Neil Bergt's tale of how Dubya got his job working in Alaska. Someone calls from Houston, and George is on the payroll for 75 days or so.
Granted, there is a lot of rah rah, as would become cheering for a former cheerleader. But the thing that caught my attention was how Neil just hired an unknown, who was doing "pennance".
Bergt is notorious in AK for running MarkAir airlines into bankrupcy and screwing employees out of millions in pensions.
http://www.ktuu.com/...
Full text below.
KTUU-TV Anchorage Alaska
President's former employer reflects on a younger Bush
Monday, November 14, 2005 - by Bill McAllister
Homer, Alaska - George W. Bush is more familiar with Alaska than any other U.S. president in history. He lived in Fairbanks for about two and a half months in the summer of 1974.
Neil Bergt remembers Bush fondly and has supported him politically, although they have not spoken in 31 years. But Bergt acknowledges that even though Bush's father was then chairman of the Republican National Committee, he didn't see in the young man working for him the makings of a future world leader.
"It was his only job in Alaska. He's the only president that's ever lived in Alaska and worked in Alaska, which is nice. And he's certainly the only president that's ever worked for me," said Bergt.
Bergt owned Fairbanks-based Alaska International Air during the construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline in 1974. Bergt, a prominent Republican, hired future President Bush on the advice of a Houston, Texas contracting firm. To this day, Bergt says he doesn't know why his company got the call, or why the Harvard Business School student even needed a summer job.
"Why did he need a two and a half month job?"
"You know, I don't know. That, I've wondered about that since then, too, because the family is obviously wealthy and he's going to Harvard. Damned if I know. Maybe his dad was mad at him or something. Maybe he was doing penance," said Bergt.
Bergt, now retired in Homer, has avoided the spotlight since the controversial demise of Mark Air, the successor to Alaska International Air. But to talk about George Bush, Bergt agreed to his first interview in several years.
"I was impressed with him. He was a very nice guy. And he called me sir, which not many people called me sir. But you could tell that he had good southern upbringing. And a soft-spoken guy," said Bergt.
Alaska International was busy flying materials to the North Slope at the time, so Bergt handed Bush the task of writing a business plan for the company, to satisfy bankers who were making loans to the company.
"He did a good job. And he produced a good business plan. It was really a good-looking document. I was very impressed with it," said Bergt.
"Did you follow it?"
"Probably not," said Bergt.
Bergt said Bush was completely professional.
"When George ran for president the first time, there was this, you know, that he was a cocaine-snorting, whiskey-drinking wild guy at one time in his life. That wasn't him. I mean, that wasn't the George Bush that I knew. The George Bush I knew was serious, hard-working, reliable, polite, good-looking, clean-cut, Ivy League, you know, clean-cut guy that we had no problem with at all," said
When he last appeared at Elmendorf Air Force Base in 2002, the president mentioned his time in Alaska. But it's a subject he has discussed only in passing. So in recent years there has been speculation that Bush, whose father once served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was doing some of Bergt's contract work for the CIA. Bergt says it isn't true. But he says once he got an angry phone call from the elder Bush after The New York Times had inquired about an alleged connection between his son's summer job and interference with federal aviation regulators.
"I'll tell you one thing about George Bush Sr. I know when he's mad, he can chew some butt," said Bergt.
George W. still remembers Bergt, as evidenced by this handwritten note from 2002, in which the president wrote, "Best always, I hope to see you soon."
"W. is not slick. I really like W. I'm a big Bush supporter. I just wish he was slicker," said Bergt.
Although the war in Iraq has helped to erode Bush's popularity, Bergt says history is still withholding judgment.
"If Bush is successful in Iraq, he's going to go down as one of the great presidents," said Bergt.
But Bergt acknowledges he had no inkling of that in 1974.
"In terms of this being this sort of standout superstar, you know, with a light shining around him, I don't remember that at all," said Bergt
The president made little mention of his time in Alaska at his speech today.
Channel 2 Broadcasting Inc.
