Mayor Dan Sullivan – You’ve Got Mail!
For background on this story click HERE for the Anchorage Daily News story, and HERE for my take, and HERE for a detailed analysis by Mel Green.
And once you’ve done that, please enjoy this fantastic letter, sent by an Anchroage resident to the Assembly and the Mayor. Well done, Sir.
Hopefully, others will become inspired to share their thoughts.
Dear Mayor Sullivan,
I wanted to let you know that I’m disappointed in how you handled your father’s life insurance situation. The $193K payout is in my eyes a totally inappropriate use of public money. Several issues are linked together:
1. Life insurance is generally understood to be a provision for the survivors of a breadwinner who suffers an untimely death. Seems like your family currently has plenty of money; your father’s “life insurance” policy has simply turned into a bizarre, obscenely profitable investment, paid off the backs of the taxpayers you so earnestly claim to serve.
2. Your claim that you’re only doing your “fiduciary duty” in pursuing the $193K rings hollow. You could have simply chosen to receive the full amount and then return all of it, minus the premium payments and some reasonable rate of interest, to the muni.
3. As you keep reminding us while you make drastic cuts to public services, we are in austere times that call for public and personal sacrifice. Did it occur to you that cashing out $193K from our treasury is not very austere or sacrificial? Personally I would prefer for my hard-earned tax dollars to go towards the citizenry at large, e.g. fire departments, mountain rescue, parks department, road and trail maintenance, etc., rather than the Sullivan Family.
4. In fact the whole thing is steeped in irony, since the only reason your father was able to retain life insurance was by basically joining a kind of public option. As noted by several quotes in the ADN article, if he had to compete in the marketplace, there is no way he could have afforded the insurance. See the irony? Your Republican party keeps telling the American people that the marketplace solves all problems, e.g. health care. Yet at the same time you’re happy to pick up the payout of your father’s government-run, totally non-market-driven life insurance policy paid for by the citizens of Anchorage.
thank you for considering my views.
Yours respectfully,
Thomas Van Pelt
Way to Go!!!
Right On !!!
Well said!!!
Hope others register their distaste for this !!!!
Thanks for sharing! Excellent letter!
Jeanne…thank you for posting. I love Shannyn’s line about Sullivan: ‘…the guy who put the ‘douche’ in ‘fiduciary’…”
Excellent letter. Something similar could be sent to each of our senators and representatives in Congress regarding healthcare. Congress enjoys terrific healthcare benefits that the rest of us pay for, yet we can’t partake of them.
Let’s look at this another way. All real insurance pools have more than one person, usually the larger the group, the better. The premium is based on an amount that will pay off benefits, plus cover the cost of running the insurance program, and in the case of private insurance companies, make a profit for the insurance company. This little scheme avoids all of that.
Hey, I’ll pay $20,000 or so to the city of Anchorage if you guarantee my family $193,000 when I die. It does not compute!
But you Anchor Towners get what you elected it looks like. Good luck with this scum bag!
Great point. Send something to Lisa Murkowski asking her why we should pay for her health care, when she doesn’t think we deserve the care she’s got.
And good letter to Sully. His days are numbered.
Nice letter and so true. That Sully, what a guy. Theives money right from the tax payers who voted to put him in office. It’s not a bribe or a payoff, it’s just out right stealing from your friends and neighbors. Really LOW DOWN Sully boy.
OK, I’m trying to wipe off the slime that came through my computer when I viewed that picture of Dapper-Not Dan. Great letter now that I can see my monitor again – way to go!
Excellent letter. Let us know when you receive a reply, but I predict that will be when hell freezes over.
I think all Anchorage residents should cut-and-paste this letter, add their own thoughts, and deliver an avalanche of these letters to your slimy mayor!
Health and peace.
Snap
Tar, feather, and run Dan out of town on a rail. The City isn’t in the life insurance business. Dan and his old man are petty thieves.
I clicked on the link to the ADN story about this. I thought they might have updated or added this Anchorage Citizens letter as an Update.
It doesn’t appear to be the case.
Will the ADN be publishing this letter in their paper…?
I’m guessing it would encourage or motivate others to write letters as well. Might even start a whole letter-writing campaign. Anchorage Residents deserve to have a ‘ place ‘ where they can be heard.
Suggestion: I might see a New Button Campaign ..” I’ve been SULLIED ”
Save those ” Where’s Sarah?” buttons as souvenirs, but have the residents start wearing the New button all over town when they go out. Especially Assembly Meetings and ALL other City functions or activities.
The pic above seems like a good one….. print the phrase right over his Face.
When is the protest- angry with gun toters- going to be held outside of town hall?? Let us know and I’ll be there. My sign will read: give the money back to the taxpayers of anchorage. Or something like that. There are so many options. He is a real scum bag. Let’s run him out of town. He is … oh well gotta stop sometime. I could go on forever.
Do any other long time Alaskans find it wearisome to be living in a state that embraces and does not question such bad behavior from our elected officials?
My bro just moved to the rainy blue world 1500 miles south and he says it’s like another world being surrounded my mostly blue and few reds….I guess the rain might be worth it to feel more welcome than I do here in Alaska.
I walk thru my life in Wasilla feeling exceptional hate and disdain for many of the people that I see on the road and encounter in the grocery store.
I’m so down on this place right now and it makes me very sad because this place used to make me very happy, until I became aware of politics…..
It’s still the same place AKPetMom. Now you just know it needs you. AKM
AKPetMom, I’m feeling down too, and I have less reason to feel that way. Maybe if Alaskans can get rid of ONE elected official this year, it would feel like progress. Sullivan feels scuzzy, and Parnell feels sarah-stupid, and that is enough to start with.
AKPetMom: you are always welcome in our nice blue, misty world. Bellingham has been having beautiful weather this year. Yesterday was 60 and sunny. Today was high 50s and cloudy. Bellingham is a university town wrapped around Bellingham Bay about 50 miles south of Vancouver. I’m not really fond of our Congressional rep. right now, but he is a Democrat.
AKpetmom: dont be blue it’s just the normal reaction to knowledge. I still love my home just we have new trash that need be taken out. Well maybe not new but trash nonetheless. I wish this to be the end of Sullies career. Will take some effort on our part. Keep a smile, some of us maybe in the wings but i am a good scrapper. Heck i bet i weigh the same as ole Dan and will gladly take him on for the whole thing. 193,000 if i win. He keeps it if i loose. In the street no shirts no boots. Comeon Dan take on a pacifist.
Show your constituents the contract Sir.
As well as my other suggestion about the ” I’ve been SULLIED ” button….
Maybe the “Mothers Against Sarah Palin” needs to be re-born… New target.
I’m sure Anchorage Mothers must be outraged that their kids will not be protected or have the services provided to them as far as City services like the libraries.
If they are stay at home Mom’s… ( or retired GrandMothers )they might gather outside the Mayors Office EVERY morning with protest signs as he arrives for Work.
AKM might have to do a post/poll ( like in the past for names and such ) for the best protest sign messages.
Dan’s Mug-shot picture with Nixon’s famous slogan ” I am NOT a Crook “.
( THAT would be ‘ Palin Satire ‘ )
Sorry Sully…YES… you are.
Quoting an old TV show seems to fit as well ” It Takes a THIEF “.
Well done! Thank you.
sullivan’s insurance debacle kind of makes me wish more people came to the polls for municipal elections.
supporters of sullivan and other so-called conservatives always turn out. why don’t we? will we lose the assembly next month?
if you don’t vote, destiny remains tied to the good old boy network.
Thanks AKM for seeing my cry for help! I get so darned depressed sometimes trying to pay attention but feeling like I don’t have a voice in the decision making process. I know you feel the same but you keep putting it out there and fighting the good fight.
This is a personal note to you. The MatSu Democratic Caucus is going to be happening in the Valley on 3/20 at Glacier Canyon Grill but I also have committed to a garden forum at the Red Beet in Palmer to share my gardening “wisdom” with others in Palmer but I think I’ll have to bow out of that if all of the Progressive people will be at the Caucus in the Valley on 3/20. Will you progressive Alaskan bloggers be there.
Thanks for giving me a personal “bump” in bold italics at the bottom of my desperate depressed post
Hang in there AkPetMom. Alaska was a blue state before the pipeline. We can take it back. Please do opt to stay involved in Progressive support and advocacy. You will meet people that will get you fired up for Alaska again. Check out Organizing for America’s Alaska office. Good, enthusiastic people.
Hi AKPetMom – I know what you mean sometimes about feeling outnumbered in the valley but I guess I must have accepted it a long time ago. I think we have made progress though. Remember the 2008 caucus & there were so many democrats that showed up they had to move it to a larger venue?
That said, thanks for the reminder on the MatSu Democratic Caucus. I received the card in the mail & just realized that I will be back from the slope in time to attend. If nothing else comes up I hope to see you there. BTW – love your dogs (from another PetMom).
I am not a resident of Alaska but have visited and been following the Alaska blogs since Palin was chosen as VP nominee. I am appalled that many of the elected corrupt politicians in Alaska continue to be elected and that they get away with all sorts of illegal behavior. I am aware that many other elected officials stay in office as well (ie Sanford) but many do not — McGreevey, Spitzer — so why keep voting these people into office?
Can anyone answer this question?
Trying to figure it out.
AKPetMom-
Hold very still and you’ll hear all the hearts beating next to you…
We’re at your shoulder, neighbor.
We’re here.
from a purplish blue part of Alaska
My first impression about this so-called contract was the the City lacked the statutory authority to issue this type of critter and that the City did not have an underwritten policy in place due to not only the lack of statutory authority but also because entering into such a contract required a valid vote by the city council.
Instead of writing letters to the editor, people should be writing letters to the State’s Attorney General and the US Attorney’s Office in Alaska, with a copy to the Public Integrity Unit in Washington. Sullivan’s collection of the $193k stinks of corruption – of the stealing-public-dollars-under-the-guise-of-[fill in the blank] type.
AKPetMom – keep your chin up. I live in a very conservative area and know well the feeling. It’s a task to fly like an eagle when there are so many blessed turkeys flapping around.
He looks reptilian in that picture. Reminds me of Tom Delay…….
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_T3-T6ewXLYk/SozWtRaW4xI/AAAAAAAAAxI/xOwPMVQ_aHc/s320/tom_delay_mugshot.jpg
I’d say Sullivan should win hypocrite of the week but it is just Monday and the GOP has a way of out doing itself.
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((AK PET MOM)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((AK SANDHILLS)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((SAUERKRAUT)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Group hugs to you and to all who feel that you are living in the twilight zone.
Stay close to your friends here at the flats. We may not be perfect but we are perfectly happy to spend time with you,
Oh , mornin’ to you bubbles.
So I guess what the assembly of the time was saying is that if you do a lousy or average job as a mayor you earn your pay. If you do a good job you deserve more than your pay, even when you don’t work there any more. Try selling that one to my employer.
Everyone involved stinks.
Near the bottom of the post on Blue Oasis, there is an interesting question about the amount paid by Sullivan’s family.
In 1982, the “premium” was over $1k; in 1995, that same “premium” was but $555 and change. As anyone with a life insurance policy knows, the premiums never go down. If, and I that’s a big IF, the Sullivan family is entitled to a payout, are the entitle to the entire $193k if they’ve paid a significantly lower “premium” for the coverage?
Really good document-by-document analysis on Blue Oasis.
Thanks, Bubbles.
Don’t really care for “perfect” people… not too many of them around, one being s’error palin.
ADN or the Mayor needs to post that contract (if it exists), so all can view it!
moanin’ Austintx…. i am drinking Kombucha tea and feel lighter by a few pounds already seeing that i have spent most of the weekend closeted and on my throne of ease. i expect that within a few months i will molt and the new Bubbles will emerge. get ready world!
I cut, pasted and sent that letter directly to Mayor Sullivan with my own comments. I think everyone ought to do the same. Here is the Mayors Contact form!
http://contactmayor.muni.org/
AKPetMom: I can’t even imagine what it would be like to live in a place where it was BLUE. Oh my goodness, it would be heaven on earth, nirvana, paradise. Was there a group “Mothers Against Sarah Palin,” or is that being said in fun? I would like to belong to such a group. After reading the one reporter’s column on her speech in Canada, I was troubled by the remark that she again referred to the unfair treatment of her children by the press AFTER introducing Piper to the audience. The reporter then says that Piper spent the rest of the time fidgeting at the edge of the stage. And what struck me was that at Piper’s age, my daughter had a bedroom that she got to help decorate, she had sleep-overs and her Dad would prepare breakfast for her and her friend(s) the next morning, she had dolls and stuffed animals, especially her Cabbage Patch doll, she spent most nights in her own bed. Do the special amenities at all the big fancy hotels make up for that in Piper’s world? Does she have any friends her own age? Does she have a make-believe friend she talks to?
Nice letter Tom! Would make a nice Compass piece in the ADN. We need to keep up a drumbeat on this– the Sullivan Bailout.
@AKPetMom
We should have coffee sometime, I’m a stranger in a strange land (Wasilla) too.
Someone said a guy was trying to get Democrats (or like thinkers) to show up at Kaladi for chit and chat. (Bill Hess I think)
Wait a darn second here, isn’t insurance a regulated industry? Is is legal for the community to set itself up as an unlicensed insurer? And issue a verbal policy? Let’s hear from an Alaskan attorney…
http://www.dced.state.ak.us/insurance/
Alaska Division of Insurance
Great Letter..
Sullivan one and out…
Nice ‘mug shot’ of Sullivan….guilt written all over his face.
Thomas Van Pelt for mayor!!!
A Favor:
Can someone help those of us who don’t keep up with Alaskan politics. Can you give us the back story of why the current mayor has his hate on for the previous mayor.
Thanks