Remembering Don Young, a fighter for Alaska

On Oct 31, 2019, MoveOn released a video of one of their reporters following Congressman Don Young through a building in the US capitol. The reporter repeatedly asked about inviting foreign countries to interfere in our election, a reference to then-President Donald Trump's apparent attempt to pressure Ukraine into opening an investigation on rival Joe Biden. Young avoided answering the question until the reporter made the mistake of cornering the capricious Congressman, at which point Don Young responded in a way only that Don Young could respond; he headbutted the camera. 

Two years later, and under a different president, Young attended a cold, windy outdoor signing of Joe Biden’s Build Back Better infrastructure legislation. Captured in a video by CNBC, Biden had just delivered a speech and before signing the bill, he commented to the group, “you guys must be freezing,” to which Young replied, “we were wondering when you were going to stop, for a moment we damn near froze to death.”

As reported by the Anchorage Daily News, the gruff, at-large legislator, who was unafraid to banter with the most powerful man on earth, passed away on March 18 at the age of 88 on a flight from Los Angeles to Seattle.

In a statement, Biden described the late congressman as “larger than life.” Young held the honor of being the longest serving Republican congressman in the US House of Representatives.

Despite what one may feel about Young’s actions over the years, there was a comfort in knowing he was channeling that energy, courage and brash bravado into serving Alaskans.

Born June 9, 1933, in Meriden, California. In 1959 he moved to Fort Yukon, Alaska. There he worked a handful of jobs. According to the biography on his website, he taught 5th graders for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, mined for gold, trapped animals, and captained his own tug and barge on the Yukon. He met and married his first wife Lu in 1963. Together they had two daughters Joni and Dawn. Lu passed away in 2009.

His first foray into politics was as mayor of Fort Yukon. He then went on to win a seat in the Alaska state House and later the Alaska state Senate. In 1973 he won a special election to Alaska’s single seat in the US House of Representatives. There he would remain for the next 49 years.

Early in his national career, he helped secure a massive win for Alaska by getting legislation for the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline through Congress. His own views on the significance of this can be seen in a quote from his bio, with him saying, “Next to statehood itself, the most historical legislation passed that affected every Alaskan then, now, and in the future, was the passage of the pipeline legislation.”

As reported by the ADN, Young would find his place in Congress directing money and policy around the development of natural resources and infrastructure. In 1994 he was given the chair of the Natural Resources Committee, and in 2001 he stepped up to chair the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

There he was able to secure large amounts of money for state projects, a fact he was shameless about. Regarding transportation legislation, he was quoted as saying, “I stuffed it like a turkey.” And to his critics, “kiss my ear.”

His temerity finally caught up with him and he was caught up in scandals surrounding funding for various projects. He lost the chair to the Transportation Committee in 2007. Despite this, it was clear that he had a passion for the country’s infrastructure. He took a politically hazardous position by suggesting a raise in the  gasoline tax to help pay for crumbling bridges and roads, as reported in a 2007 AP article. He fully recognized the risk stating, “May the sky not fall on me.” 

Years later he would have one more go at bold infrastructure spending. Young was one of the few Republican members of the house to vote for Biden’s Build Back Better plan. Outlined in an article by the ADN, over the next 5 years it is expected to bring in billions to the state for bridge repair, highway maintenance, upgrades to ports and the ferry system, improvements to broadband and water utilities, and investments into renewable energy.

In a statement from his office, Young had this to say about the bill: “I truly believe that this bipartisan infrastructure legislation may be our last best chance to make the federal investments necessary to modernize and strengthen America’s infrastructure needs for the next century and beyond.”

Young’s off-the-cuff actions sometimes got him into hot water. In 1994 he waved around an 18-inch walrus penis bone when the first woman leader of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave testimony, and his comments on suicide to Wasilla students in 2014 drew sharp criticism.

Despite his checkered life, Young seemed to get along with members on both sides of the aisle. ADN put together a list of statements from officials following his death. It is remarkable the number of Democrats and Republicans who counted Young as a friend.

His broad appeal was on display in 2019. During a time of vitriol and hyper-partisanship in DC, you would have never guessed it watching CSPAN’s coverage of the House honor Young on March 6  for becoming the longest serving House Republican in US history.

During one of his speeches on the House floor, when administering the oath of office to Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2021, Young decried the hyper-partisanship politics he was seeing, saying, “I love this institution. I will be honest, I do not like what I see. It’s time we hold hands and talk to one another.” Young went on to say, when facing sharp disagreement “let’s sit down and have a drink.”

The stories surrounding Young could be incredible, such as former Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner saying in a Politico article that Young had once held a knife to his throat. Young later said his account was mostly true.

Jim Muller, a professor of political science at UAA, shared two firsthand accounts that shed light on Young’s sense of humor and loyalty to Alaskans. In the first, on a trip to DC with students, the itinerary included a visit to meet Young. According to Muller, Young spoke about the importance of civic virtue and remarked to the students that he could see one of them entering politics and even running for the US House. As Muller described it, Young wryly added “you may be running against me, and I’ll whip you.”

In the other encounter, students were meeting Young in a committee conference room. When someone who wanted to use the room noticed Young was just speaking with constituents, they tried to move Young along. Muller said Young did not mince words in response to being hurried away, telling them to go “boil their head.”

The impact of Young on the state of Alaska is massive, as UAA Chancellor Sean Parnell said in an email to the UAA community following the death of Young. He wrote, “If you have driven the roads and highways in Alaska, flew the skies, landed at our urban and rural airports, or taken an Alaska State Ferry, you have benefited from Congressman Young’s work.”

UA President Pat Pitney highlighted Young’s contribution to the university system in her own email, writing, “In his 49 years in office, Congressman Young stepped up for Alaska and the University of Alaska System time and again.”

On Tuesday, March 29, Young’s body was sent to lay in state at the US Capitol. Young is survived by his second wife Anne and two daughters Joni and Dawn.