Mayor Mark Begich remarks
Alaska Federation of Natives Annual Convention
9:30 a.m.; October 25, 2007; Carlson Center, Fairbanks

Thank you for that introduction. This is the second time I’ve been to Fairbanks to help welcome you to AFN.

I am honored and grateful to Mayors Whitaker, Thompson and Isaacson for their hospitality. I also thank the first people of the Doyon Region for hosting this convention. Thank you to the AFN board and staff for allowing me to speak.

I have seen many friends here and there are many people I would like to recognize.  But let me single out just two groups.

I thank the elders for participating in the youth and elders conference earlier this week, and for the great wisdom you have provided me and my family over the years.

And I know everyone joins me in saluting the Guardsmen and women and active duty soldiers who are so bravely serving our nation. After the largest Guard mobilization since World War II, hundreds of Guardsmen returned to Alaska communities and villages last week. We are grateful to have you home.

This morning, I want to do something a little different and focus on subjects that can summarized by two words: new opportunities.

 Here in Alaska, we’ve got old problems - problems that have been around for generations.

 Like the problem of not enough funding for education in rural Alaska. The problem of too few Troopers and inadequate support for Village Public Safety Officers. The problems of the continuing tragedies of substance abuse, and suicide.

 Enormous problems we’ve been talking about forever, while families suffer. Too often, we talk instead of act. Talk is good, but it must lead to action.

 I mention these issues today because I see a new opportunity. An opportunity for action.

 It’s an opportunity of two things: resources and leadership. Let me talk about leadership first.

 Alaska is at an historic moment of change, the kind that comes only once in a generation. Let me take you back a generation, to 1968. Then my father, Nick Begich, stood before the AFN convention as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. He was in the Legislature at the time. His roommate in Juneau was Willie Hensley. His campaign co-chair was Emil Notti, who introduced him to the delegates here.

It was a time of bold leadership and new ideas for a young state. A time when people worked together for the common good of Alaska.

Many of you have told me great stories about my dad, which I really appreciate.

Today, we look on these men - Hensley, Notti, Begich and others - as giants, because of the historic accomplishments that took place under their leadership in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.

They changed the landscape of this state, and what they did affected the world for generations to come.

But they weren’t giants back then. They were young, energetic guys with new ideas and a belief in what was possible. My father’s campaign slogan back then was “A New Vigor.” They didn’t sit back and just talk. They acted.

In that era of change, the old guard of Alaska leaders changed and a new generation took over. That’s what is happening again today. It’s healthy, and it’s time.

Our new generation of leaders is no longer interested in fighting Democrat versus Republican, urban versus rural, or developer versus environmentalist.

When we fight, we don’t fight each other. We fight for Alaska. But fighting is not what we seek. Our generation is about finding solutions together, getting things done. It’s about unity, and no longer pitting one Alaskan against another.

It’s about listening to our elders, who we respect for their wisdom and their contributions. Then after we listen, we’re ready to act.

In the Native community, new leaders are rising every day. Leaders like Sheri Buretta of Chugach Alaska Corporation. And Gloria O’Neill, of Cook Inlet Tribal Council, to name two from my own region.

Leaders like Tara Sweeney, your keynote speaker, from the Arctic Slope, and Thomas Mack from the Aleut Corporation.

This is a new generation. A generation of new ideas, new energy, new opportunity. It’s an opportunity to solve problems. To work together in unity. To take action that moves our state forward. It’s an opportunity to be bold, like those who accomplished so much almost 40 years ago.

I mentioned two new opportunities. Leadership is one half - resources is the other.

Crude oil is over 80-dollars a barrel and some economists are projecting 100-dollars a barrel. At the same time, the Legislature is in session, looking at increasing Alaska’s share of our oil resources.

Even under the old tax, we can expect a surplus of two and a half billion-dollars next year alone, providing Alaska a new era of wealth.

We’ve got new leadership. We’ve got new resources. We’ve got wisdom from our elders. Now, we are ready to accept the responsibility of facing up to old problems that continue to challenge us.

Now is the time for our generation to invest in education and fix our schools. Whether they live in the smallest village or largest city, every Alaskan child is entitled to the same high quality education.

Now is the time for our generation to hire the Troopers we need and support the VPSOs. Every Alaskan man, woman and child deserves to be safe in their homes, on their streets, in their communities.

Now is the time for our generation to invest in the programs that save families and lives in rural Alaska. We can’t allow one more young Alaskan to be lost to the ravages of substance abuse and despair.

Now is the time for our generation to protect our natural resources to benefit all Alaskans. Our state - our entire nation – is enriched by the traditional subsistence way of life we must preserve here in Alaska.

 New opportunities don’t come that often. Now is the time to act. Now is the time for a new generation to stand up to secure a safer, healthier future for all Alaskans.

I welcome all the delegates here, and I look to you to help make it happen. It is our opportunity - and our obligation - for the generations that follow. Thank you.

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