Entries in Capital Focus for April, 2008
To the very end
In the last few days, lawmakers had quite a bit of hope they’d finish a day early. That plan failed sometime yesterday afternoon.
A will and a way
For the last year and a half, Rep. David Guttenberg and his staff have been pushing a relatively simple proposal -- give military veterans an easy way to get information about veterans’ benefits.
Unsustainable? Maybe. Frivolous? Maybe not.
I have a friend who works for the state and, whenever I talk about work, requests that I ask lawmakers to pay state workers more. That’s not my job of course, but the point is that public employees probably don’t see state spending as ballooning out of control, as lawmakers suggested today.
Honoring Mary Nelson
House members today honored Rep. Mary Nelson of Bethel, who is retiring from the Legislature after this year. The first was Rep. Reggie Joule of Kotzebue. He stood to talk, then couldn’t.
Getting it done
The Capitol today is a funny mix of busy and not that busy.
Are the must haves must haves?
One thing that's been largely ignored in the excitement over the ConocoPhillips and BP pipeline is the "must-have" requirements in the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act.
"Major announcement" on gas line
Big names from ConocoPhillips just walked out of Senate President Lyda Green's office (along with Sens. Stedman and Huggins) and made the short trip upstairs to see House Speaker John Harris.
Ramras pushes in-state plea
Rep. Jay Ramras of Fairbanks, who took credit this week for breathing life into the pair of gas line resolutions that so irked Gov. Palin, is following up with a personal plea to the governor.
Veto? Don’t veto? Why not just move?
Gov. Palin takes a creative approach to a contentious budget issue.
TransCanada’s finances
One buzz in the Capitol yesterday was over news that two big credit rating services had put TransCanada Corp. and some subsidiaries on watch after the company’s purchase of a giant power plant in New York City that was considered a risky investment.
Bullet line aiming for AGIA?
The roll-out of the gas line resolutions yesterday raised a lot of questions. One of the biggest was whether the move was an attempt to undermine AGIA.
Palin hits the shelves
In the window of one of the bookstores in downtown Juneau is a glowing, smiling Sarah Palin. A new book about her -- Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down -- is out.
Therriault wins gov's praise
As Gov. Palin criticized the Senate majority today for cutting up her capital budget, she heaped praise on the Senate minority and its leader, Sen. Gene Therriault of North Pole.