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.
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.
