Opinions

Walker's transition conference is the right start for challenges ahead

Transparency in government --It's a concept we all hear every election cycle, so often that it has largely been dismissed as cliche. However, we recently saw what that could look like.

History was made last weekend, and we were all invited to a seat at the table. University of Alaska Anchorage classrooms, the Lucy Cuddy Center and the Alaska Airlines Center made up the backdrop for people from all over Alaska coming together to discuss what the face of Alaska is going to look like in the next four years.

Gov.-elect Bill Walker hosted a three-day transition conference at the UAA campus over the weekend. The event, which was also open to the public and media, consisted of 250 Alaskans broken into 17 committees on different topics including education, subsistence, oil and gas, public safety and other important issues facing our state. The transition team leaders say that the results will be compiled over the next few weeks and made available to the public.

The first thing I noticed, looking around the room at breakfast, was the diversity of the group. It wasn't just a large group of Alaskans; it was a large group of Alaska experts from all walks of life, and literally from across the state.

Men and women who generally would argue and debate one another sat at tables and calmly, logically and reasonably worked through the issues that will shape the future of Alaska. Current and former legislators from both parties, experts in every field and great representation from rural Alaska defined the weekend.

Written on the board in the education committee's area was "Respect for self, family and land" -- that could have been the slogan for the entire conference. While the group that was brought together has certainly shared quite a bit of animosity in the past --they came together for a common goal, a common purpose and it showed in their civil discourse.

The concept of a "transition team" is a mystery to most people. What they accomplish is debatable. I heard from some who had served on transition teams in the past the experience was "a waste of time," "a table full of people shouting over themselves" and that they "accomplished nothing."

ADVERTISEMENT

Nobody I talked to came away from this conference with that experience.

Committees referred to themselves as teams, they took group photos, they voted on the priority levels of the standards they established and they walked arm in arm with people who are usually adversaries towards a common goal.

How much of a difference will this conference make? Who knows? There will be a document created that will help guide the governor and his Cabinet as they move forward. Did these Alaskans solve any of our problems? Not a chance. However, they did put some genuine issues on the table, discussed some realistic solutions and examined the barriers to the solutions they had proposed.

More importantly, a couple hundred Alaskans walked away from the UAA campus feeling like they had some input into how the next administration will proceed.

Now it's time to go to work.

This is not going to be an easy four years for Gov.-elect Walker -- it will be one of the most difficult terms any governor has ever served. According to Brad Keithley, an Anchorage attorney and an oil and gas industry expert, the state will have to cut more than $2 billion out of the budget due to declining oil prices.

Gov.-elect Walker will also be under the gun to strike a deal to produce a natural gas pipeline -- not only to generate revenue, but also to provide gas to communities right here in Alaska that desperately need it. Many will argue that Gov. Sean Parnell got us closer to that goal than any other governor in history and that Walker is about to derail that plan. Walker says that he can strike a better deal and now the burden is on him to do so.

We don't know what the next four years will bring -- the future of oil and gas exploration, the gas pipeline and a sustainable budget all pose questions for which we don't have answers. However, we have now gotten a glimpse of how Gov.-elect Walker will govern, and if this trend holds through the next four years, we can rest assured that those answers will be sought by a broad and diverse group of the best and brightest in the state.

Mike Dingman is a fifth-generation Alaskan born and raised in Anchorage. He is a former UAA student body president and has worked, studied and volunteered in Alaska politics since the late 90s. Email, michaeldingman@gmail.com.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com

Mike Dingman

Mike Dingman is a fifth-generation Alaskan born and raised in Anchorage. He is a former UAA student body president and has worked, studied and volunteered in Alaska politics since the late '90s.

ADVERTISEMENT