Alaska’s lone Representative to the Nation’s Capitol  puzzled many with a comment he made during a back and forth with Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell on Thursday where he was pushing to have the Gray Wolf taken off of the Endangered Species list during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on that department’s budget.

During his comments, he addressed a letter sent to Secretary Jewell by 79 of his colleagues that had urged Jewell to protect the Gray Wolf. As he looked at other lawmaker’s on the panel, he asked, “How many of you have got wolves in your district?…None. Not one.”

Young continued, saying, “They haven’t got a damn wolf in their whole district.” Then he continued, making a remark that has been picked up across the nation, saying, “I’d like to introduce them in your district. If I introduced them in your district, you wouldn’t have a homeless problem anymore.”

Rep. Young is no stranger to backlash from his sometimes odd actions and remarks. It was almost two years ago that Young said during a Ketchikan interview, “My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 ‘wetbacks’ to pick tomatoes.” Young apologized for the term later in the week, calling it “a poor choice of words.”

In late July of 2014, Alaska’s Representative was caught on tape grabbing a Washington congressional staffer, David Smentek, by the wrist and twisting his arm, when the staffer tried to prevent him from entering a meeting in progress through a side door as per orders. Young later apologized for those actions saying “his reaction was wrong.”

In October of 2014, a confrontation between Young and his Democratic challenger Forrest Dunbar during a Kodiak debate was reported. According to Dunbar, he had touched Young’s arm lightly in a friendly gesture, only to have Young snarl back  “Don’t you ever touch me. Don’t ever touch me. The last guy who touched me ended up on the ground dead,”  Dunbar told reporters.

Young, speaking at the Wasilla High school was asked a question about suicide and high domestic violence rates, Young replied that suicide was a result of “lack of support from family.” When a student countered saying, That the high school student that had committed suicide just days before Young’s appearance at the school had support of family and friends, Young replied, “Well, what, do you just go to the doctor and get diagnosed with suicide?” Young spokesman, Matt Shuckerow responded for Young saying Young should have been more sensitive.

In this latest incident at the House Natural Resources Committee hearing, Young released a statement saying he was misunderstood. In the statement Young said that his analogy was “intended to be hyperbolic in nature, in order to stress the point that wolves are a serious problem for communities who deal with them. Anyone who’s dealt with a healthy, roaming wolf population, as we have in Alaska, understands that these predators have a detrimental impact on wildlife populations. If you misunderstood my comments, just imagine the impact a healthy wolf population would have on your own town, community, or congressional district. It would wreak havoc and place anything in their reach in great jeopardy.”

“What we’re seeing here is Don continuing to lose touch with real people,” said Kay Brown, executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party. “I don’t think he actually believes releasing wolves into homeless areas is a good idea, he’s just lost touch with the fact that statements like these are harmful to his legacy and Alaska’s influence in DC.”

  Alaska, behavior, don young, gaffs, homeless, house, representative, wolves