"I've taught school for 27 years. I have 80 credit hours beyond a master's degree. I have three endorsements. I have 27 annual evaluations--all of them excellent. Despite all this, under federal law (No Child Left Behind) I'm not considered highly qualified.
     "Why then," she asked, "is former state Sen. Scott Ogan highly qualified for the position of natural resource manager II? Why is a carpenter with a high school GED hired by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) highly qualified for a job that, when advertised, required a college degree or graduate degree and years of experience in natural resource management?"

    Perhaps, she noted, DNR counted a $40,000 contract former Sen. Ogan had with a shallow gas company while serving as a state senator crafting shallow gas laws as experience. (That's the contract that led to a recall effort by his constituents who claimed a conflict of interest and ultimately led to his decision to resign from the state senate and avoid a recall election). The shallow gas contract, she noted, shouldn't count because it really didn't prepare the former senator for a state job on trails and rights-of-ways.
     I didn't know how to respond to the teacher (I guess that's hardly surprising since I often didn't know how to answer many questions my teachers posed years ago when called upon in class). And I guess I should expect tough, but fair, questions from a veteran teacher with a master's degree and more, with 27 years experience and excellent evaluations by her principals each of those years, and with three endorsements on her teaching certificate. 
     And why shouldn't she ask the question? It must grate to be told by a federal bureaucrat that, according to a recipe crafted in Washington, D.C., she's not highly qualified despite the work and the kudos she's garnered over a long career. Sounds like Scott Ogan is lucky his new job is with the state instead of with the feds--federal standards set for her profession apparently are a lot, lot higher than state standards set for Scott's new profession.
     While I was stumped by the teacher's question on Scott's qualifications, I was able to tell the her that last week I asked DNR whether or not the state violated the Constitution of the State of Alaska when they hired the former senator. Article II, Section 5 says: "During the term for which elected and for one year thereafter, no legislator may be nominated, elected, or appointed to any other office or position of profit which has been created, or the salary or emoluments of which have been increased, while he was a member."
     I asked DNR about the efficacy of Scott's hire because, when the Palmer newspaper asked Scott's new division director about his decision to hire the former state senator, he said the department created the job Scott now holds as a result of "a reorganization that began in May 2003." That reorganization occurred 14 months prior to Scott's resignation from the state senate. Seems to be a pretty clearcut violation of Article II, Section 5. Even a casual reading of the constitution suggests Scott couldn't be hired for the job he now holds until January 2007 (he was elected in 2001 and the term to which he was elected was scheduled to end January 2006).
     So far, no response from the DNR commissioner to my enquiry.
     While I wait for an answer from DNR, I'll pose another, perhaps rhetorical, question: why do former senators who circled state budgets like birds of prey when they served in the state legislature find it so easy to transition into the upper echelon of government after they leave the legislature? 
     It's a question best put to neo-experts like former GOP Sen. Ogan now at DNR. Or former GOP Sen. John Torgerson, now at the marine highway system. Or former GOP Sen. Robin Taylor, now in charge of the marine highway. Or former GOP Sen. Pete Kelly, now the legislative liaison for the University of Alaska. Or former GOP Sen. Alan Austerman, the fish czar in the governor's office. Or former GOP Sen. Dave Donley, now ensconced in the state bureaucracy as a hearing officer. Or former GOP Sen. Rick Halford, who lobbies on behalf of an all-Alaska gas pipeline proposal pushed by some local governments. Or former GOP Sen. Drue Pearce, who works for the feds. (Former GOP Sen. Jerry Ward must feel left out. He's the one Republican who apparently wasn't offered a government job after he left the Senate in 2000.)
     I've served with all these folks in the Senate and like 'em all--though Sens. Ward and Taylor occasionally stretched my patience. But I can't help but notice that these budget hawks now are feeding off government budgets they used to decry then slash. Each of them partially defined their legislative career as architects of the five year/$250 million budget cut plan. Each of them looked for ways to cut the number of state employees. Each of them voted for budgets that cut municipal assistance and revenue sharing for local government--money that paid for public employees who provide services at the local level. Now, each of them are feeding off public dollars.
     To paraphrase an observation by Pogo, I've not yet heard any of 'em say: "a few years ago I couldn't stomach a bureaucrat and now I are one." But each of 'em could.