Spotlight on Juneau
April 26, 2002

Hello Fellow Taxpayers:
 

Recently the budget director and several other top Knowles administration bosses came to Kenai promoting his lavish spending plan. The Knowles budget is even MORE EXPENSIVE than those currently being considered by our legislature. It should now be obvious to everyone, the Knowles/Ulmer administration are major proponents of BIG GOVERNMENT.

These who attended the Kenai Chamber breakfast meeting on April 17, and at other locations around the state, are hearing plenty of eloquent fear mongering, subtle threats and intimidation from the Governor's staff designed to scare business and government leaders into submission.

They didn’t address ordinary citizens because they already know “we the people” generally want LESS government, while they “the bureaucrats” always want more. The winner of this "tug of war" with OUR money will ultimately be decided by Alaska Voters like you and me!

Instead of listening to these “gloom and doom” presentations by career bureaucrats, the public and our elected officials need to stay focused on CUTTING the size and cost of our state government.  No one in Juneau wants to produce a long range fiscal plan because they know it would clearly show how impossible it will be to fund a government of this size just a few years from now.

This first chart is used to further illustrate this point. Remember that 80% of state income is from oil revenues. Read this graph and weep Voters, then kiss your dividend goodbye.  Unless the Governor and Legislature STOP SPENDING OUR MONEY, WE WILL BE FORCED TO GIVE UP OUR PFD, AND PAY HUGE TAX BILLS.

Think about the first chart whenever a Legislator introduces a bill to build a natural gas pipeline, gives huge grants to utilities, provide municipal grants, builds a huge prison and GIVES it to an outside corporation for FREE, or want to build a Railroad extension into Canada, etc., while at the same time cutting funds for education, introducing new tax schemes, and raiding the Permanent Fund. See the Alerts page for a complete list of tax and spend bills currently on our radar screen.

There are really only two possible scenarios for solving the budget crisis. The Knowles administration and many in the legislature favor a “tax and increased spending” approach. This is where they continue spending our money like Prudhoe Bay is still producing at 100%. Only when the permanent fund is completely gone, all citizens and businesses are burdened by heavy taxes, will they consider making some cuts.

The second scenario, which most ordinary citizens favor, calls for making the necessary cuts NOW while we still have some money left “in the bank”. Only AFTER government has been shrunk to a sustainable level, will we seriously consider discussions about which taxes are needed to keep basic government services funded.

So far the only person in Juneau with a responsible proposal which begins cutting government down to size is Representative Vic Kohring. His “10 point plan" outlines some of the needed cuts. This plan should be examined by everyone, and key elements implemented immediately. To be effective our legislators must take action THIS YEAR. Failure to act will cost us a lot of money! If they wait until after the fall elections, it might be someone else making these important decisions for us. We must make the necessary cuts NOW. Not because it’s good for the government, but because it’s good for the future of ALASKA. See the effects of Representative Kohring's plan on the second chart. It may not cut enough, but it sure gets us started in the right direction.

                         Budget Deficit Showing Effect of Representative Kohring’s Plan 

Everyone must be a registered voter by this fall. We need to support those making cuts, and campaign against all those who wish to raid the permanent fund, tax and continue the big spending spree.

There are plenty of suggestions and tools available on our Action page. My favorites are the Written Committee Testimony Form, POM, and Email. All of which are fast, easy, and FREE! We have even provided a new button which will allow you to send an email messages to the entire Legislature!  Please try out these new buttons now by telling the Legislature to "STOP SPENDING OUR MONEY"!!!

Alaska Voters (www.akvoters.org) will stand together and resist this latest high pressured invasion from the Knowles administration simply because it’s the right thing to do. Together we CAN and WILL make a positive difference!

Until the next time remember to keep those POM's and Letters flooding into Juneau. We must keep up the pressure now, or pay a BIG bill later. The choice is clear, we must manage the legislature, as we can not AFFORD let them manage us!

Mike McBride

PS please forward this message to concerned family members, friends, neighbors, and business associates. Ask them to do the same. Everyone is welcome to join, and will automatically receive future issues of the "Spotlight on Juneau".

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