I’m writing to let my friends and neighbors know, those in federal and nonprofit jobs, who have lost jobs or are under threat of losing jobs, just how much I support them and feel for them in this terrible and bizarre situation.

So many of our public service employees went into these jobs because they care deeply: About the people that they serve, the environment they protect for our collective use and enjoyment, the fish and shellfish they manage for sustainability and profitability. I am so sorry that our public servants have been targeted.

I have spent my adult life observing the rhetoric against “government workers” becoming increasingly inflamed. For much of that time I worked for the State of Alaska, while the Legislature and governor ratcheted down funding and pay for state workers, making the difficult work we did close to impossible. It’s even worse now than it was when I left state service several years ago.

What we’re seeing right now is the culmination of that rhetoric, a 45-year effort to vilify, underpay and overwork government workers: “Let’s just fire them now!”

For all of us, when we complain about the poor service we get when we are dealing with federal or state workers, we need to remind ourselves that it is not the people serving us, but rather this determined long-term effort to break the government. If we think government service is bad now, it’s about to become much worse.

Please be kind to our friends and neighbors. I reiterate what I began this letter with, a message for my colleagues and friends in federal and nonprofit service: I am so sorry.

Michelle Hale

Juneau