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P E N I N S U L A
Friday, November 9, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 35
PFD sees slight return for 1st quarter ANCHORAGE (AP) — Returns for the Alaska Permanent Fund were less than desirable for the first quarter of the 2019 fiscal year, ending the period with a balance of more than $63.9 billion, officials said. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. managers generated a 2.13 percent return, with investments producing $846 million in statutory net income, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported Tuesday. CEO Angela Rodell said the return highlights the significance of having a well-diversified investment portfolio and “meaningful allocations to private market assets.” “As the market becomes increasingly volatile, it is more important than ever to remember we invest with a 10-, 25-, 50-year or longer time horizon,” Rodell said. “Our APFC team continues to be focused on building real financial wealth and resources for the State of Alaska.” The fund’s balance was $931 million less than the nearly $64.9 billion at the start of the quarter, which ended Sept. 30. That loss was largely because of the money appropriated for the first time from the Earnings Reserve Account to fund state government operations. The state Legislature had approved a 5.25 percent of market value draw, about $2.7 billion, from the fund in May. About $1 billion paid the annual dividends, and the rest will be directed for government services. Statutory net income is transferred into the fund’s Earnings Reserve Account, which can be appropriated by the state for fund dividends, government expenses and preventing inflation in the fund principal. The Earnings Reserve Account had about $17 billion as of September.
Correction The story on Pete Kostelnick in the Tuesday Clarion sports section contained an error. Kostelnick’s journey from Anchor Point to Key West, Florida, was 5,390 miles. The Clarion regrets the error.
Index Opinion................... A4 Religion................... A5 Sports......................A6 Classifieds.............. A9 Comics.................. A14
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Sullivan visits Kenai By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan spoke about his recent accomplishments, goals for improving the Alaska economy, and future challenges in Washington, D.C., during a presentation at the Kenai and Soldotna Joint Chamber Luncheon on Thursday afternoon. Sullivan started the presentation by acknowledging the Kenai Peninsula as a bright spot for the state of Alaska. “We’re obviously experiencing some continued challenges on the economic side, but so often the Kenai Peninsula is a bright spot for the state in a lot of ways year after year, even when other parts of the state are struggling,” Sullivan said. Sullivan lauded the national economy, particularly the gross domestic product (GDP), under the Trump administration. “If you’re looking at the numbers and have been seeing what’s been going on in our national economy, there’s been a dramatic change in the last 10 years,” Sullivan said. “I don’t want to be too political here, but I don’t think the previous administration was a friend to the Alaska economy. GDP growth is a measure of the strength of
City awarded safety grants By KAT SORENSEN Peninsula Clarion
Senator Dan Sullivan spoke at a joint Soldotna and Kenai Chamber Luncheon on Thursday at the Kenai Visitor and Cultural Center. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion).
our economy, but it’s also the measure of the strength of the American Dream; what people believe, and what people see in the future.” Sullivan said a strong economy is what makes America great. “This has been the secret sauce of our nation,” Sullivan
said. To keep the economy of the nation strong, Sullivan said he’s been working toward putting forward more pro-economic growth policies, such as last year’s tax reform bill. Sullivan also boasted about the nation’s unemployment rate, which he said it at a 50-
year low. Since 2010, U.S. unemployment has been on a steady decline, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to a Nov. 2 release, national unemployment rate stood at 3.7 percent. “Certain categories of unemSee SEN, page A13
Kenai police and fire departments will be seeing some upgrades thanks to a grant from the State Homeland Security Program. At Wednesday night’s Kenai City Council meeting, the council accepted and appropriated $120,350 from a grant provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, through Alaska’s Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs. The program provides funding to states to support preparedness. The funds will be used to purchase a security camera system and replacement radios, according to a memo from Kenai Police Chief David Ross. Of the total grand money appropriated, $65,000 will be used to purchase the security camera system, which will cover the Kenai Public Safety Building on S. Willow Street.
See GRANT, page A13
Dunleavy picks GOP head ‘Protect Mueller’ protest breaks out for new administration in Juneau
By JAMES BROOKS Juneau Empire
Governor-elect Mike Dunleavy named Alaska Republican Party chairman Tuckerman Babcock as his new chief of staff in a Thursday speech to the Alaska Miners Association. The speech formally opens the transition process between the administration of Gov. Bill Walker and his new incoming administration. “There’s going to be hundreds of folks and hundreds of positions that are going to turn over,” Dunleavy said. Babcock resigned from his political chairmanship shortly after Dunleavy’s speech. He and Babcock each said they have set up a transition website, www.governormikedunleavy.com, to accept applications from people interested in joining the new administration. Sarah Erkmann Ward, the spokeswoman for the new governor’s tran-
By KEVIN GULLUFSEN Juneau Empire
Alaska Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy, center, speaks to supporters at his campaign headquarters Monday. Dunleavy announced a handful of appointments Thursday, including Brett Huber, at left, as senior policy adviser. (Becky Bohrer | The Associated Press File)
sition team, said by phone that while Dunleavy has some ideas for commissioners, that shouldn’t preclude people from offering their names for those top-level jobs. Administrative turnover is
common when a new governor is elected; Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner Larry Hartig is the only currently serving commissioner who was appointed under a difSee GOP, page A13
Protesters in Juneau gathered Thursday to voice concern about the future of Special Council Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. About 100 protesters met outside Juneau’s Hurff Ackerman Saunders Federal Building at 5 p.m. Some carried signs reading “nobody is above the law,” or “protect justice.” President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday. Protesters said they are worried that the new acting AG, Matthew Whitaker, would narrow the breadth of Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin.
To University of Alaska Southeast history professor David Noon, the handling of the Mueller probe is nothing less than an emergency. “We’re not out here to mourn the departure of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, we’re out here to call attention to a constitutional crisis,” Noon said. Political group MoveOn organized the nationwide protests as part of a “Mueller firing rapid response.” Organizers registered at the site as early as a year ago. If Trump took certain actions affecting the Mueller probe, MoveOn pledged to rally local protesters. That happened Wednesday evening after Trump appointed Whitaker. The Juneau protest joined hundreds nationwide and around the
See RALLY, page A13
Port Graham man sentenced for faking own death By MEGAN PACER Homer News
A man who faked his own death in 2016 to avoid a court appearance and triggered an expensive and needless search and rescue operation has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison at the federal level. The U.S. Attorney Office, District of Alaska office sent out a release Thursday detailing the sentence and the case. Ryan Riley Meganack, 35, pleaded guilty in federal court to false distress and being in possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. Fifteen months of the new federal sentence will be served consecutively to a 15-year sentence he got in state court for sexual assault committed in
2015. It all started on Nov. 29, 2016, when authorities say Meganack took his fishing vessel, the F/V Aires, to Passage Island near Port Graham Bay, south of Homer, alone. Meganack had been a commercial fisherman for about two decades, according to the sentencing memorandum for the case. It was there that he faked his own death. According to the release, he purposely swamped a smaller skiff he had been towing behind his larger fishing vessel, “and made it appear that he had gone missing after a boating accident or had otherwise died.” Investigation later revealed that Meganack had been charged in January 2015 for sexual assault of an incapaciSee PORT, page A13
Port Graham resident Ryan Meganack’s fishing vessel the F/V Aries, which he used in 2016 to help fake his own death in order to avoid appearing in Anchorage court for a 2015 sexual assault case. (Photo courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office, Alaska District)