By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins says he doesn’t expect Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s reversal of some vetoes will slow the recall effort – or remove the reasons it was proposed in the first place.
“It’s abundantly clear what his vision for Alaska is, and most Alaskans don’t agree with him, particularly people in coastal communities,” Kreiss-Tomkins said, citing cuts to the ferry system and appointments to the Board of Fisheries. “The entire premise of his administration is basically mathematically impossible: a $3,000 PFD and no new taxes, funding it exclusively with cuts is basically impossible. He’s put himself in such a bind ... he can’t fulfill his agenda.”
In an interview today, Kreiss-Tomkins said the cuts originally proposed by Dunleavy get him only one-third of the way toward fulfilling his promise of a $3,000 dividend for every Alaskan.
“He’s in such a bind,” Kreiss-Tomkins said. “If he spends down the Permanent Fund, he can do it all. That’s why Bert (Stedman) and I are so concerned about the Permanent Fund right now: politicians like Dunleavy can use it as a way out of claims they’ve made that are impossible.”
Both Kreiss-Tomkins and Stedman are working toward moving more funds from the Earnings Reserve Account into the principal of the Permanent Fund, although Dunleavy vetoed more than half of the money that would have been transferred under bills approved by the Legislature this year.
Speaking of the recall effort, Kreiss-Tomkins called attention to other ways in which Dunleavy “pushed his powers to the breaking point when it comes to a question of what is constitutional.”
“It’s discarding norms and traditions from what governors have historically done, and pushing it to the max,” he said.
Calling a special session in Wasilla, using a quid pro quo approach dealing with the University of Alaska’s Board of Regents, challenging the Legislature’s forward funding for K-12 education, and cutting funding to the court system in response to a court decision he disagreed with were examples of Dunleavy’s “discarding norms and traditions” cited by Kreiss-Tomkins.
Kreiss-Tomkins noted that a number of lawsuits have been filed against Dunleavy on constitutional grounds, including the forward-funding. Although the governor reversed or rolled back some of his vetoes, the public should have gotten a clear indication of his agenda through his original proposals, Kreiss-Tomkins said.
“Clearly, he wants to put the screws to K-12 education,” Kreiss-Tomkins said. “That’s one thing the School Board should be bracing itself for – a pretty big veto of K-12 education. Next year it’s on the table and certainly susceptible.”
The governor vetoed $5 million for the Alaska Marine Highway System that was added back by the Legislature, and twice vetoed “receipt authority” that would allow Mt. Edgecumbe High School to collect fees to help pay for the school’s new aquatic center. Dunleavy’s veto of funding for the Alaska State Council on the Arts – which is mostly funded by federal and private organizations – created “discontinuity and uncertainty,” Kreiss-Tomkins said, even though the governor reversed himself when the item came back to him in the Legislature’s second attempt to get its budget passed.
For Sen. Bert Stedman’s part, he believes a recall is “an extremely high hurdle, but the populace is at a historical high for agitation.”
“I would expect that there’ll be an earnest drive to get to the some 77,000 signatures and get through court challenges as well,” he said. “I still prefer negotiating with the governor to betting the farm on a recall.”
Stedman said cutting the receipt authority for the Edgecumbe pool will mean a bigger subsidy for operations will be required from the state. He said it also shows an inequity between how rural communities’ projects are funded, compared to projects in the Railbelt.
“The broader question is the next time we have a bond package – why would rural Alaska support them if they’re treated differently?” he said.
Organizers of the recall effort said last week they had collected 29,577 signatures, about 1,000 signatures more than the amount needed to apply to the state to advance their effort.
