From Richard Mauer in Anchorage —

With his health concerns behind him, Rep. Les Gara said he will ask Anchorage voters to send him back to the Legislature for a sixth term this year.

Gara, a Democrat, would run in the new House District 18 if the election is held under the current interim redistricting plan. The district includes downtown Anchorage, Government Hill and Fairview, which makes it a fairly safe Democratic seat. Under the old district map from the 2000 Census, Gara represented District 23.

From Lisa Demer in Juneau —

The good news is that Rep. Les Gara’s cancer surgery in New York City went well on Tuesday and his doctor said he’s now cancer free, he said Friday.

Gara exited the Legislature’s special session to undergo prostate cancer surgery at Cornell Medical College on the Upper East Side.

Gara, an Anchorage Democrat, said it was more involved than anticipated. At one point, when he was almost ready for discharge, his blood pressure dropped by half. He stayed in the hospital two nights longer than expected.

“I feel like an invisible man has been punching me in the stomach for the last four days,” Gara said Friday afternoon, about an hour after he finally was discharged.

From Lisa Demer in Juneau —

UPDATE: Gov. Sean Parnell, in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon, confirmed that he is the first governor in Alaska to pull an item off a special session agenda. He said he consulted with the attorney general and the Department of Law before he took that step. Governors have added legislation to special session agendas, and Gov. Frank Murkowski once withdrew his call for a special session entirely, Parnell said.

If legislators want to keep working in oil taxes, they can call themselves back into special session, the governor said.

Meanwhile, senators in the bipartisan majority coalition met privately at least twice on Thursday. When the second meeting broke up just before 2:30 p.m., some didn't look happy but no one was ready to disclose what direction they were taking.

The Gavel to Gavel public television service is gearing up for an impromptu Senate floor session that is starting at 4 p.m.

ORIGINAL POST: The Capitol is still reeling from Gov. Sean Parnell's abrupt announcement Wednesday evening that he was pulling oil taxes off the agenda for the special session that he called.

Just about the whole building is waiting to see how the state Senate will respond. Senators had planned to make an announcement Thursday morning and some House members were lining up along with reporters to get into the Butrovich Room on the Capitol's second floor.

But just minutes before the press conference was to begin, the senators announced it was indefinitely postponed. The Senate's majority coalition of Republicans and Democrats has been huddling, as have Senate leaders. They should have the details of how they intend to proceed worked out by early afternoon, an aide said.

Among other things, Sen. Hollis French, a lawyer and Democrat from Anchorage, said he's requested a legal opinion on whether the governor can withdraw a bill from a special session, prohibiting work on the subject.

Legislative leaders said they hadn't heard of a governor yanking something from the agenda for a special session before. But a spokeswoman for Parnell, Sharon Leighow, said there have been instances were proclamations have been amended and calls have been withdrawn.

The city Election Commission has issued a series of recommendations for avoiding future Election Day boondoggles in Anchorage, but recommends the city does NOT hire an independent investigator.

From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

A review by the Anchorage Election Commission found that more than half of city precincts ran out of ballots in the trouble-plagued April 3 elections, according to a report unveiled today.

From Richard Mauer in Juneau —

After having delayed surgery for prostate cancer, Rep. Les Gara is leaving the special session to finally get it done, but plans to be back in Juneau by the first week of May. He expects the Legislature will still be in session then.

“I don’t want to be an idiot and wait, and find out I waited too long,” Gara said. At one point he thought about having the surgery at mid-session, when the Legislature went into a week-long hibernation for energy meetings in Washington, but that didn't work out, he said.

Gara, an Anchorage Democrat who has said he has health issues, announced in his most recent constituent newsletter that he had joined the Legislature’s “cancer caucus.” That caucus — and the House — lost one of its members April 10 when Rep. Carl Gatto died after attempting to return for the last two weeks of regular session.

Rep. Les Gara at a post-session news conference April 16. Gara will miss the first part of the special session for prostate surgery in New York. Photo by Richard Mauer

In a phone interview, Gara said he initially scheduled the surgery for May 17, thinking that the Legislature would have concluded its 30 days of special session by then. But Gov. Sean Parnell waited to call the session back till today — April 18 — and Gara feared the final votes on oil taxes and a gas line would take place while he was at the hospital in New York City.

From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

6:10 p.m. UPDATE: Her voice quavering, 23-year-old Laura Herman delivered a warning to the Assembly tonight. Investigate the election or face one angry young East Anchorage voter.

“I will activally be involved in revoking all of you because my voice is being taken away," she said.

Herman was among maybe a half dozen people who have testified tonight, calling for a third-party review of the voting process. The meeting ended at 6:15 p.m. with no vote on an investigation but Assembly members making it clear they intend to launch some kind of inquiry at a later meeting.

5:30 p.m. UPDATE:

Ernie Hall has been selected as the new Assembly chairman. Jennifer Johnston edged Elvi Gray-Jackson 6-5 to become vice chair.

5:10 p.m. UPDATE:

In 2009, the year of the last mayoral election, the city rejected 15 ballots cast by people who were registered to vote outside the city.

This year, the Election Commission rejected 159 ballots cast people who were registered to vote outside of Anchorage. That according to both new and historical numbers provided today by the city clerk.

Among the other big difference between the two elections:

-- In 2009, the city received 1,999 questioned ballots. This year there were 5,756 questioned ballots.
-- The number of absentee-in-person votes grew to a lesser degree. In 2009, the city collected 4,303 of those early votes. This year: 5,789.
-- By about this time in the ballot-counting process, there were 8,857 votes still to be counted. This year there are 14,043.

Meantime, here's a clip of unhappy Anchorage voter Karli Kay, who showed up just minutes late to today's Election Commission to find it had already adjourned:

But the commission returned moments later to hear Kay's complaint. The Election Commission chair soon found Kay in the hallway and told her that her vote had indeed been counted this year:

From Richard Mauer in Juneau —

The House teased the Senate this morning when it moved the Senate’s oil-tax credit for new fields into the film tax credit bill and appeared ready to move it out of the House Rules Committee.

House Speaker Mike Chenault, left, hears from aide Tom Wright moments before a recess was called at the House Rules Committee Sunday morning. Photo by Richard Mauer.

Then Rules chairman Craig Johnson called a recess, huddled with House Speaker Mike Chenault and other Republican leaders, and called the committee back into session.

During a break in the House Rules Committee, chairman Craig Johnson listens to House Speaker Mike Chenault, covering his mouth to not be overheard. Vice chairman Kurt Olson is at left and Majority Leader Alan Austerman is standing. After the huddle, the committee killed the Senate's tax credit for new oil fields.

Then he killed the Senate’s oil-tax reform.

The movie tax credit was probably the perfect venue for the morning’s dramatic short subject. Later, Chenault, a member of the rules committee, said it was never the intent of House leadership to put the tax measure in the film bill in the first place, and removing it was only an effort to fix a mistake. He said it was accidentally swept into the bill with several other tax credits sought by the House. (Since the film tax credit was a big Senate measure, the House-sought credits stood a better chance of passage as an attachment than as stand-alone bills.)

Not everyone believed that story. But in any event, with Sunday being the last day of the session unless the governor calls the Legislature into overtime, the new-field oil-tax credit is dead.

Or is it?

From Richard Mauer in Juneau —

The Senate on Saturday morning took a small bill to encourage petroleum drilling in the state’s Interior and stuffed it with a key part of oil-tax reform that it had been unable to pass in a much larger bill.

The parliamentary move had been brewing since at least Friday as it became clear that the oil-tax measure it’s been working on for months, Senate Bill 192, couldn’t be molded into a compromise between the Senate’s Democrats and Republicans.

The move saved the part of SB192 that encourages new fields by reducing taxes for up to 10 years, giving substantial savings to producers. That component was popular with Republicans and Democrats and had gotten strong support from an independent North Slope company, Armstrong Oil & Gas, which described it as “meaningful,” a buzzword that other companies had used to dismiss other parts of the original bill as not meaningful.

After the Senate Finance Committee’s action, Sen. Bill Wielechowski, one of the authors of original Senate bill, said the smaller measure will still lead to greater oil development and a more diverse industry in Alaska without giving back billions of dollars to the big three: BP, Conoco Phillips and Exxon.

He said the bill should end talk of a special session, since it could clear the Senate Saturday and go straight to the House, which has long been clamoring for meaningful tax reform.

From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage —

When some Anchorage precincts ran out of ballots on Election Day, frustrated voters were asked to cast substitute ballots. They selected their mayor using ballots printed for faraway precincts. They marked their vote on a controversial gay rights proposal on blue sample ballots or hastily made photocopies.

From Richard Mauer in Juneau —

Updated at 3:54 p.m.:

Senate President Gary Stevens just referred the oil-tax bill to the Rules Committee for further work.

Updated at 2:45 p.m.:

The oil tax bill is off the agenda for today's Senate session.

From Richard Mauer in Juneau —

Is the autism insurance bill dead?

The popular measure, sponsored by a majority of House members, is currently locked up in the House Health and Social Services Committee, where Chairman Wes Keller, R-Wasilla, held a hearing Tuesday but wouldn’t let the bill out.

Autism bill hearing Tuesday: Chairman Wes Keller of the House Education and Social Services Committee and a Republican from Wasilla, heard testimony Tuesday on the autism insurance bill from Sen. Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage. Photo by Richard Mauer.

Rep. Charisse Millett, an Anchorage Republican and one of the sponsors, said she asked Keller in a conversation on the House floor today whether he would move the bill. He told her no.

Millett, who isn’t a member of either the Republican-led majority caucus or the minority Democrats, said there was not much pressure she could apply to pressure Keller to change his mind. But the matter may come up in the Republican caucus Wednesday evening, she said.

“I’m not going to give up,” she said. “I’m not going to give up.”

From Richard Mauer in Juneau —

Rep. Don Young picked up an opponent Wednesday when Rep. Sharon Cissna, a Democratic legislator from Anchorage, announced at a sparsely attended news conference that she was running for Congress.

Young, a Republican from Fort Yukon, has served 19 full terms as Alaska's sole Congressman and has steamrolled over most of his opponents over the years. Cissna said she wasn’t volunteering to be this year’s sacrificial lamb.

Cissna and Tarr announce candidacies: Rep. Sharon Cissna, left, said she will run for Congress as a Democrat. Geran Tarr, a community activist, will seek Cissna's Anchorage seat in the Alaska House. Photo by Richard Mauer.

“I’m not running against anyone in the primary or in the general,” Cissna said “I’m running for Alaska.”

From Richard Mauer in Juneau —

Last week’s great Girl Scout controversy was resolved today in one minute and 25 seconds when the House State Affairs Committee moved a Senate resolution honoring the organization’s 100 years of history and the Year of the Girl.

All four committee members present recommended the resolution pass the full House, including Rep. Wes Keller, who sparked the controversy last week when he held up the measure over a “rumor” he read on the Internet linking the Girl Scouts with Planned Parenthood.

This post has been expanded into a full article. Find it here.

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From Richard Mauer in Juneau —

Gov. Sean Parnell’s nominee to the Alaska Public Offices Commission, David Eichler, withdrew his name from consideration just before what would have likely been a fiery hearing before the Senate State Affairs Committee Thursday morning.

From Richard Mauer in Juneau —

Updated at 3:30 p.m.

Senate President Gary Stevens had a chance to reflect on what House Speaker Mike Chenault said earlier in the day, and agreed the House needed time with the Senate’s oil-tax bill.

His solution: continue meeting beyond the 90-day mark.

From Richard Mauer in Juneau —

The Senate Finance Committee hearing on oil taxes, Senate Bill 192, may have droned on at times, but there were also some interesting moments.

Damian Bilbao: The head of finance for BP Exploration (Alaska) testified that the Senate's oil tax bill was inadequate to increase oil industry investment in Alaska.

From Richard Mauer in Juneau —

The oil industry began its testimony on the Senate’s oil-tax bill this morning, and it was clear they didn’t like it.

First up was ConocoPhillips Alaska. Bob Heinrich, its vice president for finance, said the Senate measure does almost nothing to reduce the state’s large share of the value of oil when prices are high. That means there’s less reason to invest in Alaska than another oil province where the company gets more of the benefit of high oil prices, he said.

From Richard Mauer in Juneau —

The chairman of the House Education Committee urged the Anchorage School Board to go slow in deciding whether to adopt new national standards for its core curriculum.

“I’m saying we really shouldn’t lunge forward,” Rep. Alan Dick, R-Stony River, told reporters Monday at the regular news briefing of the House majority coalition. “I’m not telling Anchorage what to do at all, but I’m asking them that they make a well-informed decision when they do make a decision.”

From Richard Mauer in Juneau -

With 28 days left to the regular legislative session and the Senate still working on oil-tax legislation in committee, House Speaker Mike Chenault wouldn’t be drawn into a prediction Monday about whether the issue could be resolved before adjournment.

From Lisa Demer in Juneau --

State Sen. Lesil McGuire put out a press release Wednesday evening with "OMG" overtones: She got engaged in Anchorage.

McGuire, who turned 41 last month, announced her Feb. 14 engagement to Anchorage lawyer Jason Skala in a release on state letterhead emailed to the state Senate's distribution list of about 600 people including reporters, legislators, aides and members of the public who have signed up for Senate news. An aide wrote it up, and the notice was sent out by the press secretary for the coalition of Republicans and Democrats who run the state Senate. The release includes a video link that shows him proposing.

"February 14th was a romantic night for many, but a truly magical night for Senator Lesil McGuire and long-time friend Jason Skala," the release begins.

The couple was attending a "chocolate and champagne" reception hosted by the Denali Society, a group that honors big donors to Alaska Pacific University. Both McGuire and Skala attended APU though McGuire graduated from Willamette University in Oregon. He's a longtime family friend.