Anchorage Daily News

After years of small incremental change, Alaska's congressional delegation has a whole new look and new power centers this year.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski

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Rep. Don Young

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Sen. Mark Begich

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EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED.

For so many years, the opening of a new Congress meant a little more seniority -- and a little more power along with it -- for Alaska's unchanging delegation. But in Washington, D.C., last week, the new congressional session brought a whole new look for Alaska.

Republican Lisa Murkowski, still in her first full elected term as senator, had been the junior member of the delegation. Now, by most accounts, she's the go-to leader. And she's now the ranking Republican on the powerful Senate Energy Committee -- a meteoric rise made possible by a slightly bizarre string of events.

Rep. Don Young remains the senior Alaskan. Indeed, he's the second-longest-serving Republican in the House of Representatives. But Young, under federal investigation on corruption allegations, lost his senior committee leadership positions over the break. Young will have to rely on intangibles, his relationships and knowledge of issues, to continue wielding power. And there's a Democrat in the delegation now -- Sen. Mark Begich, the former Anchorage mayor. That's arguably a useful addition in a year that begins with both Congress and the White House in Democratic hands. In seniority, Begich ranks almost last in the Senate, but that didn't stop him from getting two plum committee assignments.

Lastly, there's the absent man. Former Sen. Ted Stevens, the one-time appropriations chairman, is the missing tooth the tongue can't forget. Stevens' institution-building legacy -- efforts both to attack it and protect it -- will remain part of Alaska's national agenda in the next few years.

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI An improbable five-month period in 2007 propelled Sen. Lisa Murkowski into the role she assumes this month as ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Committees are where much of the real work in Congress gets done, and Murkowski immediately chose a seat on the Energy Committee after being appointed to the Senate by her father in 2002. It's one of the most important committees for Alaska; her father, Frank Murkowski, was once chairman.

Leadership positions are generally handed out based on time served on a committee. In 2007 there were still three Republicans on Energy ranked above Murkowski, who was elected to her first full term in 2004.

But in June 2007, Sen. Craig Thomas of Wyoming died of leukemia. In August, Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in an embarrassing men's room incident that led to his decision not to run again. And in October, Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico announced he wouldn't run again, for health reasons.

That left Murkowski. She became the ranking minority member this month, meaning she gets to hire staff and help direct the agenda for the 23-member committee. Gas pipelines, offshore oil, federal subsistence and parks and refuges all come under the committee's gaze, as will renewable energy. Not to mention drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Murkowski has already brought on new hires, including former state Fish and Game Commissioner McKie Campbell as minority staff director for the committee.

Alaska's newly senior senator also sits on three other committees.

She has played a lesser role on the Foreign Relations Committee, though she chairs the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee where regional issues may touch Alaska. She has more vigorously embraced work on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where the issues more closely match her personal concerns and topics she worked on in her two terms in the Alaska Legislature.

Murkowski is also vice-chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee. Its jurisdiction obviously has wide importance in Alaska, though some Native issues of particular concern, such as subsistence and land claims, fall under the Energy Committee.

SEN. MARK BEGICH As an incoming freshman senator, Mark Begich ranks 98th out of 100 in seniority. The Senate formula is based on previous government experience, and Begich ranks last among the nine incoming freshmen. But he's ahead of Minnesota and Illinois, whose vacant seats are still unfilled. And with Delaware, New York and Colorado senators about to leave for posts in the Obama administration, he will move up another few notches.

For now, more seniority means Begich gets to pick better office space. But in the future, it would mean clout in the clubby Senate. Seniority was always the name of the game for Alaskans in Congress.

Meanwhile, Begich seems to have friends in high places. He was given a seat on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, a panel with oversight of fisheries, telecommunications and other issues of interest here. His predecessor, Sen. Ted Stevens, played a dominating role on this same committee.

Begich steps into new territory for an Alaskan with a seat on the Armed Services Committee, which has oversight of base closures, among other things. (Stevens wielded considerable influence over defense policy from another perch, as top Republican on the defense appropriations subcommittee).

The Democrats turned down his request for a seat on the Appropriations Committee. That was no surprise -- senators often serve several terms before getting on the committee that doles out money, at which point they begin their slow climb through committee seniority.

REP. DON YOUNG The longest serving Republicans in the House of Representatives are both Young.

With 36 years in Congress, Don Young of Alaska ranks second; the longest-serving is Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla., who has served 40 years. (Four Democrats have also served longer than Don Young).

Until recently, that translated into big power for Alaska's sole congressman. He was chairman of the powerful Committee on Natural Resources, then gave up that role due to his party's term limits and became chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from 2002 to 2006.

In 2006, when Democrats took control of the House, Young was the senior Republican on both committees and chose to become ranking minority leader in Resources, which has jurisdiction over lands and energy issues in Alaska. In that position he controlled minority staff and influenced the agenda.

But a dark legal cloud over Young's head made Republican leaders uneasy during the 2008 election. Young is the target of a federal investigation into public corruption. He has reported spending more than $1 million in campaign money during his last term in legal fees. His support for transportation earmarks, including controversial ones in Florida and Alaska, has drawn criticism from fellow Republicans.

In December, after winning re-election, Young agreed to relinquish his committee leadership until his legal problems were resolved. He announced the decision as voluntary, but it was clearly forced by his party's concerns.

Without his panel leadership role, Young will face a new challenge winning support for his causes. His supporters say he is well-liked by colleagues and the Democratic chairmen of the resources and transportation committees. He also has developed a deep understanding of many issues, especially those affecting Alaska, which will give him influence.

Still, Young's compromised position, coupled with Murkowski's rise to prominence and the general deference in Washington to the Senate, will make it difficult for Young to claim that his long service in Congress makes him the head of Alaska's new-look delegation.

THE MISSING MAN

The Senate will seem a different place without Sen. Ted Stevens. That's partly because Stevens made such a mark in 40 years, and partly because the era of earmarking that he symbolized appears to be changing.

While Stevens fights to overturn his conviction of hiding gifts on federal forms, his legacy will be at risk from critics who draw bull's-eyes around certain earmarks of yore.

But those projects will have one highly placed defender: Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who as of last week was the new chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which Stevens himself chaired for years. Stevens and Inouye are famously friends, calling each other "brother," and Inouye has traveled in Alaska and expressed support especially for Stevens' efforts on behalf of Alaska Natives.

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