Count on election to blur fact, fiction

September 29, 2006

SPECTRUM/Myrl Thompson

Nearly everyone knows that politicians and, especially, political parties are well versed in the art of spin. It is easy to fall victim to high-dollar polished campaign ads and assertions that all is well.

Had Roman emperor Nero been in a modern era campaign, his three-color high-gloss political flyers would have conveyed the same &#8220all is well” theme. In fact had the Roman citizens checked their mailboxes the very day of Nero's last violin solo, the spin would have been contrary to the reality at hand.

Such is the case with Rep. Mark Neuman when he espouses his Pollyanna scenario of the 24th Legislature and his part in it. Mark is no Hayley Mills, so he should just give up on the acting and get back to reality.

In a recent Frontiersman headline story, &#8220House race heats up,” Neuman made a series of misleading and just plain false statements. Since I was actually in Juneau many more days than our representative was during the last legislative session, allow me to shed more light on some of Neuman's recent assertions.

Neuman claims that corporate contributions are necessary for his campaign. That might be true; however, corporate contributions are illegal to accept or use, and most

sitting legislators know this obvious fact.

Neuman also claims, &#8220I can't afford to run a campaign on my own.” That is not true. He just elects to finance his campaign with special-interest money, out-of-state cash, Randy Ruedrich party money, lobbyist payola and political insider loot. In fact, almost all of Neuman's money comes from those sources.

I make about 1/5 of the money that Neuman earns as a legislator. I don't accept party, special-interest, out-of-state or political action committee money, but somehow I manage to run my own campaign free of all outside influence.

In the Frontiersman story, Neuman claims that he got elected on a $1,500 budget two years ago. The truth is, Mark got elected using more than $33,000 from the above named special interests in getting elected in 2004 by a minority of the people who voted. More people voted against Neuman than voted for him. But there were two independent candidates, including me, who split the majority of the votes.

Neuman also claims that I never called him to discuss matters after being invited to do so. Let me refer to an interview that Mark did recently with another newspaper for some enlightenment on this one.

A story in the March 27 edition of the Anchorage newspaper reported &#8220Neuman, who won the seat Thompson was vying for in the 2004 race, said he hasn't spoken a word to him since the election, and he declined to comment on his former rival's activities in the Capitol.”

Neuman was a bit more honest in that story. The fact is, he avoided me like the plague in Juneau, and everyone who was there knows it, except Mark apparently.

Neuman also wants folks here at home to re-elect him because he has been given the chairmanship of a basically ad-hoc Special Committee on Education. This committee rarely met, was cancelled many times when it was scheduled, and accomplished almost nothing when it did meet.

Only seven bills were heard this year, and only three bills managed to even get out of committee. The running joke in Juneau was that the Special Committee on Education, chaired by Mark Neuman, was where education bills go to die.

Rep. Neuman also has no qualms about meeting behind closed doors or signing party pledges to pass bloated budgets. He signed on to two record budgets in his freshman term, and they were loaded with industry and special-interest pork. Those budgets also included permanent fund spending.

Refusing to pass the Republican budget got Eagle River Rep. Nancy Dahlstrom booted from her standing committee assignments and the Republican caucus. It also showed her as a lady of integrity and her word.

I can attest to her commitment to her constituents, her word and her backbone. We need to elect more legislators like Nancy Dahlstrom and less followers like Mark Neuman.

Now, I've always been one to give someone a chance to explain their record. Thus, let it be known that I openly and publicly challenging the incumbent Rep. Mark Neuman to a series of open debates to discuss his record, the facts and the issues that are pertinent to our district and the state.

Please visit my Web site www.myrl.org for more of my published works.

Myrl Thompson is a legislative watchdog and independent candidate for the state House from District 15.