ALASKA IS
FLAGGING
ment, one representative sighed.
His response could have well
been the title of a textbook on
Alaskan politics.
“Their chief is friends with Don
Young.”
Such economic and political uncertainty is beginning to
cast a pall over the Last Frontier.
The very same week Begich and
Cantwell toured the state, the
town council of Ketchikan, population 8,000, voted to expand daily ferry service to its airport and
a smattering of homes. Funding
for a bridge had failed to materialize in Washington, and residents
would have to make do with a less
desirable alternative.
The significance was lost on
no one. This was the “Bridge to
Nowhere,” the infamous road
link that had become nationally
synonymous with bloated federal budgets. It solidified Al \