New blood for Borough school board

Frontiersman

MAT-SU — Incumbents Dan Contini and Larry DeVilbiss have lost their seats on the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District Board of Education with newcomer candidate Colleen Hamblen winning the only seat without an incumbent, Seat F, according to unofficial results released Tuesday.

DeVilbiss said district unions — which will be negotiating new contracts soon — got the candidates they backed. The incumbents who lost Tuesday had recently voted to outsource custodial services to private contractors.

The election also brought a voice from the Upper Susitna Valley, which previously had no representative on the board.

Contini, longtime Palmer fire chief and a safety educator in Borough schools, trailed challenger Sandra White of Talkeetna for Seat G throughout the evening, losing by 3,572 votes in the unofficial count. Unofficial voter turnout at the polls was 20.60 percent Borough-wide. White had 6,153 votes to Contini’s 2,581.

“I’d like to thank all of the people who helped me with my campaign,” said White, the apparent top vote-getter among the newcomers. White is manager of Talkeetna Air Taxi and this was her first campaign. “I’m excited. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Contini had served on the school board for more than a decade. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Newly elected to Seat C is Susan Pougher, a district parent and a former district employee who ran a campaign stressing the need for board unity and support for the new superintendent, George Troxel. She ran as an advocate for district parents. None of the seated board members have children in Borough schools, whereas Pougher and White do.

“I think people are ready for a change,” Pougher said of the ballot results.

DeVilbiss, a Palmer resident and a former state agriculture director, also has more than a decade of service to the board. Pougher had 5,909 votes to DeVilbiss’ 3,830.

“Obviously, the union got their wish,” DeVilbiss said of three candidates he dubbed “the union gals.”

DeVilbiss and Contini each supported the recent outsourcing of district janitorial services. The district in the past also outsourced bus driver duties to private contractors.

Labor unions favored the newcomers, he said, adding that “the union has got their candidates writing their contracts.”

DeVilbiss said the fact that the district has upcoming contract negotiations with several employee unions was a strong undercurrent in the campaign. The winning candidates were identified as pro-union by district labor unions, he said.

Pougher sees the results a little differently. She ran her campaign for less than $5,000.

“We’re not talking high finance at all,” she said. “It was a pretty thrifty campaign.”

Her campaign, she said, was not funded by any union.

DeVilbiss, Pougher said, “did not campaign. He did not put up a sign. He did not go to a door. Neither did Dan Contini. We did,” she said of the winners.

Pougher said those votes were from individuals, and more individuals voted for her than the collective members of any of the labor organizations to which DeVilbiss referred.

White said she turned back money from a suspected union organization, citing her policy of only taking contributions from individuals. Her campaign activities included attending a Republican and a Democratic event, an appearance at Burchell High School’s civics class and a visit to the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce. She ran an ad on KMBQ Radio and had some campaign signs.

Winning candidate Colleen Hamblen could not be reached for comment.

Contact John R. Moses at john.moses@frontiersman.com or call him at 352-2270.