Editorials

"An Informed Voter Is The Best Defense Against Bad Government"

"Who will really get the Longevity Bonus

and Permanent Fund money?"

By Lenore Jones.  April 5, 2004

Lobbyist and other special interest groups own Alaska.  They get tax breaks and give-a-ways when the budget is unbalanced.  This forces our representatives to look at new taxes, user fees, and the Permanent Fund to pay their political debts!

 

The first thing our governor and republican legislature raided to pay for their give-a-way programs and corporate tax breaks was the longevity bonus program, which had terrible impact on many senior citizens over 75 years of age.  Now they are trying to sell citizens on their percent of market value (POMV) scheme, which will give them total control of our Permanent Fund! 

 

Don’t be fooled by public meetings held all over Alaska about the POMV.  By having meetings it implies you have a voice in this issue, but legislators already have an agenda and are really just going through the motions.  They did the same thing concerning the longevity bonus program.  There was overwhelming opposition to their position, but that didn’t stop Governor Murkowski taking it. 

 

It seems the only meetings our legislature really like is of the closed door variety!  They love “caucus” meetings where the public can’t scrutinize their actions.  What are they hiding?  Why can’t we have open, honest NON-PARTISAN debates on all issues of importance to Alaskans?  That is the only real way to solve the problems we face today.

 

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