Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Subsistence Forum Speech 12/15/97

By Representative Scott Ogan

I would like to preface my remarks with this statement I read about my participation in this forum in the paper before I received my invitation. If this forum was truly unbiased, they would not have already passed a narrowly defined resolution on their position.

My remarks today are based on the following commitment:

"I vow to never relinquish our rights as a state. Our statehood compact seeks to uphold the very terms that were agreed to when Alaska joined the union. A deal is a deal. Alaskans will never relinquish our rights as a state."

If this sounds like classic Ogan, that kind of wrap yourself in the flag rhetoric the Daily News finds so simplistic, you're both right and wrong. You're right if you know how I think, you're wrong if you think these are my words.

NO, these are the words of our Governor, Tony Knowles, as copied from his August 8, 1997 press release in which the state seeks to preserve our share of oil promised to us in the very same statehood act we were promised control of our Fish and Game.

Apparently, to the Governor, the only difference between defending oil and fish and game are campaign promises. I quote from the text of Gov. Knowles October 23, 1997 speech to AFN. "Four years ago, here before you as a candidate, I made two pledges, to do all I could to amend our state constitution for a rural subsistence priority, and to drop the lawsuit which would have invalidated Title 8 of ANILCA. I have kept my word."

Gov. Knowles, We cannot afford to give Bill Clinton or Bruce Babbitt the keys to our constitution. To vigorously defend the 90-10 oil revenue split while compromising our constitutional right to manage fish and game guaranteed in the same compact, begs failure on both. Any country lawyer will advise against such a strategy that could ultimately cost Alaskans billions of dollars.

It is time to quit fooling the Alaskan public with double talk and dangerous rolls of the dice, which involve our statehood compact and oil revenues.

Some divinely inspired people some time ago wrote these words, words which changed the world. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness." This truth crosses all racial, and political boundaries, including rural and urban ones.

The framers of the Alaska Constitution understood these truths, that all Alaskans are created equal. They also understand another issue of equality, the public trust doctrine. This is the cornerstone of the common use clause of the Alaska Constitution. The legislature is the trustee and has a fiduciary duty to manage the assets of the resource in all the publics best interest. This is a duty that cannot be voted away. This fundamental right as a citizen to the equal assets of the public trust is not a severable question. This is one reason why the legislature can not and will not put this issue on the ballot.

Your permanent fund dividend represents your share, held in the public trust, of the oil resources that have been developed, brought to market, and sold. The legislature tried some years ago to discriminate with the distribution of this public trust asset. Some longtime Alaskans were very upset when they found out that they were not entitled to a bigger piece of the pie than their cheechako neighbors.

Just as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that we cannot discriminate on the amount of the permanent fund dividend we give to Alaskans based on their length of residency, we cannot discriminate with another asset of the public trust, Alaskan's fish and wildlife, based on where an Alaskan lives.

Our constitution allows us to provide a preference, a preference for all Alaskans, I call it the Alaskans First Preference. The principal is to give the preference of fish and game to Alaskans first, equally, without discrimination. What Alaskan could oppose that?

One of my friends in Palmer brought a song to my attention. It was written by Rickky Skaggs, and the words go like this.

"A rich man writes the book a laws that a poor man must defend, but the highest laws are written on the hearts of honest men."

It's time for honest Alaskans to join me and help craft an Alaskan solution. I ask Alaskans to stand together with your legislature as they defend your constitution and every promise the federal government made to us in our Statehood Compact.

Thank you.