Once again the Anchorage Assembly has made a financial decision in the dark. I don't know if the Begich administration concealed information from the Assembly or if the Sullivan administration neglected to reveal all the information about the late Mayor's life insurance payment. What I do know is that the Assembly is not managing the finances of the municipality in a responsible fashion.
Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, a liberal or a conservative, a sourdough or recent arrival, you should be alarmed at recent comments from Assembly members. For example, Patrick Flynn, assembly chairperson, recently commented that "not all the facts were known when the Assembly voted" to appropriate money to pay the estate of former Mayor Sullivan. Last September Assembly member Paul Starr, chair of the audit committee, was quoted by KTUU: "We, as a body, approved the subsequent labor contracts under limited fiscal information."
The recent economic meltdown, coupled with financial wrongdoings such as occurred at Lehman Brothers, AIG, and a few years earlier at Enron, have made many of us fiscally cautious. Apparently the Anchorage Assembly missed the lessons from these calamities.
Following the bankruptcy of Enron the United States Senate subcommittee on investigations held hearings to investigate the role of the board of directors in the collapse. The lessons learned from this investigation are instructive for understanding the role the Assembly should and must play in safeguarding taxpayer's money. The Senate report identified three duties that boards of directors, and by extension Assembly members, must engage in: obedience, loyalty, and duty to care.
Interestingly the first two duties are also found in the Boy Scout Law. Having observed the Assembly in action and listened to their debates I have no doubt that each member is obedient and loyal. For example, I was very impressed by the patience and respect the members of the Assembly showed during the heated public testimony on the equal rights ordinance. What I have concerns about are the Assembly members' duty to care, in particular their duty to care about municipal finances prior to voting.
The duty to care should be exercised by Assembly members asking questions until there are no more questions to ask. The duty to care should be exercised by Assembly members making sure that financial statements don't simply meet accounting requirements but truly represent the municipality's current financial situation. The duty to care should be exercised by regular meetings of the audit committee. The duty to care should be exercised by Assembly members becoming financially literate.
Politicians often remark that government should operate more like businesses. Unfortunately, the Anchorage Assembly has taken that motto to heart -- it has operated like Enron and AIG.
Randy H. Magen is a social worker who lives in South Anchorage.
By RANDY MAGEN