Capitol Undercurrents

Make a list, check it twice--A well-known lobbyist stopped by several days ago to chat. While waiting for me to finish another meeting, he leaned over the desk of one of my staffers and asked to use the phone. He dialed up his own office and told 'em: "I'm  here at Senator Kim Elton's and I forgot what client I'm supposed to be representing."

Iditarod nugget--Juneau resident Jirdes Baxter is an honorary musher for this year's Iditarod race even though she's never even ridden in a dog sled. She is being honored because she's the only diphtheria patient alive who was actually in Nome during the 1925 serum run that is honored each year by the Iditarod sled dog race. Jirdes was just 11 months old when she, her brother, and her mother caught diphtheria. The family story is she got the second to the last dose of serum delivered during the marathon dog sled run. Jirdes' mother was to get the last dose but she gave that dose to Jirdes' brother. Her mother got the first dose when the next serum delivery by dog sled was made. Jirdes' mother never fully recovered from diphtheria and their doctor suggested the family move to warmer climes, which is how they got to Juneau.

Count 'em, he's up to 36--Sen. Ted Stevens gave his 36th annual address to a joint session of the state legislature. Remarkable. His tenure, and his commitment to return each year to speak and answer questions, have bridged most of the important federal mileposts of our young state's history--ANCSA, TAPS, ANILCA, exclusive fishing zones, and a myriad of other issues. I've not always agreed with him but he's been fully engaged for a long time.

Up in smoke--Senator Ted began his address to the joint session with a story about a trip he took to Taos. He said while in a store he saw a bunch of stuff tied together and asked what it was, A young clerk said: "That's a smudge stick. Down here they're made of sage." Sen. Ted asked what it was for and the clerk responded: "Well, you light it and walk through the house. The smoke will chase away the evil spirits you can't see. But," the clerk added, "If you smoke it you can see those spirits."

Job isn't done 'til paperwork completed--A recent article in Government Technology Magazine discussed the progress in many courthouses to make evidence and testimony available electronically. But don't expect all files online. As the information officer for one county court in New Mexico put it: "There will be a paperless bathroom before there is a paperless court."

Phone: (907) 465-4947
Fax: (907) 465-2108
Mail: Sen. Elton, State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801
Email:
Senator.Kim.Elton
Jesse.Kiehl
Paula.Cadiente
Web: http://elton.akdemocrats.org

An open letter to Robin Taylor

Dear Robin:

       Congratulations on the announcement by the governor last week anointing you the state's ferry czar. 
     I suspect your previous life as an attorney, state judge, member of the state House of Representatives and state Senate, and special assistant in charge of Southeast road development will seem a cakewalk compared to what faces you now.
     You've campaigned for and now accepted a difficult job. One could even theorize that any individual who wants your new job may be too crazy to trust with the job. By now, some of the euphoria that naturally flows when you first win a job likely has turned to cold, clammy sweat as the sobering nature of the challenges ahead sinks in.
     We've been colleagues. We've worked together on a broad range of issues from tort reform to preserving state benefits for employees called up for National Guard deployment. But there are some things you don't know about me.
     Before we served together (way before), my family moved from Montana to Juneau. My parents, five kids, and an aunt who was along to help with kids cooped up in a '58 Chevy station wagon, drove the dusty Alaska Highway to the Haines cutoff. For me, the best part of the trip was on the old ferry Chilkat that then ran between Haines and Tee Harbor. I still remember when the skipper blew the ship's horn as we passed his family's home near Pearl Harbor north of Juneau.
     Something else you don't know about me is how special that day was when, as a 15-year-old, I went with my family to Juneau's waterfront to watch the state's first mainline ferry steam up the channel. Before then I wanted to be a newspaper reporter, or a bush pilot, or a gillnetter. After that, I wanted to be a reporter, pilot, gillnetter, or ferry skipper. I became a reporter but two of my high school classmates became ferry skippers and I've always had the niggling thought they made the right decision.
     I tell you this to let you know that from an early age on, ferries have been a central part of my life. Ask any Alaskan along the coast from Metlakatla to Unalaska and, like me, they'll tell you their favorite story about the ferries.
     But it's not just the memories that underlie our attachments to ferries. Over the decades our ferry system has been as important to coastal Alaska as expensive highways and railroads have been for railbelt and other interior communities. We made an investment in ferries when the state was dirt poor and that investment has paid economic dividends for our communities every year since.
     But the ferry system is in crisis. At the risk of telling you what you already know, that crisis has several elements: 

• Nobody knows who's in charge of ferry policy. Even worse, all those suspected of being in charge have been around for less than 26 months. Is it that bureaucratic board appendage known as the MTAB created by Gov. Murkowski? Is it DOTPF Commissioner Mike Barton? Is it Capt. John Falvey? Is it former Kenai State Senator John Torgerson (part of the Torgerson and Art Chance labor negotiation duo)? Or are ferries micromanaged from the guv's office? Will any of the above entrenched suspects really let it be you?
• The central headquarters staff is several steps beyond any conventional definition of a brain drain. As of a month ago, 10 headquarters slots were unfilled and 15 are filled with folks who'd been there less than four months. More than half the 49 head shed slots empty or filled with brand, spankin' new folks. 
• The state tied the fast ferry Fairweather up because of a labor spat. Fairweather officers are exercising bumping rights to get back to other ships in the fleet and may or may not return. The goal of putting the fast ferry Chenega into service this May in Prince William Sound is foundering because who in their right mind wants to apply for the ship given the experience of the Fairweather folk?
• Disruptions in fast ferry schedules may be compounded if the Kennicott is diverted to serve as a hotel ship for the oil spill cleanup in the Aleutians.
  Many Alaskans in the south-central and interior parts of our state (and their elected representatives) are at least one step removed from the ferry system. Instead of primary beneficiaries, they're secondary or even tertiary beneficiaries. The ferries are vitally important to their tourism and other economies but, because these Alaskans don't see the ships pulling into harbors, they aren't reminded of it daily. As you know, that means ferries become stepchildren in the budget process.
• Finally, you start your tenure with baggage accumulated over time in the legislature. Many of the ship folks see you through legislative prisms you crafted. There's the sale of pull tabs on vessels prism, a privatization prism, the liquor on ships prism, the roads vs. ferry prism. All these issues deserved discussion but sometimes the way they were discussed, well . . .

     Of course big challenges provide big opportunities. After many years of public service you finally have a legacy project. Your legacy will be either good . . . or bad. 
     Some believe the ferry system is beyond the tipping point. They say Alaskans can't believe a schedule when it's printed so they're giving up. They say a system run by newbies may be flunked by federal safety at sea monitors. They say politics are driving change instead of policy. You can prove them wrong.
     I don't think we're beyond the tipping point but I think it's pretty darn close. That's why I and a few others began calling for the resignation of your predecessor a year ago.
     You're a very smart person so I know you have the capacity to leave a good legacy--especially if you sharpen your teamwork skills. And then you'll have to expand the concept of team beyond the MTAB/Barton/ Torgerson/Chance/Falvey/guv political nexus and invite participation from those folks on the ships and on the shore who actually make the system work.
     Please let me know what I can do to help. I look forward to being partners in ferry progress when we can be and a constructive critic when we can't. But don't wait too long to begin getting it done. There's not a lotta time.

Sincerely,

Sen. Kim Elton

Reps. Bruce Weyhrauch, Beth Kerttula, John Harris and I recently attended a retirement ceremony for Rayme Vinson honoring him for his 27 years in safety. Rayme retired from the Juneau Police Department this past January.