DeVilbiss is new Mat-Su Mayor

Unofficial vote totals show Larry DeVilbiss was the top vote-getter in today’s election for Mat-Su Borough Mayor.

He received 3,339 votes and challenger Brian Sullivan finished in second place with 2,156 votes, not enough to trigger a run-off election.

Reached shortly before 10 p.m., DeVilbiss said he was very happy with the voting returns.

“I didn’t want to win by a squeaker I wanted a clear direction that where I was going was where the borough wanted to go and I think we got that,” he said.

DeVilbiss, a farmer, veteran of borough government and the school board, and current Matanuska Electric Association Board of Directors member, said borough residents can expect him to be an active mayor making bold strides toward greater transparency.

By active he means he will wield the mayor’s admittedly limited powers to the utmost, even invoking one power – the line-item veto – that has been so scarcely used in the past that there was some doubt as to whether the mayor actually has it.

“The attorney assured me that I did have line-item veto power so I was right on that,” DeVilbiss said.

A line-item veto is generally reserved for borough budgets and allows the mayor to cut specific items rather than knocking down an entire ordinance.

As for transparency, DeVilbiss said that he wants to broadcast assembly meetings online and give residents opportunities for real-time input.

“I want to start a process I think I mentioned it at the last forum I want to set up a system where people can interact and give input directly into the decision making process, maybe something like American Idol where they can vote on a separate board and have the same access to the same public information that the assembly has and follow it live on the Internet,” he said.

Of the borough’s 59,593 registered voters, 7,309 people voted in today’s local election. That’s about 10 percent voter turnout.

Retired telecommunications industry worker Kenneth Clark finished with the third most votes, 88 and Palmer farmer John Liener was fourth with 74 votes.

In fifth was Butte resident and military veteran Bruce Walden who dropped out of the race too late to keep his name from appearing on the ballot. He finished in fifth with 70 votes. And Kurt Jarmer was one vote behind with 69 ballots.

Healthcare administrator David Wilson got 48 votes, college student Jeff Ward received 25 votes and 23 write-in votes were cast.

DeVilbiss prevailed in every precinct save three that Sullivan carried – the City of Palmer, Walby Lake, and Talkeetna.

Sullivan campaigned hard, jumping into the race early and buying ads in many of the same media DeVilbiss employed. He is an attorney, former school board member and combat veteran.

DeVilbiss said his personally worked hard to the end, waving signs and getting people to the polls, despite the day's strong winds.

“I started at 4 o’clock out on the flats being slammed between my sign and the van until 8 o’clock and then from 3 o’clock this afternoon until 8 o’clock tonight I was out there again,” he said. “Today I was going house to house and business to business getting people to vote.”

Somewhere in there, around 6 p.m., he got word that a house he owned had burned down. It is a home used to house some of his employees. Everyone made it out O.K. and his insurance company is working on the claim.

“I haven’t even been up there yet but it burned flat to the ground,” DeVilbiss said, adding that losing the house made the day kind of bittersweet.