Dunleavy veto leads to unpublicized benefit cuts to some of Alaska's neediest

Instead of disguising the reason for a benefit cut to Alaska’s most needy, the Dunleavy administration should give credit where credit is due—a $7.5 million veto by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Letters sent to impoverished Alaskans who are blind, disabled or old offered a bureaucratic explanation instead, claiming the Jan. 1 reduction will be due to “the cost of living increase you will get in your Social Security benefits and a payment standard change.”

This is the language you use to avoid taking responsibility for the decision.

As some readers have pointed out, the Alaska Public Assistance benefit cut is somehow missing from Dunleavy’s new list of first-year accomplishments.

Dunleavy vetoed $7.5 million from the program in August and state officials decided that a cost of living decrease and a “payment standard change” were needed, language that separates the cause from the effect.

The failure to seek public comment on this or engage in a public process is shameful. Dunleavy had proposed a $14.7 million cut in February, a 24 percent reduction. It would have set assistance payments at the 1983 level, which appears to be the largest cut allowed without federal approval, according to a 2016 presentation.

The state needs a program to serve poor old people, as well as the blind, needy and disabled, if it wants to qualify for federal Medicaid funding.

Rep. Lance Pruitt, whose wife was head of communications for Dunleavy at the time, unsuccessfully argued in March for the Dunleavy reduction at a committee meeting. “We should be starting with the governor’s budget,” said Pruitt.

That way, anyone trying to preserve the program would be in the position of having to seek a budget increase of $14.7 million to keep funding the same, according to Pruitt, whose logic was akin to turning up the amplifier volume to 11 to make it “one louder.”

Dunleavy vetoed $7.5 million in June from the public assistance program. After the Legislature restored the funding, he vetoed it again in August. Now he needs to take credit for his decision.