Three vie for Senate

WASILLA — A sitting mayor and a sitting state representative are competing to take on a long-time educator for a newly minted State Senate seat.

The Republican primary features Palmer Mayor DeLena Johnson and State Rep. Bill Stoltze involved in one of the most fiercely contested primary races in the Valley. That race will come to a close Aug. 19, and the winner will face long-time educator and Democrat Patricia Chesbro in the Nov. 4 general election.

Stoltze and Johnson have traded accusations of hard-edged political tactics throughout the campaign. Stoltze said he and other Mat-Su legislators have been “attacked” by proxies for Johnson. Johnson accused Stoltze of intimidating her supporters.

However, when asked about the issues facing voters locally and statewide, similar themes emerged, primarily an emphasis on fiscal responsibility, though candidates chose different focal points. All candidates alluded to the newness of District F, created as part of this year’s statewide redistricting.

Johnson specifically mentioned the Public Employee Retirement System and overall spending as areas of concern.

“I’d like to see more planning and more vision, but really for me it’s trying to get our arms around the out-of-control budget, both operating and capital,” she said. “When you have deficit spending at $1.6 billion per year, we need to separate the needed from the nice-to-have.”

The state should step up to meet its retirement obligations, Johnson said.

By contrast, Stoltze labeled formula programs — programs funded by formula allotments from state funds from the state operating budget — as the primary cause for what both candidates describe as a looming budget crisis.

“We’re facing real problems with our operating budget,” he said. “By 2023, K-12 education, pension liabilities and Medicaid will consume 100 percent of revenues, so we’ve got a real problem with that. Those are formula programs that will continue to grow. It’s not really capital projects, those are a one-time expense.”

“You’ve got to recognize there is a problem and it’s not sustainable,” Stoltze added. “We can increase our revenues through more production, and that’s some of the things we’re hoping for in the gas line that are going to bring money in, but it can’t keep pace with the exponential growth in our formula programs. On the trail, it’s really easy to say ‘Yep, good investment there.’ Well, it’s an expenditure, and if you increase it by x dollars, then that adds to it by x percent. Formula plans are killing us.”

Characteristic of her background as an educator, Chesbro identified education as the most important issue, but echoed the idea of enacting necessary budget items.

“I believe education is an economic issue,” she said. “We can’t solve it just with money.”

“We need to be reexamining our priorities for Alaska, to make sure we’re spending money on the right things,” Chesbro added.

While the candidates generally embraced fiscal responsibility, each offered at least one example of a program that ought to be evaluated which could potentially increase expenditures.

Transportation is a huge throttle on economic development in Alaska, and ought to be addressed, Johnson said.

“I’d like to see transportation corridors prioritized so we know how we’re going to move these numbers of people that are growing, so it just doesn’t sneak up on us,” she said. “That, as well as your transporting oil, transporting resources. I think it’s just a matter of looking at it.”

Home school and correspondence students should receive funding on equal footing with traditional brick-and-mortar students, Stoltze said. Prior to the 2014 session, they had received 80 cents on the dollar, until members of the Mat Su Valley delegation worked to increase that amount to 90 cents on the dollar.

The state government should set aside funds to provide seed money to promising businesses, Chesbro said.

“One of the ideas that I’m promoting is an angel fund that the Legislature would initially fund,” she said. “This has worked in lots of places around the country and this would show we actually care about small business.”

Each candidate also pointed to decades of connections with the Valley as the reason why voters should cast a ballot for them.

“I’m the Valley person,” Johnson said. “I’ve been raised here on Mat-Su Valley public education, I’ve raised my five kids here. I’ve governed in Palmer. I’ve worked in Palmer, I’ve invested in the Valley, raised my kids in the Valley. I’m the Valley candidate, I’m the one who’s been here and done that and knows what’s happening, as opposed to growing up in Anchorage or some other state or something like that.”

Chesbro distanced herself from the Legislature, based in part on what she said is an anti-incumbent sentiment in the current electoral cycle.

“People should vote for me because I’m not a politician,” she said. “I’m a person who brings a different kind of experience to the Legislature than my opponents.”

“I think I’m smart, but I think I’m a lot smarter when I hear what other people have to say,” Chesbro added. “All of those things make me a good candidate and a good choice in this election.”

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com