Begich puts Kuskokwim River on campaign trail

MATT NEVALA

July 17, 2008 at 4:09PM AKST

As the reddish-brown rage of the Kuskokwim River and its neighboring sloughs and lakes churned in the day’s robust wind, Jerry Drake’s skiff did a decent impression of a pinball bouncing and bobbing inside one of those old arcade machines.

Drake, a Bethel resident for 30 years, masterfully guided the Alumaweld Talon, equipped with a 115 Mercury four-stroke engine, through the unrelenting water like a man who had seen it all before — and seen much worse.

Still, with a bit of a wink and a nod, Drake turned to his passengers. He couldn’t help himself because Mother Nature and the lack of boat traffic made it abundantly clear, this wasn’t ideal aquatic Alaska Bush travel weather.

“No U.S. senators are taking this kind of campaign trail,” Drake said.

Democratic senatorial candidate Mark Begich and staff member Susanne Fleek laughed as they braced themselves for the next up-and-down crash.

Begich, the Anchorage mayor who’s running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Ted Stevens since 1968, spent July 7 and 8 visiting with residents in Bethel and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Part of the itinerary called for the run-of-the-mill “meet and greet” session inside a Bethel office building.

But file the all-day boat trip to Kasigluk, Nunapitchuk and Napakiak on July 8 as anything but ordinary.

“I think you could call it the Alaska version of the old whistle-stop (train) tours,” Drake said. “This may be more down to earth.”

It proved another example of the unique and almost indescribable life lived by everyone on the Delta.

“It’s an unbelievable experience,” Begich said. “You not only meet people, but you see Alaska and it’s not from an airplane, a magazine or news article.”

Begich, Fleek and Drake set out for Kasigluk, located on the Johnson River 26 miles northeast of Bethel, shortly before 10 a.m. One of the key components of Begich’s campaign is his energy plan, which focuses heavily on the need for renewable energy sources.

Much of the talk during the bumpy boat ride downriver centered on the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative wind-power generators, which have been operating in Kasigluk since summer 2006. As the group’s boat neared the village, the 100-foot-tall turbine towers proved a sight to behold.

The turbines reportedly saved Kasigluk $70,000 on diesel in 2007, which helped hold down electric prices.

But before tower technician Moses White lead a tour of the wind energy machinery and the village’s power plant, other village residents marvel at what it took for Begich to make it in for the visit.

Gary Beaver said he had already met and talked with Begich during a previous visit to Bethel. Seeing the candidate arrive by boat, however, cast the politician in different light.

“It’s cool,” said Beaver, 30. “If you’re from another state of another city, you don’t have that experience.

“You just jump in your car and keep going.”

In the office of the Kasigluk Traditional Council where Begich meets a telecommunications technician who paints a grim picture of the area’s Internet access.

The man is in the middle of installing new equipment to improve the situation.

Begich said it’s this kind of first-hand meeting and discussion that makes visiting villages mandatory in his mind.

“The guy told us in short order about the basic Internet access,” Begich said. “The federal government would spend thousands of dollars studying something like this and would hold 30 hearings in (Washington) D.C.

“When you come out here, you get the real feel.”

Begich said he’s told time and time again  about the importance of showing up in the villages. He said he hears about from residents in both rural and urban areas of the state.

White and three of his four daughters walked Begich’s traveling party back to the boat after the tour of Kasigluk’s wind energy operation.

Next stop is Nunapitchuk for a meeting with Alaska Native leader Robert Nick. Begich and Nick exchange pleasantries and some policy ideas while sitting on the couch in Nick’s home.

It’s not long before Nick walks the candidate through the village as it prepares for the upcoming Salmonberry Festival. Begich shakes hands with as many village residents as possible.

Some of the residents, especially children, are thrilled to grab a campaign button or T-shirt. Others aren’t quite sure what to make of the candidate.

Once snacks picked up from the Nunapitchuk general store are devoured, Begich’s traveling party makes it back to Drake’s boat to begin the return trip to Bethel. It’s decided another stop will be made in Napakiak.

It’s also decided that low tide could make for a tricky trek back to the city. How true. How true.

The boat slides and sticks into sandbars three times en route from Nunapitchuk to Napakiak. But ever the confident captain, Drake gets the boat out of trouble and back in action quickly.

Residents of Napakiak are putting the finishing touches on the re-roofing of the school.

The staff at Jung’s Trading Post price frozen vegetables and stack them accordingly in a freezer.

Begich and his crew make a lap around the village, stopping to chat with everyone on a four-wheeler.

After leaving Napakiak for a quick stop at Drake’s fish camp to test the family’s tasty smoked salmon strips, the boat docks in Bethel shortly before 8 p.m.

It’s been a long day full of choppy water and windy, dust-filled gusts.

“When you’re born and raised in the state, you’re aware of the everyday challenges, especially for those in rural Alaska,” Begich said. “I’ve stayed in homes with honeybuckets and been on the flights when you wondered if you’re going to get there.

“I don’t want to say (this trip) has been an eye-opener. It’s just been more of a reinforcement of what I thought and knew. It gave me a sense of the new challenges the people of rural Alaska face.”

Matt Nevala can be reached at (907) 348-2480 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 480.