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First Young Debate To Be About The Fish, Just The Fish, And Only The Fish
No one will ever say that Rep. Don Young (R-AK) can't handle the tough questions. OK, so maybe he tends to handle them by shouting down his questioners, but the man can take care of himself.
Well, Young is due for his first debate of the campaign tonight. But unfortunately there won't be any questions about why Young has paid defense attorneys almost $1 million, or whether he violated the Constitution in order to benefit a major campaign contributor, or any of his other entanglements.
That's because it's all about fish:
The kinds of questions that so annoyed the incumbent, Don Young, that he canceled a press conference last month -- his relationship to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff or why he's spent nearly $1 million on legal fees -- will be off limits in Kodiak.The debate is part of the Comfish exposition and moderator John Whiddon, president of Island Seafoods and the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce, said any question not directly related to fishing will be ruled out of order.
Somehow you got to figure that someone will manage to work their way under Young's skin nonetheless. The debate will feature six participants, minus Young's prominent Republican primary challenger Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell. But Dem Jake Metcalfe, whom Young has dubbed "Jake the Snake," will be there to get him riled up.
Josh
Zachary
Does the media ever agree to just boycott these sham events?
March 20, 2008 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing: What if they held a debate and nobody came?
Personally, I can't imagine a bigger snoozer than two hours of talking about nothing but fish.
Hmmm, then again, the environment and global warming are issues that have a huge impact on the fishing industry, so a clever moderator could, if he/she were sufficiently motivated, work in those and other topics of broader concern without running afoul of the rules.
March 20, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
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March 20, 2008 8:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nope, they are hard up for attention just like the people they cover! this way no one can say they were left out, unless of course they choose to not cover a story that will not improve the bottom line.
March 20, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
I speak for the fish in Alaska when I say that million dollars you spent on lawyers Mr Young would have gone a long way in alleviating the suffering of the poor in Alaska.
March 20, 2008 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
March 20, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
The press just have to come up with fish related questions that expose Young for the jerk that he really is. For example:
- If fish were lawyers, how many fish would you be employing right now and in which jurisdictions would they be defending you?
- If you were a fish and had a fish friend who needed increased access to his property in Florida, how much fish money would your fish friend have to raise for your re-election campaign in order for you to slip an earmark into the transportation bill? Which fish would you get to slip that earmark into the budget, or would you (as a fish) do it yourself?
- If you were a fish could you bite someone like a mink?
- If a fish was a politician, would that fish represent everyone in the state or just those who voted for that fish?
March 20, 2008 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you think that corruption does not extend to fishing in Alaska, I will sell you my interests to the fameous bridge to nowhere in Alaska.
Steven's kid was on the commission dividing fish profits and Young and Stevens have been in the Trawler Wars and working on allocation of the catch to favor some AK companies.
Trust me the Corrupt Bastards Club is in Oil, Fish, timber and would be in snow in Alaska if they could find a way to skim profit off it.
March 20, 2008 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
These debates have, in the past, been limited to questions about commercial fisheries and fishery infrastructure. There's no reason to change that in 2008, even with heightened national interest in this campaign.
The increasing privatization of a public resource to the benefit of the cronies of Ted Stevens, Don Young and Tony Knowles is a hot issue in the community where the debate - or, more accurately, forum - is being held.
slb,
Commercial fisheries are the 2nd most important aspect of Alaska's economy, after oil. The candidates have been spending many hours preparing. Kodiak High School will be packed, and the debate will be broadcast statewide.
The moderator, Mr. Whiddon, is a shill for the corporate thieves. Two of the questioners, Jason Moore and Margie Bauman, are also corporate shills with little fishery knowledge, but two others, Ralph Gibbs and Casey Kelly, will most likely ask some probing questions.
More to the point, tpm readers, what good would it do to try to get info out of Young on his million dollar legal fees, when we already know he won't say anything?
March 20, 2008 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fish may sound like the dullest of topics until you realize what Stevens and Young have done via dark of the night appropriation riders.
They have sold Alaska fishermen into sharecropper status forever.
In some of the the most lucrative fisheries in AK, and the US, fishermen are required to sell their catch to a specific processor forever. These processors are owned by out of state and out of the country interests.
Besides allowing these processors to pay a pittance to the fishermen the laws Stevens and Young rammed through also allow the processors to avoid state, local and federal taxes.
But hey, it's just fish, who gives a s*#%
March 20, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, there were those "fund raisers" that involved fishing for salmon. Surely a question about that qualifies?
March 21, 2008 8:25 AM | Reply | Permalink