JUNEAU — Forget the political winds: Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young continues to win, year after year, no matter which way they’re blowing.
In 2010, when tea party voters were ousting fellow long-term incumbents, supporting candidates they believed could bring fiscal discipline to Washington, Young won re-election with his largest percentage of vote since 2004, 69 percent. He is unapologetic in his support of earmarks, brash in style and speaks off the cuff, sometimes coming across as aggressive or intimidating. He has survived investigations probing his fundraising and role in securing an earmark for a Florida highway.
And Alaskans have made him the state’s sole representative in the U.S. House for nearly 40 years.
“I have never changed. I’ve always been very forward, very forthright, which I believe in,” Young said. “This has never been about, you know, Don Young and getting a job. This is about who can best serve the people as a representative and get the job done for them.”
He believes he is that person and has been raising money with 2014 already in mind; as of Sept. 30, the end of a recent reporting period, he had nearly $569,000 on hand — an amount that dwarfs what his Democratic challenger, state Rep. Sharon Cissna, has raised.
Pollster Marc Hellenthal, who hasn’t been involved in the race, said Young historically has taken on the very best the Democrats had to offer. His closest race in recent years came in 2008, when Young secured just 50 percent of the vote to Democrat Ethan Berkowitz’s 45 percent. But Cissna has struggled to gain traction, and with relatively little money, Hellenthal said she isn’t really in the race at all.
Still, Young, 79, insists money doesn’t win elections — perseverance and one-on-one contact with Alaskans, saying you want the job, does. He said he is taking nothing for granted, traveling the state and meeting as many people as he can.
He cites as recent victories passage of a highway bill that he helped negotiate that included guaranteed funding for Alaska ferries and support for tribal transportation projects. Young said he also saved the Alaska Railroad by ensuring it retained most of its federal funding as part of that bill.
He credits his knowledge of how the system works for helping him to score projects in spite of a ban on earmarks. That ban, he said, is not good government, as he sees it as inhibiting his ability to help secure funding for infrastructure and other projects.
Young isn’t without critics.
The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, has branded him one of the most corrupt members of Congress on four occasions, the latest this year, citing the highway earmark and details from the federal investigation that surrounded it, including allegations that Young and his late wife spent campaign money on hunting trips and flights. No charges were ever brought, and Young announced before the 2010 primary that he was no longer under investigation but provided no details. Documents from the investigation were released earlier this year.
The tea party-style Conservative Patriots Group, based in Wasilla, also has not endorsed him because “we don’t think he’s as conservative as he should be,” president Jennie Bettine said.
One of the biggest problems Bettine cites with Young is his role in shepherding a bill that gave rise to the Transportation Security Administration — “one of the biggest deprivations of our rights that has passed in a long time,” she said. While Cissna, who made headlines for refusing an airport pat-down last year, has made her fight against the agency central to her campaign, Bettine said her group isn’t endorsing in the House race at all.
Young is dismissive of CREW. And he has serious concerns about what TSA has become and where it is going,” his spokesman said.
Young said Alaskans, ultimately, have the last word in whether he returns to Congress.
“I’m seeking the job, working hard and hoping the people will respond to that. I’m not taking anything for granted,” he said.
Comments (26)
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For this career politician to hang it up. The Don Youngs of congress are why there need to be term limits.
Time to Retire
Time to Retire
Thank you for your service Don
Dear Don,
We appreciate all you have done for our great state.
It is time for you to retire!
I am all for a level playing field, and would give due respect
for any replacement Alaskans legitimately choose.
But Lat, are you suggesting that Alaska set the example with unilateral term limits, bringing in a freshman Representative, while all other states hold seniority?
Now is my chance......
No matter what they say about you Don you are the best.
*Absolutely no pun intended - thank you. :-)
Don Young has acted like an
Don Young has acted like an arrogant bully in Congress and he is a no show at meetings.
We have to get these types out of Congress.
I am voting for Sharon Cissna.
Wow! Alaskans can make a
Wow!
Alaskans can make a difference in Congress.
Vote out Don Young.Some of
Vote out Don Young.
Some of the Bills he voted Against are :
Require Public Disclosure of Bonuses and Golden Parachute Arrangements- really? - hail to thee 1%
Mine Safety Act - HR 6495 (Yikes!!, watch out kids)
Seniors Protection Act - HR 5987 (who cares about old people, right!)
Authorizing Loans for Energy Efficiency Purposes - HR 4785, oh come on! really?
Offshore Drilling Regulations and Other Energy Law Amendments - HR 3534
Campaign Finance Disclosure Requirements - cant have disclosure!
Science and Technology Funding - can't be competitive in the 21 century!
Small Business Lending Fund and Tax Law Amendments - ?
Repeal Energy Efficiency Standards for Incandescent Light Bulbs - :( why?
Extension of Certain Unemployment Benefits - :(
Extend Pay Freeze for Congress and Non-Military Federal Workers - HR 3835 2/12 ( its ok for him to make even more $$ for being a rude obstructionist ass)
Some of the Bills he did not even bother to vote on are:
Oversight of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - HR 1315, 7/11
Regulation and Oversight of the United States Financial System
Prohibits Insider Trading by Government Officials - S 2038, Feb 2012
9/11 Health and Compensation Act- yikes, he really did :(
FDA Food Safety Modernization Act
Aid To States for Medicaid, Teacher Employment, and Other Purposes
Requiring Timetable for Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Unemployment Benefits Extension
What about Jim McDermott?
I believe that the Libertarian candidate Jim McDermott deserves a mention at the very least... he is a strong candidate, as strong as Cissna. It is unfortunate that the mainstream media in Alaska is pretending he doesn't exist. We as Alaskans could bring about REAL change by voting him in!
Ken
Where did you get the idea I was saying that?
Sharon Cissna.....
HA-HA-HA!
Lat: You did not say that. But you do say he should hang it up,
and he is a prime example we should have term limits.
I take it you not suggesting Alaska take the lead on this.
Fine. So he should impose it upon himself and retire.
You do understand, of course, that Alaska will go back to freshman status in the U.S. House without Don Young.
I, for one, am not ready at this critical juncture to start from scratch and if my Representative is willing for another term I feel it is in Alaska's best interest to have his seniority.
Ken Dunker
Makes a very good point. Like it or not, our Congress awards committee chairmanships (that can control a lot of legislation) and leadership positions based on seniority as a member of Congress. If Alaska alone were to have term limits for our congressional delegation while other states did not, our representatives would never get leadership positions. For term limits to work, all states would have to have the same limits.
I'm afraid on the national, and perhaps even state level, we have too many professional career politicians and special interest groups who would do all they can to prevent any term limits.
There is a slight possibility that limiting or regulating campaign financing might happen some day, but that too would be opposed by those in office.
Any other suggestions ????
There are term limits. It's
There are term limits. It's called voting.
I agree that All political
I agree that All political positions, every form, should have limits. Should don not run because of this? No, it would require a national shift. But as long as we keep voting like sheep, this side or that, there's no reason to change.
Alaskastu
I tend to agree that "voting like sheep" is a key problem.
The whole concept of "Demo-cracy" (the people electing their government) and representative government is lost when we have the media - our newspapers, television, radio, brochures, billboards and posters all spending millions upon millions of dollars not to educate or explain what voters need to know, but to persuade people how they should vote.
It is advertising at its highest level. It is advertisers saying "Buy my product" and people accept or "fall for" this advertising. Of course the media industry loves this process because they get the money raised to promote candidates.
Then there are those who wish to make a life time career of representing voters and constituents. They talk about being "public servants" when in fact what they want is a life time career and retirement benefits. Not all elected representatives are like this, but enough seem to be so that it destroys our system of government.
What can be done to change things? How can we get to have a truly "representative" government? I don't know. I have tried, but failed. I hope you and others can find a better solution.
@Ken
It's time for Don to retire. He has the worst attendance record in congress, missing 16% of the votes in 2011. The only members that year missing more had serious illnesses (or gunshot wounds) or were running for president.
When you were working, how long would you have kept your job if you failed to show up for work one day per week, with no excuse?
One of his main defenses is that Alaska is 'so far away'. Yet Mark Begich didn't miss a single vote in 2011. Lisa Murkowski missed 6% of them.
Don is old and tired. He has decided he's entitled to the job regardless of whether he shows up to do it. A congressman really has one primary task: to vote. Young is neglecting to do the job we hired him to do.
40 years...that's enough of a political career.
Don just isn't young anymore.
Don just isn't young anymore.
Lat: You make a solid point. The persons who should be making
this argument to Don would be his political party leaders allowing for another to be selected and endorsed by Don but the political machinery does not seem too upset over 16% absenteeism nor do his supporters and the way things work in D.C. Don has the job until he decides to retire for the same reasons: too many of the former riding on his coattails and too many of the latter benefitting from earmarks as well as those who honestly believe he is doing a good job representing Alaska.
The same can be said of every state with veteran public servants.
The most vocal critics, though, seem to be coming from the other side of the aisle.
Negative, Ken
The party leaders don't enforce attendance. That's the job of Don's bosses - us.
So enforce it.
***
I plan to
And you?
I think I have made it clear. I am not willing to cast aside
Don's seniority for the sake of making a statement.
But I would choose another who has mustered the statewide support similar to what Berkowitz did in '08.
I fully appreciate the need for fresh blood and am less impressed with career politicians with "the knowledge of how the system works" because the system has proven to be more skewed towards career politicians than the national health of America.
And yes, I recognize Don's personality is not conducive to reaching across the aisle. But on the other hand the rest of the nation does not grant Alaska the proper respect either and with only one Representative in the U.S. House I prefer one who is not easily dismissed (or ignored).
There is time.
Representative Cissna is interesting and I certainly admire her stance regarding TSA but again statewide support must be evident for her to be viable and that is not my job.
Yes, there's time
He's 79. This will eventually solve itself. And then we'll have a junior rep again.
If seniority is so important to us, we should elect a rep who is the minimum age and keep reelecting them regardless of what they do (or don't do, such as show up to vote).
That appears to be a Alaskan way.
Cissna
I met Representative Cissna in Juneau a couple years ago. She seemed very reasonable -- the kind of person that is willing to listen and learn. Young, on the other hand, is unreasonable. It's hard to believe we've tolerated his 19th century cowboy politics this long.