Capitol Thoughts

Part of the press corps during the Governor's press availability today at the Capitol.
This was my first time being on the third floor, the Governor's floor. Skip (the shorter guy standing with a beard) was running the camera and I was doing audio.

Alaska's Governor, Sean Parnell, the man who succeeded Sarah Palin.
I know this is a bad photo. I felt really silly taking photos with my iPhone when I was surrounded by really nice cameras being held by real photographers.

We are officially past ‘hump day,’ the halfway mark of this 90-day legislative session. It’s been remarked upon by legislators, pages, staffers, everyone. There seems to be this sense of “we’re halfway there,” as well as, “there’s so much left to do in so little time.” The media has reported that this 28^th Legislature has gotten off to a fast start, faster than normal, and that the days of bills moving sloth-like through committees and floors are over.

Within weeks, one controversial bill, which sped through various committees, was the subject of several presentations and public hearings and general chatter throughout the city, found its way back to the Governor’s desk. I say back to the Governor’s desk because that’s where it started. It was a Governor’s bill – he created it and he got to officially sign it into Alaska statute. One day it was merely a question and – poof – it’s now Alaska law. The ‘poof’ was plenty of “yea” votes in both the House and the Senate floors. Poof, the Governor gets what he wants. This will likely be a continuing trend for this session. Unfortunately.

If my voice carries a tone of disenchantment, that’s because I am disenchanted – with Alaska’s politicians, with the process, with the illusion of debate. For every floor vote that I’ve ever covered for Gavel to Gavel, I know which way it’s going to go; everyone does. So it seems so pointless to me, so futile. Imagine, if it feels like that for me, how must it feel for the legislators who go against the grain, who are in the minority? As often as I say I’m sick of them, of all politicians in the Capitol – the good and the bad – I guess I have to respect their fight, the fight of the underdogs that is. Do they really feel like they can do something? Or is it all a show? One big, elaborate, expensive show?

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Since it’s the last day of February, I’m going to finally get around to posting something I wrote in hand back on the 5^th of February. I happened to have a pad of paper with me during a committee meeting and scribbled down some random thoughts:

I’m sitting in a Senate Finance meeting and I’m doing audio which is why I can write. Usually I like to listen to the actual meeting, but the Director of the Office of Management and Budget is rattling off sections, and numbers, and acronyms, and saying words like, “retroactive,” and, “please turn to the spreadsheet,” so I’m not sure if I’ll process too much. It’s the Governor’s Supplemental Bill, which amounts to over 24 million dollars. Plus, where I’m sitting for doing audio is pretty tucked away in a corner and no one will notice or care what I’m doing.

The Senate Finance room is beautiful and big with original benches from when this room was a courtroom. I wish I knew architectural terms to accurately describe what the room looks like, but it’s really old looking and elegant, classy. I love the light fixtures and the trim around the ceiling. Other committee rooms aren’t nearly as inspired or original. The committee members, who all happen to be “gentlemen” as the chair referred to them (it seems the one female member is excused because she’s introducing a bill to another committee), are sitting around the rectangle of wooden tables, with the committee chair on one end and the presenter on the other end. Bordering the center table are long, rectangular tables where the Senators’ staffers sit. I often wonder about the working relationship between legislators and their staff. Do staff members need to continually kiss their boss’s ass or do they serve more as mirrors, trying to be honest about who their boss is, how they behave, or appear to the general public? I assume it’s both.

Apparently the supplemental bill is a lot larger than last year’s, which was around 80 million dollars.

Senator Fairclough just arrived – the lone female on this committee. The committee members are now questioning the Director of OMB on the different line items asking to be funded.

Overall, I’m happy to get a glimpse into what goes on in the Alaska State Capitol, but it’s not a scene I’d like to get more involved in. Too many suits and silly rules and routines.