Recall effort, Ogan's letter raise interesting questions

Frontiersman editorial board

After escaping a close call that could have derailed their efforts, a group of Valley residents who are seeking the recall of Sen. Scott Ogan have now filed what they believe will be an adequate number of signatures to move the recall effort forward. They had initially intended to file the signatures last week, but the Alaska Division of Elections changed the number of signatures required at the last minute.

An article detailing the recall effort appears on the front page of this publication. On this page is a letter from Ogan. They make for an interesting exercise in comparison.

The recall group cites as their reasons, "persistent and irreconcilable conflict, a failure in ethical judgment that shows lack of fitness to serve in public office, incompetence and neglect of duty." The major bone of contention is the conflict of interest that arose when Ogan collected a paycheck as an Evergreen employee while at the same serving as a lawmaker in the Alaska Senate.

For a long time, Ogan alternately claimed that there was no conflict or that, even if there were, it was a healthy element of our citizen legislature. In Ogan's letter he writes, "I now understand my friends' and constituents' perception that I was not representing them, and in retrospect, it was poor judgment." He later quotes a friend, who was loosely quoting Matthew 6:24, saying, "you can't serve two masters."

In the letter, Ogan also cites his "motives" as justification for serving Evergreen while trying to serve his constituents, as well. It's as though Ogan wants to apologize for what he characterized as bad judgment, but he can't quite get there. He believes so strongly in the promise of resource development that he wants the end to justify the means, and he wants us all to agree. He writes that a leader must turn around every once in a while to make sure his core supporters are still following. It's a statement that reflects the arrogance in our elected officials that has so many Alaskans frustrated lately.

It is true that an elected official must exhibit leadership qualities in the effort to do the people's work, but he must never lose sight of the fact that his most important role is that of public servant. It's not Ogan's core supporters he should be looking out for. The true measure of a strong public servant is that he can put the wishes and welfare of all constituents before his own, and that he can find solutions that not only lead to progress, but that follow an ethical path to get there. Ogan wrote, "If all I knew about me were what some people were saying about me, I would hate me, too!" In fact, nobody has said they hate Scott Ogan. They've simply said he lost his ethical bearings. He will never regain the full support of his constituents until he can separate Scott Ogan the man from Scott Ogan the legislator. That's the message he should take from the recall effort.