Knik River bill prioritizes special interests over fairness

April 18, 2006

JUNEAU REPORT/Myrl Thompson

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

&#8220Whoever tells the truth is chased out of nine villages.”

- Turkish Proverb

House Bill 307,

Knik River Public Use Area

This bill and its companion bill, by Rep. Bill Stoltze and Sen. Charlie Huggins, were meant to address the concerns of local residents and various user groups of the Knik River watershed. The sponsors hail it as a great compromise and solution to a longstanding problem.

The reality, however, may not be so easily explained away. I watched the controversial bill make it's way through the process, from the Valley and in Juneau.

First let me say that I'm an Alaska-born, Carhartt-wearing, hunting and fishing, snowmachine- and ATV-riding Valley resident. I believe that respecting your neighbors and the environment is a no-brainer. I also realize that not everyone feels the same as I do.

The proof is in the pudding in the Knik River Public Use area. I can spare you the grizzly details of decades of abuse. Everyone agrees that there is a huge problem there.

The answer should have come out of the long process that HB 307 set out to address. However, like what happens too many times here in Juneau, special interest groups trumped sound public policy.

If ever a fair compromise was needed, this was the time and the place. What actually happened was a skewed process that favored one side of the debate over the other.

I listened to both sides with equal interest. This is another example of reason and common sense losing out to emotion and power politics. When we needed statesmen to address a fix, we got typical politicians and more of the same old pandering to their base supporters.

What happened was an opportunity lost. An opportunity to bring together different user groups and people to share our common bounty has basically failed.

My own selfish interests may have won out, but I was hoping for more. I was willing to bend on this one. Too bad our representatives were not. Partisan politics has beaten out common sense once again.

House Special Committee on Education

Through the first 99 days of the session, Rep. Mark Neuman, who chairs this committee, has still only moved three bills out of his committee and has heard a total of just six. His committee is scheduled to meet today for the first time in weeks. He does have one bill on the table to be heard this week - HB 228, Pupil-Teacher Ratio for grades K-3.

With the session now 80 percent over and the typical end-of-session crunch approaching, don't expect many education bills to see the light of day. This committee is usually where education bills are first heard before they move to other committees. Other committees are extremely busy now, and it is not going to be easy to get bills scheduled down the pike, provided they even get moved out of Neuman's committee.

The Special Committee on Education might just be where education bills go to die. If that is the case, then this committee is a phenomenal success.

Senate Bill 170, Fish and Game (another Seekins masterpiece)

The title - eleven lines for free, the additional cost of a hunting license - $35, the absurdness of the bill - priceless! Just as April showers bring May flowers, the last few weeks of the legislative session are bound to sprout numerous Seekins flora.

This springtime special seedling obviously grew out of a dustbin. Rarely can one see so many bad ideas in one bill, unless you actually read Seekins' other bills.

This bill, among other things, would continually raise the price of hunting licenses until they more than double. The bill would make the Department of Fish and Game get approval from the Board of Game before making policy changes.

Transferring money between projects would have to have legislative approval if the amount is in excess of $20,000. Extra money earned would go toward more aggressive predator control, especially the killing of bears.

The bill would also allow same-day aerial hunting of bears in some areas. In other words, you could fly around until you spot a bear, land and shoot it. Not only that, but you could also shoot a bear for someone else, provided they have a license.

Seekins was born a century or so too late. I could see him riding the plains shooting hundreds of buffalo a day until they were nearly extinct.

There is a difference between a hunter and a killer. This bill blurs that difference.

Maybe being raised by a sportsman with hunting ethics has warped my view. I was taught how to hunt, shoot and respect the land and its wildlife. I wonder if that type of hunting is a dying art.

Our native Alaskans have been doing it for hundreds of generations. Nature can take care of itself quite well, if man doesn't screw it up.

This bill is another bad idea by Ralph Seekins. It is akin to what comes out of the south end of a northbound chicken.

Valley resident Myrl Thompson is a citizen lobbyist and former independent candidate for state House in District 15. His Valley Voices guest opinion column appears here every fourth Sunday. His Juneau Reports appear as space and relevance allow.