Contributed by James Squyres
What's going on in YOUR Town Hall meetings? There was a legislative Town Hall meeting in the Delta Junction LIO on Sunday, July 1st with Senator Mike Shower and Representative George Rauscher. Both of these legislators' districts stretch into the readership of this paper, so I know you are interested.
Numerous topics were brought up by the people there. When both legislators were talking and agreeing on being fiscally conservative, I thought it was a good time to bring up HB331, the O&G Bonding Bill of almost 1 BILLION DOLLARS which was a component of the “Governor's Economic Stimulus Package”. After all, Mike Shower voted AGAINST the bill and George Rauscher voted FOR the bill and they are BOTH fiscally conservative??? Nope, I don't think so.
Many are upset with George Rauscher for his vote to pass HB331. I agreed with Mike Shower's courageous NO vote on HB331 and outlined four problems with the bill that Alaskans should be concerned with:
1) The constitutionality of the bill is in question and potentially violates Article 9, Section 8 of the Alaska Constitution, setting a dangerous precedent. If they can bond for this, they can bond for anything. The Constitution indicates that Alaskans are supposed to vote on bonds, yet they came up with a mischievous way to try and get around it that is now subject to a lawsuit.
2) According to a Department of Revenue graph, the debt could go up between 100-150 million out into the future because of the bonding and defers off the payments to the next generation and different legislators.
3) The Bond Maturity Schedule KICKS THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD to a time when PERS/TRS obligations really start to pile on creating a PERFECT STORM which WILL put even more pressure on the PFD.
4) The statutory minimum payment this year on these O&G Credits was 184 million. The Bonding goes way BEYOND that minimum obligation while on the other hand the state is in violation of the PFD statute and will not pay the minimum approximately $2,700 statutory amount calculated for the PFD.
After outlining the four points, I asked Rauscher to listen to and respond to a short audio of Brad Keithley, founder of Alaskans for a Sustainable Budget, taken from the Michael Dukes Show on June 5th, where he expresses grave concerns over George's HB331 vote.
I was not impressed with Rauscher's responses. He indicated that he thought that the bill created jobs, yet we know that much of that money has the potential to leave the state and that a full PFD has a greater multiplier effect (per ISER at 1.4) and a better effect on the overall Alaska economy. When responding to the constitutionality he indicated “that it has not happened yet”, like maybe it won’t, and all will be okay or maybe he meant that since it has not happened yet, his vote to make it happen does not matter. He indicated that the discount rate that the state would receive by paying off the bonds was 15%, which is incorrect. The two discount rate programs are 5.1% and 10%. For a ONE BILLON dollar bonding bill that he voted on, his lack of knowledge and concern was alarming.
This was an important vote by George Rauscher, which was neither fiscally responsible or conservative and may have violated his oath of office. It simply amounts to paying off those who scream the loudest with the credit card and creating potentially unconstitutional bonds. One of the men at the town hall meeting followed up by simply telling everyone, “Bonds are bad.” Maybe that is why our Constitution calls for all of us to vote on it.
Birds of a feather? Besides George Rauscher in the House District 9 race, we have Jim Colver, who voted for HB247 in his day (arguably the swing vote!), which extended and kicked these O&G refundable tax credits down the road with a 700-million-dollar fiscal note. This last time around Rauscher voted AGAINST HB111, which was the bill to stop accruing more credits. Despite his NO vote, HB111 did pass and effectively stopped the carnage.
The best choice in the House District 9 race is really the FIRST CHOICE, Pam Goode. She is Goode2Go and the only one running a clean conservative campaign that started back in December.
These other two piled in at the last moment. Rauscher had filed for and been committed to the Senate race, which would have had him running against Mike Shower. You can see the major difference in their fiscal voting record with this HB331 vote. I guess Rauscher thought he could leave it behind when he flipped to the House race except in this case Goode, who has long understood the fiscal debacle around these credits would have voted in lockstep with Shower against the bonding.
Vote Pam Goode, August 21 Republican Primary. It is time to leave the birds of a feather in the dust.
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