September 13, 2022
Tuesday

Former Governor Bill Walker started confiscating our statuary PFD AS 43.23.025 in 2015 with his bill SB26. The Permanent Fund Dividend formula has not been used since 2015 but remains a law under AS 43.23.025. In 2016 he vetoed half of the $2,083.00 statuary PFD to only pay $1,022.00 to each Alaskan. Bill Walker became the first governor in the history of the state to veto a portion of the annual dividend owed to Alaskans.

The Legislature learned from him that they could get away with confiscating the PFD. Some of the Legislators that voted for SB26, like Burt Stedman and Dan Ortiz, are still in office and need to be voted out. The Legislature passed a very different formula in 2018 that constitutes a conceptual change to the state's fiscal system. Before 2018, the only uses for the Permanent Fund's earnings in significant amounts were to pay Dividends from the ERA and to inflation-proof the Permanent Fund principal. The bills transferring the PFD to the POMV in 2018 removed the PFD from the ERA.

The POMV formula does not tell you what the Dividend amount will be, triggering yearly legislative battles. Now, who decides how much your PFD will be? The Finance committees in the House and Senate on which Burt Stedman as Co-Chair and Dan Ortiz as Vice Chair sit. All bills must pass the Finance committees before a vote on the floor.

Yes, I blame Bill Walker for the pain he has caused every Alaskan, Especially the low-income and elderly Alaskans who depend on their rightful PFD to pay for badly needed things like heating oil to survive the winters. Now he's coming back to finish what he started. A man whose actions cost each Alaskan more than $12,000 and counting in confiscated dividend money is running for governor again.

Bill Walker also tried to make a sweetheart deal with the communist government of China to build a gas pipeline. The joint development agreement signed by Walker and Sinopec, the Bank of China, and China Investment Corporation, would lead to a China-built Alaska gas line, a long-time dream of Bill Walker, with contracts for Sinopec. His travels and meetings in China and Alaska with China's President should tell you where his loyalties lie.

He also signed SB91 into law which passed on 4-9-2016. Bert Stedman voted for SB91, which immediately caused an explosion of crime in Alaska after it passed. Because of SB91, crime was out of control in Alaska until the Legislature repealed it in 2019.

Former Governor Bill Walker has endorsed Dan Ortiz so he can continue to vote to confiscate over 50% of your PFD.

My question to Ketchikan voters is, why would you vote for someone who has caused so much pain and has taken so much from your family? 

Susie Dotson
Ketchikan, Alaska

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Received September 08, 2022 - Published JSeptember 13, 022

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