Even on back bench, Mat-Su legislators will have clout

Mat-Su’s legislative delegation appears to be on the back bench in both the state House and Senate.

That’s a concern to some who worry that there will be no one at the table when key decisions are made by incoming House and Senate leaders on things that affect Mat-Su, like more state money for roads and schools.

State representatives and senators from the region will still pack clout, however. That’s even if they are in the Minority rather than Majority caucuses in both the state House and Senate.

Mat-Su has heavy influence in the current Legislature, which ends when a new crop of lawmakers is sworn in Jan. 21, Wasilla’s Rep. Cathy Tilton is Speaker of the House and Palmer’s Rep. DeLena Johnson is a veteran member of the House Finance Committee.

On Jan. 21, however, the House loses the conservative Republican leadership led by Tilton. A new coalition organization will assume control led by Democrats, independents and a sprinkling of moderate Republicans. In the state Senate another coalition of Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans will be in control, just as in the last Legislature. One difference, however, is that conservative Republicans made enough gains in the Nov. 5 election that they will form an official Senate Minority, led by Mat-Su’s Republican Sen. Mike Shower, to gain seats on committees and staff. It will become a counterweight to the Majority coalition.

Mat-Su lost its “inside” seat at the table for key Senate decisions when incumbent Sen. David Wilson lost his bid for reelection to conservative Rob Yundt, former member of the borough assembly.

Wilson was one of the moderate Republicans who joined the coalition Senate Majority.

That allowed him to be voice for Mat-Su in the Senate leadership. He also chaired the Senate Health and Social Services Committee, which was also important to the region given the importance of health care services to Mat-Su’s economy.

However, Wilson’s willingness to work with Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Senate coalition is considered a factor in his defeat by conservative Mat-Su.

Although they won’t be in the Senate’s inner-circle in the new Legislature the six conservatives who will make up the new Republican Senate Minority will have influence in the 20-member Senate. The group includes experienced senators like Sen. Shelley Hughes whose experience in education and health care will carry weight with other senators even in the Majority coalition.

In the 40-member state House Mat-Su’s delegation will also be outside the power circle, but just barely. The Democrat-led coalition that will control the House only by a slim margin on any given issue a vote or two could be split off from the Majority to join Republicans in a vote.

There are also experienced Mat-Su legislators in the new Minority like Tilton, Johnson and Rep. George Rauscher, R-Sutton, all three who understand the mechanics of legislation.

However, the new House Majority has experienced leaders too, including Rep. Bryce Edgmon, from Dillingham, who will be House Speaker and is nonaligned with a political affiliation, and Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome, who will help chair the House Finance Committee.

There are dynamics affecting the new Legislature including the close margin of control in the House, but there are many experienced legislators in both the Majorities and Minorities of both bodies, which means that bills will be carefully considered despite partisan differences.

This is important because legislators have to hit the deck running on Jan. 21 to deal with critical issues like energy, where a pending natural gas production decline faces Southcentral Alaska, an ongoing financial crunch facing schools statewide and a growing shortage of skilled workers stemming from an out-migration in the working-age population that includes skilled public employees lured to other states by better pensions and pay.