Anchorage Daily News

Assemblyman Paul Bauer wants his colleagues to let Anchorage voters have their say on mandatory citizenship checks by Anchorage police.

In November, his colleagues voted 8-3 to kill his proposed ordinance to the same end.

They were right in November, and there's no reason to vote differently in January.

Critics saw the potential for racism in Mr. Bauer's proposal. Legal immigrants here opposed it and feared racial and ethnic profiling. Anchorage police did not support the proposal because, they argued, they already cooperate with federal immigration authorities and do not need extra duties and strained relations with immigrant communities for little or no gain in public safety.

Are there illegal immigrants in Anchorage and Alaska? Yes, thousands. Is Anchorage a "sanctuary city," one that refuses cooperation with the feds or shelters illegal immigrants? No.

Our police have more than enough to do without having to check the citizenship status of everyone they stop, without having to undergo immigration law-enforcement training.

Mr. Bauer argues that he wants to go to the voters in part because the Assembly refused a full public hearing on his ordinance. True, but both public and professionals weighed in, for the most part said no and pointed out that we're not beset by an illegal-immigrants crime wave. What the Assembly decided was that the issue didn't merit a full public hearing.

Mr. Bauer on Thursday repeated his contention that Anchorage can't afford to "stick its head in the sand" on illegal immigration. Anchorage isn't trying to duck it. But it's a federal responsibility, and APD's job is our public safety. When that job crosses paths with immigration enforcement, cooperation is there, and should be.

Mr. Bauer also stressed that his proposal is about illegal immigrants, in no way aimed at anyone here legally. But his proposed ordinance did stir up some bad blood last fall, and an advisory vote would only perpetuate a needless debate.

The Assembly should reprise its November decision. Better, Mr. Bauer should simply let it go.

BOTTOM LINE: April's ballot shouldn't give sanctuary to a proposal once deported.

Kidney gift

Ethics shouldn't be a life or death matter for legislator

The Legislature should quickly make it clear that it's OK to be a kidney recipient, even if you're a legislator.

Rep. Richard Foster of Nome had a mild stroke recently, but even before that, had kidney disease that sent him to a Juneau hospital three times per week for dialysis.

Sue Stancliff, an aide to another legislator, offered to give him a kidney, and appears to be a match.

But the legislative ethics law passed last year includes a $250 limit on even "compassionate" gifts to legislators, such as for a health emergency.

A new kidney is surely worth more than that, even if it doesn't have a set price.

North Pole Rep. John Coghill has introduced a bill that would eliminate the dollar limit for compassionate gifts.

That should do the job.

BOTTOM LINE: If Rep. Foster needs a new kidney, it should be ethical for him to get one.

Police calls

After 8 of them, they'll cost

Police who get tired of responding to the same old neighborhood addresses for the same old violations of neighborhood peace -- drunkenness, all-night traffic, drug dealing and too much noise -- have started to enforce a six-year-old ordinance that allows them to charge the owners for police calls.

Good, and we hope enforcement either changes bad actors' behavior or runs them out of town.

The ordinance allows police to charge landlords or homeowners if their properties get more than eight police calls in a year. With reasonable exceptions -- domestic violence and medical emergencies among them -- for the ninth call, police will be able to charge the owner or landlord $500.

Eight calls in a year? That's light for some of the worst locations in town -- crack houses, for example, which tend to be open 24/7 and provide chronic blight and threat for weary neighbors. Anyone who has lived near such trade knows what a pain it is, knows how it is to wonder every night if things will be quiet or disruptive, knows the worries about safety and the infuriating frustration when nothing changes despite call after call.

The city has billed the owner of an Airport Heights home $23,000. That house is boarded and in foreclosure, and the city has yet to collect.

That's all right. The domestic tranquility is worth much more than the money.

BOTTOM LINE: Owners of crack houses and the like should pay for the toll they take on police resources and neighbors.

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