CANDIDATE PROFILE: Leonard wants to focus on economic Issues

WASILLA — The fourth week of July was unusually chaotic for Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly candidate Ted Leonard, 58. Not only did he throw his hat in the ring as a candidate for the District 4 seat, but two days later he had his appendix removed in an emergency surgery at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

Recovered within a weekend and back to work, the former director of finance and administrative services for Wasilla is now balancing campaigning for office with his full-time job as the chief financial officer for the Anchorage-based non-profit Alaska Humanities Forum.

Leonard is running against Wasilla resident Pat Hogan. A third candidate, Colleen Vague, withdrew before the August 4 deadline. Incumbent assemblyman Steve Colligan is vacating the seat because of term limits.

Although this is the first time Leonard has run for office, he is likely already a familiar face to Borough residents keyed-in to state or local politics. His wife, Colleen Sullivan-Leonard, is a Republican representing District 7 in the Alaska State House, and served a series of terms on the Wasilla City Council. His brother-in-law, Dan Sullivan, is a former Anchorage mayor. While Borough Assembly seats are not officially affiliated with political parties, Ted Leonard said he is a registered Republican.

Leonard is originally from Wallace, Idaho, and came to Alaska in 1984 with his then-wife, who was from the Anchorage area. He married Coleen Sullivan-Leonard in 1997 and has lived in Wasilla since 1994. He became intimately familiar with the Borough’s economic issues not only through his extended family, but also through his work with the city of Wasilla, as the deputy commissioner for Commerce for the State of Alaska under Governor Sarah Palin and, later, as executive director of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) under three governors.

Should he win the three-year Borough Assembly seat, Leonard said he will focus on the Valley’s economic issues. He said his background in managing money and development for various local, state and private entities uniquely suites him to understand what it takes to make tight fiscal times work.

“I don’t believe that government leads economic development. They provide the base to assist businesses to grow the economy,” he said. “We are facing unprecedented growth and challenges. My priorities are to ensure that the Borough remains effective and accountable to the people, that we’re working on growing our economy, funding needed infrastructure to keep up with our population growth and economic development, public safety and quality education.”

Budgets and economic problems are sure to stay prevailing issues before the Assembly, as state lawmakers continue to grapple with budget shortfalls. A variety of tax proposals have recently come before the Assembly, including a plastic bag tax and a sales tax that would benefit Borough schools. But debate around both of those issues has been postponed for the time being, in part because more input is wanted from local businesses.

Leonard says it’s that coordination between local business and the Assembly that he would focus on mending. Growing the economy means attracting new businesses and employers to the area. And Wasilla, he noted, is home to many of the region’s retail stores. Without understanding how a sales or plastic bag tax would impact the bottom line of local businesses who regularly jockey with Anchorage for customers, it’s impossible for such measures to not do more harm than good, he said.

“When [the proposal] came forward. … They didn’t ask the businesses. It was ‘let’s find a new revenue source, and then we’ll worry about the affect. Get it on the ballot, and then we’ll worry about the discussion,’ and I don’t believe in that,” he said. “How would it hit Wasilla’s tax base?”

And before working on any new sources of revenue to help the school district, he said, the Assembly should instead focus on “zero-based budgeting.”

“I think what we need to do is go back to good old fashioned zero-based budgeting this year and look at all the services that are provided by the Borough, and also how the school district is utilizing their funds and making sure that it’s going into the classroom,” he said. “We do have to grow our economy … and we need to know for sure, again, how that would affect before you look at alternate taxes. Again, right now I’m not for any tax until we go through the process to ensure to our people that we are effectively spending.”

If he’s elected, another major area of focus for Leonard would be public safety, he said. Although adding a Borough-level police force would be ideal, he thinks that kind of move is financially out of reach right now. Instead he believes the Borough needs to work closely with the state and city governments to leverage their existing police services.

“A lot of people don’t feel safe right now,” he said. “I don’t think right now we could afford a police force, but I believe that the Borough needs to be at the table working with the Troopers, the cities, the state legislature, that public safety is a priority … that we’re advocating for more resources out here in the Valley for public safety.”

A certified management accountant, Leonard holds a bachelor’s degree from the College of Idaho and master’s management from Willamette University, Oregon.

The election for the District 4 seat, as well as the District 5 Assembly seat, and the School Board District 3 and 6 seats, will be held October 3. The deadline for new voter registrations is Sept. 3.