Alaska Legislator’s Dividend Dilemma Exposes Political Contradictions

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Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola has come under fire for a series of actions that contradict her earlier public statements about fighting for the state’s Permanent Fund Dividends. Peltola, who drew a taxpayer salary of $77,884 as a state representative, was chronically absent from the job, missing nearly 20 percent of votes. Despite this, she found time to bill taxpayers for a Hawaii retreat before leaving office in 2009.

Peltola’s Contradictory Stance on Dividends

In 2001, Peltola justified being the state’s most expensive lawmaker because she was fighting to make sure constituents “got their Permanent Fund Dividends.” The Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) is an annual payment to state residents with the interest earned on oil revenue. Peltola told the Peninsula Clarion, “I have a very big district and I also serve a district that doesn’t have very strong municipal government, so in a lot of respects I’m doing double duty.”

However, the newspaper noted that per-diem payments to state legislators are optional. On at least two occasions after telling the local media outlet she wanted to make sure families received the payments, Peltola voted to cut the dividend payments during her time in the legislature.

From Legislator to Lobbyist

When Peltola went from legislator to lobbyist the first time, she lobbied for a bill that would have cut the payments in half. In 2016, she was a registered lobbyist for Alaska’s Future Inc., which supported a bill that passed the Alaska state Senate cutting those same payments she once said she was fighting to ensure families received.

Peltola faces Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in next month’s midterm election. Republicans hold three of the four spots on the general election ballot after Democrats manipulated the state’s primary with chicanery, which included placing a Democrat activist with the same name on the ballot as the two-term senator.

Source: Breitbart

Written by

Connor Davis