Rural Alaska blog: The Village : Emmonak villager demands apology from Palin camp

Emmonak villager demands apology from Palin camp

Posted by thevillage

Anchorage Daily News

Posted: June 30, 2009 - 12:33 pm

Another twist in the big king salmon crunch on the Yukon River this morning.

Check out yesterday's post for more background, but back on Friday, Palin tweeted that there was good news coming out of her rural adviser's visit to the lower Yukon village of Emmonak.

"John Moller just returned from Emmonak, reports 50% of residents have subsistence needs met already, others confident they can do the same," she wrote.

And: "Good update re Rural Advisor John Moller's recnt Emmonak trip, great news he reports; we'll twitter assuming press won't pick up good news.

What was that good news? I asked Palin's spokeswoman, Sharon Leighow, today in an e-mail.

"The good news – At the Federal Subsistence meeting in Emmonak last week, Nick Tucker reported that 50 percent of the residents have met subsistence needs and other 50 percent are confident they will meet their needs," Leighow replied.

(Tucker drew statewide and national attention this winter when he wrote a letter describing a food and fuel crisis on the lower Yukon.)

Here's where it gets complicated. Tucker says he never said that and is demanding a public apology from the governor's camp.

“I want them to take it back," Tucker said in a short phone interview today.

“I’ve never said that. Ten times over, I’ve never said that. It was from one fisherman in Alakanuk," he said. "I do not believe that we in Emmonak – Emmonak never said that.”

The governor's response?

"That was the information from John Moller," Leighow wrote. "He is fishing today out of cell range. John also said he talked with numerous residents who reported they have taken enough king salmon for their subsistence needs or would by the end of the season."

Tucker would have been an important ally for the state. He's become a defacto spokesman for the region and a go-to voice for reporters/bloggers looking to say something about Palin's leadership through the state's handling of village issues.

I'd been encouraged by Fish & Game to give him a call, because they said he'd recently been complimentary about the state's management. He wasn't. And as I was writing this, Myron Naneng -- a Palin critic and head of the non-profit that provides social services to 56 Yukon-Kuskokwim villages -- phoned to say Palin needs to replace Fish and Game Commissioner Denby Lloyd.

Sounds like an interview with Palin isn't going to happen today, but I'm hoping to talk with Lloyd.

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Emmonak villager demands apology from Palin camp

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