Two ConocoPhillips employees serving in the Alaska Legislature spoke out Friday against calls from them to step down from voting on bills affecting their employer. State Sen. Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, and Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, have been key players in passage in the Senate of a oil tax cut bill which could be worth $1 billion or more per year. They also work for the largest oil and gas producer in the state, a company that stands to benefit greatly if the Legislature passes the tax cut.
Expressing irritation at press coverage and public calls for them to recuse themselves from voting -- including at public rallies around the state Thursday -- the two said what they were doing was legal. In fact, they said, they were required by legislative rules to vote on the oil tax bill, as reported by Alaska Dispatch on Thursday night.
"We are both honest, honorable people," Meyer said, and their constituents were aware who they worked for when they voted them into office. Meyer said he made it clear in his campaigns that he worked for Conoco.
Meyer and Micciche were speaking at the regular weekly press conference of the Senate Majority Caucus on Friday. Micciche was mayor of Soldotna, as well as superintendent of ConocoPhillips' LNG plant in Nikiski, at the time of his election. Micciche complained about the focus on his employer.
"It would be nice if the press would be fair," he said.
Many other industries have workers serving in the Legislature who vote on issues related to those industries, without such criticism, he said. "We should probably have more people working in the oil industry (and serving in the Legislature), given the benefit it has to Alaska," Micciche said.
Oil is the largest industry in Alaska, with oil companies paying taxes, royalties and fees that fund the overwhelming majority of state government.
Micciche said that even if recusal could be done under the Legislature's rules, it wouldn't be good for constituents, given that there are only 20 senators.
"That's one 20th of Alaska that gets no voice," he said.
The people who criticize him, Micciche said, are those who don't agree with cutting taxes on the oil industry -- a move the proponents say will help spur new production in Alaska's declining oil patch.
Senate Bill 21, which could provide several billion dollars in tax reductions, passed by an 11-9 vote in the Senate late last month. The bill would have failed if even one of the two Conoco employees had been unable to vote. And that would have been wrong, Meyer said.
"I'm not going to have 35,000 Alaskans be disenfranchised," he said.
Contact Pat Forgey at pat(at)alaskadispatch.com