Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, Sept. 30, 2014

Sullivan has plan for better Alaska

Just one day into his new role as Alaska's attorney general, Dan Sullivan called me requesting a meeting to discuss making Alaskans safer. Two days later we were sitting down talking the nuts and bolts of how an unprecedented effort to combat domestic and sexual assault in Alaska's communities should look. Within weeks, Dan was spearheading the governor's efforts to combat the epidemic of abuse that has been plaguing Alaskans for decades. Dan was developing and executing a plan to bring the most comprehensive and coordinated effort this state has ever seen.

Dan's plan included public awareness, coordination, inclusion, enforcement, prosecution, and services for survivors. It meant new troopers, prosecutors, and a goal for placing a Village Public Safety Officer in every village that wanted one. It included tougher sentences for offenders, better care and services for victims, and even higher expectations of what we as individuals should be doing to protect the most vulnerable within our homes and families and in our communities.

Dan has served this state just as tirelessly as he has served our country. Dan's experience in the Marine Corps, the White House and U.S. State Department to defund and dismantle terrorist networks, in the wake of our nation's response to terrorism has made our state and nation safer. I saw firsthand Dan's work as attorney general and Department of Natural Resources commissioner to keep Alaskans safer, lower energy costs and strengthen our state's economy.

Dan is a proven leader that doesn't play politics when it comes to making our communities safer. This is why I stand with Dan. I hope you will join me."

— Joe Masters, former Alaska Commissioner of

Public Safety,

Anchorage

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Ditto Dingman, give Muldoon a park

Mike Dingman's recent comment regarding Muldoon's need for the proposed Town Square Park, "we've waited too long and been denied too many times," was spot on (ADN, Sept. 23). The quest to designate the entire 29-acre property from the intersection of Debarr and Muldoon roads to the east as a city park has drug on for many years. Meanwhile, our kids walk to school along busy streets without sidewalks or safe lighting, our roads are full of potholes, neighborhoods are beset with persistent surface flooding, and we lack an adequate recreation center. The Anchorage 2020 plan would cram many more people into our already congested area without providing necessary infrastructure and quality of life upgrades. Muldoon is designated for dense housing so it makes sense that we should have a large destination park. Simply put, Muldooners deserve functioning infrastructure, adequate recreational space and other amenities comparable to the rest of Anchorage. Our hard-working families on this side of town deserve better.

— Laurie Hummel

Candidate for state House, District 15

Anchorage

Murkowski wrong to go against Begich

So, four years ago Sen. Lisa Murkowski gets defeated in her own party's primary by conservative Joe Miller. She wages a write-in campaign appealing to the center and left voters, and wins because of the center and left voters. Now she is calling for center-left Sen. Mark Begich's defeat by conservative Dan Sullivan. It is ironic and hypocritical to say the least. Maybe she is afraid to have to face Dan Sullivan in two years if he doesn't win now. She bamboozled voters four years ago, are we going to fall for it again?

— Fred Klouda

Anchorage

Initiatives let voters correct legislation

As I read this article I couldn't help but recall a dream? No, it was a nightmare. About a group of politicians, not so very long ago, who began showing up in Juneau wearing baseball caps, with the letters CBC proudly printed across them (Corrupt Bastards Club). Now if that was only a dream, then maybe this "initiative" article (ADN, Sunday) has some validity.

However, the CBC, is still so burned in my memory (could be just me) that I don't trust most of our "legislators," to do anything in favor of the public.

Thousands of years ago a fella named Aesop said, "if you want anything done right, you have to do it yourself."

Thus the ballot initiatives.

— Carl Seaver

Knik

Sullivan has no respect for rural values

I read with amusement another Gov. Parnell administration appointee trying to defend Dan Sullivan's record on rural Alaska issues. This is the same Parnell/Sullivan administration that pushed Pebble mine despite Alaskans' objections, tried to eliminate public input with HB 77, opposed Alaska Native efforts to reduce domestic violence, and even tried to litigate on the side of an abusive parent because they so strongly opposed tribal sovereignty (Alaska v. Kaltag). Now Sullivan is trying to rewrite that history during election season. Too late. His record of attacking rural Alaska values speaks much more loudly than an commentary by another paid political appointee.

— Anita Thorne

Anchorage

The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter for consideration, email letters@adn.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.

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