State Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, at a Nov. 29 Haines Chamber of Commerce lunch discussed the impact of Southeast population declines and his new position as co-chair of the House Finance Committee.
“I tell people, ‘In all honesty, I don’t think Haines realizes what a co-chair of finance means,’” Thomas said. “It’s big. It’s huge. Like I said, we’re writing the budgets for the whole state.”
Thomas stepped in for state Sen. Albert Kookesh, D-Angoon, who was unable to make the event due to poor weather. Joan Carlson, chamber manager, said Kookesh plans to reschedule his trip to Haines in 2011.
Thomas said he had spoken with Kookesh earlier on Nov. 29, and redistricting was set to be a focus of the senator’s talk.
“He wanted to point out that there’s a good chance that he may not be our senator, and I may not be the rep next time, because of redistricting,” Thomas said. “With redistricting, he may be forced to be the senator from Juneau, and he may not want to run against Dennis Egan.”
The 2010 census is expected to show population declines through much of Alaska, he said.
“The way we look at it, with just preliminary numbers, Haines, Skagway, Gustavus, Yakutat, Cordova may go into Valdez, because we’re going to lose Craig, Klawock, Hydaburg, Kake, Angoon, backfilling the needs of all those communities,” Thomas said of possible shifts in response to the population losses.
He said preliminary numbers also indicate “Haines is too big … if we stick us in Juneau, it will take them over” the population requirement for an election district.
“It’s a Republican governor, so he appointed the redistricting board, and the governor and the House and the Senate are all a Republican majority,” Thomas said.
He said the Legislature would be lobbied heavily to increase funding for education.
“If you don’t have the students, you don’t get the income, and it’s not the state’s fault if you don’t have the student count,” Thomas said. “If we put more money into it, it probably helps Anchorage or somebody who’s got the student count that is going up. We may be going backwards all over the state; we haven’t looked at it yet.”
Thomas, who was re-elected in November, said he has moved into the “biggest office in the Capitol” and people have become a lot more responsive to his phone calls due to his standing on the House Finance Committee.
“Along with the co-chair of finance, we get extra people,” Thomas said. “We’re talking, now, keeping my office open in Haines year-round, because of constituent issues.”