The Anchorage Daily News has a story saying that Alice Rogoff, the wife of billionaire David Rubenstein, is seeking state funding  of $600,000 to help keep a nonprofit in New York open that promotes Alaska issues and the work of Alaska Native artists.

Rogoff founded the “Alaska House” in New York a year ago and tells Sean Cockerham that either they will find funding for the arts and cultural center or close it. She had  hoped to raise $1 million a year, but with the recession and all, that hasn’t worked. The Daily News says that she talked to Gov. Sean Parnell last week about an appropriation to help run the center.

She has also approached the Legislative Council for financial assistance.

My column Monday was about Rubenstein, who is worth $2.5 billion, according to Forbes, and Rogoff and their activities regarding Alaska. She is the publisher of the online newspaper Alaska Dispatch, based in Anchorage.

Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group,  is also a prominent philanthropist. In the past month alone, he has been in the news for giving a total of  nearly $16 million to the Lincoln Center in New York and Duke University.

I’m not sure  if legislators and the governor will say this out loud, but they will want to know why Rogoff and Rubenstein don’t fund the Alaska House with their own money. They’ll want to know that because that’s the question they will get from the folks back home.