Gunny French is running for governor. Hence, it is time for him to rev up the populist pandering.

Nothing gets Alaskans political dander up more than the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD). Any mention of eliminating the free money and the closest thing to real Posse formation takes place.

Anybody remember 2006 when a bill was up to hold PFD checks on military members and college students until they returned to the state? The anger was palpable everywhere. It seemed to escape people's attention that most (70%) of those recipients never return to the state.

To take advantage of this emotion, Gunny and his buddy Harry Crawford today announced a plan to make the PFD a permanent fixture in the Alaska Constitution.

The side swipe is that this needs to be done before we talk about giving tax breaks to the oil companies. This refers to the recent talk of peeling back the oppressive tax rates passes under ACES. Heaven forbid we lower taxes and allow a marginal rate at something less than 80-90%.

Mr. Crawford states, “That’s the most regressive tax we could come up with, is to take money from the PFD.” It makes one wonder if Harry truly understands the definition of tax.

Liberal doctrine has reached a point where the removal of an entitlement is now considered a tax. Gunny and Crawford truly believe it makes more sense to tax Alaskans out of their hard earned money before getting rid of free handouts.

The state has a fiscal problem on the horizon. Oil revenues make up more than 90% of what the state collects. The money is going to dry up even if oil prices stay high because oil production is on the decline.

Juneau also has a spending problem. The operating budget increased 23% in the first year of The Palin, alleged fiscal conservative. Two of the largest capital budgets in state history were also passed. The latter might actually be a great thing except that the items passed were not truly helpful to economic development.

In theory, the idea of a fund that keeps money away from spend happy politicians is a good one. However, this argument has been overused by the conservatives in this state. It is the way they rationalize their own entitlement driven behavior.

The reality is that the PFD has become nothing more than an entitlement to the residents of the state. It has become so expected that people like Crawford and French think people should be using it to cover the cost of living.

It is dangerous to have a check going out to the entire population that is viewed as regular income. It builds government dependency and we already have enough of that in this state. Federal money, federal and state jobs and a lack of any real stake in what things cost plague us.

An income tax should never be considered until after the PFD is abolished. One of the advantages that professionals see when they move to Alaska is the lack of an income tax. A move to tax while maintaining the PFD is a move to drain Alaska of productive people.

None of this matters to a population hooked on an entitlement on both sides of the aisle. Gunny understands this. So does everybody else running for governor or any other office in the state.

Threaten that PFD and you will get shocked. Just ask the few responsible politicians who have suggested it in the past.