While the article June 21 was good, this little question of who is paying the petitioners might have made the piece more accurate and given the whole picture.
I've seen the gentleman pictured in the article on petitions (Bill Buchwald) at many Anchorage stores the last month or so. (He was at REI on Memorial Day weekend with another gentleman with petitions for SB21 and one on the Pebble Creek mine.)
When I was asked to sign the petitions they seemed taken aback that I actually wanted to read what I was signing (a habit I have when signing my name to any document) and when I asked who was paying them, the second gentleman muttered some name I didn't know (or now recall) and said that person was just a "private individual" concerned with these issues.
I find that a bit hard to believe.
We all have a right to petition as well as attempt to dissuade people from signing them. It would have been nice if the article had determined who was paying the petitioners, not just those attempting to "block" people from signing it. I don't believe that Mr. Buchwald is doing this gathering free of compensation.
Keep up the good work.
— Ben Monshor
Anchorage
Anchorage Daily News