Dear Mr. Walker,
I read your op-ed in the Clarion (July 5) and I am not ready to give you a pass on your PFD veto. With a stroke of your veto pen, you became the “Grinch Who Stole Christmas” to many of our less advantaged families in Alaska. I realize you can get along without your PFD. To be honest about it, so can I. However, if you would come to my church’s Food Pantry next Monday, you would get to meet many families that were devastated by your veto. What you did affected the poor, disenfranchised, disadvantaged people who depend on your support. Single moms trying to make it from payday to payday, families affected by the slowdown in the oil industry who were wondering how they would get through Christmas now that they do not have work or now that only one parent is working and all those kids who graduated this year and can’t find work.
The guy who shook your hand has a job, and I’m guessing a 401K, or some investment program, and some savings to shore up the Christmas gift list with. The people you hurt the most don’t have those things. Shame on you. You really are the “Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” but I do not see a happy ending to your story.
