NARY A KOCH BROTHER IN SIGHT AT FIRST COMMUNITY MEETING
The mainstream media doesn’t like Gov. Michael Dunleavy partnering with Americans for Prosperity in a series of community budget discussions across the state.
Critics and reporters pounced. One commenter on MustReadAlaska.com compared the meetings to a gathering of Hitler’s Brown Shirts (a violent paramilitary group attached to the Nazi Party).
Why? Because the Koch Brothers, who fund AFP, are the meeting sponsors.
Here’s how the Fairbanks NewsMiner reported it:
However, Dunleavy began his Koch-free “budget roadshow” bright and early this Wednesday at a pro-business group that regularly meets in Juneau.
The media wasn’t invited, (but will be to the AFP-sponsored discussions).
The place was packed and attendees — about 35 of them — asked thoughtful and informed questions as Dunleavy explained that he ran for governor to fix the problem that was created over multiple years of spending more than Alaska was taking in in revenue. He said now is the time to fix it. And the only way he can see to fix it is to rip the bandaid off now and put in place some constitutional amendments to prevent it from getting out of control again.
Numerous other meetings are being put on the governor’s calendar with civic groups, such as chambers of commerce, the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, Associated General Contractors, and more. They, too, will control the venues and meeting rules, like AFP.
In short, AFP is just one of many sponsors of these discussions, but the one most eager to get credit and wanting to publicize it broadly, and it’s the one the Governor’s Office announced — without mentioning AFP.
AFP and the Governor’s Office should have disclosed all of the details of the AFP meetings up front, rather than let the media sink its teeth into the story. If a Democrat governor had his public meetings organized and sponsored by MoveOn, Must Read Alaska would have pointed it out, especially if the meetings had similar strict sign-up requirements.
With so many meetings planned, this roll-out could have been better, although for some Alaskans, anything related to the Koch Brothers is akin to the Brown Shirts.
