Palin Attorney Thomas Van Flein Explains Why Sarah Palin Has Incurred $500,000 In Legal Fees, And Why The State Of Alaska Cannot Initially Pay Them

Fewer aspects of the Sarah Palin saga are more rife with misinformation than the issue of her legal fees. Many wonder why she's incurred such fees, and why the State of Alaska doesn't pay them. There are also different numbers being batted about regarding how much money has been spent investigating these ethics complaints. This post is designed to clarify these issues.

First, let's put up some common definitions and numbers, as also posted on the Wall Street Journal Law Blog:

(1). Sarah Palin's legal fees: Estimated to be above $500,000 in a March 20th Anchorage Daily News article. Neither a more precise figure nor a more current estimated figure have been provided since that time.

(2). Direct costs of the ethics complaints investigations: Calculated by the Alaska Personnel Board to be $296,042.58, according to a July 1st Anchorage Daily News article. Itemized by complaint number, but complaint numbers not linked to specific complaint descriptions.

(3). Total estimated costs of the ethics complaints investigations: Governor Palin has suggested that the state may have spent a total of $2 million (including the Personnel Board calculations) overall on aggregate costs relating to the ethics complaints. Her estimate is based on a per-hour calculation reflecting the time spent by state lawyers deciding which public information to release as a result of all public records requests, time spent by governor's office staffers responding to media inquiries about ethics complaints, and time technicians spend on retrieving requested e-mail. The estimate does not include Governor Palin's legal fees.

The problem is not that Sarah Palin cannot get reimbursed, but that she cannot get reimbursed immediately. This requires her to spend her own money if she wants legal representation to help defend against these complex and exacting complaints. These expenses are beyond her ability to bear, based on a total reported family income of $218,041. The two sources of this income are Sarah Palin's reported $131,891 last year, counting her $125,000 salary and expense payments she collects when she’s away from Juneau, and Todd Palin's reported $86,150 from his two jobs as a commercial fisherman and as a BP production operator. Since a person has a right to legal representation in any adversarial process, and since we observe the presumption of innocence in our society, it can be assumed that Sarah Palin incurred this $500,000 debt through no fault of her own.

Palin's attorney Thomas Van Flein explained this issue on a post published by Conservatives4Palin. Here's the key excerpt:

Because an ethics complaint by definition involves an allegation that a public official abused state office by promoting a personal gain over state interests, when such a complaint is filed, the subject of the complaint cannot use state attorneys for their personal defense. Indeed, doing so would likely result in a meritorious ethics complaint. That does not mean the state could not indemnify a state employee after the investigation and results are completed if it is determined that there was no merit to the complaint and the costs were incurred as a result state service. But initially the subject of the complaint, if he or she desires representation, must retain personal counsel. This is all the more imperative for the Governor, where the Attorney General is barred as a matter of law from any involvement in a complaint against the Governor and the matter is handled by an independent Personnel Board and special counsel.

The upshot - Sarah Palin can ultimately get reimbursed, but not until the complaints are adjudicated and only if they're found to be groundless. Meanwhile, what's she supposed to do until that time? Is she supposed to simply refuse to defend herself just because she would incur debt in doing so? That would mean justice would be determined by income rather than by cause. The Alaska Fund Trust was established to help Sarah Palin with her legal fees.

What's worse is the fact that so many of the ethics complaints have been found to be groundless. This strongly implies that the complaints were not filed in order to obtain justice, but merely to throw gobs of mud at the governor in the hopes that some of them would actually stick. Thus the ethics complaint system merely became another form of political warfare. Furthermore, there's strong circumstantial evidence showing that Governor Palin was deliberately and uniquely targeted simply because of her politics. Where were the ethics complaints against Vic Kohring, Pete Kott, Tom Anderson, Gregg Renkes, and Frank Murkowski? I recall none. Yet Palin gets targeted.

It's too bad Sarah Palin found it necessary to resign to escape the chronic harassment, but I can understand her decision. Other governors have resigned in midterm, such as Jon Huntsman Jr. (to become ambassador to China) and Janet Napolitano (to become DHS Secretary), so resigning in midterm is not unprecedented. Sarah Palin's resignation, while disappointing, is honorable.

Andree McLeod Finally Opens Up And Explains Why She Is So Obsessed With Sarah Palin's Ethics; It Dates Back To A Falafel Fight

For the first time, chronic Palin critic Andree McLeod has opened up and explained in greater detail why she has become so obsessed with the ethics of Governor Sarah Palin. But while I still don't consider her obsession justified, her explanation does mitigate much of the personal hostility I had developed against her.

She bares her soul (and thankfully, nothing more) in an Anchorage Daily News article entitled "Palin critics defend their actions" published late on July 6th, 2009. Combined with research from some other sources, it appears we have a case of a person who became radicalized by what she perceived as unequal treatment by government, and so she became excessively sensitive to the appearance of government malfeasance.

Some background published by Blogian is useful. Although Andree McLeod came from Lebanon, she is actually Armenian by origin. McLeod and her family emigrated from Beirut to the United States in 1963, and moved from Long Island to Alaska thirty years ago. She was apolitical until 1995, when she decided to earn money for grad school by operating a falafel cart in Anchorage. However, the city disapproved her plans, declaring fried chickpeas “potentially hazardous”, even though they allowed competing outdoor hot dog vendors to operate. She appealed the decision unsuccessfully, which led to an unsuccessful mayoral campaign in 1997. Afterwards, she ran twice for the House District 24 seat unsuccessfully as a Non-Partisan in 2002 and as a Republican in 2004, with an unsuccessful Anchorage school board run sandwiched within. [Ed. Note: I cannot recall why the city "ixnayed" McLeod's falafel cart, but other cities making such a distinction do so because they only allow outdoor food vendors to keep already-cooked food hot, and do not allow actual cooking of food. Hot dogs can be prepared in advance and kept hot - falafel cannot be prepared the same way.]

Blogian also provides some insight as to how the political relationship between Andree McLeod and Sarah Palin evolved. McLeod first met Palin after her failed House bid in 2002. They became friends, and after Palin was appointed to the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC), she frequently complained to McLeod about Randy Ruedrich’s penchant for doing party work from his office. McLeod got tired of Sarah’s ceaseless complaints and told her to do something about it already.

However, McLeod told ADN that her failure to get a patronage job with the Palin Administration had nothing to do with either the souring of the relationship, or the ethics complaints subsequently filed. But McLeod apparently began to get tips about possible questionable actions. For instance, she heard from fellow Republicans that members of Palin's administration continued to pressure party members to oust Ruedrich, and they were communicating using state e-mail, telephones and other resources. So she filed an information request for all the e-mails from two Palin administration officials "to see whether there were partisan political activities being conducted using state time and resources." When she began to get records back in 2008, she didn't discover incriminating evidence about political activity, but found something else that led her to dig more.

"It's like going fishing and getting bycatch. I was looking for salmon, I found a 400-pound halibut", explained McLeod. That was the discovery that members of the Palin administration were conducting state business using private Yahoo accounts, not state e-mail accounts. McLeod was concerned that by using Yahoo, e-mail messages about public policy would be beyond the reach of a public-records request, since they would not exist on state computers.

McLeod is now suing the state to force the administration to abandon the use of outside e-mail accounts. The case is pending, as is a second, in which she's suing to get full disclosure of e-mails about state business that were sent or received by Palin's husband, Todd.

But why all the freaking ethics complaints? "I think that the only mechanisms available to citizens to discover how their government is running is through the [Alaska] public records act," McLeod said last weekend in between interviews from different national media outlets. "And the only mechanisms available to citizens to address their government for any wrongdoings is the Alaska ethics act. And I exercise my rights under both of those acts to figure out what Sarah Palin and her administration was up to and to redress the wrongdoings of Sarah Palin and her administration's conduct."

O.K., so now I understand how Andree McLeod got radicalized and why she takes this more seriously than most. But to request boxes and boxes of public records and spend spare time poring through them? I could understand it if she was a professional getting paid to do this research, but to do it as a hobby? That's inexplicable.

What ADN did not do is to ask her about her reaction to the fact that three of her four ethics complaints have been dismissed. In various comments posted to related ADN stories, McLeod has frequently dismissed this as irrelevant, claiming that the political integrity of the Personnel Board is compromised by the fact that the Governor appoints its members, although by charter, it is an independent body. She's also dismissed the integrity of the Department of Law. By these remarks, she makes it look like she's more expert on ethics than a big chunk of the state government. That conveys the appearance of megalomania on her part, and is the primary reason why so many "Palinbots" as well as others are so pissed at her.

But now, instead of being angry with her, I'm actually more saddened that Andree McLeod has allowed this obsession to take over her life. It will not bring any meaningful change to the way state goverment operates, and in fact to reach her standards, state goverment would virtually have to put itself in a straitjacket. I want public officials to have sufficient wiggle room to do their jobs effectively, and not be handcuffed by a draconian ethics code. Andree McLeod is in danger of generating a backlash against the concept of ethics itself.

And quite frankly, I don't give a shit what type of coat the Governor wears, because it has no impact upon the size of my Permanent Fund Dividend.

Zane Henning Files His Second Ethics Complaint Against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, This Time About Taking Per Diem For Staying In Her Wasilla Home

I first spotted this info on Conservatives4Palin, which in turn references a Huffington Post story, but I was waiting for an official accredited media story. And I finally got one - from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and another story from the Juneau Empire. Also discussed on Lucianne.com (reply #13 is of particular interest).

On July 6th, 2009, Zane Henning (screenshot at left from Free Republic), who previously filed one ethics complaint against Sarah Palin which was ultimately dismissed, decided to try his luck again. In his newest complaint, Henning alleges that Governor Palin is violating state ethics law by collecting per diem when she stays in her Wasilla home instead of at the governor's mansion in Juneau. Henning says that with Palin's resignation, "now more than ever the state of Alaska along with its residents need to be reimbursed for the per diem charges."

Read the full text of the ethics complaint HERE.

The issue about Governor Palin taking per diem for staying at her Wasilla home first broke surface in the Washington Post on September 8th, 2008, but no ethics complaint was filed at the time. In February 2009, state officials merely determined that Palin pay income taxes on the per diem, but did not bar her from claiming more per diem in the future.

Some suspect that Zane Henning's wife, Val, may have put him up to filing this complaint, as well as the previous one. Although Zane is identified as a "conservative", his wife is a lunatic who constantly calls into Dan Fagan's radio program and whines incomprehensibly about Palin.

In his previous complaint filed on November 13th, Zane Henning charged that Palin broke state ethics rules by by holding national television interviews about her run for vice president from the governor's office. He claimed that Palin was promoting her future political career on state property, pointing in particular to the governor's November 10th interview with Fox News Channel host Greta Van Susteren. But after dismissing the complaint on May 12th, Michael Geraghty of the Alaska Personnel Board concluded that “There was no indication that Governor Palin presented her official position as governor of the State of Alaska for an improper personal or financial purpose.”

Henning's complaint appears frivolous. If he was serious, he should have filed it back in September, when the issue was first publicized, or at least in February, after the state reaffirmed her option to collect it. His delay in filing strongly implies that he is merely using the ethics complaint system as a tool of political warfare; further validating that conclusion is the fact that Henning chose to announce it in a press release.

To combat the latter problem, Rep. Bob Lynn (R-Anchorage Hillside) is drafting a bill which specifies that an ethics complaint against a member of the executive branch would become instantly invalidated if the complainant publicized it before it is completely adjudicated. This is a good start, but there must also be a financial penalty imposed on unsubstantiated complaints in order to prevent frivolous filings.

Governor Sarah Palin Rebuts Spenard Builders Supply Smear Published By "Truther" Max Blumenthal On The Daily Beast

Because of the unexpected immediacy of Sarah Palin's announcement of her impending resignation as governor, and the initially ambiguous explanation she provided, this left the field open for "truthers" to come slithering out of the shadows with the usual complement of wacko conspiracy theories.

One of those apparent "truthers" is Max Blumenthal. On the Daily Beast, Blumenthal posted a teaser article entitled "Did a scandal sink the USS Palin?" which implied that Sarah Palin, while she was still mayor of Wasilla, may have steered lucrative contracts to Spenard Builders Supply (SBS) in exchange for discounts on the construction of the Palins' Lake Lucille home. Here's the pertinent part of the Daily Beast post:

...The suddenness of her announcement raises the question about whether Palin resigned to avert a major scandal. One logical place to start looking is the affair that has Alaska political circles buzzing: an alleged scandal centered around a building contractor, Spenard Building Supplies, with close ties to Palin and her husband, Todd.

Many political observers in Alaska are fixated on rumors that federal investigators have been seizing paperwork from SBS in recent months, searching for evidence that Palin and her husband Todd steered lucrative contracts to the well-connected company in exchange for gifts like the construction of their home on pristine Lake Lucille in 2002. The home was built just two months before Palin began campaigning for governor, a job which would have provided her enhanced power to grant building contracts in the wide-open state.

SBS has close ties to the Palins. The company has not only sponsored Todd Palin's snowmobile team, according to the Village Voice's Wayne Barrett, it hired Sarah Palin to do a statewide television commercial in 2004.

Though Todd Palin told Fox News he built his Lake Lucille home with the help of a few "buddies," according to Barrett’s report, public records revealed that SBS supplied the materials for the house. While serving as mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin blocked an initiative that would have required the public filing of building permits—thus momentarily preventing the revelation of such suspicious information.

Just months before Palin left city hall to campaign for lieutenant governor, she awarded a contract to SBS to help build the $13 million Wasilla Sports Complex. The most expensive building project in Wasilla history, the complex cost the city an additional $1.3 million in legal fees and threw it into severe long-term debt. For SBS, however, the bloated and bungled project was a cash cow.

First, there are a couple of factual inaccuracies. The name of the company is actually Spenard Builders Supply, not Spenard Building Supply. Second, SBS is a supplier, not a contractor. And third, Sarah Palin was running for lieutenant governor in 2002, NOT governor.

Truth doesn't always matter to a "truther".

Sarah Palin has fired back with a rebuttal via her attorney, Thomas Van Flein. The full rebuttal is posted on Conservatives4Palin, HERE and HERE. I will merely replicate the most applicable portions below:

...several unscrupulous people have asserted false and defamatory allegations that the “real” reasons for Governor Palin’s resignation stem from an alleged criminal investigation pertaining to the construction of the Wasilla Sports Complex. This canard was first floated by Democrat operatives in September 2008 during the national campaign and followed up by sympathetic Democratic writers. It was easily rebutted then as one of many fabrications about Sarah Palin. Just as power abhors a vacuum, modern journalism apparently abhors any type of due diligence and fact checking before scurrilous allegations are repeated as fact.

The history of the Wasilla Sports Complex is publicly known. Contrary to the insinuation that as Mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin “personally” oversaw bidding, construction, funding and accounting for the project (and thus, the allegation goes, “embezzled” from the project), the truth is far more mundane, and publicly available...

{snip}

[This City of Wasilla link shows that], accordingly, the Sports Complex was publicly bid, in accordance with City and state law, and was accounted for in the time and manner all public projects are handled. The Mayor of Wasilla, be it Sarah Palin, or her successor, did not handle the funds, or the materials, for this project. To thus suggest she “embezzled” is as false as it is impossible.

The additional claim of “proof” of wrongdoing is the allegation that the Palins purchased building materials from Spenard Builders Supply—and that this company may have provided supplies for the Sports Complex. Prior to the construction of Lowe’s and Home Depot within the last few years in Wasilla, Spenard Builders Supply was the primary building supply company in Wasilla. It can hardly come as a surprise that it would sell materials to small homeowners or that it would also bid to supply commercial contracts. One would be hard pressed to find a home, cabin or outbuilding in the Mat-Su Valley in which Spenard Builders Supply did not sell at least some of the materials.

The Palins built their Lake Lucille house using Todd as the general contractor. Todd’s family owns a hardware and building supply business in Dillingham. He is no stranger to construction, or to rolling up his sleeves and doing work. The Palins used a combination of personal savings, equity from the sale of their prior home, and conventional bank financing to build the house—like millions of American families. The deeds of trust are recordable public records. Basic journalism and fact checking would confirm this.

The Sports Complex was built in 2002. It is now 2009. While the Federal Government has a process to follow, and that process sometimes takes time, we can categorically state that we are not aware of any “federal investigation” that has been “pending” for the last seven years. We are aware of no subpoenas on SBS regarding the Palins. We are aware that the Federal Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation have been helpful, responsive and diligent in prosecuting the email hacker and in cleaning up Alaska’s corrupt legislators. To be blunt — this “story” was alleged during the campaign, evaluated then by national media and deemed meritless. Nothing has changed.

During the time frame in question, SBS' only competition in the Valley was a small hole-in-the-wall Ace Hardware store on the Parks Highway just east of Wasilla, which charged premium prices for building supplies. So most people had an overwhelming financial incentive to patronize SBS, unless they bought their supplies in Anchorage.

Another Conservatives4Palin post provides a short list of bloggers who regurgitated the Daily Beast post. This story has now been picked up by the Anchorage Daily News and KTUU Channel 2. In addition, the FBI has now confirmed that Sarah Palin is NOT under investigation.

Once again, another "truther" has been shot down in flames. This, of course, does not mean that there might not be something else percolating in the background, but it simply debunks this latest rumour circulating around the Internet. Of course, the first tipoff was when Blumenthal misstated three objective facts; "truthers" don't always have an incentive to do their homework.

Palin Spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton Claims Ethics Complaint Spamming Drove Sarah Palin To Announce Resignation; If So, Andree McLeod Is Toast

According to CNN's Political Ticker, Palin spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton blamed the swarm of ethics complaints that have dogged the Alaska governor for Sarah Palin's unexpected announcement of her intent to resign as governor effective July 26th.

Stapleton was interviewed Friday on The Situation Room, and she told Suzanne Malveaux that when Governor Palin returned to Alaska after the Presidential campaign and pressed her agenda, "she found…resistance, and she found as she looked up more and more that state time and resources were being just wasted with just frivolous ethics complaints coming in, and FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests and lawsuits — but to an extraordinary extent, and from literally those doing opposition research"... . And so she said really, is this good for Alaska? Is this what a governor is supposed to do, sit and watch money going down the drain?" CNN video embedded below:



But in addition to the ethics complaints, Governor Palin was pressured into backtracking on her decision to reject federal stimulus funds, her selection of Wayne Anthony Ross for attorney general was rejected by an increasingly hostile legislature, and her personal life has continued to grab headlines. So the picture being painted by Stapleton is that it all became too much and Palin decided enough was enough.

Of course, the primary ethics complainer has been Andree McLeod, who filed four of them, three of which have been dismissed. McLeod has been as morbidly obsessed with Palin as Hitler was with Stalingrad. And there will be payback - Andree McLeod is political toast in this state now.

Other reaction from around Alaska:

-- Andrew Halcro: Back in the blogging business, he posts his initial reaction HERE and a more detailed analysis HERE. Halcro earlier predicted that Palin would not run for a second term, but no sane person would have expected her to take a powder with 16 months to go in this term. Halcro believes that because Palin did not offer the public a clear and concise reason why she is abruptly stepping aside with 16 months to go, she's leaving the field wide open for "truthers" to speculate. Already there are rumblings of possible scandals yet to be unveiled.

-- Dan Fagan: On The Alaska Standard, Fagan, who has been a persistent critic of Palin, suggests that Palin quickly learned that the job was above her pay grade, and grew to hate it as a result. He cites AGIA as an example. While this may be a bit exaggerated, it is clear that AGIA was in trouble until Exxon stepped in and partnered with TransCanada, thus raising the project from its sickbed.

-- Thomas Lamb: On It's A Kwazy Life, Lamb suggests it was a good move by Palin because it robs the left of their primary political target and it will give Sean Parnell a leg up on the 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Parnell has already stated he will run in his own right in 2010,

-- Anchorage Daily News: A new ADN news story HERE. Has also now editorially weighed in, considers Palin's explanation of her decision to be ambiguous. Characterizes her decision as "self service rather than public service".

-- Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Editorially approves of Palin's resignation because they perceive she has lost interest in the job.

-- Juneau Empire: No editorial position yet, but soliciting comments HERE and HERE.

-- Mat-Su Frontiersman: Updated story HERE, quotes Borough Mayor Talis Colberg, who was Palin’s attorney general when the governor hit the national stage, as saying “There was so much petty attacking of her that it was incredible the amount of volume that came with the national campaign”. Perhaps if Colberg had actually done his job as A.G. and asserted himself, Palin would have gotten into less trouble.

The Bottom Line: Many Alaskans, even Palin supporters, feel a sense of betrayal. They can understand her desire to resign, but find it difficult to swallow the timing. The decision would have made more sense had it been made later, like around October or November. In actuality, I would have preferred she not resigned at all, since when I voted for her, it was with the anticipation that she would serve a full term.

Whether this will hinder her Presidential chances in 2012 remains to be seen.

Governor Sarah Palin Stuns Alaska By Announcing Her Resignation; May Be A Precursor To A 2012 Republican Presidential Run

Note: Post title now updated to reflect the fact that Sarah Palin has specifically ruled out running for Don Young's U.S. House seat in 2010.

Governor Sarah Palin shocked the living bejesus out of me and many other Alaskans by suddenly announcing her resignation on July 3rd, 2009. This has definitely come as a complete surprise; I saw no hint of this decision. National story now published by CNN. According to KTUU Channel 2, which offers the most details so far, the governor announced her decision at her Wasilla home, flanked by Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell and much of her cabinet. Governor Palin explained her decision in this press release, but chose not to take questions from reporters. Governor Palin then expounded at much greater length in this Executive Column. Direct link to KTUU news video HERE.

Thanks to Gateway Pundit, we now have a YouTube video of the announcement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpyLBISyHdM



In her press release, Gov. Palin explained that she had already decided not to run for re-election as governor in 2010, and that she did not want to spend the rest of her term being a "lame duck", so she decided to turn the office over to Lt. Gov. Parnell at this time.

The formal transition of power will take place on Sunday July 26th, when Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated as her successor at the Governor's Picnic at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. Parnell said he will also seek election to the governor's office in his own right in 2010. Lt. Gen. Craig Campbell will replace Parnell as Lt. Gov.

Additional media stories now posted on the Anchorage Daily News, KTVA Channel 11, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and The Alaska Standard. The Mat-Su Frontiersman contains reaction from Valley lawmakers. Additional reaction on Conservatives4Palin.

Despite Gov. Palin's "lame duck" explanation, I believe there are also at least two other factors which may be prompting this decision. The first possibility is that Palin has grown tired of all the public attention directed to her family, and, in particular, the savage attacks her on character by both fundamentalist progressives as well as mercantile conservatives. These attacks have contributed to the over $500,000 in legal fees she owes. In this case, she would probably return to private life permanently. But since this would be a radical departure from her previous character as a fighter, I find this possibility unlikely.

More likely is the possibility that Governor Palin wants to clear the decks for a run for national office. While a campaign against Senator Lisa Murkowski, who is up for re-election in 2010, is unlikely, a campaign against Congressman Don Young, who's also up for re-election in 2010, cannot be ruled out. However, such a campaign, if successful, might pressure her into foreclosing 2012 Presidential ambitions, otherwise she might be portrayed as using a U.S. House seat merely as a stepping stone to the White House. It is also quite possible that Governor Palin may choose not to run for any office in 2010, and instead launch an all out campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2012.

Update: It is now confirmed that Sarah Palin will not run for either the U.S. Senate or U.S. House in 2010. The original ADN article now reports Meghan Stapleton as saying that "asked if Palin is running for president, Stapleton said nothing has been ruled out, other than running against Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski or Congressman Don Young next year".

A plausible "snap" analysis by Reuters highlights a whole host of reasons, including the possibility of another scandal in the works. Jewish blogger Max Blumenthal hints at such a possible scandal HERE.

The decision by Palin to bow out of the governor's race in 2010 may attract even more prospective candidates. Rep. John Harris (R-Valdez), the former House Speaker, has previously stated that he would consider a run for Governor in 2010 if Palin wasn't running. This may also increase the certainly of former Republican state lawmaker Ralph Samuels running for Governor as well; he's an acknowledged expert on energy issues.

The Sullivan Era Begins: Dan Sullivan Officially Swears In As Mayor Of Anchorage, Alaska; Will Cut Unnecessary Expenses And Focus On Necessities

On July 1st, 2009, the Sullivan Era began in Anchorage, Alaska. Facing hundreds of people in a packed Discovery Theater and sharing the stage with four decades of predecessors, Dan Sullivan took the oath of office at 4:30 P.M. and became Anchorage's seventh elected mayor since the city and borough of Anchorage combined in 1975, forming a single municipal government. Former mayors in attendance included Dan's father George Sullivan, Jack Roderick, Tony Knowles, Tom Fink, Rick Mystrom, George Wuerch, Mark Begich and Matt Claman. Alaska Superior Court Judge Stephanie Joannides, considered one of Alaska's better judges, administered the oath of office.

Anchorage Daily News series of 25 photos available HERE.

Mayor Sullivan wasted little time in setting forth his agenda. First and foremost, he will implement an immediate hiring freeze for the city's workforce. He will also curtail all city travel and impose strict controls on overtime. And Sullivan also asked citizens and businesses to help out where they can by ratcheting up charitable giving and volunteerism.

Much of the new mayor's first speech echoed his campaign platform: Along with cutting city spending, he said he would concentrate police where they're needed most and try to reduce crime, tackle what he termed "an energy crisis" brought on by dwindling Cook Inlet natural gas reserves, and focus his administration's attention on repairing and maintaining the public improvements spearheaded by former Mayor Mark Begich. KTUU video of swearing-in HERE, and KTUU news story video embedded below:



Sullivan plans an interesting diversity initiative. He said he will introduce a community celebration called "All Americans Week." The idea is to promote cultural and ethnic diversity within the common denominator of American nationality. The idea is that we should be Americans first, Alaskans second, and our heritage third. This is the only way that diversity can work. Sullivan also discussed the community-wide debate over the proposed gay nondiscrimination ordinance, but did not specify how he would react to it.

But perhaps most importantly of all, Sullivan said he will name a sort of energy czar to take on the energy issues. He is fully aware of our vulnerability to a catastrophic wintertime power outage which could be triggered by insufficient natural gas supplies, and intends to resolve the problem. "Peak demand during the winter months, particularly when the temperature drops below zero, have put our entire system in jeopardy over the last two years and this is unacceptable," he said. "I will appoint an administration official to work at the top levels of government, the top levels of industry, to develop an energy plan that will lead to a secure ... future."

Dan Sullivan has the potential to become one of the best mayors in Anchorage's history. Like the last conservative mayor George Wuerch, he believes in being tightfisted. Unlike Wuerch, Sullivan believes in fully funding necessities. The right-of-center Sullivan will effectively balance a left-of-center Assembly. But one of Sullivan's strengths is his ability and willingness to listen to all points of view. This will carry him a long way. I also recommend you read Assemblyman Patrick Flynn's thoughtful assessment of Sullivan; Flynn is cautiously optimistic. A KTUU "unscientific" poll conducted July 1st also reflects this optimism; 64 percent of the 545 respondents said they were optimistic about Sullivan's chances for success.

As for Matt Claman? He now reverts to his Assembly seat as one of the two Assembly Members representing West Anchorage. On June 29th, the Anchorage Daily News published an exuberant puff piece claiming that he was more than just a "caretaker" mayor. While Claman was successful in convincing the public sector unions to give back some of the wage hikes to which the Assembly had earlier agreed, he badly miscalculated the community's willingness to accept the extension of official nondiscrimination protection to gays, and allowed his trips to national mayoral conferences to become a political football. Overall, I'd say he deserves a letter grade of C+. To be fair, he inherited a tough assignment, but his political skills and charisma are too limited to carry him much beyond the Assembly or State Legislative level. I don't see him successfully aspiring for Mayor or Governor in the future.

U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 Population Estimates For Alaska Now Available; Anchorage The 67th Largest City In The U.S., Wasilla Exceeds 10,000

The U.S. Census Bureau released its population estimates dated July 1st, 2008, and they show that the housing crisis and economic downturn that have forced many Americans to stay put. As a result, some older cities where population had been shrinking or was stagnant, like St. Louis, have begun to rebound, while others which were experiencing only nominal growth have now accelerated. National stories published by USA Today and CNNMoney.

Nevertheless, despite a slowdown in many cities in the South and West, seven of the 10 most populous cities are in the Sun Belt. Four of the 10 fastest-growing large cities from 2007 to 2008 were in Texas (Round Rock, McKinney, Killeen, Fort Worth). Dallas is the eighth most populous, above San Diego and San Jose. Three of 11 cities that topped 100,000 for the first time are in Texas.

USA Today provides a list of all U.S. cities of 100,000 or more HERE.

Other noteworthy statistics:
-- Twelve U.S. Cities are members of the "Million-Plus Club". San Jose is next in line to join them.
-- New Orleans continues its recovery. Ray Nagin's "Chocolate City" is now back up to 311,853, which is still far short of its pre-Katrina population of 455,000.
-- Mesa, Arizona may be the largest suburb in the United States at 463,552. It is actually an eastern suburb of Phoenix.
-- Detroit (912,062) and Cleveland (433,748) continue in free fall. Both cities have less than half the population they had in 1950.
-- Anchorage, AK is now the 67th largest city in the United States and could overtake St. Paul, MN this year.

The Census Bureau published the numbers in either Excel format or CSV format. The Excel format is also compatible with Microsoft Works. But once again, the Detroit News organized an easier way to find out population figures without wading through a bunch of Excel spreadsheets, through their Interactive Census Page. To display population figures for all cities within a given state, select Incorporated Place for the Summary Level, the state of interest, select All, then click Search.

The estimated July 1st, 2008 population for Alaska is now 686,293, an increase of 5,182 over the revised estimate for 2007. Outside of Anchorage, the largest boroughs are the Fairbanks North Star Borough (97,970), the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (85,458), and the Kenai Peninsula Borough (53,409). Most noteworthy - Wasilla shattered the 10,000 barrier, becoming the fourth city in the state to achieve that distinction.

The link I used to get this information directly is HERE. But if that doesn't work, go to the Interactive Census Page, then select Incorporated Places for Summary Level, Alaska, All, then click Search, and you will get the same display. Only incorporated communities are listed. However, the Detroit News threw us a curve last year; after several months, they moved this interactive display into paid archives without warning. They may do the same this year. So this time I listed the numbers for a number of cities under 1,000 as well. July 1st, 2007 statistics were posted HERE last year.

Communities of 1,000 or more:
-- Anchorage: 279,243
-- Fairbanks: 35,132
-- Juneau: 30,988
-- Wasilla: 10,256
-- Sitka: 8,889
-- Palmer: 8,201
-- Kenai: 7,742
-- Ketchikan: 7,280
-- Bethel: 6,468
-- Kodiak: 6,228
-- Homer: 5,802
-- Soldotna: 4,386
-- Barrow: 4,010
-- Valdez: 3,787
-- Unalaska: 3,532
-- Nome: 3,576
-- Kotzebue: 3,177
-- Seward: 3,126
-- Petersburg: 2,825
-- Dillingham: 2,465
-- Cordova: 2,242
-- North Pole: 2,212
-- Houston: 2,153
-- Wrangell: 1,990
-- Craig: 1,171
-- Hooper Bay: 1,109

Communities from 500-999:
-- Sand Point: 990
-- Delta Junction: 930
-- Akutan: 871
-- Emmonak: 841
-- Chevak: 838
-- Mountain Village: 826
-- Togiak: 811
-- Selawik: 804
-- Klawock: 736
-- King Cove: 734
-- Hoonah: 715
-- Kwethluk: 715
-- Alakanuk: 711
-- Point Hope: 674
-- Noorvik: 660
-- Kotlik: 649
-- Gambell: 647
-- Kake: 635
-- Galena: 599
-- Aniak: 572
-- Fort Yukon: 520

Other Communities of Interest:
-- McGrath: 351
-- Nenana: 344
-- Whittier: 159
-- Eagle: 145
-- Cold Bay: 74