A Citizen’s Guide

Gov. Frank Murkowski said Friday that he finished duck hunting Thursday night, saw the media reports of his administration handing off the gas pipeline contract to the next administration, and said, “Hey, wait a minute! That’s not where we’re going.”

“I’m sorry for the confusion,” he said Friday. “When we get the contract done, we have every intention to present it to the Legislature, and I’ll make a decision at that time on whether to act on a special session.”

Jim Clark, the governor’s chief of staff and chief pipeline negotiator, said this week the governor would not to call another special session against the will of lawmakers. He also acknowledged that lawmakers at this point were not interested in moving forward with the contract.

Clark wouldn’t say Friday whether Murkowski would call another special session sometime before his term ends in December even if lawmakers didn’t want to.

“It’s probably just best to wait till we get to that point,” he said.

Murkowski said things have come up since he made that statement, including the FBI investigation involving several lawmakers and VECO Corp.

“Nobody contemplated that,” he said.

Murkowski blamed the investigation for much of the lawmakers’ opposition to holding what would be the year’s third special session. He said the investigation puts a “damper” on the special session from lawmakers’ point of view but doesn’t change his obligation as governor to get the contract done and present it to the Legislature.

“We have a job to do, and we’re not shying away from that responsibility,” he said. “We’re not giving up.”

Legislative leaders Friday said the governor’s announcement didn’t change their opposition to a special session to work on the proposed contract.

“It’s unlikely that any progress would be made,” said Senate Majority Leader Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak. “I would hope the governor would take that into consideration.”

Stevens said it was his understanding that the governor wouldn’t call lawmakers back if they weren’t up for it.

“All of us assumed that there would not be a special session,” he said.

House Majority Leader John Coghill, R-North Pole, said he wasn’t surprised the governor would want to call another session if he made a breakthrough on the contract.

“But I don’t know that changes my point of view at all,” he said.

On Tuesday, Coghill and House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, detailed House members’ opposition to the idea in a letter to Murkowski. They wrote that Murkowski’s loss in the Republican primary, lawmakers’ own political races, the federal investigation and the tight schedule all made a special session a bad idea.

“Everybody’s motive would be second guessed,” Coghill said Friday, especially with the investigation involving VECO, an oil field services company.

Sen. Ralph Seekins, R-Fairbanks, expressed more openness to the idea. He acknowledged some of the political concerns about moving forward but said the federal investigation and other issues shouldn’t stop lawmakers from doing their job.

“The FBI investigation should not be a consideration,” he said.

Seekins said if Murkowski and his administration could make significant changes to the proposed contract, the Legislature should take a look at it.

“If he came back with a five-star, gold-plated contract, why wouldn’t I want to look at it?” he said.

Seekins, who chairs the Senate Special Committee on Natural Gas Development, questioned whether the administration would have the time to respond to public comments, renegotiate the contract with BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil, and finish the agreement with the companies over the entity that would build the pipeline, or LLC.

But he said if the governor could complete the work, his committee could probably get through the LLC and revised contract in a couple weeks.

“The Senate works hard,” he said.

Rep. David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks, disagreed about the timing.

“We’re not going to have the time to scrutinize and examine what’s going on,” he said.

Guttenberg called Murkowski “phenomenally optimistic” and questioned whether he’d be able to get anything passed if lawmakers remained unwilling.

“The mood of the Legislature is his problem,” he said, “because the Legislature is not ready to go back to Juneau and deal with something that we have rejected twice.”

Stevens, the Senate Majority Leader, noted that the governor had the authority to bring lawmakers back to Juneau, but lawmakers could still choose not to work by adjourning once they got there.

“The Senate is comfortable with waiting until January,” he said.

Murkowski’s term ends Dec. 4.

Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for governor, said Friday she was surprised by Murkowski’s statements.

She said if the governor can get all the pieces together, including a contract that’s acceptable to the majority of lawmakers, then it would be smart to call them back.

But Palin questioned whether that was possible.

“(The contract) has to be so drastically changed I just can’t imagine that the lawmakers feel they will have enough time,” she said.

Patty Ginsburg, spokesperson for Democratic candidate Tony Knowles, said the governor’s calling another special session would be “sort of incredible.”

“I don’t think Tony Knowles would presume to tell the Legislature what to do,” she said when asked what the former governor would recommend if Murkowski called lawmakers back, “but they’ve already spoken.”

Staff writer Stefan Milkowski can be reached at smilkowski@newsminer.com or 459-7577.