Anchorage Daily News

OH BOO HOO ... A story last Saturday full of legislators whining about having to sleep in their Capitol offices because there were no rooms available in Juneau sounded a little shrill to The Luscious Lobe. Could there have been a "move-the-capital" subtext from the mostly Anchorage/Mat-Su complainers?

So imagine how not surprised Ear was to learn that there were plenty of rooms available and that back in April, Baranof Hotel general manager Steve Hamilton wrote to Legislative Affairs guaranteeing a room for any lawmaker who needed one, at $119 a night, significantly below the $218 per diem they're all getting paid. And that included cooking facilities.

A copy of the e-mail traffic sent to Ear shows this information was shared with lawmakers.

Ear's not saying the boys didn't sleep in their offices, just that they didn't have to.

SARADISE ... The People Magazine photo crew came to town for two days to get pictures for the story mentioned in last week's column. The gov's office said they shot Sarah at the offices of the Rasmuson Foundation in Midtown where she signed the PFD charity check-off bill into law, at her office in the Atwood Building downtown, and at her Wasilla home. Still no publication date.

SENATOR MENARD ... Jockeying over the new Senate organization got going long before Lyda was pushed out Thursday by dismal poll results. By Saturday most of the chat was about where Linda Menard would park -- with the Republican minority, or with a new R-D coalition building to run the Senate next year?

A Juneau earwig who pays attention to such things says the Senate org appears likely to have nine Democrats and maybe even 10. Add three or four Republicans currently in the majority and pretty soon there's no room on the raft.

Most mentioned in the gossip as new president is Gary Stevens, but it's still early days.

MAYBE NOT ... That gas-now protest rally organized by Rep. Jay Ramras mentioned last week happened as planned, while the Legislature was doing its road trip thing in Fairbanks on Thursday. Someone sent Ear a copy of Jay's letter soliciting donations for the event -- he told Ear he put up a bunch of money himself and got about $12,000 from Fairbanks businesses. The stated goal was to convince lawmakers a small diameter pipeline is needed to supply Alaskans, that people can't wait for the big pipeline project.

Anyhow, the sentence that got Ear's attention read as follows: "This is a rally, not a political event. Therefore it is tax deductible, just like sponsoring a 10k marathon race."

Ear can only note, after the laughing stops, that it's a novel theory the IRS may not buy into. Jay wisely suggests donors verify his advice with their own accountants.

ON THE MOVE ... Michelle Egan, longtime flak for the Anchorage School District, will move to Alyeska Pipeline next month to take Mike Heatwole's old job as corporate communications director.

• Still no word about who will take John Tracy's job as news director at KTUU. John says he hopes the new owners promote from within but we'll see. John is gone at the end of June to his new partnership at Bradley Reid.

FLYING FACTOID ... A Cook Inlet whale has been named "Sir Elton John Beluga." Ear's not sure who gets to name giant fishy mammals, but something called the Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Conservation Fund seems to be involved.

The press release says the fishy Sir John is easily recognizable by his flaming feather boa.

OK, just kidding. By his distinctive scars.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES ... Morris Communication told employees at the Juneau Empire this past week that the employer match for their 401(k) accounts (read "retirement") was being canceled. Morris owns Alaska Magazine, the Mile Post and a bunch of other publications across the state.

NO, NO, NO ... Attorney to the stars Jeff Feldman checked in to put the kibosh on the story that ex-stripper Mechele Linehan promised an Outside TV crew a jailhouse interview, then changed her mind when they got here. Just the opposite, said Jeff, who is handling the appeal of Linehan's murder conviction.

Mechele made it clear she was not interested in doing an interview, but the crew came to Anchorage anyhow. He thinks they probably had other assignments here and figured they'd try again in person.

It didn't work. The answer was still no.

OLD WHITE GUYS ... Former ADN columnist and current Spenard politician Mike Doogan turned 60 this past week.

"The governor threw me a little party at her house, and almost barbecued herself holding a tray of cupcakes with what looked like it might actually have been 60 candles on them," said Mike in his newsletter. "Just for the record, it took me two tries to blow them all out, which led some people to suggest that I'm not quite long-winded enough for politics."

Yeah, right Mike.

Happy birthday.

OUT AND ABOUT ... Former Gov. and DINO Bill Sheffield held a fundraiser for Kevin Meyer on Tuesday at Sheffield's Turnagain home. Kevin hopes to move from the House to John Cowdery's Senate seat.

Earwigs report the chat was about how AGIA is going to pass and they might as well vote now so everyone can get back to real life. Among those seen, Arliss Sturgulewski, Providence CEO Al Parrish and lots of doctors, ML&P's Jim Posey, lobbyists Ashley Reed and Ray Gillespie, Artique owner Tennys Owens, Alaska Railroad's Jim Blasingame, retired banker Ed Rasmuson, and CITC boss Gloria O'Neill.

Kevin wow'd the crowd by thanking his wife and teenage daughter for lending him to Alaska for the last 14 years, including enduring nasty calls at home about snow removal when he was on the Anchorage Assembly.

FAKE REALITY ... Or is it real fakery? An earwig who used to watch the TV show "Jericho," one of those post-Armageddon sagas, says the fictional company hired to put the U.S. back together has a real looking fake Web site and a list of cities where its fake offices are located. The company is called Jennings & Rall (modeled after Halliburton). And it has an Anchorage office, near Mulcahy Stadium and Chester Creek. Address: 1577 C St., Suite 1000 Anchorage AK 99501 USA.

Like we don't have enough real problem corporations. Check it out at www.jenningsandrall.com/html/index.php?cle=2872774.

Compiled by Sheila Toomey. E-mail ear@adn.com. Find Ear online at adn.com/ear.

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