Readers write: Letters to the editor, May 3, 2016

I am glad that Sen. Murkowski could take time out from her job of not doing her advise and consent on the nomination of a Supreme Court replacement to worry about an island full of feral cattle. Speaking about feral, how about the tea party caucus in Washington, D.C., whose sole purpose is to impose a halt on anything President Obama wants. She says we shouldn’t spend any money on the cattle. I understand that, but we spend billions on things like that stinker of an aircraft called the F-35.

I guess it’s all about priorities. Corporations have first dibs on our tax dollars.

— Jay Cross

Big Lake

Representative democracy exists because the people represented all have lives to live and jobs to work. It’s not possible for us all to meet somewhere and decide issues. Which is why we elect people to go in our stead and, in theory at least, do our will. (Although the will of the people seems to be the last concern of the Alaska Legislature. They seem to legislate at the will of their donors and party.)

With proliferation of technology, we’re at a point where we can all be part of a decision process. If people can vote for their favorite “American Idol” contestant, we should be able to use similar technology to have input in government.

Plainly, there would need to be a screening process, where participants would demonstrate some knowledge of civics and an understanding of the issue at hand.

Since the Legislature has seen fit to de-fund UA, to the point of threatening its existence, I invite the UA political science department to return the favor: Using existing technology, please devise a means where the people (properly screened for knowledge and understanding of issues) have direct input on legislation. Where we can vote amendments up or down. Where we can vote final passage of legislation.

Legislators all show up in the House and Senate chambers because we can’t. Well, now we can (virtually). And we could hardly do any worse than they do.

— Peter Blanas

Anchorage

A thought regarding the oil company tax credits: I think it would be a good idea to link these tax credits to the number of jobs the oil companies keep in Alaska. This would soften the blow that will be caused by thousands of layoffs. Businesses that serve these workers and their families would benefit and more jobs would be saved. Communities benefit from local businesses that continue to thrive. We all would benefit.

— Beverly Bradley

Anchorage

Wake up, folks, we have a chance to do two things that need to be done to save the state a lot of money. One, we buy a building in Anchorage and move the Legislature there. This will save operating costs in per-diem and general operations. Put the capital where the people can go directly and face-to-face speak to their Legislature without costing an arm and leg to fly to Juneau. Besides, we voted twice to move it.

Let us not mess this up. Besides, the Capitol building is ugly.

And that, folks, comes from someone who’s been here since 1951.

— John Vandike

Eagle River

In a recent paper, it’s reported the oil companies are laying off more people. Perhaps the real solution to the LIO/OIL building would be to move the Legislature to the soon-to-be-empty offices at the ConocoPhillips Building; then they would be closer to their real bosses (sarcasm font).

And as a serious note to the Legislature: Do something, right or wrong. It can be fine-tuned later. As Ben Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”

— Charles Bingham

Apparently Sen. Murkowski and her staff have never read about the Kaibab deer herd or, in her own state, the St. Matthew Island reindeer herd, a classic ecological case study. These populations in the absence of predators or removal increased in numbers until they basically ate up all their food and the majority died off. Sen. Murkowski must prefer animals starving and the ecology of two islands destroyed rather than removing the cattle.

Oh, that’s right, she is a lawyer and not a biologist. I think that this is a disgusting move on Sen. Murkowski’s part.

— Thom Eley

Anchorage

Here we go again. With oil prices remaining stagnant for the last six months, somehow the local fuel distributors have found a way to gradually increase gasoline prices at the pump. If you hadn’t noticed in the last three weeks, unleaded gasoline has increased almost 20 cents a gallon and North Slope oil has not changed. How often do we see gas prices go up quickly when crude changes and stall on the way down? Every year we see the same pattern — as spring and summer driving season starts we can expect higher fuel costs.

Thank you for letting us help improve your bottom line, oil companies.

— David M. Schauer

Anchorage

On Jan. 8, 2011, my opinions of guns were altered forever. On that day, a friend of mine was brutally shot while serving her community. Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and I attended undergraduate college together. To watch what she has gone through has been terrible. The last time I saw her was in July 2013 during her visit to Alaska. While she is the same Gabby, her life is a struggle, and I know that the struggle will always be with her …

I think that when a culture supports guns, it leads to more events like the one that changed Gabby’s life forever.

Since I feel so strongly about guns, I find myself in a difficult position. I have been working to raise support for UAA for over 3.5 years, and until now I have been able to say confidently, “Yes, UAA is my university. I want my daughter to attend UAA.” However, because of these proposed changes, I have my first reservations about encouraging the people I love to attend UAA.

If you feel the same way, please contact your representative.

— Roberta B. Rinehart

Anchorage

Is anyone at all shocked that it’s Republicans who are suing the Alaska Public Offices Commission to do away with limits to campaign donations? The party that pretends that voter ID laws are about preventing voter fraud, and that ruthlessly partisan gerrymandering is not about excluding non-GOP voters, is now asking us to believe that money doesn’t buy political favors. Really? Everyone on Earth knows that money readily buys political influence.

Pretending that the absence of a clearly stated agreement for a quid-pro-quo arrangement means that a large political donation won’t sway a vote or influence a state contract (or lease) sets the bar ridiculously low. And let’s think about what they’re really saying: It’s not the absence of an agreement to sell a vote for a donation that establishes innocence, but rather the absence of proof of such an agreement, and that willfully ignores how much can be communicated and agreed upon between two people without leaving any record of it whatsoever. Legally establishing that the lack of a documented tit-for-tat agreement is automatically the same thing as honesty ignores history and doesn’t serve the public interest one iota. It’s far better to continue to proactively limit the amount of money that an individual can give to a politician, because it at least keeps the playing field as level as possible.

Maybe it’s telling that the Republican litigants have to reach all the way back to Bob Bell for an anecdote about an honest politician. But don’t we all also remember the Corrupt Bastards Club, who overtly sold their votes to big oil? I think most people who really pay attention to politics wouldn’t agree at all with the premise that cash limits and independent oversight are unnecessary because absolute integrity is the automatic default setting for every politician. I hope that the court doesn’t accept this ridiculous premise, either.

— Kenneth Higgins

Anchorage

Signs of spring are everywhere. Don’t you just love it! New leaves, migrating birds, and lots of folks out on the bike trails enjoying the nice weather.

One sign of spring I’m not so excited about is the blatant homeless camps set up within sight of the Chester Creek bike trail between Gambell Street and Valley of the Moon Park. There appears to be no attempt by the occupants to even disguise these camps: Not only are they ugly but there’s trash strewn all around and I can only imagine the health issues of human feces right next to Chester Creek. Something needs to be done.

I know Mayor Berkowitz is trying to work on the problem. One suggestion I have is to have a designated camp area — for example, the North Russian Jack campground, which is no longer used. Set up a supported safe camp area with People Mover service, a mobile health bus clinic (partially manned by WAMI students), a public service officer on duty and maintained bathroom facilities. Then we could give these folks an alternative to living along the bike trails. Meanwhile let’s get those obvious camps cleaned up so that our wonderful bike trails are again worthy of showing off to our summer visitors.

— Alice Knapp

Anchorage