Trade groups join PR tug of war
February 6, 2008
Homer Tribune:
As if things weren’t confusing enough with the powerful mining companies interested in staking their claim in Pebble land and special interest groups that are dead-set against them, now there’s an “anti-anti mining” group that seeks to drill the momentum right out of those mining opponents. Clear as molybdenum? Introducing: Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown.
It’s no surprise that at the core of this effort to stall mining efforts are mining companies, mining trade groups, mine owners and Native Corporations that formed to protect those incredible mining potentials.Other founding members of the campaign committee include Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor John Williams, Kenai’s Bob Favretto, and a host of some 250 others determined to make mining work.
Read the rest of the story here: Homer Tribune
Legislators to decide handling of school cost factors
February 6, 2008
Gov. Sarah Palin is leaving the contentious school funding issue of district cost factors up to state lawmakers.Two bills in the Legislature would set up temporary work groups to study the issue and develop updateable models to help the state account for differing costs of education in different areas.
One bill calls for an 11-member group comprised mostly of lawmakers appointed by legislative leaders. The other, sponsored by Sen. Gary Wilken, R-Fairbanks, calls for an eight-member group appointed by the governor and including only two lawmakers. At a hearing on the two bills Wednesday morning, Eddy Jeans, director of school finance for the state’s Department of Education and Early Development, said the administration preferred the legislative group.
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The Senate Special Committee on Education, which heard the proposals, held both bills for further consideration. The bills are SCR 16 and SB 219. Members of the House Finance Committee on Wednesday discussed a separate bill that would implement recommendations of the task force dealing with district cost factors, the base student allocation, and funding for students with intensive needs. That bill is HB 273.
Read the full story here: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Palin reverses Murkowski move
February 6, 2008
Gov. Sarah Palin said Tuesday she will move the state Division of Habitat back into the Department of Fish and Game.The move would reverse the controversial change made by former governor Frank Murkowski.
Murkowski then claimed the move was made in order to “streamline” the permitting process and promote development.
Critics of the Murkowski move pointed out that the environment would be better protected with Habitat under Fish & Game. Palin’s executive order will take place in January 2009.
State checkbook goes online
February 5, 2008
Want to know how much the Department of Transportation spent on guardrails from AAA Fence Co. last year? How much the Department of Revenue paid Gaffney, Cline and Associates for help with oil and gas issues? Or how much your local lawmaker billed the state for travel expenses? Now you can. Easily. Gov. Sarah Palin announced Tuesday she was putting all the state’s expenses online. She said about a dozen other states are already doing it and added that she got hooked on the idea after talking with other governors at the National Governors Association annual meeting. “Alaskans deserve open, transparent government,” she said at a news conference.
All of the information posted online is public information. The goal of posting it online is to make the information much more accessible to the general public. Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, is sponsoring a bill that would require the state to post its expenses. His office said Tuesday he would keep pushing the bill, SB 201, to make sure the online service continued beyond Palin’s time in office.
Read the full story here: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Governor and Anchorage mayor mend fences
February 4, 2008
Gov. Sarah Palin and Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich did not see eye-to-eye on her capital budget vetoes last summer.But the two political heavyweights are talking constructively after an hour-long meeting in the Capitol Monday.
The meeting came soon after complaints from other mayors that the governor has not been sufficiently accessible.
She says her door is open and Mayor Begich said he was pleased with the discussion, although he did not get commitments for everything that was discussed.
Begich also met with the Legislature’s Anchorage caucus to discuss his priorities for the session.
He wants some road projects, has some public safety issues and wants state help in the form of revenue sharing and payments toward unfunded public pension liabilities.
The governor and the mayor say they did not discuss Palin’s vetoes of capital projects in Anchorage last year.
But they both talked about the need for clear communication this time.
“It’s clear to me that she really wants to figure out how to work this out, so it’s not kind of a confusion of what issues are vetoed, what ones aren’t and why, but that there’s a clear understanding,” Begich said. “I’m not going to revisit the past, but I want to know what the criteria is and how we work together, so when we work hard down here, when our community presents these lists and they’re truly community lists, that she recognizes that.”
“It’s important that we communicate what the state’s priorities are, what this administration’s priorities are, which again, I thought last year we repeated it so many times it wouldn’t be a surprise,” Gov. Palin said. “But it’s transportation, basic solid infrastructure, it’s education and public safety, reiterating what the criteria should be when requests hit our desk.”
Palin says she gets different messages from a community’s local officials, legislators and citizens groups about what the priorities are.
Others in a different constituency are raising concerns about some of the governor’s recent actions.
Three Native members of the House of Representatives gave brief speeches on the floor Monday complaining about the governor’s nominations for the Board of Game.
It wasn’t about any individual the governor picked, but what Rep. Mary Nelson says would be the first Board of Game since 1976 that included no Natives or residents of the Bush.
The governor says she considers Tok and Sitka sufficiently rural and she says race is not a factor in her decision-making.
She says she would take offense at any suggestion that she’s racially insensitive, noting that the first gentleman, Todd Palin, is Native.
The Legislature will vote on the governor’s picks for the Board of Game.
Source: KTUU
by Bill McAllister
Monday, Feb. 4, 2008
