“His tireless energy and superior understanding of the issues will serve Alaska well as our next congressman.”

Yesterday Alaska’s largest union of public employees, ASEA/AFSCME Local 52, announced their endorsement of Ethan Berkowitz’s candidacy for Alaska’s seat in the United States Congress. ASEA/AFCSME Local 52 represents more than 8,500 state and municipal employees in the state of Alaska.

The race for Alaska’s lone seat in Congress made a stop Friday in Mountain View. Four out of the five candidates talked about immigration, healthcare, education and the economy at the Hispanic Affairs Council of Alaska forum. Congressman Don Young, who told the council he had a scheduling conflict, was a no show.

All four candidates gunning for Don Young’s seat in the U.S. House made their case Friday night for why voters should choose them over the 18-term incumbent at a Hispanic Affairs Council candidate forum in Anchorage. Ethan described how he’s been “field tested” through 10 years in the state House, most of them spent as Democratic minority leader. He said he has proven his mettle, and seemed most passionate when speaking about alternative energy: “If we show the rest of the country we have a better way of getting our energy we can exert leadership and have moral authority,” Berkowitz told the audience.

From Kodiak, KMXT’s Jay Barrett talks with Ethan Berkowitz, Democratic candidate for Congress. Berkowitz served several terms in the State House, representing Anchorage, and ran for lieutenant governor with Tony Knowles two years ago.

I started this campaign asking people to imagine Alaska the way it can be - independent, self-reliant, and with healthy, tight-knit communities. It’s a place where you stand on your own feet, on your own deck, and take care of your own family. During the time I spent as a deckhand in Bristol Bay, I learned to see each boat as a small family business and fishing as a way of life that can be passed from generation to generation. That’s why I’ll be where I’ve always been - on your side, standing up for your interests, because it’s the right place to be and the right thing to do.

Ethan visited Kodiak on Thursday, March 20th, from 7:00-9:00pm, for the ComFish Alaska 2008 Congressional Candidates’ Debate. it was the return of the Berko-Fish!  KMXT covered the event, as did the Anchorage Daily News.

I agree with the poet Yeats – ‘education is about the lighting of a fire, not the filling of a bucket.’ Our educational system should cultivate critical thinking, empathy and compassion, and creativity and imagination. No Child Left Behind is the wrong approach because it focuses too much on standardized testing and I’ve never met a standardized kid.

Self-sufficiency and safe, health communities: these are some of my priorities. Alaska and the rest of the United States needs a leader with a strategy for addressing climate change, a leader with a vision for leadership in renewable energy & sustainable development. We need a leader who will address health care needs for small business and everyday Americans.