And then there were 2

PALMER — In an election season that hasn’t drawn much enthusiasm for local legislative seats, state Rep. Carl Gatto’s re-election bid was something of a bright spot.

While there are no Democrats in the race, the Palmer Republican drew two primary election challengers.

The Valley was in for an entertaining race, but on Friday one of the three dropped out.

David J. Parks was the youngest of the trio and challenged Gatto two years ago as well.

In his resignation letter sent two days after the deadline to remove himself from the primary ballot, Parks cited a relatively crowded field as his reason for dropping out.

“Factors outside of my control did not align,” he says in the letter. “A primary race with three candidates is statistically very difficult for a challenger to win. I could not continue to ask for the labor and financial support of my friends and family with such a narrow window of opportunity.”

Though he was the third person to enter the race, Parks said he’s been campaigning for more than a year.

Gatto walloped Parks in the 2008 race, taking home more than double Parks’ total of votes. A third Republican in that race, Florence Scott, fared worse than Parks.

Parks didn’t rule out the possibility of running again for state representative or another office, and said he would continue in his goal to make Palmer a better place.

The remaining two men in the race are Gatto and Don Benson.

Gatto is a former engineer, high school teacher and paramedic. He’s wrapping up his fourth term in the Legislature and hoping for a fifth.

He’s a proponent of vocational education and, like most other vocal candidates running for a state office this year, is eager to see Alaska get a natural gas pipeline and hopes to make sure the line is the right one.

Benson is a descendant of the Matanuska Colonists, vice chairman of the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority’s board of directors, and a project manager and construction superintendent with New Horizons Telecom, a Palmer company that brings telecommunications infrastructure to rural Alaska.

He is also concerned about jobs and energy, and said he supports the gasline route proposed under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, which would be a large line through Canada and a spur line to Southcentral.

In dropping out, Parks threw his support behind Benson.

“He has the leadership, integrity and vision the Valley deserves. He is honest and hard working, and I am confident he will make an excellent Representative,” Parks said of Benson.

The primary election is Aug. 24.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.