When I heard that a commercial fisherman, from Juneau was running for the US Senate I figured I better check him out. I couldn’t believe it. I called Dan Foley F/V Stellar an old friend who lives in Juneau. What do you know about Al Gross? Dan says, “I remember him at 14 trolling and longlining for Stan Redikoff.”
Hmmm. Some people in Sitka, think I’m a hard ass. A relative of Captain Blyth, or worse. Well, Stan makes me look like a nice guy. Not quite a Care Bear though. Stan was tough. Old style tough. My opinion of Al went up substantially.
Worked his way from Stan’s back deck to his own boat. I’m not saying that he will get rid of the horrible wording and implementation of the treaty, but we will have someone who will fight like hell for us. He’s got close friends trolling. When you meet him in Juneau, Anchorage, Petersburg, Sitka or wherever he’ll listen to what you are talking about. You can talk like a fisherman and he will listen to you even if you just came out of the engine room or fish hold. And he’ll understand.
In his talk on Raven Radio the other day he brought up that he was going to get the 3-mile state jurisdiction off our coast to 12-mile. That would be great. Then I would not have to listen to one of my friends complaining about another one of my friends who went 500 feet into the federal waters in the winter. Al thinks like a fisherman. He’s cleaned King salmon and cohos. He’s like what you would like your kid to grow up and become. A fisherman. A doctor. A senator.
Vote for Al Gross. He’s one of us. And home grown.
Mike Mayo
Sitka
