Leaders follow different set of rules

To the editor,

When I read Rep. Wilson's proposed plan for the university system, I was amazed by her hypocrisy. On 10-3-15, the ADN printed an article by Dermot Cole, “Rep. Wilson pushed state grant that benefited former aide”. According to the article, Rep. Tammie Wilson had long opposed the way the (Fairbanks North Star) borough operated programs to fight air pollution, so much that she inserted $1.3 million into the state budget in 2011-2012 to run a competing anti-pollution venture apart from the borough. Apparently the experimental devices did not work as planned and it was not clear how much of the money was spent by the private company hired to manage the project. That company was owned by a former campaign aide and member of Wilson's staff who was working for her at the time the first grant won state approval. About $1 million flowed through his company over two years, according to IRS reports. Like countless other projects inserted into the capital budget over the last 35 years, Wilson’s grants received no critical review by other legislators or the executive branch. The way to maximize accountability over the $1.3 million Wilson put in the budget would have been to direct it to the borough, where there are established rules, a review process and elected officials who can be held accountable. But Wilson earmarked it for a brand-new nonprofit entity called the Alaska Resource Agency that didn't have the same restrictions. There was next to no oversight of the grant money and no clear final report demonstrating what the state received for its investment. To manage Wilson's project, the Alaska Resource Agency, headed by former state House candidate Ward Settler, contracted with North Star Development, a Missouri company owned by former Wilson campaign aide and staff member Rick VanderKolk.

There’s more to the article but you get the point. Here is another example of there being a set of “rules” for our leaders and their cronies and another set for the people they are supposed to represent.

Della Dempsey

Wasilla