Opponents differ on Foley fallout

Incumbent not worried; challenger expects voter backlash

October, 15, 2006

By Michael Rovito/Frontiersman

WASILLA — Alaska’s only congressional incumbent said this week he is confident that recent Republican troubles will not lead to Democrats retaking the House of Representatives in November.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, spoke Wednesday in front of the Wasilla chapter of Rotary Club International. The 17-term lawmaker, who spent much of his life in Fort Yukon, was in Alaska during a congressional break before Congress reconvenes for a lame-duck session this fall.

Young attended a fund-raiser for Alaska gubernatorial candidate Sarah Palin before

arriving in

Wasilla.

After a short introduction from Rotary member Bert Hall, Young — who said he would not talk politics during an election year unless he was asked — voiced concern over the recently alleged nuclear weapons test by North Korea.

“I am somewhat nervous,” Young said. “Now we have someone who’s totally insane with nuclear power.”

The 34-year congressman touted Alaska’s possible role in national missile defense, naming Fort Greely as a key area

for state-of-the-art defense systems.

Alaska has been identified as the closest American target a North Korean missile could reach, and Young said residents of the state should know the risks.

“Alaska had better be aware that this is a potential real threat,” he said.

Citing recent criticism of President Bush and his administration’s dealing with Kim Jong Il, Young said neither Bush nor former president Bill Clinton is to blame for the threat North Korea poses. Young chalked it up to the Communist leader’s lunacy.

Turning his attention to national events, Young said the recent congressional page sex scandal involving Florida Republican Mark Foley is “a very bad thing.”

Young questioned the timing of allegations against Foley — who resigned amid a media frenzy exposing Internet conversations between the congressman and a 16-year-old male page — surfacing just weeks before mid-term elections, and said the matter should have been exposed

earlier.

“The gentleman has a problem,” Young said. “What he did as a congressman was wrong.”

Fallout from the scandal has some political analysts predicting a possible House and Senate takeover by Democrats, which Young said he is confident will not happen.

But if it does, he said he is prepared to serve as part of the minority.

“I have always been very, very bipartisan,” Young said.

Before returning to Congress in any capacity, Young first must defeat Democratic challenger Diane Benson, a Juneau activist and antiwar candidate.

Benson, speaking from Juneau on Saturday, countered Young’s confidence in the Republican ticket by predicting a dire outcome for her opposing party in the upcoming election because of the Foley scandal and plummeting approval ratings for both the president and Congress.

“I think the Republicans have practiced denial quite a bit,” Benson said.

She added that evidence from her own office points toward a loss of power in the House by Republicans. Benson said after news of the Foley scandal broke, her office was flooded with calls from what she called disgruntled Republicans and fence-sitters who are unhappy with the country’s leadership and direction.

While the former Green Party candidate admits Young’s time in office hasn’t been a complete waste, she said the Fort Yukon man hasn’t been as productive as he could have been for Alaskans.

“If I thought so, I wouldn’t be running,” Benson said.

The news media didn’t escape criticism from Young, who said Wednesday the destruction of those in public office by newspapers and television is a disgrace. He added that most media these days will stop at nothing to find fault with an individual in public office or running in an

election.

“A person can be the cleanest individual, but has a brother who likes to run with sheep,” Young said, adding that those who haven’t grown up on a farm might not know what that means.

After Young’s speech, he clarified his statement by saying television media deserves most of the blame for scaring people out of running for public office. The constant barrage of news is something Young said distorts peoples’ view of what is going on in the world.

At the close of the event, newly elected Mat-Su Borough Mayor Curt Menard said he agreed with Young’s assertion that no matter what the United States does to prevent terrorism, citizens are never 100 percent safe.

Menard went on to praise Young’s longevity in office.

“I’m very impressed for his long years of service with the state,” he said. “That he still has the fire in his belly to do his job.”

The 109th Congress will reconvene in Washington, D.C., after elections are over in November.

Contact Michael Rovito at 352-2252 or michael.rovito@ frontiersman.com.