A N. W. ALASKA LEGISLATURE?
By STATE SENATOR JOHN McNEES
Northwestern Alaska is posed with an extra
problem at each meeting of the Legislature, in that
geographically, we are a great distance from the Capitol
City of Juneau. It is extremely difficult and costly,
time and distance being the two big factors,, for proper
liaison to toe maintained between
the electorate and the Legislators.
Time is usually of essence, and
frequently defeat of a measure
can be experienced because of the
distance and expense involved in
an exchange of opinions between
the Legislature on the scene, and
the public at home, who are
vitally concerned.
Your legislators would wel
come a community-wide expres
sion on vital issues, but it is
impossible for you as an individ
ual to keep up with all the bills
that may be of interest to you.
By the same token, it is impos
sible for your legislator to check
with each of you individually on
the bill he feels would be of in
terest to you. With so many vital
issues at stake in these formative
years of Statehood transition,
some extra effort should be made
to bridge this gap that our geo
graphic^ distance presents.
Your State Legislature was re
organized in the First Session to
create parallel committees in
both the House and the Senate,
so as to correlate action on any
measure coming before one house
or the other. These committtees
frequently meet iointly and prac
tically all public hearings are held
by joint committees of the House
and the Senate. Considerable time
does elapse on practically all
measures between introduction
and final passage. It is this time
lapse, or period between the in
troduction of a bill and its final
passage, that we must utilize to
our advantage.
Local Committees Proposed
One proposal is that parallel
committees, the same as utilized
by the Legislature, be constituted
locally, and function during the
Legislative Session right here in
Northwestern Alaska! How would
it work?
Each House of the Legislature
has 10 committees, two of which
are primarily “Housekeeping”
committees, namely, the Engross
ment and Enrollment Committee
and the Rules Committee. The
other eight committees each deal
with subjects that are either of in
terest generally to you, or will be
treating with items of special in
terest to you at some time during
the Legislative Session. These
committees are Commerce and
Labor, Federal Relations, Finance,
Health, Welfare and Education,
Judiciary, Local Government, Re
sources, and State Affairs.
Each of these committees at
some time during the session will
deal with measures that directly
or indirectly affect you, your
family, your business, your city
government, or your state gov
ernment. You will want a max
imum’voice in these important is
sues that are going to possibly be
come law and guide your actions
in the future. Why not set up
these committees locally as a
clearing house for your ideas on
bills that will be coming .before
the Legislature? How would it
function?
Many Groups in Nome
In Nome, which is the adminis
trative, judicial, communications,
economic and transportation cen
ter for Northwestern Alaska, are
many community groups and
clubs, made up of individuals
from practically every segment of
our population. Logically, your
“Northwestern Alaska Legisla
ture” could best function at this
location. A committee would prob
ably work best with from five to
seven members, perhaps on some,
three members would be suffi
cient. In order to get as wide a
cross-section of public opinion as
5-.
possible, as many groups or clubs
that are interested should 'be rep
resented. For example, a Local
Government Committee could be
composed of seven members as
follows:
1— A member of the City Coun
cil, or the City Clerk.
2— A member of the Chamber
of Commerce or Rotary Club.
3— A member of the Nome
School Board, or faculty, or P-TA.
4— A member of one of the law
enforcement agencies, or judi
ciary.
5— A member of the Volunteer
Firemen, or Utility Board.
6— A member of the Nome
Ministerial Association, or other
general Church group.
7— A member of the Alaska
Native Brotherhood, or Sister
hood.
A Labor and Commerce Com
mittee should contain member
ship representation from the min
ing industry, the airlines, local
contractors, local union repre
sentation, the Chamber of Com
merce, a wage earner, a mer
chant, etc.
Other possibilities would be the
Home Arts Club, Pioneer Igloo,
or Womens Auxiliary, the Ma
sonic Order, etc. Participation
through correspondence could be
invited, and should be, by the
Arctic Circle Chamber of Com
merce, outlying Village Councils,
etc.
A Health, Welfare & Education
Committee should contain mem
bership representation from the
Dept, of Health, the Hospital Ad
visory Board, the Dept, of Wel
fare, the Ministerial Assn., the
Nome Educational Assn., the Ke
goyah Kozga Library Club, the
Chamber of Commerce, the City
Council, or any other interested
group.
These suggested memberships
on the various committees are
not arbitrary, and the committee
could be as large or as small as
necessary to insure community
wide representation, and still be
sufficiently small to be practical.
The committee could choose its
own chairman, who would func
tion in the same manner as a
committee chairman of a regular
Legislative Committee in Juneau.
He would serve as a local contact
for your elected legislator serv
ing on that same committee in
Juneau. He would be your source
of information and your contact
man .for any opinions you might
have on the bill in question.
N. W. Alaska Represented
Northwestern Alaska is repre
sented on each and every one of
these committees at the Legisla
ture, with the exception of the
Judiciary Committee, by one of
its Representatives in the House,
and one of, its Senators in the
Senate. The Judiciary Committee
could be combined with one of
the other committees locally or
the elected legislator serving on
one of the “housekeeping” com
mittees, the Engrossment and En
rollment Committee, or the Rules
Committee, could function as the
legislative contact for that com
mittee. What would the duties of
a Chairman of a Committee be?
Mr. John Q. Citizen, Chairman
of the Labor and Commerce Com
mittee, for instance, would re
ceive every bill that was intro
duced in either the House or the
Senate and assigned to the Labor
and Commerce 1 Committee. As
soon as it was ready for distri
bution, it would be mailed to him
by his legislative counterpart at
Juneau. He would study the bill,
circulate it among the other
9
members of his committee, hold
ing a regular Committee meeting
if necessary, and possibly on an
item of Community-wide impor
tance, hold a community hearing,
utilize the newspaper, television
or radio of the action to be taken.
He then could either forward the
views of his committee to the per
tinent legislator or the legislator
could call upon him for the com
mittee's viewpoint. What could
this accomplish?
Could Accomplish Much
The value of such a program
at the greater community level
could accomplish much for both
you as a citizen and for your legis
lator in serving your interest,
because:
A greater community interest
and knowledge at the “grassroots”
level would be stimulated;
A better direction, in the form
of a “Community” expression of
views, would be guiding the ac
tions of your legislators;
A local, and well-informed, con
tact would be available to you in
the person of the chairman or
committee member, on any meas
ure of particular interest to you;
Your legislators, knowing who
this committee chairman would
be, could make one telephone
call, send one telegram, or write
one letter, and know that he was
getting a community-wide expres
sion on any measure at perhaps
a very critical time:
Your legislator could use such
an expression to good advantage
as coming from a wide cross-sec
tion of his area, and not as the
views of any small minority. It
would help him to do a better job
for you;
It would cost considerably less
to have your views reach your
legislator through such a clearing
house, rather than sending a host
of telegrams from individuals;
It could well be that such an
idea would catch on in other com
munities in the area or the State,
bringing people closer to their
government to the betterment of
your government.
C. of C. Could Take Lead
Your local Chamber of Com
merce, together with the Arctic
Circle Chamber of Commerce,
could take the lead in such an
endeavor. It is currently starting
a new year of activities to serve
your interests. Its membership is
made up of representatives from
practically all of the local club
organizations aod it would wel
come membership from any other
organization or club that does not
now have membership. You, as an
individual, could join its member
ship roll, thereby for a very nom
inal amount help to finance just
such an endeavor. The Arctic
Circle Chamber of Commerce
could be invited to have a mem
ber to serve as a contact in that
area on eaoh of the committees
formed, thereby expanding its con
tact and its influence. It already
has committees set up and func
tioning that would be a valuable
assist in getting started. It holds
regular weekly meetings at which
the chairman of each committee
could report, and to which any
one in the community is invited
to attend and participate.
This is the “quiet” period of
the year locally, and each citizen
has more time for just such a
program as is here suggested.
WHY NOT DO IT — thereby as
suring a better informed public,
making your weight felt in your
government, assisting your legis
lators to help you to create the
kind of a government that you
want, which will best serve
Northwestern Alaska. It can be
done by calling a community
wide meeting of all interested
persons and groups at the earliest
possible opportunity. It could put
Northwestern Alaska on the map,
as doing something to help itself.
How about it?
Jews Demand Nazi
Resurgence Be
Rooted Out Now
By HERB ALTSCHULL
BONN, Germany, UFi — The
World Jewish Congress today de
manded a special police force to
deal with anti-Semitism and re
surgent Nazism in West Germany.
The Congress also called for the
banning of all organizations even
suspected of Nazi tendencies and
the rooting out of ex-Nazis from
all sections of German public life.
These were among the written
proposals submitted to Foreign
Minister Henrich von Brentano
by Alexander Easterman, politi
cal director of the World Jewish
Congress in an hour-long inter
view.
Easterman aferward told a
news conference he received a
very sympathetic reception from
von Brentano.
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer’s
regime, dominated by his Chris
tian Democrats, launched a
double-barreled campaign Wed
nesday night to stamp out anti
Semetic demonstrations by swift
court action against hate-mongers
and by stiffer sentences.
CAB PROPOSAL WOULD
INCREASE WIEN PAYMENTS
WASHINGTON, Wt — The Civil
Aeronautics Board has proposed
to increase the mail pay of Wien
Alaska Airlines by $229,274 for
the October 2, 1958-September 30,
1959, period, raising the total to
$1,884,600.
For the 12 months starting last
Oct. 1 the CAB proposed mail
pay of $1,932,203 for the airline.
PIONEER
WATER
DELIVERY
MAIN 14
Pure, Natural Water
‘Screeching Halt’
To Home Building,
Warns Bartlett
WASHINGTON, (*>—The Alaska
home-building program will come
to “a scheeohing halt” if the fed
eral government does not provide
a market for Alaska home mort
gages, Sen. Bartlett said today.
He said he will propose a bill
to continue legislation that pro
vides a market for Alaska mort
gages through the Federal Nation
al Mortgage Assn.
If not renewed, what is left of
the present 10 million dollar al
location under the special assist
ance program will probably be
used in June or July,’ 'he said.
‘‘From that time on mortgage
financing would be nonexistent,
bringing a virtual end to home
building and home ownership in
the state,” he added.
Bartlett said he was told by
Norman Mason, Housing Admin
istrator, that since Alaska is now
a state, it will be able to secure
mortgage financing through nor
mal channels.
But Alaska bankers, the gover
nor and the state congressional
delegation have expressed alarm
that his will not be so, Bartlett
said.
“Capital sources are simply not
available,” he said.
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