Congressman Don Young isn’t one to be crossed lightly. The 17
1/2-term Republican — he won Alaska’s sole House seat in a 1973
special election — and former tugboat captain showed liberals his
temper when he dismissed environmentalists as a “self-centered
bunch of waffle-stomping, Harvard-graduating, intellectual idiots”
who “are not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be
Americans.” More recently, conservatives have been his targets.
Young was particularly outraged by conservatives, including
House colleagues, who questioned his earmarking practices. “My
money, my money!” he shouted, as well as “kiss my ear!” When New
Jersey Republican Congressman Scott Garrett tried to remove a $34
million earmark Young had inserted in an appropriation bill, the
Alaskan roared, “Those who bite me will be bitten back.”
So why is Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell challenging Young in the
August Republican primary, risking the incumbent’s ire and asking
voters to bite the hand that feeds them pork? “Our reputation as
Alaskans,” Parnell tells me in an interview, “is that we’re always
trying to grab as much money as we can when in fact we have a lot
to contribute to the rest of the nation.” Correcting that
impression will require “new leaders who treat the office as a
public trust, not as an entitlement,” he says.
THERE IS A RECENT precedent for Parnell’s challenge. In 2006,
Republicans seemed likely to lose Alaska’s governorship because the
incumbent, Gov. Frank Murkowski, was mired in controversy.
Murkowski proposed an unpopular petroleum profits tax at a rate
favored by a powerful local company, the Veco Corporation, which
illegally funneled money to his re-election
campaign through his chief of staff. He bought himself a plane
despite the state legislature’s disapproval. And he appointed his
daughter Lisa to fill his Senate seat. Former Democratic Gov. Tony
Knowles was the
heavy favorite to beat Murkowski.
Instead, Murkowski finished third in the GOP primary. Sarah
Palin ran 32 points ahead of him and went on to beat Knowles by
seven points in the general election. Rather than lose like the
national party, Alaska Republicans cleaned house and elected a
Palin-Parnell reform ticket.
Could history repeat itself? Young is beset by scandals. He
altered a $10 million earmark in the 2005 transportation bill after
it had already passed both the House and the Senate, a move that
might well be illegal and for which he is under investigation by
the Justice Department. The change benefits a Florida real estate
developer who contributed $40,000 to Young’s campaign treasury. He
is also under a separate federal investigation for his ties to the
Veco Corporation — the very same company that helped undo
Murkowski.
Polls show Young losing to likely Democratic
nominee Ethan Berkowitz, the former state house minority leader.
His fellow pork-loving Republican, Sen. Ted Stevens, is also
trailing his Democratic opponent. But Parnell leads narrowly,
holding out hopes that Republicans could hold the House seat if
Young is booted in the primary.
ETHICS AND ELECTABILITY aren’t the only issues in a Young-Parnell
race. The two candidates differ philosophically as well. The
pro-life, pro-gun challenger is a fiscal conservative who eschews
pork-barrel politics. “I don’t believe the federal budget should be
a playground for politicians,” Parnell says. He emphasizes his
service on the finance committees of Alaska’s house and senate
during eight years in the legislature.
Meanwhile, Young bragged about stuffing appropriations bills
“like a turkey.” As chairman of the House Transportation Committee
from 2001 to 2007, he presided over an increase in earmarks. He
also played a large role in passing the overfed 2005 highway bill,
which cost $286 billion and contained a record-breaking 6,371
pork-barrel projects. One of them was the infamous $223 million
Bridge to Nowhere. Another, the Knik Arm Bridge (better known as
“Don Young’s Way”), would boost the value of property held by his
daughter.
Young and Parnell also disagree about the federal gasoline tax. Young
wants to raise it by at least five cents a gallon while Parnell
supports a summer gas tax holiday to lower prices at the pump.
Announcing the Club for Growth’s endorsement of Parnell, Pat Toomey complained that
Young “has joined with Democrats in voting to increase the minimum
wage, increase income taxes on top earners, and to pass a bloated
farm bill.” Young also voted with the Democrats on card check
legislation allowing unions to organize without secret-ballot
elections.
“I want to spend less and save more,” says Parnell. “I want to
tax less, and grow the economy more. Expecting our children to pay
for our spending is irresponsible.” He calls Young’s earmark abuse
an embarrassment that has “damaged Alaska’s credibility” and says
it is time for “principled leadership over partisan leadership.” He
even suggests that “abandonment of the principles of limited
government and individual freedom” is what cost Republicans control
of Congress in the first place.
Pork versus principle — it’s a fight Republicans have been
having
elsewhere in the country. Young hopes his prodigious earmarking
will have bought the voters’ loyalty, if not love. Parnell is
betting that the incumbent’s big-spending ways will come back to
bite him.
