Alaskans have the right to hold their elected representatives to the highest ethical standards. I oppose any effort to water down our ethics laws and I will continue to work to strengthen our ethics laws and hold myself to the highest ethical standards.

One are where the ethics laws need to be strengthened are the conflict of interest laws for elected officials. Right now, if an official declares a conflict of interest, it only takes one person in the committee or group of lawmakers to ask him to vote and the person with the conflict will have to stay and vote. What has happened, over the years, is that every time someone declares a conflict another lawmaker always asks them to stay and vote.

This is just the opposite of the way it should work. The system should be that if an elected official declares a conflict, it should only take one person on that committee or in the group to tell him he has to leave the room and not vote on that bill or ordinance.

If the public's confidence in government and lawmakers is to be restored, people must be sure that their representatives work for them not special interests.

 

Every day when I go door to door I hear from neighbors who are struggling to pay Alaska's high fuel prices. Even though Alaska is the largest per capita oil producing state, Alaskans are charged the highest prices in the nation for gasoline and diesel. Three separate investigations have shown that the reason Alaska's prices are so high is because of abnormally high margins charged by Alaska's two major oil refineries.

That is why I introduced HB 68 which would prohibit refineries from charging excessive or exorbitant prices for gasoline, diesel, and heating oil. Under my proposal, whenever Alaskan prices were 10% higher than in Washington the burden of proof would shift to the refineries to show there prices were justified. This bill also contained serious financial penalties for those found guilty of price gouging in order to strongly discourage violations.

Unfortunately the refinery lobbyists were able to block this bill this term, but if you keep me working for you I will keep fighting to push this bill into law.

 

Alaska should be taking the lead in developing renewable energy. We have the resources, with our budget surplus, to invest in state of the art projects that will save money and cause less pollution. As a member of the House Energy Committee, I helped craft a new energy policy for Alaska to allow Alaska to become a leader in renewable energy development and remain a leader in oil and gas development.

Wind farms are a good alternative to high priced diesel in certain areas of the state. Also, hydroelectric power could be a viable idea in other areas of Alaska. There is also the idea of using geothermal power to generate electricity. There are several Volcanoes within sight of downtown Anchorage that have an unlimited potential for providing power for many future generations of Alaskans. This is not pie in the sky 'Star Trek' technology. Geothermal power produces over 95% of all the energy needed in Iceland today. The initial investment is high but, once up and operating, it could provide energy for many decades to come.

Another alternative to using fossil fuels is the use of fish waste to make fish oil. Fish oil can be turned into bio-diesel or can be used to generate electricity like Unalaska is currently doing. We have the most fish waste of any state in the union. Coastal communities all over the state could benefit from implementing a plan to use this waste product.

There is also a market for fish oil. Many bio-diesel plants are currently losing money because the cost of soy beans is over 13 dollars a bushel. They will have to replace soybeans as their feed stock to return to solvency. Fish oil is a product that could fill the void and Alaska could supply it. This would create jobs and reduce the need to throw away thousands of tons of fish waste every year.

 

I often hear from neighbors who are concerned about high property taxes, and that is why I introduced HB 404 which would lower residential taxes by more than doubling the residential property exemption. I also support municipal revenue sharing in order to lower the burden on local taxpayers.

 

I am a strong supporter of education. From my earliest memory, I planned on getting a good High School education so I could go on to college. My father never had the opportunity to attend college and spent his entire life doing the hard, physical and dangerous work of farming. I was always strongly encouraged to get a good education so I could have an opportunity for a better future.

The Anchorage School system has some problems that need addressing. One of the biggest problems is the high dropout rate. Over one third of those students who enter high school here never graduate. I believe that there are a couple things that could be done to help solve that problem.

As a member of the Education and Early Development Budget Subcommittee I helped secure funding to create a pilot early childhood education program. All the studies show that this reduces dropout rates, improves test scores, and also increases the number of students who go on to college.

I would also support increasing the amount each school receives for each student enrolled (student base allotment).

There is also a need for more vocational/technical education programs. The King Career Center does good work but is full beyond capacity. More programs like it need to be implemented in other parts of town so all high school students have access to vocational opportunities in their neighborhood.

 

The University of Anchorage has made some good improvements in recent years. But much more needs to be done to make it an attractive alternative to institutions in the lower 48. The building of a new science building is a step in the right direction. I am in favor of continuing to improve the facilities at UAA so we can keep more of our best and brightest here in Alaska.

There was a proposal in this years legislature to create an education endowment fund for scholarships to students from Alaska if they decided to attend one of our State University campuses. This legislation failed to pass. I believe failure to pass this was short sighted. If we are to have the well trained workforce necessary to compete in a world economy, then we need to invest now or risk falling further behind other states and other countries in the region as well.

A vitally important factor in education is the teacher in the classroom. Almost every person in the country, who has gone on to do great things, had a very good teacher to mentor them at some point in their education. Part of finding and hiring good teachers is the benefit package that comes with the job. Alaska is now the only state in the union that does not have a guaranteed retirement in the pay package for our teachers. In the long run, this will not help to keep the best teachers here in Alaska. After working in Alaska for a few years, other Districts from other states will recruit our best educators away with a better pay and benefit package. I am sure that will not be good for our education system or our young people.

I believe we have to invest in the best to get the best results. I strongly favor a return to a system that provides a well deserved, high quality retirement for all teachers as well as all other state and local public employees.

 

I have heard from many of you about the need to improve public safety in our neighborhoods. It is difficult to enjoy this great state in which we live if we don't feel safe in our own homes. Again, we must be able to recruit the best people to be our Police officers, State Troopers, and Firefighters to have the kind of public safety we would like in Anchorage. These people put their lives on the line for us and we can't even provide them with a respectable retirement. To me, that is a shame! Let's give them what they deserve and bring back the guaranteed retirement system that was available to them two years ago.