16 August 2016

Primary Election Day, Alaska

Our primary election voting began at 7 a.m., and will continue until 8 p.m. The ballot isn't very exciting, for most of us.

There's U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (RINO-AK) who's up for reelection, as is our lone Representative, Congressman Don Young. Then there's the State Senate and House races, most of which are almost as exciting as televised grass-growing.

Almost.

There is an 800-pound gorilla in the room, though. Since Alaska is an oil-producing State, and the price of crude is somewhat below the $105/barrel level upon which the budget was based. Last time I looked, it was somewhere around $45 per barrel. We're broke, and the Governor wants to take the earnings, as well as instituting an income tax, to balance the budget.

The hue and cry from Juneau is "We can't cut enough to balance the budget. We need more money." But no one else is buying it. But all of my local reps are against both measures, so it's tough to decide which horse to bet on (so to speak).


Sidebar note: Alaska's ballots are divided. You can request a Republican ballot, showing only those candidates willing to put an "R" after their names, or the other one, which shows everyone else. Dems, Libertarians, and whatever else. We've got 'em all: Veterans Party, Constitution Party, Independence Party ... the list goes on.

If you want to vote for one Republican and one Libertarian, as I do ... you cannot. I'm still marveling that no one has ever sued the Division of Elections and/or the Lt. Governor over that.

There is one truly critical decision to be made, today. The village of Kivalina, on our northwest coast, some 600 miles from here, is voting on relocation. Kivalina is located on a barrier island, and is in danger of being literally washed away. They voted in 2002 to relocate, but haven't had the money.

Now it's a question of survival, and they must decide. There's no "if", anymore.

4 comments:

Chickenmom said...

I hope the election goes the way you want it to. Looked up that town on Google Earth. It's in no man's land.

Rev. Paul said...

It's a ways out there, all right.

Guffaw in AZ said...

I have two questions:

Your State was doing so well. (Money back to citizens and no income tax, for example)

1. What happened? Were they just relying on one thing (oil) to make your books balance?

2. Qui Bono? (Who benefits - from the current mess being resolved with an income tax?)

(I know, I'm a rabble rouser...)

gfa

Rev. Paul said...

1. Yes, the Legislature spent the proceeds from tax revenue like there was no tomorrow, and based future budgets on the price of oil remaining sky-high. When prices dropped to 40% of what they had been, the demand for us to surrender our savings account interest, and an income tax, were practically the first things the politicians said. Right after announcing that we can't possibly cut the size of government, so pay up.

2. The politicians and their creation, the sprawling bureaucracy, of course.