I feel compelled to write after hearing of the statewide student protest of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of the education bill that the Legislature failed to override. I came to Alaska in 1971 and grew up in Seward from the age of 16. I commercial fished in Cook Inlet when there was still a viable drift gillnet fishery. I attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks and graduated in 1979, and received tuition forgiveness after taking a professional position in the schools. I helped build the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and, in addition to my educational and commercial fishing career, have had a successful career in real estate for the last 27 years.
Alaska has been very good to me. I have always been proud of our state, our lifestyle, and what we have accomplished in the last 50-plus years I have lived here.
Our current state leadership has repeatedly demonstrated its lack of ability to put Alaska and its people on a viable track to a successful future. Education is going bankrupt, the
ferry system has become anemic, and the opportunities for young Alaskans have diminished.
What most frustrates me is that Alaska’s electorate keeps voting for the same politicians. It leaves me to believe that few are willing to pay for the services our state must have to be successful. No wonder so many working-age adults are headed south.
Come on, folks. It’s time to get off your butts and vote for change. If we don’t, our young people (and I have three young adults here in Alaska) will vote with their feet.
— Sam Daniel
Anchorage
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.