By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
State Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins says Gov. Dunleavy’s recent roll-back of some of his budget vetoes is only a partial repair of the damage caused by his first round of vetoes.
“It’s gone from a complete disaster to just a normal disaster,” said Kreiss-Tomkins, a Democrat who represents Sitka, Petersburg and other smaller Southeast communities in the state house. “Alaska, parts of Alaska, have in so many ways been ruined by his rash and scorched-earth decisions and world view.”
Kreiss-Tomkins, out of the state on vacation, spoke to the Sentinel by phone.
He said the governor’s dramatic shift in the past week was in one sense surprising, and, in another, not.
“As the recall effort has broken all speed records in Alaska political history, maybe it’s not such a surprise,” he said.
Kreiss-Tomkins said it appears the required signatures for the first phase of the recall may be gathered in three weeks, far ahead of the time it usually takes to gather the same number of signatures for putting an item on the ballot.
“Ballot initiatives usually take four to six months for signatures,” he said.
Organizers of the recall effort need to collect 28,501 signatures in the first phase, and 71,252 in the second phase – or 25 percent of the number of voters in the last general election.
On Tuesday Dunleavy announced that he would reduce this year’s cuts to the University of Alaska from $136 million to $25 million this year, and $45 million more over the following two years. He also restored funds previously vetoed for Head Start and the Senior Benefits program.
“So that’s huge,” Kreiss-Tomkins said of the restoration of Senior Benefits. Restoration of UA funding will have some positive “downstream effects” for students and indirect effects on the Sitka campus.
Kreiss-Tomkins said Dunleavy’s original plan to veto Head Start funds made no sense, since much of the program’s funds come from federal sources, with a state match, and since the program has proven benefits to youngsters.
“The data and evidence show it’s a great investment,” he said.
But for many programs the damage has been done, the Sitka legislator said.
The governor has indicated he will not roll back the public radio cuts, change his plan to eliminate the State Council on the Arts, or restore the millions of dollars he has cut from the ferry system, Kreiss-Tomkins said.
“The ferry system is going to be a disaster this next year, we don’t have an arts council. The amount of uncertainty as far as the state’s economy, and major institutions is incalculable,” he said. “There are definitely people who are moving away from Alaska or students who aren’t enrolling in UA simply because of the uncertainty the governor has created. It’s all irresponsible. It’s great we’re not going even further into the brink, but by any measure it’s a pretty unfortunate state of affairs.”
The Legislature passed the operating budget in June, and the “apocalyptic” vetoes came at the end of the month, Kreiss-Tomkins said. A majority of both houses of the Legislature disagreed with the vetoes, but lacked the super majority required votes to override.
The Legislature then passed what Kreiss-Tomkins referred to as the “are you kidding us?” bill at the end of July.
“That bill basically appropriated funding equivalent to almost all of the vetoes the governor made with a few exceptions,” he said. “It’s sort of a game of ping pong. ... It’s basically, ‘We completely disagree with what you’re doing, and if you believe in this so much, double down on the vetoes.’ And what’s happened is he hasn’t doubled-down on the vetoes. And that’s currently and largely because of the recall but also continued and mounting public opposition to his agenda.”
Kreiss-Tomkins said there may still be a special session this October on Permanent Fund Dividend-related matters.
Looking into the future and prospects of deeper cuts by the governor next year, Kreiss-Tomkins commented, “The only way to prevent this from happening again is to amend the constitution or have the governor not be in office any more. Those are the only two surefire ways to change things.”
The constitutional amendment he mentioned would reduce the percentage of votes the Legislature needs to override a governor’s veto of a budget item. Alaska’s requirement for a three-fourths majority is the highest of all states.
