Sunday, February 1, 2009

Sen. Mark Begich's First Alaska Press Conference

Friday afternoon, Alaska's junior Senator, Mark Begich, gave his first Alaska press conference since he was sworn into office. He had prepared statements on the expansion of SCHIP, the upcoming Senate debate on President Obama's economic stimulus package, and the unforeseen battle to save benefits for the surviving veterans from the World War II Alaska Territorial Scouts.

Here's KTUU-TV's video coverage:


KTUU's Leyla Santiago wrote a short article about the press conference:

In his first press conference in Alaska since taking office, Sen. Mark Begich says Alaska could get up to $1 billion from the economic recovery act.

Begich said he believes Congress is making progress in Washington, D.C. towards creating an economic stimulus plan.

In the last few weeks, Alaska's newest senator has helped pass a children's healthcare bill which will help give Denali Kid Care a boost.

Begich is also working hard to make sure Alaska has a voice in the economic recovery act.

He says he understands why some Alaskans questioned his ability to bring money home like his predecessor, Sen. Ted Stevens, but Begich believes he's already proving those people wrong.

"The first major piece of legislation that comes out doesn't allow earmarks so we doubled the capacity for Alaska by that piece of legislation that failed twice before in the legislative session," he said. "So in less than 3 and a half weeks we passed a piece of legislation that's going to bring capacity to 1,200 kids in this state to have additional healthcare."

Begich says he wants the economic stimulus bill to make its way to President Barack Obama by mid-February.


I haven't found other Anchorage coverage of the press conference. I blogged it live for firedoglake, but that wasn't intentional. The blog just happened to put a post I had written earlier in the day up on their front page right when Sen. Begich's conference began.


Dennis Zaki filmed the entire press conference for the Alaska Report, and should have it available when he catches up on his backlog of video from his lower Yukon River trip.


The absence of the Anchorage Daily News at the first Alaska press conference by our new U.S. Senator speaks loudly about the pathetic leadership there by publisher, Pat Dougherty. Would they have missed a public statement for the media by Sarah Palin? No, of course not.


While I was writing this and watching the Super Bowl - including James Harrison's immaculate interception - a new press release from the governor came in, about the president's economic stimulus package. The release is strange, using some Palinesque terms, like "shovel-ready" and "hugely increased deficit our nation is growing."


No doubt the Anchorage Daily News will be covering Palin's big weekend all week long, along with her Sunday afternoon press release, which ends with an interesting statement:

The governor has asked the nation’s leaders to look at these issues to ensure fairness in the stimulus package and that the package does not harm the long-term fiscal health of the nation. Contrary to some news reports, she looks forward to continuing to work with Alaska’s congressional delegation to accomplish the state’s goals.

11 comments:

Annette said...

It could be this headline on MSNBC web site:

Alaska lawmakers question Palin's focus
Capitol, state abuzz with what governor is doing or not doing these days

Not sure, but that may be part of the problem...she is a little concerned or something, especially since she has another trip coming up soon, and she didn't get a really big whoop ti do welcome either I don't think like she thought she would in DC...so that may have the wind out of her sails a little.

You know it's one thing to say you want a low profile, but it's another to mean it...lol

Annette said...

Sorry, I intended to put the link in too...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28947084/

just jen said...

Is it possible that her trite effort to manipulate the appearance of her "work on behalf of Alaska" is being seen for what it's worth?

It seems to me what propelled Sarah to the national spot light -her knack for letting other people do the heavy lifting of managing the state, and later using political pressure to claim the right to swoop in and declare that it was she who infact saved the day - might just be the very thing that does her political career in.

Philip Munger said...

jen - long overdue IMHO.

That, luck, and picking the right time to move on have propelled her everywhere her base fungelical base didn't.

Anonymous said...

While I agree that the second quote, "hugely increased deficit our nation is growing," is vintage Palinisque syntax, I don't think she deserves credit for the "shovel-ready" term. Last week's New Yorker magazine had a big article about the newest buzzword, "shovel-ready." Maybe Sarah is reading the New Yorker now. Or maybe she realizes she should have her own shovel ready because she' got so much b.s. to pitch around.

Anonymous said...

i miss the arrogant yet competent Frank

Anonymous said...

Umm...are you people obsessed or what? This post was primarily about Begich our junior senator. I know that doesn't mean much to you outsiders who are focused only on Palin.

I did not vote for Begich, but he is smart and I'm sure will try his best for our state. I'm pulling for him.

Anonymous said...

Phil - Are you going to blog about the Palin/Valley Dairy fiasco? I hope you do. Halcro is reporting that they produced 30,000 pounds of contaminated cheese. I wonder exactly how much money that business will end up costing our state?

KaJo said...

"Maybe Sarah is reading the New Yorker now."

And maybe that's what Meg Stapleton is hanging around for: to read MEANINGFUL magazines and newspapers for Sarah, digest them, and interrupt reporters questioning Sarah herself with burped-up quotes from these "elite" sources...

Anonymous said...

Progressivealaska scoops again. Thanks for the coverage of "Boy Wonders" press conference.

Hard to figure this site out. Sometimes well written reporting, with better information than the ADN. Sometimes stinging one-sided opinion.

Whatever, it is always either informative, interesting, or entertaining.

The real question is how long before Mark gets senatoritits and gets a big head. (It is a question of when not "if")

Brendan Joel Kelley said...

Pat Dougherty is not the publisher of ADN. He's the editor.