Alaska's hypocrisy on federal spending on full display with plea for 100 percent disaster relief

Sen. Dan Sullivan is begging the Washington Post and the New York Times to report on Alaska’s hypocrisy about federal disaster relief.

He’s not putting it that way, of course, but that’s what he’s asking for.

Sullivan claims that he has found evidence of racial discrimination by the Biden administration against Alaska Natives in responding to the giant western Alaska storm. That’s what he wants The Washington Post and the New York Times to tell the nation.

Perhaps he thinks the reporters would take his press releases at face value.

But any competent reporter that looked at the situation would focus the coverage on why Alaska and its leaders want to shirk from any responsibility to those who suffered losses in the western Alaska storm.

Any competent reporter would see that few states have fared as well with the runup in oil prices as Alaska, where there are no statewide taxes, and there is a savings account with extra billions that the governor and Legislature can draw upon.

Puerto Rico does not have these advantages. Puerto Rico went bankrupt, a process that ended earlier this year with a plan to get rid of 80 percent of its staggering debt.

Any competent reporter would see that when Sullivan claims the state is doing all it can, he’s not telling the truth. And when he claims Biden shows “hostility” to Alaska Natives, Sullivan is not telling the truth.

Any competent reporter would ask why Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is hand-in-hand with Sullivan in begging for 100 percent federal funding of disaster recovery costs, hasn't called an emergency special session to appropriate state disaster relief money. And ask why Sullivan hasn’t called on the governor to get the Legislature back to deal with the crisis and draw on its ample reserves.

A long time ago that’s what Alaska governors and legislators did after disasters, back when Dunleavy was in Scranton and Sullivan was in Cleveland. They don’t know about that.

Now we beseech the federal government—usually the favorite target of Sullivan, “Statehood Defense” Dunleavy and the rest of the GOP establishment—to pay the state share, claiming the state is a pauper and unable to hold its own.

On Sept. 22, President Joe Biden amended his disaster declaration for Puerto Rico to cover 100 percent of disaster costs for the first 30 days of recovery, up from the usual 75 percent.

That Biden has not provided 100 percent aid to Alaskans is racial discrimination against Alaska Natives, according to Sullivan.

Coming from the guy who is constantly whining about wasteful federal spending by Biden, this is rich. To accept Sullivan’s claim, you’d have to believe that Alaska’s financial resources are as limited as those of Puerto Rico.

On Sept. 15, Sullivan sent out a fundraising pitch asking donors for money to “prevent socialist spending sprees” like the one the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress are leading.

Perhaps he thinks the rest of the world has never heard of the Alaska Permanent Fund, the Permanent Fund dividend, the lack of statewide taxes and the billions Alaska is spending because of oil prices pushed higher by the attack on Ukraine.

The Permanent Fund has billions in it right now that the Legislature could appropriate to help with the disaster.

Sulllivan and the other Alaska politicians pleading for federal largesse, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Rep. Mary Peltola and Dunleavy refuse to raise the uncomfortable question of why the state is not picking up its share.

Nick Begich the third and Sarah Palin, who claim they want to reduce federal spending in Alaska, should be leading the charge to get the state to pick up its share. But just maybe, their words are as empty as those of Sullivan and Dunleavy.

To quote Sullivan, “Will any reporter dig into this?”