Dunleavy still clueless about how to lead state government
Gov. Mike Dunleavy is going to end his second term the way he began his first. Clueless about how to work with the Legislature. Clueless about how to work with people who don’t agree with him. Clueless about what it takes to be governor.
He spent too many years hectoring school children to be an effective chief executive.
When his political trade to support a defined benefit pension plan if the Legislature adopted his Glenfarne tax cut collapsed Monday, he wasted no time in attacking legislators who didn’t obey his orders, notably Sens. Cathy Giessel and Bill Wielechowski.
“The people of Alaska need to realize that the Bill Wielechowskis, the Cathy Giessels and others, they’re the leaders in this Legislature right now, and they’re the leaders making sure that in a couple years you’ll be paying some of the highest rates of electricity, probably the highest rates in the country, and you’ll be doing jumping jacks and standing around a burn barrel,” Dunleavy told the Anchorage Daily News.
Wielechowski and Giessel have done a good job asking questions and looking for answers about the gas line tax cut, improving our understanding in 30 hearings on SB 280. They deserve the thanks of Alaskans. About the insults from Capt. Clueless, consider the source.
Wielechowski is right that Dunleavy “has done the worst job in presenting a substantive piece of legislation that I’ve seen in 20 years.”
Dunleavy apologist Suzanne Downing moaned that the state House “confederacy of dunces” doomed the Dunleavy tax cut. The phrase was inspired by Jonathan Swift’s line that “When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
Who among us would conclude that this was genius, especially when Dunleavy’s big gas line ally in the House complained about his failure to “invest in the relational capacity necessary to get people to ‘yes.’”
“I cannot do that. I cannot carry that weight. He tried to put it all on me,” said Rep. Chuck Kopp to the Daily News. “But he is going to have to personally invest in relationships with people in this building. That is not his gift, that is not his strength, and Alaska has suffered for it.”
In a press conference in Anchorage Tuesday, Dunleavy complained that electricity prices in the Fairbanks area may soon hit 40 cents a kilowatt hour.
He failed to mention that Trump’s war is the reason for sky-high electric rates during what Dunleavy calls the Golden Age of Alaska under Trump.
“So crazy winter. Unbelievable opportunity. So what has been the reaction of leadership in the Legislature to this point?” he asked aloud to himself at his press conference.
“Ah. Nothing. Umm. And when I look for an alternative to the gas line, when I look for some major policy movement on the part of, of legislative leadership, I don’t see anything,” he said.
“So the default, the people of Alaska need to know this. The default, if something happens and this, this project doesn’t move forward, which I will believe it will. I think we’re gonna get something done here I hope in the next few days. But if it doesn’t, it’s importing gas. Think about the irony of that. You’re gonna import gas into the state of Alaska, probably on foreign-flagged ships or coming from a different country. And that is not gonna lower your energy costs Alaska. It can’t lower your energy costs. You’re gonna bring gas in on a ship to a place that has more gas than you can think of,” he said.
The gas pipeline is “right in our grasp” and will lower energy costs, he claimed, while providing energy for 70 years.
Dunleavy went on to claim that the only thing standing between Alaska and the pipeline is “one decision in Juneau, Alaska,” meaning his 90 percent tax cut.
No one should believe that the only hurdle is the Alaska Legislature approving a tax cut, though Dunleavy, his lobbyists and the usual suspects have all joined forces to promote that lie to the gullible.
No one should believe that approval of a tax cut by the Alaska Legislature will make it possible for Railbhelt utilities to keep the lights and heat on without importing natural gas. The impossible timeline that Dunleavy and Glenfarne are claiming for a gas pipeline is a political fantasy.
The governor and the Legislature should be focused on making gas imports easier because even if a miracle occurs, the gas pipeline will not be built in time. Ask the utilities that are struggling to plan.
If the Dunleavy tax cut was all that was needed to get the gas pipeline going, why didn’t Dunleavy say so last October 16 when he said this to the Resource Development Council: “I have to tell you it’s the real deal. I will be shocked, shocked, not surprised, shocked if in December or January there’s anything other than we’re going to FID (final investment decision on the gas pipeline).”
When did shock turn to surprise?
Glenfarne has not reached a final investment decision, but the company says it will decide whether to go ahead with the project or not sometime this year.
The truth is that there are 50 billion to 70 billion reasons why the gas line is not a sure thing.
The Asian nations that are supposed to sign contracts promising to buy gas at fixed rates for 20 years or 30 years have been reluctant to do so for many reasons, one of which is the inability to trust what’s coming out of Washington, D.C.
Dunleavy spluttered and fumed at length in his press conference, claiming the “people of Alaska are not gonna tolerate us saying, well, you know that’s it, can’t get it done,” meaning the tax cut.
“Because this is a human issue. This is a human-made problem. This is not a, an act of God. This is a decision on the part of a handful of folks in Juneau, who wish for whatever reason I don’t understand, to play with the future of Alaska,” Dunleavy said.
A majority of Alaskans would like to have cheap natural gas and cheap electricity, said Dunleavy.
That’s obvious. What’s not obvious is whether the 90 percent Dunleavy tax cut is needed. What’s also not obvious is whether companies in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and other nations will commit to buy gas for decades, which is what the pipeline would require. Or a gigantic federal subsidy.
The demand by leading legislators for information on Glenfarne, including the cost of the project and the text of the secret agreement made by the state with Glenfarne, are not examples of playing with the future of Alaska. Maybe the next governor will have a clue.
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