Gattis and Rupright differ on just about everything

WASILLA — The Alaska House of Representatives district nine race between an incumbent freshman representative and the now-former mayor of Wasilla is about as contentious as they come.

Independent Vern Rupright seeks to advance to state-level politics after two terms at the helm of the Valley’s commercial center. Rep. Lynn Gattis, R-Wasilla, looks to retain her position after two years in a seat that didn’t exist before 2012.

Rupright and Gattis tangled earlier in election season, after Rupright wrote a letter to the editor accusing Gattis of improperly intervening in local affairs through her newsletter. Gattis has said that district news mailings that mentioned the long-fought ATV ban for Wasilla city limits and potential Matanuska Electric Association power line construction were attempts to generate interest in her newsletter, and not influence local politics. She accused Rupright of using his position and the Mayor’s Minute radio program to bash her performance in the legislature.

Differences abounded, down to the issues each candidate said were important. Speaking of his priorities, Rupright repeated a commonly heard opposition political line at the state level: that the state budget is spending $7 million per day out of the state budget reserves to fund operations. (Estimates of the actual budget deficit vary, but the number is probably about $6.5 million per day, given a 365-day year and a $2.4 billion budget deficit.)

“I think the biggest issue is the budget,” he said. “The budget of the State of Alaska is unsustainable and it’s kind of a budget that’s come down from the governor. I didn’t run the city of Wasilla that way. For anybody in the legislature not to stand on their feet and strenuously work through the budget issues … that’s not a way to do the public’s business.”

Rupright also listed economic development, which he said was a critical ingredient for necessary infrastructure growth.

In contrast, Gattis chose three very different issues.

“I see the gas line, I see education, and I see roads here in the valley,” she said. “Quite frankly, those are the same things I ran on last time.”

The construction of a proposed liquid natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to Nikiski would mean an influx of natural gas dollars into state coffers, and has been in the works for at least four decades, Gattis said.

“We’re the closest we’ve ever been to what we’ve been talking about for 40 years, and that is having reliable energy, having inexpensive energy, and certainly being able to sell that energy using our geographic location,” she said.

The legislature should also work to enhance the use of technology in education, and work to improve valley roads, particularly the construction of the Knik Arm Bridge, Gattis said.

For the budget issue, Rupright said he would employ budget skills honed at the municipal level against a state budget riddled with redundancies.

“I managed to knock out 19 percent of the operating budget of the city, and yet there were no layoffs,” he said. “It’s not about what you want to have. It’s what you need to have.”

“The governor sends the budget down to the legislature, but they can also send directions back to the governor,” Rupright added.

Numerous studies on project feasibility are one example, he said.

Gattis admits that the pacing on pipeline construction is out of her hands, to an extent, but said she favored keeping the state as a partner in its construction.

“As we go through the process, I struggle with the government getting in the way of something that we could have done 40 years ago,” she said. “One of the things are, we the government put these rules on permitting, I think it’s very important for Alaska to be a partner in this gas line.”

She also said she favored funding increased vocational opportunities for Alaska’s students.

“As chair of education, I have been very, very strong on this,” she said.

When Gattis was in school, her mother encouraged her to take courses in what were then called secretarial skills, which would provide her a fallback position.

“I’m not sure students have that opportunity today,” she said.

When asked what distinguished them from each other, the candidates were diplomatic to the point of vagaries.

“I have a six-year proven track record of financial management,” Rupright said. “I owe nobody anything for it. I don’t ask somebody what I should do next.”

For Gattis, the biggest distinction came down to style.

“I think there are some things we are very much the same,” she said. “How we work with people and our style is our biggest difference.”

Rupright ran as an independent to side-step political divisiveness.

“I’m a register Republican and that’s a matter of public record,” he said. “But what I can’t fathom is: there seems to be this culture of polarization. I don’t think we as a group, as a society can move forward when most of our time and energy is caught up in arguments just to make the other guy look like the bad guy.”

Gattis ran because she still has agenda items left to accomplish, she said.

The mid-term election is Nov. 4.