Now THAT is an interesting idea. Then again, I have seen some of the potential "jurors" so....hmmmmmmm.....LOL
As for Hugh Malone...you mentioned that he still wasn't sure the PF was a good thing. I wonder why? I can't see any harm to it at all. Seems to me that if the PF was given back to our state government (or gasp, FEDs), it would likely be spent like a credit card thief on a holiday. I prefer that it is doled out to your every-day Alaskan if for nothing else than a testament to the fact that sometimes, just sometimes, the citizens do have some control over state and federal government. LOL
In Juneau I worked two years for a lady who had been Commissioner of Administration under Jay Hammond. She signed the first PFD checks. When they first came out, Gov. Hammond wasn't too sure how they would be received and didn't want to sign them himself.
We've been doing this OFD experiment for quite a while, but I don't think we still know what the long-term consequences of this program will be. Remember, they also started the Longevity Bonus for Senior Alaskans; it started as a way to provide support for people who helped make Alaska what it is, but the courts ruled that it had to be for everybody over a certain age who lived in-state one year. It, too, caused alot of older folks to move to Alaska, and stay in the Alaska Pioneer Homes, etc. Well, when push came to shove that program had to go, and it pissed off all the old-timers when Gov. Murkowski gave it the axe.
Government doesn't usually give away money. Is it really just a subsidy to keep people here who should leave???