This first communique was sent in response to “several” complaints from Alaska State workers regarding the improper union communication.

From: Commissioners Office, DOA (DOA sponsored)

Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2010 3:06 PM

To: SOA All SU Union members
Cc: Ludwig, Bruce (DOA sponsored); Brooks, Kevin A (DOA); Beecher, Carol L (DOA)

Subject: Election Email Follow-up‬

Dear SU Member,

Several of you wrote expressing concern about an email that was sent by your union on Thursday, October 28, 2010 with the subject line “Vote Tuesday November 2nd!” Article 9.12 of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) stipulates that union emails regarding pending legislation or in-progress partisan election campaigns shall be non-positional. The State’s position is that the email violated this article of the CBA.

I asked Deputy Commissioner Kevin Brooks to meet with union representatives to explain the State’s position. He did and advised the Business Manager that further infractions could result in restriction of access to the State’s email system. It’s important that you know we follow the CBA in resolving these issues and I appreciate those who brought the matter to light.

Annette Kreitzer
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

While Alaska’s public employee collective bargaining agreement allows for the SU to use email for purposes of political communication, said emails are not to be positional in nature. Given the dynamics of the 2010 Alaska Senate race, it was the Department of Administration’s opinion that the following communication, sent out to approximately 2,000 state supervisers, violated the union’s collective bargaining agreement.

In effect, this represents the Alaskan State Supervisers Union actively campaigning for the candidate most likely to deliver more national tax dollars back to their state, as opposed to one who would foster the most in state economic growth. And it is, in effect, being done with tax payer dollars.

From: Peggy Wilcox [mailto:pwilcox@apea-aft.org]

Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 1:14 PM

To: White, John H (DFG)

Subject: Vote Tuesday November 2nd!

Hello SU,

In many communities, early voting is already open.

http://www.elections.alaska.gov/vi_ea_ev_site_genr.php

(scroll down for a complete list of locations)

In this election we will be electing:

* the Legislature who will decide whether we return to a defined benefit retirement system.

* the Governor who will appoint the Commissioner of Administration.

* the US Representative & Senator who will decide whether or not Alaska needs federal money, or if we should go it on our own.

Alaska has a history of elections being won or lost by 1-2-3-4 votes, or a coin flip!

Your vote matters!

If you would like to know who your Employee Political Information Committee

(EPIC) has endorsed you can go to:

http://www.epicweb.org/2010endorsementsG.html

EPIC makes endorsements on a non partisan issue based platform.  These are the candidates who support a return to a defined benefit retirement system.

For more information on the candidates running in your area, or of the other issues on the ballot – there are 2 bonds and one constitutional amendment- please take the time to go over the election pamphlet:

http://www.elections.alaska.gov/pub_oep.php

The pamphlets are separated into regions.

*     Region 1 includes Southeast Alaska, Cordova, Kodiak Island, Kenai

Peninsula Borough and Western Cook Inlet

*     Region 2 includes the Municipality of Anchorage, most of the

Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Whittier and Hope

*     Region 3 includes Fairbanks and Greater Fairbanks Area, Central and

Southern Interior Alaska, Greater Valdez and Eastern Matanuska-Susitna Borough

*     Region 4 includes Northern Alaska, Western Coastal Alaska and the

Aleutians

Politics matter.

Your vote could directly affect your pay, your benefits, and your retirement.

There is a fact sheet on the union at http://doa.alaska.gov/dop/fileadmin/LaborRelations/pdf/buprofiles/APEA.pdf

The contacts for the Union in question are:

Alaska Public Employees Association – APEA – (SU)

211 Fourth Street, Ste. 306
Juneau, AK 99801
Phone: 586-2334
Fax: 463-4980
www.apea-aft.org Bruce Ludwig – Business Manager bludwig@apea-aft.org Pete Ford – SE Regional Manager pford@apea-aft.org Angie Parker – Field Representative aparker@apea-aft.org

The Miller Campaign was told of the news from a Republican Party member who was informed of the decision this morning. In response to this news, Joe Miller said, “Our goal is to uphold the integrity of the voting process. Every vote that is cast correctly should be counted. All Alaskans deserve a free, open and fair election. Unfortunately, the State Division of Elections has decided to call that process into question with the constant maneuvering of dates and procedures.”

The Miller Campaign also renewed its vow to oversee the process to its conclusion, to ensure that the voters of Alaska have their rights protected. Miller added, ”The State of Alaska has a statutorily defined election process, anything or anyone that deviates from that process is unsettling. It is fundamental that the public be informed of the ballot review schedule in advance. Our democratic voting process has at its foundation the Constitution and the statutes of this state, and any manipulation of this process for the purposes of expediency or convenience compromises those principles.”

Spokesman Randy DeSoto added that “we don’t know how many ballots were reviewed without public scrutiny.” “The reason this is important,”added DeSoto, “is that the public needs to be assured that a voter did not vote twice, once by absentee ballot and once in person. This appears to be the only stage of the process where such double-voting can be eliminated.”

The absentee validation is occurring across the state in various locations. It is unclear why the Miller Campaign was not notified about the decision to begin validation today.

In today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Liberty Pundits’ Melissa Clouthier to talk about yesterday’s elections, what Republicans will do going forward, and how 2012 will be impacted by who won last night.

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TNL – Last night’s live blog of Election Day
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In today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech discuss what comes next — they are joined by RedState’s Erick Erickson to talk about today’s elections, what Republicans will do once they take over in Washington, and the role Erick and RedState have played in the conservative movement.

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The Guessing Game

Just how many House seats Republicans win tomorrow is irrelevant, the only number that matters is 39. If Republicans win 39 more seats than they have today they will take control of the House and Nancy Pelosi returns to being as insignificant a factor in your life as the kid who sat next to you in 3^rd period French class your senior year in high school. You shared some times and even wrote “Keep in touch” in his yearbook, but you didn’t include your phone number so he actually could, and now he’s gone.

As soon as those 39 seats flip Nancy returns to being Minority Leader, a fate former Speakers of the House resign from faster than a call girl cancels a date on Charlie Sheen. But I digress.

Pundits are predicting historic numbers, up to 100 seats are in play, they say. Maybe they are, but it doesn’t matter, all that matters is 39. Predictions of 50 to 75 have not been uncommon in the last few weeks; if Republicans surpass those numbers the predictors will claim the “wave” was so big no one could have foreseen it, if they are close they will claim a clairvoyance not seen since the glory days of Miss Cleo. If they fall short, the story they will tell is one of a rejection of the Tea Party, of limited government, of Americans “coming to their senses,” a near-literal smearing of lamb’s blood on the door posts of Congress to ward off the 10^th plague of the 10^th Amendment. Don’t listen to them either way. All that matters is 39.

Pundits get paid to predict the future, and most have the accuracy of your local weatherman, and face the same consequences for ruining your sunny weekend with rain – none. They will have a lot of airtime to fill throughout the night and little more information than you could get yourself from the Associated Press, but a lack of information won’t stop them from guessing. Just remember, if they were really any good at predicting the future they’d all be retired lottery winners, not spending Tuesday night talking on the television.

A Couple of Bellwether Races to Watch

While predictions are worthless, actual results can be indicative of things to come. When polls in the Eastern Time Zone close and projections are starting to be made there will be telltale signs of what is actually happening across the country.

Up in Maine there is a close race that wasn’t supposed to be – Maine 2. Democrat Mike Michaud won in 2008 with 67 percent of the vote, down only 4 points from his 2006 victory. He now finds himself in a tie with Republican challenger Jason Levesque. If this race is called for Levesque, or is too close to call soon after the polls close, this will be as clear an indication as your date laughing at your nervously unfunny jokes that something is happening here.

Just south is Massachusetts, the ultra-liberal state that elected a Republican to replace the Pope of liberalism, Teddy Kennedy, just a few short months ago. Barney Frank has represented the 4^th district since Massachusetts was a colony, but he’s in the race of his life this year against Marine and businessman Sean Bielat. Frank doesn’t know how to campaign, he’s never had to, and has no get out the vote ground game–he’s never needed one. He’s just been liberals’ Barney Frank and that’s been enough for decades. Forget if Frank loses, if it’s even close not only will it be the second Massachusetts miracle this year, it will be the cue to the employees of Media Matters that it’s going to be a long, typing-till-your-fingers-bleed night for them and a slaughter for Democrats.

The Senate

If the Connecticut Senate race is closer than predicted, even if Linda McMahon loses, a tidal wave is coming. If Christine O’Donnell has a stronger showing than anticipated, things will be looking good for Mark Kirk, Ken Buck and Sharon Angle.

It looks like proud liberal Russ Feingold, about whom I’ve never heard a negative word personally, or professionally (with the exception of his positions), is going to be retired. He is the liberal’s liberal, always has been. He’s not someone who runs as one thing and votes as another. If he loses that will be the clearest rejection of the progressive agenda anyone could ask for since the Constitution was ratified.

Add to that a victory by Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania and/or a John Raese upset in West Virginia and you’ll start to see Democrat turnout in western states tail off in the last few hours of voting as they ask “what’s the point?” That would bring California and Barbara Boxer into play and she would be well on her way to being called “ma’am” without the authority to scold anyone but her grandkids over it.

I don’t do predictions because you never know–funny things happen in elections and history is full of prognosticators spiking the ball on the 5 yard line, just ask President Dewey. But once actual results start rolling in all bets are off, the curtain is pulled back and emperor has no clothes. These races will give you a good idea of how good the night will be for Republicans and if you can start ordering doubles to celebrate or simply should start ordering doubles.

That being said, a few things will be certain starting tomorrow night; progressives will claim losses are not a rejection of their agenda, but merely anger/hatred/racism, take your pick, and continue to insist their agenda is what people really want. Resumes will be flying faster than bailout money from the treasury for the first time in 2 years. Joy Behar will have the most ironic first name in television. And finally, while it’s possible either way, if Christine O’Donnell manages to close the gap in Delaware and win, Keith Olbermann will recreate the movie “Scanners” live on television.

Hmm…While I don’t make predictions, I can dream, can’t I?

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Apologies for our technical difficulties — about 5,000 of you tried to download this podcast at once, and our server couldn’t handle it.

In today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by the one and only Michael Barone to discuss next week’s election. We’ll also touch on job losses from Obamacare.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment.com and Stephen Clouse and Associates. You can subscribe to the podcast by following the links above, and if you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

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