A warning that the following is going to a bit political, although no controversy is expected in this forum.
If there are any other forum members in Alaska (I think we might have a couple of others) who have covered similar events in this context, feel free to add them to the thread.
Background: Alaska is in deep trouble these days. To put it simple the new governor, Dunleavy during his election campaign promised no cuts to the University and a number of other essentials in Alaska. As one of his first actions he presented a budget with 40% cuts to the state funding of the University system, cuts of a similar magnitude to K-12 education (Kindergarden to 12th grade), cuts to public health support, elderly support, shelters for the homeless, art organisations including photographic art and other culture and museums. This comes on top of necessary 30% cuts to the University and other organisations over the last several years with low oil prices (but then under a more responsible governor). While the elected representatives in the Alaska House and Senate agreed upon a budget with a mild cut of only $5 million, he vetoed that budget, reintroducing his own. An attempt to overturn that veto failed as it requires 75% of the representatives votes. (if this had been in many European countries he would have to resign getting the majority against him, not so here...)
This is a crisis that Dunleavy introduced by claiming that the permanent fund check that all Alaska residents receive each year now should be $3000 vs. the normal payout of about $1000 (we do not pay state tax...). In other words he is doing his best to destroy everything that makes us a society. The 100 year old university will have to fire thousands of its faculty, who will be able to take their strong federal funding with them when they have to move to the lower 48 states. This will be a sequestering of intellectuals from Alaska, and all the cuts will bring Alaska into a deep recession it might never recover from. Short of setting off a nuclear device, a terrorist could not have done more damage to Alaska, except perhaps actually killing more people. But the latter might not even be true, as the shutdown of shelters for the homeless in Fairbanks will cause a number of homeless people to freeze to death when winter comes.
There have been enormous protests from widespread groups, including many of his republican fellows, but he does not seem to listen. Thus an organisation has been formed to force a recall of the governor. One of the three fronting the effort is a prominent and wealthy person who voted for the governor. Another helped form the original Alaska constitution. This is a first round that will require signatures from 28,489 registered voters (10% of the number of votes at last election), then round two will require 71,222 signatures, and then a new election can be held (details here:
https://recalldunleavy.org/ , also Dermot Cole's editorial page gives some background:
https://www.dermotcole.com/). Yesterday was the first of the signature gathering events, that were widespread around Alaska.
I tried to cover the Fairbanks part that lasted for 3 hours in Pioneer Park, with a steady stream of people coming in, standing in line to put their name down. I mostly used my D500 with 12-24mm and 300mm f/4 PF, but also took a few frames with my AW1 (weather forecast was really rainy, but magically it cleared up, today it is raining again). This is going to be image heavy:
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This was not really a demonstration event, so not many posters:
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Already early in the event, the lines to put ones signature down werre long.
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https://otoien.zenfolio.com/img/s/v-10/p3541285785.jpgThe speaker keeping everything organized showing up in simulated governor outfit.
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At the time of this capture I tried to get her face out of the shade, but I like how sun only got on part of her face in the final capture, symbolizing hope.
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A biology colleague ready to sign.
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If the dogs could sign too, we would have gotten a lot of more signatures:
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Crowded in the lines.
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Some shortcuts to get the signature put down.
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I think all the nicest people of Alaska must have been gathered at the event, not least the volunteers staffing the tables and those at the back keeping the count.
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Let us hope this efforts succeeds and that Alaska can rise strong again from the damage already done!
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Edit: I corrected the numbers for the number of required signatures above. It is now reported that more than 10,000 signatures were gathered in nine hours statewide, at this first of the series of signature gathering event events:
https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Recall-Dunleavy-campaign-says-it-has-over-10000-signatures--514744371.html
