Experienced Leadership. Rural Alaska Values.
I am running for the Alaska House because the communities of District 37 deserve experienced, practical leadership from someone who understands rural Alaska not just during an election, but through a lifetime of service.
For more than forty years, I have worked in local government, Tribal leadership, organized labor, business, economic development, and community infrastructure. I helped build Unalaska’s modern infrastructure, served on the Unalaska City Council and Ounalashka Corporation Board, chaired the council that wrote the Qawalangin Tribe’s constitution, and spent much of my working life as an equipment mechanic and member of ILWU Local 223. Those experiences taught me how to listen, manage public resources responsibly, bring people together, and turn difficult ideas into achievable projects.
My vision is simple: our children and grandchildren should be able to build good lives in the communities they call home. That requires strong schools, healthy fisheries, affordable energy and housing, reliable transportation, accessible healthcare, public safety, and good-paying jobs.
Lowering the Cost of Rural Life
Families should not have to choose between heating their homes, buying food, paying for housing, or finding childcare. The Legislature cannot control every source of inflation, but it can address the costs that hit rural Alaska hardest. I will support Power Cost Equalization, practical renewable-energy projects, stronger ports and airports, the Alaska Marine Highway System, bulk-fuel and energy-storage improvements, more housing and weatherization, affordable childcare, and infrastructure that lowers freight and operating costs.
Transportation is economic development. Investments in ports, airports, roads where appropriate, marine and river transportation, broadband, water, and sewer systems can reduce costs, improve emergency access, and create opportunity throughout the district.
Protecting Fisheries, Subsistence, and Our Way of Life
Healthy fisheries are the foundation of District 37’s economy, cultures, and food security. I will support science-based management, stronger habitat and water-quality protections, better monitoring and accountability for avoidable bycatch, and meaningful participation by Tribes, local fishermen, subsistence users, and coastal communities.
I support lasting protection for rural subsistence and am willing to seriously consider a constitutional solution that allows Alaska to fulfill the rural priority envisioned under Title VIII of ANILCA. I remain firmly opposed to Pebble Mine because the risk to Bristol Bay’s watershed, salmon, subsistence resources, and communities is unacceptable. Responsible development must create lasting local benefits without sacrificing the resources that sustain us.
Investing in People and Communities
Rural schools are the heart of our communities. I support a permanent, meaningful increase to the Base Student Allocation; predictable funding; career and technical education; modern technology; teacher housing; and a defined-benefit retirement option that helps recruit and retain educators and other public employees.
No family should face a mental-health or substance-use crisis alone because help is unavailable or hundreds of miles away. I will work to expand prevention, early intervention, tele-health, crisis response, treatment, youth mentoring, victim services, and culturally appropriate care delivered in partnership with Tribal health organizations.
I will also support more VPSOs and law-enforcement capacity, stronger Tribal public-safety partnerships, resilient emergency facilities, better communications, and coordinated preparation for storms, floods, erosion, earthquakes, tsunamis, and other disasters.
Standing with Workers and Governing Responsibly
As a retired union member, I know unions strengthen families and communities. I support collective bargaining, prevailing wages, project labor agreements, fair pay and benefits, safe workplaces, honoring negotiated contracts, and restoring a defined-benefit retirement system. I oppose so-called right-to-work laws and the unnecessary privatization of public services. New technologies, including artificial intelligence, should be implemented with reasonable safeguards and a meaningful voice for workers and their unions.
Alaska also needs a durable fiscal plan. Endless cuts will not build the state we need. I will work for disciplined budgeting, less duplication, responsible economic growth, a sustainable Permanent Fund and meaningful dividend, and a fair return for Alaska’s oil resources so we can fund education, public safety, infrastructure, and a responsible capital budget.
Representation Built on Partnership
My responsibility will be to the people of District 37, not to a political party. I am willing to work in a bipartisan coalition and with anyone who is prepared to govern respectfully and deliver results. I support secure, transparent, and accessible elections, including rural voting access, open primaries, ranked-choice voting, ballot curing, and meaningful campaign-finance disclosure.
The State must also treat Tribes as governments and engage them before decisions are made. I will listen to every community and work with Tribes, municipalities, corporations, businesses, labor organizations, school districts, healthcare providers, fishermen, and residents. District 37 is vast and diverse, but our communities share a determination to endure and thrive. I am asking for your vote so we can turn that determination into a stronger future—together.