Alaska Legislature Soupline

This year it could he hard to tell the difference between the normal parade of legislative requests and the average soupline.  Some of the askers will be more needy, and the legislature will obviously have less to hand out.  Stay tuned for an interesting legislative session. Published 1/24/2009.

The Domino Effect Reaches Alaska

Over the past few months we’ve read a few articles explaining why Alaskans won’t be hit as hard by the present recession as other states.  They may be right, but we’re not going to come out of this unscathed. Click on the image to view the full cartoon…

Oil Prices and Alaska’s Budget

With the 2009 legislative session approaching, we’re looking at falling oil revenues and a declining balance in the Alaska Permanent fund — a result of stock market declines during the past two quarters.  The Alaska Legislature will be required to show more restraint in its spending than usual, and this will be the supreme challenge [...]

Alaska’s AGIA gasline plan

As the AGIA plan passes the Alaska Senate, we can only hope that we are spending $500 million wisely. This week’s cartoon illustrates what we appear to be accomplishing. Published August 2, 2008.

The AGIA Railroad

On August 2nd, the Alaska State Senate will vote whether to support Governor Palin’s Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA). This will be the last hurdle to create a contractual relationship with TransCanada, a Canadian pipeline company, to do the preliminary paperwork and accept shipping commitments from gas companies. Can the legislature stop this train? Click [...]

Alaska’s Budget: Entertainment for All

Just because hockey season is ending doesn’t mean we can’t still watch a good fight. As usual, it’s the end of the legislative session and the climax will be the budget circus. First the Legislature takes out all the Governor’s favorite stuff. Then the governor vetoes the legislature’s favorite stuff. Then they each hold press [...]