Sullivan's Unity Speaker Swann Paid Enough for One Muni Job

[Note: My condolences to the Mayor and his family on the death of his father, former Mayor George Sullivan. Sullivan senior embraced all people, loved life, and always had a twinkle in his eye.] [Note 2, Friday morning: Anon at 6:22 this morning commented that the ADN has a story on this which, in its final sentence says

Erkmann, the city spokeswoman, says Swann waived his speaking fee and that the state Republican party is paying for his visit.

That resolves one question raised here, and fortunately in a very positive way. As I said in my comment responding to Anon, I think it is one of our roles to raise these sorts of questions so that others can respond and explain things they might not have thought necessary to explain. It clears up misunderstandings. We all win. Of course it helps if the questions are asked reasonably and while I try to sound reasonable, I'm probably not always as successful there as I could be. So keep the statement in mind as you read this post.] Sullivan's unity dinner will have a speaker who gets paid more for eating dinner and giving an hour speech than some Municipal employees make in a year. Nixon said, "Don't listen to what we say, watch what we do." Deep Throat, the FBI insider who fed Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein tips on Watergate, told them to "Follow the money." Always good tips when watching politicians and Dan Sullivan watchers - at least those who want to know what is really happening - are advised to follow them. Mayor Sullivan's been telling us how broke the Municipality is and how he has to cut the budget bad. He asked the unions to cut back to 37.5 hours a week. But they say he didn't answer the questions about how the changes would be handled or about future cutbacks, according to Don Hunter's Wednesday's ADN story. OK, if the mayor has some serious cuts to make, the idea of everyone getting a small cut in order to save other people from losing their jobs altogether isn't unreasonable. But it also isn't unreasonable for the unions to want to know the details - that's where the devil is supposed to be hiding, right? We do know that Hunter wrote:

[Human Resources Director] Usera said some layoffs would likely be necessary even if the employees accepted shorter hours.

Shannyn Moore demonstrates why she's the Alaskan news person who is regularly a guest on national television news with a post Wednesday where she ties a lot of issues together. Here's one point that came out of her post:

. . . Lynn Swann, hired for the “Mayor’s Unity Dinner” is also the headliner for a Republican fundraiser on the same day. Hmmm…unity? What is unifying about a former Pittsburgh Steeler and Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate, with a $40,000 speaker fee?

Actually, if you follow the link, it says that his speaking fee starts at $40,001 plus expenses. So let's get this straight. The Municipality is millions short, and the Mayor is paying $40,000 for a speaker at the unity dinner? That's more than a low-end Muni employee including benefits would get for working a year. (According to this ad for Municipal lifeguards , a range 7 position, has an annual salary range of $25,313.60 - $32,260.80. Even with 40% more in benefits, someone at the low end of the range would get less than $40,000. I've put a copy of the ad at the bottom since it probably won't be up forever.) Note that KTUU reported August 19 that budget concerns threatened Parks and Recreation including swimming pools. It would appear that the September ads for lifeguards means the pools are staying open. "Don't listen to what we say, watch what we do." We'll say we have to close swimming pools, but we advertise for life guards. We need the unions to cut, but we can spend $40,000 on dinner speakers. Now we've made some assumptions here. We don't know what the fee actually is. It could be more, and with expenses, surely is. But perhaps the Republican fundraiser is paying the fee and/or the expenses or the Republicans along with the Muni are splitting the bill somehow. But it is probably something we should know. The Municipality elections are officially non-partisan, so the Mayor's office paling around with known Republicans to get a speaker for his unity dinner . . . no, let's drop that line of reasoning. But the Mayor's office, minimally, should tell us how the bill for Swann is being paid - how much is the Republican Fundraiser paying and how much is the Municipality paying, and can we see copies of the checks please? [In the spirit of full disclosure, I was in grad school at USC at the same time Swann was winning the National Championship there.] If the Republican Party has offered Swann to the Mayor free, on the face of it, things would appear a little better. But we know that politicians don't give things away for free, particularly Republicans some of whom embrace greed as an important value. Shannyn's piece muses that there are foundations being laid for Sullivan's 2014 Senate race against Begich and links Bill Starr's accusations of Begich to all this. She also adds information that refutes Starr's accusations. It's all in the same post. But, why is anyone paying a $40,000 speaker fee when our Municipality is hurting as badly as the mayor claims? If the Republicans have that much money to throw around (surely the Municipality isn't paying, is it?), why not use it to help victims of domestic violence, or part of a police officer's salary? Why pay a Pennsylvania politician to come up here to talk? There are plenty of people of color who charge far less than that who specialize in cross cultural harmony. There are even a number of Black Alaskans who could and would give inspirational speeches for less than $1000. Maybe even free. But maybe not Republicans. Is money really the point in all the sky is falling rhetoric? Or is this to scare Anchorage residents into going along with Sullivan's sales tax plans? Are Republicans just keeping the money in Republican hands? Wouldn't it be better for our economy to keep it in Alaskan hands? Are they paying for future favors on the national level? Don't get me wrong. I know Democrats do this too. But up until now the dinners formerly known as 'diversity' were about celebrating the ethnic richness of our community and not about spending lots of dollars to import partisan politicians. People have questioned how the mayor who just vetoed an ordinance giving gay, lesbian, bi, and transgender members of our community protection against discrimination could then hold a diversity dinner. Well he couldn't. He had to change the name to unity. Folks raised questions about his support of diversity. Shannyn's story raises another question about his support of diversity:

This Friday, Mayor Dan Sullivan will cross the picket line at the ONLY boycotted hotel in Alaska for his “unity” dinner. In May, the Hilton workers overwhelmingly voted to place their hotel under boycott because their employer degrades their quality of life. Make no mistake, the media war being waged against the unions is partisan politics as usual.

These employees are among the lowest paid workers. And they represent some of the non-white members of the Anchorage community. [By the way, some folks are putting on what they are calling A True Diversity Dinner that same night. It will only be $10 a piece reflecting the economic hard times our city faces. Go to the link for more information.] The union members are challenging the management of the Hilton Hotel which is owned by the Blackstone Group. Who's Blackstone? Wikipedia reports:

Over the course of two decades, Blackstone has evolved into one of the largest private equity investment firms globally. In 2007, Blackstone completed a $4 billion initial public offering to become one of the first major private equity firms to list shares in its management company on a public exchange.^[3][4] Blackstone is headquartered at 345 Park Avenue in New York City, with more than a dozen additional offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. [Columbia Sussex.

One of the union organizers commented below and said the Anchorage Hilton is owned by Columbia Sussex, not Blackstone. Wikipedia says Blackstone owns Hilton and China Daily says Blackstone was buying Hilton in 2007. But I'm sure the union involved knows better.] Private equity investment firms. Aren't these the guys that get the $50 million bonuses? And they're quibbling over fifty cents an hour and working conditions for hotel staff? I bet they've spent more on a weekend vacation than the employees make in a year. [This is probably moot since Columbia Sussex owns the hotel, not Blackstone. But Wikipedia's entry for Columbia Sussex doesn't paint a pretty picture. Here's an excerpt:

On November 20, 2007 the New Jersey Casino Control Commission started its investigation into the renewal of the license of the Tropicana Casino & Resort, as well as whether its parent companies, Adamar of New Jersey and Columbia Sussex, are suitable to hold a casino license. Critics including Fred Burro, the Tropicana's former General Manager, testified before the Casino Control Commission on November 28, 2007 that Columbia Sussex CEO William Yung III had ordered him to make $40 million in payroll cuts, and when he opposed the layoffs, Yung became irate and fired him.[2]. In another incident, the National Environmental Health Association has refused to pay the Tropicana a portion of its $97,000.00 bill for a convention held at the resort because of reported bedbugs, roaches, rude employees, poor quality food and other unsanitary conditions.[3]

But remember, I got the original information on Blackstone from Wikipedia too, so don't bet the farm on this information.] Now, this dispute started in May, before Sullivan became mayor. So he can't say, "Well, we were already booked and couldn't move it." He picks the one hotel that has a labor dispute A hotel owned by a huge New York based corporation that sucks money out of the local Anchorage community by treating its Anchorage based employees poorly. He's going into the dinner formerly known as diversity past a picket line of Hispanics, Asians, etc. Maybe that's why it's called unity and not diversity any more.. Didn't the convention center have space? If Shannyn is right about the Senate race, I bet Sullivan can pick up a lot more money from Blackstone when he runs than he can from the hotel workers. "Hey guys, I booked a unity dinner in your hotel when it was being picketed, think what I can do for you in the US Senate." OK, this is all speculation based on the facts that are out there. But if we learned anything from the FBI surveillance of Alaska politicians, it's that we don't know squat about what they are doing behind closed doors. And we don't have the resources or the authority to track them like the FBI can. So if we take stray facts from here and there and hypothesize them together, we're still probably missing most of it. But maybe we'll see a bit of it. Let's remember history.

"Don't listen to what we say, watch what we do." "Follow the money."