Real Heroes

We don't always think of heroes in the same way I've been thinking of them this week. To me, real heroes are those who often work behind the scenes. They aren't flashy and out in front of a crowd to have real impact. My hero this week is Jess Kiehl. Jesse is on the staff of Senator Dennis Egan in the Alaska State Legislature. Jesse has worked tirelessly on behalf of our state's public employees to help those coming into service since July of 2006 have a decent retirement to look forward to after years of work. It is Jesse's work to craft the compromise bill which would ultimately pass the State Senate in a 14 to 6 vote. The bill is far from being enacted into law due to opposition in the House, but the hours and hours of effort to create the legislation is nothing short of heroic and historic! Thank you to Jesse and Senator Egan. Thanks also to the fourteen courageous and steadfast Senators who voted to move this bill forward. We applaud your efforts and vow to fight on until this issue is resolved favorably for Alaskans!