Huggins' ‘heist' highlights flaw in process

January 1, 2006

Myrl Thompson\Valley Voices

My father always said there are people in the world who would steal the foot off a cross. However, he never warned me that anyone would dare take a whole cemetery.

That seems to be the case with the Veterans' Cemetery bill from the last legislative session in Juneau. Had I not been present for the apparent heist, I would have not believed it could happen. Following is what transpired during the last month of the session at the Capitol.

The Veterans' Cemetery bill, sponsored by David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks, first came to light when it was read in the House on March 7 and referred to three committees. Later that month, Nancy Dahlstrom, R-Eagle River, was added as a co-sponsor.

By April 11, the bill had already passed out of State Affairs and Military and Veterans' Affairs and was on its way to the final committee, Finance. Along the way, the bill picked up three more Republican co-sponsors, Reps. Bob Lynn, of Anchorage, and Mike Kelly and Jay Ramras, both of Fairbanks. The bill would set up and fund a future veterans cemetery for the Fairbanks area, much like the ones at Fort Richardson and Sitka.

More than a week later, on April 19, an identical veterans bill, SB 182, first appeared and was read on the Senate floor. This bill, however, was sponsored by Charlie Huggins, R-Mat-Su, and read word for word like the Guttenberg bill.

At first I thought Huggins was doing a companion to the Guttenberg bill, or co-sponsoring it, and joining the bipartisan effort of the Fairbanks House members. I soon learned that was not the case at all. In fact, Huggins was seemingly hijacking the bill and making it his own.

In college, that was called plagiarism. From a Penn State University Web site, it is plagiarism when: the person did not do any original research or writing, or the work is created by another author, yet the submitter has put his own name on it.

On April 26, in a meeting of the Senate State Affairs Committee, I listened to Sen. Huggins try to explain his actions. The reasons seemed very disingenuous at best.

Huggins said, &#8220I've never seen the House bill; I don't think I've seen the House bill.” Huggins went on to say, &#8220 I know there's a representative from Fairbanks … was it, Dave Guttenberg, is it? Who I think has a bill, but I'm not sure if it's the same, different or whatever the case may be.”

Huggins also said that he had been working on the issue for two years. That is pretty amazing, since he had only been in the Senate for less than a year. Huggins was Murkowski's appointed replacement for Scott Ogan, after he resigned rather than face a recall vote.

Another remarkable feat was that the body of Huggins' bill was exactly the same as the Guttenberg bill, and I do mean verbatim. Sen. Huggins' version of the way things played out would be akin to Jefferson Davis working for years and years on the Gettysburg Address only to find out that Lincoln had beaten him to the punch.

I can see ol' Jeff Davis saying, &#8220I know there's a president from Washington … was it, Abe Lincoln, is it? Who I think has an address, but I'm not sure if it's the same, different or whatever the case may be.”

Now Huggins did say, &#8220You can take my name off of it, I don't care.” I personally don't think that has to happen. I believe that Guttenberg said that he would not mind if Charlie was a co-sponsor on his bill. Other Republicans were already on the Guttenberg bill. A spirit of bipartisanship is only the right thing for such a bill.

It's a wonderful bill, and our veterans deserve it. They deserve all of our support, no matter which party or non-party any of us happen to be. The brave souls who serve our country are not just Republicans, they are from all political parties and all walks of life.

I'll leave everyone with three pieces of sage advice. The first one is by a 19th-century Unitarian minister, James Freeman Clarke, &#8220A politician thinks of the next election, but a statesman thinks of the next generation.” The second is an old maxim my father often used; &#8220Give credit where credit is due.” The third, and probably most important, was by a man named Aristotle; &#8220Office will show the man.”

Wasilla resident Myrl Thompson is a citizen lobbyist who was an independent candidate for the state House in 2004.