Page 1269 – Must Read Alaska

Alaska population down, while state taxes drive migration shifts across U.S.

The 907

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January 9, 2020

Alaska population down, while state taxes drive migration shifts across U.S.

A STATE INCOME TAX COULD INCREASE OUTMIGRATION

Alaska, finally emerging from a recession that took place during a national economic boom, has lost population over the past three years, which accounts for some of the state’s stabilizing unemployment rates — many workers have simply left for better opportunities.

The state also faces a flat or growing state budget, but not enough revenue to serve this ever shrinking population, many of whom are not in the workforce: Oil now accounts for about half of the state’s revenue, state investments’ earnings account for most of the rest.

In 2016, the state population peaked at over 739,649, while today, we’re a state of 731,007.

Between 2018 and 2019, Alaska’s population fell by 3,048, according to the most recent data released by the Alaska Department of Labor.

In Alaska’s largest city, schools reflect the shrinking enrollment: In 2009, the Anchorage School District served 49,492 students, but in 2019 has just 46,794, more than a 5.5 percent drop in a decade. In Juneau, there were 5,237 students enrolled in 2006, but that number is now down to 4,648, an 11 percent drop.

More startling is the crash in kindergarten enrollment: In just five years, the number of kindergarteners coming into the Anchorage School District has dropped 11.5 percent.

Where did everyone go? More than 8,000 people have left the state in the past year, a number that is somewhat offset by newborns. Birth rates are down, however, as evidenced by the shrinking school enrollment, and the population is aging in Alaska: While the group from ages 0-64 declined by 1 percent, the over-65 crowd has grown by nearly 5 percent.

When Alaskans move, they tend to move to jurisdictions without an income tax — Washington, Arizona, Florida, Texas. They also move to Colorado and California, both of which are taxing states; Colorado has a 4 percent across-the-board tax on income, while California has a progressive tax of between 1-12 percent.

INCOME TAXES ON THOSE WHO REMAIN?

How to pay for Alaska state services is the search for the Holy Grail in Alaska politics. Income taxes are being discussed in the caucuses in both the House and Senate as a way to pay for a government that exceeds the revenues now available from oil proceeds and the Permanent Fund Percent of Market Value (POMV). Those are the two current pots of money the bureaucracy feeds on. (The Constitutional Budget Reserve, which is a lending bank to the Legislature, is nearly dry, with just $2 billion available to patch the budget.)

*Alaska House Democrat-led Majority meets in advance of the Jan. 21 convening of the Alaska Legislature.*

Alaska’s workforce, which would pay taxes under the whispered-about income tax scenario, is shrinking as well.

In November, 348,015 were part of the Alaska workforce, the smallest the state has seen since 2005. The annual wages they bring in are roughly $18 billion a year.

For lawmakers and budget appropriators, these are all significant numbers. Taxing those wages could help fund the services the state is required to provide, and those the state chooses to provide. Fewer workers mean fewer paychecks to tax, and more needy people to serve.

Those who are retiring, if taxed on their retirement income, would be more likely to move to no-tax states.

Even in the Lower 48, where the economy has been on fire over the past three years, populations shift to lower-taxing states.

TAXES DRIVE DEMOGRAPHICS, DECISIONS

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has come out against an income tax, but the Legislature may have other ideas about how to balance the budget.

Must Read Alaska asked former Alaska OMB Director Donna Arduin for help understanding the impact of taxation on population migration between states. Arduin said several Alaskans have reached out to her with the same question, and she pointed to a paper produced by Arthur Laffer, her business partner in Arduin, Laffer and Moore.

Laffer and the American Legislative Exchange Council produce an annual publication, “Rich States, Poor States.” The 10th annual edition lays out the detrimental economic impacts that income taxes have on states’ economies, as they compete with each other for workers and private investment capital.

According to Laffer, income taxes are especially important factors in shaping where people choose to live, work, and invest.

“If A and B are two locations, and if taxes are raised in B and lowered in A, producers and manufacturers will have a greater incentive to move from B to A,” Laffer wrote.

Between 2002 and 2016, more than 20 million people moved from one state to another, often for better economic prospects, Laffer wrote.

“Americans in search of better opportunity often turn to states that are economically attractive. This is a boon for states whose fiscal house is in order and outlook is bright, but a substantial growth deterrent to states whose outlook is already dire,” Laffer wrote. “Generally speaking, taxpayers moved away from states with high personal and corporate income taxes to states with lower or—as is more often the case— no income taxes.”

Alaska is an outlier because it has had no state income tax, little manufacturing, and, in fact, gives each qualified resident a dividend from oil royalties out of the North Slope. That annual incentive may tend to slow the out-migration of those looking for better opportunities.

And yet, according to Laffer, it’s no surprise that all nine states with no personal income tax experienced a net increase from domestic migration during the period studied. States like New York and Illinois languished at the bottom.

The states that lost both the most residents are the usual suspects—New York, Illinois, and California, he wrote. On the other hand, states that have been most successful in attracting residents are Florida, Texas, and Arizona. New York and California have personal income taxes far greater than 5 percent, whereas Texas and Florida do not have an income tax, Laffer noted.

[Read: 11th Annual Edition of Rich States, Poor States]

Launching an income tax in Alaska could increase outmigration, if the experiences of other states are any indication.

The U.S. Census official count of Alaskans begins on Jan. 21 in Toksook Bay. The federal count will also provide data to federal agencies and a lower number of Alaskans will generally mean fewer federal dollars coming back to the state.

Mayor Berkowitz wants communities to get piece of Permanent Fund dividends

Politics

Suzanne Downing

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January 8, 2020

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Mayor Berkowitz wants communities to get piece of Permanent Fund dividends

TOWN HALL MEETINGS UNDERWAY THIS WEEK

Mayor Ethan Berkowitz has an idea for how to pay for the largest budget in Anchorage history: Now that there’s little to spare with “community assistance” from the State of Alaska, it’s time to get the State to pay communities a dividend from the Alaska Permanent Fund.

This is a plan that plenty of local mayors and assemblies, now controlled by taxing liberals, will likely embrace as they converge on Juneau with their legislative agendas.

It’s really community revenue sharing by another name. The sharing just comes from Alaskans’ Permanent Fund dividends.

Berkowitz noted in an interview with KTVA that Anchorage and the State of Alaska have many of the same services for the same populations.

“What the state hasn’t done with its fiscal planning is to integrate the local governments in terms of what it’s going to look like because we both provide services to the same constituencies,” Berkowitz said. “A community dividend, in essence, would mean you would divide the dividend payout between state government, the dividend itself and local government.”

With the Berkowitz community Permanent Fund dividend, Alaskans would receive even less of their statutorily determined dividend, although the amount to be skimmed by local governments is unclear. Berkowitz also didn’t explain how unorganized parts of the state would receive a community dividend, since the Legislature serves as the borough government for unorganized areas.

The second of three town hall meetings on the Anchorage legislative agenda takes place from 6-7:30 pm at Chugiak High School’s auditorium on Wednesday, Jan. 8. On Jan 9, the Mayor and the Anchorage Assembly will head to Girdwood’s Community Room for another town hall, from 6:30-8 pm.

Among other items to be discussed are the three new sales taxes proposed for Anchorage residents, which will also be the subject of a separate public hearing on Jan. 14, as the Assembly seeks to move one or all of them to the March-April municipal election:

While state funding to the municipality of Anchorage has dropped by $100 million since 2005, the city’s budget has continued to explode, and now must be fed by taxes. The municipal budget is nearly 15 percent higher now than when Berkowitz took office and every year the Berkowitz Administration has set a new record for the size of the municipal budget. Meanwhile, the population of the city has dropped, and the number of new homes built in Anchorage during his administration was the lowest in decades. Only 219 residences were built in 2019.

Anchorage budget: 14.5 % increase since 2014

Alaska oil price yawns at threat of ‘World War III’

Suzanne Downing

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January 8, 2020

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Alaska oil price yawns at threat of ‘World War III’

The global oil markets reacted ever-so-slightly to the military tensions in the Middle East.

After Iran and the United States shared their thoughts with each other through missiles in recent days, the threat of major conflict boosted prices to over $70 a barrel.

Even the “World War III” scenario painted by MSNBC, CNN, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi only pumped the price up by a smidgen.

Brent oil contracts, the global benchmark reached $70.74. Alaska North Slope crude will likely trade in the mid-70s today. The ANS price on Monday was $70.51; (Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s prices are not yet available, check back, this will be updated.)

Higher energy prices, now that the United States is an net exporter of petroleum products, may serve to stimulate the overall national economy, although it will also lead to higher heating oil and transportation costs in Alaska.

TRUMP TALKS TOUGH

Today, President Donald Trump reiterated the importance of the U.S. having not only a strong military, but a strong economy. In a speech at the White House, he said that for too many years the world has tolerated Iran, which he called the largest exporter of terrorism in the world.

In May of 2018, Trump announced that the U.S. would pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Trump called the nuclear “a horrible one-sided deal” that should have never been made and said the U.S. would not be held hostage to “nuclear blackmail.”

Today, he said that the “foolish” deal that President Barack Obama made, which sent $150 billion of U.S. taxpayer dollars to Iran, resulted in Iran using those dollars to send missiles out against its regional enemies and the United States.

“They chanted death to America the day the agreement was signed,” Trump said today. He said that the retaliation of Iran against the United States appears to have ended with the missile attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq — attacks that killed no one.

OIL PRICES BASICALLY STABLE

Alaska now knows what the world looks like under the great “brink of war” scenario — which is a slight uptick in price. It’s not likely to see prices go as far as $100 a barrel.

The price bump of the past few days doesn’t necessarily help the Alaska budget situation unless two big fields come on line — Pikka Unit (Oil Search) and Willow (ConocoPhillips), both of which don’t yet have a final investment decision from their respective companies.

Alaska needs that production to bail its state budget out, if the government is unwilling to trim back its spending.

But production won’t increase if the Our Fair Share initiative passes with voters this year. In fact, without those two fields coming on line, production will suffer from the dwindles.

It’s a new era for Alaska, as it only provides a fraction of the oil that is being produced in the United States:

*Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration*

That makes is more evident than ever that price will not bail out Alaska’s state budget, which receives 90 percent of its revenue from petroleum.

What can Alaskans do to boost production? Industry leaders say voters will need to stand on the throat of the Our Fair Share initiative, and tell the oil producers that investing in Alaska is a good business decision.

Justice Stowers retiring, but will he be replaced by a conservative?

Politics

Suzanne Downing

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January 8, 2020

9

Justice Stowers retiring, but will he be replaced by a conservative?

Gov. Mike Dunleavy could be getting his “Trump moment” when it comes to shaping the Alaska Supreme Court.

Justice Craig Stowers, one of the court’s most conservative jurists, is retiring, opening up an opportunity for Gov. Mike Dunleavy to appoint a like-minded conservative to the court, one who could serve for many years into the future.

President Donald Trump had that moment not long after he took office. On Jan. 31, 2017, he nominated Neil Gorsuch to succeed the high court’s most strict constitutionalist, Antonin Scalia, who had died (somewhat mysteriously, with a pillow over his face).

But Dunleavy’s ability to appoint a conservative to replace a conservative may be stymied.

He must choose from nominees given to him by the Alaska Judicial Council, a decidedly liberal body that polls members of the Alaska Bar Association, who also lean liberal. Those members rate the candidates and the council forwards the names of finalists to the governor. By law, he must pick from that prescreened list.

This is known as the Missouri Plan, and it’s supposed to get partisan politics out of judicial selection. But critics say that it gives unelected, unaccountable trial lawyers way too much influence in the selection process.

Members of the Judicial Council include Chief Justice Joel Bolger, who has already sent a warning shot over the bow of the Dunleavy Administration, in his speeches and published writings.

Also on the Judicial Council is James E. Torgerson, husband of Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Morgan Christen, who was appointed to the Ninth by President Barack Obama.

Only two members of the council were appointed by Dunleavy.

Justice Stowers was appointed by Gov. Sean Parnell in 2009 and has been the dissenting vote in two important abortion cases. The first was when he voted to uphold the parental notification law passed by the Legislature. That law was overturned by the rest of the court, which means in Alaska, a minor can get an abortion, but not a tattoo or piercing, without her parent’s knowledge. Stowers was again the dissenting voice on the court when it came to Medicaid funding for elective abortions. For now, the court is forcing Alaska to pay for these elective abortions, against the wishes of the Legislature and most Alaskans.

Alaskans will have only a glimpse of the judicial nomination process, which is somewhat secretive in its balloting, and those who apply for court vacancies are voted on by only those Alaska Bar members who choose to take the time to vote.

Applications for Stowers’ replacement will be taken by the council through Feb. 14, and interviews are held in the spring. Once the list of finalists is given to the governor, he has 45 days to pick from the list.

Last year, when Dunleavy delayed naming a judge past the 45-day limit, that action became one of the grounds that the Recall Dunleavy group used to say he is unfit for office, an allegation that will be argued in court on Friday, Jan. 10, as the State Department of Law tries to fend off the Recall Dunleavy movement in court.

Education solution: Give parents freedom of choice

Columns

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

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January 7, 2020

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Education solution: Give parents freedom of choice

ALASKA SCHOOLS ARE PRODUCING A FAILED SOCIAL ORDER

By MICHAEL TAVOLIERO

Our public education system no longer promotes the goal of teaching our children how to think independently, and how to live free, fulfilling, and meaningful lives.

Instead, we now see the products of carefully crafted and controlled manipulation of education to graduate young Socialists who are entitled, unskilled, and politically far-left leaning.

This whole process is controlled by the Democratic Party, the mainstream media, and their willing confederates in the public employees’ unions.

Republicans and conservatives alike share the blame. We have been absent from the education dialogue. We have, at best, issued lukewarm and flaccid rebuttals in protest, and of course, have been ignored. The public employees’ unions have driven the narrative, tilting the political arena more to the left than ever before. They have almost unlimited financial resources, and the political process has quietly been manipulated to help, through independent expenditure groups, mail-in ballots, and (possibly soon) rank choice voting.

There is no excuse for Republican/Conservatives to remain passive. After all, this really is about not only our more and more endangered constitutional rights, but also the future of our children and their children.

The majority of cities in the United States see their school boards and administrations controlled by far-left Democrats and their allies, and have for over half a century. The end result is that every major city is now completely controlled by the Democrat party, particularly unions.

States like California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, Virginia (the state whose constitution was written by George Mason and James Madison among others) and more are now totally controlled by Democrats who control the major population centers and therefore the entire states.

Alaska has become no different. Anchorage has become a state within a state. As evidenced by its mayor and assembly as well as many of its State Legislative representatives (regardless of“D” or “R” designations), our once bountiful natural resources, with their development potential, are being converted and driven into a swamp of red tape, bureaucracy and entitlements. Our education system is promoting every leftist policy as good to our children, and every conservative policy as “evil,” “racist,” and “selfish.”

“Everything that is wrong with inner city schools that policy can fix, Democrats are responsible for. Democrats and their allies run the public school system for the benefit of adults at the expense of children. Put in the language of political war: Democrats have their boot heels on the necks of poor, black, and Hispanic children. But Republicans are too polite to mention it.” – David Horowitz. How to Beat the Democrats and Other Subversive Ideas

Whose fault is this? We need to look at ourselves and see the results of our lack of attention and action. These policies are allowed to take over because of poor Republican/conservative voter turnout and poorer Republican/conservative public involvement.

Our lack of involvement has allowed the growth and takeover by the public employees’ unions, creating an unfair legal standard for the Democrat hatchet machine to proliferate. With seemingly unlimited funds from union dues (we have yet to see the measurable effects of Janus v AFMCME in Alaska), these unions are virtually a political party with no legal political restraints, unlike the current political parties subject to the FEC and state public offices regulators.

Sadly, Democrat-controlled schools are teaching students very little. Students who are a product of this system are moving into their future not with productive and saleable life skills, but with a quiver full of “identity politic” arrows. Our education system should promote a meaningful and independent lifestyle, but instead, it leads to narcissism, sloth, and entitlement with few exceptions.

Alaska is producing a failing social order and it will cost our progeny dearly.

Where is the outrage on the part of Republicans/conservatives? Our urbanity and our “go along, get along” attitude are our demise and consequently our failure, not just to ourselves but to Alaska’s future.

What is more incredible to this edifice of failure is the fact that Republicans/conservatives actually do have an education plan in place. It is not based on the failed social principles we have witnessed year in and year out. No, the Republican/conservative plan is simple and immediately outcome oriented.

Alaska’s school reform is economic choice. By putting the education dollar directly into the hands of parents, schools would be forced to serve their communities and constituents. Giving parents control of their children’s education would force schools and unions to stop exploiting our tax dollars to serve their own interests (instead of the students’). Our tax dollars must be redirected to the parents and follow the children, rather than the special interests of the Democrat/media/public union syndicate.

The goal is to serve our children with a profoundly reformed education and provide them with the education that will give them the best chance for a successful, fulfilling and responsible life. The Left will not listen to these ideas because they will lose the power and the control they crave and must have to stay in power.

This idea was developed in 2013 through the efforts of Senator now Governor Michael Dunleavy.

During the 28th Alaska State Legislature, our state saw for the first time an opportunity to vote up or down on the question of state aid for education reaching the true beneficiaries of education, our children.

SJR 9 proposed amendments to the Constitution of the State of Alaska relating to state aid for education which provided the wording as captioned below, if passed by the State Legislature, would have given the voters the opportunity to amend the state constitution.

It was falsely entitled a voucher program attempt and maligned extensively in the public and the halls of our state capital. This was a typical lefist “sky is falling” canard, calling it a voucher program, instead of what it really was — freedom: Freedom for parents and children to choose. Freedom to use their tax money in a way that would be meaningful to them, not the few, who created a hornet’s nest response to their potential loss of control over public policy and public money.

It was introduced on Feb. 13, 2013 by then-Sen. Dunleavy, and Senators Fred Dyson, Pete Kelly, John Coghill, Cathy Giessel, Lesil McGuire, Charlie Huggins, and Anna Fairclough.

SJR9 had 11 of the 14 votes required, but the education industry is the most powerful lobbying force in Alaska politics. Ironically, Senators Bert Stedman, Gary Stevens and Click Bishop, all Republicans, were the 3 senators who kept SJR9 from coming out of the Rules committee and being voted upon on the floor, in spite of this being part of the Alaska Republican Party platform.

Isn’t time to bring this back to the education discussion? Before you say yes, let me finish with a suggestion and a solution.

Suggestion: Redirect all education funding to follow the child. This can be done by our political will through amending the Alaska Constitution. Give the people of Alaska the opportunity to guide the direction of education policy directly and personally.

Solution: Reintroduce and pass the language of SJR9. Amend Article VII, Sec 1 as follows:

Article VII, sec. 1, Constitution of the State of Alaska, to read: Section 1. Public Education.The legislature shall by general law establish and maintain a system of public schools open to all children of the State, and may provide for other public educational institutions. Schools and institutions so established shall be free from sectarian control.

With this deletion [NO MONEY SHALL BE PAID FROM PUBLIC FUNDS FOR THE DIRECT BENEFIT OF ANY RELIGIOUS OR OTHER PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.]

Amend Article IX, Sec 6 as follows:

Article IX, sec. 6, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is amended to read: Section 6. Public Purpose. No tax shall be levied, or appropriation of public money made, or public property transferred, nor shall the public credit be used, except or a public purpose (add as follows); however, nothing in this section shall prevent payment from public funds for the direct educational benefit of students as provided by law.

Michael Tavoliero is a realtor at Core Real Estate Group in Eagle River, is active in the Alaska Republican Party and chairs Eaglexit.

Appeasement and conflict

Columns

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

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January 7, 2020

17

SPECIAL INTERESTS IN A FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL

By ART CHANCE

A friend in a political discussion group I participate in posed a question to the group: What motivates political figures to appease? It didn’t get much response and most responses were in terms of Christian doctrine.

I have more experience with conflict than most. Sometimes I started it, sometimes I ended it. Sometimes I lost, sometimes I won. And sometimes I didn’t fight, either because I didn’t like the odds, because somebody wouldn’t let me, or wouldn’t let me use the necessary tools and tactics. So, I know a bit about conflict, and about both avoidance and appeasement.

I’ve never been a big guy, so I learned at an early age that if you weren’t big and strong, you’d best be smart and mean. But, even if you’re smart and mean, you’d best have pretty good sense about what you can win.

The foregoing is a logical and positional argument from the sort of world I lived in and the world that President Donald Trump sees. Not everybody sees the world that way.

As am I, President Trump is what the Harvard Business School types call a “positional bargainer.” To them, that is a derogatory term.

President Trump takes a position and you either have to convince him to change his position or knock him off of that position; that sometimes leads to conflict. Those who subscribe to the “Hahvud” view think that in any bargaining situation the parties have common interests and you should seek those commonalities and use them as the basis for an ultimate agreement. This is the sort of thinking that only those who have spent their lives in a classroom can have. Why on Earth would anyone listen to someone’s thoughts on conflict resolution if that person had never known actual conflict?

The effete academic view presumes common interests where there are none. They call it interest-based bargaining. It works in commercial negotiation when somebody wants to buy something and somebody wants to sell that something; both have a common interest, the exchange of the something.

In diplomacy and in government generally there is rarely a common interest beyond each party desiring to survive, and that desire for survival puts the parties in absolutely antithetical positions.
To move this from the philosophical to the practical, the Dunleavy Administration wants to get the State’s budget to a level that can be sustained by current revenue, and various interest groups want to keep their share of State spending where it is or even more. Those positions are antithetical.

The only way the Administration can reduce the budget to a sustainable level is by taking money from those interest groups. There is no way to get an agreement on that issue without force and the threat of force; there is no common interest beyond survival. So, if we’re going to bargain on shared interests, we bargain on survival; that isn’t pretty.

I wasted a bunch of the State’s money back in the early ‘00s taking myself and most of my staff to Hahvud for their course on “Interest Based Bargaining.”

I did it as a “know your enemy” course and so whenever some genius tried to tell me how wonderful IBB was, I could point to the cheap certificate from Hahvud on my wall that said I was a member of the cognoscenti.   I did find the vocabulary of IBB useful because it worked to soothe the delicate sensibilities of the weak-willed and weak-minded, of which there are many in government.

To return to my friend’s question about appeasement, some in public life lack physical or moral courage and simply run from conflict. Some have a philosophical or religious belief that one has a duty to avoid conflict. It really doesn’t matter; even if you’re looking to avoid conflict, if you’re in a one wins, one loses situation; conflict is looking for you.  If you run, you’ll be run over.

At the root of my friend’s question is the fact that most people who aspire to public office are “people pleasers;” they want to please people and be liked by as many people as possible. Our Founders saw this problem and wisely tempered the emotions of the populus and the popularly elected House of Representatives with a Senate elected by State Legislatures and a President elected by the Electoral College. The Seventeenth Amendment turned the US Senate into a super House of Representatives and the Voting Rights Act turned state senates into just another volatile version of the House of Representatives but with longer terms.

The Democrats have seized on the volatility of our current system by simply refusing to accept the outcome of elections and launching campaigns of resistance and “lawfare” any time they don’t win an election. Here in Alaska they’ve taken a further step by setting up false flag candidates to thwart the democratic process.  There are only a handful of districts in Alaska where a Democrat who actually espouses the platform of the National party could get elected, so they prop up false flag Republicans and fake independents to form coalition majorities. Add to that feckless people-pleasing Republicans who run from conflict and you have today’s seemingly insoluble conflict over State spending.

I wrote a column a couple of months ago in which I said that the Dunleavy mountain had labored and brought forth a mouse. The Administration had taken all the heat for demanding all those resignations and then only accepted a few of them.

Now they have a thousand people in State government who hate them and who they need to make the government actually work. I’m not a part of the Administration because some union goons don’t like me and the Administration couldn’t take the heat.

Donna Arduin, former director of the Office of Management and Budget, is gone because they couldn’t stand the heat about the budget she produced based on recurring revenue. The real issue was that the Administration simply wasn’t competent to communicate what it was doing with its budget proposal.

So, we get back to why they just naturally seek to appease. The answer is simply that they can’t take the heat. They need to learn that it is OK to be hated, so long as it is the right people who hate you.

Art Chance is a retired Director of Labor Relations for the State of Alaska, formerly of Juneau and now living in Anchorage. He is the author of the book, “Red on Blue, Establishing a Republican Governance,” available at Amazon. He only writes for Must Read Alaska when he’s banned from posting on Facebook.

A full-court press for taxes

Anchorage Daily Planet

Anchorage Daily Planet

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January 7, 2020

11

THE ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET

With the city putting on a full-court press to rake in more money from a proposed 5 percent retail alcohol tax and two general sales taxes, you have to wonder what kind of spending the new levies would underwrite.

Here’s one thing: New tax revenues would pay for a “full-time public engagement officer and/or consultant” who would “do the following engagement activities,” the Assembly says:

• Create and maintain a scrolling agenda for Assembly meetings;
• Work on a newsletter format for Assembly members;
• Social media outreach;
• Fact sheets on various ordinances or topics as appropriate; and,
• Press releases on agendas, town halls, ordinances, etc.to keep the public informed.

In other words, the Assembly would get a new flack. How in the world did the city get along all this time without one for the Assembly? How is it the members of the Assembly cannot do their own newsletter formats, or social media outreach or come up with fact sheets and press releases and such?

Why should taxpayers have to hire somebody do it?

The tax proposals which sprang up out of no place just in time for the holidays, include the already-rejected, but dusted off and reborn 5 percent retail tax on alcohol. It supposedly would bring in up to $15 million a year. Voters would be asked to again exempt the tax from the city charter’s required 60 percent-vote to allow adoption by simple majority.

Then, there is the proposed “temporary” 3 percent general sales tax to raise $375 million over five years to pay for mostly downtown capital projects. Who are its backers? Who is funding the effort to put the tax on the ballot? Who knows?

Finally, there is a six-year, 3 percent sales tax offered by Chugiak-Eagle River Assemblyman Fred Dyson. It would offset property taxes and fund public safety, he says.

All of that would be in addition to the $1 billion the city is about to receive for the sale of the Municipal Light & Power utility to Chugach Electric.

The desire to hire a flack for the Assembly with the proposed tax proceeds only underscores the fact that these sales taxes are being pushed by those pushing a “want” agenda, not a “need” agenda.

If one of the levies actually makes the ballot in April, voters should tell the Assembly to do its own work.

Breaking: Rep. Sullivan-Leonard not running for reelection

Suzanne Downing

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January 6, 2020

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Breaking: Rep. Sullivan-Leonard not running for reelection

After 20 years of serving in the public sector, Rep. Colleen Sullivan-Leonard is ready for a change. Like more time with grandchildren and family.

The House member from District 7, Wasilla started as a valley planning commissioner in 1999, then was on the city council before working in the Legislature, and then for three governors: Murkowski, Palin, and Parnell. Then she was back on the Wasilla City Council before running for State House in 2016, for the seat vacated by former Rep. Lynn Gattis. She won that seat handily.

There’s nothing more complicated behind the decision than just being ready for a change. “Twenty years is a long time to serve in the public sector, and I’m looking forward to spending time with family, not being gone from my grandkids, and maybe eventually looking at other opportunities,” she said.

This year will be her last in the Legislature. Whoever wins the seat in the November election will take office in January, 2021.

*Colleen Sullivan-Leonard, on the Wasilla City Council in 2010.*

District 7 has already had a meeting on the topic and is looking for good candidates. Those interested should contact District Chair Glenda Ledford at 907-355-0562.

There are no shortage of good quality conservatives in District 7, Sullivan-Leonard noted.

It could end up being a lively primary season in this deeply conservative part of Alaska.

Sullivan-Leonard is one of the 16-member House minority Republicans and has been a leader for reducing wasteful government spending.

Public broadcasting commissioner resigns over chair’s refusal to meet

Politics

Suzanne Downing

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January 6, 2020

11

Public broadcasting commissioner resigns over chair’s refusal to meet

Steve Strait, appointed to the Alaska Public Broadcasting Commission by Gov. Michael Dunleavy last August, submitted his resignation on Dec. 31, saying that the co-chairs of the commission have refused to hold a meeting and that his requests for a meeting have fallen on deaf ears.

The commission appears to have not met since last spring, although by statute (AS 44.21.256; AS 39.50.200) it is supposed to meet four to six times a year, for a maximum of 15 hours per year.

The commission is in charge of overseeing grants to the 26 public broadcasting radio stations, and the four public television stations in Alaska — Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Bethel. Those grants have been zeroed out due to budget constraints.

Still, Strait says the commission is bound by law to hold quarterly meetings. There is a paid staff that reports to the commission, headed by Mollie Kabler, executive director, so that staff needs to report to someone, but for now, co-chairman Carl Berger has stated through written communications that he has no plans to meet and, further, he has not been able to reach his cochair Lisa (Vaught) Simpson. Both of the co-chairs’ terms expire in August, 2020, unless extended by the governor.

“Having served years on the APBC previously, I know the role it plays in fulfilling its statutory duties. Historically, there are quarterly meetings but I have been unable to convince a majority of commissioners appointed by the previous administration to hold a meeting and the current chairs state they do not intend to meet again in the future,” Strait wrote to Gina Ritacco, director of Boards and Commissions. “The APBC’s last meeting took place May or June 2019. Many managers of public broadcasting question the need for this Commission. APBC public minutes and agendas have disappeared from public access and in short this is a non-functioning Commission,” Strait said. He recommended that the commission be eliminated in statute and that another organization, such as a nonprofit group, could continue the oversight role.

Alaska Statute provides these duties to the commission:

The commission shall
        (1) apply for federal and private funds for public broadcasting purposes and receive all federal, state, or private funds, property, or assistance that may be appropriated, granted, or otherwise made available to the commission for public broadcasting purposes, and use and disburse funds and property for purposes consistent with the terms of AS 44.21.256 – 44.21.290, subject to reasonable limitations imposed by the grantor;
        (2) provide consultative services in all aspects of public broadcasting to all public or private agencies in the state that request them;
        (3) serve as a library and clearinghouse for public broadcasting information;
        (4) through grants to qualified entities, develop an integrated public broadcasting network for the state;
        (5) through grants to qualified entities, develop and distribute public broadcasting programming in the state;
        (6) prepare and submit to the governor and the legislature, in compliance with the state information systems plan adopted by the commissioner of administration, a long-term plan for the development of public broadcasting stations and systems in the state, and biennially update the plan; and
        (7) perform all other functions necessary to ensure the orderly and coordinated development of public broadcasting in the state.

Strait said the commission, which includes Aaron Weaver as also appointed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy in August, has not actually sworn in the Dunleavy appointees since the commission hasn’t met, nor has it produced a long-term plan, as required by statute.

Former Gov. Bill Walker had appropriated $3.5 million for public radio through the commission in 2018, but most of it was vetoed by the governor and the veto was not overridden by the Legislature.

The commission, even without the grants to disperse to the stations, still has a duty to oversee a grant to the rural emergency broadcasting and rural satellite service.

“We as a body need to step up, get active, conduct election with a recommendation to add the position of Secretary to APBC officers,” Strait wrote his fellow board members in October.

The dismantling of the commission would have to occur through statute, but with a staff to oversee, it’s uncertain who Kabler would report to, although her contract ran out last year. She is currently the holder of all the public documents generated by the commission over that past decade.

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