"We don't give a damn how they do it outside" was a sticker adorning many an Alaska bumper in the 1970s. It expressed the huge difference between the Alaska and Lower 48 everyday-life experiences. An attitude brewed in territorial days that resonated loudly in the first two decades of statehood. That once-potent brew of Alaska exceptionalism is now a tepid tablespoon of Texas swamp.
Iconic Alaska governors Egan, Hickel, and Hammond understood our need to be independent and responsible for coming to solutions as Alaskans standing shoulder to shoulder. Our constitution and our culture reinforced this mindset.
Alaska is the model "Owner State" but evidence from the past 30 years reveals a state owned by the oil industry titans with North Slope leases. Oil industry corruption in our executive and legislative branches of government is well-documented.
One-party rule in both executive and legislative branches has shaped Alaska's government for many of the past 30 years. The Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council has provided off-the-shelf right-wing legislation while the agendas and strategies of the national Republican Party are mirrored in current programs and policies for Alaska.
Elections in November 2014 produced a historic result with the defeat of incumbent Gov. Parnell. For the first time, a nonpartisan Alaskan, not on the ticket of any major or minor political party, was elected governor. Bill Walker, mentored by Wally Hickel, became our governor with his governing values framed by the principal of Alaska First.
With the loss of the executive branch, shock waves rolled through the Republican majority in the Legislature. Full implementation of their right-wing agendas, strategies and plans presumed a Gov. Parnell for four more years. They have now adopted the bully's strategy of obstruct, slash and burn.
Their strategy is not about doing what is right for Alaska; it is about denying Gov. Walker. It is about doing everything they can to make Bill Walker a one-term governor and returning to one-party rule with plans to extend that ruling system by politicizing the judicial branch.
They refuse to consider having the oil industry titans share in the inevitable sacrifices, preferring that already stressed Alaskans feel the pain. They threaten our Permanent Fund.
They refused throughout the 90-day regular session to involve the independent-Democratic minority caucus in finding solutions. Now they whine about being held hostage when the minority caucus asks that their concerns be addressed before signing onto a $2-3 billion withdrawal.
The current Republican legislative majority is hugely invested in one-party rule where they carry water for the oil industry titans and in return they control the crumbs which trickle down; they have little interest in working with a nonpartisan executive branch focused on Alaska-first values.
FBI recordings in 2006 exposed just whose interests one-party rule serves. Spoiler alert: it is not the maximum benefit of Alaska's people as authorized in our constitution.
Oil industry corruption affected the 2006 elections. One-party rule ended with the organization of the newly elected Senate into a bipartisan coalition. The Legislature then repealed the corruption-tainted PPT tax system and replaced it with ACES, a rare instance of oil tax legislation that was not written by lobbyists for the oil industry titans.
What the 2006 elections gave, the 2012 elections took away. Goodbye bipartisan coalition, hello one-party rule; Goodbye ACES, hello Senate Bill 21; Goodbye Valdez, hello Nikiski.
134,658 Alaskans voted for the unity ticket, a nonpartisan answer to one-party rule under the thumb of oil industry titans.
If you gave voice to change with your vote in November for the unity ticket, implementing that change includes continued shoulder-to-shoulder engagement with Gov. Walker. He is working for the reinsertion of Alaska's sovereignty with maximum benefit to all Alaskans.
We must make it clear to House Speaker Mike Chenault that one-party rule under the thumb of titans is over. It did not work in the Soviet Union, and it has not and will not work for Alaskans.
After 35 years, Mike Kenny retired from Teamsters Local 959 as its secretary treasurer in 2007. He has many years' experience on Alaska's North Slope and with the trans-Alaska Pipeline, in the field and in the boardroom. He led the All-Alaska Alliance and worked with Wally Hickel and David Gottstein in Backbone II, both groups that advocate an all-Alaska gasline. He is currently a member of Backbone.
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, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.