Alaska Elections

Juneau’s House district boundaries changed this year, adding new communities to one district and new neighborhoods to the other.

But both capital city incumbents face no opposition, and are virtually guaranteed re-election. (Scroll down to read recent finance reports.)

The latest Alaska Public Offices Commission reports show they’ve brought it a combined total of about $40,000. The question is, why?

“I actually haven’t been asking to raise money. I have gotten some donations,” says Democrat Beth Kerttula, whose district includes downtown Juneau, Douglas Island, Petersburg, Skagway, Gustavus and Tenakee Springs.

Republican Cathy Muñoz tells a similar story. She represents Juneau’s populous Mendenhall Valley and neighborhoods to the north and south.

“The contribution I’ve received in 2012 were unsolicited. They were coming from organizations and individuals that supported my work in the Legislature,” Muñoz says.

She has raised the most, about $25,000.

A little more than half came from Political Action Committees. They included construction unions, state workers and teachers associations, realtors, seiners and a bank.

Four-fifths of her money came in last November and December.

“It’s very common to raise funds at the end of the year in anticipation of the election coming up. Fortunately, I haven’t had to raise additional funds this year,” Muñoz says.

Kerttula has brought in about $12,500, close to two-thirds of it during 2011.

About three-quarters of her funds came from PACs. They’re a mix of teachers, state workers and construction union groups. The hospitality industry and dentists’ PACS also chipped in.

“They just are sending it. It’s what the PACs themselves do. So I haven’t been asking, but they’ve been sending some money. And I will say, actually, I’m thankful, because of being able to travel,” Kerttula says.

And she has, to some of the communities added to her district.

Muñoz has used a part of her campaign funds to travel outside the area she will represent.

“Southeast Conference had a candidate forum and I traveled to that. There were election night activities in Anchorage that I attended. So I was able to travel up and use some of my campaign funds to do that,” Muñoz says.

Along with travel, Kerttula’s campaign money goes to bookkeeping, office equipment and community outreach.

“I plan to do a mailing into the communities, and possibly an ad. Senator Egan and I during the primary did an ad reminding people to go vote. Things like that,” Kerttula says.

Both candidates expect to have money left over after the election. Campaign finance rules allow a limited amount to be used for legislative office funds. Some can also be given to a political party or held over ‘til the next campaign. And surplus money can go to non-profit groups.

Juneau Senator Dennis Egan is the only legislator not facing re-election this year. The Democrat represents Munoz’ and Kerttula’s House district.

Find out more:

Read Cathy Munoz’ latest APOC finance report.

Read Beth Kerttula’s latest APOC finance report.

Check other candidate campaign forms.

Read earlier Southeast campaign finance news reports:

Finance reports show Thomas far ahead of Kreiss-Tomkins

Parties back Wilson and Olsen, ignore Johansen

Stedman fund-raising twice Kookesh total

 

With no opponents this election cycle, Juneau Representative Cathy Munoz has spent much of the campaign season attending regional gatherings, such as Southeast Conference and the Alaska Native Brotherhood Grand Camp, or helping fellow Republicans with their campaigns. She’s also had time to think about her priorities for the upcoming 28th Alaska Legislature.

Munoz has represented the Mendenhall Valley and north end of Juneau’s road system in the state House since 2008.

She’s the only Republican in Juneau’s three-person legislative delegation, which also includes House Minority Leader Beth Kerttula and Senator Dennis Egan, who’s one of ten Democrats on the Alaska Senate’s Bipartisan Coalition.

Kerttula is also running unopposed this year, while Egan is the only legislator whose seat is not on the ballot. All three ran unopposed in 2010.

“I don’t know why there’s not opposition, other than we’re doing a good job for Juneau,” Munoz says.

Her district (House District 31) was left largely intact by the state’s once a decade redistricting process, while Kerttula and Egan’s districts (House District 32 and Senate District P) expanded to include Petersburg, Skagway and a handful of smaller Southeast communities.

All told, Southeast Alaska lost one House seat and one Senate seat to redistricting. Munoz says that makes it all the more important for the region’s lawmakers to collaborate.

“In Southeast Alaska we all have to pull together,” she says. “Especially now that our numbers have decreased relative to the rest of the state. We need that close working relationship in the region to continue and I predict that it will continue.”

During campaign season, Munoz has stumped for other Republicans, including Wrangell’s Peggy Wilson and Bill Thomas of Haines.

Wilson is locked in a three-way race in the new House District 33 with fellow incumbent Republican Kyle Johansen and Democrat Matt Olsen, both of Ketchikan.

Johansen dropped out of the Republican primary to run as an Independent. Even though he’s still technically a Republican, Munoz says she’s backing Wilson.

“It’s difficult to take sides,” Munoz says. “But Peggy was the primary winner, so I don’t have any problem supporting her in the general. And she’s favored to win that race. I think she’s doing very well down in that area.”

Munoz sounds less confident about Thomas’ race against political newcomer Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins in the new House District 34.

“It’s a close race. There’s no question about it,” she says. “And it’s a concern, yes, because as co-chairman of the House Finance Committee, Representative Thomas, he’s in a position to have influence over a lot of projects that affect our region.”

While she still thinks Thomas will win, Munoz says she and Wilson are prepared to seek a seat on the Finance Committee should he lose.

“Most legislators agree, if not all that I’ve talked to, that Southeast will have a seat on Finance,” she says. “It’s a matter of whether it would be Representative Wilson or myself in the Majority caucus taking that position, if he were not elected.”

Munoz expects Republicans to retain control of the House, and she believes Nikiski Representative Mike Chenault will be reelected Speaker.

As usual, the majority and minority caucuses will meet the day after the election in Anchorage to organize for the 2013 session. She has her eye on chairing either Legislative Council or the Community and Regional Affairs Committee. Both panels deal with issues that affect Juneau’s role as the state capitol.

Munoz would also like to continue serving on the House Resources Committee, which dealt extensively with Governor Sean Parnell’s oil tax cut proposal in 2011. She voted for the plan, which would have cut taxes on oil producers by about $2-billion a year.

Munoz says oil taxes are almost certain to be an issue again in 2013, but she does not expect the contentious debates of the past two legislative sessions.

“What I’m hearing is that the legislation will look at new field development, as a way to incentivize new production and increasing production in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline,” she says.

Munoz says her specific priorities for next session include getting the final pieces of funding in place for a new State Library, Archives and Museum facility in Juneau, as well as energy and transportation infrastructure improvements throughout Southeast.

She also favors increasing the base student allocation, the formula used to provide the bulk of state money to Alaska school districts. Not all her fellow Republicans supported such an increase earlier this year, but Munoz thinks it might be unavoidable now.

“Our schools clearly need additional help,” Munoz says. “And I think most people recognize that the time has come for a BSA increase.”

Munoz plans to spend election night in Juneau watching results come in with friends. She’ll leave for Anchorage the next morning to attend organizational meetings.

Juneau Democratic State Rep. Beth Kerttula has been getting to know the residents and issues in her new district this fall.  House District 32 encompasses Juneau, Petersburg, Kupreanof, Gustavus, Tenakee and Skagway.

During a recent visit to Petersburg, Kerttula toured the city’s crumbling police station and walked aging North Harbor floats, the community’s top two capital project priorities. She also met with city officials and visited with residents for hours at a coffee shop. Kerttula has been on the campaign trail this year, but not for her re-election. She does not have an opponent in the Nov. 6election, which she calls fortunate.

“Not that I don’t believe in running hard or having opponents; in a democracy that’s what you do. But I worked really heard this summer on the coastal management initiative which we lost, but it was a valiant effort. After getting outspent 10 to one, I think we did well especially considering that most of the coast supported it,” Kerttula says.  “That was a good experience. Initiatives are very hard to do. So I was campaigning, I just wasn’t campaigning for myself this year.”

The 56-year-old Democrat has represented Juneau in the state house since 1998. She’s served as minority leader in the House since 2007 and welcomes the chance to represent other communities outside the capital city.

“For me, after being in the legislature for a long time now, it’s just really exciting to get to represent a new area,” she says.  “I love my home, I love Juneau, but I also love the rest of Southeast, so getting the opportunity to grow like this is really terrific.”

Kerttula is an attorney, was an assistant attorney general for the state and an assistant public defender. Her father Jay Kerttula served in the state legislature and was House speaker and Senate president during his legislative career.

Petersburg officials unsuccessfully challenged the state’s redistricting plan, asking instead to remain in a district with Sitka and other smaller towns in the region. Petersburg voters have helped elect Wrangell Republican Peggy Wilson six times to her House seat. Kerttula says she understands that opposition.

“One of the first lessons I really learned in the legislature is it’s not personal, it really was not about me. Not about not wanting Beth Kerttula.  And if I had lived in Petersburg I wouldn’t have really wanted the reapportionment either. But having said that, it is really a great opportunity to have a really terrific district. I mean this district is one that can bring the rest of Southeast together,” she says.

Kerttula says she wants to continue in a leadership position in the upcoming legislature. The former oil and gas attorney says the most important issue remains the state’s oil tax structure.

“We cannot give away our resource. That’s what really runs the public works capital projects, the roads, the schools. It’s 98 percent of our budget and without a reasonable tax we can join the recession like the rest of the country. So we are really lucky in Alaska but we have to continue to be strong on that,” she says.

Oil taxes will likely again be a big topic for the state legislature, which has opposed the governor’s plans for lowering taxes. Gov. Sean Parnell continues to argue his case about the need for lower taxes. In an interview this summer, he said increased production would be the by-product of lower taxes on the industry.

“And when we lower taxes and we get commitments for increased investment in the state, we have more jobs, we have more economic opportunity, we have more production in the pipe,” Parnell said.

Beyond oil taxes, construction of a natural gas pipeline will also be on the agenda for the governor and legislators. Kerttula says she also wants to pass a bill limiting class size in public schools. And she thinks the switch to a defined contribution retirement system for public employees was a mistake and should be changed.

She has plans for her staff to visit the smaller communities during the session or maintain offices outside of Juneau. Kerttula does not officially start representing the new district until she’s sworn in at the start of the next legislative session.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission has refused to be drawn into a tightly contested Senate race this year.

The commission says it will not fast track a hearing to take up a Republican Party complaint against Anchorage Democrat Hollis French.

Republican Party leaders last week charged that French had violated campaign laws in coordinating his advertising campaign with an independent election group, Putting Alaskans First.

French is running for reelection against Republican Senate candidate Bob Bell.

Republican Activist Bernadette Wilson filed the urgent complaint last week.  In a news conference, party operatives claimed that Putting Alaskans First shared some vendors.  They said one person representing several clients is equivalent to coordination – especially when the messages are similar.

They wanted APOC to hold an expedited hearing and order French and the group to stop all advertising between now and the election.

In an initial hearing  Monday, APOC chose not to vote on the question, or hear more of the complaint, until after the election.  The APOC plans to schedule the complaint for a regular board meeting after a complete investigation takes place.

APOC recently fined Bob Bell for refusing to disclose the names and amounts of money he received from business clients, among them B-P, which paid him a million dollars for his work.  Bell owns an engineering consulting firm in Anchorage.

He claimed that APOC gave him bad information on what needed to be disclosed.

 

Kyle Johansen has represented Ketchikan in the state House since he was first elected in 2006. He’s been a Republican Party regular, working his way up to majority leader, a position with significance in the GOP’s House majority.

But about two years ago, he broke with his caucus over another lawmaker’s committee assignments. That left him out of favor, out of the majority, and on the outs with Ketchikan party officials, who attempted a recall.

This election, Johansen is running as an independent. And he’s doing it without his former party’s backing. In a recent interview at KRBD in Ketchikan, he said it’s one of the reasons he’s only brought in about $6,000.

“I didn’t ask the party for any money. I am basically registered as a Republican and the party is backing Wilson, and that’s as far as it goes,” Johansen says.

Wilson is Wrangell’s Peggy Wilson, who’s represented her hometown, Petersburg and Sitka in the state House for about 10 years. Redistricting moved Wrangell into Ketchikan’s district, setting up an incumbent-vs.-incumbent race.

Wilson has the largest bank account in this race, with a bit more than $37,000 raised. (Scroll down for links to all candidates’ finance reports.)

“I’ve had a fund-raiser since then and I did get some money. I think I’ll be getting some more in. Hopefully $38,000 $39,000 [or] $40,000. I hope that will be enough,” Wilson says.

That’s six times Johansen’s total, and close to double the amount raised by Democrat Matt Olsen, according to state finance reports.

Close to a fourth of Wilson’s money comes from Republican political action committees, GOP legislators and party notables. That includes former Governor Frank Murkowski and his wife Nancy.

The Democratic Party is also strongly backing its candidate, Ketchikan City Council member Olsen. It’s provided about a sixth of his approximately $20,000 in campaign funds.

He says he would welcome additional contributions. But he thinks he has enough.

“More money in the campaign does always make you feel better, but I feel like the campaign that we’ve had and that we’ve run has been well-financed,” Olsen says.

Other political action committees play a significant role in both party-supported campaigns. (Hear a forum with the three candidates.)

About a quarter of Olsen’s funds come from government employee, teacher and construction unions. PACs, including Democratic groups, make up about 40 percent of his fund-raising total.

Almost all the PAC money is from outside House District 33.

“When you talk to Anchorage legislators, they raise their money pretty much in their district because of the high volume of highly-paid people. Ketchikan doesn’t have a lot of people who make a lot of money who can afford to give you that money. So, campaigns cost money and you have to reach out,” Olsen says.

Contractors, seiners, oil company employees and others contributed about another $4,000. That, plus the party money, makes up a bit more than a third of the Wrangell Republican’s campaign total.

“I didn’t turn to anybody for any support. That came voluntarily and I didn’t go asking for it,” Wilson says.

Ketchikan’s Johansen has only one political action committee contribution, from the construction industry group Alaska Build.

About half his approximately $6,000 raised comes from outside the district.

“I accept money from people who think I do a good job from all over the state and around the country if need be,” he says.

Overall, around $60,000 has been raised by House District 33 candidates, according recent finance reports.

That’s less than half the amount brought in for the House District 34 race. That district combines Sitka with Haines, Craig, Angoon and other small island communities. Haines Republican incumbent Bill Thomas and Sitka Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins are seeking that seat. (Hear a report on the candidates’ campaign finances.)

It’s also about two-thirds of what Angoon Democrat Albert Kookesh and Sitka Republican Bert Stedman raised. Those incumbents are seeking election to Senate District Q, which includes House Districts 33 and 34. (Hear a report on the candidates’ campaign finances.)

Find out more:

Read Peggy Wilson’s most recent APOC finance report.

Read Matt Olsen’s most recent APOC finance report.

Read Kyle Johansen’s most recent APOC finance report.

Check other candidate campaign forms.

 

More money is going into the House District 34 campaign than any other race in Southeast.

Changing legislative boundaries combined Sitka with much of the old Southeast Islands House District to create District 34. The Islands District is the one that includes Haines, Craig, Metlakatla, Hoonah, Angoon, Kake and some other small cities.

State campaign finance reports show incumbent Haines Republican Representative Bill Thomas in the lead, with about $83,000 in contributions. That’s about 40 percent more than his Democratic opponent, Sitka’s Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.

Together, they’ve raised around $130,000, making this the most expensive Southeast race. (Scroll down for links to recent campaign finance reports.)

Thomas lost Yakutat, Skagway and Cordova from his old district. But he gained Sitka, where half the new area’s constituents live, including his opponent.

He says that means a more expensive advertising campaign.

“You know, we didn’t lose any newspapers. We ended up gaining more newspapers and bigger towns and other things that we haven’t done before. So, it’s going to be spendy,” he says.

This is Kreiss-Tomkins’ first legislative race. So he also needs to raise a significant amount of money to make his presence known.

His approximately $48,000 campaign war chest is far behind Thomas’. But he says it’s not as large a gap as it seems.

“What you’re really seeing is the advantages of incumbency. And you can raise $40,000 before you have an opponent. And that’s the reason why there’s this cash discrepancy. If it started from June 1st, which is when we filed, we’d be up a few thousand,” he says.

Democratic Party organizations gave Kreiss-Tomkins $8,000. State employee unions, teachers and other political action committees contributed another $4,000.

Together, they add up to about a quarter of his overall campaign contributions.

Kreiss-Tomkins’ acknowledges he has less to spend in the House District 34 race. But he says his cadre of volunteers is giving him more bang for his buck.

“We have a grassroots-oriented campaign. It’s basically people talking with people, which we feel is also the kind of politics we believe in,” he says.

Kreiss-Tomkins points to a higher percentage of district contributions than Thomas, many of them relatively small.

The Democrat’s gotten money from the Southeast Alaska Seiners and the United Fishermen of Alaska. And he’s claimed more from individual commercial fishermen, since he filed.

Republican Thomas — a gillnetter, longliner and shrimper — disagrees.

“He claims he has more fish money. But then you look [and] … it’s been raised since [his] general campaign. And I’ve raised almost 11 grand from the fishermen over two years. But it depends on when you report it. He’s playing words pretty good,” he says.

Campaign finance reports from the full fund-raising season show Thomas with more donations from individual fishermen.

The Haines incumbent attracted more than $17,000 from his party’s and other groups’ political action committees. About a fifth of that came from the GOP. The rest included labor organizations, oil PACs, dentists, contractors and the hospitality industry.

Overall, PACs and the party contributed about 20 percent of Thomas’ campaign funds. That’s a larger total, but a smaller percentage, than Kreiss-Tomkins.

Those figures do not include executives or other employees of those groups or companies, so they could be larger.

Despite his incumbency and higher campaign war chest, Thomas thinks of himself as the underdog in the race. Among other things, he has knee problems that limit one-on-one campaigning, a major part of Kreiss-Tomkins’ strategy.

“He was able to bang on all the doors this summer because I was fishing and I don’t think he was working. [That’s a] big difference in lifestyles,” he says.

Kreiss-Tomkins say he did work, though he wasn’t paid, managing a pair of nonprofit programs that bring college students to Sitka to volunteer and share their skills.

As the campaign wraps up, Thomas says his main job is to convince voters of the power of incumbency. That includes his budget-writing duties as co-chairman of the House Finance Committee and his record of funding community projects.

Kreiss-Tomkins says he’ll bring a new approach to representing the new district, and will take different stands on education and other parts of the budget. And, he’s close to his goal of meeting the majority of its population.

“To be representative, I think it’s really important you know who you’re going to represent . And this door-to-door component of the campaign in every community, knocking on every door that’s possible, has been a central component of the campaign,” he says.

Thomas says he’s met with his district’s leaders and other constituents during his four terms in office. And he’s reached out to Sitkans during this campaign.

The most recent campaign reports, released earlier this month, show a significant part of the $130,000 or so Kreiss-Tomkins and Thomas raised was spent on travel, including room and board.

That total is more than double the funds raised in the southern Southeast House race, between Republican Peggy Wilson, Democrat Matt Olsen and independent Kyle Johansen.

It’s also almost a third more than the Senate District Q race, between Republican Bert Stedman and Democrat Albert Kookesh.

Read Thomas’ most recent APOC finance report.

Read Kreiss-Tomkins’ most recent APOC finance report.

Hear a forum with Kreiss-Tomkins and Thomas.

House District 34 Communities:

• Sitka

• Haines

• Craig

• Hoonah

• Hydaburg

• Kake

• Kasaan

• Klawock

• Klukwan

• Metlakatla

• Pelican

• Angoon

• Covenant Life

• Elfin Cove

• Game Creek

• Lutak

• Mosquito Lake

• Mud Bay

• Port Alexander

• Whitestone Logging Camp