Table Of Content^S.
Hrg. 104-505
REFORMING AND RESTRUCTURING THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT
Y 4. G 74/9: S, HRG. 104-505
Reforning and Restructuring the Fed...
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA—FEBRUARY 13, 1996
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA—FEBRUARY 14, 1996
JUNEAU, ALASKA—FEBRUARY 15, 1996
Printed for the use of the Committee on Governmental Affairs
mm®
S£p
f 8 1996
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON 1996
:
ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice
SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice.Washington,DC 20402
ISBN 0-16-052872-0
^S.
Hrg. 104-505
REFORMING AND RESTRUCTURING THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT
Y 4, G 74/9: S. HRG. 104-505
Reforning and Restructuring the Fed...
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA—FEBRUARY 13, 1996
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA—FEBRUARY 14, 1996
JUNEAU, ALASKA—FEBRUARY 15, 1996
Printed for the use of the Committee on Governmental Affairs
oamm
SEP
f 8 1996
" .
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON 1996
:
ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice
SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice,Washington,DC 20402
ISBN 0-16-052872-0
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
TED STEVENS, Alaska, Chairman
WILLIAM V. ROTH, Jr., Delaware JOHN GLENN, Ohio
WILLIAM S. COHEN, Maine SAM NUNN, Georgia
FRED THOMPSON, Tennessee CARL LEVIN, Michigan
THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi DAVID PRYOR, Arkansas
JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut
BOB SMITH, New Hampshire DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii
HANK BROWN, Colorado BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota
Albert L. McDermott, StaffDirector
John Marshall, Professional Staff
Leonard Weiss, Minority StaffDirector
Michal Sue Prosser, ChiefClerk
(II)
CONTENTS
Opening statements: Page
Senator Stevens 1, 81, 143
WITNESSES
Tuesday, February 13, 1996
Hon. Jim Sampson, Mayor, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska 3
Hon. James C. Hayes, Mayor, City ofFairbanks, Alaska 6
Hon. Lute Cunningham, Mayor, CityofNorth Pole, Alaska 8
Joan K. Wadlow, Chancellor, University ofAlaska, Fairbanks, Alaska 10
William R. Wood, Executive Director, Festival Fairbanks, Alaska 12
David O. Porter, Dean, School of Management, University of Alaska, Fair-
banks, Alaska 15
Paul J. Massey, Publisher, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Fairbanks, Alaska .. 21
Bart LeBon, National Bank of Alaska, and Chairman, Greater Fairbanks
Chamber ofCommerce, Fairbanks, Alaska 23
Earl F. Romans, President, Alaskan Battery Enterprises, Fairbanks, Alaska .. 25
Bonnie Williams, Member, Joint Borough-City Chena Riverfront Commission,
Alaska 34
Harold J. Noyes, Manager, Resources Development, Doyon, Ltd., Fairbanks,
Alaska 41
Ronald L. Ricketts, Executive Director, Fairbanks Industrial Development
Corporation, Fairbanks, Alaska 45
Mary A. Nordale, Attorney, Birch, Horton, Bittner and Cherot, Fairbanks,
Alaska 46
Barbara Schuhmann, Attorney, Cook, Schuhmann, Groseclose, Inc., Fair-
banks, Alaska 56
Rodney Perdue, Member, Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce Board,
Fairbanks, Alaska 64
Bill Robertson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Greater Fairbanks
Chamber ofCommerce, Fairbanks, Alaska 65
Althea St. Martin, Past President, Greater Fairbanks Chamber ofCommerce,
Fairbanks, Alaska 70
Gary R. Wilken, President, Wilken-Alaska, Inc., d/b/a Fairbanks Distributors
and GreatAlaskan Food Company, Fairbanks, Alaska 74
Wednesday, February 14, 1996
Hon. Rick Mystrom, Mayor, Anchorage, Alaska 83
Tom Fink, Former Mayor, Anchorage, Alaska 91
Sheila Ann Selkregg, University ofAlaska, Anchorage, Alaska 95
George A. Geistauts, University ofAlaska, Anchorage, Alaska 97
Barbara J. Sokolov, Director, Anchorage Consortium Library, University of
Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska 103
Lee Gorsuch, Chancellor, University ofAlaska, Anchorage, Alaska 108
Judith M. Brady, Executive Director, Alaska Oil and Gas Association, Anchor-
age, Alaska 119
Jim Mills, Support Industry Alliance, Anchorage, Alaska 122
Bill J. Allen, ChiefExecutive Officer, VECO Corporation, Anchorage, Alaska .. 128
Joe Sprague, Director ofMarketing, Era Aviation, Anchorage, Alaska 131
Richard Harding, General Manager and Director of Operations, Peninsula
Airways (PenAir), Anchorage, Alaska 136
Thursday, February 15, 1996
Hon. Gail Phillips, Speaker ofthe House, Alaska State House ofRepresenta-
tives, Juneau. Alaska 145
(III)
IV
Page
Hon. Drue Pearce, President, Alaska State Senate, Juneau, Alaska 148
Hon. Dennis Egan, Mayor, Juneau, Alaska 151
Tom Briggs, City Manager, Craig, Alaska 155
Annalee McConnell, Director, Alaska Governor's Office of Management and
Budget, Juneau, Alaska 162
Mark Boyer, Alaska Commissioner ofAdministration, Juneau, Alaska 170
Alphabetical List of Witnesses
Allen, Bill J.:
Testimony 128
Prepared statement 129
Boyer, Mark:
Testimony 170
Prepared statement 177
Brady, Judith M.:
Testimony 119
Briggs, Tom:
Testimony 155
Prepared statement 158
Cunningham, Hon. Lute:
Testimony 8
Egan, Hon. Dennis:
Testimony 151
Prepared statement 153
Fink, Tom:
Testimony 91
Prepared statement 93
Geistauts, GeorgeA.:
Testimony 97
Prepared statement 100
Gorsuch, Lee:
Testimony 108
Harding, Richard:
Testimony 136
Prepared statement 139
Hayes, Hon. James C:
Testimony 6
Prepared statement 7
LeBon, Bart:
Testimony 23
Prepared statement 24
Massey, Paul J.:
Testimony 21
Prepared statement 22
McConnell, Annalee:
Testimony 162
Prepared statement 168
Mills, Jim:
Testimony 122
Prepared statement 125
Mystrom, Hon. Rick:
Testimony 83
Prepared statement 86
Nordale, MaryA.:
Testimony 46
Prepared statement 48
Noyes, Harold J.:
Testimony 41
Prepared statement 43
Pearce, Hon. Drue:
Testimony 148
Prepared statement 150
Perdue, Rodney:
Testimony 64
Prepared statement 65
Phillips, Hon. Gail:
Testimony 145
Prepared statement 147
Porter, David O.:
Testimony 15
Prepared statement 18
Ricketts, Ronald L.:
Testimony 45
Prepared statement 45
Robertson, Bill:
Testimony 65
Prepared statement 68
Romans, Earl F.:
Testimony 25
Prepared statement 27
Sampson, Hon. Jim:
Testimony 3
Prepared statement 5
Schuhmann, Barbara:
Testimony 56
Prepared statement 59
Selkregg, SheilaAnn:
Testimony 95
Sokolov, Barbara J.:
Testimony 103
Prepared statement 106
Sprague, Joe:
Testimony 131
Prepared statement 134
St. Martin, Althea:
Testimony 70
Prepared statement 73
Wadlow, Joan K.:
Testimony 10
Prepared statement 11
Wilken, Gary R.:
Testimony 74
Prepared statement 76
Williams, Bonnie:
Testimony 34
Prepared statement 37
Wood, William R.:
Testimony 12
Prepared statement 13
APPENDIX
Additional prepared statements and letters submitted for the record:
John D. Lyle, Fairbanks, Alaska 187
Ginny Hill Wood, Fairbanks, Alaska 189
Beverly Reitz, Fairbanks, Alaska 190
Stuart Pechek, Fairbanks, Alaska 190
Frederick C. Dean, Fairbanks, Alaska 191
Sylvia Ward, Executive Director, Northern Alaska Environmental Center,
Fairbanks, Alaska 195
Teri S. Camery, Fairbanks, Alaska 196
Roxane Ronca and Jack Herring, Fairbanks, Alaska 197
Celia Hunter, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Columnist, Fairbanks, Alas-
ka 197
Sherry Lewis, Fairbanks, Alaska 198
Richard Mandsager, M.D., Alaska Native Medical Center, Anchorage,
Alaska 199
REFORMING AND RESTRUCTURING THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1996
U.S. Senate
Committee on Governmental Affairs
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., at Fair-
banks North Star Borough Assembly, 809 Pioneer Street, Fair-
banks, Alaska, Hon. Ted Stevens, Chairman ofthe Committee, pre-
siding.
Present: Senator Stevens.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN STEVENS
Chairman Stevens. Thank you for coming. We will be starting
the first panel here in just a moment. Let me say that these hear-
ings really are hearings that we originally scheduled last fall in Oc-
tober. It was not possible to come at that time.
We thought there were several senators that would come along.
At this time, now, with the primaries going on in the South 48,
there is obviously no other senator here, but I decided to continue
to hold the hearings because their original intent was for me, now,
as Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, to have in-
formation from Alaskans that I have known in the past to have
views that I would like to have on the record that as we proceed
now with legislation go to deal with the restructuring of the Fed-
eral Government.
There has been some comment about the fact that these hearings
were scheduled very quickly. I want you to know, we didn't know
until last Thursday when we finally got the telecommunications
bill passed. That was an enormous breakthrough for Alaska and for
us personally since I have worked a long time on that.
But once we were sure that we had that bill passed, the Senate
made the decision to go out of session and not resume session until
the 26th of this month, so we were able then to put the schedule
back together again and to come.
We did ask the other members of the Senate to come, but none
of them could come on such short notice. I appreciate the fact that
many ofyou are here on very short notice.
We are really making a record that we intend to use as we go
through these discussions on the floor ofthe Senate concerning leg-
islation that will restructure the Federal Government.
I think in the last decades, Americans have witnessed enormous
change. Businesses and entire industries have restructured them-
(l)
selves to take advantage ofthe new technologies ofthe information
age. They have become leaner, smarter and more agile to survive
the rigors ofthe marketplace.
We encounter the fruits ofnew technologies every day: at the su-
permarket, at the department store, through overnight mail serv-
ices, even at the gas pump. Americans are directly accessing these
new technologies in their homes through personal computers, and
on-line purchasing networks. Products and services are being deliv-
ered faster and more responsibly than ever before.
But government seems to be stuck in a time warp. Whether filing
a Medicare claim, applying for a patent, or waiting in line at the
post office, the gap between customers are treated by the best com-
panies in America and Federal agencies is now enormous. It seems
to be getting worse.
Today, a car loan is approved in a few hours, but it can take the
Federal Government 6 months to process a disability claim. The in-
novations which are transforming the world have bypassed our
Federal Government. And the Federal Government consumes about
20 cents out of every hard-earned dollar here in America. The gov-
ernment ignores the feeling that citizens are not getting their mon-
ey's worth at its own peril. And that's why we are here.
Many of us believe our government must be fundamentally reor-
ganized to meet the needs of our citizens today and, particularly,
as we go into the 21st Century.
Now, there are a series of guests here today. Primarily, Alaska
State and local officials, members of the higher education commu-
nity, and the business community, people who know the problems
of government intimately, because they have experienced the prob-
lems in their daily lives.
I want to thank everyone for coming. I see there is a large crowd
here. The people who have been invited were invited by me and I
take full responsibility for who was not invited, but this is a Senate
hearing and it's designed to try and help me represent Alaska.
As a Senate hearing, there will be no demonstrations from any-
body. We do not permit applause or booing or any kind ofparticipa-
tion by members of the gallery in the Senate. And if such occurs,
our Sergeant-of-Arms is under instruction to remove the public.
I want it to be understood that this is not a political gathering.
This is an official Senate hearing. And as such, I'm here to learn
and I hope that everybody is willing to participate on that basis.
[The prepared statement ofSenator Stevens follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR STEVENS
Today, the Committee on Governmental Affairs will ask distinguished citizens of
Alaska to share their experiences and ideas about how to make the Federal Govern-
ment work better.
In the last decade Americans have witnessed enormous change. Businesses and
entire industries have restructured themselves to take advantage of the new tech-
nologies of the information age. They have become leaner, smarter, and more agile
to survive the rigors ofthe market place.
We encounter the fruits ofnew technologies every day: At the supermarket, at the
department store, through overnight mail services, even at the gas pump. Ameri-
cans are directly accessing them in their homes, through personal computers and
on-line purchasing networks. Products and services are being delivered faster and
more responsively than ever before.
Yet, to most Americans, government seems stuck in a time warp. Whether filing
a Medicare claim, applying for a patent, or waiting in line at the Post Office, the
