3 vie for No. 2 job

Fair elections top priority for hopefuls

November 5, 2006

By MARK KELSEY/Frontiersman

MAT-SU - The job may lack the luster of being governor, but candidates for the state's No. 2 elected position agree there is still plenty of good work to be done as lieutenant governor.

Republican Sean Parnell, Democrat Ethan Berkowitz and independent Fay Von Gemmingen each bring different experience and points of view to the tickets they are a part of, but all say they are happy to do whatever they can to help their running mates and the state.

&#8220It doesn't matter what office you're running for. What matters is your motivation and whether you are able to put the interests of others ahead of yourself,” said Parnell, a former legislator from Anchorage and oil industry lobbyist who is running alongside Sarah Palin. &#8220That's the appeal of the lieutenant governor slot - it affords me the opportunity to make a difference while working on behalf of Alaskans.”

Lieutenant governors, historically, have played a variety of roles in their respective administrations. Current Lt. Gov. Loren Leman has not been an active participant in the Murkowski administration outside the confines of his job description. Conversely, his predecessor, Fran Ulmer, was given a more participatory role and latitude to pursue pet projects of her own.

One thing all lieutenant governors have in common, however, is their role as overseer of the Division of Elections. The three leading contenders for the job say ensuring fair, accountable and nonpartisan elections is a role they will take seriously - although they are not in complete agreement that the Division of Elections has fared well in preserving the appearance of nonpartisanship.

&#8220I can't help what every Alaskan feels about the division, but I can ensure that elections are run fairly, impartially and with accountability,” Parnell said. &#8220Elections must be transparent and above suspicion in order for our representative form of government to survive.”

Von Gemmingen was more directly critical. The Division of Elections has raised too many questions, she said. The ongoing controversy over inconsistent vote totals in the 2004 election and the Democratic Party's complaints about being stone-walled in its quest to uncover the cause of the discrepancies has raised the specter of partisanship and cast a shadow of mistrust on the process.

&#8220I was very concerned with what the Democratic Party found. It looked like (vote totals) had been altered,” she said. &#8220I think those are things we need to look at.”

Leman and his division director, Whitney Brewster, dismissed the doubts, saying the out-of-state analyst the Democrats hired to investigate the 2004 vote totals lacked complete understanding of what he was doing.

The explanation did not sway Von Gemmingen.

&#8220It's unacceptable. The Elections office has to be able to explain it,” she said. &#8220Ultimately, they are responsible. The buck stops at the lieutenant governor's office.”

Running along with Andrew Halcro on an independent ticket, Von Gemmingen was recruited in the 11th hour after Halcro's original running mate, Ken Lancaster, withdrew. Von Gemmingen's roots are deep in Alaska. Her parents met on the Matanuska Colony Project.

She and her husband recently relocated to Palmer after years in Anchorage.

Von Gemmingen served three terms on the Anchorage Assembly, from 1995-2004, with two terms as assembly chair. Ironically, her first encounter with Halcro was when she ran against and defeated him for an assembly seat.

Berkowitz agreed the perception of the division in recent years does not inspire voter confidence. Noting the Anchorage district he represents in the Legislature posted 200 percent voter turnout in the 2004 election, he said if he and Knowles win, he will call for an independent audit to find where the problems are in the system.

&#8220The Division of Elections is fraught with problems,” he said. &#8220People think there's undue partisanship.”

A 10-year veteran of the Legislature who has served for the last eight years as House minority leader, Berkowitz has a colorful resume. He worked in Antarctica, has been both a prosecutor and defense attorney, fished commercially and herded

reindeer.

He entered the 2006 campaign as a candidate for governor because he didn't think the state was living up to its potential, he said. But when former two-term governor Tony Knowles filed to run again on the final day of the filing period, Berkowitz changed his plans.

&#8220Tony jumped in and joined my team,” he joked.

Like Von Gemmingen, Berkowitz said partisanship, or the appearance of it, is taking its toll on the Division of Elections. He questioned the use of voting machines made by Diebold, a company run by a Republican Party supporter who said before the 2004 presidential election that he would do &#8220whatever it takes” to get George Bush re-elected.

Since then, many states have documented trouble with the machines and are reconsidering their use.

In the early stages of the controversy in Alaska, when the Democratic Party requested access to the system's database, Leman refused, citing the potential for violating proprietary secrets. Berkowitz said such reasoning is unacceptable.

&#8220(Claiming proprietary license) in this context is inappropriate. We must have transparency,” he said. &#8220If I can get a receipt from my ATM, I ought to be able to get one from a voting machine.”

Berkowitz said his belief in nonpartisanship extends beyond running fair elections. He said the state should respect the fact that only 40 percent of registered voters identify with either of the major parties by taking party affiliation off

ballots and not tracking voter affiliation.

&#8220Partisanship is about power, not leadership,” he said. &#8220When you attach party labels, it degrades the debate and becomes about whose team wins.”

The statewide general election is Tuesday.

Contact Mark Kelsey at

352-2268 or mark.kelsey@

frontiersman.com.