Mayor's race gets crowded

June 14, 2005

DARRELL L. BREESE/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - Longtime Wasilla resident and former City Council candidate Steve Stoll announced Friday that he has tossed his hat into the mayor's race.

Stoll, who has lived in Wasilla for 28 years, said he was reaching out to the community to learn if there is interest in his candidacy.

He becomes the third candidate to announce an intention to run for the position currently occupied by Dianne M. Keller. Keller and City Council member Diana Straub have already declared their intention to run. If the early declaration from the three is any indication, the field for the Oct. 4 mayoral election may get crowded in upcoming months.

The full-time mayoral position currently pays a $73,246 annual salary.

Stoll, who works as a land surveyor, promised to do no fund-raising for campaign signs or mass mailings. Rather, he plans to go door to door and meet with every family in Wasilla.

"I look forward to meeting each and every voter in Wasilla," Stoll said in his announcement. "I want to hear from them by meeting them this summer at their doorstep."

Asked why he was entering the race for mayor, Stoll pointed out four areas he would address if elected: Safe streets, efficient government, property rights and fair taxation.

"The city of Wasilla must start to cooperate rather than compete with Palmer and the borough in the development of our infrastructure," Stoll said. "That is the only way we can meet the long-term common needs of Wasilla and the rest of the core area."

Stoll would also eliminate what he calls frivolous spending to make government more efficient. He said he would eliminate the city's $100,000-a-year economic development department, stop paying for what he called "vanity videos," stop city administrators' travel to the nation's capital and get rid of the $30,000 the city pays annually for a part-time lobbyist in Washington, D.C.

"I have fought and will continue to fight the battle against the irrational NIMBY's and those who feel their 'vision' of their neighbor's land is more important than his own," he said. "I am proud to say I'm no friend of the anti-development group 'Friends of Mat-Su.' And property owners' rights need to be protected."

He also voiced concerns that Wasilla relies too heavily on sales tax.

"I have a plan to give parents building a family the same tax break as a contractor building a house, by offering the public a chance to vote on an annual cap on the sales taxes paid for groceries," he said, "and work against any change to the annual cap on the tax for building supplies for the owner-builder."

The official filing period for all city of Wasilla elected positions is July 18-29.

Darrell Breese may be reached at 352-2267 or darrell.breese@frontiersman.com.