Legislators put prisons before schools
The state of Alaska pays to incarcerate a prisoner at a cost of $136 per day per prisoner, or $49,800 per year, according to 2009 data.
On the other hand, the state believes the price of public education is too high and the Alaska education system should do more with less, which means less teachers, less pay, more students per class, etc.
Over the past three years, the Anchorage School District has cut 266 administrative or support positions and used the savings to close the inflation gap and add 61 additional teachers in our classrooms in order to improve the performance of every child, to ensure at least one year's academic growth each year. This is a net reduction of 205 positions or about 3.57 percent.
In that same period of time, the entire Alaska state government with about 22,000 employees, has only reduced 201 employees or less than 1 percent. In this same period of the time, the Legislature has increased both its full-time and part-time employees by over 4 percent.
Finally In 2012, the state spent $240 million to build the Goose Creek Prison to hold about 1,500 prisoners — and current projections estimate that Alaska's prisons will again reach capacity in 2016 or 2017, barring any major declines or increases in incarceration rates.
Yet, the state is considering a moratorium on upgrading and repairing schools.
I don't get it.
— Lance Smith
Anchorage
Discrimination starts with one group
Our mayoral race on April 7 ended with a runoff between Amy Demboski and Ethan Berkowitz. I really like Amy's financial position. The spending of our city government is out of hand. However, a recent ad paid for by the Alaska Republican Assembly Political Action Committee spotlights Demboski as "Fiscal & Social Conservative Family Oriented," and also pledges on her behalf that "She will veto any Homosexual Ordinance!"
For me this is not a LGBT issue. It's far more reaching. In deciding on my vote next month, I have to think about a candidate that wins an office, thus accepting the job of representing her community, and then uses her own personal beliefs (and that of big-pocket funders) to make judgments that affect that community. I believe that is called "discrimination."
So who is next? Seniors? Impoverished? Homeless? Uninsured? Private actions in your own home? Green energy? Fishing? Hunting? And of course the stuff the makes the news … abortion, marijuana, etc.
No … wait a minute … I don't really have to think about this at all. Do you?
— Tom Lucido
Anchorage
Stevens would OK Medicaid expansion
The Republican majority in the Legislature: On the issue of Medicaid expansion, please ask yourselves, WWTD? What Would Ted Do? Pass this now, to save lives, get people out of emergency rooms, create jobs, and save money. It is a no brainer, folks.
— Lee Holen
Anchorage
Economics wont stop discrimination
In his letter (April 8, ADN), Bob Lewis suggests that the LGBT issue be "left to economics." He suggests that when LBGT people seek the services of a bakery, florist, etc., and are refused service because of their sexual orientation, that they "… simply look for a vendor who will deliver the service they are looking for." Such an argument is beguiling, but deceptive. The "Let them go elsewhere" argument has been used before, and in similar circumstances: It was a common expression among segregationists in the Deep South during the 1950s and 1960s. The problem with Lewis' view is that once a vendor takes such a stance against a minority group, and gets away with it, it is more than likely that most or all other vendors in the same community will do the same — and for economic reasons; namely, they will refuse business to a minority of the local population in order to endear themselves to, and to continue doing business with, the majority of a local population.
Thus, vendors who today refuse to do business with LGBT persons are of the same mind-set as vendors who, years ago, refused to do business with racial minorities.
— Stephan Paliwoda
Anchorage
Minnery missed Stings musical point
Did anyone else find Jim Minnery's total misunderstanding of Sting's lyrics in his article bemoaning equal rights for LGBT people really sad? The song "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" by The Police includes this verse:
"Poets, priests, and politicians
Have words to thank for their positions
Words that scream for your submission
And no one's jamming their transmission
Because when their eloquence escapes you
Their logic ties you up and rapes you"
Sting was making a subtle point about the abuse of words and banality. He tried to write an articulate song about being inarticulate. He later admitted trying to explain this in a song was self-defeating. Kind of like trying to explain to Minnery that we have a democratic government and not a theocracy.
The Indiana law originally included a clause very different from other religious protection laws. That initial version, which was changed, effectively made discrimination based on sexual orientation lawful. Got that? It was the attempt to legalize discrimination that caused the outcry. Minnery conveniently ignored that central fact in his opinion piece.
We have heard the same nonsensical words from Minnery over and over in his failed attempts at anti-gay rhetoric and to justify controlling women's reproductive health. I pity the small-mindedness of bigots. But "don't think me unkind — words are hard to find."
— Chris Wooley
Anchorage
Baseball box scores are vital news
I wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Dickie's thoughts regarding ADN's omission of the Major League Baseball box scores on April 8.
ADN's "Notice to Readers" on that subject seems to encourage readers to obtain that news elsewhere.
Many subscribers may do just that, get their news elsewhere.
— Pat Bow
Anchorage
Alaskans support Medicaid expansion
The majority of Alaskans support the expansion of Medicaid. The governor is for it. Why is the Legislature blocking this? These are Alaska's people who need health care coverage. Just because Outside forces are working in many states to squelch the expansion of Medicaid, why do we allow these Outside forces to run rampant here in Alaska too? It's our state! Or it was …
I've been an Alaskan for nearly 50 years. Not so long ago, we didn't care how they did it "Outside:" we did not let Outsiders come in and influence our Legislature to do things that were contrary to what we as Alaskans knew were best for us. Our elected officials represented us and acted in our best interest.
Now it seems our state is going way off course because the steering is under the control of those who are from somewhere else and who do not care one whit what happens to us — caring only about furthering their own ideological perspective. One such group is ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, which is a national organization that aims to influence each state's governance. Unfortunately ALEC appears to be more and more influential with Alaska's Legislature.
And as a result, Alaska is being governed by what is in someone else's playbook. This needs to be changed, and in this case Medicaid should be expanded.
— L.L. Raymond
Homer
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@alaskadispatch.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.