Goodbye for Now, Daily News Readers

After 60,000 words, the time has come to put down the pen. For the last three years the Anchorage Daily News has graciously allowed me to come into your home and share your Sunday mornings. As Carol Burnett used to say, I’m so glad we had this time together.

Throughout the years we’ve talked about everything from constitutional rights to ethical wrongs. We’ve covered issues from decreasing social ills to increasing the security of social security. All in all it’s been a great education.

My first column ran on Election Day in 2002 and soon after I settled into a regular Sunday slot every three weeks. Within four months I was publishing a column every other Sunday. The increased commitment of time and energy only proved to be twice as rewarding.

One of the best lessons I’ve ever learned about being in the public eye was the first one I was taught. While having lunch eleven years ago with a well respected former Anchorage Assembly member he told me straight out, you have to have a thick skin but not a thick skull. Throughout my time writing on these pages that lesson has served me well.

I’ve learned as much from the readers who have criticized my views as I have from those who have supported those same views. It’s an important testimony to the fact that both sides are equally important to hear and that freedom of speech should always be defended passionately. After all, this country was founded on dissent.

During my column run some dissent has come in abusive tones but most of it came from those who wanted to respectfully disagree. This reinforced the old adage that you can disagree without being disagreeable. However, without a supporting cast, none of this dialogue would have been possible.

Over the last three years I was able to write what I did because of the many people who took time out of their busy schedules to educate me on my topic de jour. From first responders in the Mat-Su Valley to former governors, there never seemed to be a lack of articulate and committed Alaskans to call on for information and advice.

But most importantly I couldn’t have honored my commitment without the support my family. More than once they saw me fretting over stacks of research trying to find the right statistics or reference material. All the while trying to get the words to flow just right as I pushed the envelope of my deadline week after week.

When I first starting writing my wife put her arm around me one morning and said “Andrew, don’t write when you’re angry”. From then on when I wasn’t sure about the tone I’d ask her to review my words and give me her opinion. Her suggestions always made my columns stronger but with a softer edge. In turn she’d joke that when I didn’t let her read my piece, Sunday morning she would open the paper cautiously.

Likewise, my Mother always used to say when I was a legislator that she’d say a prayer for me before she went to the porch to get the morning paper, just in case I was on the front page again. When I announced my retirement from politics, she gave thanks for the reprieve. It was short lived once my picture started showing up on a regular basis in the paper with the words “Comments” printed next to it.

My Father –unbeknownst to him- also had a big impact on my writings. I once wrote in a Father’s Day piece that after columns critical of fellow Republicans, I’d suffer through what I called quiet Mondays in the office. Over the last year, I think my Father finally came to the realization that what I was writing in my columns was exactly what I was raised to do, stand up for what you believe is right.

So many people to thank, so little space to thank them. But as Charles Dickens once wrote, “The pain of parting is nothing to joy of meeting again”.