It was supposed to be the best of times

A few months ago I wrote a column that questioned how the new Republican leadership in Juneau was going to fulfill their bold campaign promises. After witnessing the results of the legislative session, I got my answer; they’re not.

Today my business is facing higher DMV fees, new tire taxes, higher business license fees, elimination of tourism marketing support and if that’s not enough my customers are now facing one of the highest rates of taxation in the country.

But enough about my problems, lets talk about yours.

It was supposed to be the best of times for Alaskans. An era of no excuses with Republicans firmly in control of the legislature and the first Republican Governor in twenty years. They promised the stars were in alignment.

Well, in addition to refusing to exercise the courage necessary to balance the budget and solve the fiscal gap, the Republican leadership in Juneau risked their credibility with voters by breaking campaign promises and by failing to protect the public’s best interest.

We’ve seen promises of growing our way out of the fiscal gap turn into a debate over wither a sales tax is a user fee or a tax. We’ve seen promises to grow Alaskan industries turn into higher taxes and fees for small Alaskan companies, while large out of state corporations with powerful lobbyist have been given enormous tax breaks with no promise of economic payoff to the state.

We’ve seen promises of a balanced budget turned into another year of drawing hundreds of millions of dollars from our savings account. We’ve seen promises to provide additional funding to strengthen education replaced with proposals to cut the amount of funding for local schools and the University of Alaska.

And that’s not all we’ve seen.

Republicans campaigned quite convincingly last year on more government accountability. So where is the accountability in weakening reporting requirements for lobbyist and allowing legislators to accept more expensive gifts from those same individuals?

How do legislators justify the fact that they completely gutted campaign finance limits demanded by voters? How do they explain increasing the amount donors can legally contribute by one hundred percent?

They won’t say, so I will.

In 1996, the legislature responded to the pressure of over 40,000 Alaskans who had signed an initiative demanding campaign finance reforms. The initiative finally forced the legislature to enact the toughest campaign finance laws in the country. These reforms included donation limits and restrictions on lobbyist.

During the previous four legislative sessions there were constant attacks on campaign finance laws. Former Governor Tony Knowles always vetoed those efforts. To safeguard, there were a few Republicans who consistently stood with the Democratic Governor making a veto override impossible. But now that the stars aligned, there is no one to say no.

The reason the legislative leadership raised donation levels is quite simple; its incumbent protection at a time when they’re desperately going to need protection.

Due to the failure of the legislature to take any meaningful steps to bridge the fiscal gap this year, one fact remains etched in the re-election geared mentality of incumbents; the discomfort for their constituents is going to be much greater next year. We’ve all known for years that the longer they wait to solve the fiscal gap the more pain will be inflicted on Alaskans.

Increasing the limits on campaign contributions means incumbents can tap lobbyist and other special interests groups for larger donations for the first time since 1996. This will provide incumbents the needed war chest to fight challenges from any constituent who decides to take issue with their questionable representation.

It’s disappointing that in a year where the legislature did very little to protect investments in education, economic stability and government accountability, they did everything possible to protect their own re-election bids.

I believe Alaskans were truly expecting more fairness, more progress and a lot more leadership. I know I was.

So the next time a politician promises you that the stars are aligned, do yourself a favor and make sure you’re both looking at the same sky.