District 6 race includes activist, civil inspector, Army captain

SUTTON — When the dust cleared and the filing deadline passed, three people had signed up to represent District 6 in the Alaska Legislature.

Two Republicans will square off in the Aug. 28 primary for the chance to face a lone Democrat challenger in the Nov. 6 general election.

District 6 is an odd one. It includes Sutton, Chickaloon and parts of Palmer-Fishhook Road, but also Valdez and North Pole.

It’s a big district with a variety of communities. But unlike past years, all the candidates hail from the Valley. Here they are in alphabetical order:

Jamey Duhamel

Duhamel is a Democrat who said she considers herself an activist. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and 18 years of experience as a social worker specializing in disabilities and child abuse issues.

Lately, though, the activist side of her has taken over.

“I’ve spent the past year of my life focusing on coal mining and community issues,” she said.

Coal mining might return to Sutton, where Duhamel lives. Hers is a familiar face to anyone who’s attended those meetings. But, she said, there are other issues with potentially serious effects for the district. Running a natural gas pipeline to Valdez, for instance, would send it right through District 6.

“These are projects that have major implications not only for our economic development in the future but also for our environmental stewardship and the quality of our lives and how we live our lives,” she said.

She wants to go to Juneau to be a “representative of the people.”

“I consider myself a bit of a community activist so I believe very strongly that it’s the power of people that make change,” she said. “Unfortunately people in the neighborhoods have lost faith that they have any kind of control over what is happening in their own backyards and I think that is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Eric Feige

Feige, the incumbent Republican in the race and a resident of Chickaloon, did not return a call seeking comment for this story. He was elected in 2010 after a close three-way Republican primary that he won by 12 votes.

His legislative biography says he is a West Point graduate and former Army captain.

He’s a former commercial pilot and current chief of Chickaloon Fire Service Inc., a private fire department funded via subscription.

While in Juneau, he has co-chaired the House Resources committee and sponsored or co-sponsored bills to, among other things: require people or groups who file lawsuits to stop resource development to put down a security deposit in case they lose, give tax breaks to volunteer firefighters, and expand the list of situations in which an Alaskan can use deadly force in self-defense. None of those measures appear to have passed. One on his legislative website did, though — it gave temporary professional licenses to service members stationed in Alaska.

George Rauscher

Rauscher, of Sutton, is a former president of the Sutton Community Council, a post he held for four years. He’s a civil inspector for the borough and has a business remodeling log homes.

He’s organized community cleanups and rallied a church group and other volunteers to help a neighbor whose house was falling into the Matanuska River. He has testified in favor of coal mining.

“I think that our district has a lot to offer the state. I think the people in our district are very economically minded, they care about development,” Rauscher said.

He said there isn’t any one issue driving him to want to go to Juneau.

“I know everybody comes in there looking for just the one thing they want to attack and I’m not sure it’s that way with me,” Rauscher said. “I am pro-development, I am interested in what Alaska has to offer the people that live in the state as far as jobs go I think that our economy needs a little shot in the arm here.”

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