ANDREW JENSEN
ALASKA JOURNAL OF COMMERCE
Democrats in Juneau deserve credit for at least one thing: what they lack in good ideas they more than make up for in chutzpah.
Now 10 days from a government shutdown at the time of this writing, the legislative session has become a monkey fight inside a clown car driving into a dumpster fire.
The House Majority threw a tantrum last week after Gov. Bill Walker took away their income tax woobie in his proposed compromise to end the standoff with the Senate by passing an 11th hour budget funded entirely with the Permanent Fund Earnings Reserve including a $2,200 dividend check that will cost the state more than $1.3 billion on top of its $2.7 billion deficit.
Like a child who cleans their room by stuffing all the toys and dirty laundry into a closet, House Majority leaders then proceeded to claim that they had done their job by passing a budget and asked for a cookie.
House Republicans aren’t completely blameless in this mess, either. Half their caucus, including their leader Charisse Millett, voted for the budget-busting PFD. Perhaps she could better spend her time trying to figure out what her principles are rather than combing Gavel to Gavel footage looking for reporters goofing off in the gallery while her members make ridiculous analogies to Pearl Harbor, Ho Chi Minh and Vladimir Putin.
Some soul-searching is probably required when you’re on the wrong side of a vote by Les Gara.