Have you ever noticed how politicians who campaign on "government is bad" rhetoric seem to do everything they can to prove it once elected?
When people ask me what the ham and cheese is going on down there, I shrug. There's no logic to the stonewalling and disregard of basic tasks at hand.
A few weeks ago I listened to a Red Sox game on the radio. It went 19 innings. The back and forth was giving me whiplash and it was a glorious thing. IT WAS A GAME. State politics shouldn't be -- but the idea of all of us winning makes the Republican majority feel like they are losing. The session is now in extra innings.
Imagine a school full of teachers who hated the principal. They don't teach lessons and the children are failing their classes. The teachers then say to the principal, "Hire us as summer school teachers and we'll get it done!" Oh, and we'd like $233 a day in per diem. Guess who loses in this scenario? Everyone.
Earlier this session giant declarations were made by a bunch of the "government is bad" crowd on the floors of the House and Senate. The wringing of hands and near tears blathering was really something. The problem? That mean old federal government not letting Alaska build a road from King Cove to Cold Bay. (Before you have a cow, I support the building of the road.)
The reasons given are true. Building a road would make medical emergencies easier to handle and would save lives.
Great! I agree with the knuckleheads in Juneau on an issue. Saving lives is important -- even if it isn't your own.
According the Republican majority's reasoning, the federal government is bad when it says you can't save lives by building a one-lane, gravel road out of a town with 750 citizens -- and the same federal government is also bad when it tries to help 40,000 Alaskans have access to lifesaving health care through Medicaid expansion. You may have just gone back and reread that sentence. Huh? That doesn't make sense ... exactly! You got my point. For some reason the sanctity of life for one town in Alaska is paramount to 40,000 of us being able to access affordable health care.
While we're finding ways to "save lives," including the souls of King Cove, let's look at Erin's Law. You don't think preventing sexual assault saves lives? Au contraire. A national study shows that one in three rape survivors contemplated suicide. "Those who had been raped were 13 times more likely than non-crime victims to have attempted suicide."
Seriously.The Republican majority is fresh out of reasons to not to pass a law that protects children from sexual assault. No one has ever said their life was better because they were molested. In a conversation about the delay in passing Erin's Law this week, a man said to me, "Why don't they (Republican lawmakers) just hold those children down themselves? They should be charged with aiding and abetting for every sexual assault on a child past this point."
I started to argue with him, but came up with nothing.
When the former administration and most of this crowd sold Alaskans on giving away our oil wealth in trade for a bazillion jobs and a salmon in every smokehouse, I joked that they wouldn't be happy until we were paying the oil companies to take our resources. I was joking! I never thought they'd be bold enough to actually make that a reality. I was wrong. We are paying $642 million more to oil companies in tax credits than they are paying us in production taxes.
Right. We're paying oil companies almost as much as we are putting towards education. Oil tax credits are about $1.2 billion, which is about what we are paying for education.
Think about that. What gives us a better return? Handing the oil companies a check or educating our children?
While the Senate Republicans strut around saying the Democrats are holding them hostage, think about who the real hostages are here. People without access to health care. Children who are being preyed upon. The education of the next generation.
When taking the oath of office to uphold the Alaska Constitution, I'm starting to wonder how many of our legislators had their fingers crossed behind their backs. Considering they make such a show of placing their hands on a Bible, it's a wonder Juneau isn't the lightning strike capital of Alaska.
I realize I may sound like a broken record, but as long as we continue to have a broken Legislature I'll keep going. Keep writing and calling your representatives. (Email them all at once: GOV.AllLegislators@alaska.gov) Keep on their sorry behinds to do the right thing for Alaska. Please, use your words; I hear TSA is fussy about bringing torches and pitchforks on a flight to go see your legislators.
Shannyn Moore is a radio broadcaster.
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