At Tuesday's 15th-annual Ecotourism Conference of the Alaska Wilderness Recreation and Tourism Association, Ethan Berkowitz surprised many by stating that mining has a greater potential for Alaska's future than ecotourism. Or all types of tourism, for that matter. His statement surprised both Jake Metcalfe and Diane Benson, and a number of people in the audience. The three Democratic Party candidates for Alaska's sole seat in the U.S. House were presenting ideas and answering questions on a number of issues important to the association in a panel discussion format.Things went downhill from then on for Ethan.
When asked by moderator John Tracy about the current legal troubles of Rep. Don Young, the office-holder the panelists hope to replace appears to be embroiled in, Berkowitz turned on Tracy, stating, "If we're going to change the kind of politics that we're engaged in, we're going to have to lift ourselves up.
"And throwing rocks at an obvious target doesn't elevate the conversation."
People in the audience turned toward each other, wondering. Before the panel began, they might have been in Berkowitz's palm. They were giving each other "WTF?" looks.
Jake Metcalfe was the first to respond, saying, in part, that, "If you're spending $850,000 on legal fees and you're a public servant and you're not telling people what it's for," he said. "How do we know you're doing your job?"
Benson, who has been fighting Young now for two years, and was David to Young's Goliath in 2006, added, "I think that we do need to hold individuals accountable. Sometimes it takes someone strong enough to stand up and say something.
"We've seen this as well with whistleblowers and problems within the oil industry that have not been addressed until a strong individual came forward and did something and said something."
My take, after talking to Benson and Berkowitz supporters afterward, is that Ethan, in spite of his wan wish for "lifting ourselves up," continues to understand what that term means to Alaska voters this cycle less than do Jake and Diane.
image of Don Young by Darkblack
images from the forum by KTUU
2 comments:
I am leaning towards Ethan for the nomination, but if he is pro-pebble that would be a problem for me.
But your post doesn't say he is sharpening his shovel but says that mining has the "potential" to be greater than tourism. So it would be illuminating to know a little more context for the statement.
Also re: Don Young if you look at Ethan's website it has a considerable amount of information about Don and his/our problem. I can understand not wanting to pile on but if you can't hit him and hit him hard, then you are going to go down like a Knowles campaign. That guy was such a gentleman. Loser.
We have a new phrase for failure in Alaska: "Going down like a Knowles campaign."
Try to work it into daily conversation.
Before anyone tries to hammer me with his two win for governor, please let me remind you that he barely won in a recount against Jim Campbell in 1994 (with Coghill taking 14% as an AIP) and then beat a split republican ticket with both John Lindauer (official) and Robin Taylor (party faithful write-in). So there.
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