Reader comments take aim at columnist's claim of 'tall, winning gunslinger' Dunleavy

Conservative Washington, D.C. columnist Henry Olsen praised Gov. Mike Dunleavy as a “tall, strapping man,” who could be the future champion of American conservatism.

“Conservatives will be looking for heroes after November. A tall, winning gunslinger out of the West might just fit the bill,” Olsen said of his future 6’7” champion.

Readers commenting on Olsen’s breathless Washington Post column who know something about Alaska didn’t buy his uninformed fantasy.

Here is a selection of Post comments, excluding all those that suggested Olsen was writing about Dunleavy only because of Trump’s miserable performance Tuesday night.

Philip Munger: This column is lacking perspective. For weeks, Gov. Dunleavy has avoided reporters who want to know why he allowed his now disgraced Attorney General to continue sexting a young employee after the Governor had been made aware of the serious problem his close friend was creating.

The writer understates how much the Governor’s policies have devastated our public and higher education infrastructures. His stripping of Southwest and other parts of Alaska of its main public transportation network will damage economies in our coastal communities far beyond easy recovery.

Meanwhile, as the author notes, his seeking to overfund the PFD is essentially what I call “evangelical welfare.” While major segments of our economy wither and die, he wants to funnel hundreds of millions to large Fundamentalist families. A family in Alaska with nine kids and parents would get $33,000 annually for their PFD, and another voucher for around $21,000 to home school their kids. That’s $54,000, without having to go to work, in a state that is foundering.

I’ve known Mike for years. I moderated his first public debate in 2009, when he ran for our local school board. He was my ex-wife’s supervisor for six years. 

Rather than being a potential national figure, he is more likely about to be pounded in the next Governor race by the current Anchorage Mayor, Ethan Berkowitz.

junoalaska: Mr. Olsen, apparently from your byline, you are still in Alaska. I have lived and worked in Alaska, Anchorage and Juneau, for 43 years. I invite you to Juneau to have a cup of coffee with me and other long term Alaskans who will tell you the real story behind the PFD and the real story of the impact of cuts that Mr. Dunleavy wants to impose on the State. Cutting the government down to size, in his eyes, means reducing the State population to under 400,000.

LQCincinnatus: I thought you conservatives were dead-set against universal basic income, which is exactly what Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend is.  So where do you get off labeling Dunleavy such a standard-bearer of fiscal conservatism when he's seeking to support exactly what Bernie is calling for in the Lower 48?

bluegranny: As a Wasilla liberal I can tell you that Dunleavy is no hero. His cabinet has been rife with scandal and corruption at the highest level, and many positions traditionally held by Alaskans have been scooped up by Dunleavy recruits from right-wing "farm teams" in other states. The governor's fractured relationship with our legislature has created conflict and stagnation, so nothing much gets done (sound familiar?).  Our vital state ferry system is in a shambles and the University of Alaska is reeling from disastrous cuts. We do have a truly gifted Chief Medical Office, Dr. Anne Zink (also from my home area), and she is the reason we have kept our virus rate relatively low, even during the commercial fishing onslaught of workers from all over the world who come to work here for the season.

The truth is that most Alaskans are independents at heart and don't support the fractious party reality we face today in our state and nation today. We have Independents running against our "Congressman-for life" Don Young and Trump toadie Senator Dan Sullivan. Our best hope is to join those states who have opted out of the two-party system and elected those who have not sold their souls.

Doug78: The PFD, as it’s known, is a big deal here. It’s a government check that every Alaska resident receives, reaped from the state’s oil bonanza. According to the statutory formula, that check had grown to roughly $3,000 a year for every man, woman and child.
Can someone try to explain how this is not some form of socialism?

Cassipoia: Oh, PLEASE. Dunleavy’s budget was indiscriminate and short-sighted, focused on keeping the PFD at all costs. In what world does cutting UAF’s budget 40%, just so someone can buy another snowmobile on the government’s dime, make any sense at all? Dunleavy is an incompetent idiot. You just need to look at the strong bipartisan effort to remove him to understand just how awful a leader he truly is. 

Keenan%20Powell: Pity he can't answer a question about the management of his administration. Why is he afraid to speak directly to the press? Why does he need questions submittef to him in writing? So he's tall but it appears he can't think on his feet.

NickyV: Alaskans don't pay income or sales taxes and the state gives them an annual handout. The state receives six dollars in federal aid for every dollar Alaskans pay in federal income taxes.

Alaskans want their kids to attend great schools. They want a modern infrastructure that allows them to move around a huge, sparsely populated state. They want quality, affordable medical care. Alaskans want the same things as everybody else, but do they really think they're entitled to a free ride?
It's mind-boggling.

Shoshanah Stone: This is a fantasy article from a shoddy reporter that obviously thinks Dunleavy is sexy, which makes me want to throw up in my mouth. Henry has zero clue about the recall and the reasons behind it. It’s been validated by our Supreme Court. Dunleavy has broken every rule. He may be tall, but he acts and thinks very small. He’s a Trump sycophant and understudy so garbage in, garbage out. 

Sick of phants: Wait—DUMBleavy? The guy Alaskans are actively trying to recall? The guy, who, as a legislator, LIED to Alaska School Board Association members during a meeting about school funding back in 2014? That sh... show of an un-human? Sweet cheeses—if that’s all ya got, “conservatism” really is dead and nothing but fascists and liars remain. Good riddance.

Old lib: OMG! Dunleavy’s brother Frank bought the election for him, and the plan seemed to be privatization of state assets. Most of the responsible politicians in the state were alarmed enough to front the recall petition as soon as it was legally possible. 
Dunleavy is a disaster on the scale of Donald Trump! Roll on recall.

zoombugjones: I live in Alaska and this article is so completely devoid of the full picture here.  He wasn't being recalled just because of his budget cuts.  He has made numerous massive horrible decisions and mistakes. All you have to do is read the recall petition or read some local news.  We are all too focused on COVID now though so the recall slipped by.  He is a tall slick male version of Sarah Palin.  No thanks.  Be warned if this is what the republicans are going to be parading out next.

Alascat: An entire generation of Alaskans has never paid a penny in taxes to support state services.  But they sure have cashed those free government checks every year.  The only reason Dunleavy got elected is because he promised everyone giant free money checks and magical unicorns.  He hasn't delivered on either, but the magical thinking is going strong.

Say Henry, did you get around to asking him about the baristas he hired for $350/hour?  With public money of course.  Federal money no less.

tomp21: He proposed a 41% cut to the only University in the state, and your take is that the important impact is that it would "pummel Fairbanks"?! No need for education beyond high school for Alaskans? No need for any research, either? Or do you think that 4 private religious colleges plus a few 2 year community colleges are enough to educate a workforce that will attract investment and keep Alaskans gainfully employable for the next 40-50 years?

AKReader2: Hank, In your cheerful writeup of Dunleavy you fail to note that while he got praise for his initial common sense COVID reaction, he largely "reopened" the state by Memorial Day.  The result?  Our cases soared from fewer than 500 in mid May over 7700 as of today's report.  Our 7 day trend is slowly curving up again over the last 3 weeks and more importantly, winter is JUST AROUND THE CORNER and we'll spend the next 4-6 months indoors in confined spaces with the flu as a potential "double whammy".

Dunleavy campaigned on a promise that any rational person knew that he couldn't deliver on.  His solutions of slashing state spending in just about every government department means the steady trickle of people leaving AK over the last 2-3 years will become a flood.  Slash the U of AK system 40% and a generation of Alaska HS students will head off to college in "the lower 48" with large numbers of them never returning.

Garden Tart: It looks like plenty of my fellow 'thinking' Alaskans have said what I was going to say. Thank you all for those comments. As a Matsu Valley resident for almost 50 yrs. I have to say Dunleavy is one of the worst governors we've ever had. He would gut the treasury to give every Alaskan thousands of dollars in a bloated PFD check. It's how he won the governor's office.

Those of us who were around, when the PFD was designed, know it was not to be a fat welfare check. The idea was to help diversify and support the state's economic well-being. Too many have come to see it as a 'gimmee'. Mr. Munger has correctly labelled it as 'evangelical welfare.' The Republican incumbents who lost their primaries were the realists who understood governance takes cooperation and compromise. They understood the import of universities to local economies and to the future of the state as generators of ideas and designs for the future.

Dunleavy is an opportunist. He hires opportunists like Donna Arduin [Arduin, Laffer, and Moore, anyone?] to gut the budget. Like Tshibaka who gets her own husband, and her friends, cush jobs as contractors on no or low bid contracts. He got lucky with Dr. Zink and Mr. Crum, at least had the right college degrees for Public Health and has done a good job on the COVID page for the state's website. But, the corruption lurks here and the GOP is happy with it if it's kept in the dark. [See: Babcock, Stevens. Let's hope the Recall is successful.