Anchorage voters were in a financially cautious mood this year. They turned down five of eight bond proposals, passed a charter amendment intended to reduce taxes, and set up a mayoral runoff election between two critics of current property tax levels. By passing Prop. 9 Tuesday, voters said they definitely want tighter control on taxes. They were undeterred by arguments that imprecise wording in Prop. 9 might actually allow taxes to go up faster. Expect lots of debate about how the next mayor and Assembly apply the newly defined tax limit when they write future budgets.
Dan Sullivan's strong showing in the mayor's race -- 43 percent, more than double his closest challenger -- was especially notable. He offered voters a radical notion -- abolishing property taxes altogether, to be replaced by a sales tax. Second-place finisher Eric Croft opposes a sales tax but promised reforms in how the city handles property tax appeals. The May 5 runoff election will give voters a chance to say how far they want to go with their complaints about property taxes.
The Assembly and school board wisely scaled down this year's bond proposals, but it was no surprise voters were balky, considering the state of the national economy. Even in better times, it's tough to get voter approval for library and park bonds. More surprising was the failure of the police headquarters bond and the school bonds. Normally public safety bonds do well, and the school bonds were a bargain, since they carried a state promise to pay well more than half the debt.
Perhaps a recovering economy will lead voters to be more supportive of bonds next year. Anchorage's economy is doing better than most parts of the country, but voters still saw a shadow of uncertainty about the future. At least next year there won't be a mayor's race, when complaints about property taxes are usually at a peak.
The city's $17 million budget gap certainly didn't help put voters in the mood to invest money in community improvements. It didn't put them in the mood to elect the person who is dealing with that gap, either. Acting Mayor Matt Claman finished fifth. So much for the notion that being the acting mayor would offer a leg up in this year's race for City Hall.
Still, he and others who ran and lost provided voters a valuable service. The huge field of candidates who ran for mayor and four school board seats made sure there was lots of competition in the election -- and for that they deserve a hearty thanks.
BOTTOM LINE: Anchorage voters seemed uncertain about the economy and unhappy about property taxes.
Enough
Gov. Palin's move prolongs fight over Juneau Senate vacancy
Gov. Sarah Palin's latest move has unnecessarily prolonged the decision on who will fill the Juneau Senate vacancy. It's unfortunate she and Democrats are still feuding over the choice, because Juneau lacks full representation in the Legislature just as the most important decisions of the session are being made.
The governor and Democrats have been at loggerheads from Day 1 on this. State law calls for give and take when filling legislative vacancies. The governor picks someone. Senate or House members of the departing person's party accept or reject her choice. If the candidate is rejected, the governor picks someone else.
This means Senate Democrats and Gov. Palin have to work cooperatively to pick a senator. That hasn't happened to this point.
The Juneau Democratic Party started the standoff by giving the governor only one name as a possible replacement, instead of the traditional three.
But the governor kept it going with one jab after another at the Democrats.
Her first choice to fill Elton's seat was a legislative aide, Tim Grussendorf, who had to switch his registration from Republican to Democrat to qualify.
Then she refused for a time to accept the Senate Democrats' decision to reject Grussendorf.
After Juneau Democrats made a concession and gave Palin three names to choose from, the governor still picked someone not on their list, Joe Nelson.
That's where the matter stood Wednesday afternoon.
This standoff would be over if Gov. Palin had picked someone from the party's latest list of nominees. That's what she did in 2007, when a Republican House seat became vacant.
Enough with the partisan gamesmanship. Juneau has already waited too long for the representation it needs in the state Senate.
BOTTOM LINE: The governor should co-operate with Juneau Dems and name one of their nominees to the Senate vacancy.