PUBLISHER’S NOTEBOOK: The ‘Swami’ predicts next Tuesday’s elections

Tuesday, Oct. 3, voters will be heading to the polls to decide who will be a part of the leadership at the Mat-Su Borough Assembly and school board, City of Wasilla and City of Palmer. Plus, there’s a 1-percent sales tax for the City of Wasilla to consider, which would be earmarked for a new Wasilla public safety building.

I’m bringing out my inner Swami, borrowing from longtime ESPN anchor Chris Berman, to predict the outcome of a few of the political races.

The Frontiersman does not endorse candidates and, to be clear, these predictions are not endorsements. You’re smart enough to make your own decisions. This column is written with all due respect and gratitude toward all who decided to throw their hat into the various races. Thank you to each candidate for your willingness to serve the public. I know it’s a huge undertaking just to campaign, much less to serve.

The Frontiersman has profiled each candidate in the Borough Assembly races and an overview of the City of Palmer Council race plus the City of Wasilla mayoral seat. The People’s Paper allowed each candidate to submit in their own words an open letter to the voters about their particular campaign. I will be using both of these and other observations including asking voters their thoughts on who would win these races.

Four for two

There are four candidates vying for two seats in the City of Palmer race. Top two vote getters win. I like this format. It makes the candidates focus on their campaign and less on the others. The incumbents are Deputy Mayor Linda Combs, first elected in 2011, and Brad Hanson, first elected in 2002. The newcomers are Sabrena Combs, who is married to Linda Combs’ nephew Dave, and Kenni Psenak Linden. I pretty much had this as a foregone conclusion that the incumbents would win.

The city appears to run more or less smoothly and invokes the old saying, “if ain’t broke don’t fix it.” No controversy with the City of Palmer to speak of, but a pretty common complaint I hear at various civic and service organizations is that “we need to get younger. We need young people to step up and be involved.”

Well, the Palmer residents have an opportunity to make that happen. Then, just as it seemed everything was quiet, apparently someone decided to go negative against a candidate. Sabrena Combs addressed this in a very well-written and elegant post about her competitors. It showed the kind of grace and thoughtfulness one would want from a civic leader. You can read it on her campaign Facebook page. It’s worth the read whether you are a qualified voter or not. Sabrena Combs is very visible in the Palmer community and has the best chance to unseat one of the two incumbents.

Swami says, Linda Combs and Brad Hanson will come out on top but Sabrena Combs will make it close. It’s very difficult to unseat incumbents, especially when they have been so strong in their posts.

I could’ve been a contendah

It would take someone very special to unseat incumbent City of Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle. He is a one- man City of Wasilla public relations firm. He’s the only candidate who could go to Juneau and get an audience with any state legislator or administrator because of his long history in Alaska public service. I attend a ton of events and more than likely Cottle will be there speaking about the good things Wasilla has to offer. The other two candidates running for office are Kevin S. Baker and Loren Means. I read both of their submissions to the People’s Paper — submissions in their own words — and I found them quite interesting. They can’t claim the old, “you took me out of context” to defend their statements.

Loren Means is running against Cottle basically because you won’t. He spends his opportunity to reach out to the People’s Paper’s readers by chastising them and citizens in general for not being more involved. He states, “If you know me and few do, you would know that I have other things to do than run for mayor and quite frankly, I would rather do the other things.”

I’m pretty sure Mr. Means will be awarded the opportunity to do other things.

Kevin S. Baker wrote a lengthy letter in the People’s Paper and laid out his agenda. He is opposed to the sales tax on the ballot. He is for the cultivation and sale of cannabis in Wasilla.

“It makes much more sense to tax marijuana than school supplies,” he wrote.

That’s fair enough. His point also that Wasilla could capture tourism dollars for marijuana is fair as well. “Imagine paying for things like increased police force, a new public safety building, addiction treatment centers and fairgrounds with taxes from legalized marijuana.”

That’s a pretty good imagination. Marijuana is not that much of a tax boon, not to mention the Wasilla voters turned down marijuana on the same ballot the current mayor was voted in on. A new college or fairgrounds are both options he is proposing for use of the former Iditarod Elementary School property instead of a new public safety building. Does Wasilla need a college campus? Isn’t the Curtis Menard Center serving pretty much as Wasilla’s fairgrounds? Does Wasilla need another?

Swami says, Bert Cottle in a landslide

The tale of the tape on two seats

In Borough Assembly District 4, where Steve Colligan is being forced out due to term limits, comes down to Ted Leonard and Pat Hogan. Leonard’s “Vote for Ted” signs are very visible and were up early. His credentials are impressive. Hogan got a late start on signage and a social media presence. She leans heavily on her 40 years of nursing experience. Leonard has worked in municipality finance and school board finance for many years. I think Leonard’s qualifications are too much for Hogan to overcome. She is sincere in her efforts to make the Mat-Su a better place, but will it be enough?

Swami says, Ted Leonard and it’s probably called early.

District 5 has incumbent Dan Mayfield facing off against Mat-Su Valley fixture Clayton “Mokie” Tew. Mayfield’s campaign slogan is “running for the right reasons.” Could one infer that the Mayfield campaign believes Tew is running for the wrong reasons?

Last October, the Mat-Su Borough terminated the contract for its annual road service maintenance with Tew’s Inc., citing at least 28 separate occasions of deficient road maintenance work. It was a contentious issue with Borough administration, Tew’s Inc and the residents in District 5. Feelings are still raw, whichever side of the issue those involved fell on. Is Mayfield’s campaign referring to this issue with its slogan?

Both candidates cite crime as the No. 1 issue the voters in their district brought to their attention. But all either candidate could do as an assembly member is lobby state legislators for change. Legislators are well aware that the Mat-Su residents are not happy about the protection they are provided.

Tew, in his open letter in the People’s Paper, touts taxes being thrown around by the Mat-Su Borough as one of his campaign points. “Economically killing ideas like the sales tax, income tax, and garbage bag tax are being thrown around in the Mat-Su assembly,” Tew wrote.

So here is what happens when a newspaper lets candidates write an open letter and not sit down with an actual journalist to make clear the talking points of the candidate. We can only assume that Tew is speaking of the sales tax that was to be earmarked for the school district, which has been tabled indefinitely, and assume that the garbage bag tax is the retail plastic bag tax that is proposed, but looks like is heading toward an outright ban with the City of Wasilla leading the way. Both of these issues Mayfield, in his Frontiersman candidate profile, states he opposed to and gives his well thought out reasons. I have no idea what income tax the Mat-Su Borough Assembly has been throwing around. I’m thinking Tew is speaking of the State Legislature.

The People’s Paper is a free-for-all on content, and it can be as confusing as some of your most wildly irresponsible social media content. What is fact and what is fiction?

Tew also asked for donations at the end of his open letter. Now I’m not sure if it’s an open letter or an advertorial. Tew does have 40 years of business experience in the Mat-Su and that is an important qualification.

Swami says, Mayfield will keep his seat but it could be close. I wouldn’t lay odds in Vegas on this one.

Wasilla sales tax

The only item that would keep the proposed City of Wasilla sales tax from passing is the fact that the 1 percent turns to a half of a percent after two years or $12 million is raised. But voters seem to be unanimous that we need better protection in the Valley and the half percent will continue to fund the City of Wasilla’s efforts. It will be interesting to see if voters put their money where their collective mouths are and vote for this tax proposal.

Swami says, the voters will stand behind their cries for better police protection and vote yes on the sales tax proposal.

One contested school board seat

Incumbents are hard to unseat. The District 6 seat could come down to the Mat-Su Borough School District’s proposed sales tax request of the Mat-Su Borough in which community members overwhelmingly oppose. Kelsey Trimmer currently sits on the board in District 6. Emery Schramm is wanting his seat. It will be interesting to see if voters will go to the polls with the mindset of change on the school board or keeping the status quo.

Swami says, status quo wins and Trimmer continues on the school board.

Thank you for reading the Frontiersman.