Mallott would govern for people, not at them

To the editor:

On behalf of the Mat-Su Democrats, I would like to thank gubernatorial candidate Byron Mallott, who spoke to us and then took questions for over an hour at our recent Egan dinner. Byron is a very intelligent, thoughtful, wise and empathetic gentleman who was born and raised in Yakutat and has an incredible résumé, serving under Govs. Bill Egan, Wally Hickel and Jay Hammond. He has also been mayor of Yakutat and Juneau, president of AFN, CEO of Sealaska and executive of Alaska Permanent Fund Corp., just to name a few.

A Mallott administration will be a real change for Alaska, bringing the governor and his staff out to the people rather than remaining isolated in the towers of power in Juneau and Anchorage. Byron wants to govern with the people rather than at them. He’s worked successfully throughout his long career with citizens, politicians and business people of all parties and philosophies and wants to soften the political divide in our state. His No. 1 priority for Alaska is education, from pre-kindergarten all the way up — the only way to truly invest in our future. Responsible resource development and capital projects that make economic sense in the long run are important, but our children need to come first.

In all his years of state and local government and business, Byron has managed to keep a low profile. He was hesitant to run for governor, but was encouraged to do so by leaders from both parties. I would like to encourage every voting Alaskan to get informed about our gubernatorial candidates as our future economy and way of life are at risk as oil tax revenues dwindle and our public schools are being threatened by flat funding yet again.

Gwen Heynen, chair

Mat Su Democrats