Don Young AGAIN

Well, it looks pretty definitive. Alaska went for the blowhard, rather than the man who might have been able to do something for us in the changed political landscape: Berkowitz. What a bunch of doofuses in the electorate...

The Stevens/Begich race, however, isn't quite there yet:

Stevens, 84 and a 40-year incumbent, led his Democratic challenger, Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, by fewer than 3,400 votes, with more than 55,000 absentee, early and questioned ballots remaining to be counted. If he wins, Stevens would be the first felon elected to the U.S. Senate.
Even if Stevens wins, he could still be forced from office.

Many top Republican leaders in the Senate have called on him to resign, and some Senate leaders have threatened to expel him.

(San Jose Mercury News, 11/05/08)

Skulduggery by Nenana Creative Arts

that, or ineptitude. Alaskans for Clean Elections just sent out a press release regarding some dirty tricks perpetrated by the Don Young campaign via an Anchorage sign vendor, Nenana Creative Arts, owned by Joseph Law. It seems that canvassers hired by the company were given flyers bashing Ethan Berkowitz (Young's Democratic contender) that had a disclaimer on it that said "Paid for by Alaskans for Clean Elections." Well, er, actually, the flyers were paid for by the Young campaign. Nenana Creative Arts, which apparently has been involved in dodgy shenanigans before, was paid $6,403 for signs and sign placement by Young's campaign.

Alaskans for Clean Elections is NOT pleased: they are nonpartisan, and state categorically that "AFCE had no part in, nor does the group participate in partisan campaign activities." They are quite probably going to file an FEC complaint (the flyer was not only fraudulent in claiming who paid for it, it had no contact address on it, as required by federal law).

It really would make no sense for Alaskans for Clean Elections to support any given candidate, as it would hurt their credibility as a nonpartisan campaign finance reform group. But it would certainly give a veneer of credibility to be endorsed by them. Briefly. Until anybody with half a brain figured it out that a partisan hit piece would most certainly not be instigated or paid for by a group working to clean up campaigns.

Progressive Alaska has a bit more information on this. The best bit is that the flyer, which talks about how Berkowitz received some money from VECO, naturally does not say that Don Young received 116 times as much from them as did Mr. B.

Had a talk with Ethan

I had a thoroughly enjoyable discussion with Ethan Berkowitz yesterday evening. Of course, it only got rolling just before he had to leave. I'm going to be writing up an article for the next issue of the Republic, and plan to interview him via phone later to get some more details (and, of course, quotable quotes).

One of the things that struck me was how animated he became when we started talking about local agriculture and food sustainability—he lit up and started talking a mile a minute, all about Bernie Karl's plans for lettuce and Chena Hot Springs, the Jones Act (which I have to do some reading up on), and the estimate of a mere three days' food in the stores should our transportation links to Seattle be shut down. (And incidentally, the state's emergency food supplies are stored in Oregon, according to Kim Sollien of the Anchorage Daily News. Talk about stupid planning.)

Nice to see a candidate for national office getting so enthusiastic about something that's good for the long-range future of the state and the country, and in so many ways.

More later.

Drop that Don!

The Alaska Democratic Party is finally going after Don Young with some teeth: they've created a website called DropDon.com, and it is just chock FULL of details about Rep. Young's sordid history as The Congressman for All Alaska. Blech.

Diane Benson is running again for the Democratic Party nomination; she came close in the 2006 election, and this time it's looking like she'll have more support. Act Blue has a page up for her. She'll have competition, though. Looks like Mark Begich, Ray Metcalfe, and Ethan Berkowitz are thinking about running, too.

I hope to god she gets her website updated and redesigned, though. It looks clonky and ugly and awkward...

Got a call from Ethan

Well, this is interesting. Tonight I came home and there was a message from Ethan Berkowitz, the other Democratic candidate for governor, saying he'd heard I was interested in renewables, and he'd like to talk with me about it. Man's got his ear to the ground! Or perhaps his eye on the Internet.

Dang. I like being taken for a member of the press. Given that the paper's been around for seven years, it's about time.

But he's right: I am very interested in candidate positions on renewable energy. I should do a series of articles.

Of course, the primary is still months and months away, but already there are at least three who've declared: Sarah Palin, a Republican, is the third so far. All the rest of the Republicans are apparently waiting to see what Murkowski does. No Green, Republican Moderate, or Libertarian yet, but the filing deadline is in June and the primary is in August, so we've got a while yet.