Fall foliage is seen on Sept. 14, 2017, along the Kenai River in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge has been at the center of a state-federal debate over baiting of brown bears. (Photo by Lisa Hupp/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
On the Kenai Peninsula, Republicans Bill Elam and John Hillyer are in a close race to fill the House District 8 seat left vacant as Rep. Ben Carpenter seeks election to the state Senate.
Elam says he is running now, after serving on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, because he has seen the difference local government can make.
“I’ve got a young family, and it’s important to me to leave everything, you know, a little bit better than I found it,” he said.
Hillyer, a retired U.S. Air Force pilot and leader at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, said that his foremost priority, if elected, would be defending the U.S. and state constitutions and that he isn’t happy with the direction the nation and state have taken.
“I see some deficiencies in both country and state. And I came up with 55 of these grievances, and I hearken back to the American Revolution, where it only took 27 grievances against King George to motivate our nation to seek independence,” he said.
Both candidates point to their conservative political bona fides and a desire to boost the economy, though they have some slight policy differences.
Hillyer had a slight edge over Elam in the primaries with nearly 51% of the vote.
House District 8 comprises the north and eastern parts of the Kenai Peninsula, from Bear Creek to Nikiski.
About the candidates
Elam, 44, is originally from Palm Beach, Florida, and has lived in Alaska for 10 years. He has a background in information technology, is active in his church community and has served two terms on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly with assignments as the Board of Education liaison, lands committee Chair, legislative committee chair and Juneau delegate.
Hillyer, 60, has lived in Alaska for 18 years and is a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force. He has been a commercial pilot and has held political roles through his military career, including year-long assignments as deputy director for the Air Force Reserve Program and Joint Staff political-military affairs strategist in Washington, D.C.
Slight differences on energy and the economy
Hillyer said he will focus on “decoupling the weaponization” of the federal government and taking constraints off of oil and gas production.
“We must posture Alaska to take a lead in natural resource production, both for the benefit of our state and our nation,” he said, adding that it would build the economy, create jobs and ease inflation.
Hillyer said renewable energy sources could be used to augment oil and gas, but that they do not have a leading role.
Elam said he is open to any option that will keep energy costs down, and expressed openness to the increased use of renewable energy sources.
“I think that sometimes we can get a little narrowly focused on just oil and natural gas, and I think that those are really, really large contributing factors to the state of Alaska, given our geography and abundance of resources,” he said. “But there’s also no reason that we shouldn’t be world leaders in things like hydro and tidal energy, and all of those other things.”
Where Hillyer took aim at issues he sees with the federal government, Elam drilled down on opportunities within the state. He said he wants to reduce red tape for small businesses and to use the private sector as a model for efficient government spending. He said his goal is to keep the state government small and focused on its core responsibilities. “I plan to focus on issues that are truly state issues and not the other distractions,” he wrote in his candidate statement.
Both candidates strongly oppose a state income tax, but said they would consider a modest sales tax to increase state revenue. Carpenter, a Republican who has held the House seat for District 8 since 2019, proposed a 2% sales tax in the last legislative session. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has also considered a state sales tax. Hillyer said he would like any sales tax to apply to visitors, but not to residents: “If we can track folks with a PFD and issue payments for a PFD, we can also track how much our Alaskan citizens are spending during their sales tax and then reimburse them at the end of the year with those monies that were spent on a sales tax.” One challenge this approach faces is federal court rulings against states that tax residents and nonresidents differently.
Different priorities in education
Elam said he supports what he described as a “reasonable” increase to the state’s per-pupil funding formula; Hillyer does not support any increase.
Elam said the state needs to be fiscally responsible, but also make sure education and educational outcomes are a priority. “The annual roller coaster of priorities really destabilizes what happens in our school districts around the state, and it makes it really hard for them to be able to predict,” he said.
He suggested that legislators could scrutinize the costs of school buildings for savings opportunities.
Hillyer said that the state’s education system needs reform rather than increased funding and pointed to the state’s low national ranking in standardized testing as evidence.
“We don’t have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem,” he said. “The money, in my opinion, is simply not going to the right place.”
He said he is a supporter of increasing charter school availability and school choice, and said parents should control policy, budget and curriculum decisions in public schools.
Neither candidate supports a pension for teachers or other state employees.
“That’s a tough one, because I understand where everybody’s at, wanting a defined benefit,” Elam said. “I haven’t seen anything that is fiscally viable, that allows us to have that.”
Hillyer said the state cannot afford another multibillion-dollar liability.
Ballot measures
Neither candidate supports Ballot Measure 1, which would increase the minimum wage and require benefits for workers.
Both candidates support Ballot Measure 2, a repeal of the open primary and ranked choice voting.
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