Some excellent local news to share.

[Blue_In_AK]

As a result of yesterday's municipal election, Anchorage now has a liberal/progressive majority on the city assembly.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/anchorage/city_election/assembly/story/363029.html

The political balance of the Anchorage Assembly swung from right to left Tuesday night as voters elected four new members.

Incumbent Paul Bauer, part of the Assembly's conservative majority in recent years, lost to challenger Mike Gutierrez in the East Anchorage race.

In another key matchup, self-described progressive Harriet Drummond defeated conservative Sherri Jackson to claim Republican Dan Sullivan's seat in the West.

<snip>

While Assembly seats are considered non-partisan, factions form along party and ideological lines, and Tuesday's election marked a potential shift in leadership. The new lineup includes six candidates who lean to the left -- all are Democrats, as is Mayor Mark Begich -- and five who lean to the right. Previously, conservatives held at least seven of the 11 seats.

<snip>



So, see, all you doubters, Alaska is not as ruby red as you may think. We're very happy today.

[flor de jasmim]

1. That's great news!

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. Very cool!

:thumbsup:

[aquart]

3. Congratulations!

Did you ever think you'd see it?

[Blue_In_AK]

9. As bad as it was back in the late 80s - early 90s

(in between Tony Knowles' and Mark Begich's mayorships), this is like a miracle. I knew from the huge turnout at the Democratic caucus here in February that the Dems were on the rise. It's about time!

[calimary]

4. Excellent news! I have a good friend who lives in Anchorage. She's a sweet soul.

Her husband, unfortunately, may be beyond salvation. He probably won't be happy about this, at all.

BTW - THIS is how we work back up to a solid majority across the board, from coast-to-coast. BUILD THE INFRASTRUCTURE FROM THE BOTTOM UP. That's how the bad guys did it, and how they were able to hijack the soul and conscience of this country (not to mention what was left of its alleged "mind"-set). We need to do that - but in the interest of furthering The Side of the Light. You start from ground-level, small and local (where all politics supposedly is, to begin with), and work upward from there. And soon your entry-level school board people and county commissioner people and the like are rising to higher-level, more significant positions. And then some.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. Oh, I think I know the "type" your friend's husband is.

They're pretty vocal around here. :)

[calimary]

15. I'm sure he must be a nice man, because he married her, after all. But Good Grief!

I'm on their joint email list because of my friendship with her (known her since I was 9). She sends photos of cute little grand-babies and the moose that wandered through their front yard and spectacular scenery and such stuff. The ones he sends out are the smarmy pro-republi-CON, pro-CONservative, anti-liberal, anti-Dem, anti-Clinton, anti-Obama, pro-bush, pro-religious extremist, pro-shove-the-Bible-down-your-throats-preferably-by-force, pro-cheney, pro-homeland security, pro-hard-ass torture WHAT Constitution? Nonstop dreck. I think he's beyond help.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Oh, that's too funny.

I SO know the type. Do you know if he attends the Anchorage Baptist Temple perchance?

[calimary]

35. I do not. But he is a man of faith, it would seem. At least according to many of

the emails I get. They're strict, even militantly religion-based. Some are actually sweet. Many are chain letters that floor it on the guilt factor - along the lines of - "Jesus will relegate you to the damned because you're too ashamed of Him to forward this email to at least 10 people." Sigh... I didn't know ours was the God of Extortion - or I don't know - maybe of Strong-arming. Not sure of the exact word I'm searching for. Many of these make me feel uncomfortable.

[Jane Austin]

5. Thanks for that

great news!

[NV Whino]

6. Great news, Blue

Now, about Ted Stevens....

[babylonsister]

7. Yay, Blue! So goes the country, I hope! nt

[blm]

8. Congrats.

The beginning of alot of hard work for those folks.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. I think probably the most gratifying to me personally

of these victories yesterday was the defeat of Paul Bauer in East Anchorage. He's been one of those Lou Dobbs anti-immigration types just going on and on and on about Anchorage being a "sanctuary city" and so forth (it isn't, even though we have a large immigrant population) and trying to get resolutions passed that the the city cops would be required to check people's citizenship papers when they make routine stops, which thankfully even the previous conservative majority wouldn't pass. It's deeply satisfying to have him be defeated by a liberal Union man named "Gutierrez." :rofl:

[roguevalley]

29. his wife is pretty horrible too isn't she, blue? I am in a daze here. I

can't keep anchorage straight. I hope Begich gets in and kicks ass. I would love to see Alaska go blue. It would be a big back slap for the fifty state strategy. :)

[Blue_In_AK]

33. I've heard his wife is even more wacko than he is...

...but this will probably pretty well do in the Bauers. I don't think too many tears will be shed. He was just AWFUL.

[psychmommy]

that is great to hear.

i love your state it is beautiful.

[roguevalley]

30. come up, psychmommy. visitors are ALWAYS welcome. I love

tourists. I live on the Kenai and the salmon here are so big you have to see them to believe them.

[roguevalley]

31. here is a picture of the world record king salmon caught by a nice

local man named Les Anderson. He was so sweet, he didn't take it to be weighed before it had a chance to dehydrate a little in the back of his truck. It should have been over 100 lbs but came in at about 94 or 96lbs when he did have it weighed. Its about five feet long.

[Blue_In_AK]

34. Rogue, did I ever show you this one?

Not as big as the one in your picture, but I was still pretty impressed. :) This is on the Kasilof.

[roguevalley]

39. that's a huge fish for the kasilof. gorgeous fish. anyone we know

hooking it?

[Blue_In_AK]

40. Me. :-)

I love the Kasilof, it's so quiet with no motor boats, and the guide we go with knows all the good spots. We've got another trip with him planned this summer, so maybe I'll have a new picture to post.

[roguevalley]

42. wow. that is wonderful. the kasilof is a nice river. some parts of it

are so shallow you scrape bottom on your canoes. :) Have a great time there this summer. should be tons of good times. Gas is probably going to keep a lot of people from coming here. :( By the by, my nephew told me to fill up my car TODAY because gas is going up 10 cents a gallon tomorrow. He knows because of his work.

[DesertRat]

10. That's great! k&r

[Stinky The Clown]

13. Gawd I love this kinda news!

Good on Anchorage!!!

[Peace Patriot]

14. NO PART OF AMERICA is as "ruby red" as some have thought! In fact,

the evidence is that the majority of America has been "blue" all along!

I've been studying various issue and approval polls, from both corporate and independent sources, since, oh, the invasion of Iraq, cuz I wanted to know, had my fellow Americans got nutso fascist, or was something else going on? An important strategic question: how bad is it, or, if the appearance of public opinion was wrong, who was creating that impression and why?

The first stat that blew me away was this: FIFTY-SIX PERCENT of Americans opposed the Iraq War, just before the invasion. Feb. '03. NYT poll; other polls 54-55%.

Hm-m. And all you saw on TV was flag-waving yahoos, repeating Bush warmongering "talking points." And in the big megalopoly print venues as well--like the NYT (touting Judith Miller's WMD lies week after week) and the Associated Pukes.

Their own polls were telling them that the majority didn't want this war, didn't trust Bush, etc.--yet they pushed it relentlessly. You couldn't escape it. It was everywhere--war, war, war!

Well, I'll tell ya. That stat says it all. Well, maybe another stat: That 56% anti-war majority has now grown to a whopping, epochal 70%, and still the American people cannot get their will enforced--the end to this goddamned, unjust, illegal, heinous, mass murdering war for oil!

I've seen similar trends on all important issues--such as torturing prisoners (63% opposed "under any circumstances"-May '04), and Social Security (can't remember the stat, but it was huge in favor of protecting, and not privatizing, the fund--like 80%-ish). The American people disagreed with every Bush policy, foreign and domestic, often by big majorities.

So, what did that tell us, strategically? Something wrong with the voting system, for sure. And you don't have to look far to know what it is--a bill by Congress, in the same month as the Iraq War Resolution--Oct '02--to fast-track voting machines, all over the country, run on 'TRADE SECRET,' proprietary programmng code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls. First, they stopped the Florida vote count, in 2000, and appointed Bush as emperor. Then they fixed it so he would stay emperor, and to prevent us from being able to elect a Congress to end the war, impeach his ass, and stop all this fascist policy.

But what do stolen elections do, besides put the wrong people in office? They ALSO demoralize the people, the voters, the political activists, the majority. It is not just disenfranchising, it is depressing. People lose heart. They don't fight back. They don't speak up. And they are bewildered--they don't know what's wrong, why democracy is not working. And with this wholly evil crew in the White House, and their enablers in Congress, by the time the people catch up with what has been done to them, so much damage has been done to the country, and to our democratic institutions, that it will take the rest of the century to recover from it.

In any case, it is comforting and HEARTENING to know that the majority of the American people DID NOT go along with this. The propaganda DIDN'T WORK. The American people have actually been amazingly resistant to the relentless, 24/7 fascist propaganda and warmongering. But they have to get more practical. Where does our power reside? It resides almost entirely in our vote. And besides everything else we have to do--run candidates everywhere, raise money, write letters, lobby, protest, etc.--we MUST, first and foremost, restore vote counting that everyone can see and understand.

[Robbien]

16. Nice to see you have taken control back from your ruby red politicos

Great job! :thumbsup:

[Blue_In_AK]

18. I hope this is a portent of things to come in the fall

in the national election. Don Young, no doubt, is toast ... he probably won't even make it past the Republican primary ... and hopefully "Tubes" Stevens, too. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

[Robbien]

22. You have it

Sending wishes up north for good karma to come and drop the boom on a few sticky fingered GOP politicos.

[mdmc]

19. kick

nice news!

[Ichingcarpenter]

20. Yeah, man, I know you have been working on this for years

I follow your protest against the war and all the news you give us from Alaska
Thanks!!!!!

[Blue_In_AK]

24. Thank you, Iching.

:hug:

[cureautismnow]

21. Spring is nigh as Alaskans begin to see the light.

Thanks for sharing the wonderful news. It gives you an even better reason to stay "Anchored Down in Anchorage." :-)

[Blue_In_AK]

23. You know, I just love this town,

so I'm thrilled to death that my neighbors are "coming around."

[Beausoleil]

44. "Anchored Down in Anchorage"

OT, but I was fortunate enough to see Michelle Shocked in concert in Anchorage. WONDERFUL concert! She did the song twice, once as an encore. "Kevin" of the song was there on stage with the band - he was about 18 or 19 at the time.

It was great to see her do "Memories of East Texas" with the whole Anchorage crowd singing along, word for word!

[Dinger]

25. Wish I Could Say The Same Thing Here (Wisconsin)

It sucked.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=186&topic_id=24728&mesg_id=24728

Besides that, they took away Doyle's veto power.
Bad, bad day.

[Yael]

26. w00t! Wonderful news, Blue

:hug:

[Robbien]

27. Did you see the dKos diary on this turning of Alaska's Red to Blue?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/2/134515/3616/209/488962

I'm probably the most dogged writer in Alaska to have been observing the slow movement to the left in our politics over the past four years. Explaining how this is happening to other Alaskans is fairly difficult. Explaining it to a nationwide redership, like at DailyKos, might be well-nigh impossible, but I'll give it a try.

The unraveling began in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. Since 1994, when that somewhat rural and rapidly growing bedroom community cluster went from all Democratic Party representation in the state legislature to all GOP representation, it was long seen as a sure fire haven for GOP office holders. The political makeup of the area was solidly GOP-oriented on almost every level for the next decade. As current GOP state representative from the Palmer area, Carl Gatto, recently observed, "If you were a Republican in 1994, your name could have been Dillinger, first name John, and you probably would have been elected."

The Mat-Su Valley also served a the launching pad for Alaska's current Governor, Sarah Palin. Of the GOP figures dominating Mat-Su Valley politics over the past 14 years, Palin is the only one who has learned and evolved. The rest, especially those representing the far right, are falling one by one.

The first to fall was Palmer's State Senator Scott Ogan, in the spring and summer of 2004. He had taken advantage of Alaska's incredibly lax rules regarding the off-session work our legislators can do as consultants for businesses they have more reason to be regulating than making huge and secretive fees advising. The business Ogan was employed by, Evergreen Resources, Inc, was engaged in an all-out effort to drill for coal bed methane in Ogan's district. Residents from left and right were revolted by stories of how Evergreen did business in Colorado. The incredibly large amount of water used in Evergreen's extraction process was only one of the causes for concern. The footprints for the wells and their access roads are quite obtrusive and ugly.

As public hearings on the drilling proceeded in Mat-Su communities through 2003 and 2004, Ogan's defense of his employer led to a recall movement, which might or might not have succeeded. But Ogan, recovering in 2004 from a heart attack, stepped down.

About the same time, Rep. Bev Masik of Willow, another of the 1994 wave of far right Republicans in the Valley state legislative contingent lost a primary election over questions of her personal use of campaign and office funds.

2004 Mat-Su Valley local elections saw no gains for progressives, but 2005 and 2006 showed gains in school board, borough assembly and local government offices and issues. In August 2006 Wasilla GOP State Rep. Vic Kohring's office was raided by the FBI. But three months later, he won re-election, which surprised some.

But Kohring's arrest in May, 2006, on corruption charges, and a subsequent recall effort, forced his resignation in July, followed by his conviction on three Federal corruption counts in late October 2007.

2007 bought more victories and elections of Mat-Su Valley progressives to local office, and two stunning defeats for Valley Republicans. The local power co-op, Matanuska Electrical Association, under the Dick Cheneyesque leadership of Tuckerman Babcock, the creator of our incredibly gerrymandered 2000 census legislative redistricting map, and a former Chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, was trying to shove a massive col-fired powerplant down the throats of the co-op members. The plan, like the 2003-2004 coal bed methane plans, brought people from all political backgrounds together, united to fight what was generally perceived to be a very bad idea.

Then, in the October 2007 local Valley elections, progressives won more victories, and a wingnut Proposition One, designed to limit borough land use decisions, failed 2 to 1.

Yesterday's Anchorage local elections are further proof that the massive turnouts for Democratic Party caucuses on Super Tuesday and the recent election of a progresive slate of candidates to the Matanuska Electrical Association board of directors aren't anomolies.

Progressive Republicans, backed by Gov. Sarah Palin, even tried to take over the GOP apparatus at the March Alaska Republican Convention, but that move failed.

But all these victories, in this very red state, are sure signs that our legislature will probably change hands in November. It is already being run by the first coalition in years that gives Democratic members a voice.

With more GOP corruption arrests assured by the recent guilty plea of Jim Clark, former Governor Frank Murkowski's former chief of staff, it is probable that the Democratic Party victors of our August 26 primaries, will go on to victory in November.

Nice to read the history of how the movement progressed.

[Blue_In_AK]

28. Oh, thanks for that.

I know Phil Munger, rather casually. He also volunteers for Diane Benson's congressional campaign so I see him at the functions. Really a nice guy, and he sums this up quite well from a "Valley" perspective. Of course, Anchorage had its own corrupt and convicted Republican state legislators, Tom Anderson and Pete Kott, who got caught up in the VECO mess, and there's still Bruce Weyhrauch down in Juneau who hasn't gone to trial yet. Everybody knows there will be more indictments, including hopefully Ted and Don.

Politics is really fun up here these days. :)

[Brigid]

32. Could this be a sign of things to come?

Just sayin'. ;)

[lonestarnot]

36. Woodamnhoo!

:bounce: :party: Congratulations!

[Kitty Herder]

37. That's good news!

I'll have to rub it in the face of my conservative Alaskan friend.

[Blue_In_AK]

38. Oh, PLEASE do...

:evilgrin:

[blondeatlast]

41. The Left needs to push much harder locally--where we see results

much clearer.

Great news!

[Beausoleil]

43. So happy for you, Blue!

I love Alaska and the years I lived there. It's good to see things swinging around to the left in Anchorage. I've thought that Alaska was always anti-authoritarian, even if not all Alaskans knew that Repubs weren't. If ANWR were never an issue, Repubs would have had a much harder time holding on as long as they have.

It'll be good to see Young and Stevens gone!

[Blue_In_AK]

45. Oh, yes, we're very much a libertarian (small l) bunch up here.

And I agree with you about ANWR, and oil in general. We as citizens of Alaska have benefited greatly from the revenues generated by the resource, but at some cost to our souls, I believe. Thankfully, people up here (including the governor) are starting to talk seriously about new forms of energy production, geothermal, tidal, wind, etc., so maybe we can wean ourselves off the black gold soon. Nothing would make me happier.