By John Connell
Updated: 34 minutes ago Published: 34 minutes ago
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Few doubt Mary Peltola's 2022 campaign will be a success. In a crowded field, she was a low-profile presence who won on a populist message that lacked substance. When she won, many Alaskans, including me, wondered how she would translate that lofty message into words. Two years later, it remains unclear what she stands for.
On the policy front, the Congresswoman recently unleashed a Christmas tree of sloppy messaging bills designed solely to sow the anger and indignation needed to galvanize her base, with no chance of passing the House. While her office has downplayed the negative impact of these bills because she does not expect them to pass, these bills have very real effects on the industries and businesses they target. These bills are based on misleading statements that undermine regulatory processes and markets, and directly harm businesses that have significant investments in Alaska. The shaky legislation and rhetoric that Peltola has embraced as her ticket to reelection is bad for the Alaska economy and communities that rely on private sector investment for tax revenue and economic survival.
On a substantive level, it's hard to unravel the contradictions that can be found between her various messaging bills, campaign statements, and policy positions. Take, for example, the Pebble Mine bill. Why are the risks of the Pebble Mine, which she opposes, fundamentally different from the risks of the proposed Donlin Gold Mine, which she publicly supports? Is it simply because the congresswoman worked at the Donlin mine, or is she heavily influenced by groups like Salmon State, whose policy goals often align with her own?
Her “fish advocacy” efforts are similarly puzzling. While she was instrumental in getting the Biden Administration to help Alaska seafood companies address unfair Russian competition, she has also spent significant effort tarnishing the reputation and brand of Alaska seafood, galvanizing a small but vocal group of advocates with inaccurate and misguided attacks on state and federal fisheries management, again echoing the very same policies promoted by groups like SalmonState. For example, she conflates issues regarding bottom trawl fishing and reducing salmon bycatch, when the two have nothing to do with each other. In doing so, she unfairly claims credit for pushing a bill for her Western Alaskan constituents, when in fact the issue was spearheaded by Washington interests. She has also criticized managers for “not doing anything” despite the great efforts of the state of Alaska and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to address bycatch and bottom trawl fishing. She has publicly described the National Marine Fisheries Service’s data reporting and science as “tricks” and “deception.” These efforts will severely harm Alaska businesses and the value of Alaska seafood.
To make sense of all this, it's important to look at the makeup of her staff. She's gotten a lot of attention for the high turnover in her office, but it's clearly the long-tenured staffer who's shaping her representation: her chief of staff who served as her campaign manager during the election. This, combined with the type of messaging coming out of her office, suggests that her representation is perpetually in campaign mode.
“It has proven difficult to readjust after more than 40 years of powerful representation under the late Don Young, but it is clear that Alaska and Alaskans need more than a representative who is solely focused on being re-elected, no matter what the cost to Alaska businesses and communities.
John Connell is an Alaska resident who has been fishing Bristol Bay for nearly 30 years.
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