Joe Miller makes noise about Running for Congress
Weekly Clips from November 24, 2011 through December 8, 2011
U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-AK., and Joe Miller (U.S. Senate candidate in 2010)
U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-AK.
President Names Alaskan Teressa Baldwin “Champion of Change”
November 29: Mark Begich–U.S. Senator: Pressroom: “All Alaskans can be proud of Teressa Baldwin and her work to inspire young people across Alaska to fight suicide by seeking help and offering a hand to friends in trouble.
“Even though she’s still a senior in high school, Teressa has transformed the tragedy in her own life into a positive message to be shared with other Alaskans. Her organization, Hope4Alaska, is a powerful tool in our collective fight against suicide and provides countless young people with the power they need to help themselves and others.
“President Obama has made Alaska proud by recognizing Teressa as a ‘Champion of Change’ and bringing her message and story to the national stage.
“All of Alaska’s elected officials, community leaders and youth advocates should join hands with Teressa and work together to fight one of Alaska’s most notorious problems. As Teressa tells groups across the state, small words and acts of encouragement can go a long way. We should all keep this in mind every day.”
……………………………………………………………….
Delegation Wants Equal Treatment for Alaska’s Fisheries
November 29: Mark Begich–U.S. Senator: Pressroom: “You have made commitments to fund observers in other regions while they transition to catch share programs,” wrote the delegation. “We are concerned funding observers in these regions might jeopardize your ability to provide start up funds for the restructured North Pacific Groundfish Observer Program. Meanwhile, the burden imposed on fishermen in Alaska’s small boats and 60 –foot to 125-foot vessel fleets would be unwarranted.” More…
……………………………………………………………….
Begich Amendments to Defense Authorization Help Alaska
November 30: Mark Begich–U.S. Senator: Pressroom: Begich’s amendment, the National Guard, Reserve “Gray Area” Retiree and Surviving Spouse Space-Available Travel Equity Act, gives National Guard members, Reservists and their families the same space-available travel privileges on Department of Defense (DoD) aircraft as active duty service members. Currently, members and retirees of the reserve component have limited space-available travel opportunities on DoD aircraft.
“Travel is such a big part of life in Alaska, we need to make sure it is easy and economical for our National Guard and Reserve members,” Begich said. “These men and women serve shoulder-to-shoulder with our active duty members. I just attended a deployment ceremony and shook the hands of 150 of our Alaska Guard members deploying to Afghanistan. They certainly deserve equal benefits for themselves and their families.” More…
……………………………………………………………….
Defense Bill Brings Nearly $400 M in Facility Investment to Alaska
December 1: Mark Begich–U.S. Senator: Pressroom: “With nearly 9,000 Alaska-based troops serving in Afghanistan by the end of this year, this bill provides the funding necessary to make sure our service members are supported at home and overseas while eliminating wasteful Pentagon spending,” Begich said. “The military investments authorized in the bill keep our forces strong and ready to serve, while also supporting the economy with jobs and construction dollars.” More…
……………………………………………………………….
Begich Pleased with Alaska Native Education Initiative
December 3: Mark Begich–U.S. Senator: Pressroom: U.S. Sen. Mark Begich today released the following statement after President Obama announced he is establishing an initiative to help expand educational opportunities for Alaska Native and American Indian students. An Executive Order called The Improving American Indian and Alaska Native Educational Opportunities and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities Initiative was announced as part of Obama’s third White House Tribal Nations Conference.
“This is welcome news as we know we must do more to improve educational outcomes for Alaska Natives students. This initiative sets the tone for policies Congress must pursue in an overhaul of No Child Left Behind.
“Any new law must respect and embrace Alaska Native cultures and languages, as well as give educators the tools needed to prepare students for careers in science, technology, engineering and math fields. I am pleased to see a focus on improving educational outcomes and career opportunities.” More…
……………………………………………………………….
Begich Applauds FAA Decision to Protect Pilot Privacy
December 2: Mark Begich–U.S. Senator: Pressroom: “I am very pleased to see the FAA take swift action to comply with the Congressional directive to restore the BARR program. We recognized this as an unnecessary invasion of privacy and have been working to make sure the BARR program stays intact,” Begich said. “Americans are not entitled to any less privacy because they are flying an airplane.” More…
……………………………………………………………….
Begich Applauds Progress on CD-5
December 5: Mark Begich–U.S. Senator: Pressroom: U.S. Sen. Mark Begich released the following statement today after the Department of Interior (DOI) announced the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Environmental Protection Agency have reached an agreement in principle with ConocoPhillips regarding the company’s proposed Alpine Satellite Development Plan (CD-5) in the National Petroleum Reserve –Alaska (NPRA).
According to the DOI, the agreement in principle confirms construction of a pipeline and bridge over the Colville River will move forward:
“This is a great way to ring in the holiday season at a time when Alaska’s oil and gas industry needs to hear some good news on the development front.
“It’s been a long and sometimes frustrating process to get to this decision. I commend ConocoPhillips and the Interior Department for sticking with it. This foothold into the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska will bring new jobs and millions of barrels of oil to help fill the pipeline.” More…
……………………………………………………………….
Sen. Begich Statement on 70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor
December 6: Mark Begich–U.S. Senator: Pressroom: “Today, 70 years later the ‘date that will live in infamy’ continues to remind each of us of the great sacrifices that our men and women in the military make for our country.
“We will soon have more than 9,000 Alaska-based service men and women deployed to Afghanistan, where the 1st Stryker Brigade, the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team and members of the Alaska Army National Guard are taking the fight to those who would seek to do our nation harm. There are also 550 remaining Alaska-based service members in Iraq.
“As we prepare to enjoy our holiday season, let us keep them, their families, and all the other men and women serving in uniform, in our thoughts and prayers.
“Our freedom and democracy are not free and, just as we saw on December 7, 1941 and throughout our nation’s history, it will always require brave Americans willing to risk all for this great nation and our way of life.”
……………………………………………………………….
The ‘Taxpayers Right to Know Act’ Introduced in Both Chambers of Congress Today
December 7: Mark Begich–U.S. Senator: Pressroom: “Taxpayers have a right to know where every penny of their money is being spent,” Senator Begich said. “At this time of a staggering national deficit and debt, we need to increase transparency and accountability for how federal dollars are spent and this helps moves us down that path.” More…
……………………………………………………………….
Begich Statement on BLM Lease Sale
December 7: Mark Begich–U.S. Senator: Pressroom: “Today’s bids to develop additional North Slope oil are more good news for Alaska. Combined with recent steps forward on offshore permitting and today’s state lease sale, we’re finally making progress opening federal lands and waters in Alaska’s Arctic for responsible oil and gas development. I’m pleased to see the industry respond positively.
“With nearly 900 million barrels of conventional, undiscovered oil and 53 trillion cubic feet of gas within NPRA and adjacent state lands, the NPR-A can be an important source of oil to bridge the gap between declining North Slope production and development of the resources in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.” More…
……………………………………………………………….
Begich: military cuts expected in future
Juneau Empire: November 30: Sen. Mark Begich said the state’s military installations can expect significant budget cuts in coming years as the federal government moves ahead with reducing the deficit.
Begich, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he will make sure Alaska is treated fairly, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://bit.ly/tH4ADh ) reported Tuesday.
“Do we worry about cuts? Yes,” Begich said. “Do we worry about unfair cuts? That’s what we want to watch out for.”
The inability of the congressional “supercommittee” to reach a deficit-reducing compromise this month will trigger a $1.2 trillion package of automatic cuts in the decade ahead. About half of that is supposed to come from military spending, with the first cuts scheduled for early 2013.
Begich, D-Alaska, predicted Congress will enter the debate about military cuts before the automatic reductions take effect in 2013. He said his priority will be protecting the pay and benefits of service members. More…
………………………………………………………………
Pac Northwest fishing interests pushing against CDQs
Alaska Journal of Commerce: December 1: Alaska heavy?
McCarty, who also sits on the Marine Fisheries Advisory Council, a body that offers advice to the Secretary of Commerce, talked about the success of CDQs at a February 2010 meeting in Honolulu — chaired by Balsiger —to discuss the federal draft catch share policy.
“Frankly I can’t think of very much that is wrong with it,” McCarty said, according to transcripts. “The main thing that is wrong with it is that people envy it. And there is a lot of hostility in the rest of the fisheries toward the CDQ program. And some people consider it social engineering, which indeed it is, and it is hugely successful for these communities and people resent the program.
“And it comes out in testimony at the council. It comes out on radios at the fishing grounds. ‘Oh, you are a CDQ group, you can buy anything you want. You can pay your crew anything you want. We can’t compete with you because you are so successful,’ and that is really what the net effect has been of the CDQ program because it has been so successful.”
Alaska Sen. Mark Begich said the ideas from the Pacific Northwest are going nowhere.
“As chairman of the Senate Oceans Subcommittee, I will work to make sure this proposal never sees the light of day,” Begich said in September when the Poulsen letter surfaced.
Larry Cotter, executive director of CDQ group Aleutians Pribilof Island Community Development Association, said the Poulsen letter was “full of factual errors and revisionist history.”
“This is a group of individuals who are upset that the days when Alaska was a colony are gone, and are incredibly asking their delegations to do whatever they can do to make Alaska a colony once again,” Cotter said.
Begich was specifically mentioned in the letter from the Deep Sea Fishermen’s Union as being “known to show support for the halibut charter industry, an industry that has looked only toward shortsighted economic gains.”
The letter from DSFU asks Cantwell to retake her chairmanship of the Senate Oceans subcommittee, which she held until Begich took over at the beginning of the 2011 Congress.
“Senator Begich’s powerful and influential position as chairman … is great for Alaska but bad for the rest of us who expect a federally managed fishery,” McManus wrote, calling it “the fox guarding the henhouse.” More…
……………………………………………………………….
New missile defense contract should be awarded soon, Begich says
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: November 28: The slow-moving process to award a huge new contract for part of the U.S. missile defense system should be completed by the end of the year, U.S. Sen. Mark Begich said Monday.
Begich, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he’s “very confident” the contract will be awarded sometime next month. Two rival teams of defense contractors, led by Lockheed Martin and the Boeing Corporation, respectively, are battling for the contract. It includes most work at the missile defense site at the former Fort Greely Army post near Delta Junction, with oversight of roughly 150 employees there.
The award was supposed to be awarded in early summer, but has been delayed twice. Begich said it’s simply taken more time than expected to sort through the complicated bids, which he said are “very different but offer the same end result.”
“The process is a little more complex than they’d anticipated,” Begich said. More…
………………………………………………………………
Begich on DOJ; Deficit Super Committee
KTVA: November 30: Senator Mark Begich talks about the Department of Justice’s failure to prosecute Bill Allen on sex crimes, as well as the controversial “Fast and Furious” operation which put American guns in the hands of Mexican cartel members.
Sen. Begich also addresses the failure of the debt super committee, and why congress is so concerned with the extension of a payroll tax break. Watch… More…
………………………………………………………………
Senate panel weighs congressional insider-trading ban
Washington Post: December 1: “If someone wants to cheat, they will find a way,” said Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska). “The thing is disclosure, disclosure, disclosure. . . . It should all be available anytime online and in a searchable database.” More…
……………………………………………………………….
Senate proves we should fear ourselves
Alaska Daily News: December 3: On Thursday, the U.S. Senate voted to simultaneously shred the centuries-old Posse Comitatus Act, which prevents the use of American soldiers to enforce domestic laws, and habeas corpus, our fundamental right to challenge our detention by the government. I could hear the echoing empty cries of the founding fathers’ declaration of independence:
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury
During the most heated parts of the Senate debate, Sens. Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski were nowhere to be seen. They were back in Alaska, engaged in dueling photo ops.
On Tuesday, yet another military deployment ceremony took place here. The 4th Brigade Combat Team was preparing to leave for a year-long deployment in Afghanistan.
Thirty-five hundred souls were headed back into combat to fight for our freedom while our two senators missed three days of a genuine attack on our freedom: the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.
The Twitter feeds of our senators broadcast their activities: Begich rang a bell for the Salvation Army. Murkowski went to a play. Both senators spoke and posed for pictures at the deployment ceremony.
I would find it ironic, if it weren’t so nauseating. More…
………………………………………………………………
New oil and gas companies snatch up federal tracts, too
Alaska Dispatch: December 7: The Bureau of Land Management, holding an oil and gas lease offering a few hours after the state’s sale, received $3.6 million for 20 tracts covering 141,000 acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
BLM had offered 283 tracts totaling 3 million acres and received bids on just 17 tracts – or about 6 percent.
Some companies seemed interested in leasing federal tracts adjacent to those offered by the state near the Colville River, said Artealia Gilliard, a spokeswoman for the BLM in Alaska.
“That was the rule of the day,” she said.
The state Natural Resources department had hoped companies would lease adjacent state and federal tracts during the bid openings in downtown Anchorage on Wednesday.
The three successful bidders in the federal sale — ConocoPhillips and newcomers Woodstone Resources LLC, with offices in Texas, and Colorado-based 70 & 148 LLC — also successfully bid in the state sale, Gilliard said. It was too early to know if the companies leased adjacent state and federal land, she said.
The highest bid for a single tract was for $500,000, she said. That tract near the Colville River cost 70 & 148 LLC about $100 per acre.
BLM currently manages 169 leases covering 1.3 million acres in the northeast and northwest planning areas of NPR-A, the company said in a release.
In the northeast region, BLM has approved the Greater Mooses Tooth and the Bear Tooth unit, both operated by ConocoPhillips.
Alaska Sen. Mark Begich called the sale good news. ”Combined with recent steps forward on offshore permitting and today’s state lease sale, we’re finally making progress opening federal lands and waters in Alaska’s Arctic for responsible oil and gas development,” he said in a written statement. More…
………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………
Joe Miller (U.S. Senate candidate in 2010)
Spokesman: Miller tweet not hint at political plans to challenge Young but options open
The Republic: December 1: A Joe Miller tweet about a possible ethics investigation of Rep. Don Young isn’t a hint that Miller is considering challenging Young next year, a spokesman said.
But Miller’s spokesman, Bill Peck, repeated what Miller has said: that all options remain open.
Miller became a household name in Alaska during his unsuccessful U.S. Senate run against fellow Republican Lisa Murkowski. He has since become chairman of a conservative political action committee and formed his own Alaska PAC.
Peck says the tweet was referencing concern for the political climate of Alaska and Washington, D.C., and corruption.
Peck says the tweet was referencing concern for the political climate of Alaska and Washington, D.C., and corruption.
This week, the U.S. House Ethics Committee said it’s considering whether to investigate Young, following an inquiry into whether donations to the Republican’s legal defense fund exceeded the contribution limit.
Young has said the rules regarding such things are vague but that the trustee would return any funds the committee may determine in violation of the contribution limit. More…

