Walker’s raid

Governor Walker’s Fiscal Plan was rejected by Legislators and the people of Alaska. The Legislature’s 2017 balanced and funded Fiscal Plan was passed 83 percent by Democrats, Independents and Republicans. Legislators didn’t institute income taxes, cut your dividend or undermine the economy of Alaska.

Walker’s vetoes would kill the Bush and unnecessarily dent the whole retail Alaskan economy. Economies are 70 percent consumer-driven. Walker would raid your dividend, taking hundreds of millions of cash out of regional economies.

The oil sector in Alaska is in recession. With the price of oil back to $50, further job cuts may not be required. Production (which leveled in volume in 2015) can grow with new fields and greater efficiency. Engineering friends tell me that the support industry and operators are on “breakeven”. Nobody’s profiting. Most are getting through.

The Governor’s veto of credits for oil explorers makes matters worse. The tax credit due doesn’t disappear. Incentives in Kenai prove that the private sector can increase production. Legislators worked on increasing production rather than carving up the cadaver. Good job.

Under the Legislature’s 2017 Fiscal Plan, let’s bring oil production up two hundred thousand barrels per day. State government should stop threatening to stop production. Instead, help increase production. Every business owner knows that its future depends upon today’s and tomorrow’s investment. Economic rules don’t change. Only players.

Surely, there’s more to cut in Alaska’s bloated budget. Compare Alaska Housing to the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. Both have $2.8 billion in mortgages. Washington serves a population of 7.5 million people, Alaska 737,000. WSHFC has a net worth of $194 million while AHFC has $1.498 BILLION. Consolidate Alaska’s bloated agencies. Recapture $5.3 billion.

One program that has worked is the Alaska Permanent Fund and its earnings distribution. That dividend is not the Governor’s money. Governor Jay Hammond created a way to save 25% of oil income and turn it into a perennial investment producer for all Alaskans through the people’s dividend. The dividend protects the Fund so our conservative investment policies bring direct benefits to every Alaskan, man, woman and child. As my Grandfather, Sunrise Sheriff Pop Crawford (circa 1910) used to say, “Don’t fix what’s not broken”.

“Reforming” the dividend so that it is not coming from earnings would remove the people’s protection from the Fund. A dividend disconnected from earnings would be permanent no longer. The state doesn’t need your dividend to balance the budget.

Who can protect the Permanent Fund and dividend from Walker’s raid? The people of Alaska.

How?

1. Demand protection of the dividend, as it is now calculated, through a vote on a Constitutional Amendment at a Special Election.

2. Ask lawyers to review the opinions of Attorneys General who claim that the dividend is reserved constitutionally as is the corpus of the Fund and not subject to appropriations.

3. Defend the Legislature’s 2017 Fiscal Plan. It’s not perfect but Legislators listened and voted for their constituents.

What should the Legislature do when it convenes Walker’s Third Special Session?

Sign in.

Dump the vetoes.

Declare victory, go home.

By doing so, Legislators will protect the people’s Fiscal Plan for 2017. Constituents will thank them for their courage. 83% of Legislators showed they understood the will of the people by passing the funded and balanced Fiscal Plan for 2017. It only takes 75% to override the Governor’s vetoes. Insist your own Legislator not waiver on stopping Walker’s Raid. That’s the lesson Governor Walker has yet to learn. Alaskans have rejected his Permanent Fund Raid, which confiscates our dividends.

In our representational democracy, Alaskan people speak through their Legislature. The Governor needs to hear us. What part of no does he not understand? Voters, not the Governor, must approve any change in the Permanent Fund and our dividend. He is not our sovereign, not our King. The Governor can only earn the people’s trust by abiding by the will of Alaskans. Govern with the consent of the governed. That’s what makes our American and Alaskan governments unique.

Jim Crawford is a lifelong Alaskan who resides in Anchorage. He formerly lived in Fairbanks, Tok and Valdez. He is a conservative economic observer and a practicing real estate broker in Anchorage. Governor Hammond appointed Crawford to the Alaska Investment Advisory Council which formed the legal and investment strategy for the Alaska Permanent Fund. The Crawford family has been working and investing in Alaska since 1898.