Opinions

Alaska Stalker - the best and worst of this week’s political social media and gossip

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Alaska Stalker, a lighthearted round up of the best and worst of Alaska’s social media landscape.

***

Hard to believe it's the last Alaska Stalker column before the new year. I hope politicos and non-politicos alike have a relaxing and joyous holiday season filled with family and friends. This moment of Christmas magic was brought to you by the good folks at the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. Bravo!

🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌

***

Glad to see Former Gov. Sarah Palin back to her old-corny-joke lovin' self on Instagram.

***

ADVERTISEMENT

Gov. Mike Dunleavy sent out his annual Christmas greeting. I love that his official Christmas card photo was clearly taken with an iPhone in bad lighting. Governors — they’re just like us!

***

Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer stayed 100% on brand (goofball proud-dog-dad) with this cute card of him, his wife Marty, and their fur babies Matty and Coco. 🐶🐶

***

"Heavy Kevy" had a weird week on the internet. 👇

***

Former Sen. Mark Begich had one of our favorite cards this year. Who hasn't posed in front of the blue piano at the Anchorage Museum this year? #relatable

***

Mark has been a lot of places this week: our mailboxes, the airwaves (see our overheards below) and breaking another long silence on Twitter. Check out this tweet joking about Alaska/Trump/Russia. Someone should tell Mark we've all moved on to Ukraine.

***

Maybe I'm on the naughty list, but there just didn't seem to be as many Christmas cards floating around this year. Looks like some legislators are updating their profile pics to Merry Christmas and calling it good. Hey, at least it's eco-friendly!

***

Does Attorney General Kevin Clarkson wear a full suit and tie to bed, or does he not have any Christmas spirit? 🤔 h/t to @lruskin for the lolz.

***

If anyone is looking to spread some last minute Christmas cheer, the Alaska Republican Party has a big-ticket item recently added to their wish list. Perennial candidate Ross Bieling breaks it down for us. 🤦‍♀️

***

In case you missed it, Sen. Dan Sullivan got the Complete and Total Endorsement tweetment from President Donald Trump.

ADVERTISEMENT

***

The Alaska delegation really stepped it up in D.C. this weekend. Dan and Don look dapper in their duds, but Lisa's dress is 💯.

***

I do love a good holiday party fashion photo op. Lottsfeldt's red velvet "no war on Christmas" Santa suit tho. ❤️💚❤️💚

***

Happy 31st anniversary to avid Stalker reader, Sen. Lora Reinbold! Check out these sweet messages from colleagues and friends.

***

Of course Sen. Shelley Hughes has a Christmas-themed “I filed” post.

***

“Elite member” Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins made the Alaska Airlines blog for brokering a deal between Seattle Chocolate Company’s jcoco bars and Sitka’s Alaska Pure Sea Salt. Can’t wait to try an Alaska Smoked Sea Salt dark chocolate jcoco bar when I fly to Juneau next year. 👀

This has been a fun little side project. Congrats to Alaska Pure for their *amazing* product, and to Alaska Air and Seattle Chocolate Co. for being so game to play ball on a win-win idea! -JKT

Posted by Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins on Tuesday, December 17, 2019

***

The Anchorage Assembly had a politically charged week. First, they decided to reintroduce an alcohol tax that failed spectacularly last year. Assemblymember Felix Rivera is looking forward to spirited discussion about the new tax proposal, but I'm just looking forward to him going on another Facebook bender “field experiment” on the impact of proposed alcohol taxes in Anchorage.

***

Here’s a refresher of Felix’s amazingly tone-deaf but high-BAC journey.

***

After an unusually intense Assembly meeting, Assemblymember Christopher Constant blew off some steam trolling folks in the comments on Facebook.

***

Uh oh, Assemblymember John Weddleton, are you sure that blender is at least 15 years old? Either way, I’m glad John’s finally found a place to put Chris’ Assembly resolutions.

(Photo 18 Weddlton)

An old foreman told me, more than once, "A weak mind makes for a strong back. The thinking guy figures out the easy way to do something." I needed to move a dumpster a few feet.

Posted by John Weddleton on Thursday, November 28, 2019

***

ADVERTISEMENT

Anchorage Assemblymembers Meg and Felix sent out a joint Christmas card this year. Don't fret; it was an e-card. Meg would never permit unneeded paper waste. ♻️ Nice Canva template!

***

Warm birthday wishes to Alaska Stalker fav, Sen. Peter Micciche!

***

Overheard on the airwaves: Dan Fagan saying, "Mark Begich just texted me, "Don't bring me in this!"" 🤣

***

ADVERTISEMENT

Spotted at Jens on the same day (not together): Rep. Sara Rasmussen, Art Hackney, Jack Frost, several members of the Gillam family and Bill Popp.

***

Spotted in the air: Sen. Tom Begich and Rep. George "Rock Solid" Rauscher flying Seattle to Anchorage. Premium.

***

Spotted at the Albuquerque Airport: Gov. Mike Dunleavy's "body man." If you don't know who that is, then he's doing a good job.

***

Spotted a long ways from Juneau at Anchorage's Midtown Mall: Sen. Jesse Kiehl.

***

Spotted at the ATM at Fred Meyer Abbott: Anchorage attorney Mara Kimmel withdrawing some cash. Her husband, Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, was acting as a lookout.

***

The Alaska Stalker was born and raised in Alaska, and lives in South Anchorage with her husband, daughter, and son. Send tips to akstalker@alaskalandmine.com

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.

Allison Hovanec

Allison Hovanec writes the weekly Alaska Stalker feature for Alaska Landmine and the Daily News. She was born and raised in Alaska, and lives in South Anchorage with her husband, daughter, and son.

ADVERTISEMENT