Must Read Alaska’s weekly poll on topics of the day appears every Monday in the Must Read Alaska newsletter, which is read by thousands of Alaskans and others around the world on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
This week’s Question of the Week was: Who do you believe — the construction workers in Denali or the Park Service version of the flag ban controversy?
Readers of this publication have been closely following the account that began when construction workers at Denali National Park were ordered by the Park Service employees to not fly American flags from their trucks when using the Park Road to go between the Parks Highway and the bridge work site at the Pretty Rocks Landslide, near Mile 43.
The National Park Service at first vehemently denied it had told the workers anything about their flag flying. In essence, the National Park Service was calling the construction workers liars. On Monday, Must Read Alaska didn’t publish a newsletter, so this Question of the Week was in the Wednesday edition.
Here are the results: 98% of those who participated in the Question of the Week believed the construction workers.
The MRAK Question of the Week poll is not scientific, but gives a glimpse about whether conservatives generally believe official statements from government agencies that have been put on the defense.
After the poll closed Friday, Must Read Alaska received copies of official statements from the Federal Highway Administration and Granite Construction.
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It became clear from the FHA statement that the National Park Service had obfuscated when it issued its earlier statement, saying it had not told the workers to remove their flags. In fact, NPS had told the Federal Highway Administration project manager that someone had complained about the “noise” from an American flag on a worker’s truck, and instructed the FHA to tell the construction company to tell its workers to take the flags off their trucks when they pass through the park.
The Anchorage Daily News, in its latecomer report on the flag flap, launched into its story by taking the side of the National Park Service and the ADN and the NPS led a smear campaign against Sen. Dan Sullivan for standing up for the workers’ First Amendment rights.
“The National Park Service said Sunday it never ordered the removal of the American flag from vehicles involved with a construction project inside Denali National Park and Preserve despite reports circulated by right-wing media and amplified by Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan,” the ADN reported.
After the Federal Highway Administration gave its account, it became clear that an order had come down, but through another agency.
Read Must Read Alaska’s stories on this event as it unfolded:
