WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Don Young fired back Tuesday at his leading challenger in the fight for the Republican nomination in the hotly contested race for the state’s lone seat in the House of Representatives.

Young called Sean Parnell a “little man that’s lying” for comments the lieutenant governor made to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner last week.

In an interview with the News-Miner editorial board on Friday, Parnell described a conversation he had with Young last October regarding the growing rift between the congressional delegation and the governor’s office. At the time, Gov. Sarah Palin had just called for Sen. Ted Stevens to explain his involvement in a federal investigation into political corruption in the state.

“He was very angry, very animated at the governor, and he basically told me, he held out his hand and said, ‘She’s like a crystalline figure in my hands and I’m going to crush her,’ and he basically said I’m going to do the same thing to you,” Parnell told the editorial board.

Young remembers the conversation differently. He said Parnell asked to meet with him in his Capitol Hill office to try to smooth over the differences between Palin and the delegation and that he was just trying to give Parnell some friendly advice.

“He was in this room to try to find out why we couldn’t get along better, and I was trying to explain to him that you don’t attack your senior member (in Congress), especially since Palin is supposed to be a Republican,” Young said.

Young said he compared Palin’s political career to a delicate piece of crystal.

“It’s the finest glass in the world, but when it breaks, it shatters,” Young said he told Parnell.

Young said he didn’t mean it as a threat.

Young’s relationship with the governor’s office was certainly shattered in March at the party’s state convention when Parnell announced he was challenging the incumbent in the primary.

Parnell sat at the same table with Young and his wife for 45 minutes, but never mentioned he planned to announce his candidacy at the convention. Young, 74, said Parnell showed a lack of respect that night.

“Here’s a person running for the seat who doesn’t even have the courage to tell me he’s running, which means he’s not a man at all,” Young said.

Parnell’s candidacy was immediately endorsed by Palin, and Young believes her criticism of the delegation was orchestrated to boost Parnell’s standing with voters. Young said he no longer has a good working relationship with the governor’s office.

“I work with the Legislature real well, but how can I work with someone who is supporting my opponent?” he asked.

Young has successfully defended his House seat since 1973. However, some pundits believe he’s vulnerable this year because of multiple ongoing federal investigations into his use of congressional earmarks and connections to lobbyists.

Young denies any wrong doing, and he has not been charged with a crime. But the race has attracted a number of strong challengers.

In addition to Parnell, state Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux of Kodiak is running in the Republican primary.

Parnell, 45, says the controversies surrounding Young have weakened him politically and damaged the state’s reputation. He questions whether Young can pass a Democratic challenger in the general election in November.

Young has been uncharacteristically quiet during the past year, biting his tongue in the face of near constant criticism from within the state and on the national stage.

But with the primary a little more than three months away and rumors of additional state lawmakers considering an entry into the race, Young pulled no punches Tuesday in going after Parnell and the governor.

Young, gruff and visibly irritated by a reporter’s questions, waved off allegations by Parnell that he’s harmed the state’s reputation and that he’s lost clout in the Capitol.

Even in the minority, Young said he is still able to move legislation through the House Natural Resources Committee, of which he is the ranking Republican member. Young said he’s gotten six pieces of legislation passed out of the committee this year, one more than chairman Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.V.

“I’m no longer chairman, but I’m still effective,” he said.

Young said he also has measures beneficial to Alaska in the Coast Guard reauthorization bill and the highway corrections bill.

The Senate voted last week to authorize the Justice Department to investigate how an earmark for a Florida interchange study that Young placed in the 2005 highway bill was changed after both chambers voted on the final bill, but before it reached the president’s desk.

Young is expected to defend the Coconut Road earmark when the corrections bill comes up on the floor of the House today.

Parnell said Alaskans are tired of the controversies dogging Young and are ready for a change.

“I think the years of employing name calling, intimidation and fear as tactics have caught up with him,” Parnell said. “I think Alaska voters are ready to make a positive change by electing someone else.”

Young’s rough and tumble frontier character no longer fits the state, Parnell said.

“Standing up for Alaska means fighting for what is right and true on behalf of all Alaskans,” he said. “It doesn’t mean one always has to bully or demean others to get his way.”

Parnell, a self-proclaimed fiscal conservative, has said he would support a one-year moratorium on funding special projects through lawmaker-requested earmarks.

“I am fully aware that some good projects get done with earmarks,” Parnell said. “But I would support Alaska getting its fair share instead of excess.”

Young, who’s regularly criticized by government budget watchdog groups for embracing pork-barrel spending, said such an attitude is naïve.

“I don’t understand how someone expects to be elected to Congress who can’t represent the people,” Young said. “If that’s the way he says he’s going to restore the reputation of Alaska, that shows how little he knows about the legislative process.”

Young has consistently defended the earmark process as the most direct way for the state’s elected representatives to shape federal spending priorities. He said Parnell shouldn’t run for Congress if he’s not going to meet the funding needs of Alaska communities.

“What’s he going to do, go over and vote?” Young asked. “You can teach a monkey to vote.”

Young remains unapologetic about his use of earmarks to funnel federal money back to the state, saying those who criticize Alaska are jealous of the state’s natural resources and the $40 billion Permanent Fund.

“They ought to elect better congressmen for their states,” he said.

The state received $13,805 in federal funding for each resident in fiscal year 2006, making it third in per capita spending, according to the Census Bureau.