Alaska could have netted $2B more
By MIMI ROSENN
Letter to the editor, Anchorage Daily News
Is an honest politician worth nine bucks? Thats what the state would spend for each Alaskan if the Clean Elections Initiative passes and every candidate for state office chose to participate. Please note that the State of Alaska spent about $22,000 per resident in its most recent budget. So, other things being equal, next year it will spend about $22,009 on your behalf if Clean Elections becomes law.
So what do you get for your nine bucks? Politicians who feel beholden to the interests of the people who voted them into office rather than the interests of the big money bags who financed their campaigns.
How does that translate into dollars? Its pretty obvious the state maintained an oil tax rate of 22.5 percent only because of the support of corrupt politicians who were beholden to VECO and other oil interests. If it had raised that rate to the current 25 percent just one year earlier, the state coffers would have netted as much as $2 billion more. (No thats not a typo. I said billion.) That works out to over $3,000 per resident, which is not a bad return on your $9 investment. It would also be enough to finance clean elections for the next two centuries.
Please note that the Clean Elections is a bipartisan initiative supported by numerous thoughtful people from both parties as well as independents. Whether or not an elected official is honest is a lot more important than whether she/he is a Republican or a Democrat.
Vote yes on ballot initiative No. 3. You cant afford not to.