Primary Results Leave Doubt State Senate Bipartisan Coalition Will Survive

Primary election eliminated two members of the Senate Bipartisan Working Group

Tools

By Bill McAllister
Bio

Story Created: Aug 30, 2012 at 6:22 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Aug 30, 2012 at 8:03 PM AKDT

ANCHORAGE - Tuesday's primary election eliminated two members of the Senate's Bipartisan Working Group.

Now the question is whether the coalition itself can survive the general election.

Republican Senator Linda Menard of Wasilla and Republican Senator Tom Wagoner of Kenai lost their primary races.

While both were in the working group, the candidates who defeated them say they would not have joined it.

Democratic Senator Bill Wielechowski of Anchorage said he's not worried.

"I don't think it means anything. Each race is personality-based; it's based on individual circumstances. In a closed Republican primary, you can get candidates who are elected who don't necessarily reflect what people in the rest of the state are thinking. You need 11 members to organize the Senate. We had 16. We've lost two. We've still got 14."

But former Republican Representative Bob Roses says if he defeats Wielechowski in November, he would not join a coalition in which Democrats chair most committees.

"Strangely enough, they call it a working group, which I really found that to be quite comical, but if it's in a bipartisan coalition as they call it, if you have a majority of the seats in there, you control the majority of the chairmanships in the committees. And the way you kill a piece of legislation is you kill it in the committee if you don't want it to go. The Senate is notorious for counting their votes on a bill before they take it to the floor."

Wielechowski said the coalition delivered.

"We have a fair oil tax structure; we're finally getting our fair share for our oil resources. That's not about being a Republican or a Democrat. That's just about good government."

But Roses said debate is stifled.

"If I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it for the reason that most of them pretend that it is, which is to show bipartisan working relations. It's about power. I'm not going there for power."

Voters will decide if the working group worked.

Both Governor Sean Parnell and the state's Republican Party Chair Randy Ruedrich have said breaking up the coalition is their central priority in this election cycle.

The main reason? The Senate's refusal to reduce oil taxes.

In a Fairbanks Republican primary, former Labor Commissioner Click Bishop, who said he's open to joining a coalition, defeated former Senator Ralph Seekins, who said he would'nt join.

But in Southeast, one coalition member definitely will be defeated in November, due to a face-off between Republican incumbent Senator Bert Stedman of Sitka and Democratic incumbent Senator Albert Kookesh of Angoon.
 

You have indicated this comment should be removed.

Close

The comment has been submitted for review. Thank you .

Robo said on Sunday, Sep 2 at 12:05 PM

Sorry, but we need a more conservative approach to the spending in the state...we can not afford to continue on the course that the legislature has pursued. We need a focused government on the needs for growth and not excessive spending.

100748516
Inappropriate? Alert Us!

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 1000 Characters Left

KTVA CBS 11 | Anchorage, Alaska News and Weather and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum.
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.