Mayor's forum on Alaska Native issues today

If you can't make this event (or are reading this after) the Alaska Native Professional Association has a live Webcast of it, and will have a transcription and audio of it after the event. I'll post it when it comes on.

Boring election, exciting times for Native politics

So the municipal election was pretty yawn-worthy - and pretty much what everyone thought would happen did happen. Sullivan vs. Croft in a runoff. Anchorage-ites determined they don't want to spend a dime on anything except fire safety (and possibly public transit.) Even after attending a candidate forum, I could only eliminate candidates, not get excited about them. Would you believe I was more invested in the school board elections?

But there are some interesting bits of Native political news, big and small.

U.S. Supreme Court rules against Native Hawaiian's land claims

I don't think this shocked anyone, this is sort of history as usual, but some important notes to "bring it home."

1. I would love for Palin's AG pick to reassess his view that OUR Native land claims (ANCSA) had no benefit for Native or non-Native Alaskans. The struggle to get land claims settled in Hawaii and the Lower 48 is a good example of just what benefits both Alaskan parties continue to receive from this.

2. The supreme court ruling that the official apology by Hawaii for their actions had no standing in this case SHOULD open the doors for official apologies from many other entities. Without fear of legal ramifications, it could pry out some official apologies.

Native people in Alaskan political news

Joe Nelson

Palin's second pick for the open dem seat in Juneau, after her first pick got soundly rejected. From all accounts, Nelson's a good guy - who is not involved in the general democratic political scene. Meaning... no experience. I mean NO experience. He's a board member of Sealaska and Sealaska Heritage Institute - the Southeast Alaska Native regional for-profit corp and nonprofit corp, works at the U of A Southeast - as well as being a Tlingit (Alaska Native) man and husband of former representative Mary Nelson.

Board membership and a good job is one thing - but why is Palin selecting someone who has never voluntarily run for anything except board membership? If he really wanted to be in office... why hasn't he ever tried to do so? I'll lob my views from the side here - I think it's the people of Juneau, the ones he'll be representing, that should have the bigger voice on this. But I do find it all very strange.

Jeannie Mackie

An Athabascan (?) self-described stay-at-home-home mom married to former Senate Majority Leader Jerry Mackie. She was chosen to fill the school board vacancy and this is her first time running for anything. There is "less than a percentage point" separating her and Mia Costello as of midnight. I've heard it said that she part of why she wants to run is to help the Native student situation out in Anchorage, but can't find material/news bits about that either on her site or in the news.

James Labelle

Here's a guy I'm hoping will keep it up. The seat will go to Kathleen Plunkett, but Labelle got a pretty respectable 17-18% for a first run at something. Young guy, and son of Jim Labelle, a big ANCSA name. He comes from a pretty political family, not to mention a family I respect quite a bit, so I hope he'll step out and define himself really well, and keep at it.

Walt Monegan

His name was famous as the top cop who got the boot from Palin in the whole "Troopergate" issue, though it looks pretty definite he's not going to be mayor this time around. He's a guy who could really make a difference, and was trying to do just that, for rural Alaska and Native issues. He was already working on it when he got the axe. He's lived both rural and urban, is of mixed-Native heritage (Tlingit and I THINK Yup'ik... but don't quote me on the Yup'ik) and a decent, smart man. This was his first run for elected office, and I'm hoping he's really going to find his niche in the world soon. We could use him.

And in case you missed it...

The Alaska Federation of Natives,
Association of Village Council Presidents and
the Alaska Native Brotherhood/Alaska Native Sisterhood Grand Camp #70 (Glacier Valley - Juneau)

These are three Native organizations that have voted to oppose Sarah Palin's attorney general pick, Wayne Anthony Ross. Check out my previous posts for details. Suffice it to say that they are my organizational heroes right now. And please let me know if you see any other organizations - Native or non-Native - taking a stand on this issue!

In all - and I feel as if I'm repeating myself here - this can be a really exciting time for Alaska Native politics.

Alaska Native Regional Corp. hosting Anchorage mayoral candidate forum

Monegan article on Sexual Abuse

A MUST READ. Walt Monegan's article on sexual abuse in the Alaska Dispatch.

This is what needs to be talked about - solutions! The stats are bad, so what can we do about it?

From the article:

Too often the abused grow up to become victims or abusers and the ugly cycle of pain continues. Ignoring the violent realities our neighbors and children are faced with daily is not an option. We have the resources, both financially and intellectually, to protect victims of physical and sexual violence and yet few policymakers have dedicated the time and thoughtfulness to a realistic solution would require...

...Every major change in history began in one place with just a few dedicated individuals who believed in something larger than themselves.

I hope the other mayoral candidates will begin addressing issues like these, the "taboo" or just incredibly difficult issues to address. I've been wading in this stuff lately, in projects I am doing, at least with Alaska Native abuse, and the more you look, the more discouraging it can be. But imagine the impact of leadership at the local, state and national level giving these issues the thought and attention they deserve, not just hoping (meager) funding will do it - money isn't going to solve these problems, strategy and hard work is.

Alaska villages facing a generational problem

Today at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, Alaska Native leaders will be talking about the problem of inmigration. I have heard this covered in various Anchorage Daily News articles and on the local news, but much of the local coverage is focused on the local problems - more stress and impact on Anchorage. Mayor Begich and Superintendent Comeau recently released a letter to Governor Palin regarding the problem. Senator Murkowski had a meeting in Septmeber about it. This coverage and local focus isn't a problem - all politics is local. Mayor Begich yesterday in his newsletter:

Human Service Providers Focus on New Rural Residents.
As evidence mounts of a large number of rural Alaskans moving to Anchorage, Mayor Mark Begich is working with local agencies to improve public services, from affordable housing to food assistance. Begich met with about a dozen Anchorage human service agency officials last week. They reported hundreds of rural Alaskans moving to Anchorage, in part because of skyrocketing energy prices and lack of economic opportunities. The Anchorage School District has more than 420 new rural students and other agencies report increased demand for services. The officials are compiling their new service needs and plan to seek assistance from the State, which provides modest support at best.

And though this is a problem, it doesn't begin to touch the problem in the villages. The stress on the cities may be a problem - MAY, because I can't figure why a huge population increase is a "boom" and measure of progress sometimes, and just a stress on the city in others.

In any case, it is the villages that are really losing on this one. Just in school funding alone, each student lost is lost funding. There are some villages - big villages even - that are now at half the students they were just a few years ago. They are having to shut down classes, buildings, and in one case, at least, the principal of the high school became principal of k-12. Then, with further lost students, the superintendent became the principal. They're losing positions, classes, resources and students left and right. And that's just the effect on the schools, not the rest of the community.

The reasons for the inmigration are many, but the huge influx right now is mostly due to energy costs. Juneau has been fairly notorious lately for its high energy costs. Yet a nearby village's energy costs - after subsidies - is literally eight times the cost. A family in the village will spend several hundred dollars a month on electricity alone. Total energy costs for some families exceed $2,000 a month. Add that to less jobs, and lower paying to begin with, and you've got an energy crisis that is not an inconvenience - it is truly a crisis.

Jobs, leadership, a generation of children - so much is being lost from the villages, yet I think the economic impact is being focused on even more than the long-term effects. The cultural loss, the leadership loss, the impacts of children who might be raised in smaller classrooms with a culturally relevant base who will now be raised in a huge classroom with no cultural base - I can't even begin to cover all the impacts, really.

I don't think we will see the true effects for some years, maybe the next generation. But we have the evidence of the past - and not such a long time ago past - that shows us what can happen when a generation of people is suddenly apart from its cultural base.

Everybody loves Begich

Or at least all the convention-goers love Begich! From all across the nation, these Democrats love to talk about Mark Begich.

I assumed people would not know him by name, being an Anchorage mayor. Although everyone is mentioning the Stevens corruption (more on that later in the week,) I figured that Begich would be more known as just "the democrat" that is finally really challenging Stevens - and not well-known outside of Alaska.

Boy was I wrong.

From the more expected places, like the AFL-CIO rep at the delegate meeting (see earlier post) shouting (and I mean shouting!) "God bless Mayor Begich!" - to delegates to press to people we meet on the street and light-rail, the people are rooting for Begich. Some of them have asked us to "Tell Begich, 'Good job!'" or "Tell that Mayor of yours to keep it up!"

I met these two gentlemen (above) when they were talking right by me, and I overheard the name "Mark Begich." The guy on the left, from Trick or Vote (actually a pretty cool idea - take a look) laughed when I interrupted and asked if they were talking about Mayor Begich - "You must be from Alaska!"

But the guy on the right, the one who brought up the name Begich, is from London! (That's like the third guy I've met from London...) He's absolutely certain Begich will take the election.


These are two Texas delegates, and were so excited when they heard we were from Alaska. They are cheering on the "red to blue" movement, but were really cheering on Mark Begich. They gave us some encouraging messages to take back to him (I think everyone also assumes all Alaskans know all other Alaskans,) and actually knew a decent amount of his political and personal background.


Celtic Diva wears a Begich button, to which I've witnessed a few, "Mark Begich... hey, are you from Alaska?"

Just yesterday alone, I talked with people from Wisconsin, Colorado, California, Washington (state), Tennessee, Florida, West Virginia, New York, Rhode Island, Oregon, Iowa, Maryland, Texas and England who all knew of Mark Begich and his run for the U.S. Senate seat, and were cheering on Alaskans to get him there.

Alaska Natives for Obama

Press conferences in Anchorage and Fairbanks yesterday - Alaska Natives for Obama.

From the Fairbanks Daily News Miner:

Lee noted the brisk Arctic wind blowing across the field as she spoke,
saying it was a sure sign that a cold winter is on its way.
“This wind of change is blowing across the nation, and Sen. Obama’s vision is the only one that can improve our lives,” she said.

In another Obama/Fairbanks event, the Fairbanks mayor will be speaking at the convention on the 26th - the republican mayor has endorsed Sen. Obama.