Anchorage Daily News

The Alaska Legislature, reeling from corruption convictions of three of its former members, isn't done arguing ethics.

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Rep. Kevin Meyer

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Anchorage Republican Rep. Kevin Meyer said he plans to put in a bill meant to generate discussion about whether legislators should get to vote on something in which they have a potential conflict of interest. Currently, conflicts don't stop voting.

Meyer is also crafting a bill to forbid state legislators who are running for federal office from raising campaign money when the Legislature is in session. That takes a poke at Kodiak Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux's fundraising for her congressional race during this fall's special session on oil taxes.

Gov. Sarah Palin plans to get into the ethics mix as well with some bills of her own. Palin's legislative director, Russ Kelly, said the specifics are still being worked out.

Some Alaska legislators are weary of being reminded about the corruption that was in their midst. But it doesn't look as though it's going away as an issue anytime soon.

Kodiak Republican LeDoux, who is running for Don Young's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been banging the drum loudly in recent weeks. LeDoux has been writing op-ed newspaper columns complaining that legislators routinely vote on bills in which they have a conflict of interest.

Alaska has a part-time citizen Legislature. Some legislators are essentially professional politicians, but others have ties to fishing, labor unions, oil, tourism and other interests that constantly have bills before the Legislature. Alaska legislators are required to publicly disclose their financial ties.

It's tradition in the Legislature to require all lawmakers who declare a conflict of interest to vote anyway. Basically, a legislator with a potential conflict is supposed to ask his colleagues to excuse him from voting. But all it takes is one other legislator to say, "I object," and he has to vote. There's always at least one objection.

LeDoux raised the issue in Juneau last month during the special session on raising oil taxes. She argued without success that legislators with ties to the oil industry should not vote.

Anchorage Rep. Meyer is one of the legislators LeDoux was talking about. He works in purchasing for Conoco Phillips, the state's biggest oil producer, when he is not in Juneau as a legislator.

Meyer is one of the most influential members of the state House and is running for the state Senate in next fall's elections. There have already been letters to the editor charging that he is conflicted by the fact that he works for an oil company.

Meyer consistently discloses his employer when oil bills come up in committee and on the floor.

"I'm pretty sensitive to it," he said.

Meyer said his bill would set up a process similar to what happened when he was on the Anchorage Assembly, although he had problems with that process too.

Basically, he said, the Assembly members would take a vote on whether one of their colleagues had a conflict and should be barred from voting on a proposal.

But Meyer said that didn't really work too well. The votes on whether an Assembly member was conflicted often came down to whoever might be a political ally on the issue at hand, he said. So the process became too political, he said.

Meyer actually thinks the Legislature's current system is better than that. He said everyone in his district knows where he works and he's uncomfortable with them not having a representative when an issue comes up that is related to the oil industry.

But he said he is open to changing the system and hopes putting in a bill will generate debate.

"The discussion will be healthy. Through the discussion maybe we can come up with a hybrid version that works even better," Meyer said.

LeDoux said she'd like to see a clear rule that forbids legislators with financial interests in a bill from voting. She conceded it could be hard to sort out just who had financial ties to any given bill, but said the matter could go to the legislative ethics committee to be sorted out.

One ethics measure already in Alaska law forbids legislators from raising campaign money for state offices when the Legislature is in session.

The idea is to avoid any appearance of quid pro quo. Meyer said he wants to expand the law to also forbid legislators from raising money for federal office during session.

"It doesn't look good, whether you are looking for state office or federal office," he said.

LeDoux said she made some phone calls during the recent special session on oil taxes and raised just a little money for her congressional campaign. She pointed out that it's legal but said she's open to the possibility of outlawing it.

"We could certainly talk about that," LeDoux said.

LeDoux said she's also pushing a bill that mirrors the Alaskans for Clean Elections initiative. It would allow state candidates who agree to forgo private fundraising to be eligible for public financing of their campaigns.

Find Sean Cockerham online at adn.com/contact/scockerham or call him at 257-4344.

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