Time to Throw Your Hat in the Ring!

Are you thinking of running for local office?  I hope so!  There are 5 seats open this year: 2 Assembly members and 2 school board members for 3 year terms, and 1 school board member for a 2-year term.

You can declare your candidacy for any seat starting July 9  through the end of the work-day July 27. Naturally, there are forms to fill out.  Four forms.  Two prepared locally and two  by the state.  The local forms are a declaration of candidacy, and a nominating petition. The state forms are a public official financial disclosure form, and a campaign finance form. Click on “Candidate Filing Period July 9-27” from the home page of the new Borough website at www.hainesalaska.gov for details and forms.

So, what is this job of local elected official all about?  Well, it might be the most challenging job you’ll ever have – and the lowest paying!  But it’ll probably be among the most interesting and rewarding too.

The job will ask you to be:

·      a model of civility and cooperation;

·      an educator and interpreter of public opinion;

·      a leader bringing people together and building trust.

Moving through your term, you will learn about local government, the local school district, local law, and finance.  Sometimes you will feel like you just signed up for a three-year degree!

It is true that, if elected, life, as you know it will change:

·      Wherever you are, whenever you are there, someone will probably approach to talk about roads, taxes, or government services. This happens in local politics because unlike elected officials at the state and federal level, local officials rub shoulders with the people who elected them everywhere, all the time.  You meet the people who elected you on a daily basis. 

·      You’ll spend a lot of time attending meetings, not only municipal meetings but regional and statewide ones as well. You’ll also spend a lot of time preparing for them, reading the material that needs to be read in order to make an informed decision in the course of the meeting.

  

When you are elected, you will draw upon skills you already have and skills you never knew you had or even wished you had! Your new job might require you to: 

·      Facilitate meetings, speak to the press, respond to citizens who are sometimes upset or angry, and testify before legislative committees.  

·      Make decisions on everything from who to hire as the next manager, to which bid  to accept for paving the roads, to how to pay for solid waste disposal, or whether to join with other towns in a regional approach to providing for services.

You will work hard on behalf of the community and we will all be glad you do! Please consider filing for the opportunity July 9 through July 27. Thank you.

Financial Disclosure: Local Law or State Law?

The Haines Borough Assembly has scheduled the second hearing of an ordinance to place the question of adopting local Haines Borough Financial Disclosure laws and penalties and exempting candidates and municipal officers from state financial disclosure laws before the voters on October 2, 2012. The public hearing will be on the July 10 Assembly agenda.

When the Assembly met in February to do some strategic planning, the list of initiatives to undertake included re-visiting the Alaska Public Offices Commission's (APOC) financial disclosure requirements for municipal candidates and officials. Assembly members had learned that the state requirement to report sources and total income more than $1000.00 might be a deterrent to filing for elected positions, contributing perhaps to the fact that last year no one at all filed for one of the vacant seats on the School Board.

The question of exemption from AS 39.50 has been before the Haines voters twice before, and failed both times.  Seeking success this time around, the Government Affairs and Services committee has reworded the question to emphasize that local requirements and penalties for failing to comply will be established and enforced concomitant with the exemption of local officials and officers from the state requirements. 

If the ordinance is passed on July 10, the question on the ballot will read:

Shall the Haines Borough adopt Haines Borough financial disclosure laws requiring disclosure of financial and business interests; establish penalties for failure to comply with local financial disclosure laws; and exempt municipal officials and election candidates from the requirement of the Alaska Financial Disclosure law (AS 39.50)?

Voter consent will no doubt depend on voter confidence in the local requirements and penalties spelled out in the local law.  That law is still in draft form.  It may come before the Assembly at the July 10th meeting.  The draft that has been reviewed by the GAS committee raises the level of income to report from $1000.00 to $5000.00.  This is the major change from the state law. If you are interested in taking a look at the draft law, please email me and I will send you a copy.

According to the Alaska Municipal League, there are 140 cities, boroughs, and unified municipalities in Alaska.  According to the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC), 102 or 73% have voted to exempt themselves from the Public Official Financial Disclosure Requirements under AS 39.50. You just have to ask why.  Maybe those communities also had trouble raising a slate of candidates for their local offices.

I have been examining the municipal codes for communities that have voted to exempt themselves from the state financial disclosure regulations.  I looked at the codes for the most recently exempted municipalities:

• Aleutians East Borough, 2011;
• Seldovia, 2010;
• City of Fairbanks, 2009;
• Delta Junction, 2008;
• City of Kenai, 2008;
• City of Ketchikan, 2008;
• City and Borough of Sitka, 2008;

and for a couple of municipalities somewhat similar to Haines in size and culture:

• Cordova, 1975;
• Craig, 1976.

Of this group, the City of Kenai and the City of Ketchikan seem to be the only two municipalities that require candidates and officials to file an actual financial disclosure form. Their requirements are similar to those proposed in the law under consideration for Haines.  If the Haines law is adopted, Haines candidates and municipal officials will also still have to file a disclosure form. Neither the local nor the state form are confidential. Both can be viewed by the public, though not on line. This condition has been established by the state, and mirrored by the municipality, to deter identity theft.

The balance of the municipalities I studied have codes of ethics and provisions for disclosure of a conflict of interest in the case of substantial financial interest in a matter. These provisions are very similar to those in the Haines Borough Code and Charter (HBC 2.06 Code of Ethics; HB Charter Article XVIII, Section 18.01.). If the local law is adopted by the voters, the public's interest in the impartiality of its municipal officers and elected officials will be doubly insured: by our sturdy conflict of interest and ethics requirements as well as the requirement to file a disclosure statement annually with the Borough Clerk.