Most citizens don't understand that most .gov employees, who've been on the job for 15+ years, are taxpayer-funded lottery winners.  With a minimum (and i mean minimum by ak.gov standards) $50K pension and 20 years in retirement  .gov will owe you over $1M after you've stopped working...excluded benefits! I generally support firefighters and law enforcement as far as their role goes, but their compensation packages write the short book on how to become a millionaire.  It's a playbook spanning nearly all ak.gov jobs today.  Begich did (Berkowitz certianly will) jack taxes higher and higher but will never, NEVER, look in the mirror and admit the problem. It's "kick the can down the road" for votes.