Governor’s PFD veto prompts recall effort & possible lawsuit

Governor Bill Walker’s decision to veto $666,350,000 from funds destined to Alaskans in the form of a Permanent Fund Dividend check has prompted both a recall effort and a possible lawsuit.

Former U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller is leading an effort to recall the governor. “Walker’s idiocy with the PFD, his lies about what he’d do as governor, and slavish devotion to big government on the People’s dime, fall squarely within the recall parameters,” said Miller in an article published July 4th on his website, joemiller.us.

Governor Walker responded on Thursday during an interview with Channel 2's Steve Mac Donald, saying “I know these are low hanging fruit to pick up and run with politically and so be it but it’s really, I remain focused on fixing Alaska”.

At the same time, Democratic Senator Bill Wielechowski is researching grounds for a lawsuit, saying the veto is a violation of state law.

“This is going back to 1980, it says ‘The Permanent Fund Corporation shall transfer funds from the earnings reserve to the dividend to pay the dividend’,” said Wielechowski.

He says the lawsuit would be against the Permanent Fund Corporation.