Alaska voters seem ready for some changes

Frontiersman editorial board

What is going on in Alaska these days? Gov. Frank Murkowski sent 55 Alaskans to Fairbanks to talk about the future of the permanent fund. He told them not to talk about anything else. They didn't listen. They talked about a lot of things Murkowski would rather not hear right now. A group of Mat-Su voters has collected and submitted to the Alaska Division of Elections enough signatures to launch the state's first recall of an elected official. A group slapped the state Legislature with a vote of no confidence. School districts, parents and teacher organizations are shouting for better education funding. Alaskans are calling for a solution to the budget gap crisis, and many of them are calling for the use of the permanent fund to make that happen. Other Alaskans are talking about putting a greater burden upon the large oil companies and other resource developers who so far have gotten something of a sweetheart deal in our state.

It sounds as though Alaskans are calling for a change. It sounds as though voters have grown weary of the same tired solutions to problems that surface in a cycle closely tied to the market value of oil and other resources. It sounds as though Alaskans are asking for leadership that responds to the needs of our state and its citizens before responding to the needs of Outside corporations and other special interests. It sounds like Alaskans are demanding leadership and vision -- and something called accountability.

What must they be saying behind closed doors in Juneau these days? How is the Republican majority charting its way out of choppy seas when its members can't see eye-to-eye on critical fiscal issues, and when many of the party faithful are struggling to keep an embattled governor at an arm's distance? It would be easy to blame the entire mess on that majority, but that wouldn't be accurate, either. The lack of courage and resolve exists on both sides of the aisle, and Democrats have failed to step up with anything that resembles leadership, either.

There's a growing rumble coming from the electorate, and it's beginning to drown out the voices of lobbyists in the halls of the Legislature. Every legislator in Juneau should take heed of the Ogan recall effort. It's symbolic of a general lack of confidence throughout the state. It's the first shot across the bow, and it may signal the coming of some explosive elections in the near future.