The opinions expressed on this show are those of the... Good morning. It is Thursday, May 1st. We have finally arrived. May I ask a question? Yes, you may. I just wanted to say the word may. On this first day of May. Exactly. On May Day. I gotta tell you I got issues with but on the first day of May It has happened. What can I say? It's going to be nice. I'm actually looking. I mean...
Depending on where you look, there's some places that are calling for a little bit of rain today. A lot of places across the state are partly cloudy. But, Daryl, it's 33 degrees right now in Fairbanks, but their projected high today is 61. Wow. I heard down here we might hit in the city. No, see, I saw a 55 for Palmer. I didn't see, my weather app for Anchorage is saying 46, so I don't know. I mean, it could be off.
But, you know, Big Lake is supposed to be 54. I mean, that's close. It could very well. Out toward Big Lake-Willow area, it could very well hit 60. And if it does, remember, there will be thunderstorms after that. I didn't think about that. Yeah, that heat, all that moisture starts rising up and all that heat kicking up there. All of a sudden, you've got big old thunderheads forming. It's funny how.
in alaska when we're like it's 60 it's hot it was gonna be hot today but no no temperatures are relatively mild i mean they're really nice actually right around now palmer's sitting at 41.2 41 degrees at the station here at the studio at my house. Anchorage, I have 41. Is that right, Daryl? You know, it's such a varying one today in here. Over in Spenard, it was 42 degrees. Over here at the studios. 39 degrees. So it's right in between. We're going to go up.
Yeah, no doubt. Kenai is sitting at 40. Big Lake is sitting at 40. But like I said, temperatures are looking pretty nice today. It looks like Palmer is going to hit 55 right about there. And Kenai is supposed to hit about 50. Like I said, Fairbanks is supposed to take the cake today. Today will be the first day I think they break 60.
So we'll put that caveat in there. So expect the giant mosquitoes to start coming out. That's right, those ones that sound like bombers coming past you. Here they come. Here they come. Well, it is, you know, I'm counting down the days. It's almost time for me to go pick up my flower basket, so.
You know, we're going to give them a few more weeks, probably three more weeks. Yeah, there we go. You see, you can pick them up between the 15th and the 28th. So I always try to end a little further in, you know, give them a little bit more time. But that's just because I'm trying to beat the crowds. Is it 16th, maybe? No, see, everybody shows up right in the beginning of the first week. So I outweigh them. I'm just like, I just don't want to tell the crowd.
You know, I just wait a little bit. So it'll be great. It'll be great. Flower baskets are coming. They will be sensational. I love the greenhouse on Higher Road out here across from the Harley dealership. Fantastic and good prices. The flower baskets are significantly... Lower than other places. I've been so big big. Oh, they're ginormous Yeah, they're I get the megas though to go out front of my house cuz
I don't know. I feel like I need the bigger ones to kind of fill her out, you know? But it'll be good. It'll be good. Flower baskets are coming. It's happening. A couple more weeks. A couple more weeks. Flower baskets, like earrings for your house. And that's it. All right, well, let's get into some of the public meetings because there are a few this morning. Out in the Mad Sioux at 9 a.m., the Board of Equalization has...
and has more appeal hearings that will be in the lower level conference room starting at 9. The Platting Board has a meeting today that starts at 1 o'clock in the Assembly Chambers over there in the Borough Building in Palmer. At 4 o'clock, there is a special assembly meeting regarding the Water Body Setback Advisory Commission. So that will start at 4 o'clock today over there in the Assembly Chambers in the Borough Building in Palmer.
And then at 6 o'clock today, there's the special assembly meeting regarding their budget deliberations. So we'll see if they take up amendments and potentially take action on their budget today. But that will be at 6 p.m. today in the Assembly Chambers over there at 350 East Dahlia Avenue in Palmer, so the big white borough building.
And last but not least, for the Matthew Borough, the Susitna Community Council has their meeting today. That will be at 7 p.m. They meet at the Upper Sioux Community and Senior Center located at 16463 East Helena. If you need more information on any of these meetings in the Matsu borough, just go to matsugov.us, and you'll be able to find it there. As far as the city of Westilla goes, there is a special city council meeting today.
They're going to be discussing and considering the 2026 budget. They potentially could take action this morning, or this evening. I said 9 a.m. That's a fib. It's 6 to 9 p.m. Sorry, I misread it. But that will be, again, tonight the city of Wasilla will be taking up their 2026 budget tonight. From 6 to 9 p.m., again, that's Wasilla City Hall, City Council Chambers, 290 East Herning Avenue in Wasilla.
As far as the Anchorage goes, I'm skipping Palmer because there was nothing in Palmer. But for Anchorage, I didn't see any boards or commissions. Today except for the Municipal Airport Advisory Commission does have a board meeting today at noon They meet at the anchor training fire training center over off at Airport Heights there in building C. That'll be at noon And then at 1, the EMAT's Technical Advisory Committee has their meeting over at the Permit and Development Center.
4700 Elmore Road in the training room. So those are the only two I saw for boards and commissions today for Anchorage. The Anchorage Assembly does have a Community and Economic Development Committee meeting this morning at 9 a.m. at the Permit Center over there on Elmore as well in the training room, same location. Those are really all the meetings that I see for Anchorage today. If you want to follow up on these.
For boards and commissions, go to muni.org. That's M-U-N-I, muni.org. Click on the Mayor's tab and then click on the Events tab. That gets you to boards and commissions. If you're looking for Anchorage Assembly stuff, go to muni.org and just click on the Assembly tab, and it brings you right to their home landing page.
As far as the Kenan Peninsula Borough goes, there's only one thing I see on their calendar for the remainder of the week, and that's the Resilience and Security Advisory Committee. That starts at 6 p.m. It goes from 6 to 7. It looks like it's going to be a Zoom meeting. And they're titling it reorganization meeting. So my guess is they're going to elect a new chair. That's usually what that means.
So if you're interested in that and you want more information, if you want the Zoom link, just go to kpb.us. That stands for Kenai Peninsula Borough, so kpb.us, and you'll be able to find it there. As far as the calendar for the city of Saldana goes, I don't see anything on their calendar for today. The city of Kenai has a Parks and Rec Commission meeting. Work session that starts at 5.30, followed by their 6 p.m.
Of course, that's going to be in the assembly chambers right there at the city building, 210 Fidalgo Avenue in Kenai. If you need more information, just go to kenai.city, and you'll be able to find it there. I did not see anything on the calendar for the city of Homer. So that really wraps up our local government announcements for this morning.
If you notice something that's going on that maybe we missed that you think people should know about, we're always happy to plug it. Or if you notice something fun going on.
We're always happy to plug that, too. Just give us a call, 522-0650. We're going to go ahead and take our first break of the morning. Then we will start getting into the headlines of the day. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on this Thursday morning. Currently light traffic inbound on the Glen Highway. No stoppages out there. Welcome back. Current time, 619 this morning. I will tell you, Daryl, I've seen now a bunch of sandhill cranes. You know time is going well.
You know, summer is upon us when the sandhill cranes come back. And that clickety-clickety-click noise they make. Yeah, I was going to say, usually it's not unusual. for me to start hearing cranes in my front yard last year i will tell you it was probably about 4 30 almost every morning i could hear them you know just chatting it up in my front yard and they're loud
They're loud, but I absolutely love them. Me too. Ribeye of the sky. Ribeye of the sky. I've never eaten sandhill grain. They're delicious. But, you know, it's good. I've had duck.
You know? The cranes are really nice because they're a barley feeder or a grain feeder pretty much exclusively. So that keeps their meat really nice and clean tasting as opposed to like... geese and duck which are definitely mud and bottom feeders part of the time at least so their meat gets a little bit danker and dirtier tasting but sandhills no man they are so good and it's red meat I mean it's just red meat I love them
Well, they are back. And, you know, I had seen, you know, I watch the seagulls now because you got me trained to watch for the seagulls. And I've seen lots of ducks come back. It's great to see summer upon us. I still have not seen my first trumpet this year. Yes. You have? Yes. I'm jealous. Yes. I've seen two. I absolutely have. That is a big word.
If you've ever actually physically gotten next to one of those birds, they are way bigger than you think. I mean, they are big. Yeah, they look pretty big. Well, yesterday morning when I was on the air, when I first started this show, I looked over, I looked right out the window, and I had a whole flock of... of sandhill cranes fly over the house. And last night I saw two, it was pretty windy out here last night, and two of them were trying to fly past my house.
They looked like they were struggling a little bit, but what are you going to do? What are you going to do is mic your yard. We should mic your yard up. So that way we can listen to the different sounds in your yard, you know, the sand hills, the other birds. Yeah, yeah. It's pretty cool because I'm right on the edge of the Palmer Hay Flats, and so lots of birds in my area. Lots of birds in my area. Yeah, lots of duck hunters, too, if you're in the area of there.
Yeah, that's cool. I was going to say, it doesn't bother me whatsoever. You know, I got to tell you, it's like when you hear the jets flying overhead growing up as a military kid. You hear the jets and it just warms your heart and makes you all warm and cozy. It's the sound of freedom. I feel the same way when I hear the duck hunters. I'm like,
That is, that is, you know, every time I hear the word duck hunter, all I can think of is Dick Cheney and duck. Oh, good heavens. Has that Liz Cheney thing happened yet? No, it is coming up really close. It is, I mean, it is. I've got to be honest. It is high speed approaching us, yes. The Democrats will be there in full attendance. I can see what they are. And the Murkowskiites will be there, you know, the Trump haters, orange man bad.
But zero chance I would spend my money to give to Liz Cheney. I know we're advertising it on iHeart, but I've got to be honest with you. Like, not a chance. It's like paying to go see Lisa Murkowski. All we're going to go listen to is a bunch of Trump hate and rhetoric. I'm not going to pay for that. Are you kidding me?
I get it for free every day on most media channels. Oh, yeah, especially if you go on the liberal channels. You'll definitely get lots of Lisa Murkowski telling us how afraid she is and how afraid we should be. But just as a bonus, I don't know a whole lot about it. But from what I understand, if you want to talk with Lisa, her and Suzanne LaFrance are going to be at the cleanup going on down at Westchester Lagoon. I think that is...
Today's Thursday. I think it's Saturday that that's going on. Oh, good Lord. I got to be honest with you. I just can't even with some of these people. Well, you know, there was some good news that I saw. Going to a little bit more of a national story. Suzanne had this in her lineup a couple days ago, and I just didn't get to it, but I wanted to cover it. You heard about the Milwaukee judge. who was arrested for obstructing ICE operations. There was a wanted illegal.
that was in a Milwaukee courthouse and the judge found out that the ICE was there to take him. And she effectively took him and his attorney back into the back and helped him escape out of the back door. Well... That didn't go over well. A foot chase ensued, and ICE was able to end up apprehending him. But in the process, the DOJ came back, and she was charged effectively with obstructing.
I don't know if they call it obstructing justice, but the issue is effectively charged. So the story in Mustard, Alaska, is state Supreme Court suspends Milwaukee judge charged with helping man evade ICE. The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended a Milwaukee judge facing two federal charges for allegedly trying to help a man illegally in the country escape from immigration officials. The order... which was released late Tuesday, said Milwaukee County Judge
Hannah Dugan faces two federal charges, one a felony and one a misdemeanor. And in its public interest, they relieved her of her duties temporarily. Here is the order from the court. It reads, quote, the court is charged in the Wisconsin Constitution with exercising superintending and administrative authority of the courts of this state and the exercise of that constitutional authority in order to uphold the public's confidence in the courts.
of this state during the pendency of the criminal proceeding against Judge Dugan, we conclude on our own motion that it is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties, end quote. Duggan is charged with obstruction of a federal proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent discovery or arrest.
The obstruction charge could result in up to a $100,000 fine in a year in prison, while the second concealment charge can result in up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. It goes on to say the defendant is accused of concealing Eduardo Flores Ruiz, who was previously deported and came back to the U.S. where he's facing charges in Milwaukee of domestic battery and abuse. FBI and Special Agent Lindsay Schlomer.
wrote in the complaint against Dugan that the law enforcement often makes arrests at the courthouse because, quote, not only the fact that law enforcement knows the location at which the wanted individual should be located, but also the fact that the wanted individual would have entered through a security checkpoint and thus be unarmed. minimizing the risk of injury to law enforcement, the public, and the wanted individual."
So we'll see what happens in this case. But I got to tell you, as I listen to the legal pundits talk about this case, the facts are very strong against this judge. I mean, her actions. I mean, clearly premeditated. I mean, it goes so far that she actually put on the front. Like she had there was a sign outside her courtroom.
And I'm going to paraphrase wildly here, but effectively noticing to people if they feel unsafe and they want a Zoom meeting rather than being person, just to contact the clerk and they'll arrange it. So that is code for what? If you're illegal and you don't want to be here in person and you want to attend by Zoom, I will accommodate that arrest. I mean, that hearing request.
This is from our judicial officers. Judicial officers. And this is my point. That right there demonstrates intent to obstruct, in my view. I mean, I'm just throwing it out there. You know, when you know ICE is there and she had a complete meltdown, apparently, when she realized that ICE was there to pick him up and she was very upset and she agitated and whatnot from some of the reports. This is example 101, should not be a judge.
I'll just say it. Should not be a judge. Look, you've got to be able to be fair and impartial. She clearly cannot do that by her actions. Her actions demonstrate that. I have zero sympathy for them. Again, I have a great deal of respect for judges, but there's no way around it. Judges are held to a higher standard than the average public.
So along the lines of that, one of the Democratic republics for that state there made this statement as he's in front of the crowd that's protesting her. They want her, you know, to be free. The judiciary acts as a check. to unchecked executive power, and functioning democracies do not lock up judges.
Where's the check on this executive power? Where is the check on this? And functioning, we don't lock up judges. If your judge is doing something illegal, yes, you do. You just hit on something. I mean, I was actually taken aback when you said that. The reality is then what that guy is saying is judges are above the law. Yes.
Judges are not above the law. Again, judges are the ones that administer effectively the punishments. They're the ones that hand down the sentences. They're the ones that... you know, interpret the law, they apply the law. But at the end of the day, if they are not held accountable, I mean, they know the law better than probably just about anybody, right? I mean, think about average citizens. You know, the judges, number one, are lawyers.
above the lawyers, and if those people are not held to the same standard as your average citizen, number one, that's a massive problem. But I argue, and I used to sit on the Judicial Conduct Commission here in Alaska. I argue that judges should be held to a higher standard than the average citizen because they know better. Well, they know the minutiae.
When you were saying they know the law better, they know the minutia of the law. They know the small little caveats that, well, yes, you can do this, you can't do that, but type of things. But yeah, another thing that we really need to change in all of this, and it goes right with the judicial. A statement from, or I shouldn't say a statement, a sign and a chant they were doing, immigrants are here to stay.
These are not immigrants. These are not immigrants. They're foreign invaders. Thank you. There we go. They keep using this term immigrant, and I see it constantly. through there, they've got it into, everybody says, or migrate. They are neither of those things. They are illegally in this country. Well, nobody's illegal. Their actions are illegal. Yeah, they are. That makes them illegal.
Yeah, they are. I totally agree with you. And this is where words matter, right? Because they try to soften everything. We've talked about the left and how they use words to try to soften everything. And I mean, I laugh when I see some of these like different Facebook reels or Instagram reels where they're just making fun of it. I think about this, you know, in 100 or 200 years. Is the population going to look back at us and say, what in the heck are they thinking? These people are crazy.
I know right now that is a response from a lot of the other world, part of the globe. You know, when people look back on America, they just shake their head. I gotta be honest with you. I love watching Sky News from Australia. It's hilarious. Yes. Because it's like a reality check that
They can't even believe some of the things we're debating are serious. You know, and I just look at it and think, this is crazy. But to your point, when we're talking about, you know, foreign invaders, when we're talking about, you know, Citizens of other countries that have illegally broken into our country, they're illegals.
That's what they are. Yes. They're aliens. They're illegal aliens. Let's bring the term back. Illegal aliens. That's what they are. Think of it this way, people. If you really want to have a good look at this. If you owned a theater, okay, and you sold tickets to your theater. And every day, half of your theater was filled with people who didn't pay for those tickets and watched your movie?
Wouldn't you consider that a crime? You'd go broke, but also, wouldn't you consider that a crime? They're taking your movie. They're taking your seat. They didn't pay for them. They're illegal. They stole it from you. You wouldn't mince it and say, oh, well, they're just observers. Oh, no, those guys, they're just observers. No, they stole the video or they stole watching that. It's just, it's insane how they change it. And when you were saying the future.
I guarantee you when they look back, they're literally going to go, look, all these words flipped their meaning 100%. And they don't know what a woman is. All of a sudden, somehow in 2020. We no longer do what a woman was. I don't know. The world's gone crazy. But, you know, I will tell you, I think this is the right move for the Supreme Court.
in the state of Wisconsin. I mean, the reality of the situation is once you get into these judicial canons, the rules the judges have to live by, they're pretty straightforward. And so this, in my view, when I see this come out, this is like a pro forma proceeding. This is something that when a judge is charged, I'm sure this is a standard procedure for them to go through to suspend that judge until the resolution of those charges. Yeah.
My experience would be, if something like this were to come up, I think this would be a pretty standard proceeding. I don't know that this indicates what the outcome of this case is going to be, but it indicates that
The Supreme Court, at least in the state of Wisconsin, is taking it seriously, which they should be. All right, we're going to go ahead and take a quick break. When we come back, we will continue to get into the headlines of the day. If you'd like to call in, be part of the show, 522-0650. The Anchorage Police Department says Edwards was discovered.
deceased inside a vehicle near East 13th and Carlic Streets around 530 Sunday morning. The trial is underway for a nurse practitioner charged with misconduct following the opioid-related death of a young woman 10 years ago. proceedings got underway yesterday in the case against
Chris Kyle, who is charged with misconduct involving a controlled substance in the second and third degree related to oxycodone and fentanyl. And the Alaska Basic Wildland Firefighter Academy is announcing the graduation of nearly two dozen new firefighters. The 21 cadets finished up their two-week training on Tuesday. Academy coordinator Nathan Zalewski called the graduates some of our newest and brightest firefighters that are joining the Alaska workforce. That's the latest. I'm John Fink.
News Radio 650. KENI. Depend on it. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on this Thursday morning. Currently light traffic inbound on the Glen Highway. No stoppages out there. It's Amy Demboski on NewsRadio. Welcome back. Current time, 6.39 on this glorious Thursday, May 1st. We finally made it to May.
I'm still holding on to those tempters warming into the upper 40s and the lower 50s with drier weather to close out the week. For Alaska's weather source, I'm meteorologist Aaron Morrison. Now back to the... I will tell you, with the turning of the season, and as the legislative session wraps up, you'll start to see more...
More campaigning type of things. People are starting to set up their pieces. We're going to get an idea of who's running for governor, who's running for this seat and that seat. There's going to be multiple movements in districts. I'm telling you right now, it's going to be an interesting time in the Valley because...
I'm just saying, some of these Republicans out here, I suspect, are going to get primaried. I mean, there's no real primary anymore. The top four go forward. But you'll see people pop up in the primary to challenge some of them. Because people ain't happy. Let's just put it that way. They're not happy. It's not gonna be a clean election. It is not. And I look for it. You know, I actually was so ticked off over the weak need.
I'm going to do my very best not to cuss in today's show, Daryl. I'm making a conscientious effort not to use the pejoratives that I really want to use. Because I'm trying to be, you know, above board here. But I was so irritated last night. I took the actual snapshot vote count of HB 57 in the House. And I turned around and I cross-referenced it with my APOC donations over the last cycle, so 23-24.
year and I'm like won't be donating to that person again won't be donating to that person again they're off my list And, you know, look, I'll be candid with you. There's a couple people that I know exactly who they are. I know they're, you know, but then you look at the race and you're like, definitely a better candidate. I'm still going to support them. So sometimes you make a conscientious effort.
But, you know, I will tell you, I'm one of those people that people in the party sometimes, they have a tight race coming up. i'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination but i've always worked two jobs for i can't even tell you how long for the past 15 years i've always had two jobs
And, you know, I volunteer a lot. I know a lot of people. And so a lot of times when people are campaigning, they could pick up the phone and call me, and they were like, hey, Amy, like this happened with, you know, whether it be. You know, the repeal of ranked choice voting or individual candidates or whatever. Hey, you know, we need money for X, Y, Z. We need to do another lip drop. We want another radio ad, whatever candidate it is.
And I would get the phone call, hey, we need to raise this amount of money. And I'm, like, happy to write a check. So I write a check. So last night I'm looking at who in the House voted for HB. which is effectively a big old spending bill, adding $700 to the base student allocation with, let's be honest, no significant policy changes that are going to move the needle in educational outcomes, in my humble opinion.
And with that, I looked at who voted in the House, and I'm like, yep, won't be giving them money anymore, won't be giving them any money anymore. So as I look at it, the only ones that voted no. There's eight of them. These are the good guys. These are the ones who said, wait a second, what are we getting for this? So I'm going to go through the list right now of who voted no.
Who actually said, no, I'm not going to take my constituents, PFD, to line the pockets of these big school districts in the NEA, let's be honest. So these are the ones I voted now. Mike Prox, George Rauscher, Schwanke from Fairbanks area, Kathy Tilton, and Tomaszewski. I always mess up his name. Frank Tomaszewski. I think I said it right. I can't remember. I always mess up. Those are the ones that voted no. I'll be honest with you. I watched in the Senate. Two of them flipped in the Senate, too.
Senator Schauer and Senator Hughes on the second go-round. Because remember, the Senate passed it initially 19 to 1. The only one that voted no was Meyers, Senator Meyers. So Senator Myers voted no. Well, I will tell you, I mean, I had an hour-long conversation with my senator, Senator Hughes, about HB 57. Whether that had an impact on her or not, I don't know.
But I was very adamant and very direct about my commentary about this particular bill. And she ended up changing her vote. You know, I listened to their floor speeches. Senator Schauer ended up changing his vote, so it ended up being 17-3 in the Senate. So those three voted no. But, you know, see, Daryl, I can't even help myself. I told you I wasn't going to talk about this until 7, and now I'm into it. I'm into it because I couldn't let it go. But here's the reality.
When I look at the House members and I look at them, look, I expected... Jeremy Bynum to vote for this because he was trying to make deals well before this vote I see him as a squishy middle no different than Gary Stevens that's Amy's opinion Look, and I'm just going to say it. I don't know this guy. I sat in an SEC meeting with him when he was a candidate running for office, and my spidey sense were up going, mmm.
Him and I, I was watching how he voted. We were now voting the same on many issues. And I'm thinking, this is one I would keep my eye on. So his vote to give, you know, an unchecked $700 BSA increase doesn't surprise me at all. Costello doesn't surprise me at all. She's been just a poor leader, and I'm being very nice when I say this, a poor leader in the House this year. Pathetic. Terrible.
I think she has the leadership potential. I mean, I used to actually think, hey, she would do a good leadership. She's been terrible as a House minority leader. Terrible. Julie Colon doesn't surprise me. She's been scared of the NEA, running scared of the NEA for the past many months. And so, again, did I expect her to cave? Absolutely, 100%. So these Republicans I expected it from, right? And then I look at it and I'm like, okay, as I look a little further,
Chuck Kopp, of course, he's leading the Democrats, right? So he's going to cave 100%. David Nelson was excused, so he wasn't there. Justin Ruffridge didn't surprise me. I've had some nice conversations with Justin Ruffridge. I would view him more as a moderate, so it didn't surprise me at all. Dan Sadler, I've got to be honest with you, this is, I mean, par for the course, Dan has become more of an establishment kind of Republican over the last few years. I think the whole point...
of ranked choice voting was to try to moderate people, and it's worked because they don't feel as accountable because they don't have a closed Republican primary. So that didn't surprise me at all with Dan Sadler. And then, but you know, the two that they should be hearing from their constituents, Alexi Moore and Jubilee Underwood.
Now, I'll tell you. Jubilee surprised me. That really surprised me. Well, I'll tell you this. I got a call two, three weeks before the election saying, Jubilee Underwood, Amy, we need to do a lead job. Will you donate to her? I wrote her a check for $1,000.
wow i'm telling you right now i will not be doing that again i'm pretty pissed to be honest with you i'm not happy I'm not happy because I know the conversations these people are having behind closed doors because they're calling me and telling me about it. Multiple of these legislators, like, not just legislators, but staffers are calling me. I mean, I spent five hours on the phone the night before this vote.
Five hours talking to many, many, many people. Not just legislators, many, many people. And they're all saying the same thing. They voted, they traded your P, I don't care what they tell you. If they don't tell you the truth, this is why I asked the question. And it's not a surprise to any one of these legislators. When you get on here, I'm going to ask you two questions, and I told them this ahead of time. I'm going to ask you two questions. Where's the money coming from?
Like, come on. What's our return on investment here? What are the actual policy changes that are going to lead? And look, to Shelly Hughes' credit, She listed five things for me. I wrote them down. I was taking notes as she was talking so I could be fair and think about it. But as I dig into each one of these things, I'm thinking, well, this isn't actually a significant policy change for me that I think is going to move the needle. And the two biggest things that they highlight...
For example, the first thing they highlight is, well, it's going to be on cell phones in school. So, you know, it gets that distraction away. Look, I agree. That cell phones in schools are a distraction and getting that away is going to be good for the kids to pay attention. But explain to me, that is not a significant educational, like reading, like a significant policy change. It's a common sense thing that teachers can tell kids to put.
phones away in their classroom right now if they wanted to. Right. Right? Why do we need a law for that? This is just common sense management, time management. But then the other thing that they talk about is these reading incentives. And you heard Bob kind of allude to it before yesterday when he called in is these reading incentives.
And as they talk about the reading incentives, they're like, well, you know, when they show improvements K through 6, there will be basically a $400 per student bump, right? So they're giving them a carrot to say, if you do your job and educate the kids the way you're supposed to, then we'll give you a $400 bonus on top of the $700 per student bonus.
you see where i'm going with this but then i said well okay but that particular piece is tied to a new tax bill sb 113 that has not passed yet And it's going to task, it's a digital task. Right. So anybody who's selling anything online, effectively, it's a corporate tax that they're going to be taxed, which means it's going to pass through to you, which means really, really, they're not calling it an online sales tax, but effectively, that will be the impact of it.
So you're predicating a spending bill on revenue that is not here yet. And even if it passes, they're not going to be able to get it up and collect it for this actual year. Give me a break. So, again, I mean, there's so much fallacy in their argument, but don't let it fool you. The reason they all voted for this is because they're covering their own butts for the 2026 election because they're afraid of the NEA. That's why Sarah Vance voted for it.
That's why the rest of them are voting for it. And frankly, that's why you saw not one. member of the House get up and actually say anything negative about this bill. One person spoke, Zach Fields. He told everybody to vote for it. The rest of them sat in silence because they were given the order. don't you dare get up and speak against this bill because you're going to make our members look bad who voted for it. The silence was deafening.
deafening. And I will say it, this is all coming from a weak leadership. Weak leadership. I'm going to take a break. I'll be right back. Welcome back, Current Time 635. I'm going to go straight to the phones, and Debra is with us. Good morning, Debra. Good morning. How fun was that vote yesterday? I tried to help you out. I tried to help them out. But then we also, you know, there were some issues brought up that I brought up that may be unconstitutional in terms of the surveillance.
especially Alaska Natives. But, you know, you've got Trump in... Trump and Dunleavy meeting privately, and he's got a conference coming here, and Trump has a conference coming here, and Dunleavy has all the leverage, so we don't know what the governor's going to do. And it's going to be very entertaining. But it's disappointing when you started listening to me.
Yeah, I feel the same way. It was disappointing. I know. I totally feel the same way. Well, you know, I will say this. I think the fact that we highlighted it early and we went public with it. I guarantee you, I know for a fact we flipped votes. I know for a fact we scared the tar out of some of them. I mean, look, Delaina Johnson, no question in my mind she was going to vote for this. And the fact that we went public, I'm sure she got pressure from her district and she voted no on.
HB 57, not because I think she wanted to, but because she knew she could, because everybody else is voting yes. So again, this is politics. We're not even done with this conversation. Just wait. Just wait. We'll be back. Weekday morning from 6 to 8 a.m. right here on 650 a.m. If you want to stream us, you can stream us live. at 650keni.iheart.com, or you can download the iHeart Media app. And when you get that app, it makes the world open to you.
I now know people in Switzerland who are using the app. I know people in Arizona who are using the app. Texas. all across the United States, all across the world. No matter where you go, when you're on vacation, you can pick up your Amy Demboski show. Just bring up the app. And of course, it's going to be in your presets. That's those buttons on top, just like in your car. You know, you have the numbered buttons. Pick the button you want. Put your favorite shows onto it.
one button touch, and you can listen to all the world has to offer. And not only can you listen to us live, you can find our podcasts on the iHeartMedia app, and you can find our podcasts on the website. So, again, the website is 650keni.iheart.com if you want to catch us. us on those streaming platforms or the podcast. All right. We're going to go to the phones because Marie has been incredibly patient with me. Good morning, ma'am.
Hi, Miss Amy. How are you? I am sensational. It is Thursday. It's May. It's supposed to be fairly nice today. Look, I am not complaining whatsoever. It's going to be so beautiful, and I'm so glad for your commercial because I had to get over my belly laugh from all the stuff you've been talking about. I get a little animated sometimes, don't I?
I love your animation. It's working for me. What's on your mind this morning? Well, I have several things I'd like to talk about, but I'll make it short because I don't want to take up too much of your time. All right, go for it. All right. So, first of all, I'm going to go to my first council meeting. Fantastic. I love it. I'm scared. Don't be scared. Okay, first let me ask you, which town do you live in?
Anchorage. Okay, so you're in Anchorage. You know, what you're going to notice is there is... And they're a bit formal in Anchorage. Some of these councils are a little more informal and they are more welcoming. And I will tell you, the flavor of council meetings in Anchorage versus the Mat-Su, totally opposite. In Anchorage, they are very structured on their rules. So what you'll notice, you just go in, pick a seat.
And you'll kind of get a flavor for what, you know, how they run their meetings, but they tend to be pretty formal. Are you going there for any specific issue? Yes, ma'am, I am. In North Mountain View, and I live in South Mountain View, there's an encampment just across from a park that's very important to me. And it's disgusting. And there's broken down motorhomes and it's ugly. And it's not a great place.
Okay, so first thing I would do, if you're asking for advice on how to approach the situation, I think that's what Daryl told me that's what you're looking for. Look, sorry, sorry. Sorry, we can't say bad words on the air. I didn't say that. I didn't mean that. I'm sorry. That's okay. Don't worry. Don't worry. We got it. She wouldn't do... She'd probably do something about it. And then I called my... And then I called...
And I don't like her at all. I can say that, right? You can say yuck. Yeah, yuck is okay. So here's what I would say is the best way to approach it. Are we talking about Davis Park? Yeah, okay. Because I've driven past it many times. I have a friend who lives not too far from there. Isn't that awful? It is awful. So this is the best way to deal with the Anchorage Assembly.
And you're not going to like a little bit of what I tell you, but I'm telling you it's the most effective. First thing you have to do is you kind of have to stroke your egos a little bit. So what I would recommend you do, your two Assembly members for your district are Daniel Voland and Chris Constant. Are they Democrats? Yeah. Oh, yes. Hard Democrats. Very hard Democrats. You've got to deal with those. This is what you do. You go up to them and you say,
hey, you know, I'm from your district. This is my name. Thank you for serving. I appreciate it so much. I wanted to bring up this issue because I'm really concerned about it. So you have to compliment them. You got to start with a compliment. and say, you know, oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate, you know.
Your willingness to serve. I mean, because then you're not really fibbing. You're not saying you're thinking they're doing a great job. But you've got to compliment them a little bit. And then you follow it up with. You know, this is my face-to-face, so wait until they have a break, and when they have a break,
then go up to them and talk to them one-on-one. That's going to be your most effective thing. When people are talking to you one-on-one, it's a lot harder for them to ignore you. I'm not going to get wired. Well, I'm not asking you to lie. I'm just asking you to get up and be nice. That's it. You've got to be nice because otherwise they're going to tune you out and they will not listen. I know. I know. I know. I told you, you probably weren't going to like what I had to say, but I've watched it.
where they literally ignore people. And if people get up to the podium and testify about it, a lot of times they're on their phones, they're ignoring, they're totally tuning it out. So that's why I say during a break, I would walk up to them during a break, and I would say hello. I would be polite. I would introduce myself, and then I'd say, I'm really concerned about this. There's a lot of issues.
I heard just a couple nights ago there was like three fires over in that area. One of the campers burned down, and it's just sitting over there charred to smithereens. I mean, I'm sure they know about it. But the more people, and if you can get neighbors to show up. There were two women that were shot there. Yep, yep, yep. You've got to show up. You've got to show up, and you've got to have these one-on-one conversations with them. That will be your most effective technique.
Well, I have one more story to tell if you don't mind. All right. Got to keep it clean. Go for it. I know. It's clean, I promise. I'm sorry about the last story. So anyways, when I was 16 years old, 17, I was 17, I moved to New York City. And I sat down in a really beautiful hotel, and I had a drink. Somebody told me about it. It was an awful thing. It gave me a headache the next day anyway.
It was a packed place. And there was a man that came down and he sat down in my booth. Well, actually, he said, may I sit here? I said, sure, why not? And his name was Donald. He was very handsome. He looked like he was about 27. He said, you're so sweet. And he wrote me an I owe you one napkin. He says, I owe you one. I said, you owe me one. No, he was really kind. His name was Donald Trump. Oh, that is cool. And I called my governor also on top of this whole situation.
And I've never asked her nothing in all my years. And I'm 63 now. He goes, I owe you one. I said, well, I'm going to call him in on this so you guys don't do nothing about it. I'd love to have an IOU from Donald Trump this day and age. That would be fantastic. That is a fantastic story, Marie. You know, the funny thing about it is, like, I know he's got lots of money, and who always needs money?
But I would never call him in on that. But there is a reason. And I put it away and hid it all my life. Well, I'll see something in you new. This would be a cool souvenir to have one day. I think that is fantastic. Marie, thank you for calling in this morning. I wish you the best of luck at the Anchorage Assembly meeting that's coming up. Like I said, my best advice for you.
is, you know, be polite, be respectful, go up, but try to have a one-on-one conversation. Introduce yourself, personalize yourself. And then it's really, I think this is a good strategy with all politicians, frankly. And this applies to state issues. This applies to any of them. If you ever get the chance, if you have an issue, this is why I'm a big fan of going to different meet and greets. And when your legislator has a town hall or they have a coffee or they have, you know, different events.
I think it's very helpful for you to go meet them one-on-one and go to their thing, shake their hand, make them look you in the eye, because then when you have issues that come up, they know you. They're like, oh, that's Marie. That's why I say I would start with a personal introduction. That way they start to develop a relationship with you and they know, oh, she's in my district. Oh, she's concerned about this.
Because then you can start holding them accountable personally. So I think that's my very best advice for you. All right, we're going to go ahead and take a quick break. When we come back, we will continue with your calls. 522-0650. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on this Thursday morning. Traffic's now picking up around the Anchorage Bowl. I've not seen any major stoppages, just a lot of traffic out there. Traffic is flowing well, though.
If you see traffic problems on the road, dial pound 250 on your cell, say total traffic. Also, those big yellow school buses are hitting the road, so keep your eyes out for them. From the Swickard Chevrolet Anchorage Traffic Studios. I'm Daryl Dean. You're listening to live, local, and... He is with us. Good morning, sir. Good morning, Miss Amy and Daryl. Can you hear me okay? I can hear you, Randy.
Okay, I'm pretty sick, still kind of sick right now. The reason why I'm calling it, I don't want to do a joke because I don't feel that good, is that, you know, those people like... Jubilee hit me up as well. But the thing is, Straight of the NEA. Yes. Well, they should be straight of all of us, too.
The problem is not kept. It's like a lot of people are using the permanent dividend fund just to keep alive. Many people I know... uh buy wood and they use that wood to heat their house and cook off of all year long yeah we're not on the on the road system per se but we're close enough But I tell you what, if they're worried about the NA, they should be worried about us, the voters, because we're seeing Trump making promises made. He's doing promises kept. These people, they stole our money.
That's all I didn't have to say. They stole the money, $10,000. You just think what each one of us can do $10,000 with our family. Exactly. Randy, I couldn't have said it any better. You absolutely hit the nail on the head, and I'm glad you came back to this topic because I think it's an important one. I'm going to go ahead and put you on hold. Thank you so much for calling in, and I'm going to play off of your comments here because I think it's important for us to reiterate this.
All right, so here's what we got. So with HP 57, they passed this bill. The bill was originally sponsored by Zach Fields, right? It was to ban cell phones in schools. effectively what it is. Suzanne has a great article up on Must Read Alaska if you want to watch it. There's some videos embedded in it, too. So I think she did a really good job.
And here's what she says. HB57 has passed again. In the end, most Republicans in the House and the Senate backed the spending bill sponsored by Representative Zach Fields, one of the most... hard-line Democrats in the legislature and the former communications director for the Alaska Democratic Party and former labor organizer for the FLCIO. HB 57, which has seen twists and turns, took a few more turns Wednesday as the Senate fixed one section of the bill that was unconstitutional.
Effectively, what they were trying to do was dedicate funds, right? They were trying to tie part of the funding of this bill for the reading incentives to the passage of a brand new tax, which is SB 113. It's a digital tax. They're claiming it's kind of like a corporate tax, but effectively, if you do online sales in Alaska,
If you're a company, you're going to be taxed based on your sales in Alaska. So what will it, I mean, it's a de facto sales tax online. That's really what it is because you know from a practical standpoint, companies are going to pass that tax through. to the consumers buying the product. That's what's going to happen. You have SB 113. that passed the Senate, hasn't passed the House yet. So they're effectively tying part of the funding of this bill, HB 57.
to a bill that hasn't even passed the legislature yet and likely is going to be vetoed by the governor. So that's part of the issue. But Randy has hit the nail on the head, absolutely nail on the head. The reality we have in this particular situation is you have a bunch of Republicans. that are running scared from the NEA, that are more concerned about next year's election than they are about actually having a fiscal policy that's reflective of the values of the voters who sent them there.
And Daryl and I get hot about this. We go on about this during our breaks. Because here is the fact. And I said this very, very plainly to a legislator. Number one. I'm very disgusted with your vote. because I see this as a CYA. See, I'm editing for radio. A CYA in your next election. That's what this is. You're choosing to take money out of my pocket. to help you in your next campaign. But here's the reality, Republicans.
You do not have to worry about the NEA. I guarantee you they're always going to run a candidate against you. They're always going to put money in campaigns against you. They're always going to say you hate children and you don't support education. But the reality is the voters that sent you there expect you to be good fiscal stewards. And I go back to the same two questions I ask every legislator on spending bills. Where are you getting the money from?
If they don't tell you it's your PFD, they're lying, first of all. It's coming from your PFD. They can twist it around any way they want. That's where it's coming from. And the other question is, what are we going to get for it? And in this particular bill, though I've had some attempt to make the argument for me that there's actually policy reforms in here that are going to move the needle, I appreciate your attempt to try to convince me. Your voters are not stupid.
When the biggest portion of this that you're talking about, that it's going to actually help reading grants, right? Again, they passed a $700 base student allocation increase. And then on top of it, if school districts actually do their job and educate kids, And then they're going to get a $400 per student bump? Excuse me, so we're paying a bonus for doing their job? I'm sorry. This carrot approach hasn't been working for years and years and years. You know what? I think they need a step.
If you don't do your job, we're going to take more money from you. And frankly, I think there's a discussion to be made about, you know, I know one of my legislators used to call it backpack funding. And I know there's constitutional arguments about is it legal or not, but the reality is competition drives excellence.
You need competition. That's why you see the Valley schools doing so well right now, because it's basically open enrollment in the Valley. You can put your kid in any school you want to in the Valley. You might just have to drive them there. But it's very competitive out here, and you're seeing the results bear fruit.
But, you know, why doesn't Anchorage do it? Because the NEA has a lock hold on it. The NEA doesn't want competition. Even if it's among their own schools, they don't want competition. They want status quo. And the reality is, is Randy is 100% right. You're never going to placate the union. And this is what I said, frankly, to this specific legislator I was talking to.
Because the conversation came up, purple districts, we have all these people in purple districts. You know, we have to protect the people in purple districts. And I said, you know what, you don't have to worry about the purple districts. The NEA is coming for those people anyway. You know what you got to worry about? You got to worry about losing your base. Because the people in the Purple District, I mean, I have a friend, and I won't say the name on the air.
But I have a friend who went through this. I watched it firsthand where there was a significant piece of legislation they advocated for. They got the pressure from the unions. They caved on it. And I said, don't do it. You're going to lose your base. What happened? They got annihilated in the next race because their base didn't show up for them. Because here's the thing.
If we can't trust you, if you tell us you're going to go to Juneau and act like a fiscal conservative Republican and you vote like a Democrat, What's the difference of sending the Democrats anyway? At least they know what they're getting. And that's the message I'm hearing from people, frankly, in Alexi Moore's district and Jubilee Underwood's district. I'm hearing it over and over again. Like I said, I outlined the people that I expected to cave. Because, look, in here is...
See, I'm getting on a rant again, Daryl. Here is the reality. What we are suffering from is a lack of leadership at every single level. Now, granted, he's in D.C. meeting with Trump right now. I know that that's important. They're talking energy issues, good for him, whatever. But the reality is, have you heard him out here talking about the legislature? Have you heard him down there coordinating? You know, rounding caps? No. Governor's been largely absent.
And you know what? Everybody knows I like the governor. I've been supportive of the governor. I advocated for the governor. I was a big supporter of his when he ran. I worked for the guy. Like, I like the governor, but the facts are the facts, and if you're going to be credible, you need to speak truth. Governor's been largely absent. Now, let's talk about party leadership. Carmela is absolutely worthless.
I'm sorry for all you that love her. Explain to me what she's done. She's weak. She's not calling out the weak Republicans. It's always like, I know. Everybody has to do it at the local level. There's no leadership. You know, when Tim Walz is asked the question, who's the leader of the Democrat Party, we're all leaders of the party. That's kind of the response we're getting from Republican leadership at the state level. Pathetic. Then when we have leadership in the Senate that's advocating...
To pass HB 57 to protect people in the next election, I'm sorry, even if you're my friend, I disagree with you, and I think it's weak. Because you don't have the Constitution to stand up and fight back. And now, let's take it a step further. Now we have people in Republican leadership. in the legislature, behind the scenes advocating for a digital tax bill to fund the bill that they voted against this last time.
We know the game that's being played right now, so behind the scenes, when you're advocating for a new tax, don't come to me and tell me you're a fiscal conservative. You know what you are? You're a weak-kneed politician. Grow a pair. Get off your duff and do what you said you were going to do when we sent you to judo. I am tired. I'm tired. I'm sick and tired. And I will tell you.
I will absolutely put my money where my mouth is when these people come up for election next year. I am looking forward to it, and I'm not the only one. I just saw a post go out from the Valley Republican women's executive team. And I'm telling you, people in the Valley are paying attention. They know exactly what's going on. People in Alaska are not stupid.
They know when they elect people to go to Juneau, they know what they do when they get there, and they're not going to be fooled by your little political doublespeak. This is a quote. I'm going to just cover this, and then I'll take a quick break. From the Valley Republican Women's Executive Team. They were watching what happened in HB 57. It starts by saying,
We want to start by thanking the legislators who stood their ground and voted no on 57 today. Your courage to defend conservative principles and make the right choice for Alaskans did not go unnoticed. But let's be honest. The Valley Republican women of Alaska are done playing nice with the career climbers and political chameleons who fold under pressure. Pick a lane. Are you fighting for conservative values or just wearing red while selling out the base?
we don't rally behind politicians slithering their way for approval from the middle or worse the left we campaign and work hard to raise funds for those who speak truth stand firm and fight fight fight their way to unapologetically to the right And before the usual guilt trips roll in about attacking our own, let's be clear, this is what accountability looks like. True accountability doesn't happen behind closed doors or whispered gently in your ear. It happens out loud.
public with clarity and conviction you are elected servants of the grassroots public if we don't hold our own To this standard, who will? This is not about division. It's about direction. We're not here to babysit the status quo. We're here to take our state back. Primaries are coming. I'm telling you I couldn't have said it any better. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.
Turn up your radio. Here's the Sean Hannity morning minute. Look, this this hundred days in of Trump have been nothing short of historic. One of the things you've got to understand and maybe. appreciate throughout the next, you know, three and three quarter years that we have left with Donald Trump here.
is you're not going to see any three and two-thirds, whatever the number is, years that we have left with him. Assuming he stays healthy, assuming that there's not another would-be assassin out there, God forbid. And there's been so much violent rhetoric, it's absolutely chilling. But let me tell you, this is not a president you will see often. in the course of history. Check out the Sean Hannity radio show later today right here.
Attention retirement savers. J.P. Morgan predicts a 2025 recession as tariffs rattle markets. According to Forbes, 2025 recession risks just increased significantly. And Ray Dalio warns of a more serious global breakdown. That's why thousands of hardworking Americans are turning to the award-winning precious metals company, Goldco. Right now, Goldco is offering you a free 2025 gold and silver kit. Plus, you could get unlimited bonus silver if you qualify.
Visit HannityGold.com or call 855-815-GOLD to find out how you can help diversify your savings tax and penalty free today. Help protect what you've worked so hard for before it's too late. That's HannityGold.com or call 855-815-GOLD. This is News Radio 650, KENI, Anchorage. This report is sponsored by Alaska CyberKnife.
Cancer treatment is continually evolving, and the latest evolution and accuracy is truly amazing with a state-of-the-art submillimeter accurate. Amy Demboski, 628, more always insightful morning drive radio. Welcome back, Current Time. 7.20 on this Thursday morning. I'm going to go to the phones and Randy, me off a ledge. I don't know. Am I missing something here about what went down in the legislature this week? You know, Amy, it is
so incredibly embarrassing. And it does come down to, as you stated earlier, I agree with you, such an incredible lack of leadership. The governor, the governor and his commissioner of revenue right now. What did you know? You go meet with the president for one hour.
And then you get your butt back to Anchorage, Mr. Governor, and your commissioner of revenue doesn't need to go. Somebody gets their butt in the halls of that legislature and start lobbying. Amy, if you are the governor right now, And you have this education package in front of you. and you've got funding issues in front of you,
You need to be sitting down with your entire executive team and every single commissioner that you've got that is on the payroll for the state of Alaska and saying, here's the deal. This is a full-throated lobbying effort. All of you get into those legislators' offices right now. You know, Bernadette, the governor introduces his education package, right, I think right after this. I think it was 203. It's something like that.
But it hasn't even had a hearing, not a hearing. His own package for education hasn't even had a hearing. And so when you think about this and you think, You know, again, if I was governor, there's no chance I would be having daily meetings with legislators saying, okay, what can we do? How do we get your vote? How do we earn your vote? What do we do?
I'm seeing no leadership on any level. I'm seeing no leadership from the governor. I'm seeing no leadership from supposed leaders in the legislature, the minority. In the house is a joke. I've got to be honest with you. I'm seeing no party leadership, Carmela. I think she's been absolutely lackluster. I'm being nice when I say that. Where's the leadership? Where is it? There is none.
There's none. There is none. The inmates are running the asylum, essentially. Well, let me ask you a different question because maybe I'm being too harsh here. My argument is, By placating the union, giving this huge BSA increase with no real accountability in it, I think they're playing into 2026, and they're trying to insulate themselves from attacks in 2026. My perspective is the same as Randy's when he called in.
The NEA is coming for you anyway. If you're a Republican that isn't lockstep with the NEA like a Bjorkman, the reality is the NEA is coming for you anyway. All you're going to do is lose your base. Am I wrong? Absolutely not. And it's interesting, you know, so many of these legislators have failed to study their history, okay? Alaska's history is riddled with politicians.
who were Republicans, who at some point during that effort, during their time, you know, their tenure as a legislator, or an assembly member for that matter, came and said, I have to take the purple vote because my district is purple and I got to insulate myself. Here's what happened. And historically, we know this. It never backed off the NEA. It never backed off the AFL-CIO. It never grouped off groups like the 907 initiative. It simply has not happened. They are still...
And my message to Republicans is be careful because not only are they coming for you, but now you've got the grassroots coming for you too. And if you don't believe me, I can show you a handful. several elected officials who took that purple vote and then lost. I can show you where the NEA and the AFL-CIO still came after them. You are not inoculating yourself from the attacks on the left and anyone who disagrees with that.
We just got to do this because this is what my district wants, and I just can't do this. I can't have the unions come after me. You give me one example. You give me one. where in a re-election, the unions have backed off or laid off. They simply haven't done it. And by the way, Amy, I will add to that and I will also say this. For people who say this is what my district wants, I have to take this, what I'm going to call a purple vote, right, a liberal vote. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
But yet, they get so riled up when you start talking about it. And I say, well, what's the big deal? You said this is what your district wanted. And I'll give a recent example of Stanley Wright. You know, here Stanley, you know, voted against Bob Griffin, former state legislator.
Here he is, you know, is taking votes that people disagreed with. And I told him, I said, Stanley, you're going to lose. And I had people insist to me, including leadership within the Republican Party. Oh, no, Stanley is going to win. I said, no, he's not. I've seen this story. And for crying out loud, you guys, let's read the playbook. Read the history book. And you will realize that is not how this works.
The base will not be there to support you. And at the same time, you've got these guys coming after you. But don't tell me. I got to take the vote, Bernadette, because this is what my district wants. This is what my district needs. Well, A, don't be upset when we start talking about it. You said this is what your district wanted. Good point.
Why do you care, Amy, if I go into your district and I go drop mail and we get on the radio and we talk about it and we decide to go do phone calls in your district or whatever it is and we challenge you with a Republican? And then you know what their cry is? Well, you're just you're being divisive. I'm like, well, you said this is what your district wanted. Now you're upset that you're getting challenged by a Republican. If this is what your district wanted.
This shouldn't bother you because you did what your district wanted. And Amy, if it's only about your district, then I challenge all of those Republicans. If it's just about your district, then when you come up for re-election, I don't want you to take a check from a single donor outside of your district. I don't want to see you hold an event outside of your district, and I don't want you to use a single volunteer outside of your district.
Because this is only about your district. So you go run on the merits and you go raise the money only within your district. BS. You know, you are running for the entire state of Alaska. Look, when they chose to increase the BSA, the base student allocation, by $700 per child, and what they're really not talking about is the extra $400 if the school districts actually do their job is to educate these kids so they can read.
This is a lot of money, and they're taking it directly out of every Alaskan's PFD. That's really where they're taking the money from, so they are impacting me. And when they have these conversations, you know, this is the other point. I'm going to have to take a break, but when we come back, I would love to get your perspective on this question. I'm being told and being begged.
Amy, we can't have these conversations in public. You have to do this behind closed doors. And we can't criticize each other. I would love to get your perspective because clearly I have crossed that threshold. I want to know, am I wrong? What should we say? What is the response of Bernadette Wilson when people tell you we're not allowed to critique?
Republicans that act like Democrats in public. We'll be right back. Looking at your Alaska total traffic camera. A child in poverty waits for a sponsor is another day of hopelessness. There are thousands of kids who've been waiting over a year. and their weight. Sponsor a child with compassion today. Just text the word radio to 83393.
Scattered showers across South Central will continue to see some of the heaviest activity near Prince William Sound. Still holding on to those temperatures warming into the upper 40s and the lower 50s with drier weather to close out the week. For Alaska's Weather Source, I'm meteorologist Mayor Morrison. Welcome. Welcome back. Current Time 752. We're talking with Bernadette Wilson. She's breaking it down for us. Alaska politics. I got to tell you, Bernadette.
One of the biggest criticisms I get is, you know, from Republican insiders who tell me, Amy, you shouldn't talk about this stuff publicly. What say you? You know, Amy, here's the thing. I am tired of hearing the conservative wing of the Republican Party being told that they are the ones that are being, quote, divisive. That is for any time that a Republican takes a liberal vote.
A vote that has no accountability to it. A vote that has a $700 number that is pulled out of thin air. Everybody wants to run to... You shouldn't be calling us out. You're being divisive. Let me ask you a question. Was Kelly Shabaka being divisive when she ran against Lisa Murkowski or was Lisa Murkowski being divisive when she decided to run against things that were on our party platform?
I want to remind everyone, those that are being divisive are the ones that are pulling us away from our conservative Christian-held values. So before you let someone say you're being divisive, you shouldn't be calling them out, I go back to... No, wait a minute. Before you start throwing that around, you need to ask yourself this question.
who is it that is pulling us away from those values those are the people that are being divisive i just want to be very clear about something do not confuse accountability with being divisive. When you have people, when you have the grassroots, and the valley women that put up their Facebook posts, when you have those groups of people standing up and trying to pull Republicans back to their values, that, my friend, is called accountability.
So you be very careful. Was Donald Trump being divisive when he called Nikki Haley out for her liberal policies? Or was Nikki Haley being divisive when she continued to attack the president? Is Lisa Murkowski being divisive when attacking the president?
Or is it the president being divisive when he goes after her? I would make the argument, Amy, that those that are trying to hold us to our conservative platform, this is what you call accountability. And again, as I said in the previous segment, If this is what your district wants and this is what Alaskans want, then why are you so upset when somebody calls you out for your vote?
Exactly. Well, you know, Bernadette, it was absolutely deafening to me, the silence. I watched the Senate and the House floor sessions yesterday because I wanted to hear what people were going to say about this bill. Not one person in the house, the house is a body of 40, not one person in the house got up and spoke against the bill. It's clear to me they were given the marching orders.
don't you dare get up and criticize this vote because the rest of us are taking it. So don't get up and say anything bad because you're going to make us look bad. I mean, not one person stood up in the House. and said anything negative at all. Didn't even speak against it. They just voted. Now, their votes mattered to me. So I was glad to see it, but not one person. To me, that was deafening.
Yep. And I will remind Republicans that when you come to us and you ask us, will you go door knock? Will you go put up signs for my campaign? Will you write that check to my campaign? They need to take a strong, hard, long look in the mirror and remind themselves that the reason that the electorate does that, the reason that the grassroots does that is for these moments right here in front of us.
Because we know it's hard. We do not sacrifice our time, our talent, and our treasure for the votes that they take regarding what should the 20th verse of the Alaska state flag be, and should we have Women's History Month. No, no, no, no, no. We sacrificed our... I couldn't have said it any better. Bernadette Wilson, I got to tell you, we got to do this more often.
I love the candor. Every single time we talk to you, you give clarity to issues that really need it. And I appreciate your time this morning. Thank you for calling in. Thank you. All right. That's Bernadette Wilson. I got to tell you, she's a breath of fresh.
air just i'm trying to talk her into doing more routine segments with us we're gonna do that because you know what it is time we have some truth talkers on the air it's time we have people that come out and call it like they see it they call
And sometimes you got to call out your own team because you know what? If there's no accountability, they're going to keep doing crap like this. All right, we're going to go ahead and end it for today. That's the end of the show. Daryl and I will be back with you tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Until then, stay safe.