Taking Back Alaska: Start with targeted cuts to bloated state bureaucracy
Alaska’s core problem is structural. Each year, billions in federal grants arrive attached to administrative strings that grow state government beyond what its own economy can sustain. Entire departments now exist primarily to manage federal
Taking Back Alaska Series: Reform without state funds even at $40/barrel oil
Alaska must develop a detailed, preemptive regulatory strategy to dismantle its own bureaucratic roadblocks - without increasing state spending—by using existing federal funding programs to unlock private-sector growth through natural resource
OPINION: Alaska Legislature’s moral collapse is a dereliction of duty
Instead of engaging deeply with the challenges facing their districts, our legislators are rubber-stamping prepackaged bills crafted by lobbyists, political action committees, national nonprofits, and public-sector unions.
Sen. Hughes weighs in on hated PFD scheme, school funding bill, Alaska’s dire fiscal reality
The following column is excepted from Sen. Shelley Hughes’ (R-Palmer) May 5 email to constituents. It addresses controversial PFD proposals, a less than ideal school funding bill, and the dire fiscal reality that the state now faces after years of
OPINION: All of Alaska shouldn’t pay for Anchorage School District’s mismanagement
The Anchorage School District (ASD) is in financial trouble, and instead of taking responsibility, they’re demanding the rest of Alaska pay for it.
OPINION: Some legislation in Juneau is like an electric toilet
Although the teachers would like this legislation, we cannot afford these extravagant giveaways. They aren’t financially possible right now without committing theft from every man, woman, and child in the
SEN. HUGHES: Alaska doesn’t need more taxes, PFD cuts or savings withdrawal to rectify budget
What about the budget the legislature is working on now for FY2026 that begins July 1? The spring forecast is $70 million less than the fall forecast. With the unsustainably high base student allocation (BSA) increase of $1000 in the House Majority’s bill,
OPINION: Spending bill would let Alaska schools reap what they did not sow
These are bad faith negotiators. At a time when Alaska finds itself starving on many levels, the education system has decided to strike while the iron is hot and take a giant bite out of the apple while the rest of us sit around and watch it being eaten. How
OPINION: Alaska needs a DOGE team to combat tax-and-spend legislators
A version of DOGE at the state level is not a crazy idea. Eleven states have already adopted the DOGE model and are looking for ways to make radical cuts to the cost of state
How Alaska’s bureaucratic special interests serve entrenched power, not public good
This vicious cycle of special interest control, fueled by political patronage and cyclical funding flows, demands that we scrutinize and, ultimately, reform our system to ensure that it truly serves the public
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