U.S. Rep. Don Young (R, AK), apparently without any sense of irony, told an audience in Anchorage Tuesday the 22,887 federal employees should “feel a little bit guilty” for enforcing laws that don’t “make sense.” If you have a strong stomach, you can watch the video over at the Mudflats.
Rep. Young’s mirror must be foggier than usual. This is a guy who has spent most of his adult life working for the federal government. He was a federal employee as a fifth grade school teacher for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Fort Yukon from 1959-1968. He’s been a federal employee as, God help us all, Congressman at large for Alaska from 1972-2013. That’s at least 50 years as a federal employee. There’s possibly a postmaster somewhere in Alaska with longer federal service, but if Rep. Young wants federal employees to feel a little bit guilty, he’d be a candidate, don’t you think?
And since he has a vote in the House of Represetnatives, perhaps he should feel a little more guilt than a federal employee who is a Clerk/Typist, or an air traffic controller, or one of the hundreds of other federal positions which have nothing to do with “enforcing laws.” But when Rep. Young gets out his tar brush and starts swinging it around, he can be a wee bit careless who he tars.
Worse than that, to the extent that there are federal laws on the books “that don’t make sense,” we can reasonably assume they were enacted by Congress on Rep. Young’s watch. After all, it’s been 41 years. As just one example, Rep. Young is frequently exercised about the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act, ANILCA. He thinks the federal government overreached, and committed other specified and unspecified nastiness with that law.
But he almost certainly voted for it. Like any legislation, it was a compromise. The U.S. House adopted it on a voice vote. And he voted for all of the subsequent amendments, too, as far as WC can tell.
Rep. Young, based upon his statements, should be overwhelmed with the guilt he says federal employees should bear. He’s among the very longest serving, and for the last 41 years, he’s been the guy who helped write the laws that “don’t make sense.” There’s no sign of that immense burden of guilt in Rep. Young’s conduct. Or self-reflection. Pandering, to be sure.
Perhaps it’s Rep. Young who isn’t making sense?
Wickersham's Conscience 
Don Young panders to big business yet beats up on people who actually do the work — typical career politician behavior. In my town the canneries pull out a huge Don Young banner whenever he comes up for re-election. Curiously, I’ve never met anyone who has voted for him. Embarrassed much?
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They never hear their own cognitive dissonance do they? And I’m willing to bet hard cash that if Don was standing right in front of us and we pointed out these very facts, he would get all red in the face, point his finger and start yelling denials.
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Yup! That is his typical behavior whenever challenged. Why Alaskans believe this is acceptable is beyond me.
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This type of avoidance behavior was manifested by Don Young in March. I have not encountered a federal civil servant or known of Murkowski or Begich and their staffers to utilize the type of racist language that Don Young employed to refer to immigrant farm workers. When pressed about it, he blamed his upbringing and insisted that attention ought to be paid to lack of jobs under Obama. Consistent with these comments, he refuses responsibility for what is undeniably his own fault/conduct, and seeks to divert attention and blame to Pres. Obama.
Paul Eaglin
Fairbanks
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How about this gem? He criticizes federal civil servants for doing their jobs, which is to administer agency transactions. One of the most important in his career–through multiple congresses–has been the statutory reauthorization of Indian Health Service. He got it in Obamacare. But in the first URL below, he expresses his disappointment that it was included in legislation that he did not favor. In the second URL, he recites how many years/attempts he had made to achieve what Obamacare achieved for him with respect to statutory authorization of Indian Health Service.
http://donyoung.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=4539
http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=134926
He employs the passive voice in the first URL to explain that IHS “was included” in Obamacare. If I recall correctly from other public statements that he has made, the reason that long-sought statutory authorization of IHS “WAS INCLUDED” in Obamacare is because Don Young and others put it in there. (no doubt it was the bipartisan group that’s mentioned above).
He would do well to take a lesson from the quality of service rendered by virtually every federal civil servant. With rare exception, they perform superbly and are free of any hint of political bias. Of our three members in the national legislature, my impression is that Don Young’s office is the least responsive. Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Begich seem equivalent in responsiveness, from what I’ve noticed, while with Young’s office more often than not there is no response. If/when there is, typically it’s an off-the-wall, irrelevant blast at Pres. Obama and his administration.
Paul Eaglin
Fairbanks
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