Trio of candidates vie for 2 borough seats

PALMER — Two seats are open this year on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly and, when the deadline to enter the contest passed Friday evening, three candidates had tossed their hats into the ring.

District 4, which represents the Wasilla area, has caught the eye of Pat Johnson and Steve Colligan. District 5, representing Big Lake and Knik, has drawn just one candidate — Darcie Salmon. Barring a successful write-in campaign, the seat will go to him.

The three candidates bring a diverse array of skills and backgrounds to the campaign trail. In alphabetical order, here is a rundown of who’s who:

Stephen “Steve”

Colligan

Colligan, who is currently vice-chair of Alaska’s Republican Party, is a familiar face in Valley political circles. He was born in Fairbanks and has lived in Alaska his whole life.

“My family has been Mat-Su property owners since the late ’50s,” he said.

Colligan entered his professional life as a petroleum engineer, but quickly turned to computers when the state’s economy took a downturn. He currently runs a firm, E-Terra, which specializes in geographic information system projects using computers to map various regions of the state for governments and organizations and in computer-aided design and database services.

He said he is mainly running to make sure the borough lives up to its slogan of being “open for business.”

“We need some good business people on the assembly right now. We need strong economic development,” he said. “It’s only going to happen if we make some decent, firm decisions based on business logic, not emotions.”

A good example, he said, is the borough’s Port MacKenzie.

“Everybody is supportive of the port, but not everybody is supportive of things that help the port move forward,” Colligan said.

If elected, Colligan said, he would give up his position with the Republican Party. He said he doesn’t have the time to do both.

Patrick “Pat” Johnson

Johnson has served on the Mat-Su Borough’s planning commission for about three years. He’s currently the chairman of that body, which mainly advises the assembly on land use issues such as zoning changes and major construction projects. He said he has found his time on the commission rewarding. The work is tough, but he said that doesn’t bother him.

“There’ll be a lot harder work on the assembly,” Johnson said.

Johnson is a Vietnam veteran and retired carpenter. He learned the construction trades in the Navy where he was in the Seabees. He moved to Alaska in 1965, finishing high school here. His mother still lives along Knik-Goose Bay Road.

He said there are no major issues that have drawn him into the race, but he would like to work to ensure the borough continues to offer really good neighborhoods for people to live in.

“I plan on working with the assembly and the mayor to do a good job for the people, and it’s really about people and how we can best protect neighborhoods and the education of our young,” Johnson said.

Darcie Salmon

Salmon is a 30-year Alaska resident and another person you might have encountered if you’ve spent any time traveling in political circles here.

Though he was educated in psychology, Salmon has worked as a real estate agent for most of his life.

“Fourteen years ago I had a major accident,” he said, referencing a car crash on Knik-Goose Bay Road. Salmon has told the story on television in a commercial sponsored by the Alaska State Troopers urging drivers to exercise caution on that road. “At that time I owned my own company and it put me out of commission for awhile and that’s when I ran for mayor.”

And he won. Salmon was borough mayor from 1997 to 2000.

“I’ve been on a 10-year hiatus since then and now some things that we began when I was the mayor and before are nearing a point where they can actually begin to bear fruit,” Salmons said. “It’s time for me and my heart to step back in and hopefully bring them to fruition.”

Mostly, Salmon said, he is talking about development of the borough’s Port MacKenzie, which he sees as the lynchpin to the region’s economy. He sees it spurring development of resources in the state’s Interior, complementing Anchorage’s port, and creating a unified Southcentral economy.

In general, he said, he is another person who believes the borough should be open for business. He said he’s embarrassed when he sees surveys and statistics that rank Alaska among the worst in which to do business.

“I’m not saying that unilaterally the Mat-Su Borough can turn that around but I do believe that Southcentral can,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.