The Anchorage Daily News asked candidates for U.S. House running in the special primary election to answer a series of questions. Read all of their responses here.
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GREGG B. BRELSFORD*, undeclared affiliation, from Anchorage
What in your background qualifies you to represent Alaskans in Congress?
After driving to Alaska in 1972, I earned degrees from University of Alaska Anchorage and Harvard Law School. I worked in tribal organizations, including as the Aleut’s tribal governing body chief executive and on the Alaska Federation of Natives board, and international business. Recently, I served as manager of the Bristol Bay Borough and Dillingham. I have worked to get things done for Alaskans in diverse parts of the state, in local government, tribal, business, legal, and rural areas. No other candidate brings this exceptional mix of experience.
Why are you running for U.S. Congress in Alaska?
The world is becoming increasingly unstable. Many elected officials are wasting time foolishly fighting each other. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caught us unprepared on energy independence, economic alliances, and other things. I will bring new ideas and fight to ensure this doesn’t happen again. People are tired of extreme politics. I am a 21st century, no drama, business-friendly problem-solver, finding the balance among competing needs and rights. This is what Alaska needs in Congress now.
What would be your top priority if elected to Congress?
I will fight to ensure our military is second to none, to vigorously develop energy and mineral resources and jobs, balanced with the environment & climate, to control inflation, for freedom and liberty, for tribal sovereignty and to better address cases involving missing and murdered Native women, for affordable housing and health care, to protect Social Security and Medicare and our Second Amendment rights, and to support Alaska’s 160-plus local governments, veterans, and the arts.
What is your position on abortion?
Respectfully, there are strong and sincere feelings among Alaskans on all sides of this deeply important matter. I am pro-freedom. Alaskans have the freedom to decide what to do with their bodies: what to put on, or in, their body, including to not wear a COVID mask on their face and not stick a COVID vaccine needle in their arm, and a woman has the same freedom as these others to decide how to treat her body, including her pregnancy. No woman happily seeks this or should be punished for her individual choice. As the Good Book says, mercy is what God asks for all of his children.
If legislation came before the U.S. House that would guarantee the same abortion rights nationwide as the Roe v. Wade decision, how would you vote?
Yes.
If you support abortion rights, what limitations, if any, do you think should be placed on those rights, such as waiting periods or a specific point in a pregnancy where abortion should no longer be legal?
In principle, I agree with the limitations and terms of the Roe v. Wade decision as it exists on May 11, 2022. I do not support federal funding for the abortion procedure.
Would you support a bill, if it came before the House, to expand the size of the U.S. Supreme Court? Why or why not?
I am an independent candidate, and an institutionalist. The court is a venerable body, imbued with great dignity and worthy of great respect. However, a recent Republican president, leading Republican senators and disingenuous testimony by three recent Republican nominees have shamefully dragged the court down to the level of tawdry, hardball, partisan politics. I grieve at the extreme loss of dignity that Republicans have inflicted upon the court. Sadly, if this is the new normal, I am now leaning toward changing the size of the court, but have not yet come to that final position.
*Note: Brelsford is one of several candidates who are also running in Alaska’s regular U.S. House primary election in August.