Don Young
Encyclopedia : D : DO : DON : Don Young
| Donald Young | |
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| Born | June 9, 1933 |
| Term | 1973-Present |
- ''For the baseball player, see Donald Young
Early life
Young was born in Meridian, California. He earned an associate's degree in education from Yuba Junior College in 1952 and a bachelor's degree from Chico State College (now California State University, Chico) in 1958. He served in the Army from 1955 to 1957Young moved to Alaska in 1959, not long after it became a state. He eventually settled in Fort Yukon, a 700-person city on the Yukon River, seven miles above the Arctic Circle in Alaska’s central interior region. He made a living in construction, fishing, trapping and gold mining. He captained a tugboat and ran a barge operation to deliver products and supplies to villages along the Yukon River. He still holds his mariner's license today. During the winter, he taught fifth grade at the local Bureau of Indian Affairs elementary school.
Young began his political career in 1964 when he was elected mayor of Fort Yukon. After only one term, he was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives and served two terms before being elected to the Alaska Senate in 1970.
In Congress
Alaska's at-large congressman, Democrat Nick Begich, disappeared in a plane crash on October 16, 1972. He was reelected to the House that November, but was declared dead on December 29. Young, who had been the Republican candidate against Begich in November, ran in the special election in March 1973 and won, just barely defeating Democrat Emil Notti. He won a full term in 1974 in another relative squeaker, largely due to his role in fighting for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. However, he didn't face another serious opponent until 1990. That year, John Devens, the mayor of Valdez, nearly defeated him because of dissatisfaction with Young's role in the investigation of the Exxon Valdez spill. Devens ran another close race against Young in 1992, but Young was reelected in 1994 with 57 percent of the vote and has not faced serious opposition since. He was reelected to his 16th full term in 2004 with the most votes ever for a single candidate in a statewide election in Alaska.Young is the 8th-longest serving House member, and the 3rd most senior Republican (ranked only by Bill Young of Florida and Ralph Regula of Ohio). Due to his long tenure in the House and that of Senator Ted Stevens, Alaska is considered to have clout in national politics far beyond its small size (it has long been one of the smallest states in population and is currently 47th, ahead of only North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming). He is often called "Alaska's third senator."
Young's voting record is relatively moderate by Republican standards. However, he vigorously opposes federal control of Alaska's land and resources. He is also a strong proponent of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
Since 2001, Young has chaired the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He also chaired the Resources Committee from the 1995 Republican takeover of the House until 2001.
According to The New Republic, Young is "well-known for his sharp elbows and generous appetite for legislative pork."[link] His reputation for steering federal dollars to Alaska is almost as legendary as that of Stevens. For example, in the 2005 Highway Bill, Young helped secure "$941 million for 119 special projects," including a $231 million bridge in Anchorage which a rider in the bill would name for Young himself[link].
Recent controversies
The \"Bridge to Nowhere\"
In 2005, Young and Stevens earmarked $223 million for building an enormous bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island (pop. 50), which also contains Ketchikan's airport. Critics assailed this as pork barrel spending at taxpayers' expense and dubbed it the "Bridge to Nowhere". After criticism from citizens and others in Congress, lawmakers defunded the bridge specifically, and instead funneled the money to the state of Alaska's transportation department to use as it saw fit.[link]Abramoff scandal
Published reports have linked Young to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal, although no wrongdoing has been alleged[link]. In September 2002 Young and fellow Republican Steve LaTourette of Ohio wrote to the General Services Administration urging the agency to give preferential treatment to groups such as Indian tribes when evaluating development proposals.[link] In particular, the letter referred to a historic building, the Old Post Office Pavilion in downtown Washington, DC.[link]Cape Wind
According to an editorial in the Boston Globe on February 26, 2006 [link], Young sponsored a proposal to the fiscal 2006 Coast Guard authorization bill that would have banned offshore wind turbines within 1.5 nautical miles of navigation channels, a measure opposed by the Coast Guard, and, according to the Globe, intended to block the Cape Wind energy farm off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The measure, now in conference committee, has been drawn more narrowly so that it would only apply to Cape Wind, as well as stating that the Coast Guard or governor may quash the project if they find it to be unsafe or otherwise unsuitable.
External links
| Alaska Congressional Delegation currently serving in the United States Congress | |
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| Senators : | Ted Stevens (R), Lisa Murkowski (R) |
| Representative(s) : | Don Young (R) |
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