December 7, 2016 Voice Your Opinions! Letters to the editor make a difference. You can send a letter of up to 200 words (shorter letters are more likely to be accepted) to the Alaska Dispatch News by email (letters@alaskadispatch.com); or by fax or mail (call them at 257-4308). Send letters to the Anchorage Press via e-mail editor@anchoragepress.com or by mail to 540 E. Fifth Ave, Anchorage, 99501. Feel free to call us if you need factual information to help you write a letter. Contact the Governor. The Governor can be reached at 269-7450; or www.alaska.gov. Contact us. My office can be reached at: 1500 W Benson Blvd, Rm 216, Anchorage, AK 99503; by phone: 269-0106; visit my website at http://replesgara.com; or email: Rep.Les.Gara@akleg.gov Want to Volunteer To Help A Child? You can be a Volunteer Mentor to help a child, through a program we worked with foster care advocates to start, at Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Just call433-4691. Have the time to do more? Alaska has a major shortage of foster and adoptive parents, and you can help change a life by doing that. To ask about foster parenting or adopting a child out of foster care call 1-800-478-7307. And, of course, we are always asking people to donate tax deductible new or used (good condition only) laptops for current and recent foster youth. You can contact us if you'd like to do that.

Dear Neighbors:

I'd love to join those using the easy sound bite. I do believe in finding waste, and cutting it. I’ve voted against wasteful spending on legislative office buildings, the Knik Arm Bridge, the Susitna Dam, and other unaffordable projects.

But what about continued massive cuts to things that keep the economy rolling, and provide people with jobs and opportunity?

There is good evidence that if you keep massively slashing the budget, everything won't be just great. It's a recipe for a massive recession.

Let's discuss facts. If you adjust the state's budget for reality – that is, if you adjust it for inflation and population growth (more people make schools, road maintenance, and other services cost more), the amount Alaska spends today per person is far lower than most of the past three decades.

Let's address a few more points. The portion of education funding used for classrooms – for teachers, curriculum, counselors, and staff – is about $30 million less than just two years ago.  What kind of educational opportunity do we want for children? In many districts, including Anchorage, children are in larger classrooms, and are getting less individual attention in school. That’s a problem. We know that children are more likely to achieve their full academic potential with smaller class sizes, not larger ones.

And what does following the sexy soundbite of continuing major cuts to the budget mean for the economy and a recession? Well, Alaska is already in a recession. According to UAA's Institute for Social and Economic Research, every $100 million in budget cuts costs between 1,000 and 1,500 jobs. That makes the recession much more dangerous if you care about jobs, the economy, and maintaining home values.

Why? When you lay off teachers, Troopers, police, and other workers, they shop less, and our businesses and home prices suffer. Firing people, and ending children's or senior or disability services grants that hire people, have a damaging ripple effect throughout the economy.

I will write more. But the argument that all we need to do is make continued major slashes to a budget (that is, on a real basis, far smaller than it has been in the past decade) is an argument for a recession.

It's an argument for damaged schools, and a continually diminished university (it's been cut by nearly $50 million in just the past two years).

What’s the solution? Smart budgeting, cutting waste but not opportunity, and revenue. That means not giving the biggest companies in the world hundreds of millions of dollars a year in oil tax subsidies. And it means broad based revenue that is fair to people.

Much of this coming session will involve that debate. But ducking our heads in the sand and pretending we can just spend Alaska's one year of savings we have left, without raising revenue, is snake oil. Saying you can cut your way out of the deficit is snake oil. Many of us, along with the most conservative legislators, have cut over $1 billion from the budget over the past three years.

This will involve a big public discussion about what kind of state we want for this and the next generation. But to do that, facts matter. ISER's report mentioned above matters. And a true reflection of the budget, also provided above, matters.

As always, call if you have any questions or if we can help.

My Best,