So goes Alaska, goes Indian Country

[Blue_In_AK]

From Indian Country Today re Alaska's 2014 gubernatorial race: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/30/so-goes-alaska-goes-indian-country-byron-mallotts-campaign-gov-151993

<snip>

Two things make Mallott’s candidacy important. First, he has a shot. And second, he will be at the top of the ticket, the most important race in the state of Alaska. That means he sets the tone for other candidates running for office across this huge state. And, for Indian country, it means there is one campaign with the potential to generate excitement nationally. This promotes a cycle of success: The more media stories are generated about a Native candidate, the more interest in this campaign – and the idea of voting – and that begs the possibility of higher turnout across Indian country.

Mallott’s biography is a compelling Alaska story. He’s from Yakutat, in Southeast Alaska, and is a member of the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe. He is also the clan leader of the Kwaashk'i Kwáan of the Raven people. He has a long resume that includes jobs in state government, Native corporations, a board member for Alaska Air Group, mayor of two towns including Juneau, and has served every Alaska governor in some sort of capacity since statehood in 1959. He was also board chair and CEO of Sealaska Corporation.

At the Alaska Federation of Natives convention last week in Fairbanks, Mallott talked about the legacy from the “giants” who have come before, those leaders whose values influenced his parents and grandparents. “The values, the sense of connection to a place, that makes us who we are. We say the Native community with a powerful sense of certainty that we know who we are,” he said. “I am so very proud to be an Alaska Native. To know that I am a first Alaskan. But I also know I am an Alaskan first. That it was this place. This extraordinary land. This place that is really another country, that has the beauty, the resource wealth, that in any other place would make us a sovereign nation. Yet we are proud to be a state in the union of the United States.”

“We are also a state, a country, a nation, with a very small population. Three-quarters of a million people is the size of a medium-sized city in another part of our nation,” Mallott said. “Yet we inhabit the largest land mass in our nation. It is for Alaska’s Native peoples a land mass that pulses and reverberates with our history and our traditions and our ties to land. And our profound realization that this is from where we come, where we will always be, and when time might end, we will still be in this incredibly beautiful place, the cradle of our ancestors.”

<snip>

Alaska's 2014 governor's race will definitely be one to watch.

On the Republican side, we have returning governor Sean Parnell, the Koch Brothers wet dream, who is hell bent on extracting every nonrenewable resource he can from the state, who last year rammed through a $2 billion a year tax cut for the Big Three oil companies (ConocoPhillips, BP and Exxon), who is in favor of the Pebble Mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, and who wants to dig up 11 miles of salmon streams across Cook Inlet to extract low-grade coal to export to China. The oil giveaway has made him a lot of enemies...we will have a referendum on the ballot next August (primary election) to overturn the law.

Running against him as an independent is Bill Walker, who up until this year was a Republican (and still is at heart, albeit one of the more reasonable ones). His main platform is overturning SB21, the oil tax bill, and building a large diameter pipeline from the North Slope to Valdez to export natural gas. He is born-and-raised Alaskan and his political philosophy is more closely aligned with former governors Jay Hammond and Wally Hickel, who were outspoken proponents of the "owner state," Alaska's clearly socialistic constitutional provision, the basis for our permanent fund dividend. On this, he clearly differs from Sean Parnell, who is obviously in favor of the "owned state," i.e., owned by Big Oil.

Until Byron Mallott's entry into the race, a lot of Democrats and Independents I know were planning to vote for Walker, since past experience with running Anchorage Democrats has been dismal, at best. He's a nice guy (I've temped for him back in my legal secretary days), and although he holds a lot of traditional Republican beliefs (pro-life, etc.), he's less likely to make a big deal out of those than Sean, who is a "true believer."

A lot of Democrats and left-leaning independents that I know are still ticked at Byron Mallott for throwing his support (and the support of the Alaska Federation of Natives) to Lisa Murkowski's write-in campaign in the 2010 senatorial election instead of supporting Democrat Scott McAdams. They were, to a large extent, motivated by fear of Joe Miller (justified). Scott McAdams was relatively unknown and was basically recruited by the state Democratic party as a place-holder to run against Miller. Many Dems here were relieved when Lisa, a known quantity, decided to run her write-in campaign.

A lot more of us, though, are pragmatic about Mallott's run and can forgive his very public support of Lisa. He is a Democrat, supports the Democratic platform, has statewide appeal, is not from Anchorage (a plus when courting rural votes), and is abundantly qualified. My friend Diane Benson, who ran as a Democrat for Congress twice, supports him wholeheartedly, which is good enough for me.

Alaska is a long way from being a hotbed of liberalism, but we could become a hotbed of rational thought (see, e.g., Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski) with the election of Byron Mallott. I think he has a good chance.

[Wounded Bear]

1. K & R..nt