Haines Borough lobbyist Bill Thomas submitted his first progress report to the manager last week, offering a day-by-day chronicling of his work in Juneau.
During his first week on the job lobbying the Alaska Legislature on behalf of the borough, Thomas attended several presentations, fundraisers and lunches. Presentations included “Getting to ‘YES’ in Tough Times” by co-chair to the Senate Finance Committee Anna MacKinnon, “New Survey of Public Opinions on Alaska’s Budget Deficit” by Diane Kaplan, and one on the Every Student Succeeds Act that is replacing No Child Left Behind.
Thomas also reported he met with more than a dozen senators and representatives.
“I have had multiple verbal and email updates that will go into a summary for the assembly meeting,” interim manager Brad Ryan said.
Assembly member Diana Lapham requested Ryan read aloud Thomas’ reports at every assembly meeting.
“It would probably be pretty beneficial for the public to hear what our lobbyist is doing,” Lapham said. “I don’t want to say it was a contentious issue, but it had a lot of people who did not want us to (hire a lobbyist). I think it’s their money that is doing this; they need to be in the loop of information.”
The assembly hired Thomas for $45,000 in December.