SPECIAL FIRST BROADSIDE OF THE SESSION EDITION

It’s that time again, so run like the wind

As the 19th century American jurist Gideon Tucker famously observed, “No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe when the legislature is in session.”

Well, I hope you’ve invested in body armor and stout locks over the summer, because the Alaska state legislature is, once again, in session. We gaveled in on Tuesday for what most people hope will be 90 days of effort. There is no over-under on how much mischief will be done in that time.

There have been changes since last we met.

Sarah Palin quit being governor to pick up a fair chunk of change as the name on the cover of a best-selling book and, most recently, a commentator on Fox, the right-wing propaganda machine thinly disguised as a news network.

Sean Parnell moved up from lieutenant governor to governor. If Palin was, as the Texans say, all hat and no cattle, Parnell seems the exact opposite, a fellow who works hard to know the details but seems a quart low in the charisma department.

Craig Campbell left the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to become lieutenant governor. Campbell has some political experience from being a member of the Anchorage Assembly back in the day, where his politics could be fairly described as slightly to the right of Vlad the Impaler’s.

John Coghill went from the House to the Senate to replace Gene Therriault, who is getting his three highs as an advisor to the governor. Coghill has been replaced in the House by Tammie Wilson.

Richard Foster, long one of my favorite legislators, passed away. His son, Neal, was appointed to his seat in the state House.

There has also been a bunch of changes in job descriptions and committee assignments. In my case, I got booted off the powerful Transportation and Economic Development, Trade and Tourism committees and exiled to the lowliest spot on the House Finance Committee, which used to be a mega-powerful committee until they started letting the likes of me join up. The Finance Committee does do a lot of big, important things, but as the juniorist member of the minority my job would, in a gentler era, have been cleaning the spittoons.

Both sides of Sean Parnell

The good and the not-so-good sides of the new governor were highlighted on successive nights this week.

On Tuesday, we were all invited over the Governor’s Mansion for finger food and light speechmaking. The food was excellent, Parnell’s speech was low-key and, I thought, effective, and the whole event was a perfect example of his strengths, especially when contrasted to the suspicious and hostile state our relations with his predecessor had fallen to before she took off for the bright lights.

On Wednesday, Parnell gave an oddly lifeless State of the State speech, in which he used his bully pulpit to – wait for it – bash the federal government. Bashing the federal government has long been a staple of gubernatorial speechmaking here, but had fallen out of favor in recent years because the president and the governor were of the same political party. Apparently, though, bashing is back, now that the President is, of all things, a Democrat. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have much to do with the real work that legislators have to do, which made the State of the State seem more like a campaign speech than anything else.

Bills, we got bills right here

I added a couple of bills to the growing totals in this, the 26th Alaska Legislature. I wouldn’t have, but I am concerned about the health of the timber industry, and what with drafting, duplication and amending, even the simplest bill should mean another tree has to be felled and processed. We have been killing trees at a brisk rate, with 543 bills filed in the House and Senate, not to mention 183 resolutions. I am sorry to report that the Senate has filed both more bills and more resolutions than the House, and therefore killed more trees.

My latest brainstorms are a bill to ban cell phones while driving (HB 257) and one to prevent the use of executive branch ethics complaints as political campaign tools (HB 263). I also signed onto a bill establishing Purple Heart Day. Oddly enough for me, this bill seems to be not at all controversial and may actually pass.

Anyway, that brings my total to eight bills sponsored this legislature. I am sorry to say that I am nowhere near the current record holders, Sen. Bettye Davis, with 26 bills filed, and Rep. Les Gara, with 23 bills filed. On those numbers, it’s almost like I haven’t even been here.

Best wishes,