It is easy for a public figure mired in controversy to lie in a "prepared" statement. It is easy to sound sincere when you are not the least bit sincere.

That's why starlets coming out of drug rehab announce their return in written statements issued through their publicists. That's why athletes caught doing no-nos off the field announce their sincere regrets through "a statement released by the team."

The miscreants don't want to face live questioners. They don't want to face TV cameras. If the media or the public could see them in action, the speakers' body language might give away how they really feel. Viewers might easily detect insincerity or lies.

Instead, they issue a written statement and try to "move on."

That's what Democratic congressional candidate Jake Metcalfe and his recently departed campaign operative, Bill Scannell, are doing. In trying to quell a controversy over dirty campaign tricks, they are hiding behind written statements.

If Metcalfe wants to remain a credible candidate in the race, he has some explaining to do. The man who wants to unseat Don Young cannot use the "I'm not going to talk about it" defense. We already have a congressman who does that.

Metcalfe's (now departed) campaign manager says she heard Metcalfe and Scannell discussing the dirty tricks in question. Dana Krawchuk has publicly stated she was present when both Metcalfe and Scannell talked about grabbing Web site addresses that their Democratic opponent Ethan Berkowitz might want. The Web sites lead viewers to sites that tar Berkowitz with an unflattering image.

Krawchuk's firsthand account is as close to a smoking gun as Alaskans will ever get in a case like this.

Before Scannell resigned, Metcalfe told the Daily News he'd try to get to the bottom of what happened. But -- abracadabra! Scannell resigned, and Metcalfe miraculously expects the whole affair to go away. He issued a terse written statement saying "It's time for me to move on" and "This is the final comment the Metcalfe campaign will be making on this subject."

This blatant stonewalling isn't acceptable from someone who wants to serve in Congress. Metcalfe's maneuver here is just as bad as Congressman Don Young refusing to say why he has spent over $1 million on lawyers.

Alaskans need a congressman who isn't afraid to account for himself in the midst of controversy. Unless Metcalfe can convince voters he wasn't involved in the dirty tricks, Alaskans will be right to decide they don't need Metcalfe in Congress.

BOTTOM LINE: If Jake Metcalfe doesn't own up to his campaign's role in this controversy, he should quit the race.

Save teeth

Dental therapists can help

Alaska has pioneered a way to bring basic dental care to small communities far beyond the regular reach of dentists.

Teeth are being drilled, filled and saved. Teeth beyond redemption are being extracted. Residents are learning good oral health care habits to help prevent the tooth decay and gum disease that are epidemic in rural Alaska.

The work is being done by roughly a dozen well-trained therapists who work under the supervision of dentists, though those dentists are rarely on-site.

What's important is that rural Alaskans, most of whom are Natives, are getting better care sooner, and getting it where they live, without the expense of trips to Bethel, Fairbanks or Anchorage.

That's the whole idea of a program created to serve Alaskans who rarely saw dentists because dentists weren't often available in Bush Alaska. Rural residents have suffered miserable teeth and gums as a result.

Opponents of the dental therapist program -- including the Alaska Dental Society and American Dental Association -- softened that opposition after losing a lawsuit to stop the program in 2007.

Now the question is whether people in other parts of the United States might benefit from dental care delivered by people with good training but no "DDS" after their names.

The answer is a qualified yes.

Alaska is an easier case to argue because a large minority of our residents live off the road system. Clearly, whatever the risk in allowing therapists to drill teeth and fill cavities is more than offset by the fact that so many people would be getting no care at all without the therapists.

But there's a shortage of dental care in other parts of the country too. We don't have enough dentists, and many people can't afford the care. Well-trained therapists could alleviate some of that shortage. "Well-trained" is the key description.

Alaska's program, an Anchorage-based school run by the University of Washington and the Alaska Native Health Consortium, might be able to show the way.

A less-ambitious national program is in the works to train 18 dental aides to do triage and apply fluoride sealants to slow decay in teeth that don't need immediate care. That's less than what a dental therapist can do but still worth a trial run.

The goal is to provide good, safe care to patients -- and to expand care to places where it's hard to find and hard to afford. If dental therapists can do that in Alaska, there's no reason they can't do it in other parts of the country.