By RON JOHNSON
During this election cycle, all 40 seats in the Alaska House of Representatives are up for election. Most of those seats have more than one candidate from which voters can choose.
This is an opportunity for voters to measure incumbents and determine if they’ve kept promises made or whether it’s time for a change. The race for House District 27 is one where voters have a legitimate choice between an incumbent with no accomplishments in four terms and a challenger with a proven track record during the last three years on the Mat-Su School Board. That challenger is Jubilee Underwood.
When Jubilee saw that her voice as a parent wasn’t being heard, she ran for the school board and won. When boys tried to enter our daughters’ bathrooms and sports teams, she kept them out. When the federal government pushed policies harmful to children’s wellbeing during the Covid pandemic, she protected our kids.
In the three years she has served on the school board, Jubilee accomplished everything she promised she would, but the current representative can’t say the same. In nearly eight years in the state house, he introduced more than 140 measures and has never managed to advance any of them to the House floor for a vote. However, during the last session, he did manage to frequently vote with the Democratic minority, including voting for a significantly reduced PFD.
The current representative was one of three key nay votes in 2022 that shot down paying a full PFD. That critical vote took over a billion dollars out of your pockets and the private sector.
To add insult to injury, his adversarial approach towards his fellow colleagues has left him in a minority of one and gotten him removed from the only policy committee of which he was a member. Clearly the Mat-Su deserves a change.
As a contrast, Jubilee will be a true representative of the Valley by working with others to move Alaska forward. She embraces fiscal responsibility, a statutory PFD, lowering or preventing taxes and limiting government spending. She is committed to defending parental choice in schools. She has committed to defending our constitutional rights and cracking down on crime.
Jubilee will stand steadfast to common sense principles and accomplish what she is elected to do, just as she has during her time on the school board.
Ron Johnson has been a resident of the Mat-Su Borough since 1991, has been married to Janet Johnson for over 55 years, the father of two, a United States Air Force Vietnam veteran, and has been active in local and state politics for over a decade.
Praise God we have a conservative like Eastman who stands on conservative principles.
By the sound of things, Juneau has gotten to be a downright conservative place since legislators adjourned in May.
But wait, weren’t those the same legislators (most of them at least nominally Republican) who voted to increase state spending this year by over two billions dollars?
The senate minority (Shower, Hughes, Myers) voted no. I voted no. The only other Republicans voting no were Carpenter and Stutes.
How did the legislature pay for this budget increase? They paid for it by taking roughly $1.5 billion from the PFD.
The Swamp in Juneau would like Alaskans in every part of the state to vote for the candidate who will most facilitate increases to state spending.
If you oppose those increases you will be removed from the caucus (or told you need not apply), your staff will be fired (or never hired to begin with), and you will be sent to the corner.
They did it to Lora Reinbold before I ever ran for the state house.
They did it to my senator, Mike Dunleavy, when I was a freshman legislator.
They did it to my senator, Mike Shower.
They did it to me.
They will keep on doing it to legislators who endeavor to honestly represent conservative districts as long as voters let them get away with it.
There is a reason Mike Dunleavy was sent to the corner and was not allowed to have any of his bills pass during his five years in the senate.
There is a reason Mike Shower was sent to the corner and has not been allowed to have any of his bills pass in the seven years that he has been in the senate.
In Juneau you will not be awarded with a bill passing with your name on it unless you are in the good graces of the swamp.
Here is to those legislators who have had the courage to be more loyal to their constituents then to the swamp. May they live long and prosper.
Jubilee and Todd Palin should hook up, then join as running mates for Wasilla area House & Senate seats. Their combined hot factor will easily sway the electorate in that part of the state.