THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
An Election
Forthcoming Legislative Session
(Editor’s Note: This is the
first story in a five-part series
on the major problems which
will confront the 1962 Legis
lature when it meets in Juneau
Jan. 22.)
By Ward Sims
Associated Press Staff Writer
JUNEAU W) — A legislative
session in which the politician’s
favorite subject, politics, will
probably dominate opens here in
13 short days.
To be sure, there will be other
oratory-provoking crises legisla
tors can sink a well-sharpened
verb into, but the political con
siderations of an election year
should overshadow everything
else.
With the governorship up for
grabs in 1962, most attention will
probably be centered on the in
side maneuverings of potential
and announced candidates for
that office from both parties.
Gov. Wm. Egan has given no
public indication, thus far, as to
whether he will seek re-election,
although the chances that he
would fail to try for a second
term appear extremely slim.
S Candidates for Governor
Of the five men who are al
ready announced candidates, only
House Speaker Warren Taylor
and former Atty. Gen. John
Rader, both Democrats, appear a1
this point to have more than out
side chances at success.
Rader, incidentally, will b<
bumping votes with his ex-boss
Egan, if Egan shoots for anothei
term. Rader was Egan’s cam
paign manager in 1958 and wai
rewarded, in 1959, with the to$
post in the Department of Law
Taylor, a Fairbanks attorney
and Speaker of the State Hous<
of Representatives, command:
deep respect from members o
his party, but he does not hav<
Rader’s labor backing. /
The two announced Republi
can candidates, Anchorage attor
ney Verne Martin, and Dr. Mil<
Fritz of Anchorage, are littli
known outside of their cit:
circles.
David Newton Boyer of Anchor
Point, Alaska’s perennial candi
date, has also announced that he
will seek the governorship, on
the Democratic ticket. Boyer and
Taylor are the only two who have
actually filed for the office.
GOP Potential Candidates
Still in the wings, watching
quietly, are the following po
tential Republican candidates:
State Sen. John Coghill of Ne
nana, John Butrovich of Fair
banks, former Gov. Mike Stepo
vich of Fairbanks, Vernon Forbes
of Fairbanks, Ted Stevens of An
chorage, State Sen. Brad Phillips
of Anchorage and Republican Na
tional Committeeman Walter J.
Hickel, also of Anchorage.
All, at one time or another,
have been mentioned as possible
seekers of the office on the third
floor, left-front comer, state
capital, Juneau.
Also watching, but not quietly,
is Democratic State Central Com
mittee Chairman Wendell Kay of
Anchorage, who has been giving
Egan unsolicited, long-distance
advice on how to administer state
finances.
It seems almost as sure as death
and taxes — one of Kay’s favorite
subjects, incidentally — that Egan
and his party’s state chairman
will find more than one opportu
nity during the coming legisla
tive session to exchange words.
Kay was one of the sharpest
critics of the $3.6 million tax in
crease voted by the 1961 Legisla
ture as it prepared to wind up
; its session.
When the state received an un
. expected windfall of $15 millior
| in an oil and gas lease sale Iasi
Dec. 19, Kay was quick to de
’ mand that the taxes he said Egar
had rammed down the throats o:
• unwilling legislators be repealed
’ Egan contends the money i:
L necessary to get the state over fi
! nancial rough spots in fiscal 1961
and fiscal 1964. By fiscal 1965
Egan predicts the state will be oi
smooth financial ground.
>
! U.S. Seats Also Figure
r Also figuring in the politics
end of the 1962 session will b
• the legislative elections of thi
State Chamber
Favors Repayment
Of ESC Fund Debt
JUNEAU UP> — The State Cham
ber of Commerce favors immedi
ate repayment of the state’s $8,
765,000 debt to the Federal Reed
(Employment Security) Fund,
general manager Don Dickey said.
The long-standing debt would
be erased 'by using unexpected
revenues received Dec. 19 in an
oil and gas lease sale, the Cham
ber’s Board of Directors said in
a resolution approved during a
weekend meeting here.
Under the Reed Fund loan,
Alaska employers must pay an ad
ditional federal employment se
curity tax of .15 per cent on 1961
wages. The tax rate will increase
.15 each year until the debt is
repaid.
Robert Baker, president of the
State Chamber, said the Reed
Fund debt “constitutes a ‘dark
cloud’ hanging over the future of
Alaska’s economic development.”
“It is unfortunate appearances
indicate repayment of the Reed
Fund loan may be made into a
‘political football’ and important
economic aspects of a problem so
vital to providing jobs and de
velopment for our state may be
lost in political smoke screens,”
Baker said.
Baker also said the state’s
workmen’s compensation statutes
need revision.
“Here in resource-rich Alaska
we can rapidly become one of the
richest as well as the largest
states if we will just recognize
that we must encourage rather
i than discourage new investment
capital and new industries which
will create thousands of new jobs.
“Unfortunately, at present our
laws regulating the unemploy
ment insurance program and in
surance for workmen who may
become injured or disabled place
Alaska at serious disadvantage
with all other states.
“Potential new industries are
discouraged when they discover
that to harvest our timber, our
many minerals and petroleum, our
fisheries, they must pay extreme
ly high taxes for each and every
man-hour for every job they cre
ate.”
12 MONTHS OF SCHOOL
ATLANTA, Ga. UT> — Gov.
Ernest Vandiver says a proposal
to hold public school classes 12
months a year is very provoca
tive and he hopes legislative com
mittees will give it through study.
But, he added at a news con
ference Monday, “my 13-year-old
son has very passionately request
ed that I veto that piece of leg
islation.”
year, including the reshuffling
caused iby reapportionment of the
State House of ^representatives.
U.S. Sen. Ernest Gruening and
UjS. Rep. Ralph Rivers also are
up for re-election and their cam
paigns could have some effect on
the 1962 legislative session, par
ticularly if State Sen. Howard
Pollock, an Anchorage Republi
can, tries to knock off Gruening.
Stepovich has also 'been men
tioned as a possible GOP candi
date for Gruening’s seat, while
Stevens, former Interior Depart
ment solicitor, has hinted he might
be willing to take on Rivers.
Regardless of the eventual line
up, it's an odds-on bet that everj
race will be hashed — and re
hashed — many times betweer
the time the legislature goes tc
: work and the time it checks out
(Next: Don’t forget unemploy
; ment security and workmen’s
compensation.)
Dial 2f>31 for
Arctic Sanitary
Service
State Revenue Collections
Exceed $14 Million
JUNEAU Iff") — Gross revenue
collections from licenses and taxes
during the last six months of
1961 totaled $14,967,717.51, Gov.
Wm. Egan said Tuesday.
The figure represented an in
crease of $1,380,556.89 over col
lections during the same period
in 1960.
Net income taxes accounted for
$6,540,034.72. The oil and gas
production tax produced $80,
158.14 during the six-month peri
od, 40 times the amount collected
from that source during the last
six months of I960.
Japan’s Postwar Debt
Settled for Va of Cost
TOKYO LP — Japan’s postwar
debt to the United States was set
tled yesterday for less than one
quarter of its original cost.
Japan agreed to repay $490 mil
lion of the $1,889,000,000 it re
ceived from 1945-52 mostly in re
lief supplies and economic re
habilitation.
Under terms of the repayment,
$25 million will be used for edu
cational and cultural exchanges
between the two countries. The
United States plans to use most of
the rest for aid to underdeveloped
countries in Asia, which would
help strengthen Japan’s key mar
kets.
I_
Alaska Highway
Traffic Sets All-Time
High During 1961
TOK JUNCTION UP> — North
bound vehicle traffic over the
Alaska Highway set an all-time
record during 1961.
Records compiled by the U.S.
Customs Office at Tok show that
a total of 16,994 vehicles entered
• Alaska over the highway during
• the past year. This figure is well
r above the total for 1960 and also
! slightly higher than the previous
! year of 1959.
Aunt Sarah Passes
At the Age of 95
MANCHESTER, Ky. M —
“Aunt Sarah” Collett, a mountain
midwife who helped deliver more
than 3,000 babies in this eastern
Kentucky region, died of a heart
attack Monday at the age of 95.
She was a widow and had worked
as a midwife 40 years.
In 1963 she gave the last piece
of land she owned as the site for
a new schoolhouse at the com
munity of Blue Hole.
The school has been used as
a meeting place for church groups.
“I wanted it this way,” Aunt
Sarah said.
He last wish will be granted,
too. Her funeral is to be held at
the new school. Her burial place
is to be on a mountainside over
looking the building.
JAYCEE WEEK JAN. 21-26
JUNEAU WP) — Gov. Wm. Egan
yesterday proclaimed the week of
Jan. 21-26 as Jaycee Week in
Alaska, honoring the founding of
the U.S. Junior Chamber of Com
merce.
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