When I was at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, he came and spoke to my English class (about 12-14 people) for about 2-3 hours. We weren't any special class, but he had a few extra hours and the teacher asked him, so he said ok. We talked about a variety of issues facing Alaska and the world. His thorough understanding of the issues amazed me. He explained implications of actions that I never would have thought of, and yet they made perfect sense.
He was talking about an oil subsidy for rural Alaskans. This subsidy was not based on need, just location. He thought that people made a choice to live in rural Alaska, that there were pros and cons to that choice, but that others shouldn't subsidize that choice. He discussed many other aspects of the subsidy, pro and con, but I was always impressed that he said what he believed, even if it would cost him, as someone who was eligible for the subsidy, thousands of dollars a year.