Looks Like Winter's Here To Stay E-News:
Will the Guv. Do The Right Thing and Opt Out of NCLB? UAA Oil Debate Monday, and More

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Dear Neighbors

I can’t lie. I’d rather be fishing than scraping the ice off my car, and shivering on my mountain bike with studded tires. But the miracle of extended fall seems to be over. Nice miracle while it lasted.

Flyfishing with Chicken, and a Good Cause.

Tuesday I had a huge amount of fun at a great non-profit event: Arctic Entries. You should go sometime. Arctic Entries is a community effort to get seven Alaskans per month to tell stories. I told mine – about bad karma – and the time I had to fly fish with chicken. Not very fly fishing purist of me, but it was on a trip to Peru, and that’s all they had. Or I didn’t know how to say “flies” in Spanish. Anyway – you can find out about upcoming shows at arctic-entries.com. Proceeds go to Anchorage’s domestic violence shelter, AWAIC.

Oil Debate Tuesday at UAA

Monday I will debate Deputy Commissioner of Revenue Bruce Tangeman on the Governor’s oil tax rollback bill, and my proposal for what I believe is smarter oil tax policy. The debate will take place at the North UAA Cafeteria. Here are my views on the issue.

I hope it spurs enough debate that we come out with a bill that’s better than the Governor’s proposal. His, as I’ve said, is based on a hope, wing and prayer that if we reduce taxes by $1.8 billion per year – and jeopardize our savings accounts – companies will voluntarily decide not to keep the money, but invest it here instead. Well, British Petroleum, ConocoPhillips and Exxon aren’t suffering under current law. They’ve each earned over $7 billion in Alaska profits under a system they claim is “onerous.” A system that they don’t like because it requires them to invest in Alaska to get tax breaks – and that’s raised investment and employment in the oil, and gas industry by over 40% since 2006 (which makes those industry ads on TV, well, fake. False. Misleading. Disingenuous. OK, done with my exercise in synonym making).

When we had a near 0% production tax until 2006, oil production was declining at an 8% per year clip. So – the miracle of tax giveaways hasn’t worked in the past, except for the oil industry.

Smarter oil reform would be what I’ve proposed: to allow increased tax breaks for companies that do needed work in Alaska by drilling more exploration wells and by building processing facilities to put new oil from new fields into the pipeline. Currently the cost of a processing facility makes marginal and modest fields too difficult to produce.

Parnell is One of Last Governors Not to Announce He’ll Opt out of Illogical No Child Left Behind Policies

The President has announced that he will allow states to opt out of the wildly unpopular No Child Left Behind law. We all know our Governor isn’t a big fan of the President’s. But he should be a fan of this opportunity, as Democratic and Republican Governors have been across the country – 41 including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The first deadline for making this decision is November 14, and the Federal Government has allowed a second deadline in February 2012.

I hope he does so. There is no way small rural schools, with one or two teachers, can, for example, meet the requirement that their teachers are certified in as many subject areas as the law requires. And the cost of teaching to the NCLB guidelines has proven high. The Governor and President should be able to see eye to eye on this one.

Best Beginnings: Their Early Education Announcement

Best Beginnings, Alaska’s non-profit early education advocacy group, has asked that we share the following information with those who have infants in their families.

We all intuitively know that the more you talk with your babies, and the more conversations and interactions that occur between you and your baby, the easier it will be for your baby to pick up language later. That's why Best Beginnings, a non-profit advocate for early learning dedicated to ensuring that all Alaskan children begin school ready to succeed, is recruiting hosts for its "100 Premieres" initiative that will be held from February 11-19, 2012. The premieres will be held all over Alaska to introduce "Babies on Track", a DVD and book package that fosters early learning and healthy brain development in easy, convenient ways.

The fundamental principle behind "Babies on Track" is that the baby brain grows more before age three than at any other time in life and is when language is taking shape, so talking, singing, and other human interaction is critical. The video introduces a simple model that families can follow based on the TRACKS method: Talk, Respond, Ask questions, Connect, Keep at it, Sing and tell stories. 7,500 DVD and book sets will be distributed free throughout Alaska to families with children under two years of age. In order to make this happen, hosts are needed to organize and publicize the events, which can be held wherever families with young children gather, whether it's at the library, as part of Early Head Start family programs, or in your home. Each premiere follows a similar format - showing the video, distributing the free baby books to participating families, demonstrating fun brain-building activities, and helping parents write postcards to their legislators about the importance of early learning. The point is to make families with young children aware of this new opportunity and to share the importance of early learning. As a host, you'll get a free advance DVD and book package plus a host packet.

For information about hosting a premiere go to Best BeginningsAlaska.org, or for other questions contact Barbara Brown at bbrown@ bestbeginningsalaska.org.

The Select Committee on Legislative Ethics is looking for a couple good men or women to serve as public members. Five public members sit on this committee, along with four legislators. Two of the public member terms will expire in 2012, and the application period for these seats is now open. This is a three-year term, and a great chance to participate in your state government. If you are interested in applying, please contact my office and we can provide you with all the necessary information.

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.