The “pay raise” debacle that played out last week was a gaslighting farce. Throw in a mountain of hypocrisy when the pathetic attempt was made to link candidate quality to pay level when education funding is held hostage to “lack of results for dollars spent.” All the while, legislators have been advocating for cutting funding for transportation, the Pioneer Home, revenue sharing, Alaska State Troopers, voting roll cleanup, you name it.
Add to that importing and paying toxic “budget experts” from the Lower 48 to further the carnage.
Add a side of funding every goofy national lawsuit to push us back to the Stone Age. Top it all off with the abject failure to address the twin debacles of negative revenue all the while paying out a dividend for having a pulse.
Should this “raise” prevail, it will rapidly fade into the woodwork and become an entitlement alongside the one that hasn’t been addressed. Pay never has and never will equal governance quality; you can’t buy it at any price.
The best work is done for nothing; it’s called community service.
Rather than a raise, I’d issue pink slips to the lot on Day 122 of the session.
— Jeffry Schmitz
Anchorage
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