Candidates stump at first debates

WASILLA — Though they’re both Republicans, Sen. Linda Menard and her challenger, Mike Dunleavy, have a lot of space between them on issues like school vouchers, the 90-day legislative session and why Proposition 2 is a bad idea.

The two met Saturday in a debate at the Alaska Club. They were the first of three pairs of candidates to square off. See Tuesday’s Frontiersman for recaps of debates between Wes Keller and Roger Purcell, and between Lynn Gattis and Mark Ewing.

Just before Dunleavy and Menard began their discussion, Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, whose challenger, Daniel Hamm, couldn’t attend, made a statement. And she kind of defined a lot of what the candidates would debate regarding the state of the oil industry in Alaska.

“We were the quarterback. We were the big man on campus. We were a great prospect. We had possibilities — until one day we were walking down the hall without girlfriend, the cheerleader and this North Dakota guy came up and — right in front of us — put his arms around her and kissed her!” she said. “And what did we do? Throw a punch? Push him away? Tap him on the shoulder and say, ‘excuse me?’ No. Nothing. We did nothing.”

She said she is running for office to get the state back on track, increase production and make the state competitive with “this North Dakota guy.”

Menard, for her part, said comparing Alaska to North Dakota was apples to oranges. Oil production in North Dakota is on private land, but in Alaska it’s on state land, meaning the regulatory landscape is vastly more complicated.

On the subject of oil taxes, Dunleavy and Menard are actually pretty close in their views. Dunleavy said the state needs to find a sweet spot that still generates revenues to fund state services, but doesn’t overburden producers and stifle production.

“We’re going to have to work with the oil companies to find that sweet spot,” he said.

Menard more or less agreed, saying the Legislature needs to “sweeten the pie” for the oil companies. Gov. Sean Parnell has been working hard on that issue.

“I’m still very supportive of what the governor is trying to do. We’re working hard on it and I really think this next session we will get to where we need to be.”

In his opening statements, Dunleavy dinged the state Senate for not working hard enough. He dinged Menard in particular for being part of a working group that included Democrats who blocked the governor’s legislation.

Menard said that wasn’t true, that she worked hard during her first term, adding that these issues are large and complex.

“We’re at a point where, I think, minds are coming together,” she said, after saying she’s pretty certain that the Senate, in its next session, will work out an oil tax reform.

Dunleavy and Menard also differ on the subject of bonds. The question they were asked was should big capital projects be funded through borrowed money using bonds?

Menard pointed out that since bonds have to go to a vote, when the state or a community approves one at the ballot box — which, at least for local Mat-Su bond projects means people are voting to raise their own taxes — it’s a good sign it’s the right project.

“I think bonds are a good way to go,” she said.

Dunleavy isn’t so sure.

“The state of Alaska will have to pay that balance eventually,” he said.

He’d prefer the state spend money it’s collected rather than borrow, but either way he wants to focus on infrastructure projects that pay dividends such as new schoolhouses that yield an educated population or roads that open up development.

Which infrastructure projects are deserving of funding is actually a place where both candidates are pretty close together. Menard called Port MacKenzie her favorite project and “our economic heartbeat.”

But it’s difficult in Juneau to convince Anchorage legislators that development on the other side of Knik Arm is a good idea, she said.

“They’re going to lose because we’re going to have industry out there,” she said.

Dunleavy is also a port backer.

On the subject of school vouchers, Dunleavy, who is currently president of the Mat-Su Borough School Board, said he is in favor of them.

“The Valley is very diverse and, frankly, that is because the Valley likes freedom,” he said.

Vouchers, he said, are a form of freedom, a form of choice.

“What’s wrong with that? We choose everything else we do in life,” he said.

Menard, who served 12 years on the borough school board, including time as president, said she believes vouchers would “cripple” public schools. Menard said she has supported increases to state contributions to education. She didn’t get one through this year, but she got a lot done. There is also plenty of work to do in cutting wasteful state programs in education.

“I can give you evidence of how much silly money is going out,” he said.

The candidates’ differences on the 90-day legislative session were slightly more nuanced.

“I don’t think we need to lengthen the session to get work done,” Dunleavy said.

Menard said that 90 days worked fine until the Legislature crashed headlong into debate over oil taxes. The Legislature runs out of time, goes into special session and winds up incurring more costs. One idea she’s heard was to lengthen the legislative session to 120 days every other year.

“I could probably get behind that and support that,” she said.

And while both Dunleavy and Menard were opposed to Proposition 2, which would institute a state coastal zone management program, they were opposed to it for different reasons.

Dunleavy’s objections seem tied up in a philosophical distaste for new regulations.

“Where does it end? We did fine without coastal zone management for years. Why do we need it now?” he said.

Menard said she doesn’t think that way it a coastal management board would be set up is fair. Southcentral, where the bulk of the population lives, would only get one seat, she said, and “that doesn’t sit well with me.”