Are You One of the Four to Six Thousand Alaskans Who Matter?

In this morning's NPR piece (sorry, you have to go NPR and then listen to their ad before this plays) on Senator Stevens, Anchorage attorney, and author of Take My Land, Take My Life: The Story of Congress's Historic Settlement of Alaska Native Land Claims, 1960-1971, Don Mitchell, explained why Stevens' friends benefiting from federal spending doesn't prove wrong doing:

If you accept that there are only four to six thousand Alaskans in Alaska who matter in the political and economic sense, a large number of that relatively small number will be former Stevens staffers or personal friends of the senator. That goes with the turf of a very small state.

I have to think about this a while. Can it be true that less than 1% of the population of Alaska "matter politically or economically"? What exactly does it mean to "matter politically and economically?

We should note here that according to the author blurb on his book Sold American

Donald Craig Mitchell is a former vice president and general counsel of the Alaska Federation of Natives, organized by Alaska Natives in 1967 to fight for their historic land claims settlement. In private practice since 1984, he has been intimately involved, both before Congress and in the courts, in the development and implementation of federal Native policy. In 1997, he represented Senator Ted Stevens before the United States Supreme Court as amicus curiae in Alaska v Native Village of Venetie, which upheld Mitchell's view that Congress did not intend land conveyed to Alaska Native corporations to be "Indian Country."

So, I guess that since he represented Stevens in the Supreme Court, Don must be one of the Alaskans that matter. but let's put that thought on hold for a bit.



In the same NPR piece, former Anchorage borough Mayor Jack Roderick says

Bill Allen was the Outstanding Businessman of Alaska, so what do you do? You deal with them.

I couldn't find anything about "Outstanding Businessman of Alaska," but an ADN article on Veco says Bill Allen shared the Alaskan of the Year Award with former Gov Jay Hammond in 1994. I wonder if Hammond thought the award a little tarnished sharing it with Bill Allen. Just the other day I raised the question about who picks these awards and at least found out there's a non-profit called Alaskan of the Year, Inc. (It's mentioned in the first paragraph after the opening quotes and then in the *footnote) Trying to check on Allen's honor, I found that the State Chamber of Commerce give s this award. How are they connected to Alaskan of the Year, Inc.? Are they all part of the Alaskans who matter?


OK, it is true that we are a relatively small state in terms of population and people do tend to know each other. But friends of the Senator shouldn't get signficantly greater benefits from projects than the general public. And the general public's money shouldn't be steered to projects in order to benefit friends of the senator. I already posted about how Stevens earmarked $28 million for the Bill Sheffield Railroad Depot at the Ted Stevens International Airport that is only used by passengers of (mainly) Carnival Cruisea and other Carnival owned lines like Princess and Holland-America. Is that just the natural consequences of so few people who matter?

And what about Trevor McCabe, former Ted Stevens aide, and business partner of Ben Stevens (the son), and former SeaLife Center Board member? How did he happen to buy land in downtown Seward in 2003 that suddenly became so critical for a multi-agency center that Stevens earmarked money to buy that very land as reported in Wednesday's Anchorage Daily News? Just a matter of the Senator having too many friends so someone or other of his 4000 former staffers or friends will just happen to benefit? Why did he buy that piece of land? Why did Stevens earmark money to go to the SeaLife Center instead of the City? Why did the SeaLife Center buy McCabe's land with the earmarked money? Why not the City of Seward, which owns the SeaLife Center? I guess it was just a coincidence since the Senator has so many friends it's bound to happen now and then.

Stevens has brought many, many projects to Alaska. As people look closer and closer into each one, I suspect we will have many surprises, and maybe discover more and more of the 4000-6000 Alaskans who Matter. Maybe Don Mitchell can publish the list of the Alaskans that matter and the rest of us can just stop playing like we matter at election time.

But, I still have to think about what this means. If it's true, then maybe that explains why Mitchell is opposed to Native sovereignty - those folks simply don't matter. Or maybe he'd like to believe it is true. If it isn't true, why would Mitchell say it? And if it is true, does it have to stay true? And again, what does it even mean?