A Citizen’s Guide

To the editor:

As the Legislature rushes to pass last-minute laws, here are a few suggestions to pass legislation that will:

Outlaw all corporate lobbyists from an area of one mile surrounding the Capitol. Require any legislator who works for an oil company, consults for an oil company, or has collected over $1,000 in campaign contributions from an oil company to recuse themselves from voting on any oil or gas legislation.

Require that anyone currently working in the government, who is in any way involved with the current oil/gas legislation, will not be able to seek employment in the oil industry for a five-year period after leaving government.

Require that the governor and the legislators divulge their stock holdings prior to the final vote on oil taxes and gas line legislation.

Institute the death penalty for white collar crime of over $1 million.

Require that all testimony will be under oath, when this scandal finally goes to court. Take away corporate standing as a person. Currently, corporations have more rights than private citizens.

If this was any other issue, Alaskans would be up in arms about “outside interests” becoming involved in Alaska politics. These oil companies are foreign or international and have no loyalty to Alaska. Corporations have no soul or heart; the “bottom line” being their only conscience. The money that has been wasted with the recent ads could have funded a lot of charity.

Alaskans are being manipulated into pushing for their own destruction. Gas is going up, heating oil is going up, food is going up, and the oil company profits are going up.

J.D. Bennett

Fairbanks