Valley times, they are complacent

To the editor:

While attending this weekend’s town hall meeting with the current delegation for the state, I was underwhelmed by the current proponents of Senate Joint Resolution 9 and House Bill 1.

While members of our Mat-Su community arrived, settled and observed, I couldn’t help but realize how intensely focused the constituents were. A very distinct difference of perspective between the panel of delegates and the room was evident. While it is obvious these bills are a numbers game, what is not being said aloud is the fact these bills are simply a transfer of wealth — transferring our public education dollars into private corporations’ hands. It’s as simple as that; nothing more, nothing less.

Nobody is saying aloud that families will not be getting an actual check from the state every year to direct the funding dollars of their child. Come to find out, there are many families mistakenly led on that this may be the case. Why? Because the details of administering these constitutional amendments have not been fleshed out, that’s why. Nobody can answer what these changes will look like, and it will probably be the school districts that will administer the changes. What an outrageous insult!

This combined with the fact Alaskans have already been fleeced to the tune of billions of dollars during the past decades’ worth of TAPS diversification, Point Mackenzie bridge “research and development,” the Port of Anchorage “expansion” projects and the Alaska Railroad’s expansion and build initiatives, in addition to the oil tax giveaway. To say there is a profound sense of legislative disconnect between constituents and lawmakers is a shameful understatement.

It really is like Shannon Moore’s reference to “Alaska as an oil colony.” There seems to be a sense that no weight the constituents can place upon this body of government to create Alaska laws for Alaska issues is feasible. We are in an era of prewritten legislative bill submission and see-how-it-goes lawmaking. So far, Alaskans have lost, and it is coming to a point where Alaskans stand to lose everything.

During all of this time, very Alaskan issues have been marginalized. Issues like sovereignty and subsistence, renewable resources and preservation of heritage. Our cultural and resource conservation values are the issues that would blend a prosperous Alaska future. Considering the vast resources of the Native corporations and their very real economic impact for the state, it is unconscionable to dismiss the Alaskan Federation of Natives initiatives and Alaskan Native values.

Yet, with the daily dissent of the current legislation from the constituents needs, the very real fact that this government legislates at the people, not for or with the people, settles in. The limited media coverage of the meetings to discuss the largest current issues, such as Pebble Mine, Susitna-Wantana or a coal mine in the Mat-Su reign. The community divide seems to be the sign of the times these days, at least that’s what it felt like at the town hall meeting on Saturday morning.

It is a real shame. We need lawmakers who make communities within the Mat-Su feel inclusive, not divided and conflicted. Sigh, I remember a day when …

Mikse Willoya-Marx

Mat-Su constituent