4 hopefuls on the ballot for Wasilla mayor

WASILLA — If Mayor Verne Rupright wants a second term as the city’s top elected official he’ll have to go through a pair of city councilwomen and a longtime candidate.

With Friday’s deadline past for candidates to file with the City Clerk’s Office, Rupright faces challenges from outspoken councilwomen Taffina Katkus and Dianne Woodruff and longtime city politician Michael A. Carson. None of the candidates are newcomers to Wasilla politics.

In fact, October’s regular election will be the third time Rupright and Carson have squared off on the ballot for mayor. Carson was among Rupright’s challengers for the office in 2008, and both men also ran for mayor in 1993, losing to former mayor John Stein. Stein received 48 percent of the vote that year, followed by Carson a distance second at 23.10 percent and Rupright third with 14.48 percent.

While the field includes a quartet of men and women who have been active in local political circles for years, this year’s election is also notable for one conspicuous absence. After being the first to file a letter of intent to run for mayor last August, former Bristol Palin beau Levi Johnston did not follow through with his official paperwork with the city.

The decision to skip the race was apparently not made until the final days before Friday’s deadline. When contacted by the Frontiersman on Wednesday, Johnston spokesman Tank Jones said he thought Johnston was still planning to run.

“As of now, he is,” Jones said Wednesday. “I don’t know if he is going to continue to go forward with it. Right now, he’s concentrating on education, getting up to par on the issues.”

Johnston was thrust into the national spotlight during the 2008 presidential campaign as the father of Bristol Palin’s child. He’s remained in the spotlight with TV appearances, national interviews and pictures in Playgirl magazine. He’s also written a tell-all book expected to be out this fall titled “Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin’s Crosshairs.”

Although there was speculation Johnston’s planned run for mayor was to coincide with a reality television program, Jones said that was never a consideration. He said Johnston is focusing on his education with plans to earn a high school equivalency and attend college.

“He doesn’t want people to think he’s taking this office (of Wasilla mayor) as a joke, because it’s not a joke and he realizes it’s not a joke,” Jones said. “He takes this very, very serious. It’s not going to be part of any television show. He’s going to get up on the issues and further his education.”

Jones said that if Johnston didn’t file for this year’s election, he might still decide to run for local office in the future.

The four candidates who will be on the ballot tout their varied experiences and leadership as qualities they said they feel make them good choices a mayor. They are, in alphabetical order:

Michael A. Carson

Carson’s a former city councilman, serving two consecutive terms from 1988-93, and counting this year, has been a fixture on city ballots in five different decades. An examination of city election results show he’s run for city council nine times dating back to 1976 and for mayor in 1993 and 2008.

His experience as a local businessman, real estate agent and knowledge of city and state government make him a strong candidate, Carson said. Asked why he wants the job, he quipped, “I’m currently out of work, that’s as good a reason as any, I guess.”

Seriously, he said his qualifications include being a life-long resident and a 13-year stint working for the state as a tax auditor.

“I think I could do as good a job or better than anybody else,” he said. “I have quite a bit of experience working inside government, and I’ve seen how government works and how government shouldn’t work.”

While on the city council, Carson was part of the effort that passed a city sales tax, eliminated a property tax and established a police department.

The No. 1 issue for the city today, he said, is “preserving the integrity of the boundaries of the city.”

Taffina A. Katkus

Katkus is two years into her first term on Wasilla City Council and touts her 30 years in local business as owner and operator of Pioneer Signs along with other life experience as positives she could bring to the office. She also said the city needs strong leadership, which she said she can provide.

“Wasilla has been lacking in leadership for years,” Katkus said. “I’ve spent most of my life here and I’ve seen lots of changes. Our city is facing the challenges of growth and our boundaries are not changing. We need to preserve our healthy families. Healthy families equal healthy communities.”

One thing she said she believes Wasilla needs to accomplish is to establish a healthy economy. She wants to bring in strong economic development that provides high-paying jobs.

“My favorite word is synergy,” she said. “I’m making a difference and I’ll continue to keep making a difference.”

While her opponents have more experience with public office, Katkus said she doesn’t view that as a weakness.

“Just because they’re in government doesn’t mean they’re doing a good job,” she said. “True life experience helps you have confidence to get the job done.”

The No. 1 issue for Wasilla continues to be growth, Katkus said.

“We’ve got to handle the growth and economic development,” she said. “If we don’t have higher-paying jobs, we’re not going to be able to support those families.”

Katkus said she doesn’t have anything negative to say about her opponents.

“The current administration is doing the best job that they can,” she said. “I know we can do much better, a lot better, absolutely.”

Verne E. Rupright

Rupright’s campaign message is simple: his record speaks for itself. He has many initiatives in the works and wants a second term to accomplish them, he said.

“We’ve got an awful lot of projects accomplished and a lot of them are in the queue to go forward,” he said. “I want to see the progress of Wasilla continue into the future. It takes more than one, three-year term to accomplish that. … To keep that momentum going, it takes more than one term to do it.”

Under his watch, Rupright said the city has knocked $4 million of its long-term debt, retired a half-cent sales tax, paid off the debt on the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center a year ahead of schedule, and reduced its budget by more than 16 percent. At the same time, no city employees were laid off to accomplish the financial savings.

“And we actually improved city services and brought online new roads,” Rupright said. “We rebuilt the old townsite, and that’s become an equitable asset to the city with the farmer’s market. There’s also the road connections to the airport and the (downtown) couplet coming in.”

Over the past two-and-a-half years, Wasilla has achieved financial stability with a frugal approach married with a get-it-done attitude, the mayor said.

“Financially, it’s probably the healthiest city in the state, if not one of the healthiest cities in the nation,” he said. “That’s just watching the pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves.”

Rupright said he’s ready for the campaign, which could get heated.

“You’re always going to get people who aspire to different office or get involved in the political process,” he said. “I think that’s fine. I’ll stand on the record of my administration.”

Dianne Woodruff

An accountant, former Mat-Su Borough Planning Commission member, and two-term city councilwoman, Woodruff said the city should be more accountable to residents.

“I’m running because I want the best things for the community in which I live,” she said. “I think we need to get busy with some diversity in our economy. We need to work with our neighbors in a positive direction. The public should have a voice in its government — not only listened to when they come, but encouraged to come to city hall.”

Wasilla will continue to grow, and that growth “needs to be in a positive way,” Woodruff said. “The bottom line is, I know I’m the best candidate out there. I think it’s going to be a pretty vigorous campaign. I’m hoping the voters will ask a lot of good questions.”

As for the incumbent’s record, she also said she wants people to look at his record as mayor and hers on the council.

“The reality is, everybody’s record is going to stand on their own, and I think if people are really curious they’ll do their own digging,” Woodruff said. “I’ve seen a lot of campaigns in Wasilla get really ugly, and I don’t want it to go that way. I don’t see any need to go there.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.