake down the Chief of Police for union endorsement in his re election. The recording became the focus of an APOC investigation after which Starr was fined for unlawful fundraising. The recording was also mentioned in a vigorous write-in campaign by Eagle River resident Janet Brand who came within a handful of votes of actually unhorsing Starr in the April 1, 2008 election. Also disclosed in the recording, Coffey’s questionable fundraising activities impacted election bids by long term Assemblyman Dick Traini in the midtown district and by Sherri Jackson in West Anchorage. Both lost their elections and were replaced by progressives who stripped Coffey of his chairmanship and restored a more progressive role for the Assembly in local politics.

The Tesche Report was posted promptly after Assembly meetings to 1,600 readers from May 31, 2005 to this final edition. Leaving the Assembly is probably the only thing Tesche did during the past three years which endeared him to the remaining conservatives on the Anchorage Assembly.

Assembly Report for March 25, 2008

PARKS MAINTENANCE ORDINANCE KILLED: Voting along traditional party lines, Assembly conservatives tanked a proposal by Mayor Begich and Allan Tesche and Sheila Sellkregg to create parks “Legacy Fund” that would attract public and private contributions for parks maintenance in Anchorage. Only Matt Claman and Dick Traini joined the sponsors of AO 2008-39 which would have allowed the Anchorage Parks Foundation to receive donations from private and public sources for maintaining the approximately 15,000 acres of public parkland and over 300 miles of improved trails throughout Anchorage. South Anchorage conservative Chris Birch told assembly members there is no need for a special fund dedicated to parks maintenance, and others objected to creation of another private “bureaucracy” to maintain parks and trials. In a particularly mean spirited way, Eagle River’s two assembly members ganged up on the ordinance and urged fellow Republicans to kill the measure because it would somehow allow the Anchorage Parks Service area to better maintain its own parks and trails differently than those are maintained in Eagle River-Chugiak and that change is somehow offensive to the two Assembly members. Ignoring the recommendations of their own parks boards which had recommended approval of the Legacy Ordinance and of the City Attorney, these two shortsighted Eagle River representatives effectively denied Anchorage residents the use of a lucrative new way of maintaining parks and trails in this community.

$737M 2008-9 SCHOOL BUDGET APPROVED: With little fanfare, the Assembly unanimously approved a 2008-9 budget for the Anchorage School District totaling some $736,769,943 for the fiscal year beginning in midsummer, 2008. Of that amount, $217.6M will come from local property taxes, the rest from a combination of state and federal aid. The new budget is 5.46% higher than the prior years, representing a restrained increase in spending, largely due to state and federal mandates and special education.

DAN COFFEY’S DOG POOP LAWS IN THE TOILET: Dan Coffey attended his son’s Little League game one night last year. He stepped into some dog poop on a baseball field and got mad: there ought to be an ordinance against this outrage, he claimed. For almost one year, the assembly and the public struggled with a series of ordinances authored by Mr. Coffey and West Anchorage Assembly member Matt Clamnan. Over a year, the Assembly held about six public hearings, heard hundreds of citizens and debated the issue for hours. Four of the ordinances, AO 2007-106, 106(S) and AO 2007-143 and 143(S) were back again before the Assembly Tuesday night and several dozen people again showed up, ready to testify. Dan has apparently calmed down a bit and his once soiled Italian loafers have dried in the crisp winter air. He ordered his pals on the Assembly to postpone the ordinances indefinitely pending continued discussions between dog owners and parks users. The handle pulled, all four ordinances whooshed quietly to Pt. Woronzof.

LABOR RELATIONS ISSUES LOOM OVER NEW ASSEMBLY: A trio of measures introduced on Tuesday night suggest the Assembly will face several important labor issues shortly after the new Assembly is seated on April 15, 2008. Introduced last night and set for public hearing on April 15 is a one year wage and retirement opener with IBEW, and a similar contract with Operators' Local 302. Also introduced and set for public hearing on April 29 is AO2008-47 relating to service pay Mayor Begich has long targeted for elimination and which proved controversial last year.

“POCKET SHOTS” COMING TO ANCHORAGE? Tampa, Florida is the home of three well known professional sports teams: the Tampa Bay Bucs who play at Raymond James Stadium, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays who play at Tropicana Field, and the Tampa Bay Lightning who skate at the Ice Palace. Tampa is also a party town known for a huge winter blowout parade known as Gasparellia which sort of resembles New Orleans’ Mardi Gras celebration. It was only a matter of time before Tampa’s robust alcohol industry figured out a way to avoid stringent rules forbidding bottles or cans used to import beer and alcohol into these public events and sports venues with a new product sold in local faucets across the Tampa Bay: the Pocket Shot. This container is a small plastic pouch containing 50 ml of hard liquor, usually whisky, rum or vodka, about four inches high and town inches wide. Using flexible plastic, the pocket shot can be concealed on the person on a Tampa concert goer with ease and immune from metal detectors or body pat downs used to detect glass bottles. The “pocket shot” sells for about $1.99.

Assembly Report for March 18, 2008

TRAIN WRECK IN MIDTOWN: Long term Assembly member Dick Traini's campaign for re election jumped the tracks yesterday afternoon when the superior court ruled he is ineligible to seek a fourth consecutive term under "term limits imposed by the Home Rule Charter. The Charter limits terms of assembly members to three consecutive terms but does not say whether the terms served must be full terms or, in Trani's case, include the remaining year of his predecessor's term Traini was elected to complete in 2001. The court's ruling effectively ends Traini's bid for re election at the April 1, 2008 municipal election, leaving only one qualified candidate, Elvi Grey-Jackson, on the ballot.

Central to arguments made in favor of Traini's candidacy were two prior instances in which candidates for municipal office were apparently allowed to run for a fourth consecutive term where each had completed only a portion of their predecessors' terms. The court apparently gave little weight to those actions because neither had been challenged or adjudicated in court, giving rise to some sort of precedent current officials could rely on.

City Clerk Barbara Guenstein, who was named defendant in the lawsuit for technical reasons and who is represented by the Municipal Attorney, has announced she will file an immediate appeal with the Supreme Court of Alaska and ask for an expedited ruling before the April 1, 2008 municipal election. Details on the implementation of the court's order, should it be affirmed by the Supreme Court, are not yet known.

The news of the court's decision could not come at a worse time for the Traini campaign: Dick's re election bid got off to a slow start in Midtown, with his opponent, Elvi Grey Jackson raising ten times the money he received in campaign contributions reported as of January 1st. Moreover, Trani's name was mentioned as a recipient of campaign cash "doled out" by Assembly chair Dan Coffey who himself faces charges filed by the Alaska Public Officies Commission that the money was collected and distributed unlawfully.

DAN SULLIVAN'S VERSION OF CLEAN ELECTIONS: An ordinance proposed by departing West Anchorage Assemblyman Tuesday night would prohibit campaign contributions from individuals and business "engaged in ongoing business that requires ratification and approval by the Assembly and School Board". AO 2008-43 would effectively prevent virtually anybody associated with a labor union who represents municipal employees from contributing to candidates for the Assembly or school board. This ordinance effectively ends the role of organized labor in municipal and school board elections. Included also are owners and operators of businesses that sell goods and services to the municipality and businesses that are engaged in certain land transactions with the municipality.

Curiously, Sullivan's ordinance does not cover or restrict contributions from businessmen, whose daily activities are regulated by the municipality such as land developers, small business owners who are a frequent source of campaign contributions to municipal campaigns. The ordinance is also rather vague as to what constitutes "current municipal business" that would trigger its prohibitions.

Citing the Board's slow progress on a recent ethics ordinance, the Assembly voted 6-5 not to refer Sullivan's proposal to the city's Board of Ethics for review and comment before public hearing. Instead, AO 2008-43 will be reviewed by the Assembly's own "Ethics Committee" which is, of course, chaired by Dan Sullivan.

A public hearing on Mr. Sullivan's ordinance is scheduled for April 15, 2008, after Assembly members elected in the April 1, 2998 city election take office. Although he won't get to vote on the ordinance because he is leaving the Assembly, as an announced candidate for mayor, Sullivan will gain some advantage over other candidates who could no longer count on financial support from city unions in local elections.

CLEAN ELECTIONS RESOLUTION STALLS, AGAIN: Assembly members once again delayed action on AR 2007-300, a rather simple resolution that would support an initiative measure adopting a system of public funding for state elections. Seemingly unaffected by recent revelations that two or three of its own members are involved in various shenanigans with campaign donations to local races, Assembly voted 10-1 to delay action on the measure until April 15th. Only Allan Tesche dissented.

CATCH A FALLING STARR: Despite all of the media attention and controversy over disclosure of the infamous Coffey-Starr recording that was "butt dialed" by mistake to Allan Tesche on February 12, 2008, absolutely nothing public has been said by either Dan Coffey or Bill Starr about the substance of what the tape revealed. With their own words Coffey bragged about his success as a bag man rounding up campaign contributions to keep his conservative pals on the Assembly and "doling out" the money to ensure members voted his way. Starr, agreeing with Coffey's brand of city politics countered with his own astounding story: a recent effort to shake down the Chief of Police for an endorsement from the "rank and file" police officers for his campaign in exchanges for his continued support of the location of a police shooting range in an Eagle River neighborhood that is costing him support from within his district. Not one word. Not even a single letter of explanation, apology, or a mea culpa that Republicans are getting famous for has been offered by the pair to explain their actions to the public they are supposed to serve. If Richard Nixon could stonewall as well as Dan Coffey or Bill Starr, he'd still be president.

Begich announces and the taxis begin to roll in the television ad war

SENATOR MARK BEGICH: GET USED TO IT: Surprising no one, Mayor Mark Begich yesterday annouced he is forming an "exploratory comittee" in what now appears to be an almost certain bid for the United States Senate later this year. Filed with the Federal Election's Commission, paperwork creating the creating the "Alaskans for Begich Exploratoy Committee which allows Begich to begin raising millions of dollars necessary to defeat incumbent Senator Ted Stevens, now 84 years old. To see the Committe's web site and preview what Mayor Begich will say duirng the next eight months, go to: http://www.begich.com/

COMING SOON ON YOUR TELEVISION: Go to the Utube link listed below for a sneak preview of a spicy ad which will run soon on local television in the 2008 version of the Taxicab Wars. Prepared by a goup of drivers, operators and holders of taxicab permits, the spot raises issues voters will hear lots about before voting on the April 1, 2008. The issue is whether to repeal municipal limits on the number of taxi cab permits available to operators and open the industry to semi regulated competition. Currently, the city limits the number of permits available to taxi cab operators; as a result, taxi permits are valuable investments and the means by which several hundred are employed are employed in the industry. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i-ogp_GS_I

Assembly Report for February 26, 2008

SO WHAT’S HAPPENED TO OUR LITTLE TOWN: Broadcast earlier today on radio station KUDO 1080, a private backroom conversation between Assembly Chair Dan Coffey and Eagle River Assemblyman Bill Star rattled Anchorage with a rare earful of local politics at its very worst. On the recording, the two politicians are heard boasting, cursing their enemies, and cackling like roosters over their political victories. The recording lasts three and a half minutes, much of it laced with profanity. KUDO didn’t not say how it got the recording, but only that it was apparently left by Coffey or Starr by mistake on someone’s answering machine on February 12th by one of the two. Here’s what they said:

Seconds into the recording, Coffey brags about his success in collecting campaign contributions for candidates in the April assembly election. "Oh, we’re really cranking," he boasts to Starr, "I took $1500 in for Sherri Jackson" in her race for an open Assembly seat in West Anchorage, apparently giving the money to an intermediary "Sully" in order "to give it to her." Coffey then reveals how he took another $1250 to Assembly member Dick Traini, is also a candidate in the same city election. Under state law, limits on individual campaign contributions are $500 and it is unclear whether Coffey or Sullivan are registered with the Alaska Public Offices Commission to collect money for the Jackson or Traini. "Sully" is a nickname for West Anchorage Assemblyman Dan Sullivan who is retiring from the Assembly in April and a well known Jackson supporter.
Coffey reveals what could prove to be a troubling link between the money he is collecting for candidates and their votes on the Assembly: "I’m doling it out 250 at a crack," Coffey brags, and if "you didn’t vote right last week, you don’t get your second 250". To Starr, Coffey’s words were "Just what I want[ed] to hear". Starr reaffirms his personal creed to Coffey: "You go my way or the freeway, you know".

Starr then reports on his failure to win an endorsement from APDEA, a union that represents Anchorage’s police officers. After hearing that the union decided not to declare a position in Starr’s bid for re-election, Starr tells Coffey of his plans to tell "those sons-of bitches to XXXX themselves." Angrily, he says that " if you ain’t for me you must be against me" Starr explains how he then called Police Chief Rob Heun "right after that" to say that "if the rank and file thinks I’m not there for them, than you need to correct them.". Pressing his point, Starr tells Heun he will withdraw his support for the police department’s plan to build a police shooting park close to a Chugiak neighborhood. Starr’s threat to Chief Heun is clear: Get the "rank and file"of APD behind him in his bid for reelection or else APD’s new shooting range will go (in Coffey’s words "down in the mud flats and up your ass".

To hear the actual recording and read a transcript go to KUDO’s website at: http://www.kudo1080.com/ You will hear lots of "adult" language between the Coffey and Starr.

ASSEMBLY ORDERS FANTASIES TO OPEN NEW STRIP CLUB ON 5TH AVE, TAXPAYERS TO PAY MORE FOR POLICE PROTECTION: By a vote of 8-3, Assembly "conservatives" late Tuesday night overrode a mayoral veto and voted to allow a 5th Ave. strip club to sell alcohol in what is now Anchorage’s newest hot spot for adult entertainment.

Fantasies is located on Alaska’s busiest highway across from Merril Field. At downtown's doorstep, Fantasies is within easy walking distance of another bar, an adult toy store, a teen age strip club, two restaurants that serve beer and wine, and a even a busy motel. Thousands of visitors who see Anchorage for the first time as they drive into town on 5th Ave, will see that the "Big Wild Life" starts at Fantasies. The only adults who won't be served at Fantasies are military personnel at Elmendorf and Ft. Richardson whose base commanders have declared the Club "off limits" in order to protect their personal safety. While Mayor Begich built a new museum and a convention center downtown; the Anchorage Assembly voted itself a new red light district.

Voting to over ride the mayor’s veto and to permit Fantasies to expand its bar business were assembly members Dick Traini, Paul Bauer, Bill Starr, Chris Birch, Debbie Ossiander, Dan Sullivan, Jennifer Johnston, and Dan Coffey. Coffey is a former lobbyist for the liquor industry and in the past represented Fantasies in connection with modification of its liquor lisense at its 5th Ave. location. The assembly did not address any potential conflict of interest on his part in the present application by people he says are former clients.

Police Chief Rob Heun warned Assembly members of the obvious: add a new hard liquor bar to Anchorage’s newest hotspot and APD will be called to the building to handle an increasing number of crimes and calls for service. The chief’s warning went unheeded by eight assembly members, nearly all of them who have campaigned on “law and order” platforms and courted the support of police unions. These eight fiscal conservatives and “budget watchdogs” also disregarded date submitted by the City’s Chief Fiscal officer showing that police services provided to Fantasies currently cost taxpayers over $80,000 per year. With the expanded bar, however, the cost of additional police protection to taxpayers will rise to $169,000 per year.

Assembly “conservatives” also ignored a warning by Municipal Attorney Jim Reeves that the Assembly’s action not only allowed Fantasies to sell alcohol in its strip club, but because of a legal flaw in its wording actually requires Fantasies to operate a strip club on the site featuring adult entertainment. Rushing again to award a valuable city permit to the Hartmanns, Anchorage is now the only city in the United States to actually require a landowner as a matter of public policy to operate an adult strip club on her property. How assembly members Starr, Birch, Traini, and Bauer can explain their vote to require a strip club at this location and more cost to taxpayers is not known. All four of these assembly members are up for re election in the upcoming municipal election.

ASSEMBLY URGES STATE TO GET TOUGH ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING, COMMERCIAL SEX EXPLOITATION: Only hours awarding a new liquor license to allow Ancchorage's hotest strip club to expand its bar operation, the Anchorage unaminoulsy passed AR 2008-31, supporting passage of Sentate Bill 157, "An Act Relating to Human Trafficking and prostitution" in the 25th Legislature of the State of Alaska."

So what's wrong with Fantasies?

On Tuesday ten members of the Anchorage Assembly approved AR 2008-1 and a conditional use permit for Fantasies on 5th Ave. The resolution allowes the Cathy and Carol Hartman to sell alcoholic beverages in an expanded 83 seat bar which will feature "adult" entertainment. Before the Assembly voted on the new license, no member was permitted by the Chair to ask the city attorney or the Chief of Police about the resolution or criminal activiy in the area. The Assembly 'leadership" simply forced an immediate vote on the mater without debate. The vote looked like it had already been taken in advance, just like the way the Alaska Legislature conducted its own business in Juneau behind closed doors and over the telephone.

Fantasies is located on Alaska’s busiest highway across from Merril Field. At downtown's doorstep, Fantasies is within easy walking distance of another bar, an adult toy store, a teen age strip club, two restaurants that serve beer and wine, and a even a busy motel. Thousands of visitors who see Anchorage for the first time as they drive into town on 5th Ave, will see that the "Big Wild Life" starts at Fantasies. The only adults who won't be served at Fantasies are military personnel at Elmendorf and Ft. Richardson whose base commanders have declared the Club "off limits" in order to protect their personal safety. While Mayor Begich built a new museum and a convention center downtown; the Anchorage Assembly voted itself a new red light district.

Anchorage police were called 198 times to the Hartmans' clubs in 2006 to deal with drugs, disturbances, assaults and other offences. In 2007, police calls increased to 218. Had Chief Heun been allowed to discuss the relationship between those calls and the volume of alcohol sold in the area, he would have told Assembly members it was is a "no brainier": Add a fourth liquor license in the area and you’ll have more trouble and more police calls to pay for. Fantasies remains "off limits" to military personnel. Rushing to approve the license and adjourn, Assembly members refused to ask whether more alcohol in that area might be somehow be related to Alaska’s high rate of sexual assault or contribute to human trafficking. present in Anchorage.

Our leaders reallly let us all down by rushing to approve this license. Mayor Mark Begich has until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, February 18th to veto this action. If want to speak up, send him an email at BegichMP@ci.anchorage.ak.us

To e-mail Assembly members, go to: WWMAS@ci.anchorage.ak.us

For mailing addresses and telephone numbers for all assembly members click:
mailto:WWMAS@ci.anchorage.ak.usHttp://www.muni.org/iceimages/Assembly2/2007assemblycontactlist.pdf

Asembly Report for February 12, 2008

CLIMBING THE GREASY POLE OF POWER: MIKE ABBOTT IS THE NEW MUNICIPAL MANAGER: After toiling five years in the Begich administration, Mike Abbott made it to the top of the greasy pole of power when he was recently selected to replace retiring municipal manager, Denis LeBlanc. Subject to Assembly confirmation on February 12, 2008, Abbott has already assumed his duities in the same office he has worked out of since 2003.

CLAMAN/SULLIVAN SINGLE MEMBER DISTRICT PLAN SHOT DOWN; West Anchorage’s Matt Claman Tuesday night withdrew his quirky support for Dan Sullivan’s renewed effort to re write the Home Rule Charter by setting terms for Assembly members at three years, regardless of whether they are elected from single member or multi member districts. The Charter currently requires Assembly terms of three years unless all members represent single member districts, in which case terms of Assembly members are two years. Approval of charter amendment by the voters would have made it easier to convince the Assembly to later carve out eleven single member districts, an action that could take place as early as next year. Because the measure contains a charter amendment; eight votes were required for passage. The measure failed by a vote of 6-5 and will not appear on the spring ballot.

ASSEMBLY GOES WILD AND APPROVES A NEW STRIP BAR DOWNTOWN: By a lopsided vote of 10 - 1, the Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday night granted Carol and Kathy Hartman permission to open a new 83 seat strip bar right on the busiest highway at the doorstep of downtown Anchorage. Located across from Merril Field, the new adult strip club is ideally located for bush travelers passing through one of the country’s busiest commercial airports.

In addition to excellent access by highway and by air, Downtown’s newest watering hole offers patrons the convenience of two nearby restaurants that also serve and wine, an underage teen strip club known as the Showboat, an adult "toy" and bookstore, and even a busy motel. An existing Bar, Club Elixer, will remain open in the building occupied by Fantasies. Although present at Tuesday’s meeting, the president of the Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau voiced no objection to the growing concentration of beverage dispensaries and adult uses only minutes away from the city’s new $100M Civic and Convention Center.

According to the Assembly’s resolution, the Hartmans must comply with the narrative and floor plan submitted with their application for a liquor permit. That narrative describes "a facility that will meet the definition of ‘indecent material’ or ‘adult entertainment’ . . or . . Adult Oriented Establishment.". The floor plans also show areas reserved for lap dances. While adult strip clubs are legal under state and local law, Sec.3 (2) of the Assembly resolution requires that all uses "shall conform to the plans and narrative submitted with [the] . . . application, including the first floor seating plan for eighty-three occupants." Does this Assembly resolution actually mean that the Hartmans are now legally required to operate a strip club at 1911 E 5th or face legal action by the city? Because the Assembly voted to prohibit any floor debate on the application, this question was never asked.

The Assembly even refused to allow Deputy Police Chief Ross Plummer speak about or answer questions about the 198 police calls to 1911 E.5th during 2006 or the 218 police calls to the building during 2007. APD was not allowed by assembly members to address the dozens of assaults, disturbances, drug and alcohol crimes reported in the Clubs during the past two years. Despite the Assembly’s action, however, Club Elixir and Fantasies remain "off limits" to military personnel from Elmendorf and Ft. Richardson because of what commanders characterize as "problems associated with firearms and gang violence" occurring there. Although the Army and Air Force send thousands of Alaskans to Iraq and Afganistan, but will prosecute the same servicemen under the Uniform Code of Military Justice if they are caught in Elixir or Fantasies!

Reaching a new low in its "deliberative process", Assembly members acted on the license without allowing any debate of the matter among themselves or discussion with staff. Voting in favor the new club were Assembly members Shiela Selkregg, Dick Traini, Matt Claaman, Dan Coffey, Dan Sullivan, Jennifer Johnston, Debbie Ossiander, Bill Starr, Paul Bauer, and Chris Birch.

CLEAN ELECTIONS VOTE POSTPONED: The Assembly on Tuesday agreed to postpone until February 26, 2008, action on AR 2007-300 which would support the Clean Elections initiative. That initiative is headed to the November, 2008 ballot. While no formal public hearing on the resolution will be held, the public may address the Assembly on February 26th by filing by calling the City Clerk at 343-4311 to file an "appearance request" in order to speak to the Assembly. The Clean Elections Initiative does not apply to elections for municipal offices, the question remains whether Anchorage residents or the municipal government itself have sufficient interest in clean government at the state level for the Assembly to express its opinion in the matter.

YOUR PAPERS PLEASE, ROUND 3: Paul Bauer finally won a minor victory Tuesday night in his crusade against illegal immigrants in Anchorage. By a vote of 8-2, the Assembly approved a resolution (AR 2008-20) to support SB 215 and HB 3, in the legislature which would require proof of US citizenship or lawful residency before state IDs or drivers licenses are issued.. Mr. Bauer was unable to explain how the State would administer the new law, particularly with respect to rural Alaskans who may not have traveled outside of the country or obtained US passports. Bauer could not explain what is "valid documentary evidence" sufficient to obtain an ID or driver’s licence. Eager to pass Mr. Bauer’s resolution, however, Assembly members refused to refer the matter to the Assembly’s public safety committee to answer these questions. Instead the Assembly voted to cut off further discussion of this State issue and to approve the Bauer resolution. Assembly member Matt Claman was absent; only Assembly members Selkregg and Tesche opposed.

THE WAL MART WALLOW: After the superior court recently tossed out its decision in October, 2006 to rezone 53.52 acres in Muldoon for a new Wal Mart, the Assembly hasn’t really decided what to do: A work session held on Friday, February 8 produced no real plan of action or direction. A motion made by Assembly member Dick Traini late Tuesday night to send the entire matter back to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission for further review stalled when the Assembly instead voted to postpone action on the matter until next month when it could first huddle with city lawyers in executive session to decide what to do next.

$100M BOND PACKAGE HEADS TO THE VOTERS: The Assembly approved a package of ballot propositions for the April 1, 2008 regular election totaling $100.6M. Included in the package are $34.3M for reconstruction of Chester Valley Elementary School, the Girdwood K-8 School and Sand Lake Elementary School. $9.4M is proposed for district wide facilities renovation, $$44.8M for roads, $6.9M for facilities renovation including the Sullivan Arena . $3.6M for Fire capital improvements, and $1.6M for public safety and transportation improvements is planned.

An interesting sideshow on Assembly member Dan Sullivan’s financial interest in the project distracted the Assembly for almost an hour on Tuesday night. After hearing a financial disclosure from Mr. Sullivan about the value of his investment in McGinley’s Irish Pub on G St, and several opinions from lawyers present, the Assembly voted 6-4 that Mr. Sullivan has a "substantial financial interest" in the matter and directed him not to vote on a proposition he offered to segregate bonds proposed for construction of the E St. Corridor. The Assembly elected to keep the E St. bond within the larger road bond package.

SEN. OBAMA HAS SOMETHING FOR YOU: Take a break from all of these local politics and see what they are doing in the lower 48. Its awesome. http://www.dipdive.com/

WHOSE RUNNING IN THE SPRING ELECTIONS? At the close of business last Friday, the following candidates are running in the spring election for Assembly and school boarad:

Eagle River: Bill Starr (incumbent)
Anthony Lemons

West Anchorage: Harriet A. Drummond
Bert Hoak
Sherri R. Jackson

Midtown Anchorage: Dick Traini (incumbent)
Elvi Gray-Jackson

East Anchorage: Jeremy Baker
Paul Bauer (incumbent)
Mike Gutierrez

South Anchorage: Chris Birch (Incumbent)
Jesse Busick
Mike Kenny

School Board Seat C : Jim Bailey
David Boyle
David Dunsmore
Pat Higgins
Leigh Carrigan
Gilbert Sanchez
Steve Pratt
Kathleen Plunkett
Scott Pryde

School Board Seat D: Toni L. Truelove
John Steiner (Incumbent)
James LaBelle