Consulting with Native Communities

I will listen closely to our Alaska Native communities and collaborate with them to encourage self-determination and support economic development.  Lisa Murkowski has failed to do that and has flip-flopped on issues of critical importance to Alaska Natives, including the Violence Against Women Act.   Murkowski has reversed her positions on these issues only after eliciting outrage from the people to whom she should have listened in the first place.  I will work closely with Native groups and the federal government to address pressing issues such as subsistence rights, funding tribal courts, environmental remediation, funding for water and sewer systems, and ways to address the increasing adverse effects of climate change.  I will also work closely with Alaska Native communities on social issues, because those communities often have solutions to vexing problems, and those solutions are best developed organically at the local level.  

Alaska’s Rural Economy

Our rural communities require equitable investment to sustain long term economic growth.  I will fight to protect essential air service and by-pass mail as basic governmental services.  We must aggressively fund renewable energy projects and other energy programs to bring down the high cost of energy in remote communities.  High speed internet access is essential for communities to participate in the modern economy.  I will push to fund affordable broadband service throughout the state.      

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