News happens. The first American vote. Newsradio 650K. ¿Quiere el más? Amazing. What is your weekend, Mr. Dean? Sunny, bright, windy. I think those are the best adjectives I've gotten. Kind of cover all bases there. You know, I will tell you, yesterday... Oh, it was probably about 5.30. I ran over to Palmer and I looked down at my car and it said 66 degrees.
Nice. It felt like it. It was so hot. I was like, oh my gosh. I was going to say we hit probably, I think it was Saturday. Yesterday it didn't get too hot. I don't think it went past 61. But we got about 64 on Saturday. As somebody I was on the phone with, I was telling them it was ripping my skin off. The son was literally ripping my skin off. Well, they were in Arizona, and they were laughing at me. Yeah, exactly. My daughter texts me. She's like, I just want to thank you.
for the gift of air conditioning. She's in Utah. And she went out and she has, in the apartment complex she lives in, she has a pool out there. So she went out and laid by the pool for about an hour just to read a book. And she came back in and toasted. I mean, she's completely sunburned. Oh, yeah. She had to FaceTime me so she could show me. But the other day, I knew it was getting hot because, you know.
The poor child was down there for two years with a car with no air conditioning. And so, you know, mom and dad flew down earlier this year and we helped her get out of her. non-air-conditioned vehicle and into an air-conditioned vehicle and she's very thankful for that. That's called good mom, good dad. Well, it's like, you know, last time I was down there in the summer when I went to visit her when she first moved down there, it was 109. I mean, it gets hot.
Utah's hot. You don't think about it. You think about Arizona as being hot, right? Utah's like right next door, but you don't think about it. You think Arizona hot, Texas hot. Louisiana hot. Utah hot. Look at that. Whenever I see pictures of Utah, all I see is desert and stones that have nothing growing on them, I think.
Yeah, definitely hot. But it is really pretty. I mean, I really, I looked at Utah and I'm like, oh, it is a really pretty area. I could live down there. But then, you know, there's so many people. They're just everywhere. The main thing I like is the giant blue lakes when you fly over it. That's the funnest thing about Utah. Well, you know... There's no endless supply of eating. Speaking of eating, I made it to the Alaska Vintage Market over the weekend.
And I got, I went to the mac and cheese truck. I think it's called the Alaska Mac Attack or something like that. But it's macaroni and cheese. And on top of it, I got Kahlua pork. And it was drizzled with a little barbecue sauce. It was good. It was very good. My throat's now just saying, what? It was delish. It was delish, but it was fun to go over there.
And peruse and partake of some of the Alaska finds that we found over there. So that was a lot of fun. But yeah, so my weekend was eventful, you know. And of course, I sent you pictures. We have the robot lawn mower now installed. I almost lost my mind when I saw that thing. So when I picture a robot lawnmower, I'm still back in the Jetsons days of it. I'm back in more of the tractor style. I don't know if you know the bots that used to fight each other and stuff. The fighting boss.
That's what I still think of when I think of that. When I saw yours, yours is like Jetson material. BEYOND cool! Wow Wow Yeah, it's a lot of fun. So I cannot say enough good things about Alaska Motorsports and Equipment. They came out yesterday and installed the automator. I know I said I was going to wait because the whole MTA is putting fiber optic in, but Ben called MTA to try to figure out what their timeline was to see if we could coordinate. They have no idea. They didn't have a timeline.
Oh, yeah, um... You know, 2028, yeah. They have all the surveying work being done and everything, but they said, oh, don't even worry about it. They said, we can go under your line if you just mark where your basic... geofences, you know, where your line is or whatever. And even the guys at Alaska Motorsports, they said, oh, don't worry. If they cut it, we'll just come in and splice it. We'll fix it. It's no big deal.
We just went ahead and did it, and it was very entertaining for some of my neighbors. We had multiple cars stopping. And asking my husband, they're like, wait, wait, wait, wait a second. What is that? Is that because it's driving all night long and it has headlights on it. Oh, that's even cooler. So this is the first time. So it takes a few hours or a couple of days.
for the robot to learn the topography completely of your yard because it has AI in it and it's constantly mapping. So it learns the topography of your lawn, apparently, is what it was explaining to me. It learns like where the rocks are, you know, anything that bumps into has infrared sensors too, so it doesn't like crash into things. But they lay a line that basically gives you the outside perimeter of your lawn.
But everything within it, it learns where the dips are, where all these different things are. You know, and it has like this articulating back, so it's really unique. It looks like an ant. Yeah, it stuck anywhere. I mean, it's really cool, but it's like a long Roomba, if you think of it that way. And so... Anyways, we had a number of people stopping and asking, and they're like, oh my gosh, like a lawn robot. Who would have thought it? But yep, George got installed yesterday.
And he went all night. I got up at 3 o'clock in the morning because I was just curious. And I look out the window and there he is out there mowing the lawn because he'll go, he'll mow for an hour, 45 minutes or so. And he just goes back and forth and he's mapping. So he's going all over the lawn. and then he goes back to his little docking station for 45 minutes, then he comes out again. Coffee break.
Yep, and then my husband has this, like, app on his phone, and so George sensed inclement weather coming, so he goes back home while the weather is going. That is just it. Yeah, yeah, so... That was the excitement in our weekend. Now, just something fun for you, because as I was watching him on the videos you sent me, one of my thoughts was this. So, like, when I mow my lawn,
I like to do diagonals so that my lawn has a diagonal stripe pattern on it. My other neighbors, one of them likes to do squares all the way around and he somehow works his way in. With yours, you should be able to like put in a Fancy picture. Like a cool pattern. Exactly. Like the United States flag and have him cut the United States flag in as he's doing your stuff.
It's possible. I don't even know. I don't even know. The app is on my husband's phone, and he was the one who was dealing with getting it all set up and stuff. I would suspect it's very possible, and if it's not possible in this generation, I'm sure it will be possible in future generations. I know they told us, like, the lines that we see right now, he's kind of going all over the place, and you don't really see a pattern to it yet because it's still in the mapping phase.
But he's cutting the grass while he maps, so I'm totally fine with it. And they told us those lines that we see right now that don't look like they have a pattern will disappear in a couple weeks. But, you know, it's definitely interesting. Who would have thunk? We got to an age. where we have robots that are mowing our lawn. And you can now say, meet George Jetson, my lawnmower.
I love it. I love it. Yeah, so I can't say enough good things. If people are interested, like I said, they have them at Alaska Motorsports and equipment, which is... down there off a commercial drive. But I did put a couple of videos. I sent Daryl a couple of videos, the same videos I put on Facebook. So if you follow me on Facebook, you can go and you can see what the thing looks like. It's pretty cool. Technology, man. Technology. Super cool.
So cool. Alright, well let's get into our community announcements because we have a number of them. First up is the Masu Borough, the Library Citizens Advisory Committee. is meeting today at 5 p.m. in the Assembly Chambers over there at at East Dahlia Avenue, 350 East Dahlia Avenue in Palmer. The Central Mat-Su Fire Service Area Board of Supervisors has their meeting tonight at 6 p.m.
to have a joint meeting with the West Lakes Fire Department. So this meeting is going to be at Station 73, which is located at 10073 West Parks Highway in Wasilla. The Big Lake Road Service Area Board of Supervisors is having a meeting at the Big Lake Lions Club at 6.30 PM tonight. If you need more information on any of these meetings in the MATSU, just go to mattsugov.us.
As far as the city of Wasilla goes, they have their regular city council meeting tonight from 6 to 9 at Wasilla City Hall in the council chambers. That's located at 290 East Turning Avenue in Wasilla. If you need more information, including their agenda, just go to cityofwassila.gov. As far as the city of Palmer goes, remember they have their special election that is ongoing. Early voting has started.
It'll be going on through the 19th, and then election day is actually the 20th. So if you need more information, you can go to palmerak.org, this special election. is a recall election targeted at the mayor of Palmer, Steve Carrington, So on the ballot, you'll just have one question. Shall the mayor be recalled? Yes or no? and there is a pro and con side on the ballot. You can read both sides and then make up your mind. All right, as far as the municipality of Anchorage goes,
All we have on the calendar today is a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. That's going to be at 6.30 at the LUSAC Library and the Assembly Chambers. The Chugac Eagle River Parks and Rec Board of Supervisors meeting for today has been canceled, so that is not happening.
And if you need more information, just go to muni.org, click on the Mayor's tab, and then click on the Events tab. There's nothing on the calendar for the Anchorage Assembly today, so we'll sneak on down to the Kenai Peninsula Borough. And as we're looking at the calendar today for the Kenai Peninsula borough, the only thing on the calendar is a planning commission meeting from 7.30 to 9.30.
That will be, of course, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Admin Building located at 144 North Binkley Street in Saldotna in the Assembly Chambers. If you need more information, just go to KPB.us, scroll down to the calendar, and then just click on the link. As far as the city of Saldatna goes, actually Kenai, let's go to Kenai first. The Harbor Commission meeting that was scheduled for the city of Kenai has been canceled for tonight, so no meetings for the city of Kenai.
The same for Saldana. There's no meanings for the city of Saldana for today. And the last thing that I see on the calendar is City of Homer. They have a city council work session that starts at 4. Committee meeting of the whole that starts at 5. and then the regular City Council meeting for the City of Homer will be at 6 p.m. tonight. You can attend in person via Zoom or by phone. If you need more information, including their agenda, just go to cityofhomer-ak.gov.
When you get to the calendar, when you get to the website, just look to the right for the calendar, find the meeting that's interesting, click on it, and it brings you to a home landing page with the link of how to participate via Zoom or on the phone or their agenda, all that good stuff.
All right, that really does it for our public announcements for this morning. If you have an announcement or something you think people should know about that you'd like to plug, we're always happy to do it. It doesn't have to be a government meeting. It could be just something fun that's always fun. All you have to do is give us a call, 522-0650.
We're going to take our first break in the morning. We'll be right back with the headlines of the day. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras for this Monday morning. Light traffic currently inbound on the Glen Highway. Not seeing any major stoppages or slowdowns out there. Welcome back, current time is 623. While we're sitting at 46 degrees here in Palmer, Daryl told me during the break we were at 46 degrees in Anchorage. Looks like we've dropped down to 45. You've got me beat now. What?
Well, technically, I'm at 46.2. But, you know, I was gonna say, I am a little competitive, so... It is pretty nice, though, down, I was going to say, Kenai, you know, as we look at the mid-40s, I mean, at least it's not the 30s. Fairbanks right now is sitting at 35. But their high today is supposed to be 60, so they're going to have everybody beat as far as the high goes because Big Lake right now is at 44.
Today's high is supposed to be 47. Kenai's high to the temp right now is 42. Their high is supposed to be 47. So a lot of us are going to be hovering right around that upper 40 for today. But tomorrow is supposed to be nice again. Well, that just tells me that up in Fairbanks area, that buzz, that underground background buzz is going to start up that you always hear all summer long. The mosquitoes, the gnats, the blackbirds. Oh, yeah. All those things are coming out.
The time is upon us, I know. I'm not going to complain if I don't see any mosquitoes this summer, but, you know, wishful thinking and all that. Oh, goodness. Well, it will be a rainy kind of gloomy day for today, but as we look at the weather for the rest of the week, it looks like it's going to get nicer starting tomorrow.
And through the week it's just, I'm looking in the Anchorage Palmer area. Right now it's looking like it's going to be just partly cloudy through the rest of the week. So we will see some sunshine. It'll be, I think it's going to be decent. That's the best I can say. It looks like it's gonna be a decent week.
You know, as long as I'm above ground, it's a good week for me. It's a good week. Oh, like, two alternatives, right? My dad always says, considering the alternative, it's, there you go, there you go. Well, you know what else is, uh, which is definitely, uh, going to happen at some point is the Alaska legislature is going to come to an end for this legislative session. This is where it is happening, I know.
So they're on their countdown. Suzanne has the article of 10 days to go here. Legislature's 10-day countdown. This is where you're going to start to see the finagling, the last minute, whatever. We expect, you know, I think the budget was on the floor on Friday. It must have been Friday, Thursday or Friday last week. And if half the house, they'll vote a conference committee next, which means
If the House version and the Senate version isn't exactly the same, that means the two bodies have to hammer out their differences. So you get three members from Finance and the Senate. Three members from the House Finance. And then they hammer out the differences. And then whatever they come up with, it goes back to both bodies for concurrence. And then it goes to the governor for his signature. And potential veto. I think hammering out the differences is the wrong set of terms to use.
I think it's spreading the icing on the cake is a better way to put it. Because, you know, those guys are... You're creating something these guys that they're literally just well, let's take those guys money from over there and spread it over to our side of here Yeah Well, here's the reality every time you go into a conference committee. It's a stack deck because why do I say that?
The Democrats are in charge of the House. The Democrats are in charge of the Senate. And so from each conference committee, whoever has the majority from the Finance Committee, Two members will be from the majority, one member from the minority. So that will be on the Senate side. The same will happen in the House. So what you'll end up with is four members of the Democrat-led coalition. and two members of the minority. It's bipartisan! Right on! So...
So that's what you have. So they're outnumbered from the moment they start. So that's what we have. So do we expect to see anything good come out of the conference committee? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. We just don't. So this is why I've said this before even this legislative session. As soon as it started, I said this is what's going to happen. They're going to pass a huge BSA increase.
They're going to pass a defined benefit retirement plan. Both will likely end up on the governor's desk and he'll veto both, right? Whether it's a line item veto to bring the number down for the BSA increase.
or whether it's a full-out veto of the defined benefit, which I expect to happen, you just can't pay for it. And we've said this all along, as you start, as you go into these legislative sessions, You know, their price of oil, their main driving force when they start talking about money coming in and how they base their budget has significantly gone down.
say, 10 bucks a barrel since they started. They're somewhere around, I don't know, they're in this upper 70s when they started, and now they're projecting mid-60s, somewhere in there. And so... You know, I just look at it and I knew they didn't have the money to spend it. I mean, the politics were what they are. And so we always knew this was going to happen this way.
We always knew it would come down to the governor's veto. Now, the real question, which I didn't foresee, I didn't see as many weight-need Republicans, especially from the Republican caucuses, being... I have to watch my mouth. Being so lacking in fortitude. That's what I'm going to say. To be able to stand up and do what was right. I didn't see that. That was not on my bingo card, especially some of the Valley legislators.
I mean, some of them have lost so much respect for me, they will never get it back. With me, I have this little funny thing in my head now, and this is not right. I know it's not right to do this. But when I think about it now, I've got this picture of these bunch of little, like, gnomes, dwarves, you know, like from Snow White, all walking along going, taxes, taxes, that's what we're going to do, taxes, taxes. It's like, that's not a republic.
What? You know, it's amazing to me, Daryl, because they come to us last week. They passed this huge BSA increase based student allocation funding formula for schools, right? Huge. It's going to cost over the next three years, we're talking $1.3 billion probably. And then they say, well, you know, this is so important. We have to do this.
We just can't afford it, and the price of oil has gone down so much. Like, we have to cut your PFD from $3,800 to $1,000 because we can't afford it, but we have to pay for it. We're in crisis mode. We are in crisis mode. We're going to basically, we're moving up from like $5,900, and I think off the top of my head, $60 per student.
to $6,660 per student, and that's before the escalators that are built in. So, I mean, it's not that we have never funded education, we have always funded education, but they want more. And they tell you they just can't afford it, so they have to take the money from your PFD because education is so important. We're broke. We don't have any money. That's why we have to have this new digital online tax.
So when you're buying stuff off of Etsy or you're buying stuff off eBay or you're buying stuff off Amazon, they need to now tax you because we don't have the money. Oh, we're so broad. But then what do they turn around? Well, you know, then they turn around and do, then they turn around, and today they are going to have on the floor this bill to go back to a defined benefit pension plan, which they cannot afford either.
And so, on one hand, they're telling you they're broke and they have to tax you online tax. And then they have to take two-thirds of your PFD because they just have to do it because they don't have any money. But then they pass two massive spending bills. Like they passed one last week or, you know, a week and a half ago.
And this week, they're due to... And both things have in common. One is for the NEA. The other is for public employees. It's basically a defined golden parachute retirement plan. Yep, yep, yep. So what I was going to say is, over the weekend, somebody put out there Netflix, Disney+, all your streaming services. Those are internet. Oh, those are digital platforms. Those are digital. platforms that are out of state that you will end up being
I guarantee you Disney Plus or Netflix, any one of them, they get hit with a corporate bill for Alaska. I guarantee... Your rates go up. Your rates are going up to cover it. Guarantee it. There's no doubt about it. This is why I said, you know... The hardest thing about legislation... You have to do your due diligence. You have to do your homework because it's the unintended consequences you have to guard against. And we saw this, a great example of this.
was the plastic bag ban the bag ban that happened in Anchorage, right? So when they had the bag ban that happened in Anchorage, I remember the very first, of course, I voted against it because it was stupid. But the very first time, I laughed because right when they passed that, I went through a McDonald's drive-thru a couple days later, and they literally...
had trays and were handing people their food individually on trays because they didn't have bags that they could use. Yeah, that was stupid. It was like, because why? Because they rushed it through. They didn't think about it, as Chris Constance said. This was designed to change people's behavior. It was behavior modification. The 10 cents a bag that they charge in Anchorage, they don't even collect.
They just make the stores charge you, and then the stores get to keep it. So it's all behavior modification. That's what we saw, but it was unintended consequences, so then they had to go back and they had to fix it, and basically... exempt fast food and all that kind of stuff because they didn't think about that. The same kind of thing I think you're going to see with this SB 113, this online tax. I don't think that they have really game planned out all the unintended consequences.
And now they're coming to you telling you all year we're broke, we're so broke, we have to take, you know, $2,800 out of your pocket to pay for more education spending to make the NEA happy, right? and now they're gonna come back to you with HB 78, which is a defined benefit retirement plan, and they're coming back to you saying, oh, no, we have to do this because, you know, these public employees, we need it for retention and blah, blah, blah. Well, I will tell you this.
They don't have the money to pay for it and don't believe the actuaries. Look, the current retirement defined benefit plan that the state of Alaska has is like six, seven billion, with a B, dollars in the hole. that has never been paid off. And the actuaries told us, oh, no, it was basically going to be solvent. And I remember when Governor Parnell was there, and it was like $13 billion in the hole.
So they paid it down a little bit, but now it's growing again. So instead of actually paying it off and having a sustainable plan, they're going to double down on stupid. And then they're going to come back to you in a year or two saying, oh, nope, we need an income tax. We need a statewide sales tax because they're passing massive spending bills without any real way to pay for it other than taking it out of your pocket. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. So talking about
legislature, you know, this is, it's a process. And like I said, I don't think this is going to surprise anybody who really watches the Alaska legislature. how it's going to shake out. We always expected. We knew when the Democrats took control of the House, they said from the beginning, this HB 78, this return to a defined benefit plan for public employees. was one of the top things on their priority list.
and increasing the base student allocation formula. So those two things, like, you don't have to be Nostradamus to figure this one out. They said they were going to do it. They have the votes to do it. They're going to do it. So it always was going to come down to the governor vetoing it. and figuring out if we have enough strong Republicans to actually stand firm on fiscal sanity. And I will tell you, one that I had been keeping an eye on, And.
You know, I had been saying, oh, I hope she doesn't co-awful, but I figured she would. Julie Cologne, what a disappointment. I've got to be honest with you. I'm just disappointed. You know, I'm staying there. Her, you know, I think she's afraid of the NEA, frankly. And so I watch her waffling and I'm like, will you just suck it up? I got to be honest with you. There's a couple of them. I am actively in discussions with people that have been reaching out to me.
actively looking for people in specific districts to get rid of some of these. We need Republicans. I think it's time for a little bit of house cleaning. Literally. So I think we're going to do that. And it'll be interesting in 2026 election. They'll have one. more legislative session to try to calm people down. But I've got to be honest with you, Daryl.
When you think about a $3,800 PFD, now look, do any of us really believe that the legislature was ever going to give us a full PFD? No. The governor ran on it. He's advocated it. He cannot do it alone. He cannot appropriate money. That is up to the legislature to do. And the legislature has refused to do it.
You know, ever since Walker effectively cut the PFD, the legislature has refused to give us a full statutory formula because they realized they could rob the kitty. That's basically what happened. That's exactly what it is. Yep. So they knew it. So, look. But, I mean, come on. A $3,800, $3,900 PFD should have been yours this year, and you're getting $1,000.
Let them have peanuts. That's what they're giving us, is peanuts. And they're spending it on special interests. And these Republicans, like, I don't want to hear one damn word. about this education bill. It is a massive spending bill with no accountability. So the longer this goes on and the more of these Republicans that I hear trying to defend it, you know, like I'm digging in on this one. And I will tell you, I am starting to amass.
I do this every election cycle where, well, I haven't always, but recently, the last few years, I have. I decide who am I going to spend money on, who am I going to donate to, because I want good people in Juneau that are going to fight for the Alaskan people, that are going to stand up to these people. And you know what? One way you get their attention, frankly, is through political donations. So, you know, I don't know. Let's just say there might be an IE that pops up.
to target a few. And I am not going to be opposed to that if that happens. I may actually participate. Who knows? That's the way and the power of the people. If you've got to do it, you've got to do it the right way. Some of the votes that were taken on Friday down there were very disappointing the way they came out.
I know, I know. So, you know, we'll see what happens, how it all shakes out. But Suzanne has an article up in Mustard, Alaska, Game of Chance, High Cost Pension Plan for State Government Workers. Set to pass the house on Monday. So she's talking about HB 78. She said it would shift future public employees from the current defined contribution retirement system, which is what most of them have, to a costly defined benefit pension plan.
So there you have it. So this is what they've been pushing for for a long time. And just a reminder, the current defined benefit plan is $6 billion, $7 billion in the red. It is upside down. So now they're going to double down on the death. You know, when you're in a hole, stop digging. Common sense. Stop digging. So the actuaries, the people that estimate cost.
When they first started to float in this, back in 2018, when I was deputy chief of staff for the governor, I remember some of these union guys coming and sitting down to me, and they literally sat in my office and told me there was zero fiscal note. It's not going to cost anything, which, come on, I may have been born in the dark, but it wasn't last night.
And so I looked at him, and I was like, and I pushed back. And then the second part to my question is, do you know how much the current defined benefits plan is currently in the red? Now I knew that number. Of course you never ask a question like that unless you know. But they didn't, and I proceeded to tell them. The conversation then completely turned, and they realized, okay, like, maybe we can't BS this administration.
And so, but then they've now changed it. And so they've gone back and they realize nobody's buying. There's a zero fiscal note. Nobody's buying it. So they went back and they got a very glowing, optimistic actuary to tell them, well, the cost over the next 30 years is going to be maybe about $2.1 billion. Not a charge. Not a chance. Over 30 years? No. Not a chance. Suzanne has in her article, she's like, that's the rosiest scenario.
If investment returns, mirror the state's actual performance over the past 23 years, right? So you have to look at What is our investment performance? How much has it actually cost to run things? And then you say, okay, what's the actual cost? The actual cost of this plan could balloon to somewhere near $11.4 billion. Now that sounds more... Now that makes more sense to me.
And that's why I'm like, first of all, actuaries got us in this problem because they didn't give us good fiscal projections. The state relied upon it. That's how we are so far in the hole, and they didn't control their costs. That's how we're so far in the hole. So we'll see what happens. So Suzanne said the central issue in HB 78 is the assumed rate of return for the pension plan at 7.25%. That assumption would be among the highest in the country since 2001.
Alaska's pension funds have averaged only about a 5.8% annual return. If the state adjusted the assumption to a more conservative 6.5% return in the line with current actuarial standards, it would add about $2 billion currently to unfunded liability. So again, this is how they play numbers. Remember I always told you, like in statistics,
They can, I mean, basically, you can make it say whatever you want. It's all who's asking the question and how they present the answer. You know, it's fudging the numbers. When we deal with actuaries, You have to look at not only rate of return, you have to look at duration, you have to look at potential inflation and factors. And if they...
If things shift, oh, let's be a little more conservative over here. Let's be a little more aggressive. Let's assume you have a 9% return. Well, it looks great on paper, but nowhere in the country are you getting a 9% return. So again, you have to realize whether you're dealing with reality or whether you're dealing with somebody who wants to paint you a rosy picture. And if it's... The latter, they're trying to paint you a rosy picture. The problem is, 10 years into the program,
you're looking at multi-billions of dollars in the red. Because that rosy picture wasn't real. Another example of that, POMV, this 5% POMV from the PFD. Since they've started that, its numbers are going down. Everything is crashing. Why? Because, well, it's based on the fact that we should be making at least 5% going in so we can take 5% out, right? That's not what's happening. They're taking the 5% out.
Yeah, that's why I say it always comes down to reality, and this is unintended consequences. When they're passing legislation, you've got to have people who know what they're doing. And you have to have people who are willing to do what's right, even if it means losing their job, right?
Take the vote. When people elect you, they believe what you're telling them or they trust what you're telling them to do when you get to Juneau. So when you tell us you're a fiscal conservative, you actually aren't going to spend more money than you have. That's really all that means. And then you go to Juneau and you pass special interest legislation that you know your butt can't, you don't have, that check ain't got a cash. You know it's not there.
I just, I got to question your integrity, number one, because you lied to your constituents. But number two, I question your common sense. I'm trying not to have a fit today, Daryl. I'm trying to keep it in check because it's Monday and I've got the rest of the week to go. But I will tell you, this is the kind of stuff that drives me crazy with politicians. And this is the reason why I'm glad the governor is where the governor is because I think the governor...
is going to veto. And I think whether it's line item veto or whether it's full on vetoing legislation, the question is do we have enough Republicans that are actually going to stand up for common sense and fiscal... responsibility. That'll be the multi-billion dollar question. All right, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. This is why I always say, Daryl, follow the money.
Remember when Chuck Kopp ran for the legislature? He said he was going to caucus with the Democrats, right? He was going to put the Democrats in charge. That's what he was going to do. He's been a big supporter of going back to this defined benefits plan. When you pull his public APOC financial disclosure, it's called a public official financial disclosure form. I have it up in front of me. He was reporting he was self-employed last year, right, 2024. his biggest client By far.
was the Alaska AFL-CIO. They paid him between $100,000 and $200,000. Now, do you think there's any connection as to why Chuck Kopp is such a big advocate to returning to a defined benefit pension plan? Which will benefit who? The AFL-CIO. Do you think there's any connection there? Just a question. I'm asking the average person. Follow the money.
In politics, follow the money. Because generally, it will lead you to another portion of the story. And I'm just telling you right now, like, I am beside myself. with some of these legislators. Because we expect this from some of the, some, some, some, we expect it from some. The others that campaign as fiscally responsible
telling me you're not going to take money out of my neighbor's pocket to line the pockets of special interests. I will believe you, and then when you go to Juneau, I'm going to watch your vote. And if they don't align, you better bet.
I'm going to tell everybody about it. That's what's going to happen. It's called accountability. All right, let's go to the phones real quick. I didn't realize I talked too much. It's here. Oh, let me see if I can turn it on. I'm having issues. Here we go. Ken, I got about 30 seconds. You know a couple things And you're hitting on follow the money, but it's hard to watch you won't hear them talk about well
May them have overtime benefit, have bearing on this. And so you look at the outflow of the money that's going to happen when they do this again. That's why you're going to see a lot of money leave the state for this thing. And I used to think of jealousy.
when I see the zero-one people and all that other stuff and the money they get and everything, because it was oil money and all of us was envy. Now, when you start talking about making it from our pockets to do it, it's redistribution and theft. Alright, I'm hitting my break, I'll be right back You know, a couple things, and you're hitting on follow the money, but it's hard to watch. You won't hear them talk about, well, let's not make them have overtime benefit, have bearing on this.
And so you look at the outflow of the money that's going to happen when they do this again. That's why you're going to see a lot of money leave the state for this thing. And I used to think of jealousy when I'd see the, like the zero oil people and all that other stuff and all the money they get and everything because it was the oil money. and all of those is envy. Now, when you start talking about taking it from our pockets to do it, it's redistribution and theft.
Absolutely. I can't even do it. I can't. I agree. Alright, I'm hitting the brakes. I'll be right back.