 by June Allen February 17, 2005
It's all very well to toast and admire a local legislator who grandstands and has a knack for catching the attention and admiration of the press. But that's the yeah-sure "theater" of representative government. I appreciate lobbyists because not every Alaska elected legislator was the head of his or her class in civics, economics or business. And lobbyists do their best to pipe accurate information into the lawmakers' heads. Our grassroots legislators may truly need need a little education - and it's the lobbyists who can give it to them! The huge majority of Alaska's legislators are from the Anchorage-Wasilla area, of course, because that's where the largest communities are. And in my opinion, few if any of them seem to know Southeastern Alaska and its needs even exist! I know because I live here now, just down the traffic-clogged road from Wasilla, the strip mall capitol/capital of the world! Southeastern needs a "Support Your Lobbyist" movement! Or, ye gods, enough votes may be rounded up in Juneau to actually get Alaskans to vote to move the capitol/capital north to what Dave Kiffer called "the swamp" of Wasilla. Swamp. That's a very generous description. June Allen
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