Thank you to ADN for printing a feature article about our out-of-state director of the Office of Management and Budget, Donna Arduin. The article pointed out that Ms. Arduin, who is a resident of Michigan, has been put into power by the governor to make critical decisions about the state budget, even though she is not an Alaskan and hasn’t lived here long enough to get a Permanent Fund dividend or fishing license.
Sen. Bill Wielechowski, who is in a position to observe Ms. Arduin’s performance as budget director, reported she does not seem to know or be curious about learning about the unique issues of Alaska. Instead, Ms. Arduin applies a cookie-cutter approach she used in other states to cut budgets. She arbitrarily imposed her judgment that the benefits paid to poor seniors, public broadcasting and the Alaska Council for the Arts are “outside of the scope of core state services.”
Why did the governor give Ms. Arduin so much power to make budget decisions without knowing or caring about the deleterious effects on Alaskans?
Ms. Arduin previously applied her budget-cutting hatchet in California with drastic cuts to children’s health insurance, animal shelters and developmentally disabled people. Her cuts were so unpopular with the people that the governor of California had to withdraw them. Ms. Arduin also axed funds for the University of California. Years later, the administrator of the university fretted that lagging state funding resulted in the schools “sliding toward mediocrity.”
Ms. Arduin usually does not stay in any state after recommending draconian cuts. So it is likely she will leave Alaska soon.
Hopefully, in the face of her recommended drastic cuts in critical services and programs while not looking at any adjustment to the oil tax credits, Alaskans will demand that Ms. Arduin be fired and all her recommended budget cuts be reversed by the Legislature.
— Joanne Kell
Anchorage
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