By MARCY SOWERS
We often seen people change their tune the minute they step through those capitol pillars in Juneau. They campaign on principles and leave those shattered upon the Capital steps only to subvert the will of their constituents over and over.
I do not look forward to the rest of Sen. Rob Yundt’s term, unless he suddenly regains the principles he campaigned on.
I recently attended a Republican District 27 meeting in which Sen. Yundt was a participant by Zoom. He talked about his bill Senate Bill 92.
There were so many red flags in his commentary and when he answered questions. The two main words or phrases that passed from his lips most often were parity and crony capitalism and he seemed fixated on the fact that the founder of Hilcorp has personal wealth.
If I had to guess he has a strong leaning toward the principles held by those on the left. In fact, his statements sounded more like the rantings of a DEI social justice warrior than a conservative. He couldn’t see the difference between the behemoth that is ConocoPhillips and the much-smaller Hilcorp, despite saying he owns several S corporations himself.
I really must compliment the commentary given by former Rep. Christopher Kurka, who during this meeting clearly and respectfully shared the differences between an S corporation and a C corp, and offered to provide that information to Sen. Yundt.
To me it is mind boggling that this “conservative” senator would find it appalling that there is a benefit to an employer who employs around 1,500 Alaskans. He kept hammering that he wants to bring “parity” between the two very different corporations. He was incensed that the smaller corporation had a small advantage.
This in many ways is not an advantage, as the very nature of an S corp limits it. Given that we are living in an “America First” presidential administration, he might want to encourage more S corporations, as they are all-American owned. You’d think we might want to see more S corporations doing extremely well.
Yundt espoused that if Hilcorp was taxed the same as a C corporation it would result in a roughly $1,500 difference in the PFD per Alaskan.
Checkmate. We all know that there is no way the Democrat-led legislature will abide by the statutory calculation and there is NO way that any Alaskan will see that kind of increase in PFD until we have a deeply conservative Republican governor and actually take control of both the House and Senate.
Even though that is what we have voted for time and time again, that is not what we have gotten and I am not the only citizen tired of it.
On another note, aside from encouraging the Alaska Republican Party to deliver an official response to Sen. Yundt’s departure from basic Republican principles, I encourage the Republican Party in Alaska to seize the opportunity to truly stand with President Donald J. Trump’s initiative to ferret out waste and fraud.
I have worked in the nonprofit world, worked within systems funded by both federal and state dollars. I have witnessed the misuse of funds. For example, I was a substance abuse counselor working in a maximum-security correctional center. It was required to become certified in a program to reduce recidivism and I successfully completed the training, like many others who worked with this population. My agency and others spent thousands of dollars certifying facilitators of a program that actually had evidenced based results in reducing recidivism.
When it came down to it, the money spent was wasted. The Department of Corrections would not shell out the $20 per participant for inmates to get the workbook for the program. I was not allowed to copy or recreate any of the workbook material; I signed a statement saying I wouldn’t and I actually hold true to what I say I will do. Certified for nothing, no benefit gained. Money wasted.
We see the same thing play out in governments and schools. I have seen agencies drive up problems based on funding while ignoring the real problems. We need to abandon the way we have done things. It’s not working. We need to get back to logical and evidence-based results.
We need to “DOGE the heck” out of our state government spending.
We don’t need another department like Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s Department of Agriculture. Yes, food security in Alaska is a real issue but creating a larger government will do nothing to help Alaskans, it creates more government spending increasing our societal burden of inflation even more.
Alaska’s education system is failing and all we hear is about the government throwing more money at it than most other states with worse results. More government spending doesn’t solve the inherent problems. We need to find new creative and cost-saving ways to solve the problems. That is what so many citizens hope will happen. Parents have been pulling their children out of schools and homeschooling them instead, because the government is doing such a terrible job at it.
I am not alone in Alaskans who would like to see the momentum of what we see working with President Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE and bring that mindset back to the marble pillars of the state capitol in Juneau. We need to pare back our government spending. Reckless spending and throwing money at failing systems doesn’t work in a household, and it most certainly doesn’t work in Juneau.
We don’t need more reliance on federal dollars. We don’t need to create more government. We don’t need to disincentivize businesses who have invested heavily in Alaska. We need to solve our revenue problems by cutting back on government spending. We start by uniting the conservatives: undeclared, and independents, libertarians and others in this state and we must get rid of ranked choice voting. We all must work together to become the savvy steward of our natural resources and become an energy giant. We need an Alaska that is a is an economic powerhouse not a government heavy bureaucracy only alive due to reliance on the federal teat.
Written by Marcy Sowers, who is an Alaskan Native of the Tlingit tribe. Born in Juneau, AK and currently living in Wasilla, AK. She is the mother of three. Marcy attended Stanford University. She is married to author Mark Sowers and helps format his books. (Go ahead, give his books a read.)
He can’t be trusted
I agree with you whole heartedly
Reducing government spending would mean saving the PFD. Politicians don’t want that! They want you to believe that they have the answer and that they know what to do with taxpayers’ money. Besides they don’t care, they get more money from the unions and lobbyists.
I just looked up the definition of a RINO, NeoCon, UniParty politician.
It has a picture of Yundt.
This guy really disappointed “the” base.
Charlatan.
We’ve seen that the current Republicans are not what they campaign on, There is a trend to run as a conservative Republican then trans to a tax and spend democrat. The people of Alaska need to vett their Republicans better and replace the states GOP leadership.
Thx Marcy for telling it like it is. When these Rs get to Juneau is it:
A-they are cowards,
B-just want to be “liked” by the union and other donors or politicians
C-is there something in the water?
Was Yundt deceitful during his campaign or has he suffered a TBI?
Very interesting that the left’s platform is now so unpopular that they are obliged to lies, dishonestly, and sleazy tricks to keep power!
It’s impossible to get everything you need into one of these articles, and Marcy Sowers did a great job ferreting out Rob’s falicies. I was at that district meeting and noticed that Rob promised that bringing ‘parity’ to the corporate tax scheme would contribute to the Permanent Fund and increase our PFDs. When asked what part of corporate taxes go into the Permanent Fund, the backtracking far less than ideal.
Rob Yundt made many promises to his constituents and voters last year, and SB 92 is the exact opposite of his promise to sponsor pro-life legislation and protect girls in schools and sports.
It’s hard to imagine Yundt will be able to correct after this disasterous start to his legislative career. Republicans need to watch Rob and remember SB 92 when he comes calling for their votes in 2028.
Why? Because that’s who he is.
The most effective democrats in Alaska are Republicans.
What’s amazing is how many come from the supposedly conservative Matsu. They keep sending “Conservative Republicans” who carry the water for the left.
Well written post. Offering a possible solution. I would love to see Jeffery Hildebrand, the billionaire head of Hilcorp, fund the primary challengers of RINO’s like Yundt………pass the popcorn.
Yundt will probably side with the Progressive Democrats and vote for the Red Flag law.
Is this Yundt another David Eastman? The best friend the Democrats ever had???
No way you could possibly be that confused.
Lets be candid about what my industry wants. We want it all. Our job is to maximize profits for shareholders. That’s it. If Alaskans go broke- we don’t care. We’ve bribed your legislators to get the results we want. We’ve worked to ensure our people were elected, so they could then send tens of billions of dollars our way.
Our people are smarter than ANY of your elected officials. Most of our top people have advanced degrees, and high IQs. When any of your people are stupid enough to stand up and fight for Alaskans we use surrogates to pound them into the dirt. Those who stand up for Alaskans will find themselves running against one of our supporters, and those supporters will be VERY well funded.
We’ve taken over $10 billion from Alaskans in the form of reduced dividends, thanks to oil tax legislation that gives us the lions share.
We will take it all, if we can. That’s our job. If your people can’t fight for you, then its not our problem.
We marvel at how stupid Alaskans are.
Oil, I marvel how disingenuous your argument above is, especially so since you missed the heart of the piece regarding accountability of government expenditures.
But then, Commie Democrats, like you are not known for their intellectual prowess either.
Good article.
Marcy I have read your post and we agree so much on smaller government, ridding ourselves of RCV, ridding ourselves of RINO’s and Dem/Socialists. First we have to get the voters in those districts to oust the likes of Stevens, Giessel, Kopp, Stutes much less a full repeal of RCV!
As to the comments on Rob Yundt. I too have talked to him at length, twice on this bill. At first I could see the benefits, but over time and in conversations with others, I can’t support this. Yet, I have known Rob while he was on the Matsu Borough Assembly. He was a strong conservative vote all the way throughout. Has he reversed himself as you and other suggest with this one bill? I do not believe so. If we had a conservative majority in both houses, along with Governor Dunleavy, this aspect of S and C Corps loophole “may” have a better reason and positive impact. May, being the operative word.
You and others are painting Rob as another David Wilson. He is not. Yes, I am very aware of the problems Dave did to our district as well as to the State as a whole, BTW, I was District 25, now District 27. I am also aware of Kurka and Eastman’s impact on District 27 meetings. I have just moved into District 27 but with the move, I have not had to time to attend the meetings, I do look forward to doing so this coming month and beyond to stand as a solid conservative and strong supporter of Jubilee Underwood over that of to the right of conservatives like Eastman and Kurka. Sorry, I know some will not like that, but that is my right, I will cuss and discuss that at a later date.
From what I am hearing from solid conservatives in the Senate, this bill is being opposed by many, both Republican and Democrat. The numbers don’t look good for passage. I am also told it has a small chance in the House, if it makes its way from the Senate.
This one bill will not turn me from my overall support of Rob Yundt. Do I oppose this bill, yes, but will I paint Rob as a RINO on this one bill? No.
Vote him out
There seems to be a pattern here. First it was Cathy Giessel, Then Kelly Merrick. Now Yundt. They’re following the socialist playbook: run as a conservative, rule as a socialist, crush the opposition. Question: is there a way to run these scoundrels out of the legislature outside of waiting until the next election? Where is the aggressive Republican advertising during the election cycle that calls these spades a spade?