I had the extreme
pleasure of seeing Walter Hickel, one of Alaska's
great former governors, testify in Juneau several
weeks ago. Governor Cowper had called a special session
of the Legislature in order to ram through a constitutional
amendment that would have appeared on the ballot in
November. That constitutional amendment would have
changed our Constitution in a most unpleasant way.
Right now, our Constitution provides that all (Alaskans
have equal rights). Governor Cowper proposed that
the Constitution be changed to make urban citizens
"second class" citizens, with less rights to our natural
resources than Alaskans living in rural areas.
Governor Cowper,
surrounded by many of the present power-brokers of
the State, made all sorts of erroneous claims to justify
taking away the rights of urban Alaskans. It was a
real "dog and pony show".
Walter Hickel
testified against the Governor's proposed constitutional
amendment. He said that amending our Constitution
should only be done as a last resort. He stated that
other courses of action were available to Governor
Cowper, and the Legislature, besides tampering with
our Constitution.
Walter Hickel
did not seem impressed by the plethora of celebrities
that Governor Cowper had dragged into Juneau to support
Cowper's position. Instead, it was clear that Mr.
Hickel realized that several important principles
were involved in the issue that Governor Cowper had
chosen to ignore. Those principles are, of course,
that all Alaskan's have the right to be treated fairly
and on an equal basis with one another, by their State
government, and also that Alaska should control its
own resources, without unwanted and unwarranted interference
by the Federal Government.
Mr. Hickel advocated
strong leadership by our present Governor. He advocated
opposing the Fed's take-over of subsistence management
of game on Federal lands.
Mr. Hickel had
personal knowledge of the success a strong governor
can achieve. He had been a strong Governor, himself.
He gave one example of how he had wielded the power
of the Governor's office, without fear of the consequences,
when he was Governor. At that time, Alaskan ferries
could not travel to Seattle because they were only
licensed for use in Inland Waterways. Circumstances
had arisen that required an Alaskan ferry to go to
Seattle. Hickel ordered the ferry to sail to Seattle
on Monday at 1:00 PM. He called the President and
told the President that the ferry was leaving on Monday,
whether the Feds liked it or not. At noon on Monday,
Hickel received a call informing him that the President
had signed a proclamation declaring the entire route
of the Alaska Ferry System as Inland Waters. Those
waters, now plied regularly by the Alaska Ferry System,
have been Inland Waters ever since.
Walter Hickel's
testimony made me realize just how much we Alaskan's
have lost, over the last few years, by not having
a strong Governor at the helm of our State. All too
often, during the last dozen years, our Governors
have acted as if they worked for the Federal Government
rather than working for the people of the state of
Alaska. The Federal Government has restricted the
mining industry, the forest products industry, the
guiding industry, and the oil industry, all without
a whimper of protest from our elected chief State
executive. Alaskans have lost their jobs, and even
their homes, because of the actions of the Feds and
no one in the Governor's office, in recent years,
has done anything to stop these unnecessary acts of
Federal interference.
Section VIII of
the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
(ANILCA) is the law that the Federal Government is
relying on to take-over subsistence management of
game on Federal lands. It provides that if Alaska's
law is not in compliance with federal law, the Federal
Government may take over such management. Senator
Stevens called Section VIII of ANILCA "the worst piece
of federal legislation since Statehood", but our present
Governor has proposed that we Alaskans amend our Constitution
to comply with that flawed federal law.
Walter Hickel
opposed changing our Constitution. Instead, he advocated
challenging the federal law.
Unfortunately,
the media in Anchorage seems to have bought Governor
Cowper's position. While the newspapers in Fairbanks
(which calls itself "real Alaska") opposed the Governor's
proposed Amendment, the Anchorage papers supported
the Governor, thus in effect advocating denial of
equal rights to the very people, the urban people,
who are their readers. The Anchorage TV stations,
almost daily, would begin their coverage of the news
of the special session, with lines like: "Once again
the Alaska Legislature has failed to enact
a constitutional amendment", implying that the Legislature,
somehow, was negligent in failing to pass the
Governor's discriminatory legislation. The media also
indicated, that it was the Legislature's fault for
the Federal Government's takeover of subsistence management
on federal lands.
Our Anchorage
media simply has not done its homework! The Anchorage
media has failed to see the violation of equal rights
that the Governor's proposal would have imposed on
Alaskans. The Anchorage media has failed to see that
the real culprit responsible for the Feds being involved
in management of Alaska's game, is our weak-kneed
Governor himself who, through his Attorney General,
should have challenged the ANILCA law which gave the
Feds authority to stick their noses into Alaska's
game management. And the Anchorage media has failed
to honor those Alaskan law-makers who took the time
to study the issue, understood it, had the courage
to withstand the Governor's hoopla, and voted against
his discriminatory amendment. We still have
strong leaders in State government in Alaska of the
likes of Walter Hickel. These leaders are NOT in the
Governor's office, however. Our strong leaders are
in our Legislature. They are easy to recognize. Just
look for the people who voted "NO" to amending our
Constitution. And you should be pleased to learn one
of them is even running for Governor!
