Alaska News

HUD secretary visits Anchorage for public events, fundraiser with Begich

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro appeared in Anchorage on Monday at a series of public events, including a news conference with Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich.

Castro is the latest in a string of President Barack Obama's Cabinet members to visit Alaska and hold public appearances with Begich, a boost to the incumbent senator locked in a tight re-election battle against Republican challenger Dan Sullivan.

At the news conference, where Castro announced $7 million in federal grants for Alaska housing, medical clinics and public works projects, he told the assembled media -- as well as a campaign operative recording the event for Begich's Republican opponents -- that "positive changes that happen won't be because of Washington, D.C."

"They'll be because of strong leadership here on the ground," Castro said. "And I want to thank you, senator, for bringing me here to Alaska to see that."

The $7 million in federal funding -- which will go to Alaska Native groups and villages in Anchorage, Chugiak and rural areas -- is part of $60 million distributed nationwide through an annual program called the Indian Community Development Block Grant.

Alaska groups got more than $5 million through the program last year.

Castro also toured Anchorage's Mountain View neighborhood on Monday and appeared with Begich at an Anchorage Chamber of Commerce luncheon. And like several other cabinet members who have taken trips to Alaska this year, Castro will appear at a fundraiser for Begich, a spokesman for Begich's campaign confirmed.

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A federal law known as the Hatch Act governs the political conduct of federal employees, and it permits them to appear at political rallies and candidate fundraisers as long as they don't ask for money.

Two hours after Castro's news conference Monday, the Alaska Republican Party emailed a statement to reporters with the subject line "Begich brings another Obama bureaucrat to Alaska."

It quoted Republican chairman Peter Goldberg as saying, "It's clear HUD Secretary Julián Castro is only here for a photo-op and to fundraise for Begich, a gross abuse of taxpayer dollars."

Asked why he'd chosen to announce the grants in Anchorage -- and without the Republican members of the state's congressional delegation -- Castro, a former mayor of San Antonio, said Begich had approached him during his confirmation process with an invitation to "see what the unique needs of Alaska are."

"Kudos to Sen. Begich for getting to me early and often," said Castro, who was confirmed earlier this year.

"I have his cell number," Begich said later. "He's trying to figure out how to delete the number."

A spokesman for Castro, Cameron French, said U.S. Rep. Don Young and Sen. Lisa Murkowski had been invited to Castro's public events in Alaska.

Spokesmen for Young and Murkowski said their offices had been informed about Castro's trip to Alaska. But Young's spokesman, Matt Shuckerow, said Young's chief of staff and schedulers were unaware of an invitation to Monday's news conference.

French noted that the secretary had visited eight other states since becoming a Cabinet member this year and plans to visit seven more in October.

He added in an email: "Overall the story from today is about funding for communities and not who showed up when and where."

Nathaniel Herz

Anchorage-based independent journalist Nathaniel Herz has been a reporter in Alaska for nearly a decade, with stints at the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. Read his newsletter, Northern Journal, at natherz.substack.com

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