2004 Legislative Coup

It was Mario Puzo’s epic the Godfather that offered us a timely lesson about loyalty. “It’s never personal, it’s always business”. And even though it only lasted forty-eight hours, the short-lived House of Representatives rebellion gave us a rare glimpse of that philosophy at work.

In the end, the fragile coalition of Republicans who aligned with Democrats couldn’t withstand the threats of political retribution from within the powerful Republican family.

As they say, the coalition sleeps with the fishes.

On November 5, the Republican Majority met to organize for the coming legislative session. Rep. John Harris emerged with a slate of candidates to assume the House leadership. Almost immediately Republicans within the caucus started questioning the legitimacy of the leadership, including how he procured the support.

Alaska Public Office Commission reports filed by Harris showed he illegally spent from his campaign account to travel around the state courting support among Republicans. Harris, who had no general election opponent, spent thousands in September and October flying to communities where Republicans were locked in tight election races. In addition, his reports show expenditures to state employees for travel to those same locations.

By traveling the state and helping fellow Republicans, Harris was able to procure enough support with caucus members to oust current Speaker Pete Kott. And since votes are taken by secret ballot during the organizational meeting, it’s difficult to grasp the undertones until it’s all over. Afterward, Republicans on the outside felt wronged.

After days of discussion with Democrats, a new organization was formed. In a hastily organized press conference held on Saturday night, the new coalition announced they had the votes to keep Pete Kott in the Speaker’s Chair. According to Rep. Mike Hawker, the desire of participating Republicans was to have a “mainstream majority”.

But then as it always does in politics, it got personal.

In a frantic email sent out by Rynnieva Moss, a staff for the ousted Republican Majority Leader set a tone of retribution. “I believe the Republicans that stay with the coalition are done politically in two years. People did not elect them to office as Republicans to go to Juneau and conspire with Democrats.” Then for good measure she added in the fear factor. “I predict that the surplus would be spent on a capital budget for rural Alaska. Even with a surplus, we could see the legislature go into the CBR for money to fund the capital budget.”

Rep. John Coghill, conveniently forgetful of his family’s long history of abandoning the Republican Party, offered more hypocritical gibberish. “The trustworthiness of your colleagues gets called into question”, he told the Fairbanks Daily News Miner.  Oh really? Would that be like when his father Jack abandoned Republicans in 1990 and 1994? Or maybe it was in 1999, when he quit the Republican caucus after failing to kill a constitutional amendment on subsistence.

But in the end it is Alaskans that lost an opportunity to be governed by a mainstream coalition at an important crossroads. With high oil prices the time is now to build a fiscal plan to protect Alaska’s future. Now is the time for leadership to ensure Alaska is in a position to afford the necessary costs associated with developing a natural gas pipeline and ANWR. Instead of having proven fiscal leaders like Rep. Mike Hawker and Rep. Reggie Joule driving the bus in the critical House Finance Committee, they’re now sitting in the back.

Meanwhile, the leadership skills of the three Republicans who will lead House Finance on the Harris slate of candidates (Kevin Meyer, Mike Chenault and Bill Stoltze) can only be described as screen doors on a submarine. Of the four Republicans who voted against the governor’s fiscal solution last year, these three make up ¾ of them. These family members have never understood the difference between personal and business.

At the end of the Godfather saga, Micheal Corleone is staring into the abyss, reflecting on all that has transpired within his family. It’s a powerful scene of self-reflection. Here’s hoping this family can get back to business.