{"id":121036,"date":"2025-09-16T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/opinion\/letter-to-the-editor-tom-begich-is-committed-to-real-solutions\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T16:46:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T00:46:31","slug":"letter-to-the-editor-tom-begich-is-committed-to-real-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2025\/09\/16\/letter-to-the-editor-tom-begich-is-committed-to-real-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to the Editor: Tom Begich is committed to real solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have lived in Alaska for over 54 years, and my family has been here since before statehood. Like many Alaskans, I&rsquo;m tired of the same speeches about crime and homelessness year after year while nothing changes. Tom Begich knows it&rsquo;s time for real solutions. He&rsquo;s proven he can deliver &mdash; working across party lines to pass the Alaska Reads Act, raising literacy rates for our kids. That same results-driven approach is exactly what he&rsquo;ll bring to Alaska&rsquo;s toughest challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Tom understands crime, homelessness, addiction, and mental health are all connected. We can&rsquo;t just shuffle people around or cycle them through the system again and again. Safer communities require both strong support for law enforcement and smart prevention. That means holding people accountable, but also investing in addiction treatment, mental health care, and recovery programs that actually help people rebuild their lives.<\/p>\n<p>And Tom knows lasting change requires opportunity. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s committed to creating good-paying jobs for Alaskans &mdash; so people not only recover, but can support their families and contribute to our communities. By linking treatment, mental health services, and job training, Tom will break the cycle that drives crime and homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>This isn&rsquo;t about politics &mdash; it&rsquo;s about people. Safer neighborhoods, stronger families, and a brighter future. Tom Begich is committed to real solutions, not empty promises. Because Alaskans deserve more than words &mdash; we deserve results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This isn&rsquo;t about politics &mdash; it&rsquo;s about people <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":121037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,8],"tags":[669],"class_list":["post-121036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters","category-opinion","tag-letter-to-the-editor"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Letter to the Editor: Tom Begich is committed to real solutions - Juneau Empire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2025\/09\/16\/letter-to-the-editor-tom-begich-is-committed-to-real-solutions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letter to the Editor: Tom Begich is committed to real solutions - Juneau Empire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This isn&rsquo;t about politics &mdash; it&rsquo;s about people\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2025\/09\/16\/letter-to-the-editor-tom-begich-is-committed-to-real-solutions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Juneau Empire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-17T06:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-25T00:46:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/09\/40322615_web1_typewriter-HOM-220224.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1365\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Wire Service\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Wire Service\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2025\/09\/16\/letter-to-the-editor-tom-begich-is-committed-to-real-solutions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2025\/09\/16\/letter-to-the-editor-tom-begich-is-committed-to-real-solutions\/\",\"name\":\"Letter to the Editor: Tom Begich is committed to real solutions - Juneau Empire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2025\/09\/16\/letter-to-the-editor-tom-begich-is-committed-to-real-solutions\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2025\/09\/16\/letter-to-the-editor-tom-begich-is-committed-to-real-solutions\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/09\/40322615_web1_typewriter-HOM-220224.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-17T06:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-25T00:46:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a55308a565b50b2e68081f4b0ef3c2ef\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2025\/09\/16\/letter-to-the-editor-tom-begich-is-committed-to-real-solutions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2025\/09\/16\/letter-to-the-editor-tom-begich-is-committed-to-real-solutions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2025\/09\/16\/letter-to-the-editor-tom-begich-is-committed-to-real-solutions\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/09\/40322615_web1_typewriter-HOM-220224.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/09\/40322615_web1_typewriter-HOM-220224.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1365,\"caption\":\"A vintage Underwood typewriter sits on a table on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, at the Homer News in Homer, Alaska. 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