OPINION: Alaska’s election pamphlet is an interesting read

The election pamphlet arrived in the mail a few days ago.

This is the official guide to the Nov. 8 general election published by the Division of Elections, required by state statute. The pamphlet contains bios of, and statements by, all the candidates on the ballot, as well as statements about ballot propositions and information about all the judges up for retention.

The pamphlets are not all identical. They are regional. My pamphlet has all the statewide candidates, legislative candidates and judges in the Anchorage area. The Juneau pamphlets focus on that region. And so forth around the state.

I was downtown recently and walked by the bus station (now permanently closed) and, to my surprise, saw a pamphlet -- soggy from the rain -- open on a steel bench. I thought, “What the ...?” as a young woman approached me, picked the pamphlet off the bench, and handed it to me with a smile. Perhaps she felt sorry for the old geezer staring at the bench.

I wondered whose pamphlet it was. On the back cover I saw it had been sent to “Registered Voter or Current Resident” at a general delivery address, with a ZIP code in Anchorage. I should have written the ZIP down but didn’t. I wondered if “Registered Voter” had read any of the pamphlet before abandoning it (or forgetting it). Wonder produced nothing but wonder.

Inspired by an unknown voter, I went home and read my pamphlet cover to cover. This is not literature, although no doubt some wise guy would call it fiction. The candidates are making a case for electing themselves and put their best-foot forward (page after page of smiling photographs of the aspirants.)

Clichés gather like birds on a wire. State Senate candidate Republican James Kaufman tells us, “We can improve every aspect of state governance if we quit throwing money at problems and start budgeting and managing for higher performance at lower cost.” Across the page, Democratic opponent Janice Park explains, “Alaska’s children are her most precious resource. I am a strong advocate for public education.” Park also writes, “I researched, wrote, and argued my divorce before the Alaska Supreme Court while attending UAA...” This definitely is not a cliché. See what a college education can do for you?

God appears now and then, suggesting His personal blessing on the candidate. The candidates, endorsed by the deity or no, all believe in a “strong Permanent Fund” and promise to “defend the Permanent Fund dividend.” In this form of discourse, the dividend can only grow larger, not smaller — like the expanding universe.

Thomas Jefferson is quoted. Abraham Lincoln, too. Such appeals to traditional authorities have become clichés through years of repetition. But I have to commend the 2022 candidates who quoted the great men: The quotations in the pamphlet are accurate. Many times, the words attributed to men in marble have been fabricated.

Clichés abound because they are reassuring — the candidate is speaking to the voters in language voters easily understand and find agreeable. It is hard to disagree with a candidate who wants a “more efficient” government. Every Alaskan, even those in jail, loves the “permanent dividend.”

Candidates don’t want to come across as eggheads. Even those who went to Harvard (there are several) don’t want to sound like Harvard grads.

The most surprising thing about the pamphlet, to me, is the candidates’ lack of interest in health care and the COVID-19 virus that killed millions of Americans, at least as expressed in these pages.

To their credit, House candidates Cliff Groh, Harriet Drummond and Genevieve Mina do mention health care, as does Senate candidate Cathy Giessel. There may be a couple others I missed. If so, my apologies.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy brags that he “navigated” Alaska through a pandemic. House Republican candidate David Nelson tells voters he was awarded “The Army commendation for exemplary service during the earliest days of the Alaska Army National Guard’s COVID-19 response.” My God, the hospitals fill every time a new wave hits, the dead accumulate, and this guy’s response is “I got a medal?”

For many (if not most) voters, the most valuable pages in the pamphlet are those devoted to the judges seeking retention. Few Alaskans spend much time in courtrooms, even as jurors, and the judges are typically just a name to them. The pamphlet provides standard information about age and experience, as well as education, plus statements by the judges and surveys of those who have had professional contact with the judge: attorneys, court employees, peace and probation officers, and jurors, although there have not been as many jury trials recently because of the virus.

When I closed the pamphlet and put it down on my dining room table, I had a troubling realization: At age 77, I am older than everyone whose photo appears in that pamphlet. Everyone, without exception. Well, I have been voting in Alaska elections since 1964 -- and reading election pamphlets since before many of the candidates were born. I plead guilty: geezer as charged.

Michael Carey is an occasional columnist and the former editorial page editor of the Anchorage Daily News.

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