After Tuesday, not politics as usual

WASILLA — Win or lose, come Tuesday Gov. Sarah Palin is going to have a tough job ahead of her.

If voters pick Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain as the next president, Palin will be more than busy learning the ropes and settling into her historic role as the first female vice president.

If McCain loses to Democrat U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, Palin will have to set about continuing to working with the state Legislature and finish out the term she was elected to in 2006. But, unlike the past two years, that could be difficult.

State Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, said there will likely be divided political camps in the Legislature.

“There are going to be those who say ‘let’s let bygones be bygones and let’s work together.’ But there are a lot of people in politics who hold grudges,” he said.

And those people come from both sides of the aisle, Gara said. Before she was tapped as McCain’s running mate, Palin had a solid record of bi-partisanship that often brought her into conflict with her own party. Some opposed her natural gas pipeline proposal, the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act. Others opposed her efforts to raise taxes on oil producers.

But should she remain Alaska’s governor, there are plenty of new grudges to reckon with, Gara said. Some lawmakers in both parties were disenfranchised by attempts to stop the Troopergate investigation into whether Palin abused her power in firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

And Democrats have their own list of concerns.

“You had some Democrats who probably had a different view of Barack Obama than Governor Palin has,” Gara said. “She’s certainly been pretty hard on him.”

Whatever the case, Gara said he falls solidly into the “bygones be bygones” camp.

“I envision that one day I’ll sit down with the governor and we’ll look at each other and talk to each other about what the other did,” Gara said. Then, they’ll shake hands and get back to work.

But that conversation would likely be a lengthy one, he said.

“I think we’re all going to have a litany of grievances against each other by the time the campaign is over,” Gara said. “I don’t like some of the things she’s said, she might not like some of the things I’ve said. Starting on Wednesday you’ve got to be an adult and put it all behind you and work together.”

Bill Stoltze, a republican representing Butte and Chugiak who faces Democrat challenger Beverly Serrano on Tuesday said that although he has no grievances against Palin, he’d still side with Gara in calling for the Legislature to work with her should Palin come back to resume her post as governor.

“We don’t have the luxury of having political infighting, we can’t afford it,” Stoltze said, citing a long list of issues the state will have to address in the coming session, from the drop in oil prices draining state coffers to the cost of heating homes in rural Alaska.

As a Republican, Stoltze is hoping for a McCain victory. If Palin becomes vice president, Stoltze and Gara agreed it would be wonderful for Alaska in terms of access to the Executive Branch.

That’s as far as Gara would go in predicting how a McCain/Palin administration would help the state.

“I don’t predict how big things like this are going to turn out or they go the other way,” he said. “I’ve learned the hard way not to predict good things.”

But Stoltze said even putting access aside, just having Palin in the vice presidency would keep the national spotlight aimed squarely on Alaska. Though there may be a downside, he said overall that increased scrutiny would be a boon to the state.

“We get to sell our attributes and the folks that want to make some hay take their cracks,” he said.

Stoltze also said he thinks in the end the attention will be good. Even McCain’s much-touted opposition to earmarks, he thinks, wouldn’t hurt Alaska, even if by some measures the state is often kept afloat by the practice.

Scrutiny, Stoltze said, would weed out unnecessary programs and amplify the call for things that are needed.

“I would absolutely like to have the nation know the needs of rural Alaska,” Stoltze said. “I would love to have a magnifying glass on those issues. Bring it on. ”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.