This election is a gift. Rarely does the political left drop its phony pretense and show us its face, what it is willing to do and say to get its way, but voters in Tuesday's election are getting a front-row seat to just such a show.
The fight over Proposition 8 is center-stage. If adopted, it would repeal language the Anchorage Assembly's liberal majority plugged into the city's tax cap calculation late last year. That language allowed increased property taxes to support ever more government spending.
Last year's change is shaking down taxpayers for more than $1 million in added taxes this year alone. Had it been in effect since 2008 -- and the city taxed to the maximum under the tax cap -- taxpayers this year would be coughing up nearly $142 million in additional taxes, not including the school levy.
To repeal the new language, "Tax Cap Defenders" was formed. Former Mayor Dan Sullivan, Bob Griffin, three other former mayors and a double handful of Assembly members, political candidates and businessmen are among Proposition 8's supporters.
To keep the new language, Democrats conjured up "Protect the Tax Cap." Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, Democrat stalwart Barney Gottstein and -- ta-da -- the AFL-CIO anted up a wad of cash to get it started. None of that group, believe me, is about smaller government. Also aboard are private equity guy Mark Kroloff and Alaska Communications' Leonard Steinberg. Joelle Hall, an AFL-CIO director of operations, is chairwoman.
This bunch more aptly should be named "Protect Our Spending." Its mission is to confuse voters and preserve last year's Assembly tax cap change to set the stage for whopping tax increases. The idea is to soak you to make up for dwindling state funding and not be forced to reduce city government's size -- no matter what. "Flexibility" is what the left calls it.
To gauge how desperate Berkowitz, et al., are to dig deeper into your pocket -- even cracking open the left's playbook of name-calling, outright fibs and invoking the evil Koch brothers -- listen to one of their radio ads.
A female announcer begins: "Don't monkey with the tax cap. Our tax cap has worked just fine for 30 years, so just leave it alone.
"Unfortunately, those monkey overlords, the Koch brothers, want you to mess with it," she continues. "The steaming pile of monkey business is Proposition 8. You'll read it like we did and won't even know what it means because it's legal mumbo-jumbo.
"But here is the upshot -- it actually incentivizes government waste. You heard me, you want government to waste money and spend every last penny of your budget each year? That's what Prop. 8 does."
Unbelievably, she asserts excess taxes never will be refunded to taxpayers if Proposition 8 passes and there will be fewer police and firefighters, less public safety.
What a crock. The tax cap language up for repeal has been on the books only since late last year -- not for 30 years, and what the Koch brothers -- monkey overlords, or not -- have to do with anything is beyond me.
Is Proposition 8 "legal mumbo-jumbo?" You betcha. It was, in large part, written by Berkowitz's legal team and unchallenged by Proposition 8 supporters because of time constraints for signature gathering. Sponsors are using, simply, "Yes on Proposition 8," because of Berkowitz's guys.
Would Proposition 8 be "incentivizing" government waste? Would there be fewer cops and firefighters, less public safety? That is simply stupid.
Proposition 8 would keep our peckish Assembly majority from running wild with tax hikes to underwrite Berkowitz's utopian vision for the city. Mind you, despite a declared surplus, the Assembly increased property taxes more than $11 million already this year. A yes vote on Proposition 8 would do exactly what voters intended in 1983 when they adopted the cap: keep this circus in the tent.
While the Berkowitz-Gottstein-union charade to deceive voters is beneath contempt, it is only one of this election's several oddities.
Take, for instance, Nicholas Begich III, a registered Republican running against Republican Amy Demboski for her Eagle River-Chugiak Assembly seat.
All but a few of his contributions are from outside Demboski's district. and he has Chapter One of the "Who's Who" of Alaska's political left backing him -- and strong union support. He says he voted for Berkowitz for mayor. He wonders why folks are skeptical.
This election truly is a gift.
Paul Jenkins is editor of the AnchorageDailyPlanet.com, a division of Porcaro Communications, headed by Mike Porcaro, one of 10 who signed to put Proposition 8 on the April 5 ballot.
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. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com or click here to submit via any web browser.