Alaska Village Electric Cooperative

Vote No On Proposition One

July 13th, 2010

At its meeting in June, your AVEC Board of Directors adopted a resolution strongly opposing "Proposition 1," which will appear on your ballot during the primary election in late August.

 

Following is the text of the board's resolution:

 

WHEREAS, On August 24, 2010, Alaskan voters will be asked to vote on a ballot initiative entitled an "Anti-Corruption Act," and

 

WHEREAS, AVEC is opposed to corruption and the use of public funds for political purposes; and

 

WHEREAS, the title of the initiative is deceiving, and upon inspection it is clear that the initiative will not stop corruption. In fact, the ballot initiative instead effectively prevents many Alaskans from being able to express their opinions on important social, economic, environmental and cultural issues in the political arena; and

 

WHEREAS, the proposed initiative is damaging to the constitutional rights of Alaskans, including business owners and their families, and nonprofit board members and their families; and

 

WHEREAS, this initiative also tramples on many other "First Amendment Rights," that would specifically target all organizations that advocate on government issues, by taking away their right

to lobby and/or take positions with regards to upcoming legislation that may affect them and their ability to operate in a manner set forth by their constituents and/or members; and

 

WHEREAS, While the negative impacts of this initiative are far reaching, AVEC is most concerned about the negative impacts on the rights of citizens to communicate with their elected officials and the rights of local public officials to communicate with the state government about issues affecting the nonprofit sector, and especially for nonprofit organizations such as AVEC that represent the needs and rights of their members on issues such as Power Cost Equalization, energy project funding and other critical governmental and legislative issues.

 

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Alaska Village Electric Cooperative strongly opposes the "Initiative Creating an Alaska Anti-Corruption Act."

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative board of directors urges its members across the state of Alaska to oppose and vote "No" on this ballot measure on

August 24, 2010.

 

If you have any questions about this deceptive and harmful ballot measure, please give me a call at (800) 478-1818 or send me an e-mail at mkohler@avec.org. I would be delighted to hear from you!

 

Until next time,

 

Meera Kohler, President and CEO

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