Yes on BM2
Dear Editor: Alaskans are voting this fall on Ballot Measure 2 (BM2), an initiative to end dark money influence in our elections, open the primaries to all eligible voters, and institute Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in our state legislative, gubernatorial, and statewide congressional races. These three changes to our election process have the potential to fix our flawed elections. BM2 is about putting the power back into the hands of the voters.
How are our elections flawed? They’ve become all about how much money your candidate has. Dark money has created an unlevel, untransparent playing field and taken control away from the voters. Closed primaries have all but guaranteed a two-party system. This forces voters to choose one primary to be part of, even if they vote for both parties on election day. This limits choice on the ballot. Independent candidates can be on the ballot but this can split the vote. This has a dampening effect on people running for office and can force voters to choose “the lesser of two evils.”
Ending dark money influence is straightforward so we’ll move onto the other two issues that need a solution. The simplest description for RCV is that this works like an instant runoff. This would allow for more than two parties to run for office, even from the same party, without worrying about splitting votes. You can mark your favorite candidate first and the one you could live with as your second and so on. Whoever has greater than 50% of the votes wins.
Our current primary process forces a voter to pick only one primary to be involved in even if the voter plans to vote for both parties during the election. This takes away the power of the voter and gives it to the parties. By limiting who can participate in the primary it allows the parties to move forward candidates that are not representative of a majority of the voters. If you look at the current system it explains why we have such a political divide in our country. We have by design a two-party system and a primary process that can pick far left or far right candidates leaving us with candidates who don’t match our views.
By combining the primaries into one, all voters can participate, and with RCV if there is not an outright majority, there will more likely be a candidate in the middle reaching majority, thus creating a compromise. A wise leader at the end of a contentious meeting said he knew they had done well because no one was going home happy.
If BM2 passes, the open primary and the RCV provisions would not allow a fringe candidate, who had no hope of achieving office, to tip an election, but it would still allow voters who feel passionately about a candidate to use the vote to express themselves and perhaps reach a compromise everyone can live with.
Henry Robinson, Mim McConnell,
Sitka
Elaine Strelow
Dear Editor: On this Alaska Day, I would like to express my appreciation for Elaine Strelow, and her dedicated service to this community. I wish and pray for her a smooth recovery and blessed time with her family. I would also like to express gratitude for the decades of service of all the individuals who serve on, have served and/or have contributed to the Alaska Day Committee and Alaska Day events.
I encourage the efforts of all working together to continue to recognize and commemorate Sitka’s significant place in Alaska’s history, and Sheet’ka’s unique place on this earth, since time immemorial and ever transitioning into the future.
Atlein Gunalcheesh, in peace,
Gail Johansen Peterson Kooseen, Sitka
Letters to Trump
Dear Editor: As a public service activity Phineas and William Edwards chose to write postcards to President Trump asking that he start wearing a mask in public. They asked that we copy their postcards to Letters to the Editor at the Sitka Sentinel.
Brent and Valerie Edwards
(parents to Phin & Wim)
Dear President Trump: I am eight years old, and I think it is kind of weird that you don’t wear a mask. You thought COVID would just go away. But it is getting worse! Until we get a vaccine, you should just wear a mask. Sincerely,
William Edwards, age 8, Sitka
Dear President Donald J. Trump: I hope you know the importance of wearing a mask in public, and you start to wear one. I’m 10 years old and I don’t like wearing a mask, but I realize that it is necessary to keep everyone safe. I hope you do too. I also do not like wearing surgical masks but I think sporty neck gaiters are OK, and if you think surgical masks are uncomfortable you should consider a neck gaiter as well, but whatever you choose please cover your face. Sincerely,
Phineas J Edwards, age 10, Sitka
Donations to Needy
Dear Editor: As autumn reminds us of the colder weather ahead, the Sitka Homeless Coalition is pleased to be able to continue to offer access to hot showers and laundry services for needy Sitkans. Recently we have received helpful donations of items from Sitka Food Coop, the White Elephant, Cameo and Brook at equinoxalaska.com, and an anonymous Sitkan. Subway continues their rock steady support in the form of hot coffee. We are grateful for every one of these gestures.
Dorothy Orbison for
Sitka Homeless Coalition
Vote for Al Gross
Dear Editor: I appreciate the recent letters by Mike Mayo. He is right on, about Al Gross being an Alaskan success story. Not only did he fish to pay for his education but all four of his children have done the same. My son-in-law paid for his education by fishing as well. Let me tell you, that you may take the man out of fishing, but you never take fishing out of the man. But more importantly we need to look at what Al is up against.
Over the last three years I have written Sullivan many times and most of the time I got no reply and the replies I got were from the Trump playbook. He is supposed to be for veterans but where was his voice when Russia was putting contracts on our troops in Afghanistan or Trump was calling our veterans suckers and losers, or our veterans were/are dying like flies in veteran homes from COVID and they were killing them with Trump’s latest drug investment? His voice was silent, but why?
I love investigative journalism. I swear it is what is going to save us. Salon just came out with a telling article where they researched Sullivan’s Senate votes and connected them to his family investments. I quote, “The Republican incumbent’s committee appointments and voting record reviewed by Salon appear to show links to another industrial interest with a record of environmental negligence: Republic Powdered Metals International (RPM), a sealant and coating manufacturer founded by his grandfather in 1947. Sullivan’s older brother, Frank, is the current CEO.” It turns out RPM is having to pay millions in lawsuits because they continue to violate environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. Sullivan has had key votes that weaken those laws and regulations including the EPA administration to benefit his family business that he is heavily invested in.
So he is not about helping Alaskans at all. He is not an Alaskan. He is a corrupt politician from Ohio who used Alaska to get his foot in the door to pull his weight in his family’s unethical environmental toxic practices while they get richer. I have had my fill of corrupt politicians. It is time to clean house in the Senate. I will trust a fisherman with my vote! Check this article out, just Google: Salon Alaska GOP senator routinely voted for policies that benefited family’s chemical company or here is the link for the article: https://www.salon.com/2020/10/17/alaska-gop-senator-routinely-voted-for-policies-that-benefited-familys-chemical-company/
Gunalcheesh to the Sitka Sentinel for printing this and letting investigating journalism have a voice,
Patty Dick, Sitka
Vote for Democracy
Dear Editor: The stakes couldn’t be higher in this election. Please make a plan to vote. For registered Sitka voters there are three ways to vote:
1. Vote early in person Oct. 19-Nov. 2 at Centennial Hall, Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bring a valid ID and wear a mask.
2. Vote by mail www.absenteeballotapplication.alaska.gov. Apply for an absentee ballot no later than Oct. 24. Follow all the instructions! You must put your marked ballot in the inner sleeve then place that in the outer envelope.
Sign the outer envelope before sealing. A witness signature is not needed. You must put a 0.55 cent stamp (forever stamp) on the envelope. Sitka mail is sent to Anchorage for postmarking so if you are mailing your ballot close to Nov. 3 take it to the Sitka post office counter and have them hand stamp it here. Ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday, Nov. 3, to count. You can track your ballot here: https://myvoterinformation.alaska.
3. Vote in person on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls are open at Harrigan Centennial Hall from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Bring a valid ID (voter ID card; driver’s license; state ID card; military ID card; passport; hunting or fishing license; or other current or valid photo ID.) You may also present one of the following forms of ID if it includes your name and current address: current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check or other government issued document. If you do not have a valid ID you can vote a questioned ballot. If you have ordered an absentee ballot but decide you want to vote in person (either early or on election day) you can do so. Just destroy the mail-in ballot you received. Please wear a mask and follow social distancing to protect poll workers and other voters.
I will be voting for democracy, which to me means: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for president and vice president; Dr. Al Gross for Senate; Alyse Galvin for U.S. Representative; Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins for State Representative; yes on Judges Carney and Wollenberg; yes on Ballot Measure 1; yes on Ballot Measure 2.
The future is ours if we vote!
Tory O’Connell Curran, Sitka
Racial Equity Series
Dear Editor: Thanks to everyone who attended and supported the Racial Equity and Justice in Southeast Alaska online speakers’ series that ran Sept. 10-24. The series was sponsored by the Complete to Compete (Title III grant) at the University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus with support from the Sitka Tribe of Alaska Social Services Department, SEARHC, Sitkans Against Family Violence, the Sitka STEPS grant, and the Sitka Health Summit and Pathways Coalitions.
You can watch all five of the presentation by going to: https://tinyurl.com/justicevision. All the keynote addresses and workshops were outstanding. Tim Wise highlighted how important it is to critically examine our history, to see themes, and to understand how the past connects to the present.
Dr. Amer Ahmed’s lunch and learn reminded us that access without support is not really inclusion and leadership is about listening, patience, having a tolerance for ambiguity, and applying the platinum rule.
Hugh Vasquez began and ended by highlighting his core belief that our fates are linked, we are each other’s keepers, and all humans are covered in the statement “all my relations.”
Megan Red Shirt Shaw’s heartfelt keynote highlighted four acts of revolution for Indigenous People: care of self, community, environment, and culture.
Dionne Brady Howard delivered a beautiful keynote that helped us understand how these issues play out in our own community. It was powerful to hear her story about “growing up brown in our little town.” She highlighted the need to work together and mentioned that in the last few years white allies have emerged in Sitka, which connects with the series theme Haa Tuwunáagu Yís, Wooch.een (for Healing Our Spirit, Together). We hope that this trend continues and that more white people will commit and do the internal and external work of an aspiring ally. Systems of oppression, that are sometimes hundreds of years in the making, are not going to be dismantled without a big and sustained effort that includes people of all races. We need you!
Pandemics have forced humans to break with the past. Instead of returning to normal, we have an opportunity to create a new normal especially as it relates to long standing issues of racism, white supremacy, and inequality. Our challenge is to collectively create a kind, just, and inclusive community where all living beings are seen, valued, and respected. This will not be easy or quick but it’s what must be done because like Hugh Vasquez said, “we are in this together.”
Leah Mason, Barb Morse,
Paul Kraft, Math Trafton,
John Ingman, Crystal Duncan,
Lakota Harden, Doug Osborne, Melonie Boord, Lakrisha Brady, Kari Sagel, Mandy Evans,
Julia Smith, Emma Thompson,
Tina Bachmeier, Sitka
