By THE ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET
It is easy to understand why so many Alaskans harbor deep reservations about their Legislature. A “compromise” budget with no Permanent Fund dividend. A budget with no funding for constitutionally required K-12 education. The list goes on.
Take, for instance, Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, and her votes on this year’s statutorily required $3,000 Permanent Fund dividend. She was for it until she voted to kill it in a procedural vote.
The Anchorage Daily News reports her as saying:
“I voted for a $3,000 Permanent Fund dividend three times … but right now, I just want to see us continue to work together and come to some kind of consensus on what the dividend’s going to be so we can just move on.”
The last vote earlier this week for the $3,000 dividend failed in a 10-10 tie after she changed from a “yea” to a “nay.”
Pardon us for pointing this out, but many Alaskans are wondering why a “yes” vote for the dividend would not have allowed the Senate to “just move on.”
