Diane Benson is running against Don Young (R-AK) for Alaska's only Congressional Seat. Diane decided to run after her son was severely injured in Iraq.
Diane is the mother of one son who served in the Iraq war until he was severely wounded by a road-side bomb. The time she spent watching her son's recovery and visiting with other injured veterans at the Army hospital in Germany and at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. played a large part in her decision to run for Congressional office and has shaped many of her ideas surrounding the Iraq war, terrorism, homeland security, and Veterans' benefits.
She is an accomplished writer, small business owner, and was even a truck driver during construction of the Alaska Pipeline. She has made supporting our troops, good wages, and defending personal freedoms the basis of her campaign. She has vowed to fight Don Young but she is being badly outspent and given little coverage by the media. Don Young has predictably refused to debate her.
Don young on the other hand has made a long career out of fighting for corporations at the expense of workers, demonizing environmentalists, and giving outrageous quotes.
Quotable
Don Young Quotes
"Environmentalists are a socialist group of individuals that are the tool of the Democrat Party. I'm proud to say that they are my enemy. They are not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans."
"We wonder why we have got the Freemen or the militants. We wonder why we have got unrest in this country. It is because our government, in fact, has got out of hand and out of line, with the Endangered Species Act."
Ethically Challenged
The Marianas are a U.S. commonwealth, falling under jurisdiction of the House Resources Committee. The committee's chairman, from 1995 to 2003 was Rep. Don Young of Alaska. According to Joel Connelly of the Seattle Post Intelligencer, " One of [Abramoff's]] major legislative successes in 2000 was blocking legislation that would have put garment manufacturers in the Mariana Islands -- notorious for running sweatshops -- under federal labor laws," January 6, 2006.
Pork-Barrel King
" "Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has raised the idea of "charitable pork" -- lawmakers giving up pet projects to help Hurricane Katrina victims -- and Montana is considering giving up the $4 million it received in a federal bill for a downtown parking garage."
Young's response to his state giving up some money [for 'bridges to nowhere'?
"They can kiss my ear!...That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard....I raised enough money to give back to them voluntarily and that's it!"
Even
Fox News finds his spending offensive
"You'd think that a Republican like Young would at least be embarrassed about all of this. He isn't. He's shameless. Upon hearing that only one other lawmaker in the entire Congress had outdone him in securing pork barrel projects, Young told the New York Times, "I'd like to be a little oinker, myself. If he's the chief porker, I'm upset."
Tactful
Rage is a recurring theme in the Don Young saga. There was, for example, the time he waved a knife while haranguing green-leaning New York Congressman Robert Mrazek on the floor of the House. Or the time he angrily brandished a walrus oosik, or penis bone, during testimony by Mollie Beattie, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. ("You won't believe this," Representative Gerry Studds told Beattie, "but this is one of his relatively mellow days.")
Misinformed
His understanding of economics is so poor, he once suggested the Federal Government should sell bonds because "We cannot continue deficit spending."
He recently lied about global warming during a house debate. Don Young claimed that "the polar bear pack" is healthy, Greenland is actually cooling, and other countries use more oil than the U.S.
"The polar bear pack is very healthy and, in fact, increasing," Young said. "This is science from the Fish and Wildlife people. Read that."
Rosa Meehan, supervisor of marine mammal management for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska, said she doesn't have any such data. The agency is considering whether to list the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.
It looks like Diane Benson could use help with fundraising, her website, and getting media attention. The timing is right to beat Don Young. He has been
implicated in the Abramoff Scandals, and with the recent news of Alaska's
Corrupt Bastard Club, Alaskans are ready for a change. It is high time Don Young was held accountable for his voting record.