MEANWHILE ... Here's what Juneau earwigs found worth mentioning: On the official last day of the session, just a single bill was on the daily calendar for action. That's not necessarily bad. The fewer laws, the better, says the Omniscient Orifice. But it's the only time that's happened since we started having official last days back in 1985. The final calendar is always jammed with pages and pages of bills trying to make it through, even in years when everyone knew there was going to be a special session. The lonely bill had something to do with the number of Superior Court judges.
An earwig did pass along one good laugh that happened early last week: Sen. Lyman Hoffman, co-chair of Senate Finance, was scurrying down the second-floor hallway, pursued by reporters. He ducked into an elevator to escape, only to find himself one-on-one with Rep. Bill Thomas, co-chair of House Finance. Onlookers say the shouting started before the elevator doors closed.
A SNICKER ... It's not a belly laugh, but "Gavel to Gavel," which broadcasts the legislative session, played Pink Floyd's "Pillow of Winds" during a long at-ease in the debate over a bill to ban synthetic pot. Just a coincidence, they claim.
THE OTHER SIDE ... People who care a lot more than Ear does about the ins and outs of what's (not) happening in the Legislature say it's all because Gov. Sean Parnell and the House are determined to cut oil taxes and the Senate is saying hmmm, let's not.
Ear can understand why the oil companies need a break from their tax bills. Check out a New York Times executive compensation chart for American corporations, published April 10 and now online. Conoco Phillips ("Alaska's oil company") paid CEO James Mulva $17.9 million last year, a $5.5 million raise over 2009. Exxon Mobile paid their guy $21.7 million in 2009.
And you know they're going to want a raise once they check the chart. Viacom's CEO got $84.5 million.
HE CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW ... The news is out that former Palin aide and confidante Frank Bailey has a publisher for his Sarah tell-all, "Blind Allegiance." It's due May 24 from Howard Books, a Christian publishing house bought by Simon & Schuster in 2006. Judging from the company's current book list, "Blind Allegiance" seems a change of pace for them, but it's apparently paying off. On Friday, when Ear ordered a copy, it was No. 13 on Amazon's best-sellers list of political biographies and memoirs.
Based on the manuscript famously leaked by a rival author a few months ago, this is not a great work of art. It's a sad tale about the betrayal of an uncomplicated guy who never does understand what happened to him. However, it remains Ear's favorite from the tree-killing epidemic prompted by Sarah. It's peppered with zillions of contemporaneous emails, written to and by Sarah and Todd. We don't have to rely on anyone's opinion or interpretation. This is Sarah showing us, through her own words, who she really is.
NO END ... Newsweek is apparently working on a story about Todd Palin. Angle unknown. A reporter from the magazine is calling former Palinistos for interviews.
JUST THE FACTS ... A distraught earwig wrote to say the 2014 U.S. Senate campaign has apparently already begun, three years early. She said she heard a Mark Begich commercial on KENI, "paid for by Alaskans for Mark Begich." However, the senator's office assured Ear that it was not a campaign commercial -- just part of an expanded effort to talk to Alaskans about what's going on in Washington. Issues. This one was about the budget. Not campaigning. Of course not.
BTW, Ear couldn't help but notice that campaigning by people who want to take Begich's seat in 2014 began the day after he got elected. But that's another story.
TMI ... Ear hears that political flack/reporter/actor Prickly Bill McAllister -- he of the famously short fuse and flaming emails -- managed to get himself on the court calendar this week, and not in a good way.
NEW MOVIE ... Maybe. Folks in Girdwood say there's talk of hiring for a film called "The Red Machine." Kind of "Jaws" with a bear. That's the rumor, anyhow.
HOMER v SEWARD ... Great stroking, all of you who went online and voted for Homer in The World Fishing Network's contest for the title of "Ultimate Fishing Town USA." As a result, Homer is kicking butt in the (admittedly tiny) Pacific division. Unfortunately, one of the butts it's kicking is Seward's. Seward earwigs are upset. Ear feels bad. Seward is a lovely town.
There are 10 days left and you can vote more than once. So start stroking those keys. www.wfnfishingtown.com/vote-view.php. It will be pathetic if a non-Alaska town wins.
DUTCH HARBOR BLOTTER ... "04/11/11 13:51 Assistance Rendered -- Drunken man called to complain that an equally drunken man, whom he had invited in to his home with the express intent of becoming intoxicated, was now intoxicated and unable to leave. The officer advised the caller that if he didn't want drunken friends in his house, he should not invite them in to drink."
Compiled by Sheila Toomey. Message Sheila at 257-4341 or ear@adn.com. Find Ear online at www.adn.com/ear.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.