Former police chief calls for safety first as mayor candidate

WASILLA -- With nearly 30 years of public service behind him, much of it in the law-enforcement field, former Wasilla police chief Charlie Fannon is ready for a new direction.

Although his career spans work in the military, in the Fairbanks/North Star school district, as a deputy sheriff, in jails, and as manager of Circle Hot Springs, Fannon said he feels like it's time to step into a new arena -- that of elected officials. It's a big step, but he said sometimes having less knowledge can be beneficial.

"I'm not very sophisticated in the public process," Fannon admitted. "I just tell people like it is -- I don't know what else to tell people."

Fannon said he's running because he's a concerned Valley resident, but also to steer the direction of future generations.

"I have a vested interest in how the Valley turns out," Fannon said. "My family's basically made it their home."

Fannon's family has been with him on the campaign trail, wearing "son of Charlie Fannon" or "wife of Charlie Fannon" T-shirts. His youngest son, Link, moved back to Alaska from Oregon with his wife, Melody, and is serving as Fannon's campaign manager.

Although Fannon has lived in Alaska since 1986 and previous to that when he was stationed in Alaska in the military, Wasilla has been "home" since he and his wife moved here in 1997. He knows the core area's needs well, he said, but in running for the boroughwide mayor seat, Fannon said he's been on a learning curve, getting up to speed about pressing issues in other Valley communities. Attending community council meetings and holding small group meetings in Talkeetna, Chickaloon and Meadow Lakes, he said, have been one way he's worked to learn about the needs of communities outside the core area. It's been an eye-opening process, he said.

"I expected to encounter different opinions in different communities," Fannon said. "I didn't expect to encounter communities that were side-by-side to have totally different views on things."

One of his goals, he said, is to have a time of consensus building, not just for outlying communities to come together on issues, but for people and communities in the core area to pull together to solve problems.

A few such problems, Fannon said, are the apparent need for more police protection, better emergency service response and the need for safe, responsible economic development. That mirrors his slogan -- "Safety first -- safe streets, safe schools, safe neighborhoods, safe development and safe and secure jobs."