Supports Church

To the editor:

Mat-Su Business Alliance held a highly publicized forum Sept. 21. Unfortunately, one of the event’s organizers placed a chair and nameplate at the podium for Michelle Church, Mat-Su Borough Assembly candidate, even though it was known that she had a conflict and was not able to attend. Setting up a chair for a participant who sent her regrets is not protocol. It’s highly unusual.

The empty chair sat on the stage for the entire forum. Through comments, it was inferred that her absence was either because she did not care about the forum or was afraid to appear. In debates and arguments, Church is articulate and always holds her own. She never backs away, especially when it involves critical life/Valley issues. Adding to the insult were remarks made by moderator Dan Fagan and Assembly candidate Ron Arvin. Not only was this impolite and disrespectful, but it also was dishonest.

Church is a fiscal conservative. She served on the Assembly from 2006-09. She was not afraid to make the hard decisions even when voting a different way would have made her more popular with particular groups. Three years ago when she left the Assembly, $14 million was in the total reserves. Today, we have only $4 million. That’s down $10 million! Now our bond rating may be in jeopardy. What happened? Obviously, the incumbent had something to do with this depletion since he always votes with the majority.

Church says she would not have voted for the $7 million allocation to build the new Assembly chamber that includes an office for each Assembly member! She believes these offices will likely rarely be used. “Staff need the room. The Assembly does not,” Church said.

The stated reason for the Alliance forum was to gather information about where candidates stood on important Valley issues. If the Alliance had just asked Church to write down her opinions regarding fiscal and other critical Valley issues, they would have known her stand.

As a member of the forum committee for the Mat-Su Democratic Party, I write to guests not able to attend an event. In general, I say “Thank you for your willingness to serve our community by running for office! … I’m sorry you won’t be able to join us. But, thank you for giving your time to answer the questions in writing, which then will help us know who you are and what your positions are regarding issues important to ... in the Mat-Su.”

Something the Alliance may want to consider. Just a thought.

What is interesting about all this is that Arvin was not in China for this event. He usually chooses China over being present for Assembly meetings. He attends via teleconference. Where did those millions go? Had Arvin been in the room when fiscal arguments were presented, he may have been able to focus more and evaluate the information with good judgment. Anyone who has ever had to teleconference will tell you that a face-to-face meeting is incredibly more effective and incredibly less stressful, especially when dealing with important community issues. Teleconferencing is challenging, cognitively. The stress level is high.

And so, Arvin has not been an effective assemblyman. He’s not here for us. He chooses China.

Michelle Church has my vote. She lives here and chooses to work here! And, she has a vision for our Valley. Check out her website at michellechurch.org/.

Vote for Michelle Church Oct 2. You’ll be glad you did!

Gini King-Taylor

Wasilla