Ethan Berkowitz for AK Gov...and last post for a while

First things first: I would like to Endorse St. Rep. and House Min. Leader Ethan Berkowitz to run for Governor of Alaska.

Berkowitz (D) filed the paperwork for a bid 6/13. Berkowitz: "What made me decide is every journey has to start somewhere, sometime and there's no time like the present." Berkowitz has been min. leader since '99 and a state Rep. since '97. He said many constituents encouraged him to run since he returned from the '05 session. Berkowitz: "People kept coming up to me and asking if they could contribute and they can't contribute until I file a letter of intent." He said he plans a listening tour around the state to hear from the public, which he says has been largely ignored by Gov. Frank Murkowski (R). Berkowitz: "There's a lot of promises that have been made that have been broken." He also said the GOP majority hasn't maintained fiscal discipline in spending the state's oil surplus (Inklebarger, AP, 6/14).

I have interviewed Ethan when I worked for the DLC and found him to a smart, honest, and fairmined person. He has innovative ideas to lower greenhouse gases to Kyoto Protocol Levels in a state that loves to drill for oil. [please read it, it wrote it] And amazingly enough, he has a good shot of winning. US Rep. turned Governor Frank Mulkowski has been a disaster, and his daugther just bearly got elected Senator last year.

He went to Harvard for college, Post-Grad at Cambridge (Masters of Philosophy, Polar Studies), his law degree from UC Hastings and was an ADA for the Ankorage District Attorney's office. He clerked for the Alaska Appellate Courts, and was an Enforcement Officer for United States Antarctic Program.

As an aside, this is my last day on the job for awhile and the last time I will post for awhile as well. Perhaps I will post from Europe, but I doubt it. The wedding and honeymoon stuff are really heating up so I will need to devoke more time to helping out poor wife-to-be with this big production. To all of you who are coming, we can't wait to see you and enjoy the weather.