Lora vs. Dan: The gloves are off

The Republican primary race for state Sen. Anna MacKinnon’s seat in District G is already heating up as current state Representatives Lora Reinbold and Dan Saddler are willing to risk not returning to Juneau in Jan. 2019 for the opportunity to fill the coveted spot.

MacKinnon announced she is ending her decades-long political career, thus creating a vacuum both House incumbents wish to fill with their name and presence.

Both are campaigning on their records as state representatives and appealing to voters to consider each as the more qualified to move up to the state senate. Both saying claiming the Senate seat is worth risking their current seats in the House.

Both Reinbold and Saddler say it is going to be “an interesting race.”

For those readers who don’t keep up on the drama side of local and state politics, it isn’t much of a stretch to say that some not-so-warm-and-fuzzy feelings do exist between the two representatives.

For the past couple years since the 2016 election cycle when Saddler backed Reinbold’s opponent in the Republican primary, the brew-ha-ha died down as both took the professional high road for the 2017 legislative session indicating their first priority

But it would appear the gloves are coming off now.

Reinbold openly refers to Saddler as “Stradller” – a legislator she says “has continuously voted for government growth and bloated government even when he attempts to claim he represents the republican platform.”

Saddler says Reinbold’s past actions in the state legislature defying the Republican caucus – in particular regarding budgetary votes – are “provocative and sensational” but don’t create a productive atmosphere in terms of working with others.

The two legislators met for coffee in the morning on Thursday, May 24, to inform each other of the intent to run for MacKinnon’s seat. According to candidate registration forms online at the Alaska Public Offices Commission website, Reinbold filed on May 24; Saddler filed on May 31 – one day before the June 1 deadline.

Despite the fact that she is still being listed on Reinbold’s online campaign page as having endorsed her (along with the left-leaning Anchorage Press), MacKinnon says she has informed Reinbold of her decision to publicly support Saddler as her successor to the senate seat.

“That endorsement was from 2016 after Lora defeated Crystal Kennedy, whom I supported, in the primary,” MacKinnon said, adding that it is no longer a valid endorsement. “Dan and I do not always agree on things and we have not always voted the same, but I do support his conservative agenda – as I support Lora’s conservative agenda. The difference is that Dan can get things done and bring people together on pieces of legislation. For the most part, Rep. Reinbold has not been able to do that. She identifies areas of general concern for the public, but she is not able to solve that through bringing other legislators together which is what the legislative process is all about.”

That doesn’t mean MacKinnon doesn’t like Reinbold. She thinks the feisty, outspoken representative who isn’t afraid to make a stand – if even alone as she was in 2015 voting against the Republican caucus approved budget – would be a good fit for administrative roles within state government.

But as far as Reinbold’s grandstanding within the state legislature, MacKinnon isn’t impressed favorably and views it as counter-productive to crafting consensus for all of Alaska, which she believes is the appropriate role of legislators.

She’s asked Reinbold to remove her name as an endorser, but as of Tuesday afternoon, MacKinnon’s name remained on Reinbold’s website.

Reinbold disagrees with the interpretation Saddler’s supporters and Saddler himself have of her previous political moves as being those of a legislator who doesn’t work well with others and is a borderline prima donna.

“I try not to grandstand, just educate and empower,” Reinbold wrote to The Eagle in an email answering campaign questions. “For me politics is not about me, it is about empowering, educating and equipping voters with knowledge on what is going on in the political realm.”

Ric Smith, a retired school teacher and long-time Eagle River resident and member of the Republican Party, who served briefly as Reinbold’s press secretary in 2016, agrees. He likes her willingness to be gutsy.

“For me, personally I just like the fact that she stands for the values that a conservative wants to see in government,” Smith said. “I want somebody who is going to stand up for what people are really wanting or not someone who is going to go down to Juneau and say and vote like a liberal Republican does.”

Anchorage Assemblywoman Amy Demboski mirrors that opinion.

She supported Reinbold in 2016 and continues to do so in 2018.

“I’ve endorsed Lora,” Demboski wrote in a text message. “Lora has an unwavering conservative voice for Eagle River. She is the only one in the race that has listened to the people of Eagle River and consistently voted against SB 91(the crime bill), voted to protect the PFD and voted against growing budgets.”

Demboski likes Saddler, she said, and appreciates the years of work he’s done in Juneau.

But, spoken as the Valley radio commentator on the afternoon Amy Demboski Show and municipal representative continually sounding the siren on crime, Demboski said she cannot support Saddler against Reinbold because Reinbold “doesn’t wobble on public safety.”

She doesn’t like Saddler’s lockstep pattern with the Republican caucus, either.

Her counterpart on the Anchorage Assembly and former long-time state legislator, Fred Dyson of Eagle River, has been critical of Reinbold in the past.

In 2016, Dyson wrote an editorial for the Alaska Star – the weekly newspaper covering the Chugiak-Eagle River area directly – indicating he believed it was time for Reinbold to step aside and allow another whom has a record of working well with others take her place as state legislator.

In Dyson’s Aug. 10, 2016 editorial published less than a week prior to the 2016 Republican primary, he wrote, “In elective politics, it is essential to have good people skills and to be able to build ad hoc teams to get policy changes and goals met. The successful policy maker must have integrity and be trustworthy. Sadly, the incumbent Eagle River state house representative, Lora Reinbold, is not able to provide those virtues and skills at this stage of life. Her legendary anger, inability to keep staff, lack of keeping commitments, misrepresentations, record-breaking unexcused absences, and virulent attacks on others has (have ... as was printed) alienated her fellow legislators and many constituents.”

The Eagle was unable to reach Dyson, but rumor among the local coffee shop talk is that Dyson’s opinion of Reinbold’s legislative effectiveness and suitability has not changed from that of 2016.

Saddler, for his part, makes no apologies for being loyal to the Republican Party.

“I am a proud, lifelong Republican,” he said. “I have worked in the trenches for our community for decades. I apologize to no one for working within our system to serve our people.”

He kept his displeasure with what he labels Reinbold’s “sensational, headlining-grabbing” actions to himself during 2017 and for the first part of this year.

Oh, sure, there was behind-the-scenes talk and gossip amongst the politicos in-crowd plus general reporting on the legislative activities of each, but nothing that made the general headlines regarding the disapproval of each other’s past records until post the March 21-26 ‘Bridgepocalypse’ event in Eagle River.

That’s when the Artillery Road bridge overpass across the Glenn Highway was damaged by a too-tall load and all traffic hell broke out with Valley commuters detouring via Chugiak and Eagle River streets not designed to handle 100,000 plus vehicles for the morning and evening commute.

That’s when Saddler piped up again about the Knik Arm Bridge, reminding constituents that back in 2015, when legislation using a combination of federal and state funds was being voted on, Reinbold wasn’t in Juneau.

“Lora Reinbold left the legislative floor to go on vacation when her vote would have authorized the Knik Arm Bridge project to proceed. We lost that by one vote,” Saddler said. “When it came to a vote in the House; when her vote would have made a big difference for Eagle River, Lora was on vacation and absent from her job. A lot of us pushed hard to get funding for that project and to have a member of our delegation absent from her job post so she could go on personal vacation shows we need someone who will put Chugiak-Eagle River first and be there to get results.”

One thing is for certain: The candidates are going to have much more time to campaign in the 2018 primary versus what occurred in 2016 when several special legislative sessions kept incumbents from active campaigning.

And, according to Bill Stoltze – another former long-time legislator now enjoying “retirement” from state politics as full-time volunteer in the Chugiak community – the coming 10 weeks-plus before the end of the primary is most likely going to add “temporarily” to the political divide in the Chugiak-Eagle River area as both Reinbold and Saddler both have highly loyal supporters.

“I consider them both to be friends and each has different strengths,” said Stoltze, adding that he is not going to public endorse either this round despite having endorsed each previously for runs in their House districts. “The community does not need me to help them decide between two very qualified candidates.”

Reach Amy Armstrong via email at: asocialbutterfly@gci.net.