Election preview House 10: Trio of widely different candidates in the race for house seat

Patricia Faye-Brazel is experienced, with a career in politics spanning coast-to-coast over two decades. Faye-Brazel won the Democratic Primary by 65 votes and hopes to see new leadership take Alaska into the future.

But to earn the District 10 seat in the House of Representatives, Faye-Brazel will have to beat incumbent Rep. David Eastman and Doyle Holmes, who is no stranger to Valley politics.

“We need change. It’s enough of what we’ve been doing,” Faye-Brazel said.

Faye-Brazel worked in Maine with Bernie Sanders, who flirted with a run at the White House, and was appointed Sanders’ designee for the state of Alaska.

Faye-Brazel moved to Alaska in 1997 and worked with tribal governments in the northwest corner of the state. She believes that SB91 is no longer a viable bill and hopes that strengthening the state’s education system will help joblessness and hopelessness that criminal suffer from.

“I am a former police commissioner and I can tell you what my chiefs told me, ‘you can’t lock everybody up.’ It doesn’t work. We have a crime problem and that crime problem certainly must be addressed from a policing basis, but we also have to look at the root cause of these things, which is poverty, joblessness and lack of education,” Faye-Brazel said.

Faye-Brazel said that the budget cannot be balanced on the backs of those who can least afford it.

“One-hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, just a rough figure for the Mat-Su; over half of that number went to the food bank at least once last year, and these are working people. That’s a problem. And then we don’t want to offend the oil company by taxing them at the rate we used to tax them at? We’ve had a deficit ever since. No,” Faye-Brazel said.

Faye-Brazel started and directed a pilot project in Vermont on criminal justice system reform and domestic violence that is still running, and says that Alaska needs a similar call to action. Faye-Brazel wants to see a taskforce come together from every aspect and every agency with parole attorneys, police, probation, the courts, and more importantly, a board made up of sexual violence survivors to oversee the taskforce.

Faye-Brazel believes that improving the state’s broadband should be a priority.

“One of the most important things about future for us here in Alaska is we need to build a very strong broadband system so that people can access not only economies and jobs, but also education, wherever they are in this state. We can make a big difference there,” Faye-Brazel said.

She hopes to see initiatives for ranked choice voting and a bipartisan redistricting coalition during the next election cycle. Faye-Brazel was critical of current legislators playing partisan politics, and says that she is not interested in party disputes.

“I aim to advance real discussions about what can be done to expand local economic opportunities, strong resilient communities, get special interests out of Juneau, and protect the interests of Alaskans. We are in this together and we are the solution we have been waiting for,” says Faye-Brazel’s website.

Faye-Brazel called into question Eastman’s conduct on the ethics committee and comments disparaging comments about indigenous Alaskan women. She also questioned his ability to tell the truth.

“Who was running is why I’m running,” Faye-Brazel said.

Eastman served as a captain in the Army and attended West Point. Eastman moved to Alaska following his graduation from West Point and served a brief tour in Iraq.

Eastman began serving in the House in 2017 and serves on Fisheries, Judiciary, Rules, and Health and Social Services committees, as well as a number of House Finance Subcommittees.

“My representative in the house was very supportive of SB91 and helped champion that through the house. He and I saw things very differently,” Eastman said. “I think the main issue that many voters have right now is a sense of having been betrayed by those in Juneau. They have a sense that the state government doesn’t have their best interests in mind.”

Eastman has been one of the few who will not stop at expressing the need to repeal SB91, but providing a plan for the future, due in part to his experience as Military Police.

“You get there with a strong partnership between law enforcement professionals, elected officials, and members of the public. If any of those three break down and the public is not able to do, or law enforcement isn’t able or, policy makers are unable, then you get a breakdown of public safety,” Eastman said.

Eastman has ventured into publishing his own articles on his own website in an effort to communicate more effectively with the Alaskan people. Eastman said that response has been positive to his coverage without the spin of other media agencies. Eastman believes that voters lack trust in elected officials.

“I would first focus on doing whatever is necessary to restore that trust. At this point I think the only way people will trust policy makers when it comes to crime is if they humble themselves, or more humble newly elected representatives come into the picture who can say straightforwardly that SB91 did not live up to its promises and. We need to take a step back and we need to find a better way,” Eastman said.

Eastman’s website and road signs are emblazoned with a compass rose, and Eastman often finds himself as the only member of the House voting ‘no’ on particular subjects. Eastman explained his tendency to vote against the grain as a desire for better legislation.

“In the last two years we’ve had Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives and they have put forward some truly terrible policy proposals. They’re not proposals I could get on board with,” Eastman said. “I’m very proud of my record and proud of each and every vote that I have taken. I’m also proud of the fact that I have been in Juneau each time a bill has come up for a vote. I know a lot of other legislators had other places they needed to be, but I felt that it was important on behalf of my constituents to be there when the votes were called.”

Eastman was censured by the House for comments concerning indigenous Alaskan women and also was found in violation of ethics law by a House panel.

“I do understand what an ethics panel should be, and unfortunately our ethics committee has decided it wants to play in elections and help some people get elected. That is not the role of an ethics committee,” Eastman said.

Every candidate in the race for House District 10 has thorough experience, but Doyle Holmes has 81 years of it. Holmes has owned and operated True Value Hardware in Willow for 40 years. He spent 22 years in the US Navy where he served in Vietnam. Holmes served three years as the Deputy Mayor of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly during his three terms as a member of the assembly. Holmes is running as a petition candidate, and did not face Eastman in the Primary, but has been active at forums and debates stating his position on the issues. Holmes is increasingly critical of Eastman, and believes he more often votes personal interest than in the best interest of the constituents. “In order to be effective one must work well with others if you can’t work well with others you become isolated ineffective and not represent the best interest of the public,” Holmes has said. Holmes has used that specific quote repeatedly, and constantly notes his desire to listen to the will of the voters.

“Everybody’s using the buzz word let’s ‘repeal’ SB91 and I said I’m the only one that’s got a plan to replace it. I’ve never heard anybody say what they’re going to do if they’re naive enough to think that they’re going to go to Juneau and push a button and repeal SB91. They’re wrong because then we’ll have nothing,” Holmes said. “My plan would be to immediately introduce a bill to repeal SB91 and just go back to the way it was. Just take it right out of the book the way it was and say this is now the new law.”

Holmes pointed to not only staffing woes for Alaska State Troopers, but the need to write tickets to create revenue.

“My goal would be to get more people in the criminal investigation end. Identify career criminals and lock them up, if you want a buzzword it’d be criminals belong in jail and not in our neighborhood,” Holmes said.

Holmes touted his long career on the assembly, the amount of schools he was instrumental in constructing, and the repealed private property tax he helped pass.

“I have some strong basic beliefs. I represent you, not myself. Some elected officials never understand that and only push their personal agenda. Before I push that button on any issue, I will understand how my actions affect your life and mine,” Holmes said. Holmes paused, and began to add to that statement.

“And even the people that don’t show up, so I’m real familiar with most of the laws that affect community.”

Holmes questioned Eastman’s vote against funding to test the state’s backlog of rape kits.

“I know that if you talk to a woman in this borough they know who he is. The native organizations know who he is, and they’re going to do their best to make sure he does not go back in government ever again, and I was shocked at what kind of response we’re getting from that. It’s very positive, very strong. Women are very upset with him, outraged at him,” Holmes said.