The Alaska Senate majority has been meeting as a caucus in Girdwood at the Alyeska Hotel. That means all but three members of the Senate are invited — Sen. Shelley Hughes, who is the outgoing majority leader, Sen. Mike Shower of Wasilla, and Sen. Robert Myers of Fairbanks. All three are fiscal conservatives.
The caucus meetings started earlier this week, as some members came to Anchorage for the Resource Development Council breakfast on Thursday, during which two members of the caucus, Sen.-elect Cathy Giessel and Sen. Click Bishop, both Republicans, gave their views on the budget and how they hope to increase it.
The Senate organized into a bipartisan coalition after the Nov. 8 election, and the members of the majority excluded three budget-minded Republicans, but included radical Democrats such as Sen.-elect Forrest Dunbar of Anchorage and Juneau Democrat Sen. Jesse Kiehl.
The coalition gave most of the control to the Democrats by naming Anchorage labor lawyer Sen. Bill Wielechowski as both Rules Committee chair and Transportation Committee chair. There are nine Democrats and eight Republicans in the majority caucus.
In the last recent pre-legislative organizational meetings, now-outgoing Senate President Peter Micciche held the conversations in Anchorage and ordered Subway sandwiches for lunch. Micciche, who hails from the Kenai Peninsula, called his caucus of 13 Republicans and one Democrat a “caucus of equals” and took the view that they should not spend lavishly on themselves.
Stevens, a liberal Republican from Kodiak, has richer tastes and will now spend untold thousands of state dollars hosting the 17 caucus members at Alaska’s ritzy vacation destination in the middle of a ski season weekend, as legislators prepare to head to Juneau next week and face reduced revenues and a budget deficit of over $1 billion.
The resort reports that the skies are clear above the lower-mountain fog today. “Join us on the slopes for a beautiful inversion, some fresh mountain air, & breathtaking views! Today’s forecast is calling for mostly sunny skies, calm winds, and a high temp around 20*”
Silvertip and Mighty Mite have both been groomed off the top. Groomer’s choice today is Mighty Mite. Tonight there will be live music at the Sitzmark venue starting at 9 pm with the band Zero Miles to Empty.
The Alaska Legislature begins on Jan. 17, and although the Senate has organized and given Democrats control, the House is still struggling to agree on its leadership team, as the House is nearly evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats and those without a party.
