The Alaska flag, flying proudly aside our national symbol, held its own during the gale and lost not a strand of cloth.

We’ve weathered worse storms.

The world has changed since the Stroller last put pen to paper.

One of us died.

Tim Kelly, legendary Senate Rules Committee Chairman and former President of the Alaska Senate passed in his sleep on August 17, two days after reaching the tender age of 65.

He was one of us, a Stroller, and an intricate participant in this column.  His insights will, I’m sure you’ll notice, be sorely missed.  Our politics conflicted but he was, at the end of the day, my best friend.

One of the most conservative political voices in Alaskan politics, Senator Kelly, behind the scenes,  was the most effective champion of women’s and gay rights in the history of our state. He defended friends when no one else stood up for them.  The Stroller believes that Tim, like former Senate President Clem Tillion, used his public conservatism as cover to help the disenfranchised and downtrodden.

He was a kind and decent man and his insights and temperate guidance of our state’s political future will be sorely missed, and everyone who has anything to do with this government knows it.  He was the craft master of the possible and was always, at the end of the day, able to bring opponents together and find common ground.  A rare person.

He lived his life well and the Stroller misses him more than words can express.

He despised Pretend Governor Sarah.  Mostly her arrogant disregard and disrespect for the institutions that make us the guiding light for people worldwide.

Tim was outraged that Pretend Governor Sarah had absolutely no interest in governing, learning about how to govern, how to implement her ‘visions’ or fulfill the promises she made to those she seductively conned into voting for her.

In a world where politicians are regularly vilified, he believed she cheapened all of us.

There is not enough elixir from Scotland, or lemons, to dull the pain of Tim’s passing or Pretend Governor Sarah’s ascension to national prominence.  We will all have to suffer the consequences.

Stroller

The island’s hill and mountain ridges, chiseled against a brilliant blue sky by a recent confectioner sugar snow fall on our third growth trees, create a scene reminiscent of a Rie Munoz print.

Bald eagles sail updrafts.

The mirrored waters of the Gastineau Channel host a pod of Orca whales grazing on it’s bounty, providing a spectacular ’sounding’ show for those of us lucky enough to live here.

Gazing up the island’s Kowee Creek Valley and the old Dan Moller ski trail, origins of  Juneau’s world class skiing opportunities,  the Stroller is once again struck by the incredible beauty and promise of this land.

There is  just less than a month left in the 26th Alaska Legislature’s first session and the statutorily mandated 90 day clock is ticking.

To the Stroller and Sages it seems that three years ago a growing cynicism in the Alaskan electorate,  frustrated and embarrassed with the drift and tone of our state and country’s governments, caused them to vent their frustrations on their legislature.  They voted, by a very narrow margin, to place a time limit on the only real voice we have to comment on and/or restrict the excesses of our government.

Barely 51%  voted to limit the time the legislature meets to do the peoples business.

The Stroller and all the Sages passionately believe we made a mistake.

After a long and reasoned discussion over a few drams of a highly prised nectar from Scotland, the Stroller and assembled Sages concluded this legislature, if it can find the time, needs to rectify that mistake and, at the very least, return to the 121 day session limit.

We should probably repeal that limitation too.

We, ‘the people’, have muffled our own voice.

We’ve forgotten the legislature is us.

Carving a viable, responsible 21st century state out of a vast wilderness, pressured by all the parochial, national and international interests inherent with such an endeavor, realistically can’t be done by a citizen legislature meeting only 90 days a year and any thoughtful person knows it.

By employing a 90 day session rule, we’ve abrogated much of our voice and our power to the special interest folks we’re angry with.

The responsibilities of governing are different than running a hotel, saloon or restaurant.

The concept of a legislature is to be a deliberative body.  Deliberation should not be constrained by arbitrary time limits. Contemplation of the definition of our path forward will take time, thought and reflection.

Our state, unlike most others, is still in the formative stage.  We are defining who we are and wrestling to find a way for 650,000 people to generate enough revenue to provide the basic services our citizens expect from their government.

We’re dealing with some of the most powerful influences in the world; big oil, international mining, international and domestic financing and a transitional world economy.

Fifty years ago, our constitutional framers designed an executive branch that is by far the strongest of any state in the union.  We created a position with the powers, responsibility and expectation of leadership.

More often-than-not other state executive structures resemble an executive committee.  Officers elected to critical posts within their governments are often of the opposite party of the Governor.  There is a saying in Texas that their Governor is the governor of everything that isn’t important.

If only we’d known.

Not ours.

Alaska elects two officials, a Governor and a Lt. Governor, both from the same party.  The governor hires and fires all department heads, with the exception of some minor restraints relating to the Commissioners of Fish and Game and the Department of Education.

The Attorney General is appointed by the Governor but with the limitation  they also serve under the burden of their duty to the law and the Court, a subtlety the most recent AG seemed to miss.

The 55 State Constitutional Convention delegates who gathered in Fairbanks in 1955 did a second miraculous thing, they created a Judicial Branch to the envy of the overwhelming majority of states across our country.

They insisted the Governor select judges from a limited list of nominees, pro-offered by the Alaska Judicial Council, and not necessarily in lock step with the Governor’s political agenda.

They tried, and mostly succeeded, to take the politics out of judicial appointments.

The constitutional framers created a strong, streamlined executive branch and judiciary but they struggled to design a legislature to match those two unique constructions.

They decided to give our legislature an indefinite end.  Members could hold their leaders feet to the fire, they had time to settle internal disputes,  get over perceived personal slights and try for another ending.

Those extended sessions were not a happy time for lobbyists, they usually cleared the building, wary they might get their head snapped off by a weary legislator wanting to go home.

Legislation couldn’t be killed by the time clock, the rank and file, the jury legislators, had a say in closure.  Leadership discipline faded or, at the very least, had to walk softly among their members.

The Legislature had time to do what it needed to do. ‘ Little’  issues weren’t crowded into oblivion by an artificial time-clock.

Now the ‘little bills’ are stacking up in both Finance Committees.  It’s not an ‘on purpose’ political strategy.   Most bills pick up a fiscal note and must be cleared by the Finance Committees.   Those committee’s work loads on major issues, the most critical issues, mandate they now operate like a MASH unit.

Staff preforms legislative triage and prioritizes ‘little’ bills.

A semi-controlled chaos rules.  Key legislators and abundant staff work 14 hour days seven days a week.

The House and Senate Finance committees are frantically trying to simultaneously craft responsible legislation addressing the state’s operating, capitol and supplemental budgets in the face of declining revenues.

Additionally, they are trying to best advantage the opportunities in the President’s stimulus package,  review  AGIA, encourage an in state gas pipeline, find common ground for consolidation of rail belt utilities, address the economic and social disaster that is Western Alaska, reform health care, help  neighbors suddenly in need, patch our broken educational system, and do it all under the spectre of a seemingly fickle, but constitutionally powerful, Governor Sarah.

Governor Palin’s priorities and motives on critical issues have become suspect even to her most ardent legislative supporters.

She is savvy to the powers bestowed on the office and is using them to her best advantage.

Like one of the the Sages said, “wouldn’t you be tempted?”

And that’s a big part of the problem.

Since her ascension to the national political stage, and her obvious determination to become a viable candidate for POTUS, legislative leaders just don’t trust her any more.

And since her Vice Presidential bid she doesn’t trust them or anyone outside of her ever changing inner circle.

Alaska’s been lucky.  Until now our Governors, including Hickel and Hammond, who both flirted with national aspirations,  have resisted putting their personal ambitions above Alaska’s.

The Stroller and Sages speculate that in about three weeks, as this first session of the 26th Alaska Legislature draws to an abrupt conclusion, it’s success will come down to the trust between Speaker Chenault and Governor Sarah.

Can you trust the hand shake?

Contemplation.  Reflection.  Measured response.

A dram of a finely crafted nectar from Scotland, a creation that takes knowledge, time, thought, dedication and respect for the traditions, expectations and aspirations of  the next generation, the ones who will consume it, might be instructive.

Or consumption increasingly appealing.

Remember, this all goes down a lot smoother if you just ‘put a squirt of lemon in it’.

Stroller

After almost three weeks of relentless crystal clear blue skies this day’s high grey clouds are a soothing return to normalcy. Too much of a good thing can dull one’s senses to the Channel’s breathtaking beauty and, besides, locals are hoping to save some our limited yearly allotment of sunshine for the warmer days of summer.

The Stroller claimed an empty chair at the cafe’s big round table, ordered a cup of the hotel’s perfectly brewed coffee and joined the assembled Sages conversation.

Main subject of the day: Who is Governor Sarah going to appoint to fill the state Senate seat vacated by Juneau’s veteran legislator Kim Elton?

Last Monday, after more than a month of rumors and speculation, Juneau’s State Senator resigned his position to accept a job with President Obama’s administration in Washington, D.C. . Kim will become the senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Interior on all things Alaskan.

That means Governor Sarah must, by April 1, appoint someone to replace Senator Elton.

Here’s the question: Will she pick someone who represents Juneau’s Senate District’s politics or hers?

Senate District B’s politics are probably the most liberal in the state, the San Francisco of Alaska, not the Governor’s crowd.

Unlike the Governor’s recent appointment of a Supreme Court Justice where the state constitution required her to appoint a person from a list of names submitted by the Alaska Judicial Council, when filling a vacated legislative seat, the Governor can appoint anyone she wants so long as they are a resident of the affected district and registered in the same party as the person who vacated the seat.

The person appointed must then be accepted by the members of that party’s caucus in the chamber vacated .   In other words the nine Democrats left in the State Senate have the final say as to who gets the appointment. They can accept or reject the Governor’s choice.

And there’s the rub.

The Stroller and Sages agree the Governor will probably ignore the name put forward by Juneau’s Democratic Party, Representative Beth Kerttula, and try to appoint someone who plays to her state and new national constituency, the Rush Limbaugh’s of the world.

Beth Kerttula has represented downtown Juneau, House District 3, for over a decade.  She is wildly popular among her constituents and is an accurate mirror of their politics.  She deserves the appointment and the District wants her to get it.  So do the Senate Democrats.

But Beth’s politics don’t play well with Governor Sarah’s constituency and besides, the Governor is angry with Beth for criticisms during the presidential campaign.

Beth is an unabashed liberal, an avid environmentalist and pro choice.

Those aren’t the Governor’s politics.  For that matter they really don’t reflect the politics of the rest of the state, but it is a voice that, like it or not, reflects the community’s politics and so deserves representation.

If the Governor has learned anything since her August ascension to national prominence, she has learned that now, everything she does and says, will be scrutinized by the national media.

If she appoints Beth to the vacant Senate seat, the national conservative pundits will eat her alive, and her presidential ambitions will fade into the ether.

The Sages believe the Governor will attempt to speak to her base audience  by appointing a Democrat who, at the very least, supports the Governor’s parental consent bill.

Abortion politics will quietly rule this appointment.

The Governor wants this fight on this issue.  Win or lose seating her choice, she wins with her base support crowd.

If the Governor appoints someone other than Beth, the Senate Democrats will stick with Beth, initially.  The Stroller and the Sages believe they will reject at least the first appointment and probably the second.  They will insist on Beth but the Sages believe the Governor won’t budge.

Then we get to see who blinks first.

It will probably be the Senate Democrats.

One scenario discussed goes like this:  After rejecting a name or two submitted by the Governor, a ‘compromise ‘ candidate will be worked out and for the good of Juneau, and to restore Juneau’s representation in the Senate, Beth will withdraw herself from consideration and the compromise name will be seated.  There might even be a handshake agreement that whoever is appointed won’t seek election, leaving an easier path to election to the Senate for Rep. Kerttula.

Regardless of how this plays out one thing is certain, this is politics at its most personal and there will be some bruised egos and hurt feelings, wounds that won’t heal for years to come.

Beth Kerttula is a class act.  A kind and decent person who deserves to be treated better than she is about to be.

The Governor is playing a different game on a different stage.

Stock up on lemons Beth.

Stroller

Willie just wrote a book, ‘Fifty Miles From Tomorrow’, his autobiography.  It’s a story that defines Alaska,  who we are, where we came from and what we need to think about while charging off into the future.

The Stroller and Sages won’t go into Willie’s story, the book does it better than anything we could say.  Suffice our take with this story:

Three decades ago, the Stroller stood on a street corner in Kotzebue and watched as a young native mother and her son, maybe 7 or 8 years old, approached.  Across the street Willie Hensley emerged from a store front.  The mother grabbed her son’s hand and pulled him up short.  She pointed across the street and said to her son: “You see that man over there?  That’s Willie Hensley.  If you work really hard, some day you can be just like him.”

Whoo-shee-esh is a Tlingit word (Southeast Alaskan native), phrase actually, that, in general terms, means sharing knowledge from one generation to another.

Read the book.

Thank you Willie.

Stroller

Alaska Airline’s flights, and the frequent flyer state lawmakers on them, found it difficult to land at our airport and many overheaded to Sitka, forced to enjoy large wedges of the legendary pies at the Sitka airport while waiting out the weather.

Slowly melting four foot snow berms again line the streets, trapping curbed automobiles and choking storm drains as temperatures rose.  Now, with clear skies and colder temperatures, sidewalks are treacherous at best.  One must be cautious when forced to venture from the safe confines of a humble abode.

The place has been a mess.

Last year the legislature should have, but didn’t, pass a law requiring anyone forced to overhead Juneau and land in Sitka, to return to the Capitol City with a Sitka airport pie or be refused debarkation.

Because they didn’t pass the law, many over headers still arrive empty handed, blueberry stains on their shirts, but empty handed.  There really ought to be a law.

Like the battering winter weather, storm clouds have been brewing in the 26th Alaska Legislature.

The Stroller and the Sages had gathered after work one evening at the Baranof Hotel’s ‘Bubble Room’ lounge for refreshments concocted by Tony, the veteran mixologist who, for  40 years, has accommodated the beverage requests of legislators, lobbyists and constituents.  Like the Triangle Club’s ‘Jewels of the North’, Tony is a model of discretion, much to the relief of many past and present patrons.

Here are some of the observations discussed, the crux of the problem.

First there is the continuing and growing problem of Governor Sarah’s seeming myopic vision of putting herself and her ever expanding family in some pretty fancy public housing on the shores of the Potomac.

The Sages and the Stroller get the sense Governor Sarah doesn’t see that as a problem.  If handled responsibly, it wouldn’t be.

Even Governor Hickel, with all his national and international ambitions, kept his eye on the ball of Alaska.  He put us first.

The Stroller and the Sages do not begrudge Governor Sarah her national political ambitions nor her potential book deal.  In fact we wish her the very best.  Go girl.  But when the pursuit of those opportunities and ambitions conflict with the best interests of the State of Alaska, “Houston, we have a problem”.

During the past few weeks the Governor has retained an attorney (the one hired by President Clinton) to negotiate a multi-million dollar book deal.

She has created SarahPAC, run by her newly hired image consultant, that allows her to raise money and campaign around the nation on behalf of herself and other politicians with similar political views and in so doing build her own national base of support.  To her credit, and probably at the advice of her new image consultant, the Governor has curtailed reported plans to accept invitations to speak to national conservative political groups.  At least during the current legislative session.

After delivering her “State of the State” speech to the Alaska Legislature she immediately left the state to attend an exclusive political dinner/roast in Washington, D.C. that just happened to be attended by the President of the United States of America, Barak Obama (she stood on line so she could finally meet him).

Her original budget, submitted in mid-December, was based on an oil price estimate designed more to support her proposed budget as being ‘fiscally responsible’ than reflect reality.  She has now revised her estimates to more accurately reflect most international expert’s predictions but they are still $10-15 above current prices and may result in at least a $1 billion deficit this year and as much as $3 billion next year.

There is some serious debate as to whether the PFD is in jeopardy.

To accommodate the new revenue projections, the Governor has proposed reductions to her original budget that, according to many finance experts advising the legislature, are fiscal illusions.  Example:  Not having to pay out tax credits to oil companies they had expected to pay but because of the national and world economic downturn, weren’t earned.  She also proposed ‘unallocated budget reductions in current program spending’.

In other words the Governor wants the legislature to cut her current and proposed budgets by her suggested amounts of money to fit the new revenue projections but wants the legislature to decided what programs are cut.  That’s her job, not theirs, but sometimes, when those that should, don’t, you have to.

Governor Sarah is setting the legislature up to take the blame for program cuts, not her.  That’s an insult to the legislature.  There is no indication in these proposed cuts of her priorities or her values.  No vision for how Alaska is to fend its way through the current and future economic crisis, no indication of a willingness to govern or actually lead.

Just an obvious desire to get elected to the next office.

The Sages believe her initial stimulus package request was at best, too narrow and self serving, reflecting her own political ambitions and not the needs of Alaska.  Did she want Nancy Pelosi to get all the money?

The Sages are beginning to feel our Governor Sarah is using us for a prop for her new act, ‘candidate for POTUS’.

There is a major disconnect going on, unlike anything Alaska has experienced since statehood.

So who’s going to step up and take the lead?  Obviously it is going to have to be the legislature.

The Stroller and the Sages don’t expect the Senate Bi-Partisian Coalition to step out and do anything radical.  Confined by the myrid political views of its membership,  just to hold themselves together as a cohesive group they cannot charge off too far in support of dramatic financial or social program changes.

In the House, Speaker Chenault and his leadership team may be in the best position to lead us through these challenging times.  Although managing the House is much like herding cats, the Speaker and his leadership team, especially those on the House Finance Committee, seem to be on the same page.

But time is short.  With just over two months left in the 90 day session, pressure is mounting early.  Already members are expressing frustration that they simply don’t have the time to adequately address all the issues before them, especially the huge financial decisions that will dictate our state’s ability to survive as a viable political entity.

There are a huge number of very important decisions to be made in the next 60 days.

Who’s going to be the leader and point the way?

Even though Monday is a national holiday the grocery stores are open.

Go buy lemons.

Stroller

Mayor Bruce’s stealth snow removal program had kicked in and experienced success.  During the past few days temperatures had risen and the snow laden skies rained, melting the four foot snow berms and icy sidewalks that challenged pedestrians.

Flickering lights framed the Channel’s still waters.  The nation’s and state’s flags atop the capitol building whipped in the occasional gust.

Below the flags, lights on the Capitol’s 5th floor blinked on.  Someone was already at work in Senate Finance.  On the House end of building, Finance Chairman Hawker’s silhouette crouched over his desk.  At the Baranof, the Capitol Cafe’s patronage increased with every bite of breakfast.

The lights in the Governor’s House, and Governor Sarah’s third floor capitol offices, were dark.

It was 7am on the day before the 26th Alaska Legislature gaveled into session.

As the dawning sky grew through multiple hues of crimson, and most federal, state and municipal workers celebrated Martin Luther King Day, Alaska’s legislative leaders were already toiling to craft the new state budget.

The Stroller joined the assembled Sages at the large round table in the Capitol Cafe, ordered a breakfast of reindeer sausage and eggs and joined in the spirited discussion about how this legislature and Governor Sarah would interface now that she has apparently come down with an incurable case of ‘Potomac Fever’.

The Sage’s prognosis wasn’t good.  The primary issue is this:

On December 15, Governor Sarah submitted her constitutionally mandated budget proposal to the legislature.  Characterizing it as “fiscally conservative” she called for general fund expenditures of about $5 billion.  Pretty much status quo to this year’s budget.  Oil revenues currently account for 89% of the state’s yearly revenue.  Governor Sarah’s budget is based on her Department of Revenue’s projection of a yearly average price for a barrel of oil of $74.41, a number necessary to support her expenditures.

Fantasy.

House Finance co-chair Rep, Mike Hawker, who’s portfolio includes crafting the state’s operating budget, immediately fired off a letter requesting Governor Sarah submit a budget based on more realistic revenue projections.  She declined and said it would be dealt with when the legislature convened.  In other words she told Rep. Hawker, and the legislature, you make the cuts and suffer the political consequences.

Here’s the rub: When Governor Sarah submitted her budget in December, the price of a barrel of oil had plunged from a summer high of $145 to hover around $35.  This week oil has recovered to a price in the low $40 range.  Internationally respected oil economists, the ones every major market or investment entity depend on, predict prices closer to $50.

Even at an average price of $50 a barrel Governor Palin’s proposed spending will result in a budget deficit of over $2 billion during the next fiscal year.  $2 BILLION.

At $40 a barrel we will be in a deficit of over $3 billion.  $3 BILLION.

The plunging price of oil has also resulted in a projected $1 billion short fall in this years budget that will have to be addressed in a supplemental budget appropriation at the beginning of this legislative session.

No matter how you spin it, that ain’t pocket change.

The Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR), our savings account, has about $8 billion.  At our current rate of spending the savings cupboard will be bare in 3 to 5 years.  Then what?

Rep. Hawker, a CPA, is intent on crafting what he believes to be a realistic, sustainable budget that maintains essential state services while living within the realities of rapidly declining revenues.

His counterpart in the Senate, Sen. Lyman Hoffman, has stated he believes oil prices will recover and sees no immediate need to slash the budget.

Governor Sarah seems to be willing to stand back and let the two chairmen duke it out.  When the dust settles, she’ll take credit for being fiscally responsible and still be able to point the finger of blame at the legislature for the pain of any program cuts.

The Sages believe Governor Sarah has no intention of involving herself in the budget battle.  The last Governor who tried to herd the cats to severe budget cuts in the face of collapsed oil prices was Bill Sheffield.  He didn’t survive the next election.  Governor Sarah won’t risk her popularity, the success of ‘The Book‘ and Presidential ambitions on this fight.

Rep. Hawker is attempting to perform a political high wire act with no net.  He’s probably the right guy in the right spot at the right time and he is determined to pass a budget he believes to be responsible.  But remember, the British Parliament and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain didn’t listen to Churchill when he warned the world about the growing threat of Hitler.

Will Governor Sarah and Rep. Hawker’s colleagues heed his warnings and follow his lead?

When push comes to shove, at the end of the session, when the final budget is being written, probably not.

There is $8 billion in the CBR.  In the end, the Sages believe this legislature will do what all other legislatures have done.  Put off the painful decisions, spend the savings, sustain the status quo and hope oil prices will spike upwards and once again bail us out.

On Thursday, Governor Sarah gave her State of the State speech to a joint session of the legislature.  She laid out her ‘vision’ for Alaska.  After a few moments, the Stroller and assembled Sages realized Governor Sarah wasn’t talking to us.  Her ‘vision’ was focused on the shores of the Potomac, not the Yukon.  Rep. Hawker will find no help there.

Sen. Hoffman is a passionate advocate for Bush Alaska, and knows when budget cuts finally come, the programs most important to Western Alaska will be the first on the chopping block.  No help there.

Will Rep. Hawker find some way to garner enough support to achieve his goals?  It will take all his political skills, all of them.

Sunday evening, under crisp clear skies, the state and federal flags hang limp above the Capitol.  Lights are on in the Capitol’s fifth floor Senate and House Finance offices.

Windows on the Capitol’s third floor, Governor Sarah’s offices, are dark, as are the windows at the Governor’s House.

The Capitol Cafe has closed for the day.

The waters on the surface of the Gastinau Channel are glass.  Undercurrents slowly tug at surface flotsam.

Winter storms are in the forecast.

Replenish your supply of lemons.

Stroller

The remnants of Mayor Bruce’s ‘Stealth Snow Removal Program’ clog downtown streets and sidewalks making walking, driving or parking an irritating and sometimes dangerous challenge.  Clear skies expose spectacular panoramas.  Plunging temperatures and  brisk winds rudely remind those brave enough to venture out that it’s winter time in Alaska.

The calendar reminds locals the 26th Alaska Legislature invades our semi-quiet hamlet next week.

So what are they gonna do when they get here, and why?  Are they going to acknowledge their constituents shout out for civility, or continue their myopic obsession with petty partisan paybacks?  Or at least do the “payback” in a politically professional manner, like “some day”, but not cloud the public’s immediate agenda.

The uneasy question is:  When did our politics, our political structure, drift into this seeming cycle of campaigns never ending?

Campaigns are campaigns, and legislative deliberations are just that, legislative deliberations.

The politics of a legislature need to be more sober and pragmatic.  They need to be something different, still rough and tumble, but a better character of political focus on issues, on actually doing something relevent.

What’s the prognonis?  Only time will tell, but surprisingly, the outlook may not be all that good.

Old lessons teach us that politicians, here or anywhere, usually don’t stop doing the things that got them elected, the things ‘that worked’, not until they’re  proven not to work. The song plays on until no one listens.

After four decades our young state still remained a virgin, free of major corruption.  Then came the increasing political earthquakes, our string of corruption revelations, indictments, trials, leaving politicians in an uncertain quandary of: “Where are we?”

The public jury has left an uncertain message, cutting the legislative pie pretty much to the “status quo.”

This question lingers: “How deep are the old political tracks?”  Why don’t we think, show, do, change and rearrange the circle of legislative discussion.  Why not find a way to be different.

Why not take lawmakers into a committee of the whole and talk about our fiscal future?  An Alaska vision quest.

Do we have a vision?

Legislatures, and for some good reasons, are static constructions, ridged unless leadership makes them look and live alive!  If this legislature wants to be seen as different, then it has to look different and sound different.

So far it doesn’t, but its early.

Making all this more difficult is that legislators instinctively fear change.  They paid their chits to get into the “game as played,” not something new and uncertain.  The system can and should run with looser reins and invite more inclusion. It should let a broader array of issues surface to floor debate and let the votes fall where they may.

Shame on those who lose and whine.

Leadership needs to be willing to lose a procedural vote once in a while.  Stay cool.  Maybe no one knew it anyway.

It takes a leader to open up the process, it takes a sense of ultimate confidence.

Do the new leadership coalitions have what it takes to let the system run loose again?  To keep their political six-gun’s in the holster and save the gnashing of teeth for where it counts?

Running a good system builds political reserve, respect and tolerance for the time in each session when a legislature and public need ‘the crunch’ , the decisions.  The time when legislative closure, the end of the session, requires “discipline and decision.

And crunch.

Politics and legislative deliberation demand both competition and order. Then closure.

Confident leadership will let the system run, knowing they have what it takes to grab the top of the bag and close it.  If the Legislature wants to appear to improve its trust and image, this leadership needs to slack the reins and risk change.

The  first important rule for leadership is: if you have the votes, you are the leader, you make the rules – push conclusion.

The second rule is: If you’re backed into a corner with ‘you and yours’ or your ‘best friend’, leadership says:  ‘You and yours’ win.

The “skill of politics” is ones ability to avoid “the corner.”

It all begins, officially, Tuesday, January 20, 2009.

Stock up on lemons.

Stroller

In the spirit of the season, the Stroller and the Sages have been heartened by the recent bi-partisian moves in the organization of the House leadership caucus and we hope that spirit infects the rest of the legislature and those occasional inhabitants of the Capitol’s third floor.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka, Happy New Year and as a special note to a special friend, Yes Santa, there is a Virginia, and she’s alive and well and just as beautiful and charming as remembered.

The Stroller will return with new columns of spiritual and moral uplift in early January with an overview of the upcoming legislative session.

Enjoy your holidays and remember, this will all go down a lot smoother if you just put a squirt of lemon in it.

Stroller

The Stroller sipped his morning coffee and watched the dazzling postcard unfold before him.  There are some days Southeast Alaska makes you extra glad to be alive.  This morning was one of them.

The Stroller clipped the leash on Gina the Wonder Dog, grabbed her red, white and blue Wham-O-Frisbee and struck out for a brisk walk in the spectacular late fall morning. Destination: Cope Park, nestled at the mouth of Gold Creek, in Silver Bow Basin, at the foot of Mt. Juneau.  A favorite downtown destination for parents, pet owners and summertime picnickers.

The route along 4th street took us past the marble steps, porch and columns of the brown brick Capitol building.  Within two months the now mostly deserted structure will fill with the participants in the First Session of the 26th Alaska Legislature, convening at 10am, January 20, 2009.

Only twice since statehood have we faced such a watershed moment.  Forty years ago, barely a decade old, flush with new oil lease sale revenues of almost $1 billion dollars, Alaska faced a crisis of prosperity and the ensuing debate on how a sparsely populated, impoverished, under and un-developed land, could become a viable, self-sufficient political entity.

In the early 80’s the price of oil tanked and we were faced with a dramatic decline in revenues,  resulting in slashed budgets and canceled capitol projects.  Today, with plunging oil prices and a world economy in free fall, we face another uncertain economic future.

How will we handle it this time?  Who will lead us through the quagmire of international commodity and finance markets while balancing the traditions of rural and territorial Alaska with present day resource development opportunities and environmental concerns?

We have a citizen legislature made up of folks from all walks of life, professionals, blue collar, retired, family legacy and trust fund.

The executive branch of our government has been led by a Valdez grocer, a Naknek fisherman/bush pilot, a couple hoteliers, Keith Miller, an attorney, a restaurateur, a banker, and a Wasilla housewife.

How will the new group put it together and hold it together?  How will they get past the short sighted immediate personal and political ambitions and sacrifice for the common good while still achieving strong, visionary accomplishments?

We no longer have ‘Uncle Ted’ and all he brought to the table.

The conflict between environmentalists and developers has stagnated the expansion of our revenue base.

Like most third world countries, and make no doubt about it we are America’s third world developing country, we are the subject of international interests and conflicts reaching far beyond our borders.

We have a population smaller than 20 cities in the continental United States.  No revenue base there for an undeveloped land mass that would make us the 8th largest country in the world.

The conflicts in the State Senate are indescribable and possibly beyond its current make up to overcome in a productive, visionary manner.

Once again the State House, the peoples house, must take the leadership roll.

The Republican and Democratic caucuses in the House are much more partisan than the House as a whole.  Combine the less strident of each caucus and you actually have a reasonable group of centrists willing and capable of crafting and passing even handed, less dogmatic legislation.

The trick is getting the legislation to the floor for a vote by the entire House and not allow conflicts between the more partisan members of each caucus to kill bills in committee, asserting their will over the possible majority on the floor.

Mike Chenault has been chosen to lead the Republicans as Speaker of the House, Beth Kerttula is the Democratic Leader.  It will be up to them to lead and persuade their respective caucuses to common ground.

How will they do it?

Kerttula is a seasoned legislator with a life time exposure to the Alaskan legislature.  She is an unabashed liberal, always an effective and articulate voice for the downtrodden and disenfranchised.  Her father, Jalmar Kerttula, had a legislative career spanning three decades.  He served as chairman of every major committee in both the House and the Senate.  He was the first person elected as leader in both Houses and once stood as a candidate for Governor.  He had a hand in crafting virtually every major piece of legislation passed during our first 30 years of statehood.  Beth has learned her legislative skills from a master and it has served her district and the state well.  She does not often agree with but likes, respects and, most importantly, trusts Mike Chenault.

On January 20th, Mike Chenault will become Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives.  Mike is an unabashed conservative unrestricted by dogma.  His political philosophy was molded by his life experiences growing up on the Kenai Peninsula and working in his family’s oil field services company since he was a teenager.  His underlying legislative goals have been finding a funding balance between rural and urban schools and the creation of sustainable jobs.  His open door policy and willingness to give everyone their day in court has earned him the respect, admiration and trust of every legislator with at least a pea for a brain.  He does not often agree with but likes, respects and, most importantly, trusts Beth Kerttula.

The trick for each of them will be their success in dragging themselves and the majority of each of their caucuses to common ground.

Back in the 70’s, German industrialist Fritz Karl Flick, whose family owned Mercedes Benz from the mines to the showrooms, was pursuing the Weatherby Trophy, awarded to the person who, in a twelve month period of time, killed one of each species of big game on the planet.

Flick scheduled a spring bear hunt in Alaska and contracted with legendary Alaskan Bush pilot and guide, Denny Thompson.  Thompson owned the Newhalen Lodge in southwestern Alaska.

Denny Thompson was also a full fledged hero in WW II.  He was a bomber pilot who flew 30 missions over occupied Germany, was awarded two purple hearts and flew the first bomber over Omaha Beach on D-Day.

He bombed the hell out of Flick’s family’s factories.

Flick shot his bear his first day out and insisted Thompson make room for him on the last flight back to Anchorage from their camp.  Flick was eager to fly his private 727 back to Germany that night so he could go Boar hunting.

Thompson’s Super Cub was already overloaded but he managed to stuff the industrialist in the back seat.  It was late in the afternoon and the spring sun had caused the surface of the ice covering the lake adjacent to camp to turn to a glue like slush.

Thompson cranked the engine of his Cub up to full RPM’s and raced across the lake attempting to take off but the skis stuck to the surface of the rotten ice and he couldn’t get airborne.

He bounced the plane a few times attempting to break free.  About the third bounce the overloaded plane suddenly broke through the ice, killing the engine.

The plane didn’t sink immediately because the wings were hung up on unbroken ice.  Ice water flooded into the cockpit as Thompson scrambled out of the plane to the safety of the wing.  Flick, accustomed to being waited on hand and foot, remained seated in the back of the sinking plane.

Thompson looked in at the dormant German and said, “Karl, your life’s not worth a dime more than mine is right now, you better get your ass out of that airplane.”

If those two could find common cause and common ground, so can Mike and Beth.

They get it.

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