Why I will run for a second term

This is the time of year for elections and my three year term is over in October. I have pretty much decided to run for re-election. The official filing time with the city is between August 8 and 18. A potential candidate needs a petition form from the city clerk and 25 persons to sign on to support them. I just picked up that form yesterday and will be collecting the signatures. You can find out more about the candidate process at http://www.juneau.org/clerk/elections/

There are three Assembly seats up and two School Board. Besides myself, Merrill Sanford and Bob Doll are up for re-election to the Assembly. I think (but not sure) that Margo Waring and Mark Choate are up for the School Board. No one really knows who will actually run for re-election until they file their petitions. And nobody knows who else might file against them.
But I have made my decision and now I must convince the citizens of Juneau that they should support me for another term.

I believe my biggest qualification is my commitment to personal integrity. Being true to myself, to my God and to others is extremely important to me. The second is my willingness to work hard on the issues. My day job is being a professor of public administration at UAS. I study public policy for a living. I put in the time to understand the background and am constantly asking questions. Third, I am not afraid to stand up and speak out against what I see as wrong-- and more importantly to speak FOR what I see as right. I see no need to play politics.

The biggest issue I see for Juneau is to develop an economy that is not so dependent on state government. If Juneau is to survive as a vibrant and growing community, we need to nourish responsible development. And to be successful we need to come together. We need to leave behind the divisiveness that has been so strong in the past and that is so destructive for Juneau. We need to find ways to go forward together, with a unified vision of a great community. I hope to put more effort into that unifying direction and to oppose efforts to divide us into stereotypical groups-- pro this or anti that. Those labels are not helpful. We need to find ways to move forward together, not to fight each other. And to that end I will devote my efforts.