Open Letter to All Representatives of the House, State of Alaska

This past week, Alaska’s House of Representatives voted to move forward a reduced budget at approximately $5.4 billion. While there is a substantial difference between our revenue income and this budget, it is clear that the House Finance committees ( HFIN ) have done diligent work to get to this number.

The real issue is to completely rethink our funding formulas to get Alaska’s budget to a level of sustainability. The old models are archaic and will not provide a legitimate path forward. We must act on two fronts:

1. To sustain and promote our diverse investment formulas in order to counter-balance any further decline in the price of oil.

2. To root out the gross inefficiencies of a government system unaccountable in it’s irresponsible spending. This is imperative. This is clearly the issues Representative Lora Reinbold stands against, which brings me to this point.

I wish to speak to all of you with clarity regarding the stance Representative Lora Reinbold took on the House floor. While she gave great credit to the diligent work that had been done in the House committees, she could not, in good conscious, vote for a budget which, in her representative opinion, is loaded with inefficiencies and questionable expenditures given the current, serious, fiscal climate.

As citizen’s we take great issue with an ” internal system” which coerces members of political groups to “delphi” their vote. This is certainly against the grain of representative democracy and especially egregious considering all of you took an oath to defend our Constitution.

It has come to our collective attention that the House leadership will be meeting in conference to take up the issue of a reprimand and disciplinary action toward Representative Reinbold. She is not the target. The target is clearly an inefficient system and financial structure which has be perpetuated for way too long.

As you step into the halls of your committee, to mitigate the perception of damage a rogue representative may cause to your cabal, I want to remind you that Alaska is filled with “rogue citizens” who have staked our tents in the valley of her thoughts and convictions. To make her a target of your disdain is to send a clear and concise message to us all, for it is not only her you are reprimanding, but the foundations of our representative democracy. Your reprimand will not only be to her, but to us all.

In conclusion, I do not write to you as the Chair of the Libertarian Party, nor do I write to you as the Chair of United for Liberty. I write to all of you as a parent who wants my daughter to enjoy the full breath of freedom and liberty which has been given to us all. The manner in which you direct the financial future of Alaska will determine whether she may return to Alaska one day beyond college and continue writing the story of my family as proud Alaskan’s.

I ask you for your maturity in our financial guidance and I ask you to embrace our Alaskan sister, Lora. She deserves nothing less.

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