Sent in by Dave Otness

Major change is in the air and the pendulum swing can’t come soon enough, as the verbal civil war in which we’re engaged has gotten increasingly shrill and strident. What a wonderful time to confound both the Republican and Democratic Parties by supporting both.

Sarah Palin and Diane Benson are two independent people of courage and principle, neither of whom is receiving active support on a level expected for party standard bearers because they are expressing the true sentiments of their potential constituents, not the agenda driven desires of their respective parties’ idealogues. In particular, Diane Benson is being slighted by a defeatist attitude within her party by its refusal to acknowledge Don Young’s vulnerability in this election cycle.

Why support Palin and Benson? Both Tony Knowles and Don Young have glaring histories of not being able to balance the public’s checkbook on the state and national levels. Yet their supporters keep filing back to the trough because the money train stops there, albeit often at Alaska’s expense. Republican bigwigs, including former Young staffers, are flocking to the Knowles campaign. Democrats such as Bill Sheffield, et al, are throwing their support to Young. Well, good for us because in losing this election they will have helped break the chain which is dragging our state and nation down. We definitely need to make changes when conscientious legislators are excoriated and excluded from the majority power structure because they actually tried to effect campaign promises.

On the national level Don Young is a proud pack leader but could soon lose his much vaunted power in part because of his associate, [ret.] Rep. Tom DeLay, and DeLay’s buddy, Jack Abramoff; both indicted, and $20,000 in donations to Young being questioned as originating from Abramoff. Brother Don blocked the reform of employment practices and minimum wage standards in the Northern Marianas [U.S.] where Chinese companies with American names were [are?] abusing native workers in conditions then U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski called “deplorable and unacceptable on American soil.” Sen. Murkowski introduced a bill to correct this and it passed the Senate unanimously, but was then blocked in the House by Don Young. Coincidentally, that is precisely what Jack Abramoff’s clients desired. That makes me real proud of our only representative to the country and the world at large. With the stage set by the Republicans themselves for the Democrats to win there won’t be any plum committee chairmanships. Time to come home, Don. Come home and spend that magnificent pension and health care package.

I ask the People, what better time than now to make the inevitable transition of power that has been looming on Alaska’s political horizon? We may as well bite the bullet of decreased federal funding and actively work with Diane and Sarah to gain a fresh perspective of where we want to go with our state.

Experience, Mr. Knowles? The Performing Arts Center, The Whittier Tunnel, the Alaska Seafood Plant, Anchorage Airport Terminal “C”, the giveaway of oil at Alpine, melting down seized firearms, your failure to assist the seafood industries, your hubris which led to this naming frenzy of public facilities for still living political egotists. You led the first attempt to raid the P.F.D. to save your projects with their ever present cost overruns and failures. It’s no gambling with Knowles, it’s a sure bet he’ll spray money like a dog on a fire hydrant. He’s never won a straight-up election state-wide. Third party candidates and wingnuts, indeed. Lisa Murkowski did not win over the electorate when defeating Knowles in 2004, instead we held our collective nose and voted against Tony even while despising her appointment.

Alaskans, it’s time to re-discover those things which we hold in common, not the divisive screeching we’ve been forced to endure. Sarah Palin and Diane Benson can work together and Alaska can set an example for the nation to behold. God knows we need it and we need it now, because we’re sick and tired of the future suspiciously looking like the past.
David J .Otness
Lifelong Alaskan