North Dakota is not Alaska. Our governor sports a stylish mustache as opposed to trendy eyeglasses, and our oil reserves simply are not comparable.

I hear a lot of people, including Cindy Morse in her Sept. 22 letter, talking about how passing Measure 1 will put North Dakota on track to dole out checks for everyone. The reality is that North Dakota's oil production is nowhere near Alaska's.

Alaska produced 722,000 barrels of oil per day in 2007. When you consider that North Dakota produced just 123,000 barrels of oil last year, you realize quickly that there simply is no comparison. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Alaska never had a year in which it produced less than a million barrels per day. North Dakota's oil production is great, but not "like Alaska's."

As for Alaska's wonderful checks: They were never meant to be permanent. They were given out in 1982 as a dividend for that year only. But, everyone loves getting money for doing nothing, and Alaskans came to expect it. In 1999, oil was only $9 a barrel and Alaska was struggling to pay for roads and schools, you know, projects that the oil trust fund was originally intended to fund. The state asked voters if it could use some of the oil money for these projects and 84 percent of the voters said no.

Morse talked about a need for property tax relief, income tax relief and assistance for potential hardship this winter. Measure 1 will lock away almost half of our budget surplus and if the poorly written Measure 2 also passes, there will be no money for any of the relief she desires or those wonderful checks.

If you are like Morse and need balanced tax relief today, your safest bet is to vote "no" on Measures 1 and 2. Our mustachioed governor has proposed a balanced plan for tax relief, and has said that he opposes both measures. Forgive me, but I trust him more than I trust the people who think that North Dakota can be "like Alaska."