Palin's request for sit-down meetings gets mixed response
Published Thursday, March 27, 2008
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Stumble It!JUNEAU — At 4 o’clock Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Jay Ramras sat down for a chat with Gov. Sarah Palin.
Ramras, a Fairbanks Republican, sat at the giant table in Palin’s conference room across from the governor. The governor sat between her budget director, Karen Rehfeld, and chief of staff, Mike Tibbles. Her legislative liaison, Russ Kelly, was there, too, and a plate of homemade cookies sat in the middle.
The point of the meeting was to talk about funding for a handful of Fairbanks projects that Palin had vetoed last year and lawmakers had added to the state’s supplemental budget this year. Palin wanted to know why the projects deserved state funding and why they had to be in that budget.
Ramras was glad to answer. The Tanana Valley Sportsmen’s Association building, he said, was a “cultural icon” that hosted everything from weddings to summer camps for disabled children — until it burned down.
“This was a fantastic facility,” he said.
But not all legislators have been as willing to answer the governor’s questions. Palin’s request for sit-down meetings is the latest move in a standoff with lawmakers over the vetoed projects, and it’s getting a mixed response. For various reasons, some lawmakers have been reluctant to meet with her at all.
The issue involves both the merits of the projects and their inclusion in the supplemental budget, which uses money from the current fiscal year and generally covers things that weren’t expected when the budget was passed the year before.
Some lawmakers are still frustrated with Palin over last year’s vetoes, and say the projects belong in the budget because they’re good projects and because lawmakers have the right to spend the state’s money. Palin still questions the projects and argues it’s irresponsible to put them in the supplemental budget.
Lawmakers passed the budget earlier this month, and Palin has until April 5 to decide whether she’ll veto the projects again.
On Tuesday, Ramras used his sit-down meeting to defend the Fairbanks projects and share his thoughts on the budgeting process in general.
He said there were projects that didn’t fit Palin’s budgeting criteria but still deserved funding, and added that he didn’t even try to get funding for those projects this year.
“Last year I put the balls where I thought they needed to go,” he said. “This year I put the balls where I thought they would land most safely.”
Ramras added that he shared Palin’s concern over the overall level of spending but thought the vetoed projects should stay in because they were badly needed.
Other local lawmakers chose not to defend the projects in their districts.
Palin wanted to do the meetings by Senate district, with the one senator and two representatives there together. But Sen. Gary Wilken, a Republican from Fairbanks whose district includes Ramras’, chose not to go.
Wilken supports Palin on the issue, and agrees the vetoed projects shouldn’t be in the supplemental budget.
“It allows the legislature to spend the people’s money without a proper level of scrutiny and accountability,” he wrote in a letter to Palin explaining his desire not to meet with her.
Wilken added that he had simply put his budget requests into this year’s capital budget.
Sen. Gene Therriault, a Republican from North Pole and member of the Senate minority with Wilken, said he agrees the projects shouldn’t be in the supplemental budget, but is planning to meet with Palin.
The other lawmaker in Wilken’s Senate district is Rep. Scott Kawasaki, a Democrat from Fairbanks. Kawasaki’s office said Wednesday he would have gone but was sick, and has since rescheduled.
Sen. Joe Thomas, D-Fairbanks, has a different take.
He said Tuesday he wasn’t planning to go, and didn’t think he should have to defend local projects that came at the recommendation of local communities.
“I think we should be able to appropriate,” he said. “If that wasn’t the case, I guess the governor could take control of the whole thing.”
On Wednesday, he said he still had concerns but was considering going.
“They’ve called a couple of times,” he said. “I guess it’s not the biggest deal in the world to chat with them.”
He added that the situation in his district was tricky because Rep. David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks, didn’t have projects vetoed, and Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Fairbanks, didn’t want the projects in the supplemental budget.
Ultimately, most lawmakers have agreed to at least meet with the governor.
Palin’s spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said the meetings have been productive so far and help the governor decide what to do.
“These meetings not only give lawmakers a chance to talk about the capital projects in their districts, it gives them an opportunity to discuss overall spending levels as we move forward in the budget process,” she wrote in an e-mail.
For more news from the capital, visit www.newsminer.com/weblogs and look for Capital Focus.
Contact staff writer Stefan Milkowski at 388-6141.
Community Discussion
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Those who don't want to meet with the Governor to lay this out on the table seem to have something to fear from meeting her face to face. Palin is awesome, her style of getting everything out on the table is so refreshing.
Sarah is doing her job quite well. I hope she vetoes most, if not all, of the projects in the supplemental budget.
Lawmakers are playing around with foolish appropriations and ignoring the big projects- like dams- that are truly worth funding. The big projects take strategic foresight, something many members of the legislature show that they do no have. After all, when was the last time the folks in Juneau built a new road? 30 years? Incredible.
Alaskan: Amen, bro' or sistah.
Communication, not politics as usual, is critical when we're talking about the impact of finances on our communities.
I think that the reason the shooting ranges are still on the table is simply because of the number of citizens who showed up to testify at the legislative hearings on this issue.
If you value it, talk about its importance.
Alaskan: How is a private meeting to discuss projects "laying it all out on the table" or open and transparent? The projects added to the supplemental bill got public hearings, not only this year but last year as well. That's how the appropriation process works. The Legislature (the only branch of Government with the authority to appropriate funding) considers and deliberates on spending in committee meetings which are open to the public, recorded and transcribed, on TV and available on the web. This brings up two questions 1. If the Gov wants to know the project justification why doesn't she read the committee minutes? 2. If she needs these meetings to figure out whether or not these projects are justified how did she decide on last year’s vetoes?
Another point to examine is why the Governor wants to cut the Capitol Budget (one time expenditure) and yet proposed increasing the Operating Budget (reoccurring expenditure) by 17%. In news bits she tries to talk about he budgets as a whole but you can’t do that (they’re apples and oranges). The Operating Budget increases commit you to spending in future years the Capital Budget does not.
I applauded Governor Palin for opening up communication with the legislature. She said she was going to get things done and she is. There are many things put in the capital budget that lack justification. There is nothing wrong with reminding the legislature we have to focus on our priorities. Alaska has a “boom bust” economy and right now we are in a boom. Governor Palin is helping set us up for our next “bust.” Thank you governor for taking a stand for what you believe is right and thank you to all of the legislators who are willing to work with the governor.
You're pretty naive if you think everything will be "open and transparent" every single minute of every day w/ government. With the money belt tightening, sitting down face-to-face with these folks for a "last chance rack-and-stack" makes sense. It shows good leadership that she is running multiple sanity checks when it comes to our money. As to why this wasn't done last cycle - who knows? It could easily be lesson learned that she carried forward to this year.
Jennifer, you're right Alaska has a boom or bust economy but it's the Legislature that's trying to prepare for the bust. The Governor tried to Increase the Operating Budget 17%. Increases to the Operating Budget become part of the base and that additional fund is required the following year and every year after. The Capitol budget has no base it is a brand new budget that starts at $0 every year. The Capitol budget builds the State's infrastructure (roads, airports, buildings, etc). In boom times you fund building infrastructure and when the economy goes bust you still have those buildings and roads. the Operating Budget funds the year to year expense of running Government departments. When you increase the Operating budget (adding new programs, add personnel, etc.) you get government growth. The cost of this growth added, added in boom time, must still be funded in the bust times.
QuinntheEskimo, I am pretty lucky to actually be able to say I have been here in Juneau studying the legislature this session, so I have a pretty good idea of what has been going on, to a certain extent. That includes all of the proposals that go into the capital budget. I see no reason the state should be paying for some of the projects.
My opinion is that our representatives are being paid to represent us and all of them should be as happy to meet with our governor as Ramras was. After all, Palin is the “Big Dog” and if that is the way she wants to conduct business, the representatives, OUR representatives, should get with the program. If the reps don’t want to sit down and talk with our governor, maybe we need new ones.
Jennifer, Glad to hear you're in Juneau. Beautiful day huh?
I wasn't trying to defend the individual Capital projects (that's for our elected officials to decide) only pointing out that the Operating budget is the one that will put the hurt on us during the Bust times:)
It is all about prioritizing unmet needs, these sit down or sit out meetings that Governor Palin is attempting to have with every legislator is genuine. If they don't think enough of their respective projects to go and stand up for their constituents against the line item veto power of the Governor's pen then why should the people's money be spent. I will be very interested as to how many projects were justified and funded after sitting down with the Governor.
Just a note on the "open and transparent" issue. Palin did open the meetings to reporters, and that's how I was able to cover this one. It's not the same as putting it on Gavel to Gavel, but it's pretty "open" as far as things go down here.
Thanks for the clarification, Stefan. I was wondering about that.
I have heard that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is known for doing something like this as well. Apparently he refers to it as letting people do "the Kabuki." If he personally meets with them and explains the specifics to them, people tend to be less sore when he has to turn down their requests. Apparently this is supposed to be a new (to recent American political history) kind of politics. I guess the old way was "to avoid confrontation." Kinda like firing that guy in the movie Office Space.
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