Primary preview: Experience versus a fresh set of eyes in Senate Seat E race

MAT-SU — With the primary election coming up on Aug. 21, there are three contested races to determine who will represent the party in the general election later this fall. Each candidate was interviewed separately and asked, among others, these questions:

What qualifies you to run for this position? What are your thoughts on SB91, the PFD, and the budget? Each candidate was asked if they would join a caucus if elected, and each candidate was asked about running against their particular opponent.

Senate Seat E will be a contest between experience and a fresh set of eyes in Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Randall Kowalke and incumbent, Sen. Mike Shower.

Randall Kowalke

Kowalke was elected to represent District 7 of the Mat-Su Borough, which encompasses Talkeetna, Willow, Trapper Creek, and Sheep Mountain in a contentious election in October of 2015. Kowalke was one of the first names sent to Gov. Bill Walker for confirmation following Sen. Mike Dunleavy’s exit from the Senate, but Kowalke was not confirmed. He believes his experience is his strong suit. He has been a member of the assembly for more than 1,000 days and has 30 to 40 years of business experience, including working for the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation.

“We have to do things together here. We have to fund schools. We have to pass a budget, and we have to work in a collaborative way to do that. I bring that experience. I’ve been dealing with an extremely rural district. I have 73 percent of the Mat-Su Borough land, 18,500 square miles. So I’ve been dealing with that kind of scale which is going to be large but similar to the Senate district E,” Kowalke said.

Kowalke bills the borough for 2,000 miles a month, a number he is proud of, driving his 2004 Jeep all over the Mat-Su. Kowalke represents such a large portion of the borough that he feels is underrepresented due to the focus in the more suburban and urban areas of the Valley.

“I think every member of the Senate majority except the President of the Senate called me or told me face to face that ‘you would’ve made a great senator,’ or ‘we would’ve loved to have had you in the Senate. The Governor broke the rules and we’re not going to allow that.’ I don’t hold any grudge against anybody,” Kowalke said.

Kowalke boiled the race down to experience. He and Shower are nearly identical on the issues, but he says that his decades of experience in government would be useful in Juneau.

“Repeal 91, it passed [the borough assembly] unanimously, was unanimously ignored in Juneau, and the rest is history. I think today we could have 100 Troopers in the Mat-Su Borough and still not have people safe because of SB91,” Kowalke said.

Kowalke was part of a group that traveled to China for discussions on economic partnerships with the Asian superpower.

“I’d like to see us not ship logs, but ship lumber. I’d like to see us be able to process ore without shipping shiploads of ore out of the gate but we need to get our economy fixed. We need to get people employed here and then seriously work on import substitution,” Kowalke said.

“One of the things that I’m painfully aware of here being as the representative of the drainage of the Susitna River, is fish.”

Kowalke would like to see the ANWR developed, and audits of government departments done to cut down the number of unnecessarily funded positions.

“I think Mike’s a great pilot, I’m a great legislator,” Kowalke said.

Mike Shower

Shower is the sitting senator in District E and a pilot for Fed-Ex. After an illustrious 24-year military career as a fighter pilot, Shower opted not to join the caucus when he arrived in Juneau as the Senate seat E appointee in late February, preventing him from extra staff and funding from the party. Shower believes that his very short career in politics is to his benefit, as he is able to see Juneau with a fresh set of eyes. Shower submitted a Rule 48 letter to get bills out of committee that were being held up by the committee chair in order to get Bree’s Law passed.

“Everything should be out in the open and I have no problem saying that. I think that is probably dangerous to people in Juneau that don’t want somebody that’s willing to tell people exactly what’s going on, which I plan to do and already have,” Shower said.

Shower dealt ‘behind the green door’ on classified projects in the military, but believes that the public process should be as transparent as possible. His lack of caucus allowed him to work with Democrats like Bill Wielechowski.

“I’m a rebellious fighter pilot that doesn't like to be told how he’s going to vote, what he’s going to do. ‘Oh the system, that’s just how it works.’ I go that’s not the right answer. If we’re just doing business because, well, that’s the way we’ve always done it and you have to work inside the system, then change the system! It’s clearly not working on every level. Maybe we need to do it a little better,” Shower said.

Shower, like many, wants to see SB91 repealed. But Shower questions much of the status quo of the system in Juneau, hoping that fresh eyes will help to alleviate problems. Shower believes that the founders wanted new people to fill positions in the legislature every few years and prevent ‘career politicians’

“The biggest thing I learned is that working across party lines can be important,” Shower said.

Shower described the thrill and monumental nature of voting in Juneau.

“I’ve been in combat, I’ve shot at people I’ve been shot at and I’m not sure how much my heart rate even went up, because you're trained. It’s what you do, right? I’m sure it went up, but it’s not like you know, something. The first time, literally I hit the voting button with my finger, my heart skipped a beat. Literally it was like, whoa. It hit me just like that, it was shocking when I realized what it was, and it got heavier as the session went on, was that realization that this isn’t just a game like some people hit it and maybe play their political games. Mine was like, I’m affecting people’s lives here,” Shower said.