‘This is no town hall. This is propaganda’; Begich takes heat at 1st virtual constituent forum

More than 2,220 Alaska residents joined a virtual town hall staged by U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, on Monday, with the key points in most of their questions going unaddressed.

The newly elected congressman answered seven screened questioners who generally used wording suggesting support for his political agenda. The only person with a critical inquiry was cut off midway — which the moderator said was inadvertent — as he started to discuss President Donald Trump’s early executive actions.

The 50-minute virtual town hall was the first public constituent forum held by Begich — an enthusiastic Trump supporter — since he was elected in November. People were invited to submit questions by commenting during the Facebook livestream or registering in advance to ask them by phone.

It began with Begich spending nearly 20 minutes recapping his term so far, including two bills he passed that former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, originally introduced.

“Tonight we’re going to discuss my work so far in Congress, Alaska’s priorities and, most importantly, I’ll be taking your questions,” he said.

That started the deluge of discontent from online participants who demanded to be heard and asked if it was a town hall or a campaign event.

“This is no town hall,” Angela Imholt, a Juneau resident, commented. “This is propaganda.”

The first person selected to ask a question was PeggyAnn McConnochie, a longtime local Republican party official who campaigned for Begich.

“I am so thankful to be able to have this opportunity,” McConnochie said by phone. “Would you do me a favor please and express what your priorities are in Congress for the next two years?”

Begich said his priority is “making sure that we have a strong and resilient economy in Alaska.” He commended Trump’s executive order reversing the Biden administration’s restriction of the exploration of oil and gas in Alaska. Many online commenters asked how responsible development could happen without regulations or employees. Begich continued to answer McConnochie’s question.

“I want to make sure that Alaska is playing its part, has a central role to play as those supply chains pivot to domestic locations, that we’re front and center,” he said. “That’s my number one priority for Alaska. Of course, in the Congress, it’s more than just Alaska. I’m looking forward, out 10 years, 20 years, what does our nation look like? Are we going to be on a firm financial footing? I want to see us close the gap on the budget deficit.”

As he spoke, commenters asked if Alaska’s only representative in Congress would hold Trump and U.S. Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk accountable for what those online called violations of the U.S. Constitution. Begich is a member of the DOGE caucus. Hundreds asked how Begich would respond to Trump’s federal cuts of employees, stating the loss drastically impacts Alaska’s economy.

“I’ve been very disappointed, I’m not surprised, unfortunately, but disappointed to see just so many of the ways that the federal government has chosen to waste taxpayer dollars,” Begich said, still responding to McConnochie’s question. “There’s certainly a lot of fraud, but there’s a whole lot of abuse and waste that we’ve seen exposed over the last couple of weeks, and I’m afraid it’s probably only going to continue. It’s an opportunity for us to save, but it’s disappointing to see that people in the federal government have so abused the public trust by spending money in the ways that they have.”

The forum occurred the same day as a nationwide President’s Day protest organized by the 50501 Movement. More than 400 people in Juneau rallied against the termination of federal workers, deportation of refugees, and the continuing elimination of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.

Begich went on to answer a moderator-posed question about DOGE, a call-in question about how people can contact his state offices, and another call-in question about his passage of the Alaska Native Village Municipal Lands Restoration Act and the Alaska Native Settlement Trust Eligibility Act.

The second-to-last question was just beginning to be celebrated in the comments — “finally, a real question” — when the phone call was lost.

“I would say, given the historic nature of where we are at as a country, our top priority probably should be, and maybe this was just unstated, but probably should be the strength and resilience of our democracy,” the caller identified by the moderator only as Joel said. “I’m a lifelong Republican, but I am in the majority, I think, with a lot of Americans, a lot of Alaskans, that are really concerned that we have an executive branch that is more than willing to push or remove the guardrails that are on the executive branch, and what we need from Congress and from the courts is to play that checks and balances role, not to oppose—”

Begich answered Joel’s unfinished question by saying he has sworn an oath and is a firm believer in the Constitution. He said he has faith the Supreme Court will rule in accordance with the Constitution and that in Congress, they will exercise authority when possible.

“I know that there’s been a number of challenges to some of the actions over the last 30 days, just as there have been when Obama was in the presidency, when Biden was in the presidency,” he said. “Every executive in that office experiences court challenges to their expressed authority, and so to the extent that the executive branch may or may not have exceeded that authority, there’ll be an opportunity in the courts for that to be challenged and I would expect many of these challenges to be brought to the Supreme Court.”

Before the town hall occurred, Alaska residents signed up through an online survey to participate in the forum. Juneau resident Larri Spengler said she signed up to ask a question but never received a call.

“How about answering some of the real, actual, pressing questions that real, worried Alaskans are posting here?” she commented.

The last question posed was about Begich’s role on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The Alaska resident asked about air safety following the plane crash in Nome that killed 10 people on Feb. 7.

“My heart goes out to people that are affected,” Begich said. “People who are longtime Alaskans will know that my family was personally affected by this. My grandfather disappeared in the plane crash in 1972 and was never found.”

Begich said it’s important to invest in Alaska’s infrastructure, such as redundant power conductivity systems and cameras in remote locations. He also said staffing levels need to be appropriate and that they are trained with adequate resources. Hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration workers were recently fired under Trump.

At the end of the telephone town hall, moderators said anyone unable to ask a question could leave a voicemail. Rick Whitbeck, the congressman’s state director and town hall moderator, said they were taking calls from both the online forum and the phone, and there was not enough time to reach all of them on Monday evening.

Begich is scheduled to give his first address in a joint session of the Alaska Legislature on Thursday at 11 a.m. He also plans to speak at the Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce luncheon the same day.

Another member of Alaska’s all-Republican congressional delegation, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, is scheduled to host a virtual town hall at 5 p.m. Wednesday. While Murkowski is among the few in her party who criticized early actions by Trump, such as his mass firings, she also voted to confirm nearly all of the controversial Cabinet and other nominees who are carrying out those orders.

Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz.garrett@juneauempire.com or 907-723-9356.