Andrew's Wednesday Shout Outs....

Samuels V. Parnell: Leadership Case Study

Last week, the Board of Agriculture approved yet another taxpayer bailout for the financially sick Matanuska Creamery, even though an independent legislative audit revealed that the dairy was seriously under collateralized.

The granting of the loan was so alarming that even the dairy's home town daily newspaper, The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, criticized the additional cash in an editorial published yesterday.

"At what point does the state finally say, “pay off the loans you already have? There seems to be too many questions about the financial operation of Matanuska Creamery."

This story represents a relevant case study in government management and leadership for the two top GOP gubernatorial hopefuls: 

Before former Rep. Ralph Samuels left the legislature, one of his last acts in 2008 was to appoint the independent auditors to evaluate the loan practices of the Board of Agriculture. The auditors found the creamery was a poor credit risk due to their lack of assets. 

Meanwhile, current Gov. Parnell and his DNR Commissioner Tom Irwin who is responsible for the Board of Agriculture, ignored the auditors report and did nothing to stop the continued give away of taxpayer money to a handful of Valley residents.

A clear example of Samuels' backbone versus Parnell's wishbone.

Clue-Les 

For the last few years I have enjoyed a very spirited back and forth with Rep. Les Gara over AGIA and his gas pipeline politics.

Since the introduction of AGIA Gara has been a vocal advocate, saying it was the only way for the state to exercise it's sovereignty and kick the producers to the curb.

Time and time again Gara has cherished his role as the oil company antagonist.

He's threatened the producers, at one time telling an Exxon executive he wanted the leases back at Point Thomson, and yet another time accusing Conoco of proposing an "illegal" gas pipeline because it was outside of AGIA. He's also penned caustic letters to the producers, demanding they commit natural gas to AGIA without the ability of having a say in the financial terms.  

Well..it looks like the mighty windbag is losing gusto. 

Tuesday's House finance committee discussion over oil & gas spending showed Gara attempting to re-write history in an attempt to keep the cash flowing to the state's unconventional pipeline strategy.

Frustrated at the lack of progress and the realization that AGIA will not deliver what was promised, the House finance committee proposed funding only 30% of Gov. Parnell's request for additional funds to keep AGIA alive.

In response, Gara proposed an amendment to restore the funds shaved from the governor's request. "Without these funds I don't think we'll be able to engage in negotiations we need to push this gas pipeline forward," Gara told House Finance committee Co-Chair Mike Hawker.

Ironically this is the same lawmaker who has been telling Alaskans for the last three years that with AGIA we didn't need to negotiate, we just needed to flex our political and legal muscle while tossing molotov cocktails at the producers...then a pipeline would be ours.

Somewhere out there, Craig Haymes is having a damn good laugh.

Toying with Toyota

Make no mistake, Toyota is still one of the best built cars in the world. All of the hype and hysteria over the recent re-call is largely fueled on the politics of fear.

And you'll have to excuse my skepticism about the Congressional hearings, especially since the committee's co-chair Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) represents the largest auto producing state in the country.

The political scapegoating of Toyota is predictable, since the federal government has become a market participant (owning a majority of GM & Chrysler) instead of a market regulator. (Funny...we warned the same thing about AGIA)

Over the last ten years my company has bought thousands of Toyota's and this year we plan to buy more than ever.

According to Robert Wright in the New York Times today, from a statistical perspective, even considering all of the unfortunate accidents, you are safe driving a Toyota.

"if you drive one of the Toyotas recalled for acceleration problems and don’t bother to comply with the recall, your chances of being involved in a fatal accident over the next two years because of the unfixed problem are a bit worse than one in a million — 2.8 in a million, to be more exact. Meanwhile, your chances of being killed in a car accident during the next two years just by virtue of being an American are one in 5,244."

In addition, according to Edmunds auto research service, Toyota has drawn far fewer complaints than most competitors. Edmunds found that over the past 10 years, Toyota accounted for just 9.1 percent of all complaints filed with the government, even though it racked up 13.5 percent of all car sales.

Drive on..........