The Skagway News will publish election information each issue as we near the Oct. 1 municipal and the Nov. 5 general election. In both the state senate and house races for Skagway, the incumbants are running unopposed. Both candidates completed the questionaire provide to the by the Alaska Beacon. Their answers will be published here.
The state primary election is scheduled for August 20 where the top four vote getters in each race will advance to the general election.
Publication schedule for answers to the Alaska Beacon questions and those the SN asks our local candidates.
Aug. 9 – Sentate District B
Aug. 23 – House District 3
Sept.13 – Local candidates for assembly, school board
Sept. 27 -U.S. Congressional candidates
Education: What do you think should be done to improve public education in the state?
Alaska schools need three things to thrive: funding, pensions, and community support. The one-time funding the governor approved this year is not enough to cover the ravages of inflation, and because schools can’t rely on it next year, they’re forced to waste time and resources hedging their bets against future cuts.
With adequate, stable funding, they’ll be free to focus 100% on teaching and learning. Restoring defined benefit pensions for teachers, paras, and the folks who keep our schools running will bring back a stable, experienced workforce we’re lacking today. That will make a big difference.
Finally, all of us need to get involved in Alaska’s future. Schools need individuals and businesses to volunteer and mentor and help make education relevant. I teach outdoor skills to middle schoolers. Others help struggling elementary kids become better readers. There are lawyers and business owners who have high schoolers shadow them on the job. When the whole community is involved in our schools, education is relevant and everyone gives it the value it needs for kids to buckle down and succeed. And when they do, we all benefit.
Fish industry: What, if any, change would you make to state law to support the fishing industry and Alaskans who are dependent on fish harvests?
Conservation of the resource must come first. We need to get the Department of Fish & Game the tools to understand and manage fish runs as well as they once did. That includes the research dollars to identify why so many smolt die in the first weeks after they hit salt water. There’s little question that climate change and ocean acidification both play a role here. While those problems are bigger than Alaska can fix on our own, there’s a whole lot more we can add to do our part.
We also need to support our fishing families. I was proud to partner with the administration to temporarily loosen rules for some state loans that will help Alaskans paying off their boats and permits to ride out the current crisis. I look forward to working with the fisheries task force this summer to come up with more ideas to support the largest private-sector employer in the state: our commercial fishing industry.
Permanent Fund dividend: How should the state set the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend each year?
We should change the law to a formula Alaska can afford. Then we should follow that law. The 40+ year-old formula we have now was written when the Fund was in bonds and money markets. It’s badly out of date for today’s investments in private equity, real estate, and venture capital. Alaskans deserve a PFD we can count on. A formula that splits the sustainable five percent of market value draw between dividends and public spending—on schools, public safety, ferries, and other essential services—would be a smart approach.
Energy: What should be done to address the pending energy crunch along the Railbelt?
The mix of answers starts with the electrical transmission bill we passed this year. It will help bring more—and cheaper—generation online. In the short term, Southcentral will probably also have to import some natural gas. State help with loans to finance new Cook Inlet gas wells (along with the long-running, ongoing state subsidy of about $120 million per year) will ease supply a few years out. As federal tax subsidies from the Inflation Reduction Act modernize the Railbelt’s electrical system, more and more power will come from renewable sources, easing the demands on Cook Inlet gas and lowering Alaskans’ heating bills from Homer to Fairbanks.
Party differences: How would you work with legislators of different political parties to get things done in the Legislature?
The bipartisan Senate Majority has done this very successfully for two years. We split power right down the middle, so neither party can get advantage over the other. That has freed us to work on each issue as it comes. We’re able to spend our time on hard questions of what’s best for Alaskans, not what might win our party more seats in the next election. We don’t always agree, so it actually takes more work. But the results are better for Alaskans.
Regardless of who holds the gavels, I make a point of working with colleagues on legislation. During the past legislature, I sponsored three bills with House companion measures sponsored by members of the other party. They all passed the legislature in various forms. Working together gets things done for Alaska.
Public employees: What should the state do to improve retention of public employees, including teachers?
The single most effective thing is to return to a defined benefit pension. It will save Alaska money and keep experienced employees on the job. Our current system of individual accounts is a financial incentive to get trained in Alaska and move away, taking your skills with you and leaving the state and local taxpayers paying to replace you.
Tribal-state relations: How and where should the state work with tribal governments?
The state should partner with Tribes wherever we’re able. We have very successful Tribal-state partnerships now, like VPSOs, TANF, and Tribal courts. We’re exploring compacting for Tribally-operated schools as well. These are opportunities to get away from a one-size-fits-all approach and do the most effective job we can, whether it’s helping Alaskans escape poverty or educating future generations. Working government-to-government with Alaska Tribes is vital.
Budget cuts/revenue: When you look at the state budget, what’s the No. 1 thing you’d like to see cut or reduced, and what’s your No. 1 preferred way to raise new state revenue?
After years of budget cuts, some state departments can’t keep their heads above water. As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, I look in detail at agency budgets each year to find efficiencies and evaluate whether programs are still needed. But just as the governor hasn’t proposed big reductions for the past three years, I now see more problems from starvation than from overfeeding. That said, there are a few areas we need to control growth. Chief among them is the Department of Corrections. We now spend more state money on prisons than we do on our University. By phasing in some smart changes over time, we should be able to get a handle on things. Improving recruitment and retention will reduce overtime costs, bringing food service back in house will reduce contracting costs, more effective reentry plans will reduce the number of people in expensive halfway houses, and preventative health care will lower the number of emergency room visits. With hard work, the management team at DOC should be able to partner with the legislature and curb the department’s escalating spending.
Health: What should the state do to safeguard and improve Alaskans’ health?
The state’s public health teams do tremendous work on education and dealing with infectious diseases. Their work pays dividends for everyone. That’s why I supported the governor’s request to spend more on their work addressing Alaska’s chronically high rates of syphilis and TB this year.
But since almost all care is actually provided by private-sector professionals, the state works primarily as a funder and through grants to help shore up important health systems that are essential, but not profitable. One of the key areas is in behavioral health. As we see more and more of our fellow Alaskans struggle with mental illness and other problems that leave them sleeping in parks and on sidewalks, it’s clear we need to do more.
The new state budget has a few limited investments in statewide behavioral health, but it’s not enough. Here in Juneau we’re facing shutdown of our new ‘crisis now’ mental health program and possibly losing drug and alcohol treatment options like Rainforest Recovery. There’s not enough local funding to keep all the existing programs running.
These behavioral health challenges feed directly into our state’s drug crisis. We’ve taken steps to increase penalties for fentanyl and meth dealers, but we can’t arrest our way out of the market as long as thousands of Alaskans are buying. Criminal consequences are part of the puzzle, but getting people access to treatment is the only way to really slow the deaths.
In the end, prevention is key. The state’s work on keeping kids away from tobacco and vaping is important to reduce future health care costs. We also need to keep an eye out for clean air and water—my bill to stop new spills of PFAS chemicals into Alaskans’ drinking water passed this year and is on the governor’s desk. We still have work to do to ensure every Alaskan has access to water without this toxic contamination in places it has already spilled.
Biggest need: What’s the biggest need in your district, and how would you address it?
Our biggest need is the same as all of Alaska: a stable, sustainable way to pay for the state services Alaskans need. As long as schools and fisheries management and transportation all have to ride the oil price roller coaster, the economy will suffer and there will be fewer opportunities for our families. But with a combination of income sources—including a low, broad-based tax that ties state revenue to a healthy, growing economy—we can stabilize our future and give families and businesses the predictability they need to plan and thrive.
Elections and voting: What, if any, changes does the state need to make to its elections and voting system?
Alaska has sound, secure elections today. We should make voting easier and more accessible without compromising that reliability. We ought to let each Alaskan choose to permanently vote absentee if they want. We should give voters a way to track their mailed ballots—and cure problems like missing identification numbers. Let’s do away with the meaningless bureaucracy of witness signatures that we never check, but that disqualify too many valid votes. And Alaskans with disabilities must have better access to adaptive technology so they can cast secret, secure ballots. Together, these changes make it easier for qualified voters to exercise their right to vote.
Oil: How long will oil be central to Alaska’s economy, and what, if anything, should the state government be doing now to prepare for a post-oil future?
Alaska will pump oil out of the ground for a long time to come. The question is whether we’re committed to it being the biggest thing we do. The rest of the industrialized world is starting its transition to a lower-carbon economy and we don’t know if the demand for oil will shift toward petrochemical manufacturing and stay high, or dwindle taking prices down with it. Either way, Alaska will be a more prosperous place with more opportunities for all if we have other things going on alongside oil & gas extraction. That means investing in higher education, doing more value-added processing of our fish, taking advantage of our strategic position on the globe, and wiring the state with broadband for the opportunities that haven’t been invented yet. Educating young Alaskans and putting the tools in their hands to invent their own prosperity is the key to a bright future no matter how long oil lasts. The best time to do those things was 20 years ago, but we at least ought to start now.
Population: What, if anything, would you like to do to address Alaska’s dwindling working-age population?
Working families are only going to come to Alaska—and stay here—if our state has the opportunities they need. First: a place to live. Families need homes and apartments they can afford. Too many Alaska communities don’t have that. Second: education. Working families usually have kids and those kids need child care when they’re little so parents can work. They need good K-12 schools and a thriving university so the next generation has the opportunities we had. Third: basic services. Families need plowed roads and ferries that run in the winter. They need safe communities and access to healthcare.
Alaska is an incredible place to live. If we take advantage of our strategic position and some once in a generation federal infrastructure investments, we can build a diverse, thriving economy. We need to pair that with state and local investments in housing, child care, education, transportation, and health care. That’s the backdrop for a family to paint every opportunity in life. I mean, who wouldn’t want to live here? Let’s make it possible.
Ballot measures: What do you think of this year’s ballot measures, and do you intend to support or oppose them?
I plan to vote yes on 1 so we raise the minimum wage, not let anyone force their religion or politics on you at work, and provide a couple of paid sick days. These are three small steps to make sure working Alaskans can support themselves and their families with dignity.
I’m definitely voting no on 2 so Alaskans can keep our open primaries. As soon as Alaskans took the power to pick candidates back from party insiders, the folks in the back rooms started planning this repeal effort. But being able to choose the best candidate to represent you is part of being a citizen in a democratic republic. Ballot measure 2 would hand a big chunk of your power back to the partisan influence brokers, so I’m voting no.
Domestic violence: How would you like to see the state address Alaska’s high rates of domestic and sexual violence?
Policy changes to address domestic and sexual violence are a top priority every session. But there’s still a tremendous amount of work left to do.
We made a little progress this year. The legislature created new help for survivors to navigate the legal system. We also tried to increase funding for Alaska Legal Services, which provides free legal help to survivors of domestic violence, but the governor vetoed much of that money. Sen. Donny Olson created a task force to look at open cases of missing and murdered indigenous people, and added new investigators to work on these cases going forward.
All survivors need safe housing and stable jobs to get free from abusers. I was not successful passing my bill to provide a confidential mailing address for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking who leave home in fear for their lives. I’ll keep working on that.
I’ve served for several years on the Governor’s Council on Human and Sex Trafficking. It’s depressing work, but important. Sex trafficking almost never looks like the movies. Abusers use access to a warm bed on a subzero night, or withhold food or drugs to subject desperate people to sexual violence. This year’s crime bill defined human and sex trafficking to clearly include this sort of ‘inducement’ without physical force. That will help law enforcement respond.
Still, the way to prevent it from happening in the first place is to have fewer desperate Alaskans without housing, fewer people addicted to drugs. We need places where desperate Alaskans can get a warm bed, food, and treatment without being preyed upon. When there are more opportunities to get help, we’ll have fewer victims.
