Down to the wire: Candidates continue to battle in race for governor

MAT-SU — With only days remaining until the Nov. 6 general election, Alaska residents know a new man will be elected to the state’s highest office.

But the question is who?

Former State Senate Republican Mike Dunleavy of Wasilla has lost the lead in the polls with the Oct. 19 suspension of Gov. Walker’s campaign, according to recent polls. Not only has former U.S. Senator and Anchorage Democrat Mark Begich caught up to within a percent of Dunleavy, according to those polls, but his campaign has seen a surge in fundraising toward the finish line.

Both candidates had criticisms for their opponents on various issues. Begich feels Dunleavy has not gotten into specifics on his plan for a sustainable budget or fighting crime.

“He’s trying to get voters just to hear the bumper sticker and not worry about the details and that should scare everybody,” Begich said.

Dunleavy believes that he will succeed in dealing with the legislature because of existing relationships with sitting legislators. The tallest Gubernatorial candidate lauded his relationship with Anchorage Senator Bill Wielechowski and how many topics they agreed on. Dunleavy featured Wielechowski in an ad recently, to which the senator from Anchorage responded to with a cease and desist letter. Dunleavy also suggested that some road projects fell victim to political disputes, and hopes to expedite projects in office. Dunleavy was very confident about his ability to win the election during an interview with Frontiersman editorial staff on Friday. Dunleavy said he left the Senate because he felt he wanted to serve the people of Alaska as a whole rather than just the people of his district.

“The question became could I perform two jobs well, and I came to the conclusion I could not and i had to decide, do I really want to run for governor? Do I really want to represent my people and when I decided I really wanted to run for governor I talked with district officials here, and key constituents, and it was unanimous, we want you to run for governor, we will find somebody to fill out the term,” Dunleavy said.

Both candidates have had conflicting positions on one of the two most discussed topics, crime and budget. Dunleavy has been an advocate for restoring the full Permanent Fund Dividend and often advocated for paying back the portion of the PFD that was held back. Dunleavy hopes to give a boost to the Alaskan economy if elected to office.

“I believe we have a real opportunity to diversify our industries here, and you want to do that because it brings bodies here. And when there’s bodies here, there’s more demand for housing, more demand for food, more demand for cars, that’s how you grow an economy,” Dunleavy said.

Begich pointed toward a move away from dependency on oil for the state’s economic future.

“We need to continue to stabilize it through other revenue sources, but also making sure that at the end of the day we do have a strong balanced budget,” Begich said.

Begich hopes to develop alternative energy sources as part of his economic plan. Begich hopes to develop more geothermal, wind, solar, tidal, and other alternative energy sources.

“If I’m fortunate to win, this would be an investment that I think could pay off significantly to help lower costs, and more importantly creates a whole new economy of jobs and opportunity. Building them and maintaining them, this is a great economy for us that could produce many jobs and elements of our state economy,” Begich said.

Begich has criticized Dunleavy on numerous occasions for not presenting an economic plan. Begich was also critical of Dunleavy’s lack of attendance at forums and debates.

“I don’t mind. I’ll go anywhere, any time, talk about anything that people want to talk about. I may not have the answers but the one thing you will always get from me... you’re going to know where I stand,” Begich said.

The most thoroughly discussed issue during interviews with the two leading candidates was public safety. The Mat-Su Borough passed a proposition to explore the expansion of police powers, and now borough Mayor Vern Halter is charged with creating a task force to explore the possibilities as directed by the voters. Dunleavy suggested that Alaska State Troopers and Valley police departments could be co-funded, or spend time in each others jurisdictions to meet a minimum officer requirement in the area at all times.

“We need to have a discussion with the borough and the cities as to how we can partner. How we can partner on funding, how we can partner on coverage, how we can partner on communication,” Dunleavy said. “We’re going to also look at a comprehensive approach for security for the state of Alaska.”

While the two candidates disagree on the PFD and Prop 1, they both had similar things to say about improving public safety.

“We have to clear the deck start over and have a much more comprehensive plan of public safety,” Begich said.

Begich noted Dunleavy’s votes to cut public safety budgets and proposed using state prosecutors to work toward getting strict penalties for drug dealers, and using more drug sniffing dogs in the Postal service, which has a high rate of recovery. Begich also promoted the wellness courts.

“90 percent of the people who go through those courts do not reoffend. This is a successful program. It takes takes more time, takes more money, but I’d rather take care of them one time than four or five times,” Begich said.

Both candidates stand on different sides of the spectrum when it comes to education funding. Dunleavy suggested that education is about inputs and outputs, and that spending on education does not directly equal the desired output for students. Dunleavy supported more individualistic approaches to education. He also denied wanting to close rural schools, but have dormitories for students to travel to a central school for short intensive courses taught with better facilities by more highly trained teachers.

“There is no way you’re going to get the same education from the isolated one and two teacher schools that cannot teach physics and labs and chemistry,” Dunleavy said.

Dunleavy also believes that homeschool education is very successful.

“The rub between myself and the educational establishment, they will do everything to nail me and say things about me and my position on education because I believe that we should be using our resources that deal with those kids that need it the most,” Dunleavy said.

Dunleavy suggested that homeschool students cost less to fund than a traditional brick and mortar school student, and that those saved costs from increased homeschooling could be redirected as needed.

Begich criticized Dunleavy for a variety of reasons concerning education.

“About 90 percent of life is showing up, and I think what he’s shown when he quit up in the superintendent's job, he quit in the state senate. During his time, two thirds of the students didn’t meet the proficiency levels. He did not do a good job in helping the students achieve their possibilities up there. His record is spotty and he’s a hardcore strong voucher supporter for religious schools, taking public money for private religious schools which I oppose,” Begich said.

Begich supported funding education consistently, without allowing it to be part of the budget. Begich condemned delayed education funding that results in teacher layoffs in odd election years.

“My permanent fund dividend plan, 50 percent of the earnings of the year through the Percent of market value formula, 50 percent would go toward the dividend, but the other 50 percent that is available for general government. Instead of doing that, what I would do is put it toward education, constitutionally protecting the funding including early education,” Begich said.