Seekins actions say more than words

I believe the word we’re looking for is hubris.

Ancient Greeks coined the phrase and illustrated the affects in Greek tragedies and mythology. It was their way of showcasing how those given the gift of power were often brought down by their own arrogance.

From Arachne’s challenge to Athena to Bill Clinton’s admission that he did it because he could, history is littered with powerful figures that callously believed they enjoyed an exemption from accountability.

In 1973 when President Richard Nixon was told that his Vice President was being investigated by a grand jury, it wasn’t a surprise. Five years earlier while courting his running mate, Nixon chose to ignore rumors that Spiro Agnew took kickbacks as Maryland’s Governor.

So what Humphrey or McGovern couldn’t accomplish in 1968 and 1972, hubris accomplished in 1973 and 1974. Both Agnew and Nixon resigned in disgrace after being brought down by their own arrogance: Agnew with his paper bags of cash, Nixon with his Watergate.

Over three decades later, hubris is alive and well in Juneau. It manifested itself in the actions of Gregg Renkes. Even in his resignation letter, when he attempted to blame his demise on the politics of personal destruction. Didn’t he mean the politics of self-destruction?

After all, it wasn’t Democrats that bought and sold KFX stock with one hand while negotiating a deal for KFX with the other. And it wasn’t the press who deleted two years worth of e-mails; the same day the KFX relationship was reported in the press.

In a recent online poll in the Frontiersman, 84% of respondents said they thought the Attorney General got off too easy. The public wanted a stronger punishment. But even bidding the A.G. adieu doesn’t cure the problem.

The legislature must clear up the gray area in the state ethics act that has contributed to this mess. With the average Alaskan earning $37,360 a year, it’s absurd to think that $120,000 in one stock wouldn’t constitute a significant amount to the public. What we need are clearer definitions and boundaries for public officials.

But even after watching his second political appointee to crash and burn amid ethics charges, Gov. Murkowski remains embarrassingly silent about the dire need for ethics reform.

However, it’s the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that has the power to immediately cure what ills the state ethics act. Instead, Sen. Ralph Seekins has been one of the former Attorney General’s biggest apologists. Stating in one interview that the violations were nothing more than mere “Technical violations”.

On February 6, Seekins was quoted in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner saying he wasn’t sure he was going to introduce ethics legislation this session. Whoa. On day 26 of a 121-day legislative session this guy is already taking a dive. What about the remaining 78% of the session still to come?

Seekins went on to say, “What I’m going to do is take a reasonable approach, not a band-aid approach, not a knee-jerk approach”. However, his quote doesn’t jive with his short but reflexive legislative history.

On February 18,2003 Seekins introduced legislation to weaken public disclosure rules for lobbyists. SB89 was a colossal knee jerk reaction after the publisher of the Voice of the Times got pinched for illegally lobbying. It took Seekins less than three months to guide the bill through the Senate and House.

It took Chairman Seekins only two days to pass out SB30, a blatant unconstitutional swipe at a women’s right to privacy that he co-sponsored. And it took him less than two hours to pass out HB145, limiting the public’s ability to hold government accountable. A year later the courts ruled HB145 was unconstitutional.

Truth be told, Seekins has been Chairman Knee Jerk.

In fact, history shows the more egregious the legislation - the faster it moves out of his committee. But apparently when the issue is protecting the public by holding government officials accountable to clearly defined ethical standards - four months just isn’t enough time.

Ancient Greeks called it hubris; today we call it politics as usual.