Newcomers oust school board incumbents

Editor’s note: A version of this story was first published Tuesday evening at www.frontiersman.com. Visit the Frontiersman online daily for breaking news.

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

DeVilbiss said unions — which will soon negotiate new contracts with the district — got the candidates they backed. The incumbents who lost Tuesday had recently voted to outsource custodial services to private contractors. One newcomer, Hamblen, accepted $1,200 from two school union political action committees and a statewide union association while another newcomer mailed contributions back to a union source.

Tuesday’s election also added to the board a voice from the Upper Susitna Valley, which previously had no representative.

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.

Gilbert M. Lucero, who dropped out of the race and supported White, still got 841 votes.

“Something around 20 percent of the population has spoken,” a high-spirited Contini said from his post at a Palmer firehouse.

Contini noted strong labor union support for White and an energetic campaign, coupled with his recent vote to outsource school janitorial jobs. “. . . I ticked them off when I voted for a change in the janitorial,” Contini said of the unions.

He said he voted his conscience after reviewing the facts on that issue.

“She’s the winner, so we’ll support her. I’m not disappointed; I’m very supportive and happy for her,” Contini said.

Contini had served on the school board for more than a decade. Now, he said, he’ll have at least four nights free of meetings, according to his wife’s count.

Contini said he wished for her sake she lived closer to Palmer, because the job will take up a lot of her time.

When she won, White was already on the road — at a professional tourism conference in Juneau.

“I’d like to thank all of the people who helped me with my campaign,” said White, the 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.”

Newly elected to Seat C is Susan Pougher, a district parent and a former district nutrition manager 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 $4,000.

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

Pougher accepted a contributiona from at least one union political action committee. Because she raised less than $4,000 she does not have to file disclosure papers, she said.

“Luckily, in our country, people can back and vote for who they please,” Pougher said. If De Vilbiss is tring to present “this as some big Veco thing he’s on the wrong track.”

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.

Hamblen said she’s not ashamed of taking money and support from labor unions. Her husband, an airline pilot, belongs to a union. She was asked to run for office by teacher’s union president George Stuart, who as an individual also chipped in $500, according to a filing with the State Public Offices Commission. She said she told Stuart at the outset, “we’re not always going to see eye-to-eye.”

Hamblen said the outsourcing was a big issue, not just for school workers but throughout the Borough community.

Hamblen said no one should make “a huge assumption” that she is a vote for union issues.

“I’m a huge supporter of education. I’ve never tried to hide that,” Hamblen said. Her children attend a private Christian school because she wants them to have a Christian upbringing, she said. Hamblen is the principal of a Christian school. “I don’t in any way not support public schools.”

Hamblen said she’s eager to get to work, and plans to speak with seated boardmembers prior to her mid-month swearing-in. “I have a lot of visions, but I have to find out in reality what can be done,” she said.

White said she turned back money from a union organization, thanking them for supporting her campaign but citing her policy of only taking contributions from individuals. White at first declined to take individual contributions, but was persuaded by friends to accept money just from individuals, not political action committees.

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.

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