Three Greenpeace activists deployed a floating banner in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building in plain view of a favorite destination for polluter lobbyists — Senator Lisa Murkowski’s Washington DC office. The banner exposed Murkowski’s close relationship with dirty energy interests and promoted PolluterHarmony, a spoof online dating site launched just before Valentine’s Day to help connect polluters, industry lobbyists, and politicians.
*********************************************
Iditarod Update for “My teams”.
#50 – Aliy Zirkle is #11. She’s out of Koyuk.
#36 – Michelle Phillips and her fabulous lead dogs are running at #29 out of Shaktoolik.
#61 – Colleen Robertia (who you can read about in today’s Voices from the Flats) is #36 out of Unalakleet.
#4 – Wattie McDonald from Scotland is running #42 out of Kaltag.
#14 – Newton Marshall from Jamaica is #48 in Kaltag.
Lance Mackey is holding on to the #1 spot and is in striking distance of doing what no other musher has ever done – claiming the title of 4-time consecutive Iditarod champion. He left White Mountain at 8:43pm with 11 dogs. Nipping at his heels are Hans Gatt and Jeff King with 12 dogs apiece. They are all heading to Safety and then Nome. One of them will make it first, and it will happen some time tomorrow.
This letter to the editor in the Juneau Empire caught my eye. It’s a further discussion of resources that we all enjoy being put in corporate hands. I touched on this issue and the inherent conflict of interest of a legislator who not only serves the area affected by this bill, but who sits on the board of the corporation who stands to benefit from it. You can read that article HERE.
Sealaska should be held to the deal made in ‘72 Juneau Empire
The Sealaska Corp. lands bill would change the character of Southeast Alaska more than any other land use decision since the Long-Term Timber Sales of the 1950s. Those huge timber sales impacted vast areas of land, but at least most of the logging avoided sites that were heavily used by the public and the land remained in public ownership, hunting and all the other uses we enjoy.
The Sealaska lands bill is different. If the bill is passes, hundreds of the most important and beloved sites on the Tongass would be transferred from a public trust to the hands of a for-profit corporation. Many of the sites are immensely valuable, containing millions of dollars of public investment in roads, docks, second growth thinning, recreation cabins and trails. They are arrayed in a dense pattern across the region and they would have few permanent restrictions to ensure public access or responsible development.
The small businesses that rely on these sites would be displaced. Even more incredible, under the law, Sealaska would have the right to select 1,200 more acres at a future time, without the public’s approval. This could easily mean hundreds of more places in corporate hands.
I believe that Sealaska should be held to the deal they made in 1972 and select their lands from within the established selection boundaries. I do not trust Sealaska’s claim that they will be good stewards of the land because I have seen firsthand how Sealaska has managed their previous selections – clearcut right up to the property lines in all directions, with no concern for wildlife and only very minimal protection for fisheries.
Take a look at the map of the proposed selections and contact Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich if you have concerns. This is a land allocation issue of momentous importance to the future of Southeast Alaska.
Barth Hamberg, Sitka, Alaska
**********************************
Senator Mark Begich 202-224-3004
Senator Lisa Murkowski 202-224-6665
I have to admit the other day when I read that Mark Begich opposes the EPA regulating greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources, I started to feel intense pressure in my capillaries.
After all, this is Lisa Murkowski’s position, and Lisa Murkowski is the former reasonable Republican senator who has now grabbed her teddy bear, crawled in bed with the right wing and turned on the electric blanket.
But Mark Begich? Had I had a pocket sphygmomanometer on me, I would have used it. (Actually, I’ve just been looking for an excuse to use the word sphygmomanometer in a sentence since junior year in high school when it appeared on the verbal SATs) Suffice it to say, I was able to sense my pulse in my extremities and my eyeballs at the same time. Not good.
Because, not only does Lisa Murkowski think that the EPA shouldn’t be regulating greenhouse gas emmisions, but she thinks congress ought to be doing it. Yes, congress. If congress were a bunch of scientists, they wouldn’t be in congress. They’d be….I dunno…. scientists.
But, perhaps now that corporations like Conoco Phillips and BP, and big coal companies can donate limitless amounts of money to promote the elections of congresspeople, and to smear those who oppose them, they can take all the time they would have spent fundraising and take some science courses in their spare time. Or not.
No, the news from the sphygmomanometer was not good.
Fortunately, the office of the Senator had some answers. And the answers were not bad. They talked me down.
First and foremost they told me that The Associated Press story is wrong. Senator Begich does not oppose the EPA’s powers to regulate greenhouse gases.
Hm.
And furthermore, he did not say that the EPA lacks the power to restrict greenhouse gases and realizes that the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the EPA to make a determination on how to move forward.
Oh.
What they DID do is ask the EPA for clarification on the implementation and timing of new regulations, whereupon the EPA responded that regulations will be phased in and that Congress will be able to write its own energy/climate change bill.
And finally, the Senator recognizes that Alaska is ground zero for climate change and that Congress needs to act.
Lisa Murkowski used to be my favorite senator. Granted, that’s only because Ted Stevens was my other one. Even Ted Stevens used to be my favorite senator. Granted that’s only because the other one was Frank Murkowski. It was all a matter of perspective.
But those were the old days. Now, Frank Murkowski is relegated to the dust bin of political history after hoppng from DC to Alaska as governor. He got routed going for a second term by some Wasilla mayor who got tired of the job a couple years in and is now moving her mouth for Fox News and blogging on weekends. Ted Stevens is gone – voted out after seven felony convictions that were overturned only due to prosecutorial incompetence. And Lisa Murkowski put in place by her father when he left DC, has cast off any allegiance to moderation or integrity by becoming a pro-climate change, pro-pollution shill for big oil – the very thing that got her father voted out of office and replaced by whats-her-name. Ah, the tangled web of Alaskan politics
But now, I actually like my favorite senator. I no longer have to choose the less reprehensible Republican for the slot. Don’t get me wrong – there are many issues upon which we disagree, but that’s OK. He’s here to serve the state, which is a complicated and polarized blend of people. Especially in terms of resource development, Alaskan Democrats feel differently than Democrats in other parts of the country. I get that. So for right now, I’m going to tiptoe past outer continental shelf (OCS) drilling, and ANWR and beluga whales, and get right to the part of Senator Begich that I really like.
When he first came back from D.C. and spoke at the annual Jefferson Jackson dinner to a room full of Democrats, I knew I was hooked. It was like a friend had been sent to some far off exotic land, and instead of coming back a changed person, or dropping names and customs like everyone knew what he was talking about, he decided to teach. He came back and told us all what it was like for him, and how things actually worked. He didn’t assume we knew, and he brought along his constituents on a journey of discovery. He was a freshman senator learning the ropes and wanted us to learn too.
That’s why I particularly enjoyed this segment on KTVA Channel 11. Every week Matt Felling hosts “A View from the Hill” and talks with one of our senators about what’s going on in our nation’s capital. This week he addressed a variety of topics, but the one that interested me the most was the part of the discussion on Democratic majority, senatorial procedure and the filibuster.
On the loss of 60 Democratic votes in the senate:
The part that’s more frustrating is … it doesn’t matter if you have 59, 57, whatever it is – that we are somewhat held hostage by parliamentary procedure, the old games, the politics of Washington D.C., that are not helping us move forward, especially on helping American families and Alaskan families get the jobs they need, and the economy moving forward.
Last week, we had the agenda consumed by a simple appointment to the GSA (the General Services Administration) an office that’s basically the leasing agent for the federal government, but because of the parilamentary procedures that the minority did, it held up all action on the Senate floor for four or five days which means we’re not working on the jobs issue, or helping to build this economy. So I think in some ways – again 59, 57, whatever it is – we’ve got to work to move this economy forward. And I would hope that the minority would just give up on these parliamentary procedures and focus on helping American families – Alaskan families – build a better economy and create jobs.
Felling: I think when a lot of people hear the word “filibuster,” they go back to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and they think about a Republican senator reading from the dictionary or the phone book, but that’s not the way it goes any longer. How exactly do they do it then?
Begich: It’s just kind of a parlor game, it’s a parlor trick and what they do is they claim a “cloture vote” which is a vote that requires 60 votes instead of a real filibuster where you actually have to sit on the floor and talk about why you’re doing this. You just go home! And they get 30 hours to do nothing and the senate really just stands in stall. If people turn on C-Span they’ll see people presiding and the room empty, because they just get to burn up 30 hours of time and that’s it. In days gone by you’d actually have to come down and debate the reason why you’re holding up the legislation that might be in front. But the reason they don’t do that now, especially the minority, is because they’d be embarrassed. Because all they’re doing is coming down and delaying for the sake of delaying and costing this economy, costing American jobs, costing Alaskan jobs. It’s really a shame. So I hope in a lot of ways we can get beyond that a lot of the freshmen on both Democrat and Republican are somewhat fed up with that process and want to move forward and doing the business that this country, that my state, sent me here to do.
Rachel Maddow had a great discussion on just this topic, and how the filibuster as it is being used now by the Republicans is grinding the gears of our nation to a halt, and what the Democrats might do about it. Remember the “nuclear option?”
My favorite senator is back in the state for the weekend. I got to catch up with him in his Anchorage office on Friday. He talked about his plans for the visit home, and chuckled at the “interesting snow removal techniques” employed in our nation’s capital, which included lots of salt and waiting for the weather to warm up!
Mark Begich in his Anchorage office
The focus of the senate right now is on jobs, and they will be looking at various components of a jobs bill which will include small business lending, energy efficiency, infrastructure development, and getting more cops, firefighters, teachers and youth working.
He gave a quick update on the stimulus bill (the one that our other senator voted against) and said about soon about 60% of that money will start moving forward to help Alaskans. A big hospital project in Nome is part of that. Also there will be about $100 million designated to bring broadband internet service to Western Alaska in more than 100 villages. It will not only employ people to set it up, but it will have long-term impact. There will now be capacity for connections that can be used for medical care and in hospitals, tele-education, and commerce. Businesses will benefit, and it will no longer take an hour and a half to submit forms online. (So, rural Alaska, remember who voted for that stimulus money)
The senator tells us there is lots of momentum around energy and an energy bill. The bill will have multiple components including renewable energy projects to create what Begich described as a “holistic view of energy.” He was pleased that the president mentioned OCS drilling, and that there are positive steps being taken in that direction. The president mentioned OCS drilling again when he did a recent “pop in” at a press conference.
The senator as a member of the Armed Services Committee is very involved and committed to veteran’s issues which was clear as he spoke. He mentioned the fact that one in ten Alaskans is a veteran, a higher per capita concentration than any other state in the nation. Alaska also presents certain unique challenges to veterans particularly those who live in very rural locations. Access to healthcare in remote areas will rely more and more on telemedicine which will be helped by the broadband capabilities that are on the way.
The senator is working with Indian Health Services to try to develop a strong partnership to facilitate better delivery of essential services for Alaska’s vets.
One of the first things the Obama administration did was increase the amount of money going to veterans, the largest increase ever. Recently a quarter million veterans who were never in the system have been added. There are still 1.6 million who are not.
If you are a veteran or know any, Senator Begich wants to hear from you and understand your concerns and needs. Hearings are coming up and your input is wanted.
He’ll be heading to Fairbanks and Kotzebue before returning to D.C. to tackle the snow and the obstructionists, and try to get work done on jobs, energy, education, veterans issues and health care. We wish him luck, and look forward to more reports from inside the beltway.
Recent Comments