Personal political advantage not a good reason to return a legislator to office

To the editor:

From the lofty cockpit of a C-130 Hercules, it is easy to see Alaska’s got big budget problems due to the price of oil. While some state legislators have stepped up to deal with these problems in the best interests of their constituents, I am sad to say others are trying to leverage the crisis for personal political advantage.

Like every legislator I’ve talked to (and I know them all), I have little respect for the statesmanship skills of my district’s current representative, Jim Colver. I find his legislative performance weak and at odds with what I believe is best for District 9 and Alaska as a whole.

A major objective for the Democratic Party this year is using the bipartisan “Musk Ox Caucus” to flip the House from Republican to Democratic control. Colver and the Musk Ox’ers have cloaked their motives in PFD righteousness while blocking any chance to cut the state budget by trimming social welfare programs. They have leveraged their votes to effectively block use of the Earnings Reserve Fund, forcing the Legislature to draw down the diminishing Constitutional Budget Reserve to balance a budget. Of course they portray this dysfunction as the Majority’s fault, and wrap themselves in the flag of bipartisanship. This is irresponsible fiscal management for the sake of political gain.

Colver has worked in the service of the unions against bills drafted by responsible Republican legislators trying to make responsible budget cuts. Among others, Colver either voted against or killed Senator John Coghill’s criminal justice reform (SB91) and Rep Tilton’s teacher workforce reduction bill (HB298) because various unions were against them. Funny, his campaign signs say “Your Representative”; perhaps they should say “Your Union Representative”. As long as unions’ political action committees keep writing him checks – and they’ve contributed nearly $50,000 so far – what the union wants, the union gets, thanks to Jim Colver. Alaska and District 9 can just wait their turn.

While he’s great at working against his fellow Majority members, Colver’s record for passing his own bills is extremely weak, passing just one of eight. He couldn’t even get a bridge naming bill through the process. This indicates the low regard most legislators have for him. You can’t tell your fellow representatives one thing, then do just the opposite very many times before they simply will not trust you. Trust is what gets legislation passed and Jim Colver does not have the trust of other legislators.

As an effective lawmaker you have to participate. That means showing up for work when the full House is in session. Colver has the fifth worst attendance record behind two fellows with significant health concerns and two Democrats. The House leadership routinely had to pause floor business and round up Representative Colver to show up and vote. He co-chairs the Energy Committee which met only 56% of its allotted times and sponsored exactly one bill (HB187) which it couldn’t even pass out of committee after a year. Not exactly stellar performance. Like you, I’ve seen the pictures and I don’t know if he was partying in Nome on 11 March 2016 but he sure wasn’t in the House Floor Session that day doing the people’s business.

A statesman should say what he means, mean what he says, and say the same thing to everyone. You can’t wave one hand in the air while doing something sly with the other and expect to earn the trust of your colleagues or your constituents. It’s the old “bait and switch.” Colver has lost the respect and trust of his colleagues, and as a result, our district has lost influence and consideration with Juneau at a time we need it most. We should definitely not return Jim Colver to office.

—Eric Feige