Time to retire Rep. Don Young

To the editor:

Clearly, it is time to retire Don Young. After 41 years in Congress, we need new blood, new energy, and new enthusiasm We need someone who does not call California farm workers “wetbacks,” does not twist the arm of a congressional staff, or make faces on the House floor during a speech by a colleague honoring a fallen Marine. We need a representative whose effectiveness is not compromised by serious ethical violations, violations, which generated a reprimand by the House Ethics Committee this past June that he improperly used campaign funds for personal use and accepted gifts without proper disclosure.

Alaska needs a representative who will have better attendance in Congress than Young, whose record in 2013 for missed votes was the fifth lowest, and who will not behave like a childish bully. Let us thank Young for his service, tell him “goodbye” and elect Forrest Dunbar to Congress.

Dunbar worked as an intern for Senator Frank Murkowski, served in the Peace Corps, and earned an MPP/JD from the Harvard Kennedy School and Yale Law School. He currently serves in the Alaska Army National Guard. His priorities include veterans’ benefits, resource development, healthy fisheries and education.

Jan Bass

Wasilla