Publishers private dinner list should be available to public
Whenever the president has a sit-down meeting or participates in a think tank, it's considered public information and the White House releases the list of participants.
Dispatch Publisher Alice Rogoff hosted President Barack Obama in her home on Monday night, but has refused to release the list of attendees to this secret dinner.
Rogoff would only say it was "not political" and "a chance for the president to have a conversation with a diverse group of Alaskans."
Certainly it is important for the president to hear from Alaskans as he is crafting policy that affects our state. Those policies are, by nature, political. Shouldn't Alaskans know who is informing him on them and what special interests they represent?
In the interest of transparency, I am calling on ADN to come clean and report fully on this historic occasion: A president dining in the home of the state's major publisher — an investment capitalist whose portfolio focus is the Arctic.
To be clear, this was a private two-hour meeting between the world's most prominent politician, the leader of the free world, and one of Alaska's most politically engaged, influential media tycoons. Calling it nonpolitical does not pass the giggle test. If the list of guests is not disclosed, it is a secret meeting.
Alaskans also deserve to know what the owner of their largest media outlet, which holds itself out as objective and nonpartisan, was advocating for during this private time with our president.
Finally, were other elected officials present at this gathering, and which private interests merited such special access? What possible, imaginable journalistic or public policy interest could be served by keeping this information secret?
— Suzanne Downing
Communications director
Alaska Republican Party
Publisher Alice Rogoff responds: Ms. Downing is incorrect. I do not have an investment portfolio "focus" of any kind.
One more name change needed in Alaska to right a wrong
Having lived in Alaska for many years when I worked at Fort Richardson, I remember that mainly tourists referred to the highest mountain on the continent as Mount McKinley instead of Denali. The name change to Denali is entirely appropriate and long overdue, but there is another name change in Alaska that should be made. It's a 50-mile long stream, the name of which was first recorded in 1900 by a naval mapping team aboard the USS Albatross. The name is Dago Creek, and it's still the name on maps of Alaska today. It referred to the Italian fishermen who used to anchor their boats in nearby Ugasik Bay during periods of restricted fishing.
Most dictionaries define dago as mine does: "Italian descent: a term of hostility and contempt." You don't have to tell this to most Italian-Americans, as we've heard the word used in a disparaging way all too frequently. I don't know if the stream is on state land or federal land, but it appears to be on the former. No matter, whoever controls the land should direct that the name be changed.
I nominate Pescatori Creek (pescatori is Italian for fishermen) to reflect a more positive association with the Sicilian men who used to fish the area.
— Dan Possumato
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Obama's actions lift up the poor despite what Dingman thinks
Mike Dingman probably wouldn't have been impressed with FDR's Social Security Act or the WPA. As he stated "I haven't been impressed with much President Barack Obama's administration has done over the years." If Mike were from the South, he probably wouldn't have been impressed with Lincoln freeing the slaves.
But there is one thing that is for certain. People who make their living as historians will be impressed with what Barack Obama's administration has accomplished, and he didn't even need a war to achieve greatness. All he needed was an abundance of poor people to help.
— Pat Knowles
Anchorage
Delegation dishes up sour grapes
I expected better of Sen. Lisa Murkowski. A simple, classy press release announcing President Barack Obama's visit to Alaska would have been nice. Instead, Sen. Lisa had to whine about Obama addressing the issue of climate change. Maybe she was trying to firm up her bona fides with the Dixiecrat reactionaries (Jenkins caucus) who have seized control of the party of Abraham Lincoln. Alaska's "Three Amigos" in Congress have one job; grab all the pork they can and keep a low profile while doing it.
Sarah Palin and the "Bridge to Nowhere" caught the attention of the average voter in the Lower 48. Those taxpayers now realize just how much of their taxes have gone north to Alaska over the decades. All while Alaskan Republicans whined about the feds and got a nice annual check from the state.
Alaska has a long wish list for federal pork. It is in the billions and some of it is like the Juneau access pipe dream, unjustifiable by any measure. What part of "Don't bite the hand that feeds you" does the delegation not understand? Free advice, Three Amigos: For goodness sake make nice to your president. You can attract more ants with honey than with vinegar.
— Lew Picton
Ketchikan
Animal rights activists care more for wild beasts than humans
Michael McKinnon (Letters, Aug. 12) disputes my observation that prioritizing animal lives over peoples' shows disdain for humans, then proves me right by stereotyping Muslims as being "against animal rights." I have two cats in my home — rescued the youngest from an abandoned house in Sand Point in 2004.
Trophy hunting is hara'am: prohibited by Islam. One may kill an animal for food or in self-defense only. A reasonable person might conclude Muslims would therefore oppose rich dentists killing lions, since their meat is not halal (lawful), and lions don't hunt prey in dentists' offices.
Are my observations connecting white privilege and racism with animal rights activism wrong?
Last year white animal-lovers in Savannah, Georgia, repeatedly harassed a black family with death threats, racial slurs and arson for calling animal control to remove feral cats from their business property.
Then there's Friends of Animals Director Priscilla Feral, a Connecticut vegan who reviled and stereotyped Alaska Natives because they hunted seals on St. Paul Island.
Or consider whale-advocate John Hargrove. He was videotaped trying to set a record for the most n-words in a single drunken rant. When bookstores cancelled his appearances, animal rights activists demonstrated. It's OK to hate humans, just don't hurt animals.
McKinnon proclaimed his liberal credentials by attending a "Black Lives Matter" rally, and chided me for not being there. I don't have to attend rallies to demonstrate my concern. I've done that by caring for my wife, children and grandchildren for nearly 45 years. Those black lives matter more to me than any other lives on earth.
Ken Green (Letters, Aug. 14) called my observations "profiling," which proves he's never endured it. My experience in that regard goes back decades before 9/11. He calls laughing in people's faces "divisive." Shooting our children in Fallujah, Gaza, Cleveland and Detroit is far more so. He apparently has the luxury to "flee" from that reality. Most of us can't.
— Al-Hajj Frederick Minshall
Anchorage
Fiscal focus conference at UAA
In Dermot Cole's commentary in the Aug. 13 ADN, he urges legislators (and others) to help educate the general public on the fiscal facts of "the stark new reality of state finances." In an effort to do just that, Alaska Common Ground and UAA's Institute of Social and Economic Research are presenting a forum on "Alaska's Fiscal and Economic Future: Moving Our Conversation Forward."
This forum, to be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 19, at the UAA Wendy Williamson Auditorium is free and open to the public. The forum will focus on the scale, urgency, and uncertainties regarding Alaska's fiscal and economic challenges; the pros and cons of various options for addressing those challenges; and how citizens can have a say.
As a board member of Alaska Common Ground, I invite ADN readers to attend this event. I believe it will be informative and a way people can be involved in developing solutions to Alaska's fiscal crisis. Find more information atwww.akcommonground.org.
— Barbara Karl
Anchorage
Policymakers should focus on carbon fee, dividend options
In the aftermath of the GLACIER conference and Obama's historic visit to Alaska there will be continued discussions about how to reduce carbon emissions and emissions of other greenhouse gases. If you are having follow-up conversations with lawmakers, policymakers or community or corporate leaders fighting to prevent carbon emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change, please, ask that the fee-and-dividend approach to reducing carbon emissions be one of the solutions considered.
The fee-and-dividend structure sets a price on carbon emissions. Once collected, the revenues from these carbon fees are then distributed to all Americans. The increased price of carbon emissions provides an incentive to develop clean energy; the dividends distributed to all Americans help each of us offset the ever-rising costs of using fossil fuels until clean energy can be developed.
In the last several days, Alaskans helped our president and other global leaders and policymakers understand the problems created for Alaska by climate change. Hopefully, we can also share proposals for solutions.
The Alaska experience with the Permanent Fund dividend makes Alaskans uniquely situated to address a good solution for reducing carbon emissions; Alaskans should help leaders understand how the success of our PFDs could serve as a useful model for a fee-and-dividend approach to carbon emissions.
Please, help keep the fee-and-dividend legislation a part of the discussion about solutions for reducing carbon emissions and providing transitions to clean energies and technologies.
— Deborah "Shocky" Greenberg
Anchorage
Stoltze's statements on Walker are specious, hypocritical
State Sen. Bill Stoltze alleged Gov. Bill Walker "violated public process" and also stated "(t)he really important process is the public process," (ADN, Aug. 31). Both statements are either uninformed, hypocritical, "specious" (in our Republican majority's parlance), or all three. After all, Gov. Walker and his administration, in good faith, jumped through every obstructive and entangled Medicaid expansion hoop Stoltze and his Republican caucus set up over the past session and two special sessions. Yet the Republican caucus still refuses to allow a floor vote (a fundamental public process) on the matter. Stoltze and his caucus' accusations against the governor on Medicaid expansion demonstrate irrational thought and/or monumental gall.
Stoltze also indicated he still "wanted more financial vetting" time. After years of multiple and expensive Alaska studies on Medicaid expansion (including one in 2014 and another in 2015 by former DHSS commissioner Bill Streur), we've spent enough time and money on studies. Stoltze and his caucus rely on this sorry, need-more-time excuse repeatedly without ever giving Alaskans an end date. So when does the vetting end, Republican caucus? Like the song says, "Until the 12th of Never, and that's a long, long time?" The Republican caucus needs to get rational, stop anteing up other people's savings, and fold their losing hand in this billion-dollar card game before they lose the farm.
— Barbara McDaniel
Wasilla
Thanks for overreach on Denali
Correction McKinley to Denali.
That's federal overreach I can live with!
— Marc June
Anchorage
The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.