AK Dems Executive Director Jay Parmley bids adieu after three wild years of politics in the Last Frontier

By Matt Hickman

A veteran of political battles in Oklahoma and the Carolinas, Jay Parmley came up to Alaska in 2016 to work with the Alaska Democratic Party and by the end of the year was named executive director.

In that time, he was part of a remarkable effort by Democrats to control the majority caucus in the House and win battles at the municipal level, as well.

On Tuesday he’s resigning as executive director for the AK Dems, moving to Florida for family reasons, which persuaded him to cut short his tenure in Alaska, while giving the party plenty of time to find his replacement for what figures to be a very contentious 2020 election cycle.

I caught up with Parmley in his office last week for a little exit interview Q&A.

Was this as long as you expected to be here?

Originally, I thought that I would stay through 2020… I’m not leaving because I got a better or deal or am mad or tired or upset — it’s family. My husband and mother-in-law came up here with me and she just couldn’t do another winter… She wants to go to Florida where her twin sister is and I was originally going to do the long-distance thing… but I realized it would be too difficult.

Has your successor been named?

They’re doing interviews now; I’m not participating in that. I expect it will be soon that they’ll have somebody in the job. This was also the right time to do this because there’s a gap with six or seven states looking for E.D.’s. So if you’re going to be without for a month or so, this is the time to do it.

What was your biggest success in Alaska?

I think, electorally, our biggest success was winning the house majority — even though it’s a coalition — for the time in 25 years in 2016 and finding a way to keep it in 2018, bucking the trend of these Red-to-Purplish States where (Democrats) aren’t winning legislative chambers. It’s really pretty hard and we’re really doing something that nobody is quite doing.

Another thing I’m most proud of is that we’ve invested heavily in local races the last couple of years. The Anchorage Assembly has moved even more progressive, we got a school board seat in Anchorage a lot of people didn’t think we would win and we won seats in the Mat-Su at the Borough level. We found a way to win a race or two in the Kenai and we picked up a couple in Juneau we didn’t have before.

We had some rough losses too, but you learn from those. I don’t discount those.

Speaking of losses, what was your biggest disappointment?

Oh, the governor’s race last year — that was the biggest disappointment on many levels. We worked very hard in the beginning — long before filing (period) to make things better, and not just for the governor’s seat. One non-electoral win was we won our lawsuit to open our candidacy so that Independents can run in our primaries. That wasn’t done for governor; that was big picture and in the long run it will have a positive impact.

(When Gov. Walker didn’t run as a Democrat), we knew a three-way race was always going to be a difficult deal; there was really no easy way around it… At the end of the day, the governor’s race isn’t such a disappointment because a certain person didn’t win but, honestly, because Mike Dunleavy won. His policies and proposals — he has a complete lack of empathy and doesn’t seem to care that his economic policies are really going to be ruinous. People are fleeing the state because they can’t make it here and that’s the sad part — schools are suffering, seniors are suffering and the fact that the governor shows a complete lack of empathy is really disappointing. Winning and losing is one thing, but when you see these (Dunleavy) policies, that’s the really hard part.

Is there anything the Democratic Party could have done differently?

No, there’s not. I had many, many conversations with the Walker folks and the Begich folks and, no, there was nothing the party could have done; you have to leave it up to those two individuals. I love Mark Begich, I like Bill Walker, but there’s nothing we could have done directly. You don’t get to go back and replay a campaign, but I think there’s times you read the tea leaves and read ‘em wrong.

Is there a political football in any other state that’s as odd and oblong as the PFD?

Alaska is unique, not only because of the PFD, but because it has a capital budget that’s separate from an operating budget. Also, some states only do budgets every other year, so there’s some anomalies.

I’ve laughed a couple of times listening to the PFD debate because you see some Democrats using Republican talking points and Republicans using Democratic talking points. At the end of the day, I think, it’s all just reacting to the governor. They’ll figure it out. Personally, I believe the dividend will be somewhere between $1,600 and $3,000… I think they’ll come to some agreement in the legislature but the question is can they get the governor on board and I just don’t know about that. It’s ridiculous that here we are in July and we’re having a special session on this one issue.

You’re seeing some Republicans cross over to oppose Dunleavy and his draconian policies, so it there a blessing in disguise that Dunleavy could wind up making Alaska a Bluer state?

You’re seeing it now. Just take our activist base. Because Walker was reasonable we’d push something and get reasonable feedback, but now we just push (against) anything Dunleavy talks about and people are fired up, calling their legislatures, writing letters to the editor — they’re much more engaged with the legislature than they were. Public hearing attendance is way up, public comments are up and all of it is a direct result of Dunleavy.

Does that make us Bluer in the long run? It can, if we do it right. I think Dunleavy is his own worst enemy. He and (Chief of Staff) Tuckerman (Babcock) have a political agenda that is not necessarily even mainstream for Republicans. If they keep pursuing it… and he doesn’t moderate, I think he’s going to cost Alaska for the Republicans.

Alyse Galvin came as close to knocking off Don Young as anyone has in years. How do you like her chances for 2020?

I think Alyse ran a good campaign. She hasn’t announced yet, but all eyes are on Alyse for a rematch.

I think the best thing is she ran her way and she connected with Alaskans in ways that other Democrats have not. She spent a lot of time talking to people, used social media well. Going into 2020, she starts with this huge reservoir of goodwill. She’s raised a lot of money and by the end of the last campaign, she was a fierce competitor.

We’ve never had a rematch like this. We’ve begged people when we say, ‘would you run for Congress?’ They say yes, but we tell them it’s a two-time deal — be prepared. Ordinarily the first run is so grueling people decide they don’t want to do it again. No one can fault these folks, but for Alyse to do it again is a big deal for us.

Are there any up-and-coming Democrats in Alaska you have your eye on?

There’s people like Ivy Sponholz, who has a very bright fixture and I don’t think Mayor Berkowitz is finished by any stretch. We’ve got bright, young people like Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, who’s brilliant and the sky is the limit for him; Forest Dunbar, Felix Rivera and some really fabulous people in Fairbanks.

I think you shouldn’t discount the new legislator we have in District 40 in John Lincoln. He’s as sharp as a tack; Tiffany Zulkowski n Bethel — she can do anything she sets her mind to.

Bryce Edgmon has raised his profile among Democrats, even though he’s an Independent. Everywhere I go people tell me they want Bryce to run for Governor or Senate. I have no idea if Bryce is interested in any of those things, but we’ve got a lot of really smart legislators and local elected officials.

Are you going to be involved in politics in Florida?

The answer is yes. There are a couple of things I’m talking through; doing some consulting, some campaign stuff, some party work. Hopefully, in the next two weeks, I’ll know something. When I said I was leaving at the end of April, I truly did not have a job, so I did give myself time to not only phase out here (but to find a job there). I haven’t said yes to anything, but I’m close.

What advice would you give your successor?

Democrats and Progressives can win here. Can we continue to recruit people to run in every legislative district, no matter how difficult you might think it is. You can’t win if you don’t run, so you have to keep doing that. The hard thing is that you literally just have to not give up.

This is a very unique place. If a person is from here people will know it and if they’re not people will learn that, but, politically speaking, the thing to keep in mind is that 55 percent of the electorate is not affiliated as Democrat or Republican so you will always have that window, always that opportunity even if things don’t bounce your way this time. That’s so different from other places where you may have 20 percent Independent, but 55, 56 percent here is unheard of.

We just have to keep working it and fielding good candidates and keep the pressure on Dunleavy, as appropriate and make sure the activists know the pros and cons of what the governor is doing.

Otherwise, it’s a great job and a great state, the people are wonderful and the Democrats are fantastic — enjoy the ride; there’s never a dull moment.