I awoke this morning to the sad news that Alaska's former governor, Jay Hammond, had died in his sleep. Last night. Alaska lost a good man and I feel I have lost a friend. I don't recall the exact years that Jay served as governor but I know that he was in office when I arrived in this great land in August 1980. I didn't pay much attention to politics in those days as I was much too busy trying to establish my new family in this far away land but I do remember frequenty seeing his bearded face on TV and being impressed by his down to earth friendliness. This impression was strengthened a year or so later. My new wife was frustrated frustrated by a screw-up with her student loan and was exasperated by the state's beuracratic bungling in getting the matter resolved. I half sarcastically told her to "call the governor". To my surprise my new wife took the advice and placed a call to the capital. Astonishment only begins to describe my reaction when Cindy informed me that she had spoken to the Governor himself and he had promised to straighten the matter out! Indeed the matter did get resolved.
Jay also is the creator of the "Alaska Permanent Fund". As he was nearing the end to his time in office Jay became concerned that all the money generated by the oil pipeline and Alaska's newly developed oil resources would end up being pissed away by government and do little to help the average citizens. In an effort to prevent this he sponsored legislation which would take 50% of the royalties collected by the state and place them in a permanent, idependently managed investment fund. The program is a huge success! Although the state has managed to piss away much of the oil money, the Permanent fund has grown to hundreds of billions of dollars, and a percent of the dividends it produces annually now are distributed to every individual Alaskan in the form of a Permanent Func Dividend (PFD) check. These PFDs have been for as much as $1600 and vary in amount according to how well the fund's investments have performed over the last 3 years. Every Alaskan citizen gets one of these checks, even small children, so the program is quite poppular. I and many other Alaskans put their children's annual checks into savings accounts thus building a nest egg for their kids to use when they get older and are confronted with college tuition costs or the need for a down payment on a house or car. The program has worked so well at insurring that all Alaskans (and future Alaskans) share in the wealth generated by the states non-renewable resources that in recent years Jay has been asked to explain the program to the governments of several developing Central and South American countries. Jay even teamed up with former President Jimmy Carter in an attempt to have such a program established in Iraq after the US invasion but so far Bush's oil industry buddies have pretty well squashed that idea.
Yes, Jay Hammond was many things; the son of a minister; a World War II veteran; a bush pilot; a wildlife manager; a wise politician; an author and a film-maker. Most importantly he was a man of great integrity and an even greater zest for life. I wish him well on his journey and hope he finds eternity full of big fish, howling wolves and pretty girls. I will miss you Jay!
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