(legislators Block Restoration of unpaid Dividends – Those blocking dividends shown in green)
To Juneau, the PFD represents a way to continue to prop up unsustainable levels of government spending for just a little while longer.
To the people of Alaska, it represents a whole lot more than that.
Politicians have no right to set aside state law, and divert the PFD to special interests!
Under no circumstances should the PFD be taken from Alaskans and used to fund state government without a vote of the people to do so. Those who believe that our state bureaucracy will do a better job of spending their PFD for them are always welcome to donate their PFD to the state. Pick. Click. Give.
Because today’s politicians have repeatedly proven themselves untrustworthy to follow the law, the only lasting protection for the PFD will involve the election of new legislators, followed by an amendment to the Alaska Constitution. I have never wavered from this position.
On my first day in office, my then senator (Mike Dunleavy) and I jointly filed legislation that would restore the full PFD to the amount in state law. Since before being elected, I have always believed that the amount of the PFD in state law should be honored.
There are some who believe that the strength of the public sector is the best indicator of the strength of an economy. They could not be more wrong.
The strength of the private sector is the better indicator of an economy because the public sector can only exist to the extent that it continues to receive support from the private sector.
A strong public sector built atop a weak private sector cannot survive for long. like a hammer crashing down on a light bulb. If you snap a photo a microsecond before the hammer smashes the light bulb, you might get the impression that the hammer has made contact and the light bulb has withstood the blow. But if you are relying on a functioning light bulb, that would be a terrible mistake to make.
