Rep. Gattis responds to criticism on budget comments

In light of some recent comments of mine that have been taken out of context, let me take a minute and set the record straight. My focus in representing the greater Wasilla area, and as a member of the House Finance Committee, is on reducing the budget and not taxing Alaskans one dollar more than we absolutely have to, while helping those who truly need a safety net provided by government.

It’s always been my personal, fundamental belief that we need to take care of those who cannot fully take care of themselves, and that a society’s character is judged in part on how it treats those folks. That’s what government is supposed to be doing – helping people when they need it and getting out of their way when they don’t. I’ve always been adamant about taking care of those who paved the way for my generation and those to come. As a strong advocate of a small, limited government, most of my budget focus is to rid government of unnecessary tasks and costs in an effort to focus funds on our constitutional priorities, the guiding principles of our society. It is from the Constitution that Alaska’s commitment remains to caring for those who need that extra help, including the elderly.

But as Alaskans, we have only begun to have very difficult conversations about what our government is going to look like going forward. We’ve come to a point where we all are going to have to look at doing things differently. The oil revenues that have funded government for the last 40 years are largely gone, and even if the price of oil came back up, there isn’t enough oil running through TAPS to fill the hole in our budget. And therein lies the challenge – that we’ve raised a full generation, even two, who have only ever known a government that is able to pick up the tab for almost everything and could still hand each Alaskan a check at the end of the year.

That is no longer the case, and there is some culture change that needs to occur as a part of this process to fix Alaska’s finances. Alaskans must understand that there is a financial cost associated with every single service – senior benefits, education, troopers, plowing the roads, etc. - but oil isn’t picking up the bill for us anymore. One way or another it’s likely that individual

Alaskans are going to have to start paying for some of their government soon. And that is the bigger conversation being had constantly in Juneau this session, and by Alaskans around the state – what are we as Alaskans willing to pay for, who is going to pay, and what impact will these decisions have on those who would be paying and those who stand to benefit from a service? The question is, what are we as a state willing to pay for, and what are we willing to live without government doing?

As many fiscal experts have opined over the last few months, “the free ride is over” in Alaska.

Given my values and philosophies, right now I am focused on reducing government spending, and not taxing Alaskans before exhausting every other possible option first. So as we continue working to develop our resources and diversify our economy, Alaska will continue to prosper – but now more than ever we must be mindful of the spending side of government, as costs above a certain level will be born by individual Alaskans. This conversation is truly about what Alaska can afford.

Rep. Lynn Gattis is a Republican who represents Wasilla in the Alaska State House of Representatives.