Reelection should not be the measure of success

By Larry Persily

The Alaska Legislature will reconvene in Juneau in less than two weeks, with a stack of difficult issues weighing on lawmakers: School funding, disaster rebuilding, chronic vacancies in the state workforce, low oil prices (less state revenue), taxes, the mythical natural gas pipeline project that wants a massive tax break, backfilling for the loss of federal funding, the crisis in child care services, the state’s share of retirement contributions and restoring a true retirement plan for public employees.

And the icing on the political cake at the end of each legislative session: Setting the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend.

The list is longer than the course schedule in my final semester of college. I needed passing grades in seven classes to get a diploma. It was my own fault for not doing the work the first three years.

 That last semester was about four months long, about the same time as the 121 days that Alaska legislators will have to do their homework before adjournment in May.

They will likely put off the hardest decisions until the final days. That’s the way it usually works, giving lawmakers time to get used to the inevitable hard calls and disappointments, wearing down all sides on the issues until a majority can accept a deal.

No doubt many of the legislative decisions will be difficult, most will require heavy lifting to overcome political opposition and many will result in wounded pride.

Aside from strained backs and bruised egos, a lot of those decisions will jeopardize legislators’ efforts to win reelection in the fall. Whereas I was motivated that last semester to get a degree and get a job, too many legislators are motivated by keeping their job.

Lawmakers — at least most of them — know what is needed for a better future for Alaska. But for too long, the holdup to coughing up what is needed, the put-up-or-shut-up moment, is the next election.

A memorable statement almost 20 years summed up the dilemma in less than 20 words: “We all know what to do, we just don’t know how to get reelected after we’ve done it.” That was President Jean-Claude Juncker, then serving as prime minister of Luxembourg, which has fewer residents than even Alaska.

A European Commission report in 2008 elaborated on Juncker’s statement: “Politicians are deeply aware of the need for structural reform in Europe … yet they are reluctant to bite the bullet out of fear to lose the next general elections. Of course, this fear is rooted in experience.”

Putting reelection over responsible decisions is all too common. Just look at Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s seven-year itch to do little but talk about big dividends and big plans, as if he were in perpetual reelection mode.

But structural reform is what the state needs.

Alaska needs a long-term fiscal structure that collects enough money to fund the public services, education, roads, ferries and all the other pieces of a state that attract residents, not drive them away.

We need a tax structure that draws on more than just oil wells, that earns a share of the earnings taken by online merchants that profit from Alaskans, that ensures non-residents who draw substantial wages in Alaska leave some of it behind to help pay for services, and that calls on Alaskans to help pay the bills too.

We need leaders this year among the 60 legislators. They know what to do — even if the governor vetoes their work. It’s up to Alaskans to reelect the ones who do their job.

• Larry Persily is the publisher of the Wrangell Sentinel, which first published this column.