Mayor   Mark Begich Remarks
Egan Day Dinner
6:30 p.m; Oct. 8, 2003; AnchorageHilton – Chart Room

Thank you for your introduction, Eric Wohlforth. I am truly honored to be asked to appear this evening.

First of all, I am honored because we’re here to talk about Governor Bill Egan. He was a great man in every sense of the word, and he has become a great figure in Alaska history.

And I am also honored because of the faces I see here. This is a truly impressive group of Alaskans. Many of Governor Egan’s friends and colleagues are here this evening.

One of the keys to his success was that he surrounded himself with talented people, and three of his bright young hot-shots co-chaired the dinner this evening: Attorney General John Havelock, Commissioner of Administration Joe Henri, and Commissioner of Revenue Eric Wohlforth.

They may not be bright young hot-shots anymore, but at least they’re still bright! These gentlemen represent real wisdom and accomplishment, and I thank them for organizing this event.

You know, when you hear the saying, “You’re history,” it is not usually meant as a compliment. But as I look around here tonight, I see a lot of people who have already earned places in the history books. You really are history.

Some of those history books haven’t been written yet, but some have, thanks to Betsy Tower. The new book on Bill Egan’s early years is only her latest effort. She also wrote a great book on the history of Anchorage, and several other books. We are fortunate to have Betsy. Not only is she preserving Alaska's past, but she does it in an interesting way that brings the characters to life.

Still, there is a lot of Alaska history that hasn’t been written yet. In fact, I believe there’s a lot of Alaska history that hasn’t been lived yet. Today we should be working on creating the story of Alaska that will be in the books of the future.

That’s something that has often been forgotten in Alaska politics since the passing of Bill Egan and his generation of leaders. We have spent a lot of time in Alaska in conflict over issues that won’t be remembered in history. Frankly, most of our political issues aren’t remembered a year later.

In all humility, I have a bigger ambition than that. If I didn’t, I’d get out of this business.

My inspiration is my father, Nick Begich, and also Bill Egan, and Gene Guess, John Rader, Chancy Croft, certainly my mother, Pegge Begich. I could list many others. My point is that these leaders came into office to do something, not simply to hold office. They had a state to build, and they did it.

My father entered Congress in 1970, the election that Bill Egan returned to the governor’s office. The issues they faced were the biggest Alaska ever faced: pipeline authorization and Native claims and all that would come out of those decisions.

Those issues shaped the Alaska we live in today, and forever into the future. They solved those issues in a few years. They took action.

My father was known for being dynamic, energetic and positive. A brochure he put out during one of his congressional campaigns had the slogan “A New Vigor.”

Bill Egan had that same vigorous quality. He worked hard and he got things done, too. They were the right men at the right time. But for Governor Egan, it wasn’t “A New Vigor.” He had already shown more vigor than most people have in a lifetime!

Remember, this was the third phase of his career in public life.

Phase one was gaining statehood and presiding over the constitutional convention, which wrote the best state constitution in history.

Phase two was being our first governor, setting up the state government from scratch, leading Alaska through the 1964 earthquake, and, don’t forget, selecting the land at Prudhoe Bay that turned out to have the biggest oil field in North America underneath it. Bill Egan had done all that before he got elected governor again in 1970 and started phase three.

Think about this for a moment: if Bill Egan had been three men instead of one, those three men would still have been three of the most important figures in Alaska history.

I feel proud to be able to say I met him. Now, you might be thinking, Mark, you were in elementary school when Bill Egan was governor and Nick Begich was in Congress. That’s true.

But even a kid had access to the governor in those days. And, of course, Bill Egan remembered everyone’s names, even the kids’.

My mother recently reminded me of a story about one fall day when we attended the state fair. Jay Kerttula always held a barbecue after the fair, and we were a little early so we went driving in Palmer to kill time. There was the governor walking down the street by himself. My parents pulled over the station wagon and asked if he needed a ride, and sure enough he did. So the governor of the state of Alaska jumps in the station wagon with all the kids and we all go to the barbecue together.

Bill Egan’s warmth and humility are legendary. He never put himself above another person. And everyone liked him.

In those days, before TV and money became so important in politics, the qualities that made him a wonderful human being also made him a successful politician. If you loved and respected him, you voted for him. And many, many people loved and respected him.

Governor Egan used that human quality in Washington D.C., to win statehood, to win Native claims and to win the pipeline. John Havelock remembers this. He was the attorney general and a Harvard-trained attorney, and he’s still one of the smartest men in Alaska.

But he described himself as a learner at Bill Egan’s feet, carrying his bag as they went from office to office meeting all of Egan’s old friends in the House and Senate and getting their votes.

John remembers a meeting with a Congressman who shook his finger in Governor Egan’s face, saying he should have resolved Native claims back at the time of statehood. He was baiting him. Bill Egan just smiled. He took the abuse, he used his charm, and he probably gained that Congressman’s respect and friendship for the humility he showed.

A lot of people get into office for their egos, and they become very petty when anyone shows them disrespect. Bill Egan never put his ego above his state.

On the Native claims issue, Governor Egan took his time in forming a position. It was a complex political landscape and a situation ripe for conflict.

The Natives were militant for a big settlement, and they had tied up land all over Alaska. They had been fighting for their rights for years and they saw this as their best chance for success. The pipeline project was stalled in part due to Native claims. Some Republicans and other city people had taken a position of fighting Native claims or offering as little land as possible.

Even many of those who supported a Native claims bill did so because they thought Native corporations would develop the economy, not because they thought the Natives deserved a settlement.

Governor Egan’s approach was very different. He said he wanted fairness. That was all. He didn’t sign on with one of the bills in Congress, he just insisted that the result be fair to the Natives and to the state. When the final package came, Wayne Aspinall, chairman of the House Interior Committee, asked Governor Egan if he would support it. That bill required the state of Alaska to pay out some of its oil royalties to help fund the settlement. But the Natives supported the bill and Egan thought it was fair, so he said yes.

There’s a lesson in this for how we do politics in Alaska today. We are too quick to take positions, too quick to choose enemies and fight to hold our ground. Imagine what we could accomplish at the state level with little a bit more humility and flexibility. Think of what we could resolve if we came to issues saying we just wanted what was fair.

Think of having an Egan as governor today, a person with a mind like a steel trap and incredible energy. But I guess you can’t ask for everything! It is a fact that there will never be another Bill Egan.

Speaking as mayor of Anchorage, Bill Egan and Nick Begich are my models. I want to be the energetic, positive, can-do leaders they were.

I want to reach across party lines and across Alaska’s cultures to come up with solutions. I want to get things done.

The time of my childhood, when I was becoming aware of politics, was the age of Watergate and the loss of the Viet Nam War. Those were times of disappointment and bitterness. For many people in their formative years, those events created lasting cynicism.

But the adults I saw around me at close range had a much greater influence on me than those national events. From Nick and Pegge Begich and their many friends, I learned that politics has purpose. I learned that citizenship in Alaska and in Americ comes with a responsibility to make our state and nation better.

Times have changed and today’s problems are different than the ones Bill Egan and Nick Begich faced together. But the basic solution is still the same: calling on a spirit of shared purpose. In that respect, I hope to continue their legacy.

Another formative experience, for me, was the death of my father. On the evening of October 16, 1972, my siblings and I were at home in Arlington with our mother. We were watching a police drama on television, The Rookies, if you remember it.

The phone rang. It was Governor Egan calling my mother to let her know Nick Begich’s plane was overdue. Bill Egan was the kind of man who would want to make a call like that himself.

Later, his relationship with our family continued. My mother reminded me that he was chairman of Easter Seals when my nephew Sean was the poster child for the program. When the two of them met, he knew how to put a young child in a wheelchair completely at ease. The warmth and humanity that had served him so well in public life was there for Sean as well.

On that same occasion, by the way, Egan learned that someone had parked in the handicapped space outside the building. He came boiling out the door loud with outrage and chased the offender away.

So we saw both sides that day: the warm heart, and the tough fighter.

Today, thanks to Betsy Tower’s book, and thanks to Egan Day, we still remember and honor Bill Egan’s memory.

And we still have the Egan Center in Anchorage. I have set the policy that the Egan Center will remain in operation for the community’s use even after we build a new convention center. We will keep that landmark in his honor, and I hope we can create more.

A newspaper columnist said the other day that many people don’t remember Bill Egan because our population changes so fast. I beg to differ.

I am constantly amazed when I am campaigning and making public appearances as mayor how many people remember Nick Begich and want to shake my hand and tell me something good he did or some positive memory about him.

Bill Egan’s lives on as well in many memories around Alaska. And Bill Egan lives on in the state he helped create and the new generation that is stepping forward to lead it.

Thank you for having me here this evening.