Legislators haven’t lived up to their words

“Alaska is at a dangerous crossroads”
Voice of the Times editorial 9/29/03

What brings us to such a precarious position? Politicians whose rhetoric fails to consistently merge with reality?

Don’t take my word for it take theirs.

Every election, Alaskan voters receive the Official Election Pamphlet from the State Division of Elections. This booklet presents the candidate’s bios and campaign pledges. These are the candidate’s own written words.

In 1994, Scott Ogan successfully campaigned on a platform of bringing a conservative small business perspective to the legislature. “We must call on that self-reliant spirit within all of us to free ourselves of our dependency on the state”, he wrote in the election pamphlet. Promising to “apply practical private sector business principles to solving problems”.

In 1996 while running for re-election he wrote that his constituents had made a wise choice, as they were “tired of politicians being out of touch, serving special interests rather than their constituents”. Six years later, his listed occupation quietly changed from a “self-employed cabinet maker” to a “cabinetmaker, consultant”.

However according to public disclosure reports, Scott Ogan didn’t make one dime from being a cabinetmaker in 2002. He claimed only his legislative compensation and a consulting contract with Evergreen Resources as employment income. That equates to over $108,000 in direct and indirect benefits from his state position. In addition, legislative records show Ogan claimed over $8,000 in Juneau per diem while he was home in Palmer recuperating. There is nothing illegal about legislators having consulting contracts or getting paid for not going to work, but it certainly appears that Ogan has become exactly what he campaigns against.

After being elected on a similar platform, Vic Kohring reported impressive progress to his constituents in the next four election pamphlets, including 2002. “I did exactly what you asked by being part of the team that cut the budget” he wrote bi-annually to his constituents, “Government is more efficient and responsive because of the tough decisions we made.”

However less than a year later, Kohring’s own opinion pieces are contradicting his prior claims of effectiveness.

In August he wrote a compass piece saying, “My homeland, in many ways, has become almost as controlled and bureaucratic as the former USSR.”  Three weeks later, writing in his local newspaper about the need for coal bed methane development he wrote, “Otherwise, we’ll continue to suffer the same fate of low paying jobs, no real industry and a low standard of living for many”.

Imagine reading those two revelations from the same elected official who’s been reassuring you for the last eight years that he’d been making everything “more efficient and responsive.”

During her first campaign in 1994, Lyda Green wrote in the election pamphlet, “The state’s budget must be balanced”, and promised her constituents that she was up to the task. “I’ll continue to vote against new taxes until we’ve done all we can to run our state more efficiently” she penned in both 1998 and 2002.

However, when asked by a reporter in October of 2002 about her ideas to solve the fiscal gap and balance the state’s budget, she couldn’t offer up an answer, claiming it wasn’t her area of expertise. Six weeks later she was put in charge of the budget as the powerful Co-Chair of Senate Finance. Six months later she left Juneau without balancing the budget, leaving Governor Murkowski to eliminate the longevity bonus and cut millions from local community budgets including Anchorage.  

Still, Lyda Green wants to respond that criticism of the Valley’s legislative delegation is unfounded and we should leave them alone?

Not surprisingly, over the last eight years these folks have balanced the state budget only once. They’ve drained over $3.5 billion dollars from a savings account that is being rapidly consumed. Meanwhile next years budget gap is already projected around $625 million. And to top everything, these same three legislators have fiercely opposed every viable attempt in the last four years to solve the fiscal gap, balance the budget and stabilize the dividend.

It’s no wonder we’re at a dangerous crossroads.