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Does a Trump endorsement help or hurt this year?

Suzanne Downing
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23
Does a Trump endorsement help or hurt this year?

With former President Donald Trump endorsing three different statewide races in Alaska this year, some political analysts wonder if it will help or hurt the Alaska candidates he has chosen to back: Gov. Mike Dunleavy, senatorial candidate Kelly Tshibaka, and congressional candidate Sarah Palin.

A Trump endorsement may hurt some, and may help others in the Alaska races.

“My audience worships Trump and they are expressing disappointment in him now, because they are not happy about this (Palin endorsement),” said Dan Fagan, host of the morning radio show on News Radio 650 KENI. Other political observers in Alaska echoed that sentiment — as much as they like Trump, this was not a good move.

Trump was an early fan of Gov. Dunleavy, who was elected in 2018 after former Gov. Bill Walker’s campaign cratered in spectacular fashion during the last few weeks.

Dunleavy came into office during the aftershocks of a major earthquake — a magnitude 7.1 that wrecked homes and roads in Southcentral Alaska on Nov. 30, 2018. Wildfires raged across 2.9 million acres of the state in 2019, and then in 2020, the Made-in-China virus reached the USA. The first case in Alaska was diagnosed in March of 2020. Dunleavy also faced a recall effort put together by some of Walker’s top surrogates, including Scott Kendall, who is also one of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s top insiders and campaign advisers.

Trump stood by Dunleavy through thick and thin and supported Alaska-friendly policies to help the state recover from the Walker-Obama debacles, such as approving a road from King Cove to the Cold Bay air strip, and opening up limited logging in the Tongass National Forest and more leases for oil on Alaska’s North Slope. While Murkowski’s top advisers back in Alaska tried to destroy Dunleavy, he had the ear of the president, who met with Alaska’s governor on several occasions. In fact, Dunleavy met with Trump more times than any sitting governor.

In a state that voted 53 percent for Trump in 2020, an endorsement from Trump seemed like a sure bet for Dunleavy.

Then came Trump’s endorsement for Kelly Tshibaka, the upstart candidate who is taking on one of the most powerful people in the U.S. Senate — Lisa Murkowski. Murkowski is unloved by her own Alaska Republican Party, which has asked her to not run as a Republican. The party has endorsed Tshibaka. Murkowski’s approval rating among conservatives in Alaska is lower than Joe Biden’s ratings, and Trump’s approval by conservatives is still pretty strong. He won Alaska by 53 percent of the vote in 2020. A Trump endorsement of Tshibaka gave her the needed name recognition to rocket to national attention and get on Fox News more than a few times.

“Trump’s support of Alaska Republican Kelly Tshibaka, who is challenging Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in an open primary, doesn’t look promising either,” wrote Alexander Bolton in The Hill on Monday. “Murkowski has more than six times as much cash on hand as her rival and felt comfortable enough about her reelection to vote for President Biden’s nominee to the Supreme Court.”

Suddenly, Trump did something odd — he qualified his support for Gov. Dunleavy, saying he would only back him if Dunleavy did not back Murkowski.

Bolton notes that Trump’s backing of candidates is having a less-than-stellar record across the country. Trump backed former Sen. David Perdue, a Republican, in the Georgia governor’s race, yet incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, also a Republican, is far ahead in the polls and may be in landslide territory for the May 24 primary.

Trump’s endorsement of U.S. Senate candidate Sean Parnell in Pennsylvania (no relation to Alaska’s former governor) was a bust when Parnell dropped out after being accused of domestic violence.

Trump’s endorsement of Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama went sideways when Brooks started tanking in the polls, causing Trump to take back his endorsement.

And Trump has now endorsed J.D. Vance, author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” causing heartburn with Republicans in Ohio, where the Senate seat is in play. Conservatives prefer former Ohio state Treasurer Josh Mandel, who currently leads in the polls for the Republican primary.

“The basic problem is he has a bad record empirically,” said Justin Buchler, a professor of political science at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, according to The Hill. “The people that he endorses don’t have a particularly great winning record.”  

In Alaska, Trump endorsed Sarah Palin for Congress, an endorsement that is already having the effect of fracturing the Republican Party. Trump has a way of getting Republicans to fight with each other, and both he and Palin run hard against what they see as the party establishment. Ironically, it was that party establishment that boosted her candidacy in 2006, when she won the primary for governor against Gov. Frank Murkowski. That Republican establishment also supported Trump in 2016 and 2020.

“He is divisive. He incites Republicans to fight with each other instead of the Left. He’s not trying to make peace with the party,” said one Republican Party leader.

Palin, who has just a 31 percent approval rating from Alaskans, polls even lower than President Joe Biden.

If Trump does come to Alaska this summer for a rally — and he has promised to do so for candidate Tshibaka — he would demand one big event that includes Tshibaka, Palin, and Dunleavy. With Palin and Trump on the stage, Dunleavy and Tshibaka could be overshadowed by the star power of the former president and Palin, the most famous person in Alaska history. The media would focus all of its attention on Palin, with news reporters flying in from across the country to cover the spectacle of Trump-Palin.

For campaigns, this will be the trickiest of situations to pull off for the other Republican candidates, who rightfully don’t want to be in another campaign’s shadow.

Alaska political observers say that Trump’s endorsement of Palin actually hurts Tshibaka the most, because it has taken away some of the focus on what was the most watched race in the country — Murkowski vs. Tshibaka. If that is true, then Trump’s backing of Palin, who only has a 31 percent approval rating among Alaskans, would weaken his attack on the person he most wants to see gone from the Senate — Murkowski.

As for Trump’s own goals to return to the White House in 2024, these endorsements and the outcomes may provide some of the most important data of all to his team: Is Trump still viable as presidential material?

Breaking: Federal judge strikes down Biden mask mandate for travelers

Suzanne Downing
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17
Breaking: Federal judge strikes down Biden mask mandate for travelers

A federal judge in Florida has declared the Biden Administration’s mask mandate for airplanes and other public transportation to be illegal.

The case was brought by the Health Freedom Defense Fund and two lead plaintiffs in July of 2021. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle agreed the mandate is unlawful, as it exceeds the authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its implementation through agency rule making was also illegal.

The Biden Administration is likely to appeal, making it unclear how its agencies, such as the Transportation Security Administration, will proceed. This is a developing story.

mask-mandate-orderDownload

Republicans to have a big week planned in Fairbanks

Suzanne Downing
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8
Republicans to have a big week planned in Fairbanks

Alaska Republican Party officers, district delegates, alternates, and guests will gather in Fairbanks Thursday through Saturday for the party’s biennial convention. Speakers include Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Rep. Brian Mast, of Florida, who arrived in Alaska last week and who has his family with him.

Mast served in the U.S. Army for more than 12 years. While deployed in Afghanistan, he worked as a bomb disposal expert under the elite Joint Special Operations Command. The last improvised explosive device that he found resulted in catastrophic injuries, which included the loss of both of his legs. His medals include the Bronze Star Medal, the Army Commendation Medal for Valor, the Purple Heart Medal, and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. He will be introduced to the convention by Anne Young, the widow of the late Congressman Don Young, who arranged for Mast to be a keynote.

Also speaking in person is the Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee Ronna McDaniel.

In addition to party business, conventions are an opportunity for candidates to reach out to people from across the state. The party will be giving a training on the new ranked choice voting system put in place through Ballot Measure 2.

Also on the agenda is the election of a chair for the party. Ann Brown has been serving as chairwoman since the departure of Glen Clary, who left the state for a job at Liberty University. She will run for election.

Running against Brown is Donald Handeland, who is the chairman of Republicans in District 24. Handeland has posted a website for his campaign at this link. He is critical of the way the party has been managed.

Other seats in the party’s leadership circle are up for reelection during the convention, including vice chair; the current vice chair is Craig Campbell. Mike Robbins is interested in running for the seat if Campbell decides to retire from it.

The party officers and delegates will also elect a secretary and treasurer.

Over 250 delegates are registered to attend the convention at the Westmark hotel. Those delegates include several sitting legislators, former legislators, and party activists. Must Read Alaska will cover the convention both in stories and in live video on YouTube.

Fritz Pettyjohn: If I used Twitter, here’s what I’d say

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Fritz Pettyjohn: If I used Twitter, here’s what I’d say

By FRITZ PETTYJOHN

I don’t tweet. I’d wager few Must Read Alaska readers do. Twitter is for the politically correct, and if you stray off the leftist reservation, you’re censored.

I’d like to tweet. I have the occasional random thought that I’d like to share. Such as:

I have very serious doubt that Donald Trump runs again for president. He’ll turn 76 next month. He’d be 82 at the end of another term. That’s too old. And no one, not even Trump, can run for office without the support of their spouse. Melania’s first priority is her son Barron, who just turned 16. Does she want him back in the fishbowl of the White House as he makes the transition to adulthood? 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has three little kids, the youngest only two years old. His wife is recovering from breast cancer. He’s only 43. Is this his time, or should he put off a Presidential run? He seems like a guy who would put his family first.

Trump is getting a lot of attention with his primary endorsements. But when the primaries are over his endorsement doesn’t help any more. As Glenn Youngkin demonstrated in Virginia, Republican candidates in a general election need to distance themselves from Trump. The people who will be talking about Trump will be the Democrats, trying to fire up their base.

The Democrats are in serious trouble in 2024. They don’t have a candidate, and they don’t have a message. Actually, they had awful candidates, with no message, in 2016 and 2020. They only lost by a whisker in 2016, and squeaked through in 2020, because half the country can’t stand Donald Trump. Their only hope in 2024 is Trump as their opponent. Personally, I think Republicans will realize this, and nominate a mainstream conservative like Mike Pence.

This is a Republican year. It’s not a good time to run if you’re a Democrat. especially in Alaska. So I think Republicans will control both houses of the Legislature next year. One thing they’ll want to do is repeal the part of Prop 2 that abolished political primaries. They could also repeal ranked choice voting, but should they?

I’d counsel against it. Alaska is a red state, and Republicans have a natural advantage. Actually, I’ve been in favor of ranked choice voting since 1982, when I first ran for the State Senate. That’s when Democrat Bill Sheffield was elected Governor with 46% of the vote. Conservatives were divided between Republican Tom Fink and Libertarian Dick Randolph. With ranked choice voting, almost all of Randolph’s votes would have gone to Fink, who could have won.

In the last 40 years I’ve seen the same thing happen time after time in Alaska elections. So I’d say keep ranked choice voting. It keeps political minorities, like Alaska Democrats, from winning elections.

So those are my tweets. If Elon Musk wins control of Twitter I’ll start tweeting for real, and I hope many of you do as well. It would be a convenient forum.

Fritz Pettyjohn served in the Alaska legislature in the 1980’s, and has practiced law in Alaska since 1974, and has written a column of one kind or another since high school, taking his inspiration from Herb Cain.

Faith shines brightly this morning

Suzanne Downing
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30
Faith shines brightly this morning

Some have faith in this old world surviving all we can throw at it. Others have faith in humanity being able to dig us out of these messes we get into as humans.

Christians have faith that Jesus has risen, conquered death, and will return to earth for the final judgment, when all faithful, dead and alive, will receive new spiritual bodies and will be granted eternal life, and the wicked will perish in hell.

Who is crazier in their faith – humanists or Christians?

In an increasingly secular society, Christian faith is an increasingly rare quality. Christians are only 6 in 10 Americans, and half of those Christians are in name only.

In 2011, 75 percent of Americans said they were Christians, but in 2021, that number had shrunk to just 63 percent. In 2011, 18 percent of Americans were not affiliated with any religion, and now nearly 30 percent of Americans are in that category, according to the Pew Research Center.

If you have a Christian in your life, hang onto them for dear life, for you are blessed — at least that person has a role model of what a good human is supposed to be like and has a playbook for what our destiny is.

Gathering together as Christians to worship and reinforce the faith has never been more important, because this is the very faith is being overwhelmed by a secularism that has Christianity in its targets.

John 14:1-3: “Let not your heart be troubled…In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

That passage could very well refer to getting our of your chair going to church this Easter morning: Today, some of us will show up at a church’s doorstep on our occasional pilgrimage to have someone explain to us the miracle of life after death and help us rekindle our faith, which is under assault all the other days of the year. While I don’t want to offend any reader, it’s Satan who is the leader of that assault.

The walls of the sanctuary help us build that faith back up to fight the battle. If you go, and I hope you do, there will be dozens of God-loving people inside those doors waiting for you — servants who have kept worship services alive week after week, and day after day, for many years.

If you have doubts, you’ll be in good company on Easter Sunday. Christians inside those doors are also no strangers to doubt and times of trouble. They’re no strangers to sin or lapses in faith, even as they keep witness week after week, honoring God’s authority as they worship Him and wonder at the mysteries of his domain. So take a chance. You won’t be alone in your doubts, in your worries, and it’s a great day to unload the burdens you carry.

Listicle: Keep track of the new Alaska Senate seats and House districts here

Suzanne Downing
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7
Listicle: Keep track of the new Alaska Senate seats and House districts here

It’s all over but the shouting as far as the new political districts in Alaska go.

With the Redistricting process in the rear-view mirror and the political boundaries now redrawn and likely to survive a Supreme Court review, here is the current line-up for state Senate seats and their corresponding House seats, with the incumbents listed (except for open seats), and current known challengers.

The primary for this election is Aug. 16, with the general election Nov. 8, 2022. All legislators except Sen. Donny Olson must run for their seats if they wish to continue serving in the Legislature. The last day to file for a state seat is June 1.

A – Sen. Bert Stedman – R. challenger Michael Sheldon – R

  • House District 1 – Rep. Daniel Ortiz – D., challenger, Shevaun Meggitt -N.
  • House District 2 – Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins – D., not running. Running. is Ken Skaflestad – R.

B – Sen. Jesse Kiehl – D.

  • House District 3 – Rep. Andy Story – D.
  • House District 4 – Rep. Sarah Hannan – D., challenger Troy Wuyts-Smith – N.

C – Sen. Gary Stevens – R., challengers Heath Smith – R., and Jones – R.

  • House District 5 – Rep. Louise Stutes – R.
  • House District 6 – Rep. Sarah Vance -R., challenger Louie Flora – D.

D – Sen. Peter Micciche – R., challengers Tuckerman Babcock – R., Jesse Bjorkman – R.

  • House District 7 – Rep. Ron Gillham – R., challenger Justin Ruffridge – R.
  • House District 8 – Rep. Ben Carpenter – R.

E – Sen. Roger Holland – R and Sen. Lora Reinbold – R.

  • House District 9 – Rep. Laddie Shaw – R., challenger Rick Castillo – R.
  • House District 10 – Open, running are Jamie Allard – R.; Roger Branson – R.

F – Sen. Josh Revak (cannot run due to run for Congress)

  • House District 11 – Rep. James Kaufman – R., challengers Jennifer Sonne – D, Ryan Marcey – U
  • House District 12 – Rep. Cal Schrage – D., challenger Jay McDonald – R., Janice Park – D

G – Open Senate Seat

  • House District 13 – Open. Running are Sue Levi – D, Craig Johnson – R.
  • House District 14 – Rep. Chris Tuck or Andy Josephson – Ds.

H – Sen. Mia Costello (Von Imhof not running again) – R.

  • House District 15 – Rep. Tom McKay, – R., challenger David Nees – R.
  • House District 16 – Rep. Matt Claman – D, and Rep. Sara Rasmussen – R.

I – Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson – D.

  • House District 17 – Open seat. Running are Jim Wright – D, Alyse Galvin – D.
  • House District 18 – Rep. Ivy Spohnholz – D.

J – Sen. Tom Begich – D.

  • House District 19 – Rep. Zack Fields – D. and Rep. Harriet Drummond – D.
  • House District 20 – Rep. Geran Tarr – D, challenger Donna Mears – D/

K – Sen. Bill Wielechowski – D

  • House District 21 – Liz Snyder – D.
  • House District 22 – Open seat

L – Open. Running are Rep. Kelly Merrick – R., Rep. Ken McCarty – R.

  • House District 23 – Rep. David Nelson – R.
  • House District 24 – Rep. Kelly Merrick – R., Rep. Ken McCarty – R. Running are Sharon Jackson – R, Dan Saddler – R.

M – Sen. Shelley Hughes – R.

  • House District 25 – Rep. DeLena Johnson – R.
  • House District 26 – Rep. Cathy Tilton – R., challenger DanielStokes

N – Sen. David Wilson – R. Challenger Wright – R.

  • House District 27 – Rep. David Eastman – R., and Rep. Chris Kurka – R. (Kurka not running). Challenger Stuart Graham – R.
  • House District 28 – Open. Challengers Jesse Sumner – R, Wright, R., Allen – R.

O – Sen. Mike Shower – R.

  • House District 29 – Rep. George Rauscher – R.
  • House District 30 – Rep. Kevin McCabe – R.

P – Sen. Scott Kawasaki – D.

  • House District 31 – Rep. Bart LeBon – R.
  • House District 32 – Rep. Steve Thompson – R., Challengers Aaron Gibson – R., Will Stapp – R.

Q – Sen. Rob Myers – R.

  • House District 33 – Rep. Mike Prax – R.
  • House District 34 – Rep. Grier Hopkins, D., challengers Frank Tomaszewski – R., Nate DeMars – R.

R – Sen. Click Bishop, R.

  • House District 35 – Rep. Adam Wool – D. (Wool running for Congress). Challenger Kieran Brown – C.
  • House District 36 – Rep. Mike Cronk – R.

S – Sen. Lyman Hoffman – D

  • House District 37 – Rep. Bryce Edgmon – D.
  • House District 38 – Rep. Tiffany Zulkosky – D

T – Sen. Donny Olson – D. No election

  • House District 39 – Rep. Neal Foster, D., challenger Tyler Ivanoff – AIP
  • House District 40 – Rep. Josiah Patkotak – U.

Quarterly reports: Lisa Murkowski out-raised Kelly Tshibaka, has more banked cash, and a $1.3 million wingman PAC

Suzanne Downing
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33
Quarterly reports: Lisa Murkowski out-raised Kelly Tshibaka, has more banked cash, and a $1.3 million wingman PAC

Murkowski World has far more financial resources to work with than Tshibaka World in this election season. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has her own campaign fundraising prowess, and at least two outside groups serving her up to voters and ready to define her opponent, Kelly Tshibaka.

Murkowski’s quarterly report with the Federal Election Commission shows she has raised a total of $7,527,972 for her reelection campaign, while her Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka has raised $2,500,335.

Murkowski, who has served since 2002 in a seat that has been occupied by a Murkowski since 1981, has significantly more cash on hand — over $5 million, while Tshibaka has just under $1 million in cash on hand in her campaign, as the race heats up toward the Aug. 16 primary.

Murkowski also has backing from political action committee coordinated by people like Scott Kendall, the liberal lawyer who birthed Ballot Measure 2, a unique voting system with a jungle primary and a ranked choice voting general election, designed to ensure that Murkowski wins in 2022.

The political action committee “Alaskans for Lisa” raised $1.3 million since it formed in December. In addition to Kendall, through his law firm Cashion Gilmore & Lindemuth, longtime-Murkowski operative Jim Lottsfeldt, and lobbyists Jerry Mackie and Mike Pawlowski through their firm Strategies North are behind the group. But other than that, there aren’t any Alaskans who have put money in — only those who are billing the PAC.

The PAC’s biggest contributor by far is John Arnold of Houston, a former Enron trader and now a major player in progressive philanthropy. He gave the Alaskans for Lisa PAC $500,000. Arnold was also a major force to push Ballot Measure 2 on voters in 2020, which created a system that would allow Murkowski to win. Arnold gave Alaskans for Better Elections $3 million of its over $7 million campaign to convince Alaskans to toss out regular ballots and move to a hybrid system that has never been tried anywhere.

John Rowe, an energy investor who lives in Florida, gave the Murkowski PAC $250,000. The American Unity Fund, which advances LGBTQ causes, gave $150,000, and Jeffrey Hildebrand, the chair of Hilcorp Energy Co., also chipped in $75,000. The list of donors is at this link.

Tshibaka has raised more money from Alaskans than Murkowski, and has the support of the Alaska Republican Party, which Murkowski doesn’t have. The Alaska Republicans have censured her and have gone so far as to ask her to not run as a Republican.

Murkowski also has the support of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which has started raising money for her through the pot of money controlled by Sen. Mitch McConnell. The NRSC’s pitch in a recent letter is that Murkowski has been fighting the Democrats “EVERY SINGLE DAY,” which is actually opposite of her strategy of staying as close to them as humanly possible and still get reelected.

The letter, signed by Sen. Rick Scott, says that Alaska’s Senate race has been targeted by Democrats, which it has not. The only Democrat to file for the seat dropped out after a month.

“Right now, our primary objective is to support our Party’s efforts to capture control of the U.S. Senate. As you may know, Alaska has a nationally targeted Senate Race next year. With the national Democrats, their radical allies, and the liberal mainstream media desperate to keep total control of our government so they can force their Socialist agenda on all Americans, it is vital that we stand united in support of our candidates. And with Alaska’s seat currently held by a Republican, we want to make absolutely sure we have the resources to keep the seat it in the GOP column,” Scott wrote.

Elvi Gray-Jackson, who was the Democrat in the race for less than a month, reported raising $161,518. She has zeroed out her account. Libertarian Sean Thorne raised $3,566 and had spent all but $256.

Quarterly reports: Nick Begich shows over $1.4 million, while Chris Constant raised $107,800 in race for Congress

Suzanne Downing
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15
Quarterly reports: Nick Begich shows over $1.4 million, while Chris Constant raised $107,800 in race for Congress

With nine days to go until ballots re in the mail, not all of the 48 candidates for Congress had to file quarterly reports with the Federal Election Commission. Not all are showing how much they raised and how much they spent during the first three months of the year. That’s because most of the candidates didn’t file until after Congressman Don Young died. They waited until April 1, avoiding the reporting requirement.

Nick Begich, the Republican who filed in late October for Congress, has receipts of about $1,045,100 and has spent $160,000, leaving him with about $885,153 cash on hand for his bid to fill the seat left vacant by Congressman Don Young.

Chris Constant, a Democrat contender who filed in mid-February, raised a respectable $107,816 and has burned through $12,723. He had $95,092 cash on had at the end of the March 31 reporting period.

Gregg Brelsford, a candidate who has no party affiliation but leans left, raised $43,476, spend 28,262, and has $15,214 cash on hand. Randy Purham raised $1,524, spent over $5,486, and has no cash on hand.

The remainder of the field — including well-known names Sarah Palin, Al Gross, and Tara Sweeney — have no financial reports due because of their late filing strategy.

Ballots for the special election primary will be mailed on April 27 by the Division of Elections. For this primary, the ballots will be mail-in style and must be postmarked by June 11. There will be 48 names on the special election primary ballot, but because of the awkwardness of the timing of this elections, campaign analysts won’t know the strength of most of the candidates in terms of their ability to raise money and spend it effectively. Most will not raise or spend enough to be required to report.

The late Congressman Don Young had raised a modest amount of cash for his reelection campaign before he passed. In the five quarters since January of 2021, he had raised $665,724, $203,571 of that from political action committees.

Federal regulations limit contributions to a candidate’s campaign to for U.S. Senate or House of Representatives to $2,900 per election.

Jim Crawford: Our Permanent Fund dividend, Alaska Legislature, and the need for a constitutional convention

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
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Jim Crawford: Our Permanent Fund dividend, Alaska Legislature, and the need for a constitutional convention

By JIM CRAWFORD

When you make a deposit at First National Bank of Alaska or Alaska USA Federal Credit Union, whose money did you deposit?  It’s a simple concept but a foundational principle of the Alaska Permanent Fund.  

The answer is, was and always will be: It’s your money.  

If you put money into a 401K with WellsFargo, or retirement fund with UBS, whose money, is it?  For your convenience, you can have an expert manage your money for you, but it is your money and no one else’s.  

If Grandma and Pop give your kids $100 for Christmas and they put it in a savings account, whose money, is it? Once the check is deposited and cleared, the money held in trust is unquestionably for your kids benefit as the legal owner of the funds. In my house that required parental approval.    

Can Grandma and Pop or parents demand that kids spend it on books? Sure, anyone can make a demand and most times grandparents get away with it. That’s a family decision, not a decision by the financial institution that holds the money. 

The Legislature manages the Alaska Permanent Fund. Family decisions are not within the purview of the Permanent Fund dividend. The Board of Trustees of the Fund make it abundantly clear that their job is to earn the best return they can on our behalf. They don’t get to set the amount or the method of payment for our dividend. That’s the Legislators job subject to the approval of the people.

I know there are reasons why Legislators such as Sen. Josh Revak and former Sen. Cathy Giessel promise one thing in campaigns and vote the other way when they are elected. They hope you may not remember their sleight of hand. Another deceit is to redefine the argument that the dividend must be sustainable. 

Sustainable in some scattered minds means that the Permanent Fund must pay a larger dividend each year. That’s not what was agreed to with Gov. Jay Hammond. Under his guidance, the dividend was tied to the earnings of the Permanent Fund and split 50/50 with the owners of the fund, who are the Alaskan people. Yes, this could mean that people could get a smaller dividend than prior years. If could also mean that those whose job it is to maximize earnings could be looking for another job.  

When Gov. Bill Walker was in office, he and a majority of Legislators cooked the books to get control of the dividend. They got Judge Morris to say that the fund’s dividend we all earned when we set aside the fund as non-spendable was just like any other appropriation. The Alaska Supreme Court completed the raid and sided with Gove. Walker and the majority in the Legislature that the dividend was theirs alone to appropriate. The court ruled that the dividend wasn’t hampered by the statute the Legislature had passed setting the formulae for dividend payments.  

Since then, ever more greedy majorities in both houses of the Legislature have exercised their “crumbs strategy.”  The “crumbs strategy” determines first what the Legislature wants to spend on government. Then whatever is left, (the crumbs) to be paid to fund owners.  

I like the discipline of the 50/50 rule (after inflation proofing) since it brings transparency, accountability and sustainability to the process of setting the dividend. Some legislators hate it. Even in a bad earnings year (whether it’s in a Simple IRA or the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend), earnings should determine the dividend, not raw political power. 

Legislators have come up with ways to discount redefined earnings and set artificial caps on Fund earnings, the POMV that can’t be exceeded. We set aside the money for a rainy day. Reality check. Inflation is surging, politicians want to shut down Alaska’s energy industry.  Alaska has a declining population, a recession and a pandemic. It’s pouring. Let’s get these phony arguments over the dividend behind us.  Building jobs back in our non-government economy is more important than spending more money on government every year.

Jay Hammond’s approach to fairly set the 50/50 dividend worked for 40 years and could work for another 40 years.  The politicos have to understand how tired Alaskans are with all the arguing about the dividend. If you agree that it’s our money and agree that we are capable of spending our earnings just as well as legislators, please advise your Legislator. Vote against those representatives and senators who vote against you in Juneau.  

A constitutional convention may well be the only method for settling the dividend issue. In a constitutional convention, we can simply redefine dividends in the Constitution as 50% of the earnings of the fund after inflation proofing. The economy will be stronger. Families in Alaska will be strengthened. The people of Alaska will win. As they should. It is the people’s money.   

Jim Crawford is the former President of Permanent Fund Defenders, pfdak.com, an Alaska based educational nonprofit corporation based in Eagle River, Alaska.  Jim is a third generation, lifelong Alaskan who co-chaired the Alaskans Just Say No campaign to stop the raid on the Permanent Fund in 1999.  He also served Governor Hammond as a member of the Investment Advisory Committee which formed the investment and corporate strategy of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation in 1975.   

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