r/alaska • u/Apostle-Dunghill • 5h ago
Polite Political Discussion šŗšø Opinion: Sensational revelations regarding Alaskaās U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola
Opinion: Sensational revelations regarding Alaskaās U.S. Senate candidate Mary
By Don Rearden
A recent New York Times piece attempted a salacious hit on Alaskaās leading choice for U.S. Senate, and it might have raised a few pierced eyebrows outside of our state, but honestly, most of us are already familiar with her slimy side.
While those former interns who came forward werenāt brave enough to use their names, I am.
Iām not afraid to share how and when she first hurt me, how she continues to call me names, or what I think those who are afraid of her or offended by her should do to ensure this Senate seat favors Alaska.
Iāve known Mary Peltola since before she was Alaskaās first woman elected to Congress. I even knew her before she entered politics. I first met her in our high school gym class, where we were paired up as partners for the most horrifying and objectively demoralizing part of the course: the dance unit.
While the recent news revelations allege she shoved one of the unnamed staffers, I can attest to real physical pain she inflicted. I canāt recall if it happened during the ballroom dance portion or square dancing, but I recollect her stepping on my tender freshman toes.
Some 37 years later, my toes still hurt. I canāt confirm for certain this acute pain isnāt due to frostbite or gout, but I can tell you the emotional scars that pull at my heart linger. While that hurt could just be post-traumatic stress related to being forced to dance under the harsh lights in second-period gym, there is no dancing around the reality both Mary and I grew up amid: a childhood that should make everyone tremble, something far worse than forced dancing in a high school gym.
On any one of those mornings Mary stepped on my toes, we might have been trying to make sense of the absence of another classmate or friend, lost to the suicide epidemic in our region.
We might be dancing and snickering and wincing as the old record player Mr. Power played hissed over the two loudspeakers, but what we werenāt doing was talking about our collective and shared grief at our peers disappearing like the kids who would hide in the bathroom during dance class, only to never return.
These suicides felt as regular as the tide along our river, the ocean force some 50 miles away, and like these deaths, always present, always bringing unexpected change. Then there were the other losses. Friends gone through the ice, hypothermia, alcohol, and missing and murdered.
Mary, despite crushing my toes, danced through this loss and unimaginable grief and became a leader. She led by bringing people together through kindness and shared vision, not a hunger for attention or belief she was better than the rest of us.
The GOP is throwing millions into this race and coming after her character. This is because sheās winning against an incumbent who cares more about voting lockstep with a president who prefers ballrooms over real people.
Alaskans donāt care that Mary Peltola has the mouth of a fisherman because they know she grew up covered in salmon slime.
Here, dried fish scales on your best clothing are a badge of authenticity. I would wager that Iāve seen her catch more fish in a single drift on the Kuskokwim River than her opponent has caught in his entire life.
Not only that, but Mary Peltola also understands the fear and anxiety of the people along our rivers who can no longer harvest salmon. Climate change is dire and real in Alaska, and sheās seen and lived that change firsthand, and this is also a woman who is likely to step on some toes of those who say otherwise in Washington, on or off the fancy ballroom or Senate floors.
In truth, aside from the few toe smashes, Mary was actually a pretty good dance partner and friend. We were Bethel Warriors together. She remains a Warrior. She is inspirational and, above all, kind. Tough, because our circumstances required that, but always kind. The loss, not just the dozens and dozens in our region we knew as kids, hasnāt stopped; this is the cruel reality of rural Alaska for so many.
For Mary, the weight of those losses in her family life has been exponential, shared across our community, but with the bulk of that hurt falling on her. Somehow, she braves this and carries on for her family, our community and our state.
As for the bullying. She still calls me Donny when no one else does. And for that specific reason, Iām not giving her a pass on anything she says or does that I disagree with, and Iām not afraid to tell her that. So, if sheās stepping on toes and calling names, we need to make sure we hold future U.S. Sen. Mary Peltola to the exact same standard we do the current president of the United States in terms of language and decorum.
If anyone canāt see past the double standard of those recent hit pieces or thinks she owes some sort of public apology, I would suggest they should sit this election out in protest.
There is one candidate who isnāt a shill for this administration and has Alaskaās best interests in mind for our Senate seat, and Iām looking forward to seeing her do-si-do right into the Senate chamber.
Don Rearden is the author of the novel āThe Ravenās Gift.ā He lives and writes in Anchorage.
