Concerning beer and wine stores in Bethel,
On Tuesday October 4th our local election will include Proposition 2. This will decide if we allow or don’t allow beer and wine stores to operate in Bethel. This will be the 3rd vote concerning alcohol sales in recent years. In 2018 an effort to close the liquor stores failed by approximately 40 votes, in 2019, after seeing another year of the ill effects it was having in Bethel and local villages, the liquor store was closed by a margin of 400 votes. I think a lot of people were personally affected and saw that it’s not how they want to live, not how they want their community to be. That’s where I’m at.
The burden on the system and the burden on families and people is a lot. It’s a quality of life issue and a public health issue and a public safety issue. It’s all the issues. Ordering spirits from Anchorage is a small inconvenience.
I’ve lived here with my family for 40 plus years, love my community and the region. I urge you to go to the polls and vote Tuesday October 4th. Encourage your family and friends to vote. Help create the kind of place you want to live in. Vote “NO” on Proposition 2.
Ron Kaiser
Bethel, AK
I believe in unity for our region
My name is Steven M. Alexie, I am 44 years old and originally from Akiachak, AK. Akiachak was the first village in the State of Alaska to dissolve its city status in favor of a tribal government. And I grew up only knowing one form of government. I now reside at Napaskiak with my family of 6.
I am running for RTG president because I believe in unity for our region. Tribes are very important aspects of this regional tribal government. Without you tribes there would not be any form of organizations such as AVCP, AVCP HOUSING or YKHC. It is because of you 56 tribes they exist, and not even a hint of your sovereign inherent right was diminished. In fact, they were empowered. With one exception, they are now with limitations as they are state chartered organizations with specified limitations to that charter.
My job history is very broad and aboard which I believe qualifies me in my abilities to lead and build a team that will enable and empower our region as one. Every government has 3 branches of government: legislative branch, judicial branch, and executive branch. Without those three, balance of power can and will be diminished.
As president of RTG I will be sure to enable each branch of government is utilized to its fullest extent possible.
I thank you for your vote and confidence in me.
Steven Alexie
Napaskiak, AK
Our Plan for Better Schools and a Better Economy
Students deserve the best teachers to succeed, for themselves, and so Alaska can have a strong economy. Our plan to restore education as a top priority again is based on my long record of listening, and supporting strong education solutions. I’m proud of a record of pushing the legislation our education leaders and our law enforcement officials say we need, especially in smaller communities.
We could have avoided today’s education crisis of lost teachers, decreased language, arts, music and other courses. All communities, small and large, deserve the ability to attract the best educators possible. Jessica Cook, an education leader and educator, will be a crucial asset in helping us restore Alaska’s schools.
Here’s your choice. Governor Dunleavy started his governorship by pushing to cut school support by a state-record $280,000,000. That would have been education Armageddon, and cost us the layoff of almost 3,000 teachers, educators, counsellors, aides and support staff. It would have cost students the opportunity they deserve to reach their potential. It would have cost our economy the well-educated workforce we deserve of those who graduate, and make it through quality voc. ed. And college.
Then he tried to cut the modest, but multi-year 1.5% increase in school support I helped spearhead in 2018. That was a result of House passage of a bill I wrote and carried, House Bill 339. House passage of that bill led to a compromise with a Republican-led Senate. We agreed to the last multi-year increase in education support in state history.
Governor Dunleavy went to court to block those needed school funds.
We need leaders who care about our children’s futures.
Here’s our plan for restoring Alaska’s schools to what they once were, among the best in the nation. I don’t have to reach for a plan. It includes bills I’ve filed, written, fought for, that educators pushed for and are pushing for today. I can say I’m the only candidate who’s pushed these needed reforms while in office, not for the first time on the 2022 campaign trail.
With leadership from a Governor, these reforms will pass.
Today education support has fallen over $100 million behind inflation. Schools are cutting arts and language courses, and class sizes are too large in most schools. Schools are having a hard time convincing needed teachers to come or stay here, when they can get better pay and better benefits in the Lower 48. We get teachers (and police) as tourists now. Too many come for a few years, as we pay to train them, and then who leave for a state where they get paid what they deserve, and get a retirement pension which Alaska no longer offers.
We also need to help more Alaskans to become teachers, including in smaller and rural communities where local knowledge and roots are crucial.
In 2004, I saw what educators, parents and school officials saw. A decade of lagging school support. So, I proposed House Bill 477 which required school support to be adjusted for the cost of inflation every year. Schools shouldn’t have to find new ways to cut every year.
I field bills like this, and House Bill 331 in 2014 to make up for past losses to inflation, because I believe students deserve the best opportunity to succeed possible, and cutting teachers isn’t the way to educate students.
IN contrast, Mike Dunleavy, when he was Senator, often voted for $50 million education cuts. They’d pass these cuts in the Senate. I and my allies in the House wouldn’t agree to pass a budget until the cuts were dropped.
Alaska also made a colossal mistake in 2005, becoming the only state to not offer what every other state offers – a modest retirement pension to police, teachers, firefighters, and other public servants. That made us a non-competitive place for teachers, police and other public servants.
I voted against ending pensions. I’m the only candidate who, when in office, sponsored legislation to return to a modest, needed pension so we could attract and retain teachers, police, firefighters, Troopers and needed public servants again.
School superintendents, and the Chief of Police in Kenai, have told me they can’t attract the best teachers, or the best police, or retain them. Sure, we get some amazing professionals who stay in Alaska only because they love this state. But the others leave.
Our students deserve better. Jess and I will give students the opportunity they deserve.
Les Gara is a former legislator and Asst. Attorney General on the civil prosecution of Exxon after the Exon Valdez Oil Spill. He lives in Anchorage.
Jessica Cook is a public school teacher, former Vice President of both Alaska’s and Anchorage’s education associations, and lives in Palmer.
