No doubt elected officials want to win their next election. They want to continue working on the issues that matter to them and their constituents, including public services, spending and regulation. They want to keep the job.
But, as parents tell Little Leaguers, winning isn’t everything. Values matter. Doing good matters.
The ability to listen and learn matters too, particularly for elected officials passing judgment on public policy. They are not expected to know everything about every issue, budget item and law when they come into office, but they should be willing to learn and change their mind as they get smarter.
The same goes for the state budget. A lot of easy campaign statements about the budget may need revising as legislators learn what they did not know when they talked with voters last year.
Learning more about the issues while sticking to values is good. But what’s not good is making important long-term decisions for Alaska based solely on winning reelection. Good public policy — not keeping the job — should be the goal.
That’s why it was discouraging to read last week’s statements by Anchorage Republican Rep. Tom McKay, who said voting for new state taxes would pretty much end his career as a legislator.
“My political advisers tell me if I vote for any kind of tax — either coming out of committee or on the floor or anywhere — if I voted for a tax in the bathroom, I wouldn’t get reelected,” McKay told an Anchorage Daily News reporter after the governor and legislative leaders stood together in a room and said the state needs new revenues, likely taxes, to pay its bills and continue services in the years ahead.
“The problem I have is, I campaigned on no new taxes. It was all over everything I put out, everything I said,” McKay explained.
Give him credit for honesty — he promised no new taxes, that’s his story and he’s sticking to it. But he didn’t volunteer a specific option. He didn’t say he supports big cuts to public services to balance the budget, or wants to drain the state savings account until it’s gone, or pull more money out of the Permanent Fund, or reduce the size of the annual dividend. He just said a vote for taxes means he would lose his next election.
This is coming from a House member who won his 2022 reelection campaign by just seven votes out of 7,000 ballots. No wonder he is worried.
It’s wrong to dismiss taxes just because it may cost some lawmakers their job. Doing nothing to solve the state’s fiscal mess could do a lot more damage to a lot more people.
— Wrangell Sentinel
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