PUBLISHER'S NOTEBOOK: Life Just Got Crazy!!!!

The title of this column is a quote taken from Michelle Shower’s Facebook page. It was her lead in a post to the KTVA.com story she shared announcing Governor Walker’s selection of her husband Mike Shower to fill Mike Dunleavy’s Senate seat in District E.

In between being confirmed by Senate Republicans and being officially sworn into duty in Juneau on Monday. Shower already has a taste of how crazy life is going to be as a State Senator. Making an appearance at the ribbon cutting for the new Public Safety Building 7-3 in Meadow Lakes, then whisking over to attend a town hall meeting with the Mat-Su Delegation at the Palmer Senior Center.

It was nearly an hour into the town hall meeting when Representative David Eastman and Senator Shower arrived. But the room was abuzz early on in anticipation of Shower’s arrival. When Senator Shower was handed the microphone to speak to those in the audience. Shower began with, “As you well may be aware, this has been a whirlwind week for me. This wasn’t on my radar screen five weeks ago. My wife laughs at me because I asked her to pray for me and she’s like, ‘we prayed for you to get more involved.’ Be careful what you ask God for.”

The statement drew applause from the crowd.

Shower is a former Air Force Lt. Col. and squadron commander for JBER’s 90th Fighter Squadron. During that time, he oversaw the Air Force’s first intercept of a Russian aircraft over Alaska. We should all have great confidence in him that this appointment, although sudden, is not over his head. He was well spoken at the end of the meeting.

“I use the three B’s when public speaking, Be brief, be sincere and be seated,” he said. Shower spoke of speaking at prior meetings and people urging him to get more involved. Well, he’s involved now. He’s a conservative from a conservative district and at the end of his speaking time he asked for prayers as he enters into his new role.

If I were to describe the man’s first impression in one word it would be humble. He humbly and graciously recognized George Rauscher and Todd Smolden - not by name, but as two people who were on the original list of three submitted to Governor Walker for consideration to fill Dunleavy’s seat. In Shower’s words, both are very capable people, and he’s correct. And whether it is the result of answered - or maybe unanswered - prayers that got us here. At the end of the day Shower is the man who now has to hit the ground running, learn on a short curve and make decisions for his constituents.

During the process many have stated that basically whoever fills the seat is merely a placeholder until the November election. But with Shower’s military background and passion to get involved, I believe he is going to make the most of this opportunity. He’s had to make quicker and more urgent decisions in a shorter time frame in his previous career. He has the stature and background of a leader and now he has to lead more people than he ever has in the past.

The process and road to get to this point in which finally someone was selected to fill the rather large shoes of Mike Dunleavy was convoluted and at times very ugly. But we are here and Mike Shower, as well as the rest of the Valley delegation, now needs our support to fight the uphill battle of passing a balanced budget that includes reasonable expenses that will still provide services we depend on daily, and hopefully without new taxes.