I agree with the ADN’s Permanent Fund article in the Dec. 20 paper. It is at the center of Alaska’s budget talks. The Permanent Fund is like the goose that lays a golden egg every year to pay for our dividend and to help run state government. Thanks to the 2018 Legislature, we now have a mechanism to allocate a reasonable amount of money every year from the Permanent Fund to help run state government. We should continue to use this formula. If there is money left over from this golden egg, then the proceeds should be used to fund our dividend. If you cut off a leg or wing from our goose, as our governor’s $5,000 dividend proposal would require, we are going to cripple our goose for life!
I know that the governor is not going to change his mind about his $5,000 dividend proposal. So, it is going to be up to the state Legislature to put a stop to it. What scares me is that there is band of elected state Republican legislators who will be supporting the governor’s dividend proposal. I’m going to call them the “Me! Me! Me!” Republicans. They are only thinking of themselves and how they are going to get re-elected to their next term. It’s a “tit for tat” thing: If you vote for me, I’ll make sure you get a huge dividend! I find this unethical.
The non-“Me! Me! Me!” legislators in 2021 will have to strive to keep our goose whole. They need to nurture the goose and allow it to lay its golden egg at the end of the legislative session. This will not be easy. They will have to take the higher ground and answer the question: “What is the best approach to protecting the Permanent Fund (our goose) not only for 2021, but for the next 50 years?” Fulfill Gov. Jay Hammond’s wish by making the Permanent Fund into “money wells pumping money for infinity!”
— Niles Woods
Anchorage
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