You have a choice to make — Outside and Industry money is being used for negative ads and I feel I should respond to those distortions.

I have been a Republican all my life. I believe in the big tent philosophy with a diversity of views — but in the spirit of President Eisenhower, I am leery of the military industrial complex and corporate monopolies having undue influence on our political process.

Paul is a Fiscal Conservative: I’ve always supported a balanced budget of revenue and expenses, and fair value for what we own. In the construction of Governor Palin’s Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share — ACES — I am sometimes called the “Father of progressivity,” which allowed the state to save billions of dollars into the savings account when oil prices were high.

The City of Homer prides itself on having six months of operating fund savings account, while ACES allowed a three-year budget reserve to be built during my tenure. This reserve is now being depleted by not diversifying our revenue.

I was chief architect of a House Bill that will save hundreds of millions in your state bank account by reducing subsidies to oil companies in tax credits. People can talk about tiny reductions but we have to address the big chunks to have a major impact on deficit spending.

Paul works with Republicans and Democrats: I work with everyone who is trying to find solutions for Alaska’s problems. To be in the Republican majority caucus you must agree to vote on the final budget and on procedural motions controlling the flow of legislation. All other issues can be voted to represent your constituents and your personal values. There were 112 votes on bills this year. I voted differently than Speaker Chenault less than 4 percent of the time. The four bills we disagreed on were significant policy matters in which I represented my constituents and my moral philosophy.

Paul Proposed Spending Cuts: I worked with majority and minority members to propose the largest spending cut adopted by the House through oil tax credit reform, which had $1.5 billion more in savings (by 2025) than the Senate version that finally passed. That was one of the votes I disagreed with the Speaker on. I thought it was worthwhile to send the bill back to Conference Committee to fight for that billion and a half dollar cut. This is not the definition of a big spender, but rather me as a fiscal conservative.

Paul Proposed the HB365 Fiscal Plan: I have used my time in the legislature to propose solutions to problems in Alaska. Our biggest problem in the last several years is our reliance on a single source of revenue that will not sustain our budget or economy.

Currently Alaskans pay no tax to support state government. When people pay nothing for their government it disconnects them from holding their officials accountable. Every other state has at least one broad based tax to diversify their revenue sources.

Jay Hammond always regretted that he did not veto the repeal of income tax. Back then we paid 16 percent of federal tax and our state economy was sustained.

I proposed a 15 percent state income tax as a solution, combined with a reduction in the PFD as a sustainable plan for Alaska. That combination has the most equitable impact across the economic segments of the Alaskan population of any plan proposed. You can see this on my website at VotePaulSeaton.com, as well as a 40 question survey taken last year on revenue sources that constituents in District 31 support or oppose.

Paul Supports Open Meetings: I have always worked for open and transparent government. I supported the written ethics law after the VECO corruption scandals that restrict closed caucus to political strategy — not bills or issues. This is quite different than the attitude reported in the Alaska Dispatch News from my Homer opponent who supports decisions being made in closed-door caucus meetings; then members marching in unison and only speaking in support of those decisions, which were made in secret.

Why is the independent expenditure PAC working so hard to get rid of me? Because I will not march in lock step with an industry plan to raid your treasury.

I ask for your vote for Paul Seaton in the Republican Primary.