Anchorage Daily News

U.S. Rep. Don Young has talked tough for 35 years, a crusader for Alaska in a flannel shirt and bolo tie, using one hand to wag his finger in the face of Big Government, keeping the other open to accept billions in federal assistance.

That combination of contempt and coziness has been a winning formula for re-election, but Young, facing former state Rep. Ethan Berkowitz in the general election, is in his toughest political fight since he first won statewide office in 1973.

Young's name has been linked to scandal. He's fighting the perception of being an integral part of the Old Boys Network railed against by Alaska's popular governor, Sarah Palin. For all his championing of resource development, Young has been unsuccessful sealing the deal to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for petroleum development.

Young insists that with his seniority, experience and connections, he should be re-elected.

"The defining issue is, if anything, is who can best do the job?" Young said. "Ethan says he can do the job better than I can. I believe we can do the job better then he can. I've done the job and still have the enthusiasm."

Young, 75, was born June 9, 1933. Like Berkowitz, he's from California. He grew up on a family farm in Meridian, an unincorporated community in Sutter County.

Young earned an associate's degree in education from Yuba Junior College in 1952, served in the Army from 1955 to 1957, and earned a bachelor's degree from Chico State College in 1958. Young moved to Alaska in 1959.

According to Young's biography, he worked in construction, fished commercially, trapped fur, mined for gold, and operated a tug and barge operation. He used his education degree as a teacher at a Bureau of Indian Affairs school.

He met his wife, Lu, in Fort Yukon. They have two daughters, Joni and Dawn, and 14 grandchildren.

Young was elected mayor of Fort Yukon in 1964. He was elected to the state House two years later, serving two terms, and to the state Senate in 1970.

Young was the Republican candidate in the 1972 general election against popular incumbent U.S. Rep. Nick Begich. Three weeks before the election, Begich's plane disappeared on a flight from Anchorage to Juneau. Alaskans re-elected Begich anyway.

Begich was declared dead in December 1972 and Young won a close special election in March 1973. He claims on his Web site that just hours after being sworn in, he found himself leading the historic battle for approval of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. He cites it as the single most important achievement in his career.

Young brands himself a conservative and has won votes over the years with strong support for gun and hunting rights and a strong military. He has made a career out of railing against extreme environmentalists and oppressive federal bureaucracy that lock up Alaska's mineral, timber and petroleum resources.

But he has strayed from the stereotype with votes that favored organized labor and a higher minimum wage. He has strongly criticized federal measures passed in haste after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, such as the Patriot Act. His support for public works in Alaska and elsewhere earned him enmity from fiscal conservatives.

The Club for Growth, a national political organization that provides support from members to congressional candidates, threw considerable financial backing to Young's opponent in the GOP primary, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell.

Young is unapologetic about placing earmarks in the federal budget, projects critics deride as pork. They account for just 1 percent of federal spending, he said. Furthermore, it's the proper role of the Congress to decide how the country's money is spent and not the administration, which has "larded up" the budget with its own preferences, he said.

Some of his strongest critics in Alaska focus on his abrasive and sometimes crude style.

In 1995, Young denounced government funding of the arts, including photographs of things that were "absolutely ridiculous." Asked what photos he meant, Young used an obscenity to refer to anal sex -- offensive in almost any crowd, especially questionable because audience members were students from West Valley High School in Fairbanks.

"I was a teacher. I was trying to educate," he explained. He later apologized.

Young in February refused to answer questions about why his campaign has spent more than $800,000 on legal fees. Young said only the media, and not his constituents, had asked about the fees. Young refused to answer when a reporter identified himself as a constituent -- but someone who had not voted for Young.

The amount spent on legal fees has climbed past $1 million and Young still offers no explanation, saying his attorneys have ordered him to stay quiet.

He faces no charges but both the House and the Senate requested an investigation of an earmark in the highway spending bill he oversaw as chairman of the House Transportation Committee. The original 2005 bill included $10 million to widen a Florida highway. The final version sent to the president, until revised, redirected money to an interchange that could have benefited a developer who conducted a fundraiser for Young. Young contends the project was supported in Florida to provide better access to shelter during hurricanes.

A former aide for Young, Mark Zachares, pleaded guilty to conspiracy for accepting $30,000 of tickets from congressional influence peddler Jack Abramoff.

Young is being investigated for connections to Veco Corp., the former oil field service company whose top two executives pleaded guilty last year to bribing Alaska state lawmakers, and whose gifts to U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens went unreported, according to the jury that convicted Stevens on corruption charges. The company sponsored fundraisers for Young.

Young says he has done nothing wrong and that his silence on the legal fees should not hurt him.

"If I thought we had done anything wrong, we wouldn't have run for office," he said of himself and his wife. "That's very clear and right up front, and I've been very honest about that."

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