Bob Poe Gets It.

Might Alaska be on the fast track to a major political shift? Not necessarily from red to blue, but instead we may be fast approaching an even more monumental and important reshaping in our society.

What if we said “enough” to the our rich addiction to political dynasties? What if we measured a candidate on merit above celebrity; on ideas rather than tired rhetoric? What if we sought solutions rather than sermons; pragmatism as an alternative to rigid ideology? What if we put our trust back in the hands of our diverse community; our family, and away from the societal bullies who have nothing to offer other than stagnant hate?

Is it really possible to stand up as one? Not just as We the People, but more importantly, as We the Future of Alaska, and take the power back?

It’s a long shot, but it could happen. And there are two names at the center of it all: Andrew Halcro and Bob Poe.

This past Wednesday, Bob Poe ventured into the largely conservative audience of Mark Colavecchio’s radio show on KFQD. Largely unknown to the community, Poe has recently embarked on a camper tour of Alaska, affectionately coined as the “Sausage and Politics” tour. While the name may suggest something more in the artistic styling of one Mark Sanford, in reality, the tour has aimed to both serve as an introductory circuit for Poe to establish himself as a legitimate candidate, and also to firm up his convictions that he will be the Governor of all of Alaska, including those pesky surrounding areas outside the municipality of Anchorage that Governor Palin was so consistent in ignoring, in accordance with her administration’s rural Alaskan policy of “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“I think one of the really important things that all gubernatorial candidates need to remember is that Alaska is a lot bigger than Anchorage. We can get kind of Anchorage-Mat-Su-Valley-centric here,” Poe honestly admitted.

Further expressing an extended focus on the entirety of Alaska, Poe discussed the state executive failures all too well known to locals in urban and rural Alaska:

“I think that Alaska really hasn’t moved forward very much in the last at least couple of Governors… One of the great things about Anchorage and Alaska in general is we’ve just seen a long stint of steady growth, and slow and steady growth… You hear a lot of people talk about sustainable economy. What that really means is growing at about one and a half, two percent a year. That, Alaska can easily absorb that. We can accommodate it. We can work it into where our future is going.”

Graph According to the State of Alaska Health and Social Services

The point is well taken. Alaska in recent years has been reduced to an uninspiring state of inertia in relation to forward leading legislation. The strategies have been more about not stirring the pot. It’s one thing to be careful. It’s another thing entirely to be motionless.

In one harsh example of this, as a state, we have opted to turn a blind eye on rural Alaska and demanded our native culture to follow a course of assimilation, resulting in a laundry list of shortfalls. Native Alaskans are either starving and freezing in their home villages, or being forced into Anchorage, without adequate assistance from our government, where they fall on even harder times and end up living on our streets.

“Homelessness in Anchorage is growing. And the number of homeless families and individuals continues to outnumber emergency and low-cost housing available in the city. Those were just two of the bleak observations contained in an annual update on homelessness in Anchorage.” [APRN, October 2008]

Furthermore, the local drug (especially heroin) and alcohol problems are on the rise, with a shrinking number of treatment facilities and expanding wait list times. The ADN reported a little over a year ago that “39 percent of those on the wait list in 2007 reported heroin as their drug of choice. That jumped to 62 percent in the first quarter of this year. At the same time, 77 percent also reported being injection drug users.” The same article also noted that “the Interior AIDS Association in Fairbanks is at capacity, as is the Anchorage clinic, which has a 27-person waiting list. As recently as May, there were 45 on it. But after months of waiting, many stopped calling.”

A rapid decrease in the number of clinics has forced many treatment facilities to limit their patient

Graph According to the State of Alaska Health and Social Services

intake to only pregnant women. This in no way benefits our community, and is shameful in its upward momentum and lack of reaction by elected officials.

When a multitude of administrations fail to address dire situations, dire consequences result. By sweeping our homeless under the rug, we have, morally and economically, damned ourselves. There is no quick fix, but instead a choice between allowing further decay or drawing a line in the sand and begin a societal reconstruction, starting with measures for improving health care, energy costs, and education for all Alaskans. Sound familiar?

Poe seems to fully grasp the scope of our young state’s problems, attributable to his extensive resume covering 28 years split between the public and private sector in Alaska, and also the relationship he shares with his wife, Terzah Tippin Poe, who is of Inupiat heritage and is both a fierce and accredited advocate of promoting Native Alaskan values and supporting improvements to all aspects of their quality of life; a stance we all need to take as Alaskans.

Wasting no time, Poe delved deeper into his vision of how we start down that new path of correcting a great and growing wrong in our community:

“A really interesting company called STG, Jim St. George, came to us and he said, ‘What we’re going to do is take the welding instructors from the King Career Center and the University, we’re going to take them out to, I forget which town it was, but it was way out there in Western Alaska, and we’re going to train them to be welders.’ So they got about twelve guys to sign up for this welding instruction; they did about six weeks of this, and nine or ten of them got certified.

“Now, I actually have seen Russia from Alaska. I’ve been to little Diomede, and the last time I was in little Diomede… this crew was now in little Diomede welding together tanks there. Now what that allowed these guys to do is become welders on bush projects all over the state. It’s not 9 to 5, 365 days a year, but… it allows those guys out in the villages to live that combined subsistence and economic lifestyle that works really well for them. And we’ve got to think about projects like that, that adapt to the lifestyle, which is very different in rural Alaska than it is in urban Alaska.”

Bob Poe gets it. We need to think of business, economic, and educational initiatives that adapt to their lifestyle, rather than a blanket approach to force them to adapt to our lifestyle. The practice of handing them a debit card and a cell phone and saying “Have at it” simply doesn’t cut it. Palin offered us a claustrophobic brand of forced conformity, most notably when she was confronted by Nick Tucker of Emmonak, while she was visiting Russian Mission. Alaska Dispatch reported that:

“Sarah Palin was a interesting experience in Alaska’s history.” – Bob Poe

“Palin told Tucker that part of the solution to struggling villages (many have no economies to speak of) is for people to seek work outside their communities, be it on the North Slope or at mines or other natural-resource industries. (For example, oil companies pay for workers as far away as Florida to travel to the North Slope oil fields and work two-week shifts, then send them home for two weeks off. It appears Palin is saying that more Alaskan villagers should do the same.) As a personal example, Palin pointed to her husband as somebody who left his “village” of Dillingham to seek work. This is at best a half-truth, as Todd Palin graduated from high school in Wasilla and later went to work on the North Slope.”

This was a short-sighted admittance of indifference, highlighted as a lack of effort by Poe’s quick suggestion of implementing various efforts of bring employment to the bush, and rewarding the private interests willing to invest in rural Alaska. Poe believes in creating opportunity, not just drawing attention to where it already exists.

“[W]e need to have a number of economic opportunities gelling at the same time.” Poe continues. “Businesses often have, say, ten things they’re working on of which five or six or seven actually happen. Alaska ought to be doing that same thing [because] that’s what creates a diversified economy. Right now our economy is a three legged stool… [O]il and gas is one third of our economy. Federal spending is another. And that’s not just earmarks that Ted Stevens or somebody got. It’s five military bases, more national park land than the rest of the country… Lots of other federal land, they own 59% of Alaska. But the other third is everything else you can think of. And I think we need to grow that third of the economy through diversification, and that’s what I would do.”

Mr. Poe obviously has his opinions about the Governor whom he thought he would be running against. “Sarah Palin was a interesting experience in Alaska’s history,” he surmised. When asked about her decision to step down citing scrutiny from the blog-o-sphere, he said only that, as a politician, “You develop thick skin.” He observed that, once she returned home from the Vice Presidential campaign trail, it was obvious, to him, that her heart was no longer in the Governor’s office; that he “looked in her eyes, and I really could tell.”

In the spirit of fairness and community, he did remind the Colavecchio show listeners that, just like the rest of us, she is only human. And, possibly by mistake, possibly intentionally, he directly repeated one of her more common quotes: “It’s really about moving Alaska forward,” and then ended any other comparisons in his prescription that “We need to get on with the Post-Palin Alaska.”

Bob Poe made a definitive impression (to many, a definitive first impression) with this radio appearance. His 30 minute interview quickly expanded to 60 minutes, including phone calls and a comment from Mark Colavecchio himself, who said, “I personally think that we like what we’re hearing so far from you and… it’s a common sense approach to the way, you know, the state should move forward.”

And it will be undoubtedly a positive step in a rocky uphill climb to surpassing the dynasty-plagued culture that is Alaskan politics. Already, Poe has been given grief over his candidacy, as documented by Celtic Diva’s article, detailing some rumblings within the Alaskan Democratic party, where a few members believe that Poe (who was a self-described non-partisan before this campaign) is trying to cut in line, rather than run on a platform of believing he is the best person for the job.

“We need to get on with the Post-Palin Alaska.” – Bob Poe

“The way this thing works is you chose a party. And, I describe myself as a pro-business, pro-development, pro-environment democrat.” Poe offers, continuing on to describe his party affiliation as a comfortable fit, while dually recognizing where some of the hesitation comes from.

But possibly the most refreshing statement presented to us is an escape from the “career politician,” which is so ingrained in Alaskan culture, regardless of which side of the aisle you call home. Poe flatly promises us that he is not a part of any race to the top: “All I want to do is do two terms as Governor, and then you won’t hear from me again. I have no national aspiration. I want to go teach. That’s what I’ll do after this. My whole focus, and I think this is what Alaska needs, is a Governor who is focused on Alaska. Totally.”

So… Do you know Bob Poe?

[UPDATE: Bob Poe will also be appearing tomorrow (Friday) on the Eddie Burke show, which airs from 2-5pm Alaska time, on KBYR700am, which you can stream by clicking HERE.]