Stevens, Ramras prove special interests come first

May 2, 2006

Juneau Report/Myrl Thompson

Editor's note: The observations and opinions below are excerpted from the weekly Juneau Report compiled by Valley resident Myrl Thompson, who is spending the legislative session in Juneau as a citizen lobbyist.

&#8220For a politician to complain about the press is like a ship's captain complaining about the sea.”

- John Powell

This week, I would like to introduce you to some common-sense bills that just couldn't get any traction with the current Republican-led Legislature. The problem was lack of will and desire among the leadership to address badly needed changes. The bills presented below are from both sides of the aisle.

Bills/Issues

House Bill 461 - Legislative disclosures

&#8220An Act relating to disclosure to the Alaska Public Offices Commission of information about certain income received as compensation for personal services.”

This bill, by Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage, would have allowed for more substantive disclosures from legislators that receive compensation for personal services of $5,000 or more.

From the sponsor statement, &#8220HB 461 simply adds language to the existing statute to require the filer to provide a substantive description of what was done for the contract, as well as the approximate number of hours spent.”

I realize this bill would cause some legislators quite a bit of heartache. Ben Stevens would probably have a great deal of explaining to do, not that he doesn't already.

Stevens is just one of many here in the Capitol who would rather keep the public in the dark about their financial connections to industry and special interests. His continual financial and ethical predicaments are indicative of a larger crisis within the Republican Party leadership itself. It's quite obvious to anyone paying attention that there is a problem down here, just not the will to fix it.

Kudos to Gardner for trying, but I'm afraid it's going to take a voter rebellion to adequately fix the problems that exist with legislative disclosure here in Juneau. This dilemma is also not helped by the lack of real ethics legislation, which proved to be too much of a burden for this Legislature to bear.

House Bill 328 -

Ban mixing zones

This common-sense bill by Paul Seaton, R-Homer, has been collecting dust in House Resources. The testimony for his bill was overwhelmingly in favor of a ban on Murkowski's pro-pollution changes made to existing state law back in January.

The mining industry managed to convince the right legislators to effectively stop this good bill in committee. Without a hearing, the dumping of wastes and toxins into our fish-bearing lakes and streams can continue.

The cork in the bottle, so to speak, is co-chair of Resources Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, who refuses to hear or move the bill. He worries that his mining industry friends would be hurt, but apparently doesn't mind if the remainder of Alaskans are.

Ramras has no problem ignoring the testimony of the many for the few. I saw that happen in another committee where more than 70 Alaskans testified against a bill that Jay wanted, and only one for it. Jay wouldn't budge then, so I don't expect him to budge here, either.

Seaton's ban bill has about the same lopsided support. But Ramras knows best, and Alaskans lose again.

House Bill 418 -

Mining production

and license/royalties

This bill, also by Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, would replace the existing mining tax structure, which gives very little of the people's resource value back to the state and municipalities.

According to the sponsor statement and committee documents, &#8220State revenue generally amounts to about seven-tenths of 1 percent of the mined resource value, while an additional 1 percent is paid to municipalities.”

The mining industry managed to get this bill stopped in its tracks, also. Although they pay us next to nothing for our own resources, industry feels they pay us enough.

So what if the Alaska Constitution says differently. Article 8, section 2 says, &#8220The Legislature shall provide for the utilization, development and conservation of all natural resources belonging to the state, including land and waters, for the maximum benefit of it's people.”

Let's see, 1.7 percent of the mineral worth goes to the state, and industry gets to dump toxins and wastes into our waters. Is that maximum benefit to our people? Maybe it's just me, but I see a huge disconnect here that probably can't be fixed until election time.

Legislative Olympics: Worst of the worst

Explanation and Judging: The judges identities are kept as secret as the governor's gas contract negotiations. Scoring is done behind closed doors so as to not embarrass political athletes who do not medal. All decisions are the law and, thus, are final and beyond appeal. Judges rule by self-given right and their funds and staff cannot be cut. Judges do not have to answer to ethics violations, and even if they did, you wouldn't know, because it would be illegal to talk about it or to go to the press.

Worst Bills Overall

Gold- Sen. Ralph Seekins (Nobody does worst, better - 100 percent rating)

Silver- Rep. Norm Rokeberg (Norm hangs tough - 99 percent rating)

Bronze- Rep. Jay Ramras (Future potential star - 97 percent rating)

Party-line Vote Acrobatics

Gold- Sen. Charlie Huggins (Perfect score)

Silver- Sen. Ben Stevens (Close, but no cigar)

Bronze- Rep. John Harris (Came up short)

Governor's Award

(Faithful follower)

Gold- Sen. Bert Stedman (Can't beat Bert)

Silver- Sen. Charlie Huggins (Appointment payback)

Bronze- Sen. Ralph Seekins (Would be Frank, if Frank weren't Frank)

Myrl Thompson is a former independent candidate for state House in District 15 and a regular contributor to these pages. His Valley Voices guest opinion column appears every four weeks. Excerpts from his Juneau Report appear as space and relevance allow.