SPECIAL 17 DAYS LEFT AND COUNTING EDITION

Strings? We Don’t See Any Strings

Among the many very important things the powerful Legislative Budget and Audit Committee – of which I am a powerful member – did on Monday was hear an update on the federal stimulus package. The stimulus is a potpourri of federal spending items, some of which go to the state. Gov. Sarah Palin has accepted about two-thirds of the money for the state; the other third is still up in the air. The governor says she’s concerned about the strings that might be attached to the third she didn’t accept.

A pair of legislative experts on the stimulus – House Finance Committee staffer Larry Persily and LB&A consultant Steve Porter – told the committee that, except for rules about how fast the money has to be spent and requirements for reporting on the expenditures to the federal government, they haven’t been able to find any strings attached to the money.

That was good news to me. I am an Alaskan to the very fiber of my being, and the thought of leaving a couple of hundred million dollars of federal money on the table goes against my grain. Hopefully, the legislature will appropriate the money and the governor stops seeing strings.

Ted Stevens: Now, Not Guilty Again

The federal government’s decision to drop its prosecution of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens was big news in the Capitol this week. Love him or hate him, Stevens is a major Alaska political figure who has done a lot to reshape the state – and the nation, for that matter – during his 40 years in the Senate.

Then there’s the reason the government decided to abandon its prosecution: a series of errors made by government lawyers in their handling of the case. I’m sure there’s some sort of legal definition of prosecutorial misconduct, and I’m not sure if what happened meets that definition. But to someone like me, who isn’t a lawyer, it sure looked like that.

There’s no knowing if that’s the end of it for the 85-year-old Stevens, either. This whole string of federal prosecutions has been long periods of silence punctuated by announcements and court cases, so there’s no telling what might happen next. Or to whom.

But this turn of events provided me with my best laugh of the week, when Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich issued a press release saying there should be a new election for Stevens Senate seat, which he lost in November to current U.S. Sen. Mark Begich. That idea was seconded by Palin.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Odds & Ends

The Senate Democrats rejected the governor’s appointment of Tim Grussendorf to fill out the term of former Juneau Sen. Kim Elton on Wednesday. Elton left early last month to take a big job with the U.S. Interior Department. The law gives the governor 10 days to offer another name.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed another bill to require parental consent for anyone 16 years old or younger before she can get an abortion. The bill still has to pass the Senate, and will no doubt face a legal challenge much like the challenge that knocked out a previous bills like it. I voted no.

The pay raises recommended by the State Officers Compensation Commission went into effect this week. For legislators, it means that, at the start of next session, salaries will go up while interim per diem will disappear.

Ken Alper, a staffer for Rep. Harry Crawford, produced a funnier-than-usual fake April Fool’s Day bill this year. You can read it – and, hopefully, get a chuckle -- here.

Best wishes,