SITKA, ALASKA
“After this many years of working and caring about people in an area, you become possessive. I just feel possessive for my people. You are my people.”
Wilson reminded the audience that there have been lawsuits every decade over redistricting except for the very first redistricting after statehood. So far, no Southeast community has indicated its intent to sue over the new plan. The filing period will close on July 15th.
Under the final map adopted by the Alaska Redistricting Board in June, Angoon, Kake, Haines, and southern Prince of Wales Island will join Sitka’s House district. No one from Sitka has represented the community in the House since Wilson succeeded Ben Grussendorf in 2001.
Haines representative Bill Thomas, a Republican, has said he plans to run for the redrawn district seat in 2012.
Wilson told the chamber that redistricting and the loss of representation in Southeast reflected changes in the area’s population.
“It’s really a sad thing when we think that over the last ten years Southeast Alaska has lost 17,000 people. That’s amazing. Totally amazing.”
Most of that population decline was felt outside of Southeast’s major cities. Sitka and Juneau both increased slightly in population. Ketchikan dropped by about 500.
Wilson said that the state’s population was shifting toward the railbelt and the Mat-Su. She said the shift explained much of what ailed Southeast Alaska, from the loss of the Coastal Management Program, to the struggling Marine Highway System.
Wilson suggested that the ferries were becoming more politically unsupportable every year, as the system consumes over 40-percent of the state’s entire transportation budget. She urged Sitkans to continue to look for ways to get across the island, and closer to mainline routes.
“I’m just telling you what reality is right now. You really need to start thinking about another way to start working something out. And I don’t know the answer, by any means. I’m just trying to warn you ahead of time because the reality is that we don’t get as much money from the Feds as we used to for our DOT projects. The fight is going to be harder and harder every year.”
Wilson did report the happy news that $60-million passed in the state capital budget for the new Alaska-class ferry. Combined with the same amount appropriated in a previous session, the DOT should have enough funding to start construction of one of the new ships.
Wilson opened her presentation reciting the impressive list of capital spending slated for the district in the coming year – something she was not able to do much of under the previous governor. Although she was discouraged by the vetoes of a new vo-tech facility at Sitka High, and $2-million in deferred maintenance at Mt. Edgecumbe High School, “Overall,” Wilson said, “House 2 did really well.”
Wilson also did not conceal her support for Governor Parnell’s plans to lower oil production taxes in the state. She argued that Alaska needed to become more “business friendly” or else risk losing 90-percent of the state’s revenues.
“And I know people don’t like the oil companies. Well I’ll tell you what, the oil companies are what make Alaska work. I’m sorry – if they’re making money, thank heaven. If they don’t make money, where do they go? It’s a lot cheaper for them to work other places. They can only work so many hours up there, and they have to follow all these rules and regulations. In other countries, they don’t have to do that. And it’s a lot cheaper. And here we are complaining because they’re making money? They can sure make it a lot cheaper somewhere else.”
Wilson warned that continued declines in the flow of oil through the pipeline could lead to its permanent shutdown. That, she said, would lead to both state sales and income taxes.
Wilson told the chamber that there will be pressure to reduce the state operating budget as oil revenues drop. She said the state may have to fall back on the basic spending goals of the constitution: transportation, education, health and social services, and public safety. That would mean the end of other state services like parks and municipal revenue sharing.
If the budget does get tight, Wilson urged Southeast to stand up for the services it wants to keep. “If we don’t fight like crazy,” she said, “We won’t get it and the railbelt will.”
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