In The News

From the Road to the Campaign Trail: Alaskan Owner-Operator Runs For Governor

While you'd typically see "Singin' Sam" Little hauling produce in his Kenworth truck between Seattle and Alaska, this spring and summer you might see his truck and trailer out on the campaign trail, as truck driver Little is running for Governor of Alaska on the Republican ticket.

While Little is somewhat of a household name among Alaskan truckers for his song "Kamikaze Trail," which has been featured on the History Channel, he's now trying to make a name for himself in politics.

Getting Into Trucking

Sam's been playing guitar and singing since he was a kid. In 1969, he recalls singing in a gospel tent in California, where he met a girl. That's when he realized he had to get a job.

Over the next 20 years or so, Sam did both driving and singing. His trucking career eventually led to a job with Vic Hoskins Trucking in Washington, hauling produce into Alaska.

Little still contracts with Hoskins, but in 2003, he started his own trucking company, Little Country. He now runs three to four trucks along his Alaska-Washington route. "I've always been independent," he said.

While he's been fortunate these days, Little understands what it's like to be a small business owner. His campaign was born out of the beating this sector has experienced, and he'd like to work to keep projects and cash flow going. "I would like to bring it back to the working people."

The Issues

If he wins the governorship, he hopes to bring more certainty to Alaska and get people on more solid ground. "We need to focus on where we're at," he said. "Win, lose or draw, I plan on just being heard."

The place he wants to start is the job market and unemployment, which is at 20 percent in Alaska, he said. "People have to have jobs," he said. "If people aren't working, they're not happy."

He's interested in bringing the Delta Farm Projects back, which would bring more farms and crops to the state. He also plans on working on the price of Alaskan fish, which is as high as $15 a pound in stores but the fisherman are only paid about $1 a pound, he said. Little also hopes to resurrect the dairies that were shut down, so the state doesn't have to wait two weeks to have milk shipped up from California.

Aside from creating jobs, Little wants to tackle the problem of Alaska's school dropout rate, which is the highest in the nation, he said. He plans on starting a program to encourage kids and get them interested in going to school.

In addition, if elected, Little will bring the International Fuel Tax Agreement to Alaska. IFTA is an agreement between Canada and the U.S. to make it easier for motor carriers to register, license, report and pay taxes for motor fuels.

So far, Little's campaign includes a new web site, T-shirts promoting his governorship and a song he wrote specifically about his campaign. He said he and his truck will be hitting all the small fairs in Alaska this spring and summer, including the Golden Days Parade in Fairbanks in July.

Friday evening he'll be participating in the Republican District 12 Convention, a forum featuring other Republican candidates for governor.

For more information about his campaign, visit www.samlittleforgovernor.com .

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