Parnell promises he won't use veto to punish legislators TAX CUTS: House Republicans plan Anchorage hearing Friday.

Gov. Sean Parnell pledged Wednesday that he wouldn't use vetoes to punish lawmakers who opposed his oil-tax cuts. But senators aren't convinced as the special session hits Day 11. House Republicans are blaming the Senate and taking their show on the road. They're staging a hearing in Anchorage at the end of the week to hear the attorney general argue that the Senate is acting illegally.
The deadlock remains over language the Senate put in its proposed capital budget that says if the governor vetoes a single energy project, then none of the $400 million in energy projects will get funded. Senators say the provision is needed because Parnell threatened vetoes if lawmakers refused his proposal to cut oil taxes.
Parnell said in a Wednesday interview that he would not abuse his veto authority or "target anybody for their stand on a particular issue." He said it's a message he also delivered in a phone call to Senate leaders, as well as in venues including a governor's mansion dinner with legislators.
Senate President Gary Stevens said things were "poisoned" by Parnell's initial suggestion he'd veto projects if lawmakers didn't go along with his oil-tax cut. Parnell said the capital budget needed to be smaller because there would be less oil production and therefore less tax money over the long term to run state government, a suggestion Senate leaders called absurd.
Stevens, a Kodiak Republican, said senators are looking for more confidence that Parnell won't be vindictive. Stevens invited Parnell to meet with the Senate majority to get assurances that vetoes won't be retaliatory against the lawmakers who blocked the tax cut.
"I think it is important for the caucus to hear from the governor ... I think folks need to hear that from the governor himself," Stevens said.
But Parnell on Wednesday turned down the invitation.
"I told the senator I wouldn't appear in caucus to say in secret what I have been saying publicly," he said.
Parnell said he'd hold a press conference to affirm his commitment not to abuse vetoes if Senate leaders joined him to say they were dropping the disputed budget language.
Alaska Attorney General John Burns, a Parnell appointee, put out a memo on Tuesday saying the Senate's budget language is an unconstitutional attack on the governor's line-item veto power. The Legislature's top lawyer, though, had his own memo released on Wednesday saying he's not convinced a court would agree.

SPECIAL SESSION COMING TO ANCHORAGE
House Republican leaders, who supported the governor's proposed oil tax cut, bristled on Wednesday at the suggestion that the oil issue is causing this mess.
House Speaker Mike Chenault said the oil tax isn't part of the special session. He said the problem is the Senate refusing to let the House have the capital budget.
"The House is being left out of this argument, and the (media) has crafted it very well, along with the Senate, that it's all about oil taxes and what the governor may or may not have said whenever," the Nikiski Republican said. "I don't care about that. (Oil taxes) are not on the call; it's not an issue that's in front of the House."
"The issue is the House being forced to accept language that we don't agree with," Chenault said.
House and Senate leaders have been talking privately but with no breakthrough. Senators said they've offered several concessions to the House. There was an apparent agreement Wednesday to take out $100 million for weatherization and alternative energy grants from the disputed capital budget and deal with the items separately.
But the language attempting to limit the governor's veto power is the main issue. House leaders say it's unacceptable and actually endangers the projects.
Senate leaders say it's meant to guard the statewide package of energy projects. The list includes transmission lines and money that Parnell wants for work toward the proposed Susitna dam, as well as smaller hydro and rural energy efforts.
"The principles we have to stand behind, and are standing behind, are those of protecting legislative priorities," said Senate President Stevens.
Top senators said they didn't object to the House Finance Committee taking the special session on the road to Anchorage for a hearing on Friday. But some legislators object.
"I think clearly this is for show," said Fairbanks Democratic Rep. David Guttenberg, who plans to stay in Juneau and participate in the meeting by teleconference.
Guttenberg said the main people to testify at the hearing are in Juneau, where the job of working out the budget is supposed to happen. Guttenberg said it will just inflame the situation to bring the attorney general to Anchorage to talk about his opinion that the Senate is violating the Constitution with its budget language.
The House Finance Committee plans to meet at the Anchorage Legislative Information Office on Friday from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Chugiak Republican Rep. Bill Stoltze said the morning part of the hearing will include the Alaska Energy Authority and the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. talking about projects in the budget. The attorney general will then speak in the afternoon. Stoltze said it makes sense to have the hearing in Anchorage. "Another venue to discuss the issue, maybe a different set of fresh eyes and press on it," he said.