Wrangell visited by Murkowski staffers

Staff working for Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski stopped into Wrangell on Aug. 14, during a string of visits this month to communities in Southeast.

Setting up a mobile office outside the post office, Phillip Dodd and Ben Cotter caught up with constituents during the Friday lunch rush.

“We do it every year, in different communities,” Cotter explained. “It’s kind of a good way to reach out.”

The pair staffed one of several mobile offices deployed by Alaska’s congressional delegation this month, while a wide range of residents and workers are in-state for the summer season. Murkowski herself was in the state meeting with

constituencies last week,

visiting the Office of Veterans Affairs on Friday and speaking that evening at an Arctic-related event in Anchorage.

While in town, Dodd and Cotter met with residents and collected feedback on

policies, comments of support for the senator and various concerns related to federal

governance. From one community to the next, though, they explained subjects can vary widely.

Once collected, comments are then reviewed personally by the senator, her communications director Matthew Felling explained.

“From the macro to the micro, every view counts,” he said.

Speaking afterward, Dodd and Cotter said much of the commentary they received in Wrangell that afternoon had been related to the float-plane dock the United States Forest Service intends to construct at Anan Wildlife Observatory next spring.

“We’ve heard all kinds of things,” Dodd said. They’ve seen all kinds of things as well– during a visit to Angoon earlier in the week, he recalled they encountered a bear while touring the landfill.

After Wrangell, the team made stops in Haines and Skagway before heading northwest to communities on the Kenai Peninsula. Afterward, Murkowski’s staff will hold additional delegation mobile office hours with Sen. Dan Sullivan’s team at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer from Aug. 27 through Sept. 7.