The ALASKA GOVERNMENT is controlled by Unions and special interests in the Legislature, in the Executive and in the Courts. We are still a colony of the United States of America, controlled by the Seattle suburb of Juneau, where our capitol is maintained despite The People voting to move it in the 1970s. Many people come here for their Alaska Adventure and leave nothing of value.
The Long View of Crime in Alaska (2020©donnliston.co) During the 1970s construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline we saw our state transformed by crime; as also happened in previous fur and gold rushes. It happened simultaneous to the influx of people flooding here to build that engineering marvel, while some others arrived for diabolical […]
We Don’t have to be Victims: Read More »
Who does the Alaska Legislature Really Represent? The Alaska Economy is staggering like a weakened 11th round boxer, from a half-year Coronavirus Pandemic bout, but the Alaska Legislature made no attempt in Juneau to stop the move of $4 Billion from the Permanent Fund Earning Reserve Account (ERA) to the untouchable principal of the fund
Sen. Shelley Hughes Speaks Out (2020 Interview) Read More »
Who Can Afford to Live in Alaska? Alaska has always had a tenuous economy, buffeted by winds of boom and bust. Most economic winds are generated by capacity for natural resource extraction. And, for more than 40 years, income from any other industry has been a bonus. This fragile economic reality means government sector employees
Alaska’s Economy Down from China Virus Read More »
Alaskans in confinement due to the Corona virus may take this chance to reflect on more than day-to-day minutia of chores related to winter becoming spring, perhaps even considering the reality of Henry David Thoreau’s (1817-1862) statement that the mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.1 Another classic American author, Albert Camus (1913-1960) expanded
Alaska Reflections on The Plague: The Contagious Disease of some Elected Officials Read More »
Muni Election Hopes and Fears (2020©donnliston.com) The Municipality of Anchorage is going to have another election on April 7, 2020 which will be determined by a mail-in ballot. This is depressing on many levels; 1) the low caliber of people currently holding a majority of Muni Assembly seats, 2) the need to again hold the
The Failed Impeachment of Gov. Bill Sheffield (2019©donnliston.co) Governor Bill Sheffield grins as he walks back to the Capitol building in Juneau flanked by his attorneys John Conway and Philip Lacovara in 1985. (MICHAEL PENN / Anchorage Daily News) William Jefferson Sheffield was another father figure governor of Alaska. Elected in 1982, he was the
Old Time Alaska Corruption Read More »
First Published January, 2016; A story from Gov. Dunleavy’s former Mat-Su Senate District. A new student in my Wasilla, Alaska, Adult Basic Education (ABE) class recently expressed wonder in how much he had progressed in just a few days of math study here, and, further expressing himself told of the public high school he had
Alaska’s Government School Failure: What will it take to fix them? Read More »
(2019©donnliston.co) The yard signs and billboards are all over Eagle River and Chugiak urging area voters to consider detaching from the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA). As a community we are having a discussion about the meaning of local government. Another informational meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 3 at the ER
2019 EaglExit Overview: Can Local Government be better for Us? Read More »
Previously posted on Must Read Alaska: https://mustreadalaska.com/is-eagle-river-ready-for-a-divorce/ (2019©donnliston.co) By DONN LISTON While many residents of the Railbelt from Eagle River to Eklutna were enjoying a cold one in their taxed-to-the-max Municipality of Anchorage home on Friday, other locals gathered at Lion’s Park Clubhouse to talk about quality of life — learning about EaglExit possibilities without
Introducing EaglExit: Is Eagle River ready for a divorce? Read More »
Captives in Lala Land… January 26, 2019 – Previous version published in ECHO Magazine. Once upon a time, the people of Alaska voted to move the state capital out of the backwater Southeast community of Juneau. By a vote of 46,659 to 35,683 a 1974 voter initiative Relocating and Constructing a New Capital called for the
Alaska’s Capital Move Efforts: O Ye, of Little Faith Read More »
