The race for Alaska’s lone seat in Congress pits incumbent Republican Don Young against Democratic challenger Forrest Dunbar.
Young, 81, a former tugboat captain from Fort Yukon, has held the seat since 1973. He served two years in the Army, and has a bachelor’s degree from Chico State College. Dunbar, 30, is an attorney with a law degree from Yale who worked as an intern to former U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski and as a part-time Congressional aide. He’s a former Peace Corps volunteer and serves as a second lieutenant in the Alaska Army National Guard.
In an interview while visiting Haines in July, Dunbar said Democrats do a better job of representing middle-class and working-class jobs, Medicare, Medicaid, and rights of women and veterans. That Alaska’s U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, and Mark Begich, a Democrat, voted the same 80 percent of the time during the past session of Congress shows most Alaska issues aren’t party issues, Dunbar said.
Young has lost chairmanship of influential committees and is increasingly unable to reach across the aisle, he said. “We need representation that can get the resources we need to the state, get the capital projects and development we need and work with the Department of the Interior and get them to make changes we want to see.”
Asked what he could do for Haines, Dunbar said most rural communities are concerned about high energy costs, and he’s interested in developing small-scale, distributed alternative energy generation. Young voted against shifting money into alternative energy construction that would benefit rural Alaska, he said.
“The cost of heating oil and diesel fuel are driving people out of rural Alaska. For the fishing fleet, the cost of fuel has become extremely problematic.”
In Haines, there are issues with the Army Corps of Engineers delaying harbor construction, he said. “There are a variety of those kinds of projects we need to move forward. There will come a time when federal funds will be needed there.”
Hollowing out of the middle class wasn’t inevitable, but was a series of policy choices like cutting Medicare, disempowering unions, and giving corporations unfettered political access and free speech rights, Dunbar said.
He supports tighter controls of the finance industry, saying the Dodd-Frank Reform Act got watered down so much some banks are bigger than they were before the 2008 financial crisis.”What they’ve done right now is they’ve socialized the risk and privatized the profit. That was the case before the (2008) financial crisis and that’s the case today. With the Congress we have today, that will never (change).”
In an email interview, Young said what he could do for Haines included continuing to stand up to the U.S. Forest Service regarding restrictive land uses. He said he would continue promoting federal fisheries. “Through my senior position on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I will continue to solicit funding for our vital infrastructure projects such as the Haines port, the upkeep of Shakwak (highway funding), and the Alaska Marine Highway System.”
Young said issues for Haines residents include access to good-paying jobs, the high cost of energy, and lack of infrastructure.
Asked what happened to the U.S. middle class, Young said “the magnitude of regulations that American business must follow – and the costs associated with compliance – is a massive driver of job loss. The waterfall of regulations pouring out of the federal agencies in Washington D.C. is unprecedented, and I will continue to lead the fight to stymie these harmful rules from the Obama administration.”
In regards to the finance industry and the 2008 economic crisis, Young said he opposed the Dodd-Frank reforms, which he said went too far. “Now, I constantly hear from Alaskan banks and credit unions about the regulatory burdens they overcome and the number of man hours it takes to comply. All of these efforts raise the cost of mortgages and other loans to Alaskan families and strangles investments in our state.”
Young said he’s ranked among the top 5 percent of Congress members for bipartisanship. Young said he remains a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and a member of the House Resources Committee. He said he has passed more bills into law than any other member of the U.S. House of Representatives.