‘Get Mike Dunleavy!’ ‘Power to the People!’

By
Suzanne Downing
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72
441

HE WAS IN OFFICE FOR 72 DAYS. ON DAY 73, THE RECALL EFFORT BEGAN

“Get Mike Dunleavy! Fire Mike Dunleavy!” roared Rep. Ivy Spohnholz to the approval of the crowd in Anchorage, as she pumped her fist.

A man grabbed the microphone and screamed at the top of his lungs, “Fire Dunleavy! Fire Dunleavy!” over and over. Veins stood out in his neck as he raged at the group gathered at Cuddy Park, where there were signs, sani-cans, and signature gatherers.

It was reminiscent of the protests across the country after Donald Trump became president, with the “Me Too” women’s marches, the Black Lives Matter marches, and the seemingly endless protests against his presidency that have occurred over the past four years.

[See the timeline of anti-Trump protests at this Wikipedia page.]

“Power to the people! Take the power back!” they chanted in Kenai, as though there had not been a General Election 268 days earlier.

Fairbanks, feeling budget cuts to the university, may have had the biggest crowd of all on Thursday — university employees and their supporters streamed in to Pioneer Park to sign the application for a petition to recall the governor. After all, the university is what makes Fairbanks’ economy tick. Fairbanks is a city where even the newspaper has taken a front-page stand against budget cuts:

Across the state, thousands participated in a collective venting of frustration over the budget cuts of this governor, who has been in office for just 243 days, yet angered opponents by vetoing funding for programs they hold dear — everything from the State Council on the Arts, Public Broadcasting, to discount ferry service and horrifically underperforming schools and universities.

CUTS BY THE NUMBERS

  • Dunleavy’s first round of vetoes amounted to $602 per Alaskan.
  • Gov. Bill Walker’s halving of the Permanent Fund dividend, which he did as a veto in 2016, and did in cooperation with the Legislature the two following years, amounted to a cut of $3,733 per person.
  • The Legislature’s veto of half of the 2019 statutory PFD amounts to a cut of $1,495 per Alaskan.

The budget cuts have caused social unrest in a state where nearly 28 percent of Alaska workers have government jobs. Where 38,000 Alaska families are on food stamps, and over 17,000 families are on welfare.

The social unrest is real and the organizers know the demographics. They are armed with social media, pens, and petitions. On Day One, they announced they had 10,000 signatures of the 28,501 that they need to ask for a formal recall petition.

Dunleavy was sworn into office on Dec. 3 at a ceremony in Kotzebue that his predecessor, Gov. Bill Walker, and former Lt. Gov. Valerie Davidson boycotted.

Within 72 days, Dunleavy had submitted his budget, as required by law. It trimmed 16 percent from the Walker-proposed budget, which had grown from the previous year’s budget.

On the 73rd day of Dunleavy’s administration, the recall efforts began in earnest. The website URLS were purchased and the recall advocates began to try to piece together a case. A winter of protest has breathed new life into a protest movement many of them took part in after the Trump election.

WHAT THEY’RE UP AGAINST

Dunleavy’s campaign for governor had been decidedly populist. He ran on giving people their full Permanent Fund dividend as determined by statute, unlike his predecessor, who had ushered in three years of half dividends, holding the rest of the checks into the Earnings Reserve Account of the state’s Permanent Fund, a sub-fund that has grown to $19 billion.

Dunleavy also ran on rolling back the pro-crime bill SB 91, and reining in spending, saying that at the rate Alaska was going, it would end up draining the Permanent Fund in just a few years.

But while he has not yet been able to get Alaskans their full Permanent Fund dividends from the Legislature, which is now dominated by half-dividend lawmakers, the process of the veto overrides has not worked according to plan for those who oppose the cuts.

The recall proponents are up against a process that involves their elected legislators. No matter the protests, phone calls, testimony, and fax-bombing of legislators’ offices, they simply have not been able to muster the 45 votes needed to override Dunleavy’s vetoes.

It wasn’t for lack of trying: The legislative leadership, during the second Special Session, stuffed nearly all the vetoed funding back into HB 2001, a new appropriation bill it passed last week and will transmit to the governor this coming week.

Meanwhile, because they could not prevail with the legal legislative remedies, anger grew among the Democrats, union business representatives, and  nonprofit executives — all those who had never voted for Dunleavy in the first place and those who were seeing the spigot of funding turned down.

Soon, the recall plan was in place with the help of former Walker Administration top operatives: Walker Chief of Staff Scott Kendall and former Walker Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth. Kendall crowed on social media that he had signed the recall petition with his souvenir Bill Walker pen.

The recall application launch party was well played by a savvy and experienced Left, with funding and organizational help from the AFL-CIO and other public employee unions. It made great video for the news cycle. The weather cooperated. To keep it from looking partisan, the Alaska Democratic Party kept a low profile. Mark Begich, who lost to Dunleavy in the 2018 election, has stood on the sidelines advocating for veto overrides but, smartly, silent on the recall.

Although Dunleavy supporters find the grounds for a recall to be flimsy, the matter will go to the Alaska Supreme Court: Are their grounds?

Those who signed the petition are motivated. They’re angry they have to pay their own ferry fares, angry that Pioneer Home rates must go up, and angry that the University of Alaska System is finally being held accountable, having had 17 percent of its overall budget cut out from under it. Not a single one of them interviewed by the media said Dunleavy should be recalled because he didn’t appoint a judge in time, or because he “mistakenly vetoed” funds he told the Legislature he would not veto, or because he trimmed the administrative overhead of the Alaska Supreme Court.

They’re mad about all the budget cuts.

But they’re also not yet facing the fact that 145,631 Alaskans voted for Dunleavy. He had the second most votes of any candidate for governor of Alaska (Sean Parnell got the most with 151,318 votes in the 2010 General Election, the top vote getter in Alaska history.)

That only matters if the Supreme Court lets the recall go to the ballot. No one knows what judges will do, but in Alaska, judges tend to be liberal, and these judges are already on record as opposing the cuts to their own court’s administrative overhead. That is something the recall proponents are counting on to help them try to sway the justices a few months from now.

They’re also counting on, between now and then, showing judges that there are thousands who are unhappy with the election results, the subsequent budget cuts, and who want a do-over.

72 COMMENTS

  1. Two former executives with the Walker Administration are deeply embedded in the on-going antics of recall and lawsuits? You don’t say!

    Former Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth asked to work for Mike Dunleavy after he was elected last November. She actually wanted to serve in the Dunleavy Administration. She even had her friends lobby for her to keep her post. She was let go and apparently her bitterness over that failed job application has spilled over into a thirst for revenge.

    The first ridiculous thing she did was write a bizarre op-ed predicting that reductions in state spending (a 12 percent reduction no less) was so horrible, so terrible, that she could only describe it as “the beginning of the end”!

    Her second nonsensical claim was that reducing state spending was “unconstitutional”. Even a first year lawyer would blush bright red to make such a juvenile assertion. For someone who once served as Attorney General such a claim should be nothing less than trading all credibility for a cheap political shot at someone who did not give her a job.

    Third, she is joined at the hip with another former Walker official, the infamously hot-tempered and vengeful Scott Kendall in filing a frivolous lawsuit.

    Lindemuth lacks the decorum and basic decency of almost any previous Attorney General. Her bitter feelings at losing her job seem to have overwhelmed whatever good judgment she once possessed.

    Speaking of Scott Kendall, he seems to seek some sort of vindication for the utter collapse of the previous Administration towards the end of the campaign for re-election.

    Kendall’s disgrace is the cover-up of the terrible actions of former Lt. Governor Byron Mallott — so terrible and disgusting that he was forced to resign both his office and the campaign.

    But the details were covered up by Kendall. He secreted away the reason, the action and the behavior – and now is shameless in his vengeful quest to tear the new Governor down.

    Kendall spent a year trying to re-elect his boss and ended up with 2% of the vote.

    Oh, and then Kendall disgraced himself by testifying against a former Walker employee — a former direct report of his — during recent confirmation hearings for commissioners. This is something no former Chief of Staff has ever done. He betrayed the confidence of his office and those employees subject to his direction. Absolutely slimy – the word integrity has no meaning for Scott Kendall.

    There are always great debates in politics, and those political decisions are made by the Legislators and the Governor elected by the People.

    Elections matter, the vote of the People is paramount, and everyone elected has a responsibility to work on the agendas of their campaigns.

    This groundless recall is just a scream fest of frustration by sore losers.

    • I have personal experience that makes your claim that former AG Lindemuth wanted to serve in the Dumbleavy administration sound like and out and out lie. So I challenge you to back that claim up with something other than your own omniscience. Otherwise I call BS on your BS.

    • Ric,
      Looks like Dunleavy is working on “tightening his belt” but first Bob Penny’s grandson needs an $8,000 a month contract…then we will “tighten up” for sure…well maybe?

  3. Scott Kendall is bro-in-law of Grier Hopkins, who is son of Luke Hopkins, nephew of former Representative David Guttenberg. All controlled by extremist Left-winger John Davies, Chairman of Board of Regents at UA. Wacko and insane Democrats. All driven by hate. DUNLEAVY STRONG!!!

    • All the aforementioned names part of a Fairbanks political family? Gotta be kidding! Their collective IQs still doesn’t get to room temperature.

    • Actually, the family tree is a little wider than that. David Guttenberg’s late father, Isidore “Joe” Guttenberg, was the late-life companion/partner of Gloria Fischer, first wife of Vic (per obituary published in the FDNM on January 11, 2015). That fact right there pretty much validates Art’s comment below.

      • Good on you, Sean, for pointing out that fact. Luke Hopkins barely squeaked by Tammie Wilson in a runoff for Borough mayor in 2009. Hopkins served two terms and was totally controlled by John Davies the entire time. Hopkins married Elise, who was sister to David Guttenburg and daughter to Poppa Joe. David Guttenberg was from University district and served in the House. Grier Hopkins, son of Luke and Elise, worked as staffer for left wing Fairbanks senator, Joe Thomas. Grier’s sister married Scott Kendall, who was Walker’s chief of staff and Byron Mallott’s strategist. Guttenberg resigned from office and Grier Hopkins now has that House seat. Big, incestuous political family. Cannibis keeps them all going.

  4. The people voted for this Governor….the peoples vote MATTERS. We need transparency and this is what Gov. Dunleavy and his Administration is working on. DUNLEAVY STRONG…..GOD BLESS THE USA.

    • That’s funny OMB has been erasing financial records from public view. Some transparency. State paga after page of “404”.

    • I don’t agree with the choices of Dunleavy or the people that voted for him, but you are absolutely right. The people voted for him and he is doing exactly what he said he would do. We are all going to have to live with that as it does not seem to be enough opposition support to make any actual challenges to Dunleavy. Alaska is getting exactly what it asked for.

      • You would rather continue down the road we are in with out of control spending, steadily increasing entitlement and the biggest per capita government spending in the nation? Whew do you propose we begin to get fiscally healthy?

  5. Dunleavy’s strategy is brilliant!
    For decades, political power from the Democrat Party in Alaska eminates from unions and the University of Alaska. Dunleavy is tightening the belt at UA by a few notches. That will dilute the Democrat voice. Absolutely brilliant! Dunleavy will have to put up with hate, name-calling, and the general mental illness that Democrats come naturally afflicted with. But in the end, Democrats will head south and start to disappear. Brilliant strategy! DUNLEAVY STRONG!!!

  6. We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable.

    Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  7. Once again democrats proving that the will of the people should be thwarted for the good of their vision of Democracy, mainly that the chosen few know what is best for the masses. Why is it that democrats are the first people to throw out democratic results?

    • Yessir Four-flusher, this is nothing but Dunleavy peaking too soon. Joe Miller peaked in his primary and we saw what happened to him. My thinking here is that Dunleavy has peaked in his general election and things have not gone well for him ever since.
      Your thinking here, about democratic results, will certainly get a test if these Recall folks get their signatures. Perhaps you think that a new voted would by undemocratic?? Heheh!

      • Undemocratic – no. Unnecessary – yes. This governor told us what he would do if elected, so we the people elected him. Now that he’s fulfilling his promises, the folks that didn’t vote for him are trying to kick him out of office. That is not democratic – that is trying to subvert the will of the people.

        • Bill, are you sure about that. I remember Duneleavy running on several promise, on which none have been hold:
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          Maybe the kindest thing to say about Gov. Mike Dunleavy is he has no idea what he is doing. Perhaps he is so stunningly incompetent he does not have a clue.

          As a teacher, Dunleavy was the biggest pencil in the classroom, not necessarily the sharpest. And as governor, perhaps he lacks the insight to fathom the hardships he is perpetuating upon tens of thousands of Alaskans from all walks of life, indirectly hurting thousands more who don’t yet realize the ramifications of his extremist ideology — who don’t understand, like the governor himself, that every economy and society is a complex patchwork of invisible connections. Tear one strand and bring down the web.

          The governor may be unimaginative, uniformed and willfully blind, but he has lied repeatedly to us and to himself. While a fibbing politician may be as unremarkable as a barking dog, Dunleavy’s giant distortions are off the spectrum. The “Big Whopper” has been telling super-sized fabrications nonstop ever since he began campaigning. The inescapable truth is the Dunleavy Administration rests on three big lies, which he and his paid supporters on the government payroll keep chanting like crazed cult members.

          Big Lie No. 1 was his 2018 campaign. While begging for votes, Mike Dunleavy never told the truth about what he planned to do if elected. Not once. In fact, he promised that he would not cut essential state programs, and that he would even increase spending on justice and education, and double the dividend too, the ultimate all-gain, no-pain campaign.

          Instead of speaking the truth that Alaska must bring spending down and revenues up, he promised instead the classic fairy tale, balancing the budget by eliminating fraud, waste and inefficiency, peddling a snake oil fiscal cure as miraculous as a 2 a.m. weight loss infomercial. Dr. Dunleavy’s patented painless formula for budget bloat was so wonderful a panacea, he pledged no one would even notice the taste of the medicine; excess budget pounds would drip away, due to the fact that almost all the expenditures he said he would eliminate did not exist. He promised only imaginary cuts because he and his handlers realized if he told the truth, he would never be elected. So he lied. Dunleavy said on August 15, 2018: “I do not have a specific program I would like to reduce or eliminate.” (To see the list of Dunleavy’s false promises, see my brother Dermot Cole’s excellent summation here.)

          Big Lie No. 2 came after the election, when — seemingly overnight — Gov. Pants on Fire forgot all his 2018 promises. His 2019 budget chopped real programs, no longer imaginary ones, by more than $1.5 billion, all the while making the preposterous claim that he was merely “keeping his promises.”

          This is easily disproved. Consider the stunning debate of Aug. 16, 2018. The moderator asked the candidates (at the 36:16 mark in the debate) if they had plans to cut the following programs, and though Dunleavy tried waffling “not at this time,” the moderator forced a direct answer. Dunleavy responded as follows:

          No cuts to Alaska State Troopers.
          No cuts to the court system.
          No cuts to public education.
          No cuts to Power Cost Equalization.
          No cuts to prisons.
          No cuts to Pioneer Homes.
          No cuts to the University of Alaska.

          He is even unable to deliver his promise of the refund of the stollen PFD AND the full PFD.

          He promise a balance budget, but his proposition is only based on vetoes, without thinking about new income for the state or modification of SB21

          And you still have the boldness to claim that he is fulfilling his promises?

          • A balanced budget is a cut Walker budget, that’s why we elected the Governor. I would rather get no PFD this year for my family of 4 before I see it spent on a bloated liberal organization like UAA. If Governor Dunleavy drags his feet and sandbags every liberal agenda accomplishing nothing for four years I’ll consider him the greatest Governor of my time. Liberals better understand that conservatives are at our limit and my families PFD’s being stolen by liberal’s days are over. My PFD is off the table for negotiation. Liberals not on board are only hurting their constituent’s. Let’s see who can hold out longer. The process is pretty simple, approve a full PFD. Then get to work on a sustainable budget.

      • Bill,
        Mike peaked when he promised the “worn and tired” working masses of Alaska $6,700 a piece this fall…now it is quite obvious that the people will never see the money garnished from past PFD’s or a “full dividend” this year, so now the governors support is quickly weaning across AK.

        • Four-flusher, those are my thoughts as suggested in “My thinking here.”
          Common knowledge about Miller but pretty clear that Dunleavy has peaked (Steve’s reasoning is probably correct).
          Still worried about the “will of the people?” Heheh!

  9. Gov . Dunleavy has my full support as a small business owner and and a lifetime resident. The State MUST live within a budget! What has happened in the last few years is “theft by Legislature”. These idiots burned thru 14 Billion Dollars AND WANT MORE!!
    NO WAY, NO HOW!!?

    • They burned through a lot more than 14 Billion dollars, that 14 Billion was just the money from the Constitutional Budget Reserve…only one of the savings accounts they blew through. They also spent every last dime of revenue and last year they spent money out of the Permanent Fund Earnings Reserve. It’s a spending problem of epic proportions.

  11. Alaska, the “echo chamber” of D.C. It looks like the leftists have cloned themselves, right here in Alaska. Same political assassination attempts, same hysterics, lack of sense. They seem to all be using the same ‘playbook’. 28% of Alaskan workers are government/public employees? Something’s out of gear. That’s close to 1/3 of the total jobs in Alaska are government/public. Benefits that are extremely lucrative. Salaries/payrolls second to none. No private sector employer can or will offer that much for so little. You don’t have to open a can of tuna to get that ‘fishy’ smell. Also, the federal government is the biggest employer in America, by far. Same deal or better with pay & benefits. Does it seem we’re ‘over-governed’? Isn’t this what we’ve always heard is socialism? That old saying, “you get what you pay for”, doesn’t seem to fit. Then, it takes a lot of ’employees’ to take care of all the paperwork involved with ‘redistribution’ of wealth, “educating” our kids, free everything for foreigners, etc.. ‘Public’ employees don’t come cheap. They’re hard to get rid of too. Now, our Governor, just like our President. By the left. Accusations, lies, insults, threats. Both are receiving the same treatment. Because the leftists didn’t get what they wanted. That’s wrong.

    • Alaska is number 2 in public sector employees. Second to Wyoming. So of course folks are going to fight for their jobs and to categorize them as all leftists is inaccurate at best and dishonest at worse. That’s just a way to paint your neighbors as the enemy. Not sure just how isolated you have to be living here and to not know of any public employees personally and some who even vote the same way you do.

      • mac,
        If the truth hurts…………… I know lots of ‘public’ employees. Doesn’t make it any better.

        • It is what it is and the truth is that the public sector here is a large part of the working force up here thus a large part of the electorate and the economy. California has about a 15% public employee ratio. Maybe folks who like those numbers better can head on down.

      • I do not condemn anyone for choosing to become a government bureaucrat. However, when that choice becomes the best personal economic decision for more than 2% of workers, the culture is in decline.

        Government workers in Alaska: 26%

        • Your wet finger in the air gave you that 2% Wayne? And what is your definition of a bureaucrat? Take your time here, heheh!

    • Is it just as wrong to benefit from the federal trough? How about the billions in federal capital funds everyone was afraid of losing. Is it okay for Alaska to benefit disproportionately from federal funds relative to what we pay in federal taxes / to benefit significantly more than other states? How many “private sector” jobs in Alaska would disappear without federal funds? How many freedom advocates on this forum work in industries indirectly dependent on federal funds? I say spread the pain around, let’s get all government out of the way in Alaska and “make room for the private sector.” We can all live on PFDs til the money’s gone after that we’ll subsist on the land…

  12. This isn’t about the governor. This is about bringing Alaskans to heel.

    The political elite has found the electorate has sent them someone with an agenda they don’t agree with; namely, a reasonable budget, and following of the law regarding the PFD (How dare they?!). And so, they are going to send a message that this sort of Insolence and disobedience will not be tolerated.

    This was supposed to be their money- to fund an ever expansive government and to provide largess for their donors and corporate masters. Neither this money, or the power to direct it, was ever meant for the people of Alaska..so this needs to be stopped.. NOW. They are going to make an example out of the voters choice, and thereby bring the voter back in line…the way it should be.. the way it was meant to be..

    ..Or so they think..

  13. Dunleavy was right about the pfd. It shouldn’t be cut. It actually helps out family’s paying for heating fuel & it’s a boost to the economy all over AK. Why do budget cuts to the vpso program though? I thought he claimed during the campaign to support local law enforcement?

    • Cuts to vpso came from AG Barr giving us a bunch of money from the feds, and also because there was money unspent in the program. Not enough applicants. Hell, they hire criminals just to fill a position in some villages.

  14. Just wait until Dunleavy wins the recall election. It will produce even more of a mandate to restore full PFD and cut the budget (crime bill already being resolved). Just like Walker in Wisconsin, it will embolden his actions to follow through with campaign promises. This ploy will fail and will hurt their cause even more. If the recall is one the ballot next year, it makes it a one issue election for all the legislators: Full PFD for the people or not. Legislators should think twice about that.

    • Pedro…
      Apparently you have not been following the Legislature but it appears since the overwhelming majority of Legislators do not support paying out a “full PFD” to the people , it will never happen….hence your “full PFD” argument is quickly becoming a moot point.
      Unfortunately the Governor can say a lot of things but the majority of “appropriations” still comes from the Legislature.

      • We’ll see how that majority stands up to the next election. I know that I, and my very large Alaskan family will not be voting for any of these thieves who intend to steal the PFD’s from the people and give to their cronies. I’m betting that they won’t have this majority after the next election and then we can fix this SPENDING problem.

  15. Is the photograph above of the recall rally? Did not look well attended, I mean it looks empty.

    The Guv won an impressive victory against that guy from Anchorage. Big-Itch in my opinion was a weaker candidate than Walker. Recall that a fellow from Ohio beat Big-Itch in his last Senatorial race. Since last November however a lot of toxic ink has been spilled in the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire and that rag from Fairbanks. Point is, the Guv needs to reach out to the electorate via social media, radio talk show interviews, Town Halls, you name it and and deliver his “vision ” . Scripture says without a vision the people perish. Come on Guv, start making the rounds, lets cream these special interest parasites who want to void our vote last November!

    • I had a multitude of things to do next door at the library that day and didn’t make it over there until the tail end (I passed Vic Fischer and Jane Angvik headed back to their car on my way in), so I can’t speak for what happened at the rally itself. They had signature gatherers scattered throughout the park with about 10-20 people in line at each one. Vince Beltrami was lurking about in the trees behind the stage wall while some musicians were doing a third-rate Pete Seeger impersonation. I’m guessing the photo was a drone shot if not taken from atop the Frontier Building with a really good zoom lens.

    • Older then Alaska, effectively that picture show an empty rally. Suzanne would not dare exposing a picture showing more than 10 peoples signing for the recall. Here you can have a shot taken in Fairbanks, where about 3000 persons signed in less than 3 hours (imaged deleted by editor due to malware)

      The Governor had his chance to organize Town Halls. They were organised by Alaskan for Prosperity, you know the Koch’s Brother organisation who does not care at all for Alaska, beside its ore and oil. Maybe, he should have taken another path, not to alienate half of the state!

  16. The picture above is just like it always is, at most a few dozen screw-ups and malcontents, a few people who don’t realize the Sixties were fifty years ago, and all led by a few leftist ideologues pronouncing themselves the voice of the People. It was that way in Juneau when they sang songs and waved signs in front of the Capitol; the same hundred or two, always the same faces. Most of them had a file in my grievance and discipline files; some had their own drawer.

    They segregate themselves socially and politically so they only associate with people like themselves, which has the effect of making them think that everyone is like them. Juneau is more segregated than was a small Southern town in the Fifties; there are Democrat places and Republican places and the only exception is big events, and even at those Democrats and Republicans aren’t going to sit together if they can help it. Other than public events and accommodations, I can’t remember the last time I was in the same room with a Democrat unless I was being paid to be there.

      • TED – The MRAK drone didn’t get in the air until about 6 pm, well after the big rush of people. There were more in the 4 pm hour. – sd

          • The old joke used to be “why don’t state workers look out the window in the morning? Because then they wouldn’t have anything to do in the afternoon”.

    • You are dead on, Art. And the same applies to mainstream media persons too. Always hanging out with other leftists. If you are an out of town Republican aide working in the legislative session, you eat lunch alone oftentimes.

  17. Do we (people who support the Gov) need to up our public support for him? I wonder if he feels embattled from all the liberal noise? We support him here (which is great) but I mean officially, say, by the local Republican Districts.

    • Yes. I think we all need to tell the Gov we support him. He’s being attacked politically and personally. He needs to know we support him and his efforts. And I agree with those above, most, if not all, of the people signing are those who have been taking from the government for years.

  18. A politician made promises, nothing new. We liked what he said and elected him, and again nothing new. He is keeping his campaign promises, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is new so obviously he has to go!

  19. Art, your thoughts about Juneau and segregation are understated. I lived there for awhile and can report that people who do not follow Chairman Botelho’s little red book were shunned socially or labeled a village idiot. However keeping away from Democrats limits your “Chance” to experience a great party! Say what you will the Dem’s they know how to have fun, even at the expense of others!

  20. I’m a Democrat, I didn’t vote for Dunleavy, but I believe in the cuts he’s doing. This state pisses away money like no other. Now they want to keep stealing money that isn’t theirs to squander. It belongs to the people. It reflects a payment for our natural resources in this state,which belong to the people not the state. It would be like Illinois taking a percentage of your Ford stock dividend, because the state is broke. It’s time to reign in Alaska’s uncontrollable spending habits.

  21. The big thing I wonder about is how many people that voted for the guy are happily going to sign the petition, like me. We’re about to find out.

  22. In 1831, my tribe, the Choctaw chose to leave our ancestral home in Mississippi and be relocated to Oklahoma. Our chief thought it would be better to not take socialist handouts from Andrew Jackson so that we could remain free. He saw that once you become dependent on the freebies, you loose power over your own choices. This is what the social welfare program has done. Turned people into slaves. The trail of tears cost my tribe and family dearly. They call us one of the 5 civilized tribes. Being in charge of one’s own destiny is something many have forgotten how to do.

    • Thank you for sharing. Years ago the Alaska Federation of Natives sponsored a study called “self determination.” Perry Eaton was hired and made several speeches around Alaska on that subject urging Natives to stop being dependent upon others.. Now AFN is a prime advocate for government funding, including bankrupting the state to pay for millions of dollars in programs, including Medicare.

  23. I am a UAA employee, and I need every Alaskan to fund my state pension plan. Recall the governor so I get your PFD’s!
    UAA employees are entitled to all your PFD’s.

  24. From a purely nonpartisan perspective, what do people think will happen if state spending is not dramatically cut back? We are spending WAY more than we make, so we will soon run out of money.

    Okay, so the money is gone. Now what do we do?

    First we cut all spending that isn’t absolutely critical to keep the lights and heat on.

    Next we institute taxes. BIG taxes.

    We watch the state hemorrhage jobs and real estate goes in the toilet. Layoffs are massive. All the things the Guv is trying to trim back now are totally canceled. Ferry service to the southeast? Forget it. Power Cost Equalization? Forget it. Hanging flower baskets downtown? Nope.

    It will be horrible. And it’s completely preventable if we start making hard cuts now.

    Keep up the good work, Guv.

  26. What this recall is really about is who controls the State. The Government Employee Unions and the Capitalist who profit from subsidized State spending or the People who elected this fellow Dunleavy.

    The cuts are really pretty minor folks, except for the university which should be sued for fraud!

    • Boy do you need to pay attention!
      All this is about is a Governor who is completely out of step with his constituents-they are pushing back against his ridiculous budget cuts that are not based on any thoughts to their impacts.
      This guy is a social conservative who is in trouble because specifically he has attacked the Judicial Branch of government due to his beliefs in his right to interfere in the courts decisions. This has given a classic reason for this Recall effort to proceed as he clearly has overstepped his authority in governing IMO.
      Talk about a “blunder.”

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