Alaskan Sunlight & Disclosure
Sunlight in Alaska comes in overabundance during the summer, with daylight that lasts 21 hours, and is sorely lacking during the winter, when many parts of the state get just an hour of daylight. But this fall, Alaskans have had plenty of sunlight on two of its most famous politicians: Senator Ted Stevens and Governor Sarah Palin, regarding their disclosures of political expenditures and gifts.Disclosure forms aren't the sexiest thing in politics. Yet this admittedly dry topic may land Stevens in jail and could be one of the factors that cost Palin a shot at being Vice President.
Last week, Stevens was convicted on seven counts of lying about thousands of dollars of gifts and home renovations on his Senate financial disclosure forms. This could land him in jail regardless of whether it costs him re-election. Stevens' omissions were clear attempts to hide the depth of his relationship with an oil company executive who paid for generous gifts and improvements to his property. Of course, this is the point of disclosure filings: they show the voting public the real nature of relationships between those in power and those seeking to influence them.
For Palin, the Republican Party's filings revealed to the public the lavish $150,000 it spent outfitting the Governor and her family for the campaign. This revelation cast the Governor, who campaigned as a work-a-day mother of five, in an entirely different light: one in which the expense reports don't match the rhetoric. Without this type of detailed disclosure, the public would have no way of knowing whether she scrimped and bought a suit on her own frugal dime from a consignment store or whether her political handlers had broken the bank dressing her up in haute couture. When authenticity is at stake, it helps voters if the political players are ultimately required to fess up to the truth to the public in a timely manner.
Those who would dismantle all aspects of campaign finance and ethics reforms have the goal of ending meaningful disclosure firmly in their sights. But this political season shows that disclosure is still very much needed and useful. Sunlight is proving to be the best disinfectant in a political culture that would much rather hide its artifice and powerful connections in the dark.
It will be interesting to watch the news come out about how the hockey rink sweetheart contract resulted in the building of the Palin home on the lake front by “friends” of The First Dude. Now that Sarah is just Plain Guv, without the soaring ratings, and plenty of mistakes all laid out for dissection, the long knives will come out for the next gubernatorial election. Good press, and good chances for extracting the truth from the Palin Whitewash in Alaska.
With the possible exception of the state of Ohio, Alaska has excelled in offering to the lower 48 for inspection three of the most dubious public “servants” inhabiting the political scene: Governor Sarah Palin, the grimacing, vitriolic virago with the bad-mouthing metal piercing voice; the ever arrogant Senator Ted Stevens, 7-fold felon; and Rep. Don Young, running for reelection under a cloud of a probable indictment for malfeasance in office. Not a pretty picture,
But Alaskans seem prefer these folks so long as they each get a nice chunk of the money generously sent up there from a Republican administration in Wahington eager to rally support for extracting more oil from ANWAR. Also not a pretty picture which may change pretty soon.
It was a shock to even us hardened to Alaska politics last night. All the polls up here were showing the Dem rivals in the lead. We don’t know what happened.
Well, Alaska has always been a step behind, not a little ashbackward--guess we think it’s cute...wink wink.
Someone needs to take a careful look at how this election was conducted in Alaska. As per the article at the HuffingtonPost,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannyn-moore/stolen-election-in-alaska_b_141704.html “Stolen Election.....?”,
the numbers don’t make sense. One must believe that Alaska had the lowest turnout ever in a presidential election in spite of the excitement about Palin running, the increase in registrants and the apparent strong early voting. Add to that the complete reversal of the outcomes from the most recent polls which gave the senate seat and the house of rep seat to the Democrats by 6-10%. Something is rotten in Juneau.
Another strong argument for outlawing DRE machines with no paper record. I strongly prefer paper ballots as the primary record with optical scanners to speed up the counting process followed by a hand count or at least an automatic hand audit.