A sign has appeared in the middle of Big Lake with a red arrow pointing to my campaign sign.
This sign reads “PFD THIEF” and includes a disclaimer stating: “Paid for by Mike Alexander,” with his address. I know Alexander as a member of “Save The PFD,” a group based in Big Lake and led by Mike Widney. Both gentlemen have been politically active on Permanent Fund dividend issues in the past and usually provide invaluable PFD support and comments.
Both, however, have been mostly silent for the past two years. Mike’s sign is clearly a statement of their displeasure with my votes for budgets that included less than a full PFD. As single-issue advocates, they view any legislator who votes for a budget without a full PFD as a “thief.”
But is a vote for a budget that does not have a full PFD a vote against a full dividend? Perhaps if it were the only thing in the budget that would be true.
The Alaska operating budget includes hundreds of line items that most Alaskans say they want. A sizable part of the budget has programmed funding that is automatic and committed before any broader budget discussions begin. This includes items like state worker pay, operating costs such as Medicaid and school funding, matching money for federal highway dollars, and funding for major school maintenance and pupil transportation, among others.