Eclectic contenders vie for House District 7 seat

MAT-SU — A diverse slate of hopefuls will contend Nov. 4 for the seat representing District 7 in the Alaska House of Representatives.

There’s the former mayor who works in real estate, a retired educator and small engine mechanic, and the incumbent, who’s been a contractor, an oil field hand, an educator and a political staffer.

The district stretches from Engstrom Road — just west of Trunk Road — to Talkeetna, skirting Wasilla to the north and including the entire city of Houston.

There are three candidates running in the general election:

Wes Keller

Incumbent Wes Keller was appointed to the seat in 2007 by then-governor Sarah Palin to fill the remainder of Vic Kohring’s term.

Keller was then chief of staff to Sen. Fred Dyson. Combining his staff experience with his legislative terms, he’s been working in Juneau for more than 15 years. He said he’s running because he wants to serve the community and make it a great place to live for Valley families, including his own.

Keller said he wants to continue the work he’s started with the committees on which he serves, including the House Judiciary Committee — where he’s monitoring cases in which Alaska opposes things like government overreach — the House State Affairs Committee and the House Health and Social Services Committee.

Keller took heat from at least one of his opponents for not working hard enough to bring money back to his district. He said he thinks the district has done well, getting money for fire stations and roads, but it’s hard for him to stand up and take credit for it.

“It’s kind of always uncomfortable because I’m saying, ‘hey I brought you all of this stuff.’ It sounds really good but it has more to do with locked-arm, good relationships with the finance committee, with my Senator, (Mike) Dunleavy, (and) my fellow house representatives that are in the Mat-Su,” he said.

Keller also gets flak for working with the American Legislative Exchange Council, which many criticize as rewriting state laws to fit a corporate agenda. But Keller doesn’t apologize for it. He said he uses the model legislation the group provides as a starting point.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a piece of legislation that I just brought in from ALEC and said, ‘let’s do this,’” Keller said.

He said his relationship with the group has clued him in on a lot of things, like the American Lands Council, a group advocating for the seizure of federal land by Western states.

“We should make sure that we’re part of it if that is going on,” he said.

Neal Lacy

Lacy, the Democrat in the race, served one term as a Mat-Su Borough School Board Member before Donna Dearman unseated him a year ago.

In his professional life, Lacy was mostly an educator, teaching people how to work on small engines. He built the Colony High School program that works on mowers and snowmachines. After leaving Colony, he worked for a time as a technician for the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, fixing everything but cars and airplanes all over the state.

Lacy said he’s opposed to wasteful spending and for that reason is very much opposed to the Susitna-Watana hydroelectric dam. He said the dam is also dangerous — planned in an earthquake fault zone — and potentially destructive of salmon habitat.

He’s been a strong critic of Keller’s ALEC ties.

“ALEC is a lobbying effort being disguised as a non-profit,” Lacy said.

Lacy said he also opposes tax incentives for corporations. He said he would rather spend money hiring more police officers.

“If we quit spending money like a teenager on PFD day we could afford these things,” he said.

He said resource development will pay for that.

“We need to develop our resources in the most environmentally sound way possible,” Lacy said.

Roger Purcell

Purcell is president of the Houston Chamber of Commerce and works in real estate, publishing a real estate magazine, managing the Valley branch of Century 21 and flipping homes. His wife is active with Valley Performing Arts and he is a former mayor of Houston. He’s running as an undeclared candidate.

“I’m still a registered Republican and I believe in the platform,” Purcell said.

But said he doesn’t want to have to vote for things he doesn’t believe in because the party helped get him elected. Examples he cited were $2 million to fly people in to watch the Great Alaska Shootout and $10 million for an Anchorage library project voters turned down.

Although Purcell’s record as mayor was, tumultuous — to put it mildly — and he resigned on the eve of a recall to oust him — he said he stands by his time there.

“When I was mayor, the audits all came through, I had a balanced budget, a surplus came through every year,” he said.

As for things he wants to work on in Juneau, Purcell went straight to one topic: development.

“Finishing the projects that we started — the rail spur, the infrastructure, the highway, the road to Port MacKenzie and the bridge — and getting the infrastructure in District 7. It’s always been my goal,” he said. “The upper Susitna area has always been neglected.”

It was Purcell who leveled criticism against Keller for not doing enough to get projects for the district.

Purcell painted himself as someone who is out in the community, serving food to flood victims and lending a hand. He’s even managed to keep working with the city, he said.

“We want good jobs but we also want the open spaces and the buffer zones and that too,” Purcell said. “I think I can continue to do that and do what’s best for the district.”

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