Candidates for congressional race clash in Anchorage debate

The gloves came off Monday in Alaska’s congressional race, at least as far as Alyse Galvin was concerned. Galvin, a political independent, hopes to unseat Don Young, Alaska’s seeming congressman-for-life who has been in Congress since 1973 and is now its longest-serving member.

At Monday’s Anchorage Chamber of Commerce forum Galvin attacked Young with holds barred, blaming the 82-year-old congressman for the ills of the Republican-led Congress and almost everything else wrong with the political system.

“If incivility is running through our society, Don Young is patient zero,” Galvin said, a reference to the initial case in an ebola outbreak in Africa.

Young, who was sitting next to Galvin at the forum, was startled. “I thought this was going to be a civilized campaign, he lamented. “I thought this was about who can best serve Alaska, not about how bad I am.”

“I’ve dedicated my career to serving Alaska, and I’ve persevered, concentrating on issues important to our state,” Young said. He has been in 24 reelection campaigns, and never once did my opponent, or myself, talk about “how bad one of us was,” Young said.

Some attending the chamber meeting and who had seen both candidates speak previously said it was the first time they’d seen Galvin in attack mode.

Galvin slammed Young for being part of the Washington Republican establishment that has worked to “strip” health coverage from Americans in efforts to chip away at the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, and for voting to protect special interests like pharmaceutical companies.

Young replied, saying the ACA, also called Obamacare, “was the worst piece of legislation ever to pass Congress.”

“The ACA has mandated health coverage for all. The system failed because it required individuals and businesses to pay an expense they may not need or want. By repealing the ACA mandates, individuals and businesses alike don’t have to pay fees, penalties or taxes.” Young said.

Passage of the ACA in its current troubled form reflected the refusal of Democrats, who then controlled the U.S. Senate, to work “across the aisle” with Republicans to forge compromises. A bipartisan ACA would have been far different, he said.

Galvin said she favored “comprehensive” health care but stopped short of mentioning a Medicare-for-all approach favored by many Democrats including Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt.

“Don Young has shown no leadership,” on health care, she said. He also missed opportunities to get infrastructure for Alaska when he chaired the House Transportation Committee. Young should have used that position to get funding to rebuild the Port of Alaska (formerly Port of Anchorage,” she said.

Young fired back, saying Galvin’s partisan approach already demonstrates an inability to work across-the-aisle to forge compromise.

He defended his long record of working across the aisle, forging good working relations with Democratic House colleagues on legislation. “I’ve had 81 laws passed and signed,” most of them with bipartisan support. “No one else in Congress can claim that,” Young told the Anchorage Chamber.

On trade issues, Galvin took on President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, which she called “reckless,” and tried to link Young with it. “Last week we learned that steel tariffs authorized by President Trump are holding up necessary repairs to the Port of Alaska (formerly Port of Anchorage) by adding to the cost of the project,” she said. Tariffs are also threatening the state’s seafood industry, which depends on exports.

“President Trump took aim at China but has shot Alaska in the foot instead. Our state cannot be a pawn in a trade war started by a leader with no clear understanding of the consequences of his actions,” Galvin said.

Young said the trade disputes will be temporary and will be settled. “While the administration hammers out a long-term trade deal with equitable tariffs, I am working to ensure that emergency funds are utilized to offset short-term problems in the seafood industry. Those funds will assist in the marketing and purchasing of Alaska products,” he said.

“I believe we will be successful and have a much stronger market once the trade policies have a long-term solution,” Young said.

Galvin weighed in on the federal deficit, however.

“The federal deficit is set to explode in the next decade – a trillion dollars this year – because of the massive tax cuts and other giveaways,” to business engineered by Republicans. “This is not the work of fiscal conservatives. Why did Don Young support it?” Galvin asked.

She answered her own question, asserting that Young is now too tied in with special interests. “Half of his (campaign) support is coming from out-of-state donations,” she charged.

Galvin cited Young’s vote against legislation to allow Medicaid to negotiate rates for pharmaceuticals as other government programs, and private health insurance plans, routinely do. Young supported the big pharmaceutical companies in his vote, she said.

“Don Young has been changed by Washington,” Galvin said.

“I’m not a career politician,”she said, citing her community involvement as an education activist and her experience in running small businesses. Her campaign is picking up steam, she said. “I now have 700 volunteers and I’ve raised $900,000 in small grass-roots donations,” she said.

Young said his track record in forging bipartisan relationships will be particularly important in the next Congress, when there will likely be a narrow margin of control in the U.S. House of Representatives. “No matter who controls the House, Republicans or Democrats, the margin will be narrow,” he told the chamber. There will be a swing group of 10 votes who will be very influential, Young said, and he intends to be part of that group.