I watched all the debates. Mary Peltola has never done anything foolish, but neither has she ever said anything wise. She trades for her own account as we all do, but she identifies her constituency as only a small subset of Alaskans when she tells the rest of us that we should be satisfied that she supports fish, families and veterans. Who doesn’t? And what in the world does that really mean?
She held out in the Alaska House to bring expensive projects to the rural Yukon-Kusko region in return for her deciding vote in converting PERS & TRS to defined contribution, but which of those projects can be remembered or even identified today? Which village became self-sufficient upon completion of those projects?
Our entire state economy looks to government spending for food, healthcare, childcare, housing and investment. No state suffers as much from the federal borrowing and spending debacle because we produce so little while consuming so much; too much bought from outside, and too little produced here for trade leaves us the most vulnerable. We are 700,000 living on 400,000 barrels of oil and a Permanent Fund that loses spending power every day. Mary claims credit for bringing federal money home to the bush while not understanding the spending causes the very inflation we fear and feel every day. No matter which party wins the White House and Congress, inflation will return big time come Nov. 6 because the 50%, 60% and 70% raises are paid at the end of the supply chain — which is us. Interest rates will need to trend higher and federal banks will chase their tails. In every debate Mary has made it clear this is all beyond her understanding.
As I watched those debates it was also clear that Nick Begich understands our economic and fiscal predicament while Mary does not. The economy we planned to build with our oil wasn’t built and we are all to blame. Drone manufacturing, seed potato prodigy, water supplied to the southwest, cold climate data storage, plastics and fertilizer hegemony, natural gas pipeline, Watana dam, carbon credit magnate, hemp farming, and missile launch dreaming disappeared as soon we stopped paying consultants. Mary is our misspent past, and sending her minority voice back to Washington would convert the office from a quaint embarrassment to a grave impediment.
The Washington to which we sent Ted, Frank and Don (and what a great job they did) was entranced by Alaska, but that time is very distant. The investment banking firms that urge dismantling TAPS went from billions to trillions in measuring their capital while we were focused on food stamps and funding the state budget.
The debates also revealed that Mary is trending toward being imperious, always a hapless sign in a public official. As a first impression she can appear as a heroine of excellent parts and not at all vain, but soon revealed as splenetic. She might be bound for Dancing with the Stars, or Saturday Night Live but Nick will explain Alaska and help us find our place in this century. Mary looks backward to seek even more deficit spending, but it’s Nick who shares our realistic vision for Alaska: so please be sure to vote that way.
• Tom Boutin moved to Juneau from Haines in 1983. He is retired, and has a background in public finance and forestry.
