My parents were born in Cordova in the 1920s and moved to Juneau in 1953. Our home was near the governor's house, and I fondly recall having snowball fights with Gov. Bill Egan. The governor usually tossed snow first and he always knew our names.
My parents, like so many other Alaska pioneers, were Egan Democrats. They were fiscally conservative and believed in personal responsibility. I have no doubt they'd be outraged by the government of President Obama, Harry Reid and Mark Begich -- a government seeking more taxes, more regulation, and more intrusion into our personal lives. And my parents could never have imagined the $17.8 trillion debt that we will leave to our kids. This debt only grew larger; in fact doubled, under Obama, Reid and Begich, who did nothing to stop the out-of-control deficit spending.
The Harry Reid Super PAC, Put Alaska First, has spent over $6 million in Alaska smearing U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan. And they'll probably spend another $3 million before the election. Begich's father would find this out-of-state spending appalling. Begich promised to be as independent as Alaska but it didn't happen. He got in line behind Reid and now can't run on his own record so resorts to a negative smear campaign.
The difference in credentials between the two Senate candidates is significant. Begich graduated from high school, dabbled in real estate and property management, served on the Anchorage Assembly and was Anchorage mayor before he became our accidental senator in 2009. He saddled Anchorage with $17 million in debt serving as mayor. He has two pieces of Senate legislation to his credit; the naming of a courthouse and a bill to increase veterans' disability compensation.
Sullivan graduated from Harvard with a degree in economics before earning a law degree from Georgetown. He concurrently earned a master's degree foreign service. His master's came with an award for students with a 3.8 GPA or higher. I applied to Georgetown after graduating from Juneau-Douglas High School but couldn't get accepted, even with a recommendation from Sen. Stevens.
Sullivan has served in the U.S. Marine Corps since graduating from Georgetown in 1993. In 2006, while still on active duty in the Marines, Sullivan was nominated by President Bush to serve as assistant secretary of state for economic, energy and business affairs. In that role he led and managed a 200-employee team within the U.S. State Department, traveling the world, negotiating substantial agreements with world leaders on a range of issues including aviation, energy, telecommunications, tariffs and Arctic issues, just to name a few. With the unsettling proliferation of Islamic State militants, Sullivan's foreign policy experience is highly relevant to this election. With his knowledge, background and international expertise, he will command more respect from colleagues on Day One than Begich can ever achieve.
Sullivan also served as Alaska's attorney general and as the commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, settling the Point Thomson litigation and working tirelessly to successfully reinvigorate oil and gas production in Cook Inlet.
Fellow Alaskans, experience matters. Our life experience defines who we are. Obama had no meaningful leadership experience prior to becoming president. It shows, and our country has and will pay the price for his weak leadership. Begich's biography pales in comparison to Sullivan's professional and military experience. Before you cast a vote for Begich, please check out Sullivan's biography. The guy is accomplished. He is presidential; but first, we need his expertise in the Senate to help get this country back on the right track. As Alaskans, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to send someone of Dan's caliber to Congress. Let's not blow this opportunity.
Now that I've exercised my First Amendment right to question the Obama establishment, I should probably expect a notice of audit from the IRS, or worse. No matter your political persuasion, is this the kind of country we want to live in? Under Obama, Reid and Begich, we've been headed down the wrong path. We can do better. Let's do it for our kids.
Bob Jacobsen is a lifelong Juneau resident. He has degrees in public administration and political science from the University of Oregon. He founded Wings of Alaska and Wings Airways and was the Juneau Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year in 2005. He was inducted into the Alaska Business Hall of Fame in 2006. He resides in Juneau with his wife Darlene, they have two sons, both graduates of JDHS.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.