Good, bad mark close of Legislature

Frontniersman editorial

May 18, 2007

The first session of the 25th Legislature came to a close late Wednesday night. Some typical last-minute wrangling tied up loose ends on several big ticket items, including education funding and revenue sharing.

There was plenty of good and bad throughout the

session. And some good and bad, too, in the session's final days.

Big money, of the sort doled out in the form of campaign contributions by deep-pocketed special interest groups, was front and center in both the good and bad.

In a session that likely will be remembered most for the arrest of two former and one present lawmaker on charges involving the selling of votes, it is troubling to note that a widely supported bill was not allowed by House leadership to move out of a committee in the final days of the session. Its death is a big and potentially expensive loss to the people of Alaska and another victory for the oil industry, which lobbied heavily against it.

Senate Bill 80 sought to prevent oil giant BP from writing off a chunk of the cost of repairing pipeline damaged by its own neglect. When it was introduced in January, nearly everyone in the Senate signed on as a co-sponsor. A companion bill in the House enjoyed the same kind of widespread, bipartisan support.

But somewhere between introduction and passage into law, the bill was derailed. The oil industry's army of lobbyists went to work on legislators, no doubt reminding them of the industry's generosity on the campaign trail.

The bill's original sponsor, Sen. Tom Wagoner, R-Kenai, said failure to pass the bill could end up costing Alaskans $100 million or more.

Considering that neither the longevity bonus nor the senior care program were retained in the final version of the budget, and lawmakers haggled to the end over whether revenue sharing - at less than $50 million - could be afforded, the final cost to Alaskans over the unwillingness of lawmakers to pass SB 80 into law may be this legislature's ultimate legacy - and shame.

On the upside, the final days of the session saw the bipartisan introduction of a Clean Elections bill.

The Clean Elections movement is gaining momentum. Already on the books in seven states and being considered in several others, Clean Elections laws are designed to give voters, not big campaign donors, a greater voice in government decisions.

The Alaska Clean Elections Act would, according to its sponsors, Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, and Gabriel LeDoux, R-Kodiak, &#8220reduce the influence of special interests by giving candidates the option of using public money to finance their campaigns if they agree to forgo private fundraising.”

Given the still unfolding scandal in state government, this is a bill that's time has come. We are encouraged at its introduction and hope it is taken seriously when the Legislature reconvenes in January.