When do you suppose government stopped working for us and we started working for government? When did our elected officials become royalty?
There was no memo; no Internet video; no meeting. One day, without warning, they switched from servants to haughty masters.
In Washington, D.C., while ignoring history, our betters are spending this nation into bankruptcy and pocketing as much freedom as they can. In Alaska -- at the state and local level -- government arrogance is pandemic, and getting worse. State officials ignore public records law and refuse to amend Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share, a stifling oil tax choking off North Slope exploration, investment and job creation.
Gov. Sean Parnell neatly sidesteps the state constitution and its hiring prohibitions. Twice. He refuses to tell Alaskans what is known about the Alaska Pipeline Project's gas line open season, which ends July 31 -- but he says he'll tell us after the November elections. Politics? Nah, it's just logistics, he says. Parnell supports Sarah Palin's silly Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, which has cost the state $500 million. If the open season tanks -- if there is no interest in the gas line -- there could be a problem for him, logistically speaking, I mean. After the election? Not so much.
Then, there is the Parnell administration's award a few days ago of a $2 million contract to Gaffney, Cline and Associates for oil and gas tax consulting. The firm, it turns out, already consults for the Revenue Department on oil and gas and its contract was ending.
The solicitation went out with a scant 13-day turnaround. Can you say, "gimme a break"? The same people, the same ideas, the same advice, the same outcome. That's Palin-inspired government.
While state arrogance is bad enough, the Anchorage Assembly takes the prize. It is a veritable clown car. There is no need to even go into the union giveaways or its other crimes against taxpayers. Several of its members believe they are the mayor. Some think they are cops. At least one just has no clue.
Six of them decided to amend a city ordinance a few days ago to allow firefighters -- while getting paid -- to help in the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Alaska's "Fill the Boot" solicitation. The MDA does great work, and I'm fond of firefighters, especially the guys in Eagle River who saved my patoot a while back.
That does not mean they should get paid to work for a private nonprofit, and it does not mean the Assembly should allow them. For pure legislative misfeasance, it is difficult to imagine a more fitting example, a more telling vote, than this one, in which Assembly members simply invited taxpayers to drop dead. (For the record, here are the people who believe your tax money is theirs to play with as they will: Assembly Chairman Dick Traini, members Mike Gutierrez, Paul Honeman, Ernie Hall, Harriet Drummond and Elvi Gray-Jackson. You may want a word with them.)
The amendment is an affront not only because of its errant do-goodism, but because it goes even further. It says city resources and employee fundraising are immune to ethics charges "if duly authorized by the Assembly or in writing by the Mayor or the Mayor's designee."
Ah, we enter the land of unintended consequences, home for those who think with their hearts. The new language makes the Assembly a policy-making body, something it surely is not. It was never meant to be. What happens when the "Daughters of al-Qaida" Anchorage chapter shows up and asks the mayor for solicitation help? Or the non-profit arm of the North American Man-Boy Love Association, with its pals, the American Civil Liberties Union, in tow?
Not all non-profits, it turns out, are run by nice people. If the mayor refuses, will a group then ask the Assembly and get a "yes"?
Policy-making is the executive branch's domain. Mayor Dan Sullivan has made it clear he's not thrilled with the amendment. A veto would head off a laundry list of trouble. How will participating non-profits be selected? Who will pick them? Perhaps most important: How will -- or can -- the Assembly say "yes" to one and "no" to another?
For government arrogance, Washington is terrible, the state is bad, but this city is hard to beat, and for some reason most of us stay home on election day. Go figure.
Paul Jenkins is editor of the Anchorage Daily Planet.
PAUL JENKINS
COMMENT