Issue of legislator absences not so easy to explain away

April 11, 2006

JUNEAU REPORT/Myrl Thompson

Editor's note: These are excerpts from Valley resident Myrl Thompson's weekly Juneau Report, a collection of observations and opinions about goings-on at the Capitol.

Bills/Issues

Rep. Kohring's absences demystified

In a recent letter to the editor, Rep. Vic Kohring claims that he only has been absent 14 days from Juneau this session. Vic also wonders how I could possibly know differently without paying agents to follow him and others around.

It's a quite simple explanation actually. Kohring refers to an excused absence list, and with a fair amount of time spent digging through it, one could come up with a number for excused absences. I use that list for my base amount. No big secret there.

However, not all absences are excused or reported. Kohring knows this, but has neglected to mention it. On weekends and sometimes during the week, legislators can and do leave without notice. There is no requirement that they ask for an excused absence.

Some legislators do it anyway, some don't. You would think someone as big as Vic would be easy to track. I'm here to tell you he's not. …

His staff is excellent at covering for him. I have actually asked them if he is around the Capitol, when I know for a fact he is not, and still I can't get a straight answer. …

So yes, I use a variety of means to keep up with the absences, including &#8220agents.” I also try to verify or corroborate my numbers by more than one means. So Vic might be partially correct about my math - my count of 25 could be a bit low. I've suspected he has been gone a time or two more, but I didn't mark it down, because I couldn't prove it. …

House Bill 328 - Mixing-zone ban

This bill, by Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, finally made it up for a hearing in the House Resources Committee. Just like in the House Fisheries Committee, almost every single person testified in favor of this bill. It's a common-sense approach to protecting our fish-bearing lakes and streams from industry produced toxins and wastes.

The mining industry and the Division of Natural Resources are the only folks against this good bill, which would prevent some of the dumping, but not all. Unfortunately the bill is not strong enough.

The coal-bed methane industry has been silent, but without the ban they would be able to dump huge amounts of extracted water from drilling operations into water bodies. This practice has caused many problems in the Rocky Mountain west. Even the dumping of processed water from CBM has caused big reductions in trout populations there, in the few streams where baseline data was kept.

I testified to this practice and the associated problems. No one on the committee bothered to ask about it, either. Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, the committee co-chair, did ask for one testifier to possibly come back for more questions - the one mining industry representative. There is a chance this bill could make it out of committee, but expect it to be watered down some more.

House Bill 438 - Initiative, referendum and recall bill

This bill, By Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, is slowly being hacked away, as it should be. Seventy straight Alaskans have testified or submitted testimony against this legislative Edsel. Ramras still won't let go, however.

I testified again against two specific sections concerning recalls. Finally, those sections will have to go for review before the Department of Law, but it took some doing to get what should have been done in the first place.

… The lieutenant governor's office, which oversees the Division of Elections, still pretends it didn't have anything to do with this bill. OK, we believe you. Wink, wink.

Letters of disclosure

New disclosure listings filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission (www.state.ak.us/apoc) show a &#8220gift of travel and hospitality primarily for matters of legislative concern” to Sen. Charlie Huggins from the Legislative Agricultural Chairs Summit. The approximate value is listed as $1,000, which covered airfare, lodging meals for a Jan. 19-22 trip.

Floor Votes

The list below shows members of the Valley legislative delegation and their voting record this session. The first number represents the number of bills voted on the legislative body. The second number shows the total of non-party-line votes, and the third number shows how many votes that legislator missed.

Rep. Carl Gatto, 43 House votes, 3 non-party-line votes, 5 votes missed; Rep. John Harris, 43-0-1; Rep. Vic Kohring, 43-2-7; Rep. Mark Neuman, 43-3-4; Rep. Bill Stoltze, 43-3-0; Sen. Lyda Green, 45-1-0; Sen. Charlie Huggins, 45-0-0.

Talking with Charlie

OK, sometimes I just can't help myself in my little chats with Sen. Huggins. He does well as long as I don't openly disagree with him. Last week he asked me about my stance on the governors proposed oil tax. I quoted the Alaska constitution, &#8220available for maximum use consistent with the public interest”, and &#8220for the maximum benefit of its people” I mentioned not just oil and gas but included the extraction industries. Huggins replied, &#8220All this talk about the people's this or the people's that makes you sound like a socialist.” I suggested that he read the Alaska Constitution.

Myrl Thompson is a citizen lobbyist and former District 15 independent candidate for state House. His Valley Voices guest opinion column appears in the Sunday edition every four weeks. Excerpts from his Juneau Report appear as space and relevance allow.