Wild Applause! Way to go Anchorage!
It was wonderful to see in this week's mayoral runoff that 60 percent of voters hate hypocrites, not gay people. I can't remember an Alaska election where a Democrat won by 20 points, although considering the alternative on this particular ballot, it should have been by 40 points. We'll work on that.
The other ray of sunshine was the rejection of the Rev. Jerry Prevo's anointment powers. Imagine how different Anchorage would be if Jerry had mega-churched some other city. In the 1980s, I recall, Jerry returned from a trip to South Africa to announce that apartheid was good and divesting was bad. He supported President P.W. Botha, whom he called a reformer. At the time, Botha was "reforming" Nelson Mandela with unlimited prison time.?? Anyway, that's history. In this election, Jerry was as wrong about Amy Demboski as he was about apartheid, and the voters saw it. I'm pretty sure whatever or whomever he supports next will be just as wrong. That's just how Jerry rolls.
Alaska will be a better place the day people stop kissing his ring and realize he isn't working for who he says he is, he's working for the other guy.
??In other news, the Legislature is living the high life. The Taj MaHawker fairly gleams in the spring sunshine. Wow. No wonder legislators wanted to come back to Anchorage. This is a major case of "movin' on up" for them. They have $200 automatic garbage cans! Too bad such a beautiful building is still full of what most outhouses are. Seriously. We have a citizen Legislature that is supposed to work for 90 days. Instead we have professional legislators who can't get their work done on time but have the nicest offices in town and no public parking. Brilliant.
At least we're so broke so we can't fully fund education. Is anyone buying this? Anyone? I was thrilled to see a piece in the paper this week from Malcolm Roberts and Chancy Croft announcing that Backbone, an "Alaskan-based citizens group that follows Alaska state oil and gas policy," has returned to active duty. This bipartisan group has more total years of political service to the state than we've been a state. See, the Republican majority has said they won't talk about revenue. Can you imagine that if you lost your income -- suppose you lost your job -- would you only talk about cutting household expenses and refuse to discuss how you might bring in a little more money? Only a fool would think like that; unfortunately, we've got about 45 of them in the Legislature.
A statewide poll conducted last month asked:?? "The state revised its oil tax law in 2013, and Alaskans voted by a narrow margin in August not to repeal the new tax system. At current oil prices, the state gives out more in oil tax credits to the oil industry than it receives in revenue from the oil industry. Would you support the Legislature revisiting the issue of oil credits and taxes in light of the current deficit?"
??Before I tell you the results, answer for yourself. (It's a yes or no question.)?? The sample of Alaskans answered: 71 percent yes, 22.2 percent no, and 6.8 percent don't know or won't answer.?? Almost 64 percent wanted education funded in the "original amount that was committed in last year's 3-year funding plan." Just a bit more than 60 percent supported new state tax revenue going to public education. (Here's the kicker: only 22.8 percent had children enrolled in public school.) ??Even though the Republican majority in Juneau doesn't want to revisit the topic of tax credits to our three oil giants, almost three out of four Alaskans know it's a conversation that needs to happen. After the millions Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and BP spent last year to convince Alaskans they would need to have a yard sale to keep producing here, the companies don't want that conversation either. I mean, what if Alaskans figure out that we're de-funding schools so multinational oil companies can use Alaska as an ATM? Whoa, things could get tense. In the 1990s, oil dropped as low as $8 a barrel. And we still made money. From our nonrenewable resource.
So, oil giants, please yank the leashes of your trained monkeys in the Legislature and tell them to fund education, pass Erin's Law and expand Medicaid. Yours seem to be the only voices the majority caucuses can hear. Thousands of emails, phone calls and rallies certainly haven't gotten their attention.
If you don't do that, we Alaskans are coming for your tax credits. That just might be the easiest 50,000 signatures we've ever had to collect.
Shannyn Moore is a radio broadcaster.
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