An Alaska legend passes . . . Hickel

One of Alaska’s true political powerhouses and true Alaska spirits has passed. Walter Joseph Hickel died at the age of 90 in Anchorage hospice. He had a very full life. He is survived by his wife Ermalee Hickel, his six sons and 21 grandchildren.

Hickel was born in 1919 in Claflin, KS. His family farmed. He was the Kansas Golden Glovers champion by age 20.

Walter Hickel came to Alaska when Alaska was still a frontier in 1940. He made his fortune here, and established himself as one of Alaska’s political powerhouses. He was a great promoter of Alaska and our resources. His stance on Alaska’s sovereignty was reflected in AS 35.05.500-505.

Hickel married Jannice Cannon, his first wife in 1941. She died in 1943. They had one son.

In 1945, he married his second wife, Ermalee Strutz. They had 5 sons.

Wally Hickel became our Governor twice. His first term in office was in 1966. He defeated Bill Egan, Alaska’s first governor. In 1969 Hickel was appointed as Secretary of the Interior under President Richard Nixon. He was fired in 1970 for writing a letter protesting the President’s handling of war dissension, notably the Kent State shootings.

Hickel was diligent at his job as Interior Secretary. He set high standards for the oil companies after an oil rig accident off the coast of California. He was also an advocate for the Everglades.

Hickel was a strong advocate for export of Alaska resources to Japan and Asia.

Hickel was again elected as governor under the Alaskan Independence Party in 1990. He pursued the injustices of the federal government in their dealings with Alaska resource development and lands issues in the federal courts. Unfortunately, his successor, Tony Knowles dropped the lawsuit with prejudice, leaving future governors no recourse.

Hickel supported Sarah Palin, until she dropped the all-Alaska pipeline project to Valdez in favor of AGIA. He became a vocal opponent of her resource development policies and her distractions.

He publically supported gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker in the 2010 campaign.

An as yet to be scheduled funeral mass will be celebrated in Anchorage.

My father was a State Police officer. In 1959, he was sent to investigate the newly formed company to bring Cook Inlet and Kenai Penninsula gas deposits to market in south central. Walter J. Hickel was the man my father spoke with. My father asked about stock in the company, who could purchase, etc. Hickel smiled at him and told him suscinctly that my father could not afford the stock. You see, a State cop at the time made about $450/mo.

It was Cook Inlet gas supplying Ft. Richardson and Elmendorf in 1965 that shut down Evan Jones Coal Mine in Sutton. The coal mine provided the coal that previously had fueled the power plant and heating system for the bases. Over 60 families in the Mat-Su valley lost their livelihoods. Working at the coal mine was one of the good jobs--year round, non government, good money for the time.

Hickel pushed our timber to the Japanese during his first term in 1966, who bought Alaska timber in the round initially, started a timber industry in southeastern that grew until the feds shut down Tongass.

Hickel had a vision of Alaska that I did not necessarily agree with, but he was right. The "owner state" concept reeked of socialism to me and was distasteful. However, I did agree wholeheartedly with his exceptional and in your face protection of Alaska's sovereignty in opposition to the increasing federal encroachment.

I wish Hickel had lived to see the all-Alaska pipeline built. And, I wish Sarah Palin had been the governor that we and Hickel had hoped that she would be.

Oh, well. Life is a bitch and then you die.

Time to end the Alaska Parnell/Campbell show

Governor Sean Parnell’s new budget sticker price is a shocker. $10.5B. That’s billion with an explosive “B”. The size of this figure should give rise to fear and trepidation into the hearts of every conservative Alaskan out there, and the rest, also. Out of $10.5B, less than point 5 percent builds anything. The rest goes to State government to maintain the social State that Alaska has become while drunk on oil revenues.

When has there been any desire to build anything since Bill Eagan’s second term in the early 1970s? All State government does now is grow, and make excuses for why we cannot do anything anymore.

Worse, why has the State government grown with the Palin/Parnell Administration? As it turns out, Sarah was no conservative. She sold us a load of bilge on that promise, and Parnell has yet to pump out the bilge water that is the growth in State government since Palin/Parnell came to power. The current increase of 8.6% over Palin’s last budget shows that Parnell is no fiscal conservative.

An example of the expansion of State government is Palin/Parnell’s Climate Change Sub-Cabinet. A State executive cabinet that is managed by a federal EPA employee. This management is contrary to the Palin/Parnell stance and rhetoric in Sean’s State of the State address about maintaining and protecting the State’s sovereignty. This cabinet is no longer needed with the admission of climate change being manufactured science to a political end.

This sub-cabinet is also an expansion of government whose function was already covered by DEC, DNR, DMVA on the emergency response side, and other State agencies. Worse, it is administered by Climate Change Strategies, an NGO that promotes the false science of man-made global warming.

Another duplication of effort and money, to the tune of $7 million this year, was the creation of the Pipeline Czar position under Palin and continued by Parnell. We created ANGDA in 2002 by an overwhelming majority to do exactly what Noah and now Bob Swenson were appointed to do. Why is this bureaucracy and expense necessary? What does it do that ANGDA could not do, especially in the face of former Sen. Gene Therriault’s appointment as the governor’s oil and gas advisor? Seems to me that between Therriault and ANGDA, the situation regarding gas pipelines was covered.

DMVA continues an interesting structure that is contrary to our republican tradition in government. The military always has a civilian head. In Alaska, under former Gov. Frank Murkowski, an experiment was tried. The Commissioner DMVA and the position of the Adjutant General were combined. The purpose was to put the two top jobs, military and civilian under one hat. While good in theory, it put the military in control of DMVA, or more particularly, the National Guard Bureau (NGB). The reorganization also resulted in the two top positions being out of State at the same time. With then MG Craig Campbell’s numerous trips to Mongolia, Iraq, and Afghanistan as TAG, DMVA’s remaining leadership was incapable of making any decisions while the Commissioner/TAG was out of town. The Commissioner DMVA should be a civilian, and the TAG should be military, as two separate positions. NGB fuels DMVA. The combination of TAG and Commissioner under one hat gives the feds too much influence. Parnell, as a long time legislator, should have had the moxy to correct this situation. The military should always have civilian leadership. Even the Russians know better.

Under Parnell, we have bigger not better government. We have more money spent with less to show for it. We are in a recession, not a period of growth. There is no pipeline or other major construction on the Parnell plate with an anticipated start date planned. It is time to wipe the slate clean of Palin/Parnell and elect a new governor.

We cannot afford another round of Palin/Parnell.

Note: My choice is Bill Walker. I voted for the all-Alaska pipeline in 2002. I contributed, campaigned and voted for Palin/Parnell because of Sarah's support of the all-Alaska pipeline. I have studied and read extensively on the options, and there is only one option for Alaska: the all-Alaska pipeline, and Bill Walker for Governor: www.billwalkerforgovernor.com Otherwise, why are the Canucks building a LNG export facility at Kittimat, B.C.? Why have there been permits filed to build 2 other export LNG facilities on the West Coast of the U.S.? Shale gas has changed the game. Alaska has to figure it out or lose opportunity, jobs and suffer the continuing rape of our resources.