It’s hard for me to imagine Mark Begich actually claiming with a straight face that there was a clamor for him to run for governor. It is absolutely disingenuous of him to claim he will not be a spoiler in the upcoming Alaska gubernatorial race. And yet, knowing the ability of Democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, I’m not surprised. I fully expect that, thanks to Begich, we will end up with a right-wing Republican for governor who will represent nothing more than the extraction industry while ignoring the will of the majority of Alaskans. Cause that’s how Republicans seem to roll nowadays.
Bill Walker is an honorable man who showed he had the political and personal courage to stand up for what was needed to straighten out the mess that is our financial house. It’s a mess brought to you by a Republican legislature that would rather cut school and other funding to zero than cause their energy extraction overlords to pay even one more cent in taxes. And god forbid we actually tax ourselves for all the services we enjoy. I mean, isn’t the Republican tax plan basically one that says everything is a free lunch so don’t worry about paying to maintain roads or schools or emergency services. The success of this plan can be seen now on a national level as the new Republican tax plan costs us another trillion dollars in national debt before it’s even two years old.
I don’t know why Mark Begich is really in this race. His ideas aren’t new. He doesn’t offer anything that really sounds all that different from the same old song we’ve been hearing in one way or another from every recycled politician who ever sullied our mailboxes with their postcards.
Maybe Walker isn’t the most articulate in defining some grand scheme for this state. But you know what? I’m tired of those grand schemes that seem to offer us Nirvana but end up costing us our shirts (repeat after me, KABATA). Walker made the tough financial decisions that our lily livered, oil industry dominated Senate wouldn’t or couldn’t do (once again, repeat after me, KABATA).
I hardly agree with all his positions. But he has often seemed like the only adult in the room whenever a bunch of politicians gathered that included him. Quite frankly, having watched Mark Begich in action, I think there’s a lot he could learn about adulting from Walker.
So I urge all Alaskans to give Walker the chance to finish the work he’s started and to leave Begich where he belongs in the dustbins of our history. Don’t let him blow this for us. Without Walker and Gara in Juneau, the inmates will truly be in charge of the asylum.