A letter appeared in my local paper accusing U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, of not being Republican enough. Clearly, the writer doesn’t realize that our senators, once elected, are charged with representing the best interests of all 711,000 Alaskans regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, cultural identity, religious beliefs, political affiliation, voting record or economic ability to donate to the senator’s campaign. Once elected, every Alaskan has an equal investment and voice in directing our congressional delegation relative to what we believe serves our best interests.
The Alaska Division of Elections website revealed 538,560 registered voters. I was shocked to discover that only 27 percent are registered Republicans. Yes, 73 percent or almost three-quarters of Alaskans are not formally signed on to the Republican agenda. Many Alaskans vote for the individual we believe will best represent the interests of all Alaskans. As citizens we, the 73 percent, need to take back our power. Murkowski and U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, have endorsed Steven Mnuchin, as Secretary of the Treasury. He was part of the Wall Street run up to the 2008 crash, then made millions foreclosing on people set up by greedy lenders. They endorsed Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. As a major Putin pal and former CEO of Exxon, he wants to help Exxon drill in the Russian arctic. Alaska doesn’t need Russian oil to further drive down the price, or an arctic drilling disaster due to non-existent environmental safeguards. They endorsed Betsy DeVos, as Secretary of Education who has no use for public education, but she and her family have donated $200,000,000 to Republicans. They endorsed Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, an insider in the Trump campaign who refused to recuse himself from investigations into the Trump campaign. They endorsed Tom Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services, who doesn’t believe in any publicly funded health care, but as a congressman made hundreds of thousands of dollars buying medical stocks, then introducing legislation that increased stock prices and his bank account. Most recently Scott Pruitt, a man whose career mission, financed by big oil, is to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency.
If you believe that our national economy needs to be protected from self-serving Wall Street greed and our citizens continue to need protection from unscrupulous lenders and credit abuse, then Murkowski and Sullivan did not represent you.
If you believe that the Secretary of State should not have an incestuous financial and personal relationship with Vladimir Putin, and that removing sanctions so that Exxon can drill in Russia will hurt Alaska, then Murkowski and Sullivan did not represent you.
If you believe that a free and appropriate public education is important for every child in Alaska, then Murkowski and Sullivan did not represent you.
If you believe that the person charged with upholding and enforcing the laws of the United States should have a clear public record of supporting the rights of all citizens and not just those who are white, male, Republican, conservative Christian ideologues or Donald Trump, then Murkowski and Sullivan did not represent you.
If you believe that the person charged with improving health care for all Americans should believe that health care should be available to all, not just those with sufficient economic resources to buy the products that are making him richer, then Murkowski and Sullivan did not represent you.
If you believe that the climate in Alaska is changing; if you believe that the ocean is warming and this is impacting marine life, fisheries and food chains; if you support the robust collection and exchange of scientific data in order to make informed decisions; if you support clean air and clean water, clean resource extraction and the requirements that polluters pay for cleanup of their own toxic messes, then Murkowski and Sullivan did not represent you.
Currently, the Koch brothers are running a political ad in Alaska endorsing Neil Gorsuchfor the Supreme Court. If Neil Gorsuch will be good for Koch Industries, he will bad for the rights of individuals, the right to bargain collectively, women’s rights, minority rights, issues of sexual orientation, appropriate education for all students, advancement and free exchange of scientific data, and protecting the environment. He will help every corporation maintain or increase its bottom line. He has a judicial record to prove it.
It is time the majority of Alaskans start insisting that our senators and congressman start representing us. The Republicans might be the majority in Congress but they are not the majority in Alaska. We need to all be paying attention. All of our lives, our children’s lives, the ability of our scientific community to make sound advisory decisions and recommendations, and our own state’s ability to protect our environment, and its economic future are all less secure than they were a month ago, and our senators could have stopped it. Call, text or email our representatives frequently to tell them to stop the billionaire/corporate pillaging and dismantling of the public agencies that were put in place to protect the public from the corporate excesses of greed and corruption. They have behaved like Mitch McConnell’s toadies.
We have clear evidence that they don’t have the courage to stand up for what is best for their constituents. Now, it is clear that even when they are home, they don’t have the courage to face their constituents. We need to insist that Murkowski, Sullivan and Young come home for town meetings in at least five communities on a very regular and predictable basis so that we can let them know what we think is important, because either they don’t know, or they don’t care. For years they have acted like flying home to Alaska was some kind of arduous journey. It is not that they don’t have the time.
Get on a jet and come home. We want to talk to you.
• Deedie Sorensen is a retired elementary school teacher. She has lived in Juneau since 1981.
