I met him only a few times and that was way back when we were both young in the late 70s and early 80s. So there is nothing I can add to all the speeches and remembrances being posted throughout Alaska blogs about him except to say that whether you liked him or not… and believe it or not, there were actually some Alaskans who didn’t… he was a force of nature that changed this state from a backwater in America’s patchwork quilt of states to a state that was still a backwater as far as most of America was concerned but one with more federal dollars than any other state in the nation.
And while Alaskans may bleat and bray about our vaulted independent spirit that wants nothing more than to have government out of our lives, Uncle Ted’s brilliance was knowing that as long as government came with a fist full of bucks, we didn’t care how much government we got.