The midterm elections are November 6th, 2018 and Raven Radio has a trifecta of campaign broadcasts!

On Wednesday, October 24 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., American government students from Sitka High School will host a forum with Alaska House incumbent Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (D) and challenger Richard Wein (R). The forum will be held in front of a live audience at Harrigan Centennial Hall. Have a question for the candidates? Ask that night or submit your question to news@kcaw.org.

On Thursday, October 25th, at 7 p.m., we’ll broadcast Alaska Public Media/KTUU’s one-hour Debate for the State with candidates for Alaska Governor — Mike Dunleavy (R) and Mark Begich (D).

On Friday, October 26th at 7 p.m., we’ll broadcast Alaska Public Media/KTUU’s one-hour debate program with U.S. House incumbent Don Young (R) and challenger Alyse Galvin (I).

We’re off to the races for three straight evenings, beginning this Wednesday on Raven Radio, KCAW-Sitka.

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker announced Friday, Oct. 19, 2018, that he would be suspending his re-election campaign at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage, Alaska. With Lt. Gov. Valerie Davidson next to him, Walker endorsed Mark Begich. (Photo courtesy Tripp J Crouse/KNBA)

Alaska Governor Bill Walker suspended his re-election campaign today and threw his support behind Democrat Mark Begich.

“Every decision I made as your governor, I have made on the basis of what I believe is best for Alaska. With that said, effective today, I am suspending my campaign (gasps) for the re-election as governor,” Walker said while onstage at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention.

Walker made the decision after talking with many Alaskans about whether he or Begich had a better chance against Dunleavy.

“The determination was made that at this point, Begich has the better odds,” he said.

Walker also expressed concern about the potential reversal of the Medicaid expansion by Dunleavy, whose “campaign record and rhetoric indicates that he will eliminate Medicaid expansion that has provided health care access to 44,000 Alaskans, created jobs, and brought $1 billion dollars of federal dollars into an economy that dearly needed it, decreasing statewide health care expenditures by 16 million dollars and kept hospitals from closing and saved lives,” Walker said.

Walker also predicted that Dunleavy would take away funding for the Alaska natural gas pipeline.

His decision comes three days following the resignation of Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott after making what Walker has described as an “inappropriate overture” to a female. The move could allow Begich to pull closer to Republican Mike Dunleavy in the race for governor. The names of Walker and Mallott must remain on the ballot. as the deadline to withdraw their names has passed.  Libertarian Billy Toien also is running.

Walker is the nation’s only independent governor.

Walker begin his administration with broad support. A national poll in early 2016 listed him as among the country’s most popular governors. But that June, Walker’s decision to veto half of permanent fund dividend funding began a long decline in his approval rating. While the Legislature later voted for two PFD cuts, Walker took much of the blame. The reductions allowed the Permanent Fund to grow, which Walker argues will allow PFDs to continue into the future. The move also allowed the Legislature to pass a plan to pay for state government using permanent fund earnings. At the time, Walker said that without this, deep reductions in state government services would hurt Alaskans by harming schools, health care and the state’s economy. Political opponents, including Dunleavy, criticized Walker for the cuts and capitalized on the PFD cuts’ unpopularity.

Former U.S. Senator Mark Begich meets with Sitkans at Beak Restaurant. (Photo/KCAW/Katherine Rose)

Former United States Senator Mark Begich visited Sitka earlier this month, and after a few years out of the political scene, Begich is throwing his hat in the ring for the governor’s race.

Downloadable Audio

The former mayor of Anchorage, Democrat Mark Begich defeated Ted Stevens for his seat in the United States Senate in 2008. He served a six year term, ultimately defeated by Dan Sullivan in 2014. After that, he opened consulting firm Northern Compass Group in Anchorage. He’s been running that company for the past three years, and they’re about to close their biggest deal.

“Municipal Inc Power and Chugach Electric are merging,” Begich said. “We were the people behind that for the last two and a half years. We came in and said here’s how we’ll do it. It’s like 3d chess. We’re probably two months maybe from closing that deal, a billion dollar deal for the city.”

But that doesn’t mean he can’t do a little pro-bono consulting. When he visited Sitka last Friday, he met with a group of trollers who want a federal review of the Pacific Salmon Treaty.

“Clearly a hot button issue,” he said. “I gave them some advice. It was kind of interesting because I was there to talk about my campaign, and by the time I was done I was giving them suggestions on how they could weave through this process. And I told em it’s free advice so it’s worth about as much as I’m giving ya.”

Now Begich wants to get back in the game- he’s running for governor. He’s concerned about the state’s economy, and worried the current administration is seeking short-term solutions without thinking about long-term effects.

“I just believed there was not a candidate talking about the future of Alaska in the long term,” he said. “When you look at the data points that I see, we’re number one in crime in the country, highest unemployment in the nation. These are not good statistics for us. I want to feel good about the future, and right now I don’t feel good about the future of the state of Alaska.”

Begich will face off against Governor Bill Walker, and whoever wins the Republican Primary next Tuesday (8/21/18). Walker, a former Republican, ran as an independent in 2014, and announced in May that he and Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott, a Democrat, would run together as independents again this fall. Is he worried that he and Walker will split the Democratic vote?

“I knew if I got in this race I’d have to win a two way or a three way,” Begich said. “Every poll except one that I’ve seen usually puts me in first or second. But it usually puts the governor in third.”

And as for the Republican candidate, Begich predicts it will be state senator Mike Dunleavy, who Begich thinks is too extreme to garner too much of the vote.

“When you look at Senator Dunleavy, he is very extreme,” he said. “His plan on the permanent fund will bankrupt the state, add a two billion dollar hole in the budget. On the other thing, he’s a voucher person who doesn’t believe in public education. You think about a community like this, a rural community, there’s no way you can use a voucher for public education. I think he has some ideas that are on the extreme side when it comes to climate change and other areas. When I look at this, I think it’s going to be a hard time for him to achieve about 35 percent of the vote. And because of that, I think there’s a clear pathway to win.”

As for the PFD, Begich says Dunleavy’s plan is unsustainable. What’s his plan? Move the money from the permanent fund’s earning reserve, the money the legislature can vote to use, into the corpus principal, which can’t be tapped into without a vote by the people, so it’s constitutionally protected.

Then Begich says, use a percent of market value formula on the fund, allotting 50 percent for Alaskans dividends- he says it would be around $1600-1800 dollars a year. He’d put the remainder of the funds toward K-12 education.

“It constitutional-izes it. Gets it off the table. No one else can meddle with it as they do every year at the last four days of the session. They’re bargaining away education. This whole thing about pink slips. None this year, maybe you’ll get them next year. You’ll end that equation once and for all”

Begich says his previous work, in the city of Anchorage and on the national level, proves he can get the job done. He even saved his receipts- literally-on paper.

“When I got into office we kept a chart of all the things I said I would do. When I finished- I finished a little earlier than I thought I would, six years- we had eighty percent of that done.”

So splitting the vote or not, Begich says it’s important voters have a choice.

“I wanted to give people a choice. I wanted to give people something to be excited about,” Begich said. “So they know that it’s not just about the budget every day, but it’s about where we’re going to be 10 years out from now, so it’s not just this generation but the next generation.”

The state gubernatorial election is Tuesday,  November 6.

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, with his wife Deborah Bonito, visited Sitka on June 26, 2014. Begich won the majority of Southeast votes Tuesday.  (KCAW photo/Rachel Waldholz)

Sen. Mark Begich would be headed back to Washington, D.C., had the rest of Alaska voted like Southeast.

Bill Walker would have solidly won the governor’s race. And Forrest Dunbar probably would have squeaked by, depending on absentee and questioned ballots.

Of course, that’s not what happened statewide. But it’s how Southeast residents – as a whole – cast their ballots.

About 57 percent of Panhandle voters chose Democrat Begich over Republican Dan Sullivan. That’s not counting write-ins and small-party candidates.

Independent Bill Walker had a similar Southeast lead over Republican Gov. Sean Parnell.

Democrat Forrest Dunbar won the region’s ballot count over Republican Congressman Don Young, but by fewer than 300 votes.

Results differed by community and precinct. For example, Ketchikan and Wrangell ballots favored Sullivan, Young and Parnell.

Southeast also voted strongly for all three ballot measures: legalizing recreational marijuana, raising the minimum wage and requiring legislative approval of large-scale mining in Bristol Bay. Those results, at least, matched the statewide outcome.

See precinct-by-precinct results from:

• House District 33
• House District 34
• House District 35
• House District 36

Magnuson-Stevens created 8 separate regional councils to manage fisheries in federal waters. According ALFA’s Linda Behnken, not all regions have placed as much emphasis on resource protection as the North Pacific. (NOAA Fisheries image)

A number of regional fishing associations are joining forces to strengthen the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

The Sitka-based Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association announced last week (9-9-14) that it’s reached an agreement with the Alaska Marine Conservation Council and several east-coast industry groups to form the Fishing Community Coalition.

The new organization wants to ensure that Congress makes protecting fish stocks a priority as it prepares to reauthorize the nation’s most important law governing the harvest of seafood in federal waters.

Downloadable audio.

Draft language containing proposed changes to Magnuson-Stevens has been working its way through the US House of Representatives, but the political lines became clearer when Florida’s Republican Sen. Marco Rubio introduced his version of the bill on September 16.

Read the full text of Sen. Rubio’s Florida Fisheries Improvement Act.

The top priority for Rubio is giving the regional management councils more flexibility in setting timelines for rebuilding depleted fish stocks.

This is exactly what Linda Behnken, the director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, was hoping not to hear.

“There’s quite a pushback right now against the rebuilding timelines and the catch limits. You start rebuilding stocks, it means you have to catch less fish, generally, and that’s a painful process for fishermen.”

Behnken says she wasn’t expecting a Senate bill so soon, but Rubio’s paralells some language she’s seen in the House. The Fishing Community Coalition is worried about a reauthorization that merely “reaffirms the status quo” or worse “moves backward.” The Mangnuson-Stevens Act was first passed in 1976, and wasn’t considered very effective for its first two decades. But substantial amendments in 1996 and 2006 reinforced the law’s commitment to sustainability.

Behnken would like to stay the course.

“To protect the gains that we’ve made in the last two reauthorizations, for the resource. And also to look for ways to support policy that keeps a healthy resource and provides access for people who live in traditional fishing communities, to those resources.”

Behnken served three terms on the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, one of eight regional councils established under Magnuson-Stevens. While there were always politics and tension over the allocation of fish, one thing remained unchanged.

“In this region, in the North Pacific, the council never sets any catch limits for stocks above what the scientists recommend to be optimal levels — the maximum levels that can be taken without undermining the health of the stock. That’s not the case in other parts of the country.”

“We definitely have some out here, with our Georges Bank and our Gulf of Maine cod stocks, that are a mess,” says Tom Dempsey,the Policy Director of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance.

“And they’re collapsing right in front of us. We need improve how we manage those stocks, to give ourselves a chance at rebuilding to a point where we can have a sustainable fishery.”

Dempsey says fisheries for scallop and lobster are doing well in his region. But, groundfish, the flagship of the historic New England fisheries, are on the verge of becoming commercially-extinct. As recently as 30 years ago there were 60 boats fishing for cod throughout the summer out of Chatham, Massachusetts, where Dempsey lives. Today there are two part-time boats.

Dempsey also holds a seat on the New England Fisheries Management Council. He says there’s a tendency to distrust science in his area, and unlike Alaska, no annual stock assessment. Management decisions are sometimes being made on biological information that is several years old.

“That is a huge frustration of ours. It’s one of the central things we want to get done in this reauthorization process. And unfortunately there’s been opposition out here to the levels of catch accountability that you need to manage stocks. I say it all the time: When you’re managing fish, there are only two questions. How many fish are in the water, and how many fish are you taking out?”

Sen. Rubio’s bill includes provisions to increase funding for stock assessments and data collection, but the track record of success of Magnuson-Stevens outside of Alaska is not stellar.

Matthew Felling, spokesperson for Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, says his boss holds some sway over her Florida colleague.

“She is someone that he relies on for guidance and for knowledge. Sen. Begich, of course, has a role because he works closely with Sen. Rubio on the Oceans Subcommittee. But as all three of them are members of the Oceans Caucus, Sen. Murkowski has been able to inform Rubio’s understanding of our waters, our fishing industry, and of our success story that we have in Alaska.”

Felling says that with the Senate likely to go into recess until mid-November, there’s no way any reauthorization will happen in this Congress. He thinks the extra time will produce a more thoughtful bill.

“Just last month at an event in the Kenai, Sen. Murkowski said that the most important priority to MSA authorization was to not just rush it and get it over with, but to do it right, dot the i’s, cross the t’s, and make sure that all possible stakeholders have their voices heard.”

Those stakeholders — according to Sen. Rubio’s office — include some of the producers, processors, and retailers trying to make the most of limited stocks. And although giving the councils “flexibility” to depart from strict conservation guidelines may become the most politically-charged idea in the reauthorization process, ALFA’s Linda Behnken says it doesn’t have to be. She says flexibility — as in the use of new data-collection tools, like cameras rather than on board observers — can actually be a good thing.

“That kind of flexibility doesn’t compromise the resource, but it’s real important to small boats and fishing communities.”

In addition to the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, the Fishing Community Coalition includes the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, and the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholder’s Alliance.

Pink salmon gather at the mouth of Starrigavan Creek in Sitka. in some markets, the roe of this species can be more valuable than the flesh. (KCAW photo/Rich McClear)

Russia’s ongoing embargo of American agricultural and seafood products has produced some sharp rhetoric from political leaders — including Alaska’s senators. But the true impact of embargo on the Alaska seafood industry remains unclear. Because of robust markets elsewhere for some of the products favored by Russians — like salmon caviar — the showdown may be more about politics than economics.

Downloadable audio.

International diplomacy is often likened to a chess game. A movement on one part of the chess board affects play on the whole board. Russia annexed the Crimea on the Black Sea in Southern Europe this spring, the US imposed selected economic sanctions on Russia and Russia turned around and embargoed American food products, including Alaska seafood.

The Cold war has been over for 25 years, but you wouldn’t guess that from recent remarks by Alaska’s two senators. Here is Mark Begich speaking to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce.

“Russia does not take our fish product anymore. Now let me make it very clear, if they don’t reverse this and Russia does not open their markets back up I will do everything I can to close their markets here in the US.”

Mathew Felling, communications director for Senator Lisa Murkowski also takes a hard line.

“It there’s anything we’ve learned about Putin in the last year it’s that he sees the value of forceful meaningful action and if Putin wants to use fish or food as a weapon we need to demonstrate that we are prepared to respond in-kind.”

A consortium of seafood producers has asked the Alaska Congressional Delegation propose a ban on the import of Russian seafood to America in retaliation for Russia’s embargo on Alaska seafood. Terry Shaff signed the request on behalf of 9 processors. Schaff is president of UniSea Seafoods, a processor in Unalaska shipping Surimi to Russia. UniSea had a shipment of Surimi enroute to Russia when the embargo went into effect. They had to divert six containers to a warehouse in Germany.

“There’s definitely a cost for us taking it to Germany, having to find new customers. And then we’ll have to go back through and re-label every single carton in those containers because they were destined for the Russian market and had Russian markings on them.”

Surimi is made from pollock and is found in fish sticks and imitation crab. But Shaff says the greatest harm to the Alaska seafood industry could be to salmon producers. Alexa Takovic, with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute agrees.

“Because of the roe and because of the sheer volume of salmon that had previously been exported to Russia.”

Caviar is made from the roe of chum and pink salmon and Russia is Alaska’s second largest market for salmon roe. I called several Southeast Alaska salmon processors. None would talk to me on the record. However one processor, off the record, said he didn’t really see a problem because the pink and chum catches were down this year and there may not be enough Alaska product to meet the worldwide demand. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimates that this year’s combined pink and chum catch was more than one hundred million fish below the 2013 take.

ASMIs Tankovic partly agrees but still sees a problem.

“Better to have it happen this year when we have lower harvests than last year when we had record harvests. That said I don’t think it’s entirely accurate to say that there would be no or minimal impact since Russia is still our second largest salmon roe market. And the second thing you have to consider too is that Russia imported quite a bit of salmon from Norway in particular and European exports to Russia are also sanctioned. That product going into other markets will have an impact on Alaska Salmon.”

In other words, Norwegian salmon that would have gone to Russia will now be competing with Alaska salmon in markets in the rest of the world. Steve Reifenstuhl, general manager of the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association gave another reason for concern.

Reifenstuhl — Last year fisheries across the state were very very good and we broke the all-time record by a large margin and because of that there is somewhat of a glut on the market. All that fish that was harvested and processed last year hasn’t been moved.

So this year’s catch is competing with last year’s catch in the international market, so the loss of the Russian market could be a problem. Nevertheless, Tankovic said that ASMI started developing alternative markets as soon as they saw the possibility of conflict between the US and Russia.

Tankovic — We, as an international marketing program, have anticipated that we may want to look to other markets for roe. China, Germany, and France are the next biggest roe markets after Japan and after Russia. We have also considered other Eastern European Markets.

Reifenstuhl — Anyplace there is an emerging middle class.

NSRAA’s Reifenstuhl sees the market for Alaska caviar expanding to new markets beyond Eastern Europe.

Reifenstuhl — South America, Africa, Asia, China, they look to what the rich people are eating and sure enough, they want Salmon and that’s been great for Alaska.
Tankovic — In the short term it creates a little bit of confusion. That said, I think we’re really a resilient industry. There will be a minor impact but I think we will get past it.

So, when exactly the Russian embargo ends remains a question for senators and diplomats. The question for Alaska seafood producers is slightly different: When Russian markets re-open, will Alaska need them?

U.S. Senator Mark Begich and his challenger, Republican Dan Sullivan, each spoke to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce last week. (Rachel Waldholz/KCAW News)

Sitka got back-to-back visits from the two major-party candidates for U.S. Senate last week (week of 9-1-14). Democratic Senator Mark Begich was in town on Wednesday (9-3-14). His Republican challenger, former Alaska Attorney General Dan Sullivan, came through on Friday (9-5-14).

Sitkans were treated to two very different points of view on everything from health care to Iraq to climate change.

**This story expands on previous coverage, which you can find here.**

The stakes in this campaign are high — Alaska is one of a handful of states that could decide control of the U.S. Senate in November — and judging from their pass through Sitka, the two main contenders for Alaska’s Senate seat don’t agree on much.

Speaking to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce, Republican Dan Sullivan said his number one issue is reducing overly burdensome regulations. He called out the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, as a prime example.

“The bills get passed, nobody knows what’s in them, [and] they have all these provisions that say, ‘OK, agencies, now you go promulgate regs,” Sullivan said. “Avalanche of regulations. And guess who ends up having to deal with them, try to decipher them? It’s you guys. It’s the small American businessman and small American businesswoman.”

Sullivan called for repealing the health care law.

Senator Mark Begich, meanwhile, voted for the Affordable Care Act. In an interview, he assailed Governor Sean Parnell for refusing to expand Medicaid, a key part of the law. Begich said the failure to expand Medicaid has left too many low-income or seasonally employed Alaskans, including fishermen, without access to healthcare.

“Expand Medicaid,” Begich said. “We got the option, we can do this right away. Parnell, Sullivan, and Sullivan – kinda sounds like a law firm – they are not for expanding Medicaid.”

Parnell’s running mate, the mayor of Anchorage, is also named Dan Sullivan.

On the subject of national security, Sullivan criticized the Obama administration, arguing that it lacks a coherent strategy.

“I don’t know how we pulled it off in six years, but we have gotten to the point where our friends no longer trust us and our adversaries no longer fear us in the international world,” Sullivan said. “And we have been a country that’s been exhibiting weakness, and weakness in my view is provocative, and you’re seeing that all over.”

Sullivan has served as an officer and reservist in the U.S. Marine Corps since 1993, and worked in various foreign policy roles in the George W. Bush administration, including as an Assistant Secretary of State under Condoleezza Rice.

Asked how he thought the U.S. should handle the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iraq, he said there are no easy answers, but laid the blame for the current situation squarely on the Obama administration.

 Sullivan: …right now we need engaged American leadership, which we don’t have.

KCAW: What would that look like in Iraq right now?

Sullivan:  Well, look…first of all you gotta remember where we were in Iraq when we left. Right? I spent some time in Iraq as a marine. We left at the end of the Bush administration with the surge where Iraq was a largely stable place that was on a very positive trajectory, mostly because of the work that we did closely with the Iraqis…

Begich, meanwhile, ruled out sending troops back to Iraq.

“One, we’ve gone through two wars already, our people are not going to go through another war,” Begich said. “The government is not stable, and the surrounding countries need to step up to the plate.”

Sullivan said he could think of situations that would call for American troops in Iraq. He brought up the events in Banghazi, Libya, in 2012, when the American ambassador was killed in an attack on a consulate.

“When Mark Begich says, ‘Absolutely, positively no boots on the ground no matter what,’ I’m not sure he’s thinking through all contingencies,” Sullivan said. “If you had a company of marines in Benghazi that night, we would have owned that town, and you wouldn’t have a dead ambassador and three dead Navy Seals.”

The two candidates also hold very different opinions on climate change. Begich called it an urgent issue.

“I talk about climate change all the time, because I think, it’s kind of the generational issue,” he said. “When I was in Emmonak I couldn’t believe what I saw there, how quickly the area is eroding and the buildings they have to move, and Alakanuk, when I was there, it was unbelievable what was happening there.”

“I think the jury’s out on climate change,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said he isn’t convinced that climate change is caused by human actions.

 KCAW: So just to be clear, you don’t think there should be any, sort of, federal response to climate change?

Sullivan: [Pause] I think the federal response to climate change should not be what the Obama administration is doing, which is trying to kill energy and low-cost energy, and particularly coal.

Sullivan called himself an “all-of-the-above” energy advocate, including renewable sources like hydro power, but also oil, gas, and coal.

Begich said he’d like to see the country “diversify” its energy sources and invest in conservation and mitigation efforts to help communities adapt to climate change.

But Begich emphasized he does not support a slow-down in oil and gas exploration – which makes one point the two candidates agree on.

The general election will take place on November 4.

Former Alaska Attorney General Dan Sullivan spoke at the Sitka Chamber of Commerce on a campaign swing through town on September 5, 2014. (KCAW photo/Rachel Waldholz)

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Dan Sullivan spoke to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce this morning (Friday 9-5-14). He followed hot on the heels of the man he hopes to replace, Democratic Senator Mark Begich, who spoke to the Chamber on Wednesday.

Fresh off his primary win over fellow Republicans Mead Treadwell and Joe Miller, Sullivan decried over-regulation, called for a more assertive stance on national security — and said it’s his goal to win Southeast in November.

When Sitka resident Roger Hames, whose family owns Sitka’s Seamart grocery store, stood up to tell the candidate that his business is being “crushed by rules and regulations,” Sullivan said that reducing burdensome regulations is the number one issue in his campaign.

Sullivan: This is not a Republican or Democrat issue. This is an Alaskan, American issue. There was a Wall Street Journal article several months ago that talked about how it takes now in America eight years to permit a bridge. Eight years to permit a bridge. We built the Al-Can highway in 11 months. We went to the moon! And we can now build bridges with eight years of red tape. No American wants that, and yet we don’t have any leaders to take this on. I guarantee that I will take this on.

Sullivan also criticized the Obama administration, saying it lacks a coherent strategy on national security. He called for more “engaged leadership” on the international stage.

Sullivan: We have gotten to the point where our friends no longer trust us and our adversaries no longer fear us in the international world. We have been a country that’s been exhibiting weakness, and weakness in my view is provocative. And you’re seeing that all over,  whether it’s Russia, Iran, Syria, Iraq, China. We gotta show strength again. And the best way to do it in my view is not flexing the military might…but the best way to do it is strengthen our economy, to get back to a strong America.

Sullivan argued that his resume gives him an advantage over Begich on national security issues: he has been an officer and reservist in the U.S. Marine Corps since 1993, and had a front row seat to foreign policy in the George W. Bush Administration. He worked for the White House National Security Council in the early 2000s, spent two years as a staff officer to the general overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and then served as Assistant Secretary of State under Condoleezza Rice from 2006 to 2009.

Asked how he thought the U.S. should handle the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iraq, he said that there are no easy answers, but laid the blame for the current situation squarely on the Obama administration.

Sullivan: Right now we need engaged American leadership, which we don’t have, and…

KCAW: What would that look like in Iraq right now?

DS: Well, look, first of all you gotta remember where we were in Iraq when we left. I spent some time in Iraq as a marine. We left at the end of the Bush Administration with the surge where Iraq was a largely stable place that was on a very positive trajectory, mostly because of the work that we did closely with the Iraqis.

In an interview earlier this week, Begich ruled out sending ground troops to Iraq. Asked whether the U.S. should intervene more directly, Sullivan brought up the events in Banghazi, Libya, in 2012, when the American ambassador was killed in an attack on a State Department compound.

Sullivan: With regard to ‘boots on the ground’: I think we learned a lesson on boots on the ground in Benghazi. If American diplomats, or American personnel are at risk in a foreign country? I’m a U.S. Marine. U.S. Marines train to do exactly that, to go have boots on the ground to protect our citizens. So when Mark Begich says, ‘Absolutely, positively no boots on the ground no matter what,’ I’m not sure he’s thinking through all contingencies. If we have another Benghazi type of situation? If you had a company of Marines in Benghazi that night, we would have owned that town, and you wouldn’t have a dead ambassador and three dead Navy Seals.

The general election will take place on November 4.

U.S. Senator Mark Begich speaks to Sitka resident Dirk White at the Sitka Chamber of Commerce. (KCAW photo/Rachel Waldholz)

U.S.  Senator Mark Begich spoke to a full house at the Sitka Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday (9-3-14). During his talk, and in an interview with local media afterwards, Begich discussed his campaign, climate change, and the new unity ticket shaking up the governor’s race.

Begich told the Chamber that he spent a good chunk of his August recess introducing D.C. officials to life in Alaska. He described shepherding the new Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx, around the state. It was Foxx’s first trip to Alaska.

Begich: You have to imagine the Secretary of Transportation – they travel with secret service. So they have police escort, SUVs, it’s kind of this big show. And we’re going to Nome! (Laughter)…We pull up in front of the municipal league conference, and it’s unbelievable. And I’m thinking: oh, wait until we get to Unalakleet (Laughter)…this is not gonna work out so well (Laughter).

But, Begich said, visits like that serve an important purpose.

“When you have a gentleman like that, who’s in charge of transportation, roads, air, ferry systems,” he said. “To have them understand what it takes to travel in Alaska, is an incredible experience.”

Begich also took issue with the idea that Congress is too dysfunctional to get anything done these days, pointing to the passage of recent bills on veteran’s care, workforce training and highway funding.

But he couldn’t get away from the issue of partisan gridlock. Audience member Jeff Budd asked the question that Begich said he gets “everywhere” — how do we end partisan bickering in the capital?

Begich said members of Congress are stuck in a permanent election: “Democrats worry about what a Republican will say in a campaign. Republicans worry about what a Republican will say in their primary,” Begich said, to laughter. “That’s the fact.”

Begich himself is currently waging one of the most closely-watched campaigns in the country. He is being challenged by Republican Dan Sullivan, in a race that could decide control of the U.S. Senate.

Most recently, Begich has faced criticism for an ad in which he accused Sullivan of letting sex offenders off with light sentences while attorney general, and pointed to a gruesome murder as a result. The Begich campaign removed the spot from the air at the request of an attorney for the victims’ family. But in an interview, Begich defended the ad.

“It’s important that his record be out there, and people know what it is,” Begich said. “And there’s no question that his record, of an Attorney General letting people who are violent offenders or who people who committed sexual assault, with plea bargains, out early, is clear.”

The fact-checking website Politifact gave the ad a score of “pants on fire,” its lowest rating for political statements.

Meanwhile, Sullivan is running ads that highlight the sheer amount of outside money flooding into the race.

“Pretty soon you’re gonna want to do this to your TV,” Sullivan says in the ad, before shooting a television.

Both campaigns have benefited from major spending by outside groups, and Sullivan has criticized Begich for refusing to sign a pledge that would limit that spending.

Begich called the pledge a “political ploy” and issued his own challenge.

“You’re running for the US Senate. So whatever you do in your campaign should reflect what you will do in office,” Begich said. “So if he wants to have this agreement, then I also want him to commit to overturning Citizens United…and, two, full disclosure like we have in Alaska law.”

Alaska law requires ads by outside groups to disclose their top three donors. Citizens United is the Supreme Court decision that removed limits on election spending by corporations and unions. Begich supports a constitutional amendment to overturn that decision.

“It’s not complicated,” Begich said. “It just says, ‘Corporations aren’t people.'”

Begich said that another area of disagreement is climate change, which he called a “generational issue.”

“First off, you have to first acknowledge there is climate change,” Begich said. “And I think there is a stark contrast between me and my opponent on this.”

Sullivan has said there is “no concrete scientific consensus” on how much humans contribute to climate change.

Begich said the country needs to diversify its energy sources, develop major incentives for energy conservation, and invest in mitigation efforts now, to deal with the effects of climate change. He said he “could not believe” some of the impacts he has seen across Alaska.

But that doesn’t mean he supports pulling back on oil and gas exploration. If that seems like a contradiction, Begich insists it isn’t. He says “oil and gas will be a part of the equation for a long time to come.”

“We have a choice,” Begich said. “We can produce oil and gas in our country, under our environmental regulations, which are much stronger, to protect the environment — emissions and other things. Or we deny the fact that these countries that we are buying from are really, I mean their environmental standards are awful. I don’t care if you’re Nigeria or China, wherever. They’re awful.”

On the subject of another hot-button Alaska race, Begich said he supports the unity ticket recently formed by Independent Bill Walker and Democrat Byron Mallott, who merged their campaigns in an effort to beat Republican incumbent Governor Sean Parnell. Begich said Parnell needs to be held accountable for his policies — especially the decision not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

“This is one where Walker, Mallott and Begich are unified: expand Medicaid,” Begich said. “We got the option, we can do this right away. Parnell, Sullivan, and Sullivan – that sounds like a law firm – they are not for expanding Medicaid.”

Begich said the unity ticket seemed to offer the best chance of beating Parnell and his running mate, who is also named Dan Sullivan.

KCAW: Did you have any role in the negotiations for the unity ticket?

Begich: I was happy to give my thoughts, I think it’s important, you know I know Byron personally, I know Walker personally…

KCAW: Were your thoughts supportive about the idea?

Begich: We had a good conversation.

The general election will take place on November 4.

Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski spoke with Sitkans on August 7, 2014. (KCAW photo/Rachel Waldholz)

Senator Lisa Murkowski visited Sitka last week (8-7-14), and spoke to a packed house at the Chamber of Commerce. Murkowski is one of the few elected officials not running for office this fall — she is next up for reelection in 2016.

At the Chamber and in an interview afterwards, Murkowski spoke about gridlock in congress, reproductive rights, and her work with the women of the Senate.

And while she wouldn’t say who she’s supporting in the Republican Senate primary, it was pretty clear who she won’t be voting for.

During a question and answer session after her talk at the Chamber, Murkowski fielded the inevitable question. It came from Sitka City Attorney Robin Koutchak (KO-chak).

Koutchak: Begich or Sullivan – are you willing to say anything?

Murkowski: Robin, how could you do this to me? [laughter]

Beigich or Sullivan – that would be Democratic Senator Mark Begich or former attorney general Dan Sullivan, who is currently locked in a primary race for the Republican nomination to run against Begich this fall.

Murkowski said she she’s staying out of the Republican primary.

“And I tell anybody who asks that I think we have two very qualified candidates,” she said.

Those two candidates are Sullivan and Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell. Murkowski called them both “close, personal friends,” and said either would be a strong contender in November.

But, of course, there’s a third man in the race: Fairbanks lawyer Joe Miller. Miller beat Murkowski in the Republican primary in 2010, but Murkowski came back to win the general election in a write-in campaign.

Asked whether she had considered the prospect of working with Miller in the Senate, Murkowski said, “Everything that I can tell indicates that he will not be the Republican nominee, so we’ll just see where it goes from there.”

If she was unwilling to take sides in the primary, there was one thing Murkowski was very clear on: she said she’s appalled by the unprecedented influx of outside money coming in to this Senate race.

“When there is over $30-million spent on the airwaves, in advertising, in Alaska, on these political races – and that’s what we’re talking about — that’s wrong,” she said. “That is just wrong.”

Despite her support for a Treadwell or Sullivan candidacy, Murkowski has some clear differences with the men running for Senate — in part on reproductive rights.

All three Republican primary candidates support the Supreme Court’s recent Hobby Lobby decision, allowing employers to drop contraceptives from their health plans on religious grounds.

Murkowski was one of three Senate Republicans who supported a bill that would have reversed the Supreme Court’s decision. She said she’s no fan of the Affordable Care Act but she worries that the Hobby Lobby ruling would restrict women’s access to contraception — a longtime issue for her.

KCAW: Is it frustrating to hold the position that you do within the party?

Murkowski: I am frustrated that an issue that I thought most of us had resolved decades ago, apparently is no longer resolved, or is still in question by many. Again, I feel pretty strongly that if you don’t like abortion, as I do not like abortion, then one way to reduce the number of abortions is to provide for that affordable, accessible contraceptive coverage. And it does seem that we are losing ground instead of gaining ground when it comes to women and their reproductive rights.  

Meanwhile, on the subject of Congress itself, Murkowski sounded exasperated.

“We do little more than seemingly kick the can to the other side of an election,” she said. “Fact of the matter is, folks, we have elections every two years.”

One bright spot, she said, is the women of the Senate, who meet regularly to try to build relationships across the partisan divide. The twenty women – 16 Democrats and four Republicans – meet every month or so for dinner, with just three rules, Murkowski said: no notes, no staff, and no leaks.

That allows for frank conversations on hot button issues.

“I will bring up the thing that as a Republican in a state like Alaska you can’t talk about: gun control,” she said. “I’ve had some amazing conversations with some of my female colleagues who come from urban areas, who can’t imagine hunting to feed your family, who can’t understand why you would ever feel safe around a gun. And so for me to be able to share my experiences as an Alaskan, coming from a hunting family, and what it means to me…”

Of course, Murkowski said, that doesn’t mean the women of the Senate end up voting together…

“Because we are all very independent in our views — I know you would be surprised to hear that,” she said to laughter. “But I think it really does make the Senate a better place when we can have relationships and better understand what one another brings to the table.”