Erin McKittrick has posted what may be her best essay yet on her and her husband's trek from Seattle to Unimak Island. They've been in Anchorage since January 25. They're considering moving onward this coming weekend. A while before I read erin's post, I watched Bill McAllister's weird KTUU-TV interview with Gov. Sarah Palin about the strange situation facing the Alaska Game Board. Palin has recently announced three new appointments to the Board of Game, all Great White Hunters who live on the road system. One nominee withdrew today. There currently are none of Alaska's First People on the board.
Palin, when questioned by McCallister about this, hemmed and hawed, stating that her husband is an Alaska Native, so, so - so are their kids. She seemed to be improvising as she talked.
WTF, Sarah?
Are you too busy helping Todd get ready for the Iron Dog to get beyond the space the people who live in the Iron Dog world live within? Are you so tied into behind-the-scenes trade-offs with legislators and lobbyists during this short session, as you attempt to broker audacious development plans in an unprecedented way, that this important issue has been bartered away?
Sen. Albert Kookesh of Angoon stated today that "it's a moral imperative for Gov. Palin to appoint a native" to the board.
Kookesh is absolutely right.
And while you're at it, Governor, read erin's essay. I guarantee that you'll learn something. erin doesn't address this particular issue at all. She writes about wisdom. And about time. And about understanding our state from a coastal, low impact viewpoint.
Reading McKittrick learn how to write on this journey is a lot better than if Thoreau had walked around Walden Pond 5,000 times, instead of 250. Or if McCandless had owned a pack raft. Or if Hemmingway had skipped all those beer breakfasts on his treks. Or even if Rachel Carson had been able to come along with erin and hig.
Update: - Saturday at 11:15 a.m. -- Friday, Governor Palin appointed Craig Fleener, a biologist, USAF officer, longtime-Ft. Yukon resident, and past executive director of the Council of Athabaskan Tribal Governments to the vacancy on the game board.
3 comments:
Good point, Phil. And more than just a token Native on the board-- this isn't like these people don't know anything about Western Ways and are going to the meetings in fur togas and carrying clubs. Getting some Alaskan Natives in who have lived in the Bush, who have lived subsistence lifestyles at least for portions of their lives, is a boon to all of Alaska.
Do you think she intentionally chose WASPs or do you think she just never thought about it?
I think she didn't think about it; from the beginning, she has done the bidding of the Alaska Outdoors Council, a pro-sport hunting and virulently anti-subsistence group. No doubt the names just percolated up through the system, and were not subject to any particular scrutiny on the 3rd Floor (Gov's Office).
Recall how long it took for Ron Somerville to leave the Board after his transparently racist comments last year. But no doubt Gov. Palin just doesn't get it; "Never assume cupidity when stupidity will suffice" seems a particularly apt way to characterize many of her decisions and the performance of many in her administration.
I agree with AlaskaVet that she didn't put much thought into it. Part of why she was caught so off-guard in the McCallister KTUU interview Thursday.
McCallister was talking about this with CC at KUDO today. I missed part of it, but it seems the Guv was a bit surprised that people want to make an issue of having a Native on the Game Board.
She's known Arno and Somerville for a long time. When I've talked with both of those guys in the past, they came off as a lot more reasonable in general conversation than they are about their core hunting and motorized access issues.
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