I’ve been in politics for 50 years, one way or another, and of all the people I’ve met, and got to know personally, the finest without doubt was Jay Hammond. He was elected Governor in 1974, while I was studying for the bar exam. I worked on his successful reelection in 1978. You may have heard of the Alaska Permanent Fund. It’s worth around $30 billion. Every year, for the last 34 years, all Alaska residents, man, woman, and child, get a dividend check between $900 and $1500.
One man, and one man alone, is responsible for that. Jay Hammond. It wasn’t easy. When this started the Prudhoe Bay oil money was just starting to flow into Juneau, and the state legislature was licking its lips. The Permanent Fund law took one fourth of the money off the table, and they fought like wildcats to hang on to that money. I won’t bore you with all the details, but Hammond basically bludgeoned the legislature into passing the legislation. He would not take no for an answer, and as a former legislator himself, he knew what he had to do and he did it.
That’s a legacy. Why there’s not a big statue of Jay in Anchorage is beyond me. Instead, they do things like name the Anchorage International Airport for the big hog, Ted Stevens.
The first thing I did in Alaska politics was piss off U.S. Senator Mike Gravel. I was studying for the bar, but I had time to write a letter to the editor to the Times. Gravel was running against a Bircher, C. R. Lewis, and was beating him up over it. My letter said Lewis may be a Bircher, but, so what? Is the Senate going to be run by Birchers? Gravel, on the other hand, was a snake, and the Senate was full of them.
The second thing I did was piss off U. S. Senator Ted Stevens. I was making good progress in politics. Reagan was running against Ford for the nomination, and they had an Anchorage office. My law practice was a little slow, so I went in to volunteer, and they put me in charge of the district where I lived. I made some cold calls, and got some Reagan people to show up at the Republican Party Precinct Caucuses. We took it over, and then we took over the district. I had the votes.
So we decided who the eight delegates to the Republican State Convention would be. Me, of course, and all the people who had helped the most and wanted to go. Ted Stevens personal secretary lived in the district, and she wanted to go. Everybody knew who she was. She and Ted were tight. But she wasn’t for Reagan, so she couldn’t be a delegate. I made her the fifth alternate. Boy, was she pissed.
So she told Ted all about it, and he had a hard on for me ever since. Which was fine. He was an irritating little bastard. We were preordained to be enemies
I don’t take shit from anybody. Ted didn’t like that.
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