The 'move' fails

This Voice of the Times editorial was published today in the Anchorage Daily News:

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To the surprise of absolutely nobody who follows the breezes that blow through Alaska's political tree, a proposal to move legislative sessions out of Juneau failed at the polls Nov. 5.

Two things were going against the idea:

1. Juneau, as usual, rolled out big bucks to fight against the move - pumping thousands and thousands of dollars into television, radio and newspaper ads during weeks and weeks and weeks of campaigning.

2. No big pro-move forces rallied behind the cause. Despite large numbers of signatures that were sufficient to put the measure on the ballot, the idea simply never caught fire - because relocating the Legislature to Wasilla or Anchorage was not high on the public agenda.

That leads to two other conclusions on which you can bet your inheritance:

Juneau will always fight, with as many dollars as it can muster, when the proposal comes up again; and the move will continue to be an issue in Alaska until finally, one day, both the Legislature and the capital itself are moved to a site more accessible by most of the people of the state.

As usual, this anti-campaign raised the specter of a terrible cost. The scare tactics are bogus, of course. How many cardboard boxes does it take to pack up the legislative files and ship them north on an airplane? Not many.

How much does it cost to rent empty office space here or in the Mat-Su Valley? Not much. How much does it cost to buy some chairs and school desks where the legislators can sit and work? Not much.

But how much already is spent moving legislators and their household goods back and forth from Juneau every year? Quite a bit.

But it's not the cost so much as it is a desire for good government and ready access to legislators that is the root of this idea that will not go away.

We certainly didn't push the proposal this year. Didn't want to. There were bigger issues for Alaskans to resolve in this past election.

And those matters were solved nicely, we're pleased to say.

Moving the Legislature - or the capital, for that matter - can wait for another day, probably a number of years from now.