FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
Kreiss-Tomkins Points to Success in Juneau
By TOM HESSE
Sentinel Staff Writer
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, who represents Sitka in the state House of Representatives, took a break from campaigning last week to attend the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention where the efforts of his second year in the Legislature were signed into law by Gov. Sean Parnell.
House Bill 216, which allowed 20 different Alaska Native languages to become official languages of the State of Alaska, originated in Kreiss-Tomkins’ office in Juneau, but he told the Sentinel in an interview Tuesday that it formed its identity as it moved through the legislative process.
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (Sentinel Photo)
“The bill became a piece of legislation that was sort of owned by this grass-roots movement more than it was owned, certainly, by any legislator,” Kreiss-Tomkins said. It was appropriate, he said, that the signing ceremony “was so oriented around the people and the speakers who dedicated their lives to this.”
The bill was one of two pieces of legislation dealing with Native issues that the Sitka Democrat saw passed in the second year of his first term. Kreiss-Tomkins said he’s not concerned with praise for passing legislation as a first-term representative in the minority. The languages bill picked up more than 20 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle in the House alone, and that’s something Kreiss-Tomkins is proud of.
“The Native languages bill exemplifies our philosophy with legislation and governance. We want to work in a collaborative, cooperative, bipartisan manner and the Native languages bill reflected that,” he said.
Cooperation has become a theme of discussion in the race for House Seat 35, in which Kreiss-Tomkins faces a challenge from Petersburg Republican Steven Samuelson. Samuelson has repeatedly emphasized the importance of sending a representative to Juneau who will be in the Legislature’s Republican majority. Kreiss-Tomkins said thinking of the Legislature based solely on ideological differences will only guarantee a divide.
“I think if you look at the Legislature like an ‘us vs. them’ game it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he said. “If you think that you can’t work with the other side and you don’t try to work with the other side, of course there’s not going to be cooperation between the two sides. I think it reflects a fundamentally different paradigm for approaching public service.”
Kreiss-Tomkins, who was born in Sitka, studied public policy at Yale before choosing to run for the House in 2012. He narrowly defeated Haines Republican Bill Thomas and took a seat in the Democratic minority.
A frequent topic of discussion at two candidate forums was capital projects funding. In those forums, and in interviews with the Sentinel, Samuelson stressed that being represented in the House majority would mean more capital projects funding for Sitka. Asked if that would be the case, Kreiss-Tomkins said House District 34 did pretty well for capital appropriations the two years he’s been in office. (Sitka was in House District 34 until this year, when redistricting made it part of District 35.)
“Let’s look at the track record,” Kreiss-Tomkins said. “In 2013 we had the third highest share of capital money of the 40 legislative districts in Alaska, and in this most recent legislative session – and budget and fiscal year – we had the fourth highest share of capital money of the 40 districts in Alaska. So, 2013 number three out of 40; 2014 number 4 out of 40 – we’re doing pretty well.”
The issue, he added, is that there’s just not as much money for legislators to appropriate these days.
“I think also the big point of context is, the state’s not writing checks for $50 million on a whim like the state was four or five years ago,” he said. “It’s all relative. We’re third out of 40 districts, we’re four out of 40 districts, but all 40 districts are getting less money. So funding is depressed across the board.”
State Sen. Bert Stedman is often credited with bringing capital funding to Sitka. Samuelson has asserted that Sitka will fare better having a Republican in the House to pair with Stedman in the Senate, and Stedman has backed Samuelson’s campaign. Kreiss-Tomkins said he’s not bothered by his legislative colleague’s decision to support the candidate of his own party.
“Bert and I have had private conversations on that matter and we have an understanding. It’s fine,” Kreiss-Tomkins said. “There’s an underlying dynamic of party politics, but we have an understanding.”
Samuelson has challenged Kreiss-Tomkins on a number of positions. For example, during the Sitka Chamber of Commerce forum Samuelson put his credentials as a lifelong fisherman up against the credentials of Kreiss-Tomkins, who sits on the House fisheries committee.
Asked about the tone of the campaign, Kreiss-Tomkins – who typically pauses before speaking – took a full 16 seconds to gather his thoughts before responding:
“I respect Steven as a person and,” Kriess Tomkins said, pausing another 5 seconds, “I think it helps our democracy to have a detailed dialogue on the issues. And I think this campaign has provided a forum for that dialogue.”
Kreiss-Tomkins said his campaign has focused on details and policy issues because that’s what his legislative work has focused on.
“It’s fair to say that our campaigns have different emphasis. We’re probably a little more policy and issue and detail-oriented – I feel the issues matter. Steven has a different emphasis, which I think is also healthy to be promoted and not necessarily less important,” he said. “That’s for the voters to decide.”
Kreiss-Tomkins’ campaign is characterized by a focus on the needs of the individual communities in his district, and meticulous efforts to get out the vote.
“Just as much as my approach to legislating, where I like to learn as much as I can as aggressively as I can, my campaign is similarly sort of detail- oriented. We try to develop dialogue with specific constituencies and speak to issues they’re concerned about. Fishermen. Teachers. Individual communities because each community has their own portfolio of issues that only matter to that community,” Kreiss-Tomkins said.
“It’s almost like running 20 different campaigns at once because it’s such a diverse district instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.”
In 2012 Kreiss-Tomkins had to campaign in Haines, which he said was a “black hole” for his votes because it was the hometown of his opponent. This year, he noted, Haines is no longer in the district with Sitka, but Petersburg –- Samuelson’s hometown – is.
Kreiss-Tomkins said the district will find out how that change affects the outcome on Nov. 4.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....