March 20, 2009

Saying No to Federal Money is Un-Alaskan

From Mike Doogan's newsletter

Gov. Sarah Palin threw everybody a curve by rejecting a third of the federal stimulus money our Uncle Sam wants to give us. Turning down free federal money. Whodda thunk it?

This sparked some grumbling about how Palin's presidential ambitions -- right-wing Republicans are bound to love her rejecting money from that arch-Satan, Barack Obama - are depriving Alaska schoolchildren and the unemployed of money that will help them.

That's not the end of it, though. The legislature can still accept the money by passing a resolution doing so.

That's not the end of it, though. Once the state gets the money, it goes right into the regular appropriations process, which means Palin can veto it.

That's not the end of it, though. A three-quarters vote of each House can override her veto.

Stay tuned.

Thirty More Days and I'm Up For Parole

Barring extensions, there are just 30 days left in the legislative session. Yippee!

With the session two-thirds gone, we can expect the pace to pick up. The Senate has the operating budget now, and its Finance Committee is working on the capital budget.

And bills of all sorts are moving from committee to committee. The powerful House Transportation Committee, of which I am a powerful member, passed out three - count'em, three - bills at its meeting on Thursday. A dizzying pace, to be sure.

Interesting and potentially divisive issues are arising, as well, some of them not for the first time.

I'm sitting in with the powerful House Labor and Commerce Committee on a bill to restore the state's pension system. Changing from a pension to a 401(k)-type system a few years ago was controversial and politically bruising. Legislators who went through that - I am not one - are not really anxious for an encore.

Yesterday, the powerful House Energy Committee heard a resolution to require a report on the progress of the gas line, even though it was just last summer that we awarded a license for the pipeline to TransCanada. The bill is sponsored by Reps. Jay Ramras and Craig Johnson, who voted against the TransCanada license.

And while we're at it, let's not forget the death penalty, a couple of abortion bills and the super-controversial bill to make the Alaska Malemute the state dog.

Never a dull moment around here.

Odds & Ends

-- Judged by pizza consumption, the constituent get-together at the Spenard Rec Center last weekend was a roaring success. We went through around 30 of the pies - and that's without me eating a single slice. Rep. Lindsey Holmes, Sen. Hollis French and I spent more than two hours talking with people about everything from oil and gas policy to the remodeling of Fire Station 5.

-- March 31 is the deadline for filing your application for the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. There's still some question about whether there will be one, but it's a cinch that you won't get one if you don't apply. You can do that on line at www.pfd.state.ak.us/index.aspx.

-- The publishing world thinks Americans are hungry for books about Sarah Palin. This week, I talked with the second writer this session who is working on a Palin book. That's on top of all the newspaper stories and magazine pieces and TV talking head gabfests. Palin fever. Catch it.

-- Juneau is still without a state senator. Kim Elton left the building March 2, resigning to take a big job with the Interior Department. Juneau Democrats say they want Rep. Beth Kerttula to take his place, but Palin asked more people to apply and is talking about doing interviews.

Best wishes, Mike