Here are a couple of observations from last week's general election.
First, it appears state Rep. Bill Thomas, who calls himself the only commercial fisherman in the Alaska Legislature, might have lost his seat.
The Haines Republican currently stands 43 votes behind Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, Democrat from Sitka.
State election officials still must tally absentee and question ballots.
Even if Thomas somehow rallies past his young challenger, he won't keep his powerful post as co-chair of the House Finance Committee. That's because the House majority leadership on Thursday installed Rep. Alan Austerman, R-Kodiak, as committee co-chair, with Rep. Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak, continuing as the other co-chair.
In other action, Alaska voters handily approved a $453 million bond issue for port and other transportation projects statewide.
The bonding package includes $10 million toward a proposed expansion of the Seward Marine Industrial Center.
This is of great interest to Coastal Villages Region Fund, a fishing company operating under the federal Community Development Quota program.
Coastal has amassed quite a fleet of fishing vessels, from salmon tenders right up to the 341-foot factory trawler Northern Hawk.
Coastal wants to "Alaskanize" its operations, which would involve basing its vessels not in Seattle but in an Alaska port, specifically Seward.
But $10 million doesn't get the job done. Recent studies have shown it would take several times that much to expand Seward's port sufficiently to accommodate Coastal's full fleet.
It would appear Coastal is working to woo as large a public subsidy as possible for its fleet relocation.
And why does Deckboss make such a remark?
Here's a press release from Coastal, issued on election day last week, that includes supportive comments from Alaska's entire congressional delegation, as well as state Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer.
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74 comments:
No brainer. Go Coastal Villages Region Fund. Bring it on home baby. Can I get a "woo(t) woo(t)!"
My name is Bond... Transportation Bond.
Well yes it's a no-brainer to home-port vessels in Alaska. It's also a no-brainer to fix the CDQ allocations and base it on population. APICDA and CBSFA are the wealthiest groups by far on a per person basis (in the hundreds of thousands) while the large groups get a lot less per person (well below APICDA and CBSFA).
Fish - Work - Hope. FISHing with draggers is killing off the Eskimo tradition and culture of living off the Salmon both commercial and subsistance. Without culturally revelant WORK, they better HOPE the CDQ funds keep on pouring in.
I think it's time to sunset the CDQ program and put the 10% in a rainy day fund to help the common non-Native Western Alaskan small businessmen compete against the monopolies that the CDQ funds spawned.
The Congressmen should be aware that these CDQ funds are being used to provide political power in an exclusive and discriminatroy manner. It's against the law of our country to favor one Race over another.
How about pouring the CDQ funds into a new program - Alaskans for the Inner City Homeless and Hopelessly Lost. People all over our country are wallowing in Poverty while a handful of men are becoming millionaires and billionaires off the CDQ money.
Twenty years and the Western Alaska Coastal villages have their feet in the door with the lucrative prospects of pollock fishing while killing off the culture and traditions of the Alaska Natives up into the headwaters of Alaska's great rivers, the Yukon and the Kuskowim.
How about sunsetting the Coastal villages CDQ allotments and forming one for the villages up the rivers beyond the CDQ boundries where they are hurting without their traditional use of salmon for their hundreds year old culture. They have been left out in the cold and dark too long. It's only fair that the coastal villages share. It's part of their cultural traditions. Well, it use to be back before the Land Claims corporations hit the decks.
Let's see if I understand this. Coastal Villages will bring their vessels to Alaska from Seattle, if the rest of the us Alaskans will subsidize their move, and this $10,000,000 is only the down payment.
A patriotic subsidy, for a Seattle based company for the most part.
If Coastal Villages was really loyal to Alaska, they would have moved here without grabbing money from the rest of us.
Rumor has it that the CEO of Coastal Villages which is a white guy not living in the villages he represents get $850,000 year in salary.
The CEO has come under attack concerning the extravagant salary so he has offered to reduce his salary in half, as long as he gets a bonus of 1% of the revenues of Coastal Villages.
As Coastal Villages brings in $100,000,000 last year, his bonus would be a cool $1,000,000 on top of $425,000 in wages.
The CEO offered to cut his wages from $850,000 a year to $1,425,000 a year.
Nice pay cut!!
Maybe the CEO of Coastal Villages could give a little of his outrageous wages to subsidize this move to Alaska.
I can't believe our politicians are falling for this self-serving CEO, while his residents in these villages are in such poverty.
You got it! While profitting hundreds of millions of $'s, they have the balls to ask for MORE free money. Can you say Frankensteins monster???
The anti-CDQ folks are seeing one side of it. Yes, certain CEOs and other individuals are taking advantage of the program to join the 1% so to speak. Yes, CDQs can become the only show in town. But where were all these white entrepreneurs before the CDQs came along??? No where. If they were so hot to start businesses in West Alaska, well, darn few that I noticed. They had a hundred years to do it.
The CDQ is the only big enterprise this region has ever seen, besides gov grants, that put anything into the villages or ordinary peoples' pockets. Use your energies to improve the CDQs instead of whining about them. There will always be excesses in businesses to fight. there will always be envious gripers. Until the CDQ came along everyone here fished out of skiffs and pulled their boat up on the beach by hand and had to ship their fish by air or just eat them. Now we have a profitable fleet of ordinary fishermen.
If you dig deep (and I doubt you will), look at how much Don Young helped to give to St. Paul (a cool $12,239,000) for their small boat harbor project.
https://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentprint.aspx?DocumentID=128272
That's government tax money that benefits 425 people (almost $29,000 a person).
Don't forget Akutan where they built a $76 million airport that benefits 75 people year-round ($1,000,000 per person).
On the other hand, this project in Seward will benefit all Alaskans. This is way more than just the people in Akutan and St. Paul.
At least this group owns and controls their own boats and aren't getting ripped off by the Seattle people who make way more a year and aren't required to divulge their salaries.
Maybe it is time for Coastal Villages to be broken into two groups.
Both Akutan and St. Paul were asking for Federal handouts.
Coastal Villages is asking Alaskans for hand outs.
Big difference to us Alaskans.
These western Alaska groups got 10% of a handout 20 years ago. The other 90% of Alaskan fisheries were given out to Seattle and Japan. CVRF (and hopefully the other groups) is working on Alaskanizing the Alaskan fisheries (right now they are Seattle and abroad). Us Alaskans should own that and parking our own boats here in Alaska makes sense.
Yes, it does make a difference. Spend Alaskan money to Alaskanize the Alaskan fishery.
The answer is to fix the CDQ allocations and base it on people. APICDA and CBSFA are the wealthiest groups in revenue, expenses, and allocations per person by far. Look at their numbers.
APICDA by the way paid their top guy in 2011 more money than what APICDA residents made in dividends this year ($425,000 vs. 417,000). Talk about injustice.
APICA pays their CEO too much at $450,000 a year, but Coastal Villages pays their CEO $850,000 a year, and then complains that they are poor and unfairly treated.
I know one reason that Coastal Villages is poor, it pays its' CEO too much.
Clean up these outrageous salaries, and then come back with your tin cup, and maybe someone will listen.
Coastal Villages was poor back when they were Coastal Villages Fishing Cooperative. They were being taken advantage of by greedy people from outside Alaska. It wasn't until CVRF took over that they began to really take off with what little allocations they get per person. They could be doing a lot better if everyone of the 28,000 residents received an equal pound of fish.
Fix the allocations now. The program is based on residency, not on groups.
Didn't Morgan start around the time CVRF took off after the CVFC was dissolved? He looks like he did a great job with some help along the way in 14 short years taking Coastal Villages so far. They went bankrupt and bounced checks before he came on board (I do remember the days) but now they are the most reliable in bringing jobs to our region. He does have strong Yup'ik roots too. No more bounced checks and no more getting cheated. Quyana to CVRF. Fix the allocations now.
The best solution to this problem will be to split up the two largest groups CVRF and NSEDC and make the allocations based on population.
The other option is to expand the CDQ allocation.
That would solve the problem too, and not get all the villages fighting with each other.
Alaska's Congressional Delegation should surely support the CDQ's getting more fishing allocations to Alaskans.
Here's the interesting part of your readership, wes. The biggest upset in Alaska State Legislative history just occurred and all these whiny spiny guys can yak about is poor western alaska and how the cdq groups are fleecing them.
Get a clue. Vote them out. Bill Thomas was in tighter than Morgan Crowe will ever be. The most powerful House Finance co-chair in SE history-- arguably-- and he's gone gone gone.
You western alaskans are in charge of your own destiny. Either kick him out or quit your whining. Looks to me like he's making a bundle but looks like he's spreading it out quite a bit as well. Who do you want to replace him? Bill Thomas is looking for ajob and he's not conflicted as he's a Chilkat chief. He surely seems to know alot about high finance and fisheries.
CVRF and its management team have completely gone off the deep end. I think they have gone crazy and lost their minds. They attacked American Seafoods - who made them millions and millions of dollars - have taken on Seattle, sued industry partners, and are now turning their aggression to the other CDQ groups -fellow natives and neighbors. They are threatening the existence of the entire CDQ program and can't even see it. Morgan and his crook friend McCabe are going to cost 65 Western Alaskan villages the only hope they have to survive and thrive. They have over $300 million in assets and it isn't enough...they want to take on the world and it will be their downfall. They should turn all their energy inward and use the incredible resources they have been given to develop their communities. CVRF can make a difference with what they have - but all their energy is being used up and wasted trying to take from others. Come on CVRF - focus on the positive - use your resources wisely - an help you members! Morgan is a smart man and knows how to accomplish his goals, but this time he is taking the wrong path. Calibrate your compass and do what is right for you community and members and quit fighting with the other CDQ groups. Your wasting valuable resources.
It appears that CVRF has hired a full time blogger in their office to respond to the legitimate and constant anti-CVRF comments. I agree with the previous post - you are being paid the big bucks to develop your communities, alleviate poverty, provide social and economic benefits to your communities and NOT to fight with the world and your brother natives. Get your minds out of the gutter and get to work - earn the $1.4 million (or whatever you are being paid) and make a difference for your members and communities that so badly need it.
You have to be a good reader in order to rat out the BS coming from the CVRF "full time blogger..."
Blogger on 11/12 @ 11:24 AM made this comment about CVRF - in reference to CVRF owning their own pollock fleet and labeling it a "profitable fleet of ordinary fishermen". How many Yupik Eskimos have key roles on the "profitable fleet" or are they still slimers on the slime line? Give us numbers and we've believe.
By the way, "ordinary fishermen" are basically independents and being corporate fishermen is like owing their souls "to the company store"! Big, big difference.
When the destructive evil emotions of greed and jealousy kick in, it's time to move the economic development funds into a program that would benefit all Alaskans. Sunset the CDQs and let them operate on the millions they have amassed in the past 20 years. They have shown their pattern of hoarding so lets see them compete in the real world with what they have. "Ordinary fishermen" have to do that all the time.
Perfect timing this CVRF demand for more money based on population.
It brings the CDQs to the forefront in the eyes of the Congressmen who will see that the CDQs have been given monopolies on a silver platter while they are excluding and discriminating against "ordinary" American citizens who do not go with the Administrative plan of action while they lead the poor Eskimos on as puppets on their Board of Directors. It's a farce and a disgrace to the free enterprise platform of our country. It doesn't matter that the funds were suppose to eliminate poverty in the poorest region of Alaska. It has created greedy and discriminatory monsters that deny certain Americans of their god given rights - equal opportunity to participate in a federal funds program!
I don't get what the others are saying. Maybe they have it in too deep with their partners outside of Alaska or maybe they are stuck to the greed of having too much fish allocated to them to realize that CVRF is taking the lead to Alaskanize the Bering Sea. The other groups need to reallocate their mind structure and get on with this movement of Alaskanizing the Bering Sea. Maybe the smaller groups need to merge with one of the larger groups to become more efficient. Just sayin.
If Coastal Villages wanted to take the lead in Alaskanizing the Bering Sea, they could have done so years ago.
Now all of sudden when they are under-going a review, they want to move their boats to Seward, ...
...but only if they get a taxpayer subsidy.
Anyone can see Coastal is fighting for its life because of the outrageous salaries pid to its top three executives, and desparately needs to create a diversion, and the apperance of being good patriotic Alaskans.
I am not buying it, as their villages are so poor and their salaries so high, that the halo simply will not fit.
I pity the politician who stands behind these greedy self-centered managers, because a simple video of a day in the life of people in these villages will only serve to tarnish the politicans reputations, as they try and sell how much they care about Alaska first citizens.
The single largest commercial interest in the Revolutionary War was the commerical fishing industry, and they were fighting for the right to fish in the waters adjacent to their towns and villages, and free from the distant water fleet of Great Britain.
Much blood was pilled over this simply right to fish.
Today the Seattle fleet seeks to eliminate these handful of Alaska fishing licenses awarded to these Alaskan villages.
Seattle based boats want to dominate Alaska's fisheries to the exclusion of the villages and towns dotting Alaska's coastline, and exclude Alaskans from participating in their own fisheries.
If the CDQ program is eliminated, the effectively 100% of all fishing licenses in the Bering Sea will belong to non-Alaskans.
It is only fair that the towns and villages of Alaska get fishing licenses and the right to support themselves utilizing their local resources.
The CDQ program should be expanded, and any of our Alaskan politician who does not support expansion of the only fishing licenses in the Bering Sea, should be booted out of office.
So, the CDQ program has amassed 100's of millions of dollars of assets and profits, and yet the villagers still live in squalor with no true economic developments, and you say they should get even more? It doesn't work. Giving people money doesn't work, they just want more.
Before we expand the CDQ program, we need to objectively analyze what has happened during the past 20 years. That is supposed to be what the decennial review is about and we need to ensure that is what happens.
For the most part, the CDQ program has failed to create self-sustaining economic opportunities for people living in the 65 CDQ eligible communities. Why it has failed is primarily a failure of the governance structures and the absence of enforceable guidelines for what the CDQ groups are supposed to be doing.
It has worked out very well for the people in control who live in Anchorage but that is not where the need is.
That is a patenetly unfair comparison.
The correct comparison is to measure what happens to the money from the 90% of the licenses that have gone to Seattle, and then measure what has happened to the profits that have gone to the CDQ's.
That is fair measurement to see what the US has gotten from the free licenses issued to Seattle ,and the 10% of the free licenses given to these villages.
In Seattle we have seen on Undercover Boss how the profits from many of these Bering Sea fishing licenses have bought helicopters and jets.
I am going to stop here and ask: Do you really want to compare the waste only in the villages as compared to Seattle, or do yo want to make a fair comparison??
As bad as Coastal management has taken advantage of it's constituents, it pales in comparison the Seattle based fleet and its contributions to the communities it has dominated for over a century.
Self-centered greed, was invented in Seattle. In the last century name the three biggest charitable contributions that the Seattle based seafood industry has given to the communities it has stripped the resources from. Now compare that to the immense profits taken.
You do not want to go down this sanctimonious road, as the Seattle based fleet is not known for its charitable giving.
One 60 minutes piece with American Seafoods CEO leaving the front yard of mansion in his helicopter and a few minutes in the life of one of these villages wishing they had a Chinook salmon to eat this winter, and America will weigh in behind the CDQ program, because no matter what their deficiencies, it pales in comparison to the rape of Alaska's resources by the colonial fleet, which is far more efficient at taking, than it is giving.
No State in this union, has so few natural resources left for their residents, and so many taken by others. This level of colonialism would not be tolerated if it happened in Maine.
So according to your dichotomy, the only choices we have are the CDQ program we have now where the management chooses to spend most of the money on risky capital investments in the competitive industrial commercial fishing industry rather than in western Alaska or the Seattle based companies that have no mandate to invest in western Alaska. That ignores a third option, which is for the CDQ program to be redirected to helping the residents of the impoverished coastal communities. That is what was supposed to have happened when the CDQ program came along. Somehow the goalposts moved and it has been to the detriment of the people in the villages.
Originally, the CDQ program was created to provide a way for people to earn enough in self-sustaining fisheries related industries to live in their villages at a decent standard of living. For a number of reasons that have never been explained, that never happened, mostly because the CDQ group administrators never really tried. They just gave up and followed the model established by Seattle based multinational companies. They have proven that tax-exempt capital can be used to buy commercial fishing assets at a premium price. Did we really need to know that?
Twenty years after the CDQ program was initiated, people living in the CDQ eligible villages I am familiar with, still live in squalor and poverty. The most noticeable thing that has changed is that the commercial salmon and herring fishing that used to provide some income is no longer viable and nothing has come along to replace it. Despite all of the revenue the CDQ program had generated, few people in the villages are seeing the benefits. If the state conducts an objective decennial review, the facts will speak for themselves.
We are at the point where we need to carefully evaluate the program and quantify what it has done to date. It makes little sense to continue to debate this issue without some solid quantitative data and it will be shameful if the state refuses to collect it for political reasons. Knowing the facts won't automatically make the CDQ program more effective but nothing can be done to improve it without first determining what has happened so far.
There are a number of choices. Keep the heat on the review process to ensure that carpetbaggers that come to the villages, do not enrich themselves outrageously to the detriment ot the residents fo these villages.
Second, push to expand the CDQ program, because nobody ever asked; How many fishing licenses should Alaskans be issued?. when the licenses were first limited.
It is not necessary to accept poor CDQ management nor the initial issuance of 90% of the Bering Sea fishing license issued to non-residents.
You are painting a false dichotomy, where we have to accept one or the other. We do not have to accept either.
Hardly a law is passed, that Congress did not have to go back and "fix" due to unforeseen impacts.
No State would tolerate 90% of their fishing licenses being issued permanently to another State.
They would be outraged.
CDQ groups had not been granted leeway to do what they wish with their revenues until after Magnuson Stevens was reauthorized in 2006. They had stringent State oversight that limited what they could invest in or fund. Investment in community projects was limited before MSA was reauthorized. This explains the heavy investment in Bering Sea fisheries - they were at least allowed to do that.
Six years is not a long time to have a significant, perhaps measurable even, impact on objective data measurements that can quantify the program's impact on its communities. This is not an excuse for the CDQ program at all - I just think in this scenario, economic development will be hard to accurately capture.
I look forward to seeing the results of the review nonetheless.
Btw
Back to the election and bill Thomas is up by 2 so maybe he won't be available to run coastal after all
There are a number of reputable organizations which measure the performance of traditional Non-profits.
Often they are financial performance measurements, and not the traditional economic development measurements like standard of living improvements, or unemployment.
Overhead ratios and charitable contribution ratios. Many of the CDQ groups have had interest from the IRS, simply because they are not being charitable enough, and they look more like holding companies whose goal is to amass funds and assets.
Most charities give away a percentage of their reserves every year. I would criticize most of the CDQ's for not investing more in educational grants. Coastal gives away less in scholarships than the pay their top three executives. This is outrageous.
Kids in these communities should have full scholarships to any college or tech school.
The easiest way to whitewash the review is to not at least utilize the time tested yardsticks used to measure all Non-profits and simply to declare there are no standards and every one passes.
Several of the CDQ groups will not pass either their overhead charges, nor their charitable giving.
I think a whitewash will be easy to see.
Like the liberal colleges that went to a pass or fail grade - everyine passes.
On the other hand if hard relevant standards are objectively established and each groups is scored on a curve, then we will know the State is serious.
If the State takes the easy way out and essentially passes all groups, then I think it will be open season for the management of these groups to mistreat the intended recipients of the CDQ's largesse(cillage residents), and the CDQ program will eventually embarrass itwelf by the actions of an abusive few, right out of existence.
Congress will not sit mute, while being confronted by charities which are not charitable to some of America's neediest people.
The Seattle crowd will step up and shout that the answer to the poverty and despair in these proud villages is to simply give them the CDQ quota.
Unfortunately this is today's self-absorbed reality in America.
If the now whining Seattle crowd were to really care about this American tragedy in Alaska's coastal villages, they would roll up their sleeves, join the CDQ groups and make a difference, but sadly too many of these folks still think that Natives are just lazy drunks.
For the most part the Seattle crowd has never spent a single day in these villages or they would understand that this is simply not true.
Yee who gets the fishing licenses is almost assure to be rich, and those that don't is almost assured to be poor.
The suicide rate for teenage boys in this region, is not well known to the rest of America, but if it was...
The story here is to park Alaskan-owned boats in Alaska.
Jim Paulin did a great story about "Lights, Camera, Yup'iks!" that paints a picture on an increasing yup'ik presence on 100% owned crab vessels.
Almost half of the crab crew was from the region and maybe some are moving up the ladder. The same may eventually be said about the Northern Hawk.
2011 was the first year this Coastal group operated the Northern Hawk. It's a sad thing that some people are arguing that not all crew are from the region. How do you expect this company to fill in its crew from the region in just the second year?
Anti-Alaskans are criticizing Coastal on different subjects. Or maybe there are Alaskans who have their own personal agenda and are envious of Coastal's success.
I, as an Alaskan, see the light at the end of the tunnel. This is not just a "pipe-dream."
I as an Alaskan see a company that is only now parading their Alaskanization, since the review process was imminent. Promising that if we give Coastal a subsidy, they will patriotically move their boats to Alaska.
I we do not give them a subsidy, I guess they will just stay in Seattle, where they have been all along.
Now the CEO raises his annual salary to over $1,000,000 a year with bonuses, and parades a few kids working on their boas in the last couple of years.
How about the last ten years, and aren't we enabling these outrageous salaries and bonuses with our tax subsidies.
I sure wish I could get a ax subsidy.
I gotta LOVE the audacious attitude that an offshore industry discovered and developed by those f'ing outsiders belongs to US!!!
Have you pro CDQ people been lying to yourselves so long that you don't remember how these fisheries and markets were developed?
What next? Bill Gates is making money off of selling computers in our villages, so... we need to be allocated some of his action. Why stop there? Get a free piece of ANYTHING that someone else has developed and brought to fruition. That is what really is at the core of this whole CDQ issue.
Grow up. You're over 21 and you still have your hand out.
Hmm... and where were you arguing about the subsidy that Trident and APICDA got for the $76 million airport built in Akutan (one of APICDA's communities). Trident has their own corporate private jet and I bet they pay their guys in the millions of dollars.
The original IFQ's were the fur seals in the Pribilos. They were given by powerfu interests in Wasington DC too. Never even considered the Aleuts wanted to harvest, process and market their own resources.
100 years later they were still working as virtual slaves.
The money form the first 20 years of this monopoly, is worth $500,000,000 today. The families that recieved this exclusive harvesting rights, still has not spent it all.
Just think of where the Aleuts would have been financially if they had gotten these harvest rights.
The Aleuts would have had plenty of capital and been able to get in on the ground floor of their local waters in the groundfish and crab industry.
The real history of Alaska is that whenever a valuable natural resource was desired by the world, Washington DC gave the harvesting and mining and oil right to someone powerful, that did not live in the State.
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, but you blame the poor for their own position in life, but some times there are other influences at work, if you are honest about it.
Honesty. I like honesty. Who is honest here?
November 12, at 11:44?
Your comment;
Us Alaskans should own that and parking our own boats here in Alaska makes sense.
Yes, it does make a difference. Spend Alaskan money to Alaskanize the Alaskan fishery.
I think you need to wake up, and find another teacher, because even in the State of Washington the Governor, and his Attorney General, got a little lesson in federal authority, over US, AND, Forien Vessel.
Dou you remember that Alaskan Vessel, the Exxon Valdez, just a little bit east of Seward?
Well, todays Governor in Washington State, should have studied up on George Washington, they even put him on the Flag of the Evergreen State, quit smokin that Dope.
9-0, Where Former Governor Gary Locke, and his Attorney General, get taught a little US History, by Justice Kennedy.
United States v. Locke? State or Federal waters?
What do you do with a drunken attorney general,early in the mourning? Elect her Governor of Course!
"The State of Washington has enacted legislation in an area where the federal interest has been manifest since the beginning of our Republic and is now well established. The authority of Congress to regulate interstate navigation, without embarrassment from intervention of the separate States and resulting difficulties with foreign nations, was cited in the Federalist Papers as one of the reasons for adopting the Constitution. E.g., The Federalist Nos. 44, 12, 64. In 1789, the First Congress enacted a law by which vessels with a federal certificate were entitled to “the benefits granted by any law of the United States.” Act of Sept. 1, 1789, ch. 11, §1, 1 Stat. 55. The importance of maritime trade and the emergence of maritime transport by steamship resulted in further federal licensing requirements enacted to promote trade and to enhance the safety of crew members and passengers. See Act of July 7, 1838, ch. 191, 5 Stat. 304; Act of Mar. 3, 1843, ch. 94, 5 Stat. 626. In 1871, Congress enacted a comprehensive scheme of regulation for steam powered vessels, including provisions for licensing captains, chief mates, engineers, and pilots. Act of Feb. 28, 1871, ch. 100, 16 Stat. 440.
FREE PARKING? For any Alaskan Vessel.
Brought to you by;
The State of Alaska, and a few Congressman too.
http://www.google.com/search?q=exxon+valdez+photos&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=u&rls=en&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=55yjUIfAH-HeiAL86oCACQ&ved=0CC4QsAQ&biw=1918&bih=900
I wonder who are those "anti-CDQ folks" blogger at 11/12; 11:24 AM is refering to. The comments on any CDQ article refer to a handful of individuals scamming and bullying the ignorant and illiterate stakeholders of the CDQ program. The comments are not "anti-CDQ", realistically they are anti-HOG, hogging the free money intended to help thousands of poor people in Western Alaska.
I can picture Larry Cotter now.
"One for you, 14 for me. One for you, 20 for me. One for you. 112 for me."
"...hogging the free money..."???
There's the problem folks!
Freeloaders believing in "free" money.
When you've never really worked, struggled, brainstormed, applied yourself, developed markets, gained investors, etc... you can believe in "free money", the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, and an Uncle Sam with unlimited free money and the obligation to get you more.
Who actually works at CDQ when all they have to do is collect royalty checks?
It sounds like this Coastal group is doing all of the work themselves. Go Coastal!
Don't look now, but Rep. Thomas has clawed his way back on top in the recount to go up by TWO votes!!!
How many heads are going to explode if Bill gets back in office after an all out assault by his opponents???
If he gets back in, bet he is made vice chair of house finance.
bobby t's football head.
I can picture Larry Cotter now.
"One for you, 14 for me. One for you, 20 for me. One for you. 112 for me."
That's hilarious! You have to have the picture though: Larry, when caught by someone smarter than him, acting completely gob-smacked that you could impugn his integrity. He (thinks he) is, after all, the smartest guy in the room.
My 2 pennies about CDQ's: it's clear they have not really created stand-alone economic entities. Absent pollock, it all falls down. That was the primary idea behind CDQ's and thus they fail, as so many village corps under ANCSA, to make real economic headway. Too much of the $$$ is eaten by bloated overpaid staff, and pie in the sky expensive projects.
But, it's a turd pile of money that funnels through them and a lot of built-up entrenchment over the last 20 years, that's pretty tough to change.
This Coastal group is amazing. They are bringing it on to Alaska where it belongs. You had $30 million in payroll in 2011 and will probably surpass that in 2012. Keep the jobs in Alaska.
$30 million, isn't that about what one good crab boat would make in a year?
I wonder how much MORE land McCabe has for sale in Seward...
http://www.adn.com/2007/08/05/243126/land-deal-opens-sealife-center.html
Go Coastal!!
Exposure and discussion is good. The CDQ program needs to be reorganized in 2013. All present CDQs need to be audited with fine tooth combs and expenses not directly benefitting the Western Alaska poverty stricken villages needs to be paid back to the program.
$30 million per crab boat - hmmmmm. Are CDQ boats clearly belonging to the CDQ group or are they locked up in private LLCs. Good question for the auditors to check into.
Come on Deck Boss, this is old news. Bill Thomas is now 2 notes ahead of the Kreiss-Thompkins as of 11/12.
Wankuta assikaput CVRF-aaq. Quyana cakneq ikayurluta. Quyana CVRF. Elpet support-aramken.
Larry Cotter needs to go! He doesn't deserve his pay
JKT as of today is 28 votes ahead of Thomas with 26 ballots on hand to count on Wed. Wed. is the deadline for any overseas ballots to arrive if they have the proper postmark.
Looks like Albert Kookesh & Bill Thomas are going to wind up as the Sealaska turkeys served up for Thanksgiving Dinner.
Nothin' wrong with change.
Will JKT get an office in the capitol building or staff? What does a person in the minority do?
Maybe he can be at every committee meeting like Senator Giessel did when she was in the minority.
Good move by Senator Egan to join the Republican caucus in the senate and get a seat on the finance committee.
Yawn - precious is bored with this. Deckboss! Start a new blog!
Half baked Alaskan ideas coming through the CDQ program. The most recent flop is the 75 million dollar airport in Akutan with links to the CDQ groups APICA and Trident.
That's what the whole CDQ program is all about. It hasn't been about helping thousands of poor people in Western Alaska. It isn't about moving the Bering Sea fleet to Alaska either. It's about dumping rights to the resources into the hands of managers who don't have the welfare of the general public in mind. Half baked Alaskan ideas.
Yup, those Seattle people are smart. Dump, dump and dump. Watch the sharks fight over the scraps. In the meantime, the Western Alaska coastal villages are still struggling to survive waiting for their yearly $100,000 community benefit share from the companies they own that are trading millions elsewhere with the promise of a better future while they load their personal banks accounts as fast as they can.
The whole scene smells like crap, and looks like crap because it's being played out by crappers. Crap on the people by leading them on with promises. CDQ promise.
What do you call a CDQ program employee?
A freeloader!
Well, I'm glad that President Obama was re-elected for another term. As an experienced 'community organizer', he could see that the CDQ program as it is now is not organizing their communities with economic development programs best suited for the thousands of people in Western Alaska. The CDQ programs are helping to destroy their own stakeholders culture and traditions of living off the salmon with a promise of a better future on a pollock ship slime line. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what's happening.
Why are you blaming Obama for the CDQ program? It was Ted Stevens who created this white elephant called the CDQs.
Those of you opposing the program,
Why do you dislike it so much?
The State review is currently underway and it may provide a objective look at the groups' performance... isn't it a bit rash to be saying how poorly they're doing without any real basis to do so?
That is all... Happy Thanksgiving.
Have you seen what the state is doing for the decennial review? If the APICDA report is any indication we aren't going to learn much about the CDQ groups' performance from that.
People who live in the CDQ villages are the ones saying how poorly the CDQ groups' are doing based on their own observations. If they weren't doing poorly don't you think it would be obvious?
Have you seen what the state is doing for the decennial review? If the APICDA report is any indication we aren't going to learn much about the CDQ groups' performance from that.
People who live in the CDQ villages are the ones saying how poorly the CDQ groups' are doing based on their own observations. If they weren't doing poorly don't you think it would be obvious?
Reread the Obama piece - the blogger isn't blaming him for the CDQs. He'll be blamed in the future if he doesn't direct Congress to reorganize the program to become more receptive to the poor people the program was intended to help in the first place.
Congress didn't intend the CDQs to help a handful of men become millionaires on the public dime.
OMG!!!!! There is actually a blogger on here that thinks we will get an OBJECTIVE CDQ Review from the State of Alaska.
Think on this: the majority of the CDQs stakeholders are Alaska natives living in villages in Western Alaska therefore the CDQ Boards of Directors are mostly native from those villages. If their King Pin directs, they follow. If the State Employees don't whitewash the review, then who will be without a job - scapegoating the white guy is a refined art in Bush Alaska. People are afraid of the powerful natives in charge of big money programs. Even the natives are afraid of the powerful natives in charge of their big money programs. This is coming from an observant Native by the way so don't call me racist.
My objective review of the three CDQs that I have connections to are all doing "poorly" to help alleviate the poverty of their poor stakeholders. It's obvious after 20 years of the program. Yeah, sure I know a handful that have done themselves good, very good in fact. From Rags to Riches the CDQ Way would be the best name for the CDQs own review to the State of Alaska.
In other election news, the state certified the election Friday and Bill Thomas lost to JKT by more than 30 votes. Bill previously attacked Ethel Lund, the Sealaska board member he replaced, for endorsing JKT, attacked village Natives for not voting for him and referred to JKT as an a$$hole on Alaska Public Radio. He said he will not seek public office again but will probably work as a lobbyist for commercial fishing.
When they go down, they go down hard! One never, ever gains loyalty from their followers nor a positive legacy if they wear their Race on one sleeve and their tendency to become a Bully if things are not going their way on the other. This type of leadership is extremely destructive and people are finally waking up to that. Like the American Indian use to say, 'He speaks with forked tongue'; the same applies to those supposedly respresenting 'the people' without actually speaking to them about their priorities. Change is coming and it's about time.
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