An open letter to candidate Dunleavy

We have a budget deficit.

Will you (& fellow Republicans) keep hoping the price of oil will go up? Will you continue your pattern as Senator to side-step real solutions? What actual long-term solutions do you have to solve the root problem of economic booms and busts?

Do you plan to keep cutting the budget? Do you realize the Domino effect? Cuts put people out of jobs. They cannot spend at local businesses. Local businesses lay off people or close. Unemployment & crimes rise. Is this your goal?

Would you look towards taxes as a necessary way to fund essential government services, regardless of your personal popularity?

Will you keep cutting education funds—throwing our children into ever more over-crowded classrooms? Denying them educational quality that is our future?

You advocate resource extraction to solve budget shortfall. Do you mean Pebble Mine that destroys salmon habitat forever? Do you mean ANWR drilling, regardless of Indigenous concerns about caribou calving grounds?

Do you mean mass logging to profit out-of-state corporations, that leave the land barren and salmon streams destroyed from resulting erosion?

Do you care about long-term health for people and wildlife, or will you simply claim, “I created jobs for Alaska”?

Other than exploiting natural resources, what creative ideas do you have for fostering economic diversity that is sustainable, healthy, and benefits all sectors of society long-term without massive water & air pollution?

We have a health care crisis. Will you continue to vote to turn down opportunities like Medicaid, even when 90% of the funding is Federal?

Will you advocate for equal health care access regardless of pre-conditions? Will you champion Medicare for All? Would that come under your slogan, “Standing Tall for All Alaskans”?

We have a democracy crisis. Will you side with national Republican trends to gerrymander, discriminate, purge voters, divide, and ignore citizen dialogue? Will you demonize people of color, different religions and orientations, and any group whose viewpoint is different? How will you foster and listen to open public debate? Do your statements about “earn Alaskans’ trust” mean that you will welcome bi-partisan cooperation and input? How, specifically, compared to your opponent?

I watch for your specific answers. Thank you.

Ellen Vandevisse,

Palmer