Even our legislators can't get around the lobbyists who woo them

Frontiersman editorial board

On Saturday, Rep. Vic Kohring and Rep. Carl Gatto held a town meeting at Mat-Su College to discuss the current funding crisis facing Alaska's schools. Kohring offered a six-point plan for discussion, and Gatto discussed his idea for instituting a head tax on cruise line passengers.

Some people agreed with at least some of the ideas presented, and some did not. The most important message was the one between the lines, however. While Kohring said he thought some of his ideas would garner support in Juneau, he was doubtful about others. Gatto was even less optimistic.

Gatto virtually assured the crowd that his head tax plan was doomed to die in committee. He wasn't pulling punches about why that was likely to happen, either. No head tax would be levied on cruise line tourists, Gatto said, because the cruise line industry had some of the highest paid lobbyists in Juneau. In fact, two of the cruise lines are contributors to Rep. Cheryll Heinze, R-Anchorage, and Heinze chairs the House Special Committee on Economic Development, Trade and Tourism, where the bill now sits.

We have heard many views from Juneau about lobbyists, campaign contributions and conflicts of interest. One of our own senators assured the Frontiersman that conflicts of interest are actually healthy in a citizen legislature. He proclaimed that Alaska's new real estate regulations were drafted by a legislator who also happened to be one of the state's biggest realtors. Why shouldn't the experts write the law, he asked. Who better?

Haven't we tolerated that kind of government long enough? Now that the economy is not flush, and now that we're looking under couch cushions for education money, maybe it's time we demanded something better.

Alaska's voters select their legislators, but who are those law makers working for? It's beyond ironic that our legislators chant the mantra of protection from big government, while at the same time walking arm-in-arm with lobbyists through the halls of the capitol. If a government, even a small, remote one, is consulting with large Outside interests before penning legislation, how can the people's will be adequately served? How can the people's rights be adequately protected?

Voters cannot decide whether or not our legislators will be influenced by money and favors. Voters can decide, at every election, who those legislators will be. Eventually we'll get the right ones.