Budget ‘debate' fails to prioritize Alaskans' needs

In this space Sunday, we lauded the state Senate for refusing to approve House changes to the state's supplemental budget. It seems we were a bit premature in doling out the kudos.

Senate leaders last week questioned the wisdom of a $3 million House appropriation to an out-of-state public relations firm for pro-ANWR lobbying. On Monday, the appropriation was approved anyway, without a single on-the-record conversation, by a legislative conference committee charged with hammering out a compromise between the two versions of the supplemental spending plan.

While we stand firmly in favor of responsible development of the people's resources on the North Slope and elsewhere, the appropriation continues to be troubling on many levels. So we are disappointed by this turn of events.

The money was inserted into the supplemental spending plan by House leaders without a single committee hearing, a word of public feedback or any deference to fundamental notions of competitive bidding. How the money will be used is also cause for concern.

The appropriation is for advertising that will pump up the benefits of ANWR development while targeting for defeat congresspeople around the country who are currently opposed to drilling. In short, state money - our money - will fund the kind of ad campaign that is universally despised here - outside interests trying to influence an in-state election.

Pac/West Communications, the firm that stands to benefit from lawmakers' generosity with our money, is the outfit responsible for ads now running on Alaska airwaves telling us how fortunate we are that the cruise ship industry operates here, and how much better off we would be to let the industry continue to reap untold millions in profit without putting anything back into state coffers.

The firm also directed the 2004 campaign against a proposed ballot initiative to ban bear-baiting. The underlying premise is that Alaskans are incapable of deciding for themselves about matters of importance to Alaskans.

By raising questions last week about the $3 million appropriation to Pac/West, the Senate, we thought, understood this to be questionable stewardship of public money. As it turns out, in a bizarre post-April Fool's Day slice of irony, senators were more concerned about money earmarked for programs to help Alaskans.

After the conference committee's first meeting Monday, all that remains to be ironed out is funding for two rural energy programs and the Arctic Winter Games. In its version of the budget, the House appropriated $3.3 million for the state's Power Cost Equalization program, which helps offset high energy expenses in Bush Alaska. It also voted to subsidize the bulk-fuel program and the Arctic Winter Games to the tune of $500,000 each.

The form of the budgetary compromise to come on these issues is unclear. The Senate has already noted its disapproval of helping rural Alaskans by not including either energy subsidy in its budget, and it approved just $250,000 for the Winter Games.

But given the huge state surplus and the way a majority of regular Alaskans struggles to cover ever-increasing property taxes and energy costs, it is a shame that calls for returning some of that surplus to the people of the state are falling on deaf ears in the halls of the Capitol, even as Alaska money is set to flow out of state.