Politics

North Slope mayoral battle opens old wounds

The run-off campaign for the North Slope Borough mayor's seat has reopened an old rivalry between two of the region's most powerful whaling families and questions of corruption that hang over the spouses of both candidates.

George Ahmaogak and Charlotte Brower hope to steer the politically powerful and mineral-rich borough into a new era, both on land and in the icy waters offshore, where whalers pursue bowheads every fall and spring.

Integrity is a major platform for both candidates.

Brower's husband, former Borough Mayor Eugene Brower, was caught up in a corruption scandal in the 1980s that involved millions in kickbacks and bribes during a huge building boom on the Slope. It led to the convictions on racketeering-related charges of two of Eugene Brower's key advisors, lobbyist Lew Dischner and contractor Carl Mathisen, who wanted kickbacks from contracts they let, according to newspaper accounts.

Agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors, Brower pled guilty to tax evasion.

More recently, George Ahmaogak suddenly had his own worrisome scandal. Ahmaogak's wife, Maggie, was indicted last month by a federal grand jury on charges that she stole $475,000 while serving as executive director of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission. Maggie Ahmaogak pleaded not guilty. Her trial has yet to begin, and Ahmaogak says his wife is innocent.

Political history runs deep between the two families. George Ahmaogak swept into the borough mayor's seat for the first time in 1984 in a reform campaign against Eugene Brower. George Ahmaogak then launched an internal audit of the borough's contracts that led to the federal investigation.

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Despite that past, both candidates say their families are close. That's part of life in a small town, Charlotte Brower said. You put differences aside and work together. In fact, the Browers campaigned for Ahmaogak in the past, helping the five-term mayor win on more than one occasion.

They both said they've run a clean campaign so far, focused on issues like creating economic opportunities, reducing unemployment, and offshore oil drilling. George Ahmaogak seems more vocally supportive of taking advantage of offshore development. Both candidates have said they're against it but will work with agencies and others to ensure the roughly 9,500 borough residents have a voice. Ahmaogak said a pipeline to the coast will give the borough, which last year received $277 million in property taxes from oil companies, new infrastructure to tax.

Among a field of six candidates in the Oct. 4 election, Charlotte Brower finished with 640 votes. George Ahmaogak came in second with 601 votes. Neither received a majority of votes, prompting the run-off.

Despite past politeness, the gloves may soon be coming off. In an interview with Alaska Dispatch at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention, where both candidates are politicking and holding fundraisers, George Ahmaogak said he believes Eugene Brower was guilty of more than tax evasion.

Asked if her husband was, Charlotte Brower said the public record stands, and it shows her husband did nothing else wrong.

At times, Brower can seem more like a grandmother than a candidate gunning to become mayor of the nation's largest borough. But her eyes narrowed when she was told of Ahmaogak's accusation. She fired a warning shot, saying he has his own issues to worry about, including the charges against his wife and the job he took with Shell Oil Co. immediately after he left the mayor's office in 2005. That, she asserted, might create a conflict of interest for a borough that tries to balance protecting subsistence whaling while collecting the income needed to pay for costly services in the Arctic.

"I am the candidate and my husband is not," she said. "I'm not going to make that a debatable issue, but if he continues to want to attack my husband, then it becomes a debatable issue."

Charlotte Brower has racked up some endorsements from opponents who lost the Oct. 4 election, including North Slope Borough Assembly member Deano Olemaun, who finished fourth with more than 200 votes, and Charles Hopson.

Olemaun said he's supporting Brower because he's found her to be extremely honest during the years both served on the assembly.

Brower said she and many other people in Barrow learned lessons from the 1980s scandal involving her husband. She said she's carried the banner of reform in her service on the school board, the assembly, the local tribal college and elsewhere.

"Every person has a life story. And I'll tell you, on account of what has happened on Eugene, there have been a lot of reforms made and I've been part of that reform," she said. "Not only within the North Slope Borough, but within all the entities, ... which is good, because that is what the people want. They want transparency."

Contact Alex DeMarban at alex(at)alaskadispatch.com

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was updated Oct. 22, 2011 to clarify George Ahmoagak Sr.'s stated position on Arctic Alaska offshore oil and gas development.

Alex DeMarban

Alex DeMarban is a longtime Alaska journalist who covers business, the oil and gas industries and general assignments. Reach him at 907-257-4317 or alex@adn.com.

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