Anything But Gray

For almost as long as I have lived in Alaska, there has been debate about moving the capitol out of Juneau.
Juneau can only be gotten to by boat or plane, so in order for more people to be able to physically get to their legislators, the capitol should be in a place that puts it more in reach for more people…that is what the people that want to move the capitol say. Also, they feel if they move the capitol to a more central location, the expense of the legislative session would not be as high for the state.

In 1994 ( I think) a law was passed called the FRANK initiative. FRANK is an acronym for Fiscally Responsible Alaskans Needing Knowledge. This law basically says that before they can move the capitol, the state has to disclose the cost of moving it to the people and let the people vote.

Now someone has sponsored a bill that essentially eliminates that law. (in super layman's terms…)

There is a petition online that states we support the FRANK initiative.

Support FRANK initiative

You do not have to live in Alaska to support this.  You do not have to live in Alaska to recognize how unfair it would be to eliminate a law that gives people the power of knowledge and therefore the power to decide themselves.

Never mind the capitol move issue, that is a whole separate battle….but please take a minute and click the link and read about the FRANK initiative issue. That is so important. I hate when lawmakers take knowledge away from the people they claim to represent.

The following is taken from an email that has been making it's rounds…

To
highlight the potential for a costly mistake, the following is an exchange
between KTUU News reporter Bill McAllister and Representative Bob Lynn, who is a
sponsor of the bill to repeal the FRANK initiative.


McAllister: "Now what about repealing
the FRANK initiative? I mean, voters said they wanted to pass judgment on the
costs before this happened. You're taking that away from
them."

Lynn: "Well, it's going to
go to the finance committee, and they work their magic in the finance committee.
But you know the FRANK initiative is history. A lot of people think that that
was flawed; it was before my time up here, but I think we need
to–"

McAllister: "It's
not history. It's the
law."

Lynn: "Well, it's the law,
yes, but it's still, the philosophy behind it is history. It needs to be looked
at again. I have no problem with repealing it."

McAllister: "Well, can you
elaborate?"

Lynn:
(smiling):
"No."

McAllister:
"Philosophically? Why? People voted for it; they haven't voted to undo it. Why
not honor it?"

Lynn: "Well, I think we
need to honor all of our laws, but my goodness sake, this is the year — what?
— 2008, and I think we need to re-evaluate this thing, see what the dollars and
cents are now, and press ahead. This FRANK initiative is based on old
calculations. It's time to make some new calculations."

McAllister: "My understanding, Rep. Lynn,
is that the FRANK initiative calls for a commission to be appointed to judge the
costs. It's not, there's nothing in the law that says what the costs
are."

Lynn: "OK, but let the
commission do their work again."

McAllister: "But if you repeal it, there
won't be a
commission."

Lynn: "There you
go."

********************************

Nice, huh?

You don't have to live here to understand how important this is!
Please go sign the petition.

After you sign the petition, you will be brought to a page that asks for a donation, at that point you have signed the petition regardless if you choose to donate or not.

Thank you!!!!!

Some of you will be getting an email from me regarding this too. I am going to forward the email I got today.
I feel so strongly about this!!
I want to do my part in getting a ton of signatures!!!