The Daily Alaska empire., 1951-07-16
Communication

ze &sNt The Empire Carried an editorial Friday which commented on the controversial Reorganization Act and the events leading up to it's Isigning by the Governor.
 George Sundborg, consultant to the Alaska Development Board takes high exception to it's content in a letter to The Empires pub fisher dated Friday and received at the paper at II am. Saturday we go to press at l pm. on Sat urdays)
 We wish to point out that no newspaper is obliged to give space to non-news matter in conflict with its standards and policy. Or is any newspaper obliged to print matter it knows to be inaccurate and mis- leading.
 Normally, letters of this char- acter are discarded without reply. However, to give Sundborg a voice, we are printing his entire letter, plus a note he attached to it. The tenor of his note speaks his small ness of attitudes toward democra- tic processes; the tenor of his letter speaks his regard for the truth.
 So Empire readers may know the truth, we are answering his letter in our editorial columns.
 His note and letter follow:
 Note
 If there was any decency in your outfit, you would manage to get this in today's paper while the pub lie still has in mind what your ed itorial said.
 But I don't really expect it.
 (Signed) Geo
 Long live the free and fearless press!'
 Dear Madam:
 Your editorial effort in tonights ElIlplIG JO ildhC ClldCIilCilI oi IiiS 2Cth Legislatures Governmental Reorganization Act appear now to- have been plot to untreeze S10,00O for George Sundborg's Develop ment Board" will not mislead any, one who has followed recent Terri torial affairs with any degree of attention.
 The Act, in whose preparation and promotion neither George Sundborg nor the Alaska Develop ment Board had any part whatso- ever, was in it's final amended form approved by the votes of 35 of the 40 members of the Legisla- ture. It was designed to put the Territory's financial affairs in or der, to introduce the principles of good management into the conduct of public business and to insure that in the purchasing of print ing and other supplies and services the Territory will get it's moneys worth. For one reason or another, these reforms are opposed by vo- cal minority, including The En- pire.
 Your editorial leaves the impress sion that majority of the previous Board of Administration voted against unfreezing funds needed to enable the Alaska Development Board to operate. You say of this attempt. Motion failed to 2" and Motion failed 3 to L. Actually the three votes in each case were in favor of the motion, which failed only because the old law required lat least four affirmative votes of the Board of Administration on any action. Because there were two members of the Board out of town (and both had declared themselves !. in favor of the action), a minority consisting in one case of but two | men and in the other of single individual, was able to block the will of the majority. You do not mention either that the reason advanced by the minor itv at that time for taking its stand was that a new Board of Administration would be seated in few days and that since the Leg islature had acted to change the membership, the old Board should leave all decisions to the new body. Now this same minority maintains that the new Board is illegally con- stituted
 Yours for more light and less heat in the reporting of Territorial 1 affairs.
 (Signed) George Sundborg.