[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 131 (Wednesday, August 2, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4762-S4763]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REMEMBERING DAN FAUSKE

 Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, Alaskans will gather on August 9 
to celebrate the life of Dan Fauske, a public servant extraordinaire, 
who lost his battle with cancer in April. Upon learning of Dan's 
passing, Representative Mike Chennault, four-term Speaker of the Alaska 
House of Representatives described Dan as ``Superman.'' In Mike's 
words, ``Dan Fauske leaped tall buildings in a single bound. Like 
Superman, there was not a challenge he couldn't take on.''
  Dan was a dear friend of mine, and his family is part of our extended 
family in the Murkowski office. Dan's son, D.J., who now serves as 
director of government and external affairs for the North Slope 
Borough, helped open my Washington office in 2003 as a staff assistant. 
D.J. subsequently married Gretchen Wieman, a legislative correspondent 
in my office during that period.
  I counted on Dan for advice and counsel on important public policy 
issues affecting Alaska, as did many others in the State. His integrity 
and wisdom were unsurpassed, but Dan's greatest attribute was perhaps 
his humility. He was known as a straight shooter; one who was about 
getting the job done and doing it right. Although he waded into many a 
difficult political problem, he resisted the urge to become a 
politician. If there was an ounce of self-promotion in Dan Fauske, I 
never saw it. Dan was one of the most grounded people I have ever met, 
and that was the key to his influence and effectiveness.
  Dan Fauske, like so many builders of Alaska in the half century after 
Statehood, adopted our State as his home. Dan was born in Fargo on 
December 13, 1950. He relocated to Alaska in 1974 after serving in the 
Army--not to the big city, but to Barrow, now called Utqiagvik, the 
northernmost American city. A place where the first language was then 
and remains today Inupiaq. His older brother, Dave, was a teacher in 
the village. Dan worked construction and delivered fresh water, and he 
made himself part of the community. Elise Patkotak remembers him as one 
who approached the world as if everyone were a potential friend. Dan 
built a dog ramp to help Elise get her handicapped dog into the house. 
This is just one example of the many random acts of kindness for which 
Dan was known. Bridging the cross-cultural divide, his kindness was 
reciprocated in the community.
  Dan left Alaska to study for an MBA at Gonzaga University in Spokane, 
WA, but it was a temporary absence. Utqiagvik was Dan's home, and upon 
graduation, Dan went to work for the North Slope Borough. He was chief 
financial officer and chief administrative officer. During his tenure, 
he pursued a vigorous capital construction program which brought water 
and sewer to many of the North Slope villages.
  In 1995, Dan moved his family to Anchorage. He was named chief 
executive officer of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, AHFC. John 
Bitney, then a legislative staffer, remembers the day that he and the 
legislative auditor presented a bill in committee to liquidate AHFC. 
Just when the committee was about to move the bill, a man ventures 
forward from the audience, announces that he is the CEO of AHFC, and it 
is his second day on the job. He asked the committee to allow him to 
pursue a turnaround of the agency--and, boy, were we lucky that the 
committee agreed.
  Over the next 18 years, Dan would not only rescue AHFC from its 
financial difficulties, but mold it into one of the most respected 
State housing agencies in the Nation. During his tenure, AHFC pioneered 
its weatherization and energy rebate program, which helped Alaskan 
families survive the challenge of high energy costs in the frozen 
North. He issued more than $7.5 billion in bonds, led AFHC to avoid the 
subprime mortgage collapse and returned more than $1.9 billion back to 
the State of Alaska through cash transfers, capital projects, and debt 
service payments. The AHFC building has been renamed the ``Daniel R.

[[Page S4763]]

Fauske Building'' by the Alaska Legislature in honor of his many 
accomplishments.
  Dan was so successful at AHFC, the Alaska Legislature asked him to 
take on a second duty, that of exploring the feasibility of 
constructing a small diameter pipeline to bring natural gas from the 
North Slope to serve Alaskans. In 2013, he left his job at AHFC to 
pursue this ``second job'' full time as executive director of the 
Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, AGDC. He served in that role 
until November 2015.
  At AGDC, Dan brought the same focus to the position he had to every 
other one he had held in his distinguished career: serving Alaskans. 
For Dan, AGDC's mission wasn't so much about commercializing Alaska's 
gas as it was delivering energy to Alaskans. His focus on delivering 
energy relief and security drove the State's efforts and resulted in 
AGDC joining the integrated effort to build Alaska LNG as the entity 
focused on delivering gas to Alaskans.
  Whether it was building water systems on the North Slope, developing 
housing across the State, or delivering energy, Dan did it for Alaskans 
first. That was what we loved about him, he saw policy not at the 
50,000-foot level but in the face, life, and experience of every person 
he worked with and served.
  Dependable, trusted, respected--the consummate ``go to'' guy--all of 
these phrases are used to describe Dan Fauske. He believed in Alaska. 
He believed in Alaskans. Like all great Alaskans, he believed anything 
could be done, but what earned him our unwavering respect is that he 
followed through and got it done.
  Dan Fauske will long be remembered as a true leader who walked with 
the people and a key figure in Alaska history of the post-Statehood 
era.

                          ____________________