What others say: What to make of Don Young’s career

Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, resigned from office Tuesday in light of sexual misconduct allegations against him. Rep. Conyers said his legacy would not be tarnished and denies the allegations. He was the longest-tenured member of Congress.

Now Alaska’s Rep. Don Young is the longest-serving member of Congress. The Republican won a special election March 6, 1973, and was sworn in March 13. He is serving a 23rd term and has filed for a 24th term. He is up for re-election next year.

What will people think of Rep. Young’s career?

Looking back to 1973 Daily News-Miner articles concerning Rep. Young, there is a clean-shaven congressman with bushy sideburns and a toothy smile. Rep. Young joined five other people with the surname Young in the House of Representatives.

Shortly after arriving in Washington, Rep. Young said he planned to keep a low profile yet cast a long shadow and work to establish relationships with other members of Congress first. “It doesn’t do any good to come down here and beat the drum for Alaska issues. That’s what everybody expects,” Rep. Young told the News-Miner in March 1973.

In April 1973, the young Rep. Young wrote an op-ed for the News-Miner’s 23rd Annual Progress Edition titled “Young looks at Alaska’s development of natural resources.”

“As far as Alaska is concerned,”he wrote, “we have been somewhat forgotten in the mentality of our country. But in this new America, Alaska will have a growing role to play. We have the resources here to meet many of the needs not only of the American people but of people in other countries. We have the beauty and the environment here to bring inspiration to those who have lost touch with the wonders of nature. And we have an approach to life, as Alaskans, which many people in other states have lost.”

He wrote, in that column, the proposed Trans-Alaska Pipeline System was the most “critical and immediate battle” facing Alaska. He added that the challenge for the “generations” is the development of natural resources.

Rep. Young’s work on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act, which passed in November 1973, would help him earn the honor of “Freshman Congressman of the Year” from his colleagues.

While serving on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, Rep. Young helped extend the fishing range limit for Alaska fishermen to 200 miles.

He has relentlessly fought to open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain for oil development, which could be a reality with the recent passing of the Senate tax bill. Judging from his long-ago News-Miner column, Rep. Young has ultimately stayed true to what he first set out to do in 1973.

However, Rep. Young’s tenure in Congress has at times been controversial.

In 2014, the House Ethics Committee found he had used campaign funds for personal trips and accepted improper gifts, and as a result he had to pay back $59,000 to his campaign and donors.

Rep. Young was blamed for the Bridge to Nowhere project in Ketchikan, which aimed to connect the Southeast town to its airport on a nearby island and received more than $400 million in funding through an earmark in a federal transportation package. The project was halted in 2007 by then-Gov. Sarah Palin, who used the Bridge to Nowhere as what she saw as an example of wasteful federal spending during a speech in her campaign for vice president the next year.

Rep. Young’s brash language has landed him in hot water on multiple occasions as well.

Even so, there is no denying Rep. Young has done great things for Alaska. Whether he retires next year or in five years, his decades-long career gives us plenty to chew on when we think of his time in office.

—Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Dec. 6, 2017

More in Opinion

LaDawn Druce asks Sen. Jesse Bjorkman a question during a town hall event on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Addressing Kenai Peninsula’s education and public safety employee shortage

Many of our best and brightest educators take a hard and close look at the teacher’s retirement system in Alaska early in their careers and are stunned

Deven Mitchell, executive director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (Courtesy photo)
Opinion: Providing for generations of Alaskans

As a public endowment, the wealth of the Fund is the responsibility of every resident of the state

U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney greet each other outside the chamber at the U.S. Capitol on April 5, 2022. (J. Scott Applewhite / AP file photo)
Opinion: Alaska’s senators and Mitt Romney

When newly elected Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, began his term five years… Continue reading

A line of voters runs out the door of the Diamond Ridge Voting Precinct at the Homer Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center on Election Day, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, in Homer, Alaska. Chamber Executive Director Brad Anderson said he had never seen the amount of people coming through the polling place. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
How many ways can you vote?

Multiple ballot options available to voters

UAA Provost Denise Runge photographed outside the Administration and Humanities Building.
Opinion: UAA offers affordable and convenient pathways that prepare students for the next step

At UAA, we provide numerous academic programs designed to meet specific workforce needs

scales of justice (File photo)
Opinion: The Dubious Dunleavy Deal to use public dollars for personal legal costs

In 2019, these regulation changes were ultimately abandoned without public notice

A 2022 voter information pamphlet rests on a desk in the Peninsula Clarion offices on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Where to find voter pamphlets

Be educated about what you are voting on

Trustees and staff discuss management and investment of the Alaska Permanent Fund. (Courtesy Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation)
Providing Alaska-based opportunities for professional talent

Expanding our in-state presence by opening a satellite office in Anchorage has been part of the fund’s strategic plan for the past four years

Ben Carson (center) visits Iditarod Elementary School in Wasilla with Gov. Mike Dunleavy (to Carson’s right) on Tuesday. (Official photo from the Office of the Governor)
Opinion: Embarrassing Alaska through neglectful governance

When Gov. Mike Dunleavy learned Dr. Ben Carson would be speaking in… Continue reading

Flowers bloom at Soldotna City Hall on Wednesday, June 24, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Municipal government? What are their responsibilities?

Municipal governments (boroughs and cities) are similar to state and federal governments

A voting booth for the Kenai Peninsula Borough and City of Homer elections at Cowles Council Chambers on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022 in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Charlie Menke/ Homer News)
Voices of the Peninsula: Will you vote?

Kenai Peninsula Votes is asking the reader if you have a plan for how you will vote