Sen. Elton's Off the record

Welcome to Juneau, Sarah Palin

     Unfortunately, during campaigns much of the focus is on fixing blame. For a successful candidate to become a successful leader, he or she must now focus on fixing problems.
     That's my wish for members of Congress, members of the state legislature, and Governor-elect Sarah Palin. New beginnings bring new opportunities for the nation and the state.
     Right up front here I'll acknowledge what was not a secret--like most in Juneau, I supported Guv mansion another candidate for governor. Regardless, I look forward to serving with the governor-elect and, like most in Juneau, look forward to welcoming her to the capital city.
     I expect we will disagree on some issues but will work hard not to disagree in a disagreeable manner. On some issues we will agree. For example, I've long-admired her focus on ethics and honesty in government. (Some sentiments that seem appropriate for embroidered pillows really are appropriate because they state an obvious truth. In this case, an obvious truth is: trust is fundamental to leadership.)
     Governor-elect Palin did not come late to this trust issue. Her ethics credo was not forged conveniently in the fire of the late summer FBI legislative office raids. Three years ago she put her political ambitions on the line by exposing unethical behavior by her party leader and chief GOP fundraiser. She then followed up by challenging the conflict of interest of Governor Frank Murkowski's appointed attorney general. Challenging the ethics of her party leaders: wasn't easy; wasn't politically 'correct'; but was spot-on right.
     Good leaders are flexible on policy and rigid on ethics, not the other way around. I'm comfortable our governor-elect has the rigid ethics part right and now has the opportunity to demonstrate she can get the flexible policy stuff right, also. (As an aside, I went to a Gastineau Grade School graduation ceremony a few years ago and one of the fifth graders said of school: "inch by inch it's a cinch." That's how policy progress works, also. Progress never happens all at once and you have to be flexible enough to move forward over time because 'all-at-once' rarely works.)
     Governor-elect Palin's initial moves on the policy side are encouraging. I've worked with her transition team leader Mike Tibbles. He is solid, well-informed, and not a zealot. He understands the Zen of governance. Mr. Tibbles has been a legislative staffer and he very ably fulfilled an important role as a sub-cabinet leader in the executive branch.
     Mr. Tibbles knows that effective leadership means juggling the four 'Ps': politics; policy; personality; and progress. He also knows that progress and policy are the two most important of the four 'Ps'.
     So, with Mr. Tibbles, the governor-elect made a good start immediately following her convincing electoral victory. That's promising because the challenges ahead are immense. She must pick up the pieces of the gasline contract and put them back together in a way that works for Alaskans. She pledged during her campaign, as I did in mine, to restore municipal assistance for struggling communities faced with the option of raising local taxes or cutting local services. She pledged in her campaign, as I did in mine, to restore the longevity bonus. And we must do all of this and more without busting the budget or breaking the Permanent Fund piggy bank.
     But the challenges ahead are not just challenges for Ms. Palin or legislators. Because Juneau is the seat of state government, there's a challenge for residents of the capital city, also. The biggest challenge for all of us in Juneau is to avoid pigeon-holing Sarah Palin as just the soon-to-be Gov. Palin.
     I can tell you from experience I'm uncomfortable being defined simply as Senator Elton. Mayors, assembly members, legislators, Governor's House and especially governors are more than just elected officials. So while it's important to respect her as Governor Palin it's even more important to welcome her as new neighbor Sarah Palin--along with her husband Todd and their kids Track, Bristol, Willow and Piper.
     They're doing a very difficult thing in leaving their home, their schools, their neighbors and their friends and moving to our community. She's starting a job that's extremely hard. (I've said before that governing is not rocket science--it's even more difficult because the laws of thermodynamics, once learned and understood, do remain operative over time but governing is so filled with nuance that effective leadership will never be bound by the rules of science.)
     As good neighbors in the Palins' new community we can take a lot of stress out of her job. We need to make sure we understand the go/stay dichotomy. We may not always be comfortable with where she wants to go on policy but we are in charge of making her stay in our community comfortable

Sign of a bad candidate?--A good friend, good legislator Vote

and good candidate for her second term in the House, left some of her yard signs near an Anchorage street corner for volunteer sign wavers. When she returned to the corner later she found the corner 'taken' by her opponent and her signs were missing. She marched up to her opponent and had to ask him three times what he'd done with her signs before he admitted they were gone and he'd get them back. Good Karma won out--she trounced the sign rustler a day later at the polls.

Capitol buzz--Word is a federal grand jury was impaneled on election day. That, of course, makes tongues wag with speculation about whether this grand jury panel is beginning work on evidence taken in the FBI raids of legislative offices.

Head tax head games?--In the run up to the August primary election, the NW cruise ship folks Big cruise

spent about a million dollars warning voters that the cruise ship head tax on the ballot would dampen their companies' enthusiasm for doing business in Alaska and throw a wet blanket on tourists thinking of visiting Alaska. Under the headline "Open horizons for Alaska cruises", the November 10 edition of USA Today began a story thusly: "Cruise lines continue to roll out plans for Alaska in 2007, and it's shaping up as another busy year in the region." The story goes on to note that Regent Seven Seas is adding a luxury liner; that Holland America will have a record number of cabins available as it sends eight of its newest ships up for the summer; and that Princess will also send eight ships north, including the Dawn Princess which is making its first appearance in the state. So much for dampened enthusiasm.

Hot book--A book review in the most recent Audubon caught my attention with this observation: Barrels

"picture this--1.3 billion 53-gallon drums, stacked 10 high, six miles long, three miles wide (an area roughly the size of Manhattan)." It's the space required, says author Tim Flannery, to hold the carbon dioxide produced each day by Australia's coal-fired power plants. Flannery is the Australian author of the new book The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth.

From the mailbag--In the office mail recently was a postcard addressed: "TO THE PARENT(S) OF KIM ELTON". The card from the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education encouraged my parents to tell me I deserve (needed?) a higher education. This same notice has been delivered a couple of times over the past few years.