At Gov. Bill Walker's 2014 unification event announcing the joint campaign, the biggest applause line was that there would be no more sole-source boondoggles like the Anchorage Legislative Information Office aka "The TajMahawker." Now that Judge McKay has ruled the LIO lease illegal, shouldn't the participants in this travesty be judged for their actions and held accountable? Would an audit of the LIO project delineate where funds were spent and who benefited? Was there a quid pro quo?
Since the Legislative Affairs Council voted to buy the LIO, they've added insult to injury. Please keep in mind that 11 out of the 14 members of the LAC are members of the majority, and all except one voted to spend at least another $32.5 million dollars on top of the $7.5 million spent on renovations, plus at least $5 million for the lease over the last 15 months for a minimum of $45 million. The governor could veto legislation authorizing the purchase of the LIO and/or line-item veto that appropriation. The Legislature wants us to give up our PFDs and/or pay an income tax and/or state sales tax. The Corrupt Bastards Club is back!
The LAC and the owners of the LIO Building tried three times -- first, questioning standing to bring the lawsuit; second, timeliness of the filing of the lawsuit; and finally the court's right to decide the legality of the lease extension -- to have Jim Gottstein's lawsuit thrown out and thrice Judge Patrick McKay (appointee of Gov. Murkowski) denied their requests.
For those that supported a politician who wasted tens of millions of your public funds not only on the Taj MaHawker, but many other issues as well, maybe research your next vote for your legislator and not vote for someone because they're the incumbent or of a particular party?
The $7.5 million spent on the renovation of this fiasco and wasted funds defending this travesty could be returned to the people. There are many better ways to utilize these wasted funds: fund education, reinstate the Alaska State Student Loan Forgiveness program, support programs for the less fortunate and so much more.
Jim Gottstein should be praised for bringing this lawsuit, and so should Judge McKay for making the correct decisions. If voters keep electing the same politicians instead of statesmen and stateswomen to the Legislature, we will probably keep getting the same results.
Sam Combs is an architect who lives in Anchorage.
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