The Haines Borough received only two applications for its $45,000 lobbyist position, including one from former state Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines.
The other came from the Anchorage-based firm Denali Daniels and Associates, which in addition to traditional lobbying services, provides strategic capital project planning and public involvement services.
Thomas served in the Alaska Legislature for eight years, including two years as co-chair of the Finance Committee. According to the resume included in the application, he served on the Sealaska Board of Directors for four years, was chair of Klukwan, Inc., and worked as a state and federal lobbyist from 1976-2004.
Denali Daniels’ application included several lengthy references from former clients, resumes for the people employed by the firm, a detailed chart of past projects and experience, a 12-month legislative action plan complete with timelines and deliverables, and a transmittal letter addressing priorities specific to the Haines Borough.
Thomas’ application included a resume, a three-sentence transmittal letter and a drawn-up contract primarily outlining legalities and technicalities of the position (such as reimbursement of expenses, termination clauses and confidentiality).
Thomas’ proposed rate for the one-year contract is $45,000, the amount approved by the assembly during the budget process this past spring. Denali Daniels’ proposed rate for a one-year contract is $69,000 plus $2,000, though that includes facilitation, strategic capital project planning and communications support. The fee can be reduced to exclude the added services.
Haines residents Brenda Josephson and Gershon Cohen submitted a joint letter urging the assembly not to hire a state lobbyist. “For the past several years, many people in Haines have been concerned about the repeated, significant expenditure of tax dollars on projects and studies that have provided limited, if any, benefit to the community. Spending $45,000 on a lobbyist in this political and fiscal climate will be remembered as yet another costly, unproductive expense,” they wrote.
Josephson and Cohen also cited plummeting oil prices, Railbelt-controlled majority caucuses and the existence of elected legislators.
“Representative (Sam) Kito and Senator (Dennis) Egan will be aware of the opportunities for influencing the legislative and gubernatorial budgets and will let us know when we need to send a local contingent to Juneau,” they wrote. “A small, well-prepared, politically diverse group of citizens will be far more likely to sway key legislators and the governor, who are often far more receptive to an approach from the ‘real people’ of a community as opposed to a ‘hired gun.’”
The assembly will consider the lobbyist applications at a special meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 29.
The assembly, not the manager, is responsible for hiring the lobbyist because it involves a contract that exceeds the manager’s $25,000 spending limit.