Q&A with Alaska Senate District D candidate Andy Cizek

The Alaska Beacon asked Alaska’s legislative candidates to answer a 15-question survey about their positions on a variety of issues. Read all of their responses here. Answers have not been edited.

Andy Cizek, nonpartisan candidate from Soldotna

Yes/No questions

The Alaska Constitution allows legislators to call a constitutional convention at any time. Are you interested in calling a convention?

Yes

Would you be willing to join a coalition majority in which the opposite political party controls a majority of seats?

Did not answer

Should new public employees have access to a pension?

Did not answer

Should the state take over the federal permitting process that regulates construction in wetlands?

Did not answer

Should Juneteenth be a state holiday?

No

Open-ended questions

How should the state of Alaska set the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend each year?

Follow the existing law and it’s formula that worked quite well foe over 40 years now or we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. Thanks to the prior Walker administration they illegally got their fingers into the cookie jar in my opinion not allowing the people to vote on that supposedly because of former governor Walker and the legislators who went along with him purposefully ran out the regular legislative session so they could continue on in special session to keep the people from voting on that issue for a couple years. All that has been stolen from the people needs to lawfully and rightfully be returned to the people with interest and penalties just like the government treats us if we are late on taxes or payments of any type. As of this year they have stolen over $10,000.00 from each and every Alaskan who qualified for the PFD for that time period. That’s quite a tax. Illegal at that.

What’s the biggest need in your district, and how would you address it?

I believe the biggest need is returning the money stolen from the people via stealing the PFD is at the top of the list especially with the escalating prices on everything today. I believe the people of alaska know how to spend their money better then the government. If you don’t believe me just look at the post office, Medicaid, Medicare, or any of the other governmental agencies they’ve run into the ground. To fix the PFD problem as well as most governmental run a muck problems we need to vote in more then a majority of very conservative legislators who will remain conservative after they get elected. No more rinos or good old boys. We need to usher in change and do it now or we will lose everything. To accomplish this we first of all need to vote for the most conservative legislator, preferably a statesman not in politics for a career. Next we need to spread the word about that individual via calls, texts as well as all the other ways of this electronic world and also spread the word verbally person to person as well. Then you need to be ready to roll up your sleeves and fight to retake our rightful government that is supposed to be by the people for the people. We need to fight to win so we can turn this runaway government train around before it wrecks us all. No matter who is elected they’re not a dictator so they can’t control and handle everything by themselves. Therefore everyone needs to be ready to get as vocal and involved as needed to make sure legislators vote the way their constituents demand and not any other way. It’s time to take a bold stance.

What policies and laws should Alaska follow with regard to abortion?

Alaska needs to be a pro life state. I have yet to see where it has been the baby’s fault for someone getting pregnant yet the baby is the one to suffer via abortion. This isn’t right and we need to step up and defend the defenseless until they can defend themselves. We are missing out on our best future resource by continuing to abort babies. To help simplify the abortion issue think of it this way. Either you’re pro life or you’re pro death. Simple huh? What way do you want this state to be? What was done in this last legislative session was unthinkable because they offered a full PFD which is lawfully ours to begin with only if we fully fund every abortion as well, not to mention the extremely over inflated budget they were trying to pass along with it. Absolutely horrendous. If they have that much money and they do, they need to follow the law and pay the people what’s owed to them plus interest and penalties. If that form of legislation continues what will they hold over your head next time to leverage you to do what they want in return for a full PFD payment that is lawfully your to begin with. It’s time to start seeing the light instead of remaining in the dark about these things. Get involved! Pay attention! Then it will be easy to figure out the best, most conservative candidate to vote for.

How should the state reduce the threat of gun violence and mass shootings?

First of all I don’t believe alaska has much of a threat with mass shootings and or gun violence because so many people carry guns up here. If bad people know that many good people are carrying guns they won’t be stupid enough to try and pull off any evil endeavors I n fear of getting shot. And even if they do they will be eradicated quite quickly. Guns are important. Especially in Alaska. Obviously guns are safe If you consider the millions and millions of people who hunt every year without a single killing that should be enough proof. Unfortunately it’s not hard to be evil and hurt people however that will be reduced tremendously if not totally eradicated if bad people know everyone is carrying a gun and know how to safely use them. So in my opinion the best remedy to your question is arm everyone who is a caring concerned upright citizen wanting to make this state a better safer place to live. On the other hand do not allow guns to get into the hands of unstable people especially with a criminal background or here illegally with the intent to harm this country or its people from within.

How much should a legislator’s faith or religion determine state law and policy?

It’s not a matter of faith but rather what’s right and what works. Just imagine if we as a people followed only a couple of the Ten Commandments like thou shall not steal and though shall not kill. Would this nation be better off or worse off just with them two not to mention the other eight?! It’s a moral issue and as we lose moral values our entire nation declines. Inversely to that as we grow moral values will our country benefit or not? It’s not too hard to figure these things out especially if you are over fifty and know what it’s like to live in a nice peaceful trusting nation. If we keep going on this trajectory we are currently on we will have to make every citizen a police officer but yet even with that extreme it won’t work because then like now all police officers don’t have the moral values necessary to deserve the title of police officer as they should be the most upstanding citizens following and protecting the very laws they enforce. When issues are looked at logically it’s way easier to see the decline we are in concerning this nation.

What should the state do to improve retention of public employees, including teachers?

Government jobs in alaska are almost double the salary of its civilian counterpart. Therefore in my opinion more money isn’t the answer. Before signing the contract to train them and get them up to speed make them sign a five to ten year contract where they can’t leave without breaking that contract involving penalties. That way this state won’t be used as a spring board to train these individuals and give them enough experience to get a job more desirable to them back in their home town etc… at least keep them long enough so we benefit from their training and experience at least enough to break even. We also need to focus on local hiring because that will give locals a good paying job in their hometown with the likely hood of them staying through retirement keeping alaska families together as well.

What does an ideal state ferry system look like?

It would be one that could pay for itself with out government involvement. The government has its fingers into too many enterprises in this state that should be privatized. Government cannot and does not work more efficiently as private corporations. Therefore by giving private enterprise the chance to compete this would be a first good positive step. Incentives from the government could help if needed similar to the bypass mail in this state. No matter what government involvement should be minimal. How many private boats go between ports multiple days of the week. Utilize this force as private enterprise grows. People are very ingenious. Let the people figure more things out. When times get tough the tough keep going.

What, if any, changes does the state need to make to ensure voting is equitable and secure?

Get rid of our current dominion voting systems. Make sure all ballots are from valid citizens legal to vote in this state and this nation. Only use mail out ballots where absolutely necessary. Where there is no other options and make sure to have a witness signature as well as a for sure way to verify the voter’s signature. Mail out ballots are one of the most likely ways to increase voter fraud and corruption. We can’t allow drop boxes to be utilized anymore either as this was a large fraudulent corrupt area as well. In my opinion especially in this little populated state where only less then half a million people actually vote let’s go back to paper ballots and hand counting keeping records of each vote so they can be verified by any people or entities who want to verify not hiding anything but having complete transparency so all people can trust our election system again.

What do you intend to do about the poor returns of salmon in the Yukon and Kuskokwim drainages, and what are the main causes of the problems?

Unfortunately it’s not only limited to the YK area. Many rivers are suffering bad returns of various salmon and all this needs to be rectified and the quicker the better. As far as the YK area goes there is a highly probable cause from commercial fishermen increasing their catch in area M which is known to funnel fish into the YK drainage. Fish is a resource of this state as well as a staple that belongs to all Alaskans so they can fill their freezers helping to feed their families during the long winters. This needs to happen first before special interest groups devour too much and deplete our entire resource. Now with that said there is a place for commercial fishermen and them making a living as well but. It at the expense of the vast majority of the people of alaska doing without this staple. There is a balance to all this and we need to get the cart behind the horse by allowing our escapement goals to be met by at least 75%!or so before allowing commercial fishermen to start catching. Another huge problem is all the huge boats like trawlers raping our waters especially from out of state. They need to be paying large royalties on our resources belonging to this state and its people if and when they even get to fish. In my opinion and from years of reading and researching, over populating the North Pacific waters especially with to many pink salmon appears to be a huge culprit as well. Continually doing this keeps other salmon species from obtaining as much food as they need thus not growing as healthy and as properly because the pink salmon migrate out of the rivers first eating most of the easy pickings of nourishing food such as krill, baby crab and octopus as well as other fish which all the other species of salmon need to live on as well to grow large enough in the allotted time to return at their proper times. This is especially bad when you see all the pink salmon going to waste at these terminal run hatchery fisheries. It makes it quite apparent we don’t need all these hatchery fish introduced into our wild run salmon causing the wild run salmon to have a weakened DNA which weakens the entire salmon run. Unfortunately we may need to close all fishing for a long enough period of time to allow our resource of wild run salmon to replenish. We are almost to that point unfortunately. It will hurt but it will hurt a lot worse if we lose this valuable resource.

What constitutional amendments, if any, do you support?

Anything that will take power from the government and return that power back to the people so we can have a government by the people for the people again. Things that make our society better for the vast majority of people in this state overall would be welcomed as well. We need to make government work for the people again and stop working against the very people who pay for the government to exist and operate. This is what I call using our tax dollars against us to hinder and even harm its citizens. This is also partly why I didn’t answer all the yes and no questions because there are too many variables involved for just a yes or no answer. We need to reform and look very closely at every governmental agency revamping them for efficiency and streamlining them to work better for the people they’re supposed to represent. Government over reach in this state is extremely excessive especially with numerous federal and state as well as local governing agencies all trying to do the same thing. I’ve seen the better part of ten controlling governmental agencies on the kenai river alone. Is that enough or do you think we need more? I think we need way less. Enough waste already. Let’s get together and elect conservative legislators who will remain conservative after being elected so we can turn this runaway government spending and all its associated problems around making the government work for the people and not against us. I’m willing to stand up and fight. Are you willing to stand with me? That’s why I have my slogan that I’ll stand by which reads. “YOUR REAL CHOICE FOR A CONSERVATIVE VOICE”. If you want real change then we have to do things differently then what’s been done for the last few decades up here in alaska especially in our government. No more rinos or good old boys that go along with whatever benefits them but not the people. Let’s all usher this change in together. Government and evil wants to separate us so we continue to bicker against one another not accomplishing anything in reality. Just remember. United we stand. Divided we fall. Please stand with me. Thank you for this opportunity to share a few of my thoughts with you all. If you have further questions and live in the state senate district D which is the northern part of the kenai peninsula feel free to contact me via text, calling, Facebook or via my website. My contact information can be found under Andy cizek and my alaska cell phone number is 9072521704. Call and talk to me. I have nothing to hide. Thanks again for your valuable time.