Huffington Magazine Issue 85 | Page 70

ALASKA IS FLAGGING ultimately delayed the establishment’s opening. “That was the first time I had ever seen something like that happen,” Begich said of his introduction to governance. “I got interested in being involved.” Begich was well-positioned. In the ever-changing landscape of Alaska society — awash with oil speculators, seasonal employees and cultural refugees from the lower 48 — the Begiches were the closest thing to nobility that Anchorage had. “Everybody knew the Begich family,” Popp said. Begich’s mother, Pegge, ran the family’s real estate company and remained active in politics, serving on a number of local boards and task forces. She would later stage two unsuccessful runs for her late husband’s congressional seat. Begich is the fourth of six children, and his oldest brother, Nick Jr., ultimately became president of the Alaska Federation of Teachers. “Mark was a networker. He never had a problem talking to anybody,” Popp said. Begich brought the same hyperambitious approach to politics that he had to business, and his ascent was a speedy one. At 19, he HUFFINGTON 01.26.14 landed a job in the city’s health department and later became the driver for Anchorage Mayor Tony Knowles, who would go on to serve two terms as governor. In 1988, at 26, Begich won a spot on the Anchorage Assembly and was eventually elevated to the role of Assembly chair. In 2003, after two unsuccessful attempts, he was elected mayor of Anchorage, the first Democrat to serve in that role since Knowles. All the while, Begich helped expand and manage his family’s real estate holdings, while starting a vending machine company on the side. “He has a different energy level than normal people,” said Mike Abbott, chief operating officer of the Anchorage school district and city manager during Begich’s term as mayor. “He just has a big motor.” That motor will have Begich and his team crisscrossing Alaska’s wild and wooly environs for the next year. They’ll make their case in lonesome villages on the edge of the Arctic tundra and huddled beside North Slope oil workers in below-zero conditions. They’ll travel on rickety fishing boats in the Kenai Peninsula and aboard turbulence-rattled prop planes, many departing from Ted Stevens International Airport, an imposing 4,500-acre reminder of