Mead Treadwell deserves Republican support for governor

Change is the constant that is defining the challenges of our time. All candidates for public office, particularly the forthcoming state gubernatorial race, must articulate a clear vision, strategy and commitment for all Alaskans to share in the benefits of reliable, equitable and sustainable growth.

Flexible thinking and a commitment to grow a struggling Alaska economy, create jobs, improve quality of life and ensure that rural communities equitably benefit, must coordinate local, state, national and international interests. With accelerations in global trade and a seeming paradox of sea-ice retreat combined with growth commercial shipping, oil, gas, fisheries and national security, Alaska's next governor needs both state- and Arctic-wide vision.

When I met up with former lieutenant governor and businessman Mead Treadwell several weeks ago at the D.C.-based Woodrow Wilson Center during a panel on telecommunications in Alaska, he told me that he was throwing his hat in the ring to run for governor. I knew that after some four years of observing the former lieutenant governor at both domestic and international Arctic gatherings, I would weigh in on his behalf.

Mr. Treadwell is motivated to give his best to support individuals, organizations and, without doubt, the state of Alaska, to effectively shape and meet social and economic goals. He demonstrated his strength of character, for example, in my project at the Woodrow Wilson Center Polar Program, where I served as the founding team lead for a roundtable discussion on shipping in the Bering Sea that brought together Americans, Russians and Canadians to discuss common shipping concerns.

Mr. Treadwell took the time for weekly discussions on the project's direction over a six–month period. His observations, encouragement and introductions contributed to the Polar Code Roundtable's success that launched a world–class Arctic program — directed by an Alaskan.

The Wilson Bering project drew from my earlier work on the high-north project on Arctic fisheries, with participants from all eight Arctic nations, at Harvard-MIT. A Fulbright Fellowship in Iceland followed, along with speaking engagements in Russia, Norway, Denmark and Canada. My recent consultancy with the Denali Commission addressed communities being swept into the sea that led to conversations with rural community leaders vexed by the question of how to keep young people home. This dilemma vexes all of the Arctic regions that are challenged by similar issues: how to produce jobs, education, health care and quality of life in a region defined, in part, by extreme cold, high costs of development, communities accessible only by air or water and a high price of fuel and electricity in the midst of plentiful natural resources. Mr. Treadwell understands these issues well.

The former lieutenant governor, indeed, has the ability and vision to draw from his Arctic-wide networks taking the helm as Alaskans navigate a changing Arctic and a changing world in which all Alaskans — both urban and rural — might both benefit and lead the way. As a chairman of the Arctic Research Commission, participant with the Iceland-based Arctic Circle group, an Alaska delegate to the Arctic Council, and participant in expeditionary trips in Alaska, Russia, Iceland and Norway, Mr. Treadwell has first-hand ability to chart a course in cooperation with gubernatorial leaders from across the Arctic to produce jobs, education and community strategies that draw from and build upon the entire region.

On commerce and trade, Mr. Treadwell notes that as a commercial hub that links Asia with the U.S. and Europe, Alaska is particularly well-situated for the growth that is redefining the Arctic region as the sea ice retreats and commercial options expand. He pointed out that the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is among the world's largest cargo haulers. From Anchorage, an airline can reach 90 percent of the industrial world — from China to Europe and beyond — in only nine hours.

Mr. Treadwell's vision covers all of Alaska and all Alaskans. Viewing himself as a pragmatist, he says he would boost Alaska's economy by focusing on five key commercial drivers, using an approach that would ensure that the investments and development would serve both larger state economy and the specific interests of the most rural and vulnerable communities. The drivers are: commercial fishing, tourism, oil, gas and mining, rural based small–scale business development and military, along with missile defense.

Despite acknowledging an economic strategy that is likely to remain dependent upon natural resources development, Mr. Treadwell notes that long-term sustainable fiscal stability requires a rethinking both to expand upon revenue streams and new ways to integrate into Alaska's economy. He particularly noted the need for a network of ports as shipping is likely to increase over the next several decades with a utility for a network of port facilities with permanently stationed assets to meet growing international standards and commercial and security imperatives.

He pointed to the protection of commercial sports and subsistence fishing, whaling and hunting with particular focus on the salmon catches in Bristol Bay and river tributaries, an economic centerpiece of the state that brings in $1.5 billion annually, with a challenging question of out-of-state permits. Mr. Treadwell describes the challenges of remote Alaska, such as Barrow, with few roads, or, often, airstrips that leaves costs sky high, including oil, gas and electricity as a matter of survival. He noted that micro-grids and energy sources beyond diesel are a must.

He noted that young people are Alaska's future, and a bridge between the historical way of learning and doing must be linked into an evolving national and global culture, in part, fueled by social media and other means by which Alaskans can reach out to each other, the Arctic region generally, and to the global economy.
I have no doubt that Mead Treadwell is the right person for the right office at the right time.

Anita L. Parlow, Esq., is a Fulbright scholar, team lead for the Woodrow Wilson Polar Code Roundtable Project, and advisor for the Harvard–MIT Arctic Fisheries Project. She has written numerous op-eds and advised corporate, tribal and international organization on social and environmental risk, corporate responsibility and due diligence issues.

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