State Government

Former residents of the Governor’s House joined Juneau residents in a centennial birthday celebration on Thursday.

The first big phase of a $2 million repair just recently wrapped up to fix the columns, stucco, and paint of the Governor’s House, the primary residence of Alaska’s First Family in Juneau.

People took free tours on Thursday afternoon, sampled cookies and lemonade, and were able to chat with those who spent time working and living in what has been called by one author as ‘The White House of the North.’

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Attendees included Governor Sean Parnell, author Carol Sturgulewski who is also the daughter of Governor Frank Murkowski, former Representative Clark Gruening who is the grandson of Territorial Governor Ernest Gruening, Governor Bill Sheffield, First Lady Nancy Murkowski, and Governor Frank Murkowski. Also performing on Thursday was the Zahasky Family Alaska String Band.

The day before Thursday’s party, First Lady Sandy Parnell said that the recent repairs should help the Governor’s House last for another century. Most of the work was intended to fix a hundred years of rain and wind which had taken their toll on the structure. Most of the work focused on the wooden columns, and the exterior paint and stucco.

“We really wanted to make sure it got done before the one-hundred year anniversary so the House was at her best for the one-hundredth year,” said Parnell.

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A plaque in front of the five-bedroom, eight-bathroom Governor’s House notes that it was constructed with $40,000 from the federal government. That was a lot of money back then, but it wasn’t enough to finish the Governor’s House as planned.

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“They had to pinch pennies,” said Parnell.

She described clapboard siding initially being installed on the exterior instead of the stucco that was added on later. Oak planking was installed instead of parquet flooring, and purchase of a grand piano took up half of the budget that was left over for furnishings. There was no landscaping and the yard was used for storage of construction materials for a few years.

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Parnell walks us over to a wooden Seal of the District of Alaska located at the top of the fireplace in the ballroom. It was installed when construction started in May 1912 before Alaska became a Territory.

“It was covered up in plaster and paint,” said Parnell. It was later revealed during renovation of the House in the 1980s.

“It’s actually a very beautiful part of the history of the House.”

Alaska became a territory in August 1912. Governor Walter Clark moved into the House when it was completed at the end of December 1912. The original, restored seal of the District of Alaska is still in place above the ballroom’s fireplace.

Parnell says most administrations have left their mark with changes to the Governor’s House that have enhanced its livability while staying true to its historical origins.

Governor Bill Sheffield, for example, gutted the interior, redid the electrical system, and ripped up the dated shag carpeting.

First Lady Neva Egan refinished forgotten furniture that had been placed in storage.

Parnell says the Hickels acquired alabaster lamps for the ballroom that are still used today.

Governor Tony Knowles had the kitchen, library, and third-floor suites redone.

And, First Lady Nancy Murkowski started a foundation devoted to the House’s renovation and related educational efforts.

A nonpartisan group, formed in 1999 to fight a huge oil merger in Alaska, is speaking in support of the Senate’s bipartisan coalition.

Leaders of Backbone plan to hold a news conference next week in Anchorage to support the coalition, which Backbone says has a record of “putting Alaska first.”

This comes after some Republicans, including the governor, expressed a desire to break up the current coalition.

Malcolm Roberts is with Backbone. He says Alaska is at risk of becoming the “owned state,” rather than an owner-state. He says the coalition has shown courage and reflected the spirit of Alaska, which he says isn’t partisan.

Roberts says Backbone doesn’t plan to register as an independent expenditure group, and he’s not sure yet what role it might play in the elections.

You’re invited to a party at the Governor’s House today. It’s the celebration of the house’s 100th anniversary. There will be music and refreshments on the north lawn as well as guided tours of the house’s first level.

The mansion, officially known as the Governor’s House, underwent a recent renovation aimed at preserving and sprucing it up for its 100th anniversary. Work included peeling away paint, repairing stucco and resurfacing columns around the house.

Gov. Sean Parnell’s office says all former governors and their families were invited; former Govs. Bill Sheffield and Frank Murkowski are expected to attend.

Sheffield also is expected to speak, as is former state Rep. Clark Gruening, whose grandfather, Ernest Gruening, was governor from 1939-1953

Parnell is the 22nd governor to live at the house, according to Carol Sturgulewski, who wrote a book on the mansion and provided notes for the guided first floor tours that will be offered Thursday.

The house was built in 1912 when Congress set aside $40,000 for the construction.

Federal architect John Knox Taylor designed the house.

However, it wasn’t owned by the state of Alaska until 1959. Before that it was under federal control.

It was completed in time for its first public event, an open house on New Year’s Day in January of 1913.

The first floor is the public part of the house for dinners, reception and scheduled tours. Most people visiting the mansion do so during the Governor’s Holiday Open house, the largest public event of the year.

The house fills 14,000 square feet comprised of 25 rooms over three floors.

The totem outside the house stands almost as tall as the house and is nearly as old. It was carved in the winter of 1939 as part of a Civilian Conservation Corp Project.

The house has undergone a number of renovations and changes.

In 1936, additional columns and a portico were added.

1983 saw the interior being renovated to restore the original and historic look of the house’s interior. The governor at the time, Bill Sheffield had the entire house renovated, making the most changes to the house since its original construction.

The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a title it’s held since 1976.

“This is the people’s house. This house belongs to every single person in Alaska,” Nancy Murkowski said in the 2005 documentary about the house.

The public is invited to the celebration that will take place at 4 p.m. today.

The federal government is allocating a quarter of a million dollars to Pacific states to deal with debris washing ashore from the Japanese tsunami. Alaska’s senators say the amount is astonishingly low, and more needs to be on the way.

The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration, or NOAA, announced a grant that will give Alaska and four other states up to $50,000 apiece to help clean up debris washing ashore.

“Can you record my eye roll?,” U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski said.

She says she’s offended the federal government would give states such a small amount to deal with a problem so big – and then divide it between them.

“So the state of Alaska, which has 33,000 miles of coastline – more than all of the coastline of all the other states, is to get their $50,000. Talk to the people of Yakatat – what they are already putting in their landfill from the collection of the debris off the beach,” Murkowski said.

NOAA would not comment for this story. But at a Senate hearing in May, NOAA’s David Kennedy, said the Marine Debris Program just doesn’t have the money for a large-scale cleanup.

And the bulk of debris isn’t ashore yet. Most of the estimated 1.5 million tons of refuse is expected to make landfall over the next two years.

Senator Mark Begich called the amount of money outrageous and says he’ll speak with the NOAA administrator this week.

“They’ll probably claim that’s all the money they could find. Well this should be inter-agency activity. They should figure out how to get the resources, because when it comes in large volume? The net result is: FEMA’s going to be at the table then,” Begich said.

FEMA – the Federal Emergency Management Agency – helps coordinate disaster responses.

Begich says this is certainly not the last of the federal money for the project. And Murkowski, who’s on the appropriations committee, says there could be a way to get some money for the project on an Interior Department spending bill.

But whether the Senate actually takes up another funding measure this year remains unclear.

Related Story: NOAA crew surveys beachs for tsunami debris

Alaska Governor Sean Parnell is rejecting the idea of a state-run insurance exchange under the federal Affordable Care Act.

An exchange is a marketplace that provides information on various coverage options.

Parnell says using state funds and personnel to design and implement a program would be the most expensive means of establishing an exchange in Alaska. The governor says federally mandated programs should be paid for with federal dollars.

In 2011, the Parnell administration declined to apply for a federal grant that would have provided up to $1-million to help the state set up an exchange. At the time, the governor cited his belief that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional.

Alaska was one of the states that sued to strike down the act, most of which was recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Under the health care overhaul, the federal government could step in and establish exchanges in states where none exist.

The state of Alaska is suing to block the federal government from enforcing regulations for emissions from cruise ships and marine cargo carriers.

New rules taking effect Aug. 1 would require that freight lines and cruise ships off the southeast and southern coasts of Alaska use low-sulfur fuel. The state says the fuel is expensive and difficult to obtain. It also says the new regulations will greatly increase shipping costs to Alaska and hurt the state’s tourism sector.

The state, in its lawsuit, claims the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lacks the legal authority and scientific basis to extend what’s known as an Emission Control Area to Alaska.

It says enforcement will “irreparably injure the State and Alaska’s citizens and economy.”

An EPA spokeswoman couldn’t immediately comment on the lawsuit.