Dunleavy steps into Senate race

MAT-SU — Sen. Linda Menard, R-Wasilla, has picked up a Republican challenger in her bid to return to the state Senate.

Menard currently represents Seat G representing mostly urban areas of the Valley, including Wasilla and Palmer. Redistricting has changed those boundaries. She now lives in Senate District D, which encompasses Wasilla and points north all the way to Talkeetna.

Also in that new district is Mat-Su Borough School Board President Mike Dunleavy, who announced his candidacy last week.

In a press release, Dunleavy said he will work for economic development in the state through reasonable taxes and regulations, more infrastructure, low-cost energy, a trained and educated workforce, strong public safety and affordable housing.

In an interview, he said he was drawn to run for a higher office when he started to realize as a school board member, as a teacher, a principal and a superintendent that the big decisions in education weren’t made on a local level.

“The world that educators and others in Alaska live in, those rules, those mandates, often come from above,” he said. “If one truly wants to affect outcomes in the end, that’s the place you want to be.”

But he’s not a one-issue candidate, he said. He said he’s very concerned that the trans-Alaska pipeline is down to transporting 550,000 barrels of oil a day when once it was more than 1 million.

“Since this is Alaska’s lifeblood, we’re running out of time,” Dunleavy said. “This is midnight, this is 12 o’clock and decisions have to be made regarding ACES and AGIA that are going to help Alaska with ensuring revenue well into the future.”

Dunleavy was referring to a pair of Gov. Sarah Palin-era policies, the oil tax structure ACES and the governor’s big move to get a gas pipeline built in the state, AGIA.

“I’m thinking that Juneau could use some new leadership or at least a new perspective to try and get folks to focus on the issue of revenue, which is really centered around oil and natural resources production,” he said.

Dunleavy went to high school in Pennsylvania and came to Alaska fresh out of college to work as an educator.

He said he’s taught in rural and urban areas of the state and climbed the ranks, going as high as superintendent. He’s worked on issues with the state’s university system and worked in elementary, middle and high schools.

He said part of his motivation for running is to ensure that the democratic process remains strong. The only way to keep the system vital, he said, is for people interested in service to raise their hands and run.

“It’s just going to be really good for the debate and for folks to have clear choices of who they want to send to Juneau,” Dunleavy said. “I think all seats really should be contested.”

For Menard, who has already filed to run for a second term, this would be her first time facing a Republican opponent. In her successful 2008 bid for office, the incumbent Republican, Lyda Green, then president of the Senate, bowed out before the race.

Schools are a common theme in elections for that seat. Menard is a veteran of the Mat-Su school board, where she served 12 years. She won office by overcoming then-Democrat Erick Cordero, now a Republican and Dunleavy’s vice president on that board.

Asked if he noticed that schools played such a role in the life of that Senate seat, Dunleavy said he had.

“It certainly does. I’m not sure why. I do believe it’s (that) folks want to get involved,” he said. “Once they get involved, I think they also realize that the rules that govern the school district’s behavior and actions are written above the school board.”

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