U.S. Senator Ted Stevens

JEFF STASER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Good afternoon and welcome to Commonwealth North. I'm Jeff Staser, the federal co-chair of the Denali Commission and a vice president of Commonwealth North. I'm filling in today for president John Cummin.

Would those of you with cell phones, please, turn them off or on silent as a courtesy to all of us.

On your tables you'll find a form for questions. Please write your questions on these cards and hold them up during the program and our program staff will pick them up and deliver them up here.

Also on your tables you'll find the summary of our latest report from Commonwealth North, entitled Commonwealth North, the Next 25 Years. Would all the members of the study group that worked on that, please, stand up, as many folks as we've got here? Thank you very much. On behalf of all of us, thank you for your hard work, the early morning meetings and special thanks to Jenny Mincewhiler and Jan Fredericks (ph) for chairing this effort. Our state group considered the future of our organization, Commonwealth North, and made a few recommendations that we think will help assure that we remain engaged and relevant to Alaska's future. If you'd like a copy of the full report, they are available at the door and will soon be at our Web site.

Also our health care study group is in full swing, actively analyzing the accessibility, the cost and the quality of health care here in Alaska. Their report will be forthcoming in a few months and, Liz Canal (ph), I promise to get you a copy when we get that done.

Today we're very pleased to have Senator Ted Stevens with us, in a moment I'll ask Mort Plumb to formally introduce him. But first, let me introduce the rest of our head table. From your right to your left, Elaine Christian, CEO of North Star Behavior Health and a member of Commonwealth North. Marc Langland, chairman and president and CEO of Northrim Bank. Marc also serves as a Commonwealth North board of director's member and a past president. Kristi Catlin, director of government affairs at AT&T Alascom and is a new member of Commonwealth North. New members get a round of applause. And Mort Plumb, the director of the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Mort is an active member of Commonwealth North, serving on both the executive committee and the board of directors, as well as co-chair of our program committee.

Without further ado, Mort, I'll ask you now to come to the podium and introduce our speaker today.

MORT PLUMB: Well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It truly is a challenge to introduce a man who has ensured that his grandson was named after the largest airport in Alaska. But I accept that challenge. It's truly an honor today to present to you an Alaskan visionary, a warrior, a good personal friend, a parliamentarian extraordinare. Would you, please, join me in giving a large Commonwealth North welcome to the former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the current chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, number three in line for presidency of the United States, please, welcome the senior United States senator for Alaska, Ted Stevens.