Sunday, July 27, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Anatomy of a Failed Alaskan Politician
Who is Andrew Halcro and why do we care? Mr. Halcro is a most interesting specimen of man; a specimen that knows of little success without cowering under rambling accusations. He is a man heroic only in his noble and agile wielding of criticisms. Criticisms crafted from facts not tied together by knowledge of truth, but molded together by outwardly assumption, such that the result is the appearance of ghastly aborted inspiration from a mind that knows no pleasure without others’ pain. Who is this sordid man whispering questions, whispering accusations, hissing in the ears of citizens and newsmen?
Andrew Halcro the Critical Medusa of Anchorage
Mr. Halcro was born San Francisco, California to Robert and Barbara, a family in the esteemed profession of… renting cars. Shortly after his birth, his family moved back to Anchorage Alaska where young Halcro attended high school, but eventually left for Salem, Oregon to attend Willamette University. Perhaps Mr. Halcro’s time in Salem inspired him of another Salem on the other side of the nation. The Salem that played host to infamous witch trials where the only real craft was conspiracy and nineteen innocents lost their lives. Inspired from his time in Salem, Mr. Halcro returned to Anchorage where he joined his family business and dabbled in political affairs. From 1980 until 2002, Mr. Halcro enjoyed various positions at Avis Rent-A-Car (dba Alaska Rent-A-Car) in Alaska and served in his father’s employ. He managed a car wash for two years, worked as a rental agent, and even became an administrative assistant. Finally, in 2002 he took over as President, a clearly appropriate role considering his past experience.
Mr. Halcro inherited a company that is not without its own soiled history. For example, in July 1977, Alaska Rent-A-Car sued Naomi and Grey Carroll, asserting that a previous jury award (566 P.2d 677; 1977 Alas. LEXIS 438) was unfairly influenced by the testimony of a medical doctor. In the original judgment Naomi Carroll was awarded over sixty thousand dollars in damages. But the question must be asked, why would Halcro’s Alaska Rent-A-Car work so hard to reverse a decision that was decided by a jury? Is this where the tagline “We Try Harder” originated? Further, Alaska Rent-A-Car sued Ford Motor claiming that the company sold them a vehicle with defective parts. Alaska Rent-A-Car used the vehicle in its fleet and this resulted in a serious accident which harmed its customers (526 P.2d 1136; 1974 Alas. LEXIS 268) and the company was held liable. The customers claim that when they tried to hit the brakes, the brake pedal fell off! Doesn’t Alaska Rent-A-Car care about its customer’s safety? How can the company use a vehicle where the brake pedals fall off? Who decided to use this car? Was it Halcro? Why was he putting his customers in danger?
Aside from Mr. Halcro’s interesting career in the car rental business, he also spent a very short time in Alaskan politics. In 1998 and in 2000 he was elected to represent Alaska’s 12th State House district in Anchorage. His legislative accomplishments are less than impressive, in fact, they’re less than unimpressive. During his first term in office he was the prime sponsor of seventeen bills and only four passed while during his second session in the House, he was the prime sponsor on six bills, none of which passed. That’s an incredibly embarrassing 17% legislative success rate. While Halcro served in the House, he would often opine, orate, and outright harangue his fellow legislators – which would account for his dismal performance. His failure as a Representative led him to the sidelines and continue his soap box lectures by publishing editorials in papers, and when the papers wouldn’t publish his commentaries he started his own website where he alone could stand as judge, jury, and editor-in-chief. Alaskan Republican Senator Lyda Green puts it best with her own opinion piece published in December 2005 entitled, “Another Quirky Commentary by Andrew Halcro is as Unproductive and Full of Hot Air as His Tenure in the Legislature.” Her concluding paragraph says it most succinctly:
There is a world of difference between those who work cooperatively, pass legislation and are chosen by their colleagues to serve in leadership. And then there are those like Andrew Halcro who cannot work with others, can not pass legislation and do not earn respect from their colleagues. Read the full text of this article.
Mr. Halcro failed to work with other legislators during his time in office and as such a report surfaced in local news that he would be switching parties. On March 21, 2002, Halcro released a statement saying that the rumors were absolutely false. Two months later on May 19, 2002, he announced that he would not seek a third term in office as an Alaskan State Representative but the press statement contained one ominous line, “When the timing is right, I will give strong consideration to returning to public service as an elected representative.” He stated that he wanted to leave public life to focus on his family and his business. Yet we have to ask, how can Mr. Halcro focus on his family and his business when he is posting lengthy articles on his blog every day throughout the day and seeking interviews and drafting commentaries?
With such a dismally stellar political experience, an experience where if it were described as a failure simply would not be descriptive enough, you would think that Mr. Halcro would go back to washing and renting cars for the rest of his days. But, alas, he decided that his vast legislative experience coupled with his success as a businessman, would make him more than suitable to be no less than the Governor of the largest state in America.
On January 24, 2006 he officially announced his candidacy, but not as a Republican, as an independent. Mr. Halcro seemed to know back in 2002 that he would run for the state’s highest office and he seemed to know that because he couldn’t work with his Republican colleagues (though he himself is a Republican) that he would have to run as an independent. It seems the earlier rumors of his party switch were true and Mr. Halcro lied about his previous intentions.
Come election day 2006, Mr. Halrco was only able to garner about 10% of the vote for the office of the Governor of Alaska. With all of his corporate financing, and clearly superior policy offerings, why was he only able to garner this shamefully sad amount of political support? How does he explain this, his latest political failure? Mr. Halcro owes us all an explanation.
Mr. Halcro now spends all of his days attacking the administration that so soundly defeated him. Halcro clearly does not support democratic principles when the Alaskan electorate chose Sarah Palin to represent them as Governor. He believes that he knows better, and this is nothing new. Has this been an ongoing problem with Mr. Halcro? Isn’t this why he wasn’t able to work with other legislators? He thought that he knew better than everyone else, better than his colleagues, better than the media, and instead of persuading people to support him and instead of acting like a leader, he has become a preacher. But as a preacher he fails to inspire hope, he only inspires hate and mistrust. He ignores his past failures, which are too numerous to count, and instead plows ahead at full steam proclaiming that his truth, his knowledge, and his experience is vast and superior.
The people of Alaska can be dearly credited with holding their state secure and protected by ensuring that Mr. Halcro did not ascend to its highest office. For a man who believes he is better than all the people, has no place in a government for the people, by the people.
Andrew Halcro the Critical Medusa of Anchorage
Mr. Halcro was born San Francisco, California to Robert and Barbara, a family in the esteemed profession of… renting cars. Shortly after his birth, his family moved back to Anchorage Alaska where young Halcro attended high school, but eventually left for Salem, Oregon to attend Willamette University. Perhaps Mr. Halcro’s time in Salem inspired him of another Salem on the other side of the nation. The Salem that played host to infamous witch trials where the only real craft was conspiracy and nineteen innocents lost their lives. Inspired from his time in Salem, Mr. Halcro returned to Anchorage where he joined his family business and dabbled in political affairs. From 1980 until 2002, Mr. Halcro enjoyed various positions at Avis Rent-A-Car (dba Alaska Rent-A-Car) in Alaska and served in his father’s employ. He managed a car wash for two years, worked as a rental agent, and even became an administrative assistant. Finally, in 2002 he took over as President, a clearly appropriate role considering his past experience.
Mr. Halcro inherited a company that is not without its own soiled history. For example, in July 1977, Alaska Rent-A-Car sued Naomi and Grey Carroll, asserting that a previous jury award (566 P.2d 677; 1977 Alas. LEXIS 438) was unfairly influenced by the testimony of a medical doctor. In the original judgment Naomi Carroll was awarded over sixty thousand dollars in damages. But the question must be asked, why would Halcro’s Alaska Rent-A-Car work so hard to reverse a decision that was decided by a jury? Is this where the tagline “We Try Harder” originated? Further, Alaska Rent-A-Car sued Ford Motor claiming that the company sold them a vehicle with defective parts. Alaska Rent-A-Car used the vehicle in its fleet and this resulted in a serious accident which harmed its customers (526 P.2d 1136; 1974 Alas. LEXIS 268) and the company was held liable. The customers claim that when they tried to hit the brakes, the brake pedal fell off! Doesn’t Alaska Rent-A-Car care about its customer’s safety? How can the company use a vehicle where the brake pedals fall off? Who decided to use this car? Was it Halcro? Why was he putting his customers in danger?
Aside from Mr. Halcro’s interesting career in the car rental business, he also spent a very short time in Alaskan politics. In 1998 and in 2000 he was elected to represent Alaska’s 12th State House district in Anchorage. His legislative accomplishments are less than impressive, in fact, they’re less than unimpressive. During his first term in office he was the prime sponsor of seventeen bills and only four passed while during his second session in the House, he was the prime sponsor on six bills, none of which passed. That’s an incredibly embarrassing 17% legislative success rate. While Halcro served in the House, he would often opine, orate, and outright harangue his fellow legislators – which would account for his dismal performance. His failure as a Representative led him to the sidelines and continue his soap box lectures by publishing editorials in papers, and when the papers wouldn’t publish his commentaries he started his own website where he alone could stand as judge, jury, and editor-in-chief. Alaskan Republican Senator Lyda Green puts it best with her own opinion piece published in December 2005 entitled, “Another Quirky Commentary by Andrew Halcro is as Unproductive and Full of Hot Air as His Tenure in the Legislature.” Her concluding paragraph says it most succinctly:
There is a world of difference between those who work cooperatively, pass legislation and are chosen by their colleagues to serve in leadership. And then there are those like Andrew Halcro who cannot work with others, can not pass legislation and do not earn respect from their colleagues. Read the full text of this article.
Mr. Halcro failed to work with other legislators during his time in office and as such a report surfaced in local news that he would be switching parties. On March 21, 2002, Halcro released a statement saying that the rumors were absolutely false. Two months later on May 19, 2002, he announced that he would not seek a third term in office as an Alaskan State Representative but the press statement contained one ominous line, “When the timing is right, I will give strong consideration to returning to public service as an elected representative.” He stated that he wanted to leave public life to focus on his family and his business. Yet we have to ask, how can Mr. Halcro focus on his family and his business when he is posting lengthy articles on his blog every day throughout the day and seeking interviews and drafting commentaries?
With such a dismally stellar political experience, an experience where if it were described as a failure simply would not be descriptive enough, you would think that Mr. Halcro would go back to washing and renting cars for the rest of his days. But, alas, he decided that his vast legislative experience coupled with his success as a businessman, would make him more than suitable to be no less than the Governor of the largest state in America.
On January 24, 2006 he officially announced his candidacy, but not as a Republican, as an independent. Mr. Halcro seemed to know back in 2002 that he would run for the state’s highest office and he seemed to know that because he couldn’t work with his Republican colleagues (though he himself is a Republican) that he would have to run as an independent. It seems the earlier rumors of his party switch were true and Mr. Halcro lied about his previous intentions.
Come election day 2006, Mr. Halrco was only able to garner about 10% of the vote for the office of the Governor of Alaska. With all of his corporate financing, and clearly superior policy offerings, why was he only able to garner this shamefully sad amount of political support? How does he explain this, his latest political failure? Mr. Halcro owes us all an explanation.
Mr. Halcro now spends all of his days attacking the administration that so soundly defeated him. Halcro clearly does not support democratic principles when the Alaskan electorate chose Sarah Palin to represent them as Governor. He believes that he knows better, and this is nothing new. Has this been an ongoing problem with Mr. Halcro? Isn’t this why he wasn’t able to work with other legislators? He thought that he knew better than everyone else, better than his colleagues, better than the media, and instead of persuading people to support him and instead of acting like a leader, he has become a preacher. But as a preacher he fails to inspire hope, he only inspires hate and mistrust. He ignores his past failures, which are too numerous to count, and instead plows ahead at full steam proclaiming that his truth, his knowledge, and his experience is vast and superior.
The people of Alaska can be dearly credited with holding their state secure and protected by ensuring that Mr. Halcro did not ascend to its highest office. For a man who believes he is better than all the people, has no place in a government for the people, by the people.
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