The Daily Signal - Alaska Governor Shares His Vision to Keep Government in Check

Episode Date: December 17, 2019

Is Alaska a model of success for the rest of the country? Virginia Allen speaks with Alaska Gov. Michael Dunleavy, who took office in December 2018. Dunleavy, a Republican, talks about how he is working to make the state more fiscally responsible, why he sent National Guard troops from Alaska to the U.S.-Mexico border, and his education reforms in the Land of the Midnight Sun. Read a lightly edited transcript of the interview, posted below, or listen on the podcast: We also cover the next step in impeachment, the Supreme Court's refusal to hear a case on homelessness. and a proposal to raise the legal age for smoking. The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, Pippa, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail]. Enjoy the show!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, December 17th. I'm Jared Stetman. And I'm Rachel Del Judis. On today's podcast, Virginia Allen speaks with Governor Michael Dunlevy of Alaska, who started serving as the state's governor in December of 2018. They discuss how he is working to make the state more fiscally responsible, why he sent troops from Alaska to the U.S.-Mexico border, and how he is reforming education in his state.

Don't forget. If you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or five-star rating on iTunes and encourage others to subscribe. Now on to our top news. The House will vote to impeach President Donald Trump on Wednesday, according to two Senior House Democratic Leadership aides, MPR reported. On Sunday, the House Judiciary Committee released a 658-page report

detailing the two articles of impeachment it is bringing against President Trump. The House Rules Committee is meeting Tuesday to discuss how debate will run, any potential changes to the resolution from the Judiciary Committee. On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case on homelessness, which means that the lower federal appeals court ruling will stand. In a case originating in Boise, Idaho, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that homeless people have the right to sleep on sidewalks

or in other public places if no other shelters available. The Ninth Circuit based its ruling on the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. The court ruled that a Boise law that allowed police officers to give tickets to people sleeping on sidewalks or in parks, quote, violates the Eighth Amendment insofar as it imposes criminal sanctions against homeless individuals for sleeping outdoors on public property when no alternative shelter is available to them. Lawyers for the city of Boise said, according to the Los Angeles Times, that the, quote, creation of a de facto constitutional right to live on sidewalks and in parks will cripple the ability of more than 1,600 mutual. municipalities in the Ninth Circuit to maintain the health and safety of their communities. Protests have spread across India in response to a new citizenship bill that fast-tracks non-Muslim asylum seekers. Indian officials have denied any anti-Muslim bias, according to the New York Times,

and said the measure was intended purely to help persecuted minorities migrating from India's predominantly Muslim neighbors, namely Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. protests have spread across the country. Police use tear gas and response to protests at a predominantly Muslim university in New Delhi, and various fires have been set by protesters across the country in recent weeks. Prime Minister Narenda Modi called the protests unfortunate and deeply distressing, and said in a tweet Monday, I want to unequivocally assure my fellow Indians that the Citizenship Amendment Act

does not affect any citizen of India of any religion. No Indian has anything to worry about regarding this act. The act is only for those who have faced years of persecution outside and have no other place to go except India. A spending bill used to fund the government for the remainder of the year may include a provision to raise the nationwide smoking age. If the measure remains in the spending bill, it would raise the age to buy tobacco from the age of 18 years to 21 years old.

The law has bipartisan support according to Politico. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said of raising the smoking age in a statement introducing similar legislation in May, quote, we've heard from countless parents who have seen the youth vaping crisis firsthand. By making it more difficult for tobacco products to end up in the hands of middle school and high school students, we can protect our children and give them the opportunity to grow and develop into healthy adults. Currently, 19 states in the District of Columbia prohibit sales of tobacco to people under 21 years old. Next up is Virginia's interview with Governor Dunlevy of Alaska. Do conversations about the Supreme Court leave you scratching your head?

If you want to understand what's happening at the court, subscribe to SCOTUS 101, a Heritage Foundation podcast, breaking down the cases, personalities, and gossip at the Supreme Court. Governor, prior to your first year in office as Alaska's governor, the state had seen years of deficit spending. And in your first year in office, you were facing a one-point. $1.6 billion fiscal gap and proposed a budget that aligned expenditures with revenues. How did that work out? Well, as you said, we were spending, we were spending our savings because our revenue had decreased as a result of the drop in oil prices and production, Alaska's in oil state. So we had a budget gap of about $1.6 billion, and we presented a $1.6 billion potential

rollback. In other words, these would be the areas that you would cut, reduce, or somehow modify in order to close that gap, it was met by a number of Alaskans, including groups, with opposition. They opposed it for the most part. Many Alaskans, not all. The majority of Alaskans wanted the budget deficit reduced. They wanted us to work on reining and spending. And so in the end, after a long and somewhat contentious obsession, we were able to reduce the budget by about $650 million, which was the largest reduction in the state's history.

and when we have gone into this year, when we roll it to this year, we also presented a budget that does not increase spending. So it consolidates our gains. Now we have to look at rolling back of those formula programs that will constantly put pressure to grow the budget. So that's our big task this year. And how did transparency in budgeting as well as budget discipline in a state that does have a difficult fiscal landscape play a role in what you've done

to put Alaska, to put Alaska's fiscal train back on track. So we're a small state in terms of population. We have about 7,000 130,000 people. And a lot of folks are tuned into politics and a lot of folks are tuned into what's happening our capital, Juneau. So we want to make sure that they understood

what all went into the budget. We want to make sure that we were not playing games with the budget, misrepresenting budget sources or the revenue outlook, etc. So they could see because in the end, we are not going to be able to put together is sustainable and permanent fiscal fix for the state of Alaska

without the help of the Alaskan people. So presenting the budget as a real honest budget was crucial. And so, again, we have continued that process this year. We will be going out and speaking with Alaskans all over the state to ask them what kind of Alaska do they want for the future? What are the services and programs they want for the future, for their kids and grandkids? And we're looking forward to a robust discussion

and some good ideas from the people of Alaska. Yeah, it's so critical. Let's talk for a moment, Governor, about our southern border. You sent troops to help America guard the southern border this year. How does the border crisis affect your home state of Alaska? So even though we're far away, we're at the northwest part of North America, and we're boarded by Canada, a friendly and well-respected neighbor, we do have coming here from the southern border.

We do have illegal aliens coming to Alaska as well. We have illegal aliens in every state in the union. including Alaska. So the cost to Alaskans has been about $90 to $100 million to deal with illegal aliens coming to Alaska, using Alaska resources, programs, services, et cetera. We sent a number of National Guard troops down to the border to help assist with patrolling the border when the president asked the states to help out. We were one of the first to send a contingent of National Guard troops down to the border,

and we were happy to do so. Alaska is also one of those states that oftentimes we suffer from natural disasters, earthquakes, volcanoes, fires. And so we want to do our part to help the country because when we're in trouble, other states and the federal government help us. That's a great perspective to have. Now you pushed Alaska to comply with the Supreme Court to Janus decision, which said government employees need to opt into unions and not automatically be forced to do so. Why was this so important to you? Because we wanted to follow the Supreme Court law. We also believe in free association of First Amendment rights.

Alaska is a very, it's a heavily unionized state. And I have no issue with the unions, but when you have a Supreme Court ruling and you have a free association, first amendment issue, you want to make sure that employees have the right and they understand what their rights are, whether they should opt in or opt out if they want to be part of the union. So we're just making it very clear to employers and employees that employees do have rights. They were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, as you mentioned, in Janice, and that we want to comply with that U.S. Supreme Court ruling so that we're doing the right thing for Alaska and the right thing for individuals. You recently endorsed the U.S.MCA deal on Twitter saying that it will create jobs, grow the economy, and that it's especially good for Alaska. What specific potential do you see for Alaska here? Well, we have a very robust fishing industry, for example, amongst others. and we have some of the busiest fishing ports in the country.

We do a lot of business with Asia. We want to make sure that our fishing industry is protected, and that under USMCA, that rules and regulations regarding fishing, both the interception and the capture of fish on the seas, is protected, but also our ability to trade with other countries, sell our fish to other countries,

without having a lot of barriers put in place to impact that trade in a negative way. So that's just one example. a fishing industry. We're trying to stand up a growing timber industry. We are isolated in the northwest part of North America. We do have the potential to do a lot of trade with Asia, but we also trade with Canada and Mexico. And so the USMCA, we think, is going to help not just this country, but Alaska being part of the country will help Alaska as well. And governor, do you consider yourself a conservative? And if so, how does that perspective affect?

the way that you make decisions as governor? I do. And, you know, if you're a conservative, you put the rights and the needs of the individual first and foremost. You make sure that you have a check on a growing government that wants to take more out of your pocket, but also take away your liberties and your rights. And there's a constant move in that direction. I mean, the founding fathers warned about this

that government would grow. A government has a tendency to want to take rights away from people and become too big in the lives of folks. And so as a conservative, you're always looking at that to make sure that you keep that government in check and you keep money in the pockets of people. You also want to grow a private sector that grows faster than government or a whole host of the reasons. But again, following the Constitution, making sure individual rights are protected and making sure that the money hard earned money that they earn is kept in their pockets to the extent possible. And as you've mentioned, Alaska does have a wealth of opportunities that the state can provide for the nation, such as oil and gas. What are some of these opportunities that you like to highlight?

And how do you specifically see them enriching the state? So for the longest time, Alaska is viewed as a resource state, which it is and it should be. We have timber. We have fish. We have oil. We have gas, lead, zinc, oil. We have rare earths. We have one of the largest graphite mines recently discovered.

in Alaska. All of these resources will contribute to a growing economy, not just in the country, but worldwide. And some of our rare earths and, again, some of our other minerals are going to be key components in any renewable push, for example, in batteries and electronics. But we also have a location serves us well. Alaska is centrally located in the world, and a lot of folks don't realize that, that we are the furthest western state,

furthest northern state. We're also the furthest eastern state because part of the Elysian Islands pushes back, pushes through 180 degrees longitude into the eastern hemisphere. We're nine hours by plane to any industrialized place

in the northern hemisphere. And so we are positioned for travel and shipment. For example, our international airport is the second busiest cargo airport in the country and the fifth busiest in the world. And so we are on the transportation routes

for both flight and a growing shipping industry as well. Governor, last question I would like to touch on today is around education. You're a former educator, principal, and superintendent. And you've mentioned on Twitter that this past year, your administration worked with school districts to make positive changes to our education system benefiting students, parents, and teachers. What did that look like?

Well, we are going to be emphasizing reading. In other words, we need to have all of our students reading at grade level by grade three. This is a moral imperative. Reading comprehensive, reading coherency is absolutely key in making sure that students have the tools to be able to progress through grades, but also it opens up the world to them. We're also going to ensure that students are proficient in algebra by the time they leave eighth grade. This is also a gatekeeper course for mathematics, STEM engineering, you name it. If we can have our students performing a grade level in reading and an algebra proficiency, our kids are going to be well positioned to compete in this world.

Governor Dunleavy, thank you so much for joining the Daily Signal podcast. We really appreciate your time. Thanks for having me. Tired of high taxes, fewer health care choices, and bigger government, become a part of the Heritage Foundation. We're fighting the rising tide of homegrown socialism while developing conservative solutions that make families more free and more prosperous. Find out more at heritage.org.

And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast brought to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage Foundation. Please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify. And please leave us a review or a rating on iTunes to give us any feedback. We'll see you again tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, the Leah Rampersad, and Mark Geine.

For more information, visit DailySignal.com.