| April 14, 2006 Red Alert by Soren Wuerth [Editor's note: At the 2006 Alaska
Press Club Awards banquet on April 7th, the Suzan Nightingale-McKay
Award for 'Best Columnist' in an Alaskan newspaper was presented to our
very own Soren Wuerth for his work here on "Red Alert". Soren has
been a part of the Insurgent49 team since the begining of the project,
and we couldn't be more proud to have him working with us. If you'd
like to congratulate Soren on his accomplishment, drop him an email at soren@insurgent49.com. Also,
be sure to check out his archive on the right side of this page. And
now ... back to your regularly scheduled "Red Alert".]
A
rotten egg for a rotten egg
There’s a point on the coastal trail in Anchorage, just slightly below Lynn Nary Park, where, if you sail an egg with a good strong pitch, you can nail Bill Sheffield’s house. Since he’s cleared so many trees on his sprawling estate you would have an easy time finding the target. With cover of darkness, someone could unload a half dozen on the ex-governor’s mansion and escape. If there is any politician who needs a good egging, it is Sheffield. Former Gov. Bill Sheffield epitomizes everything corrupt and evil about our state’s good ol’ boy cabal. Remember when he wanted to close the street in front of his multi-million dollar home? Sheffield complained about people parked out on the street near his fortified gate. Sheffield appeared in the paper recently defending his port expansion project. Three federal agencies worried that the port plans could ruin the Ship Creek salmon fishery and harm Cook Inlet’s endangered beluga whales. “It’s a good project, a necessary project, and we don’t plan on hurting anything,” he told the Anchorage Daily News. Bill told me virtually the same thing when I interviewed him for an Anchorage Press article many years ago. He was the director of Alaska Railroad back then and the railroad want to shove a spur into Girdwood’s valley to the Alyeska Resort. Sheffield liked the idea of shipping tourists directly from the railroad station (named, now, after Bill) at the airport to the resort in Girdwood. He thought Girdwood locals would want to buy a $50 round trip ticket to catch a ride to and from town. When I interviewed him, things weren’t going well for the project. It didn’t look like the Anchorage Assembly wouldn't sign off in favor of the spur and there were environmental obstacles, as the route would take the train beneath several avalanche chutes. But it was Girdwood that delivered Bill’s idea its knockout blow. In a non-binding local vote, Girdwood residents decided overwhelming to reject the plan. Sheffield paced in his plush executive office, fuming. Face red, he cursed Girdwood like a furious hockey fan. “Here’s a former governor swearing at me,” I remember thinking. I reminded him I wasn’t a Girdwood resident and that I wanted to do was present both viewpoints. “You fucking journalists are all the same,” he told me. How is that a person like Sheffield is allowed to make decisions that affect so many Alaskans? When Government Hill residents tire of three years of continuous pile driving for Sheffield’s port expansion, will Sheffield pick up the phone and calmly tell them it’s for their own good? Maybe the graft and corruption scandal that marred his gubernatorial years is eating away at Sheffield’s conscience. In 1985, Sheffield, a Republican under the loose-fitting camouflage of a Democrat, faced a grand jury for abusing his office by giving a campaign contributor $9.1 million in state funds for Fairbanks office space. While the grand jury worked on its case, “two key state housing administrators died under circumstances many continue to find troubling,” wrote journalist and author John Strohmeyer in Extreme Conditions. Although the grand jury said Sheffield was unfit for office and urged the state senate to consider impeaching him, they ultimately repaid Sheffield for his legal expenses. “Crusades against corruption in government have a poor record in Alaska,” says author John Strohmeyer in Extreme Conditions. Let the eggs rot. Sheffield still a player. Soren Wuerth is perhaps Alaska's best known community activist, and is the winner of the Alaska Press Club's 2006 'Best Columnist' award. He resides in an undisclosed location in rural Alaska and can be reached at soren@insurgent49.com. |
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April 7, 2006 March 31, 2006 March 24, 2006 March 17, 2006 March 3, 2006 February 24, 2006 February 17, 2006 February 10, 2006 February 3, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 13, 2006 January 6, 2006 December 30, 2005 December 23, 2005 December 16, 2005 December 10, 2005 December 2, 2005 November 25, 2005 November 18, 2005 November 11, 2005 November 4, 2005 October 28, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 14, 2005 October 7, 2005 September 30, 2005 September 23, 2005 September 16, 2005 September 9, 2005 September 2, 2005 August 26, 2005 August 19, 2005 August 12, 2005 August 5, 2005 July 29, 2005 July 22, 2005 July 15, 2005 July 8, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 24, 2005 June 17, 2005 June 10, 2005 June 3, 2005 May 27, 2005 May 20, 2005 May 13, 2005 May 6, 2005 April 29, 2005 April 21, 2005 |
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2005
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Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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