3 Candidates, 3 Views in SE House Race

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Created on Wednesday, 25 September 2024 14:16

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By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
In House District 1, which includes the hub communities of Ketchikan and Wrangell, there is a three-way race to replace Rep. Dan Ortiz, I-Ketchikan, who served as the district’s House representative for a decade.
The race is between Republican Jeremy Bynum and independents Grant EchoHawk and Agnes Moran.
Ortiz left the race in June, citing health reasons. The former educator caucused with the mostly Democratic House minority, though his district tends to lean toward Republican candidates. He prioritized education funding, as well as support for the Alaska Marine Highway System and a pension system for public employees.
Bynum earned 49% of the primary vote in August, which is just below the majority share of votes that a candidate will need to win the Nov. 5 general election without the use of ranked choice voting.
The remainder of the votes were split between EchoHawk and Moran.
House District 1 includes Ketchikan, a fishing and cruise ship tourism community, and the surrounding areas of Coffman Cove, Hyder, Loring, Metlakatla, Meyers Chuck, Saxman, Whale Pass and Wrangell. More than a quarter of the district identifies as Alaska Native.
A look at the candidates
Bynum, 49, is the electric manager of Ketchikan Public Utilities. He has been a member of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly since 2020 and is a veteran of the Air Force. After the Air Force, he was a hydroelectric engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Bynum is from Oregon, has lived in Alaska for eight years and is married without children. He ran against Ortiz in 2022 and lost with 47% percent of the vote, but said they developed a good relationship even if they have different views.
“We needed a different kind of, a different brand of advocacy for our district,” he said. “We needed a strong, forceful voice to say, ‘Listen, we are here. We matter. We are impactful to the state.’ And we need to start setting some of these visions for where we need to go and be forceful about it.”
EchoHawk, 49, is a business loan specialist for Tongass Credit Union and board treasurer of the Ketchikan Tribal Business Corp. He has been a member of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly since 2021. He was born in Fairbanks and grew up with a fishing family in Metlakatla, the state’s only Alaska Native reservation. He has spent 19 years in Alaska, according to his candidacy filings with the state. He said that since returning to Alaska he has shifted his focus from the corporate world of maximizing shareholder value to public service. “I feel like there’s plenty of wealth in the state, and I’m concerned that that wealth isn’t making it into our communities,” he said. “I work in the public and nonprofit sector, and there’s a lot of really great, dedicated people working really hard to lift up our communities, to help people out, and all we need is funding.”
Agnes Moran, 64, was born and raised in Ketchikan and is the executive director of Women in Safe Homes, the regional shelter for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Moran served for four years on the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly, co-founded the Ketchikan animal rescue and has been a board member of First Bank and First City Homeless Services. She studied electrical engineering and worked in aerospace on experimental satellite systems for military contractors in California before returning to Ketchikan. She is married and has two adult children. She said now is a good moment for her to run for office: “I have a good understanding of the issues on the ground in our communities, and I have a track record of addressing them.” She said she would be as committed to the district as Ortiz, but more of a fiscal conservative. “I’m very familiar with having to make difficult choices with budgets,” she said. “I don’t think that’s true of my opponents.”
Similarities and differences
with education
Like Ortiz, all candidates say they support a permanent increase to the funding formula for public schools, but their approaches to the details will be different.
Bynum suggested lawmakers reevaluate the funding mechanism that is the base student allocation: “You see that the system that we’re using doesn’t solve all of the educational funding needs throughout the state equally. So some (districts) are doing OK, and other places they’re getting wrecked because of the funding,” he said.
He said it would also be a priority that the state invest in workforce development through career and technical education programs. “We have an opportunity and we have a responsibility to be making sure that our schools are providing those tracked programs for our kids, so that they will come out of school be successful right away in our communities,” he said.
EchoHawk said he was disappointed in the last legislative session because the state failed in its obligation to properly fund schools.
“It’s been devastating throughout the entire state, but I was able to see it here in Ketchikan. We lost educators. It threw our entire community in turmoil, with not knowing what kind of funding we’re going to get,” he said.
He was critical of education reform proposals if they come at the expense of meeting what he considers a more pressing need for funding: “I feel like the will of the people was overwhelmingly made clear on what our communities needed. And I was really disappointed that there was a conversation forced into this, of personal projects or items that were not what the people were asking for, whether it came from the executive branch or from the legislative branch.”
Moran said the conversation about education funding needs to “start with the $1413 number,” a reference to the highest proposed increase to funding formula last session, in large part because inflation has increased the fixed costs for districts. “That’s the spending power the school districts have lost,” she said.
Fish and ferries
All three candidates see fisheries and the Alaska Marine Highway System as critical to their district, but have different ideas for how to support them.
Bynum said the state could start to help fishing communities and the fishing industry by investing in harbors, so that fishing vessels can stay in Alaska. He also suggested that sport fishermen and commercial charters pitch in on taxes that support hatcheries in Southeast Alaska. He also pointed to sea otter management as a priority for fishermen: “I know that we have the (federal) Marine Mammal Act. It’s complicated, but we need to be more vocal. It’s a thing. Let’s figure out how we do appropriate management here.”
Bynum said that restoring reliable Alaska Marine Highway System services, especially to Prince Rupert Island, are a priority for the District.
EchoHawk said he wants to see fisheries managed with a blend of science and historical understanding of the land and water. “The salmon provide food. It provides jobs. And it is … deeply rooted in the culture of Southeast Alaska. And so ultimately, I think it’s important that we do everything that we can to make good, sound decisions around how we’re going to maintain the salmon population.” He said that includes having robust government-to-government conversations with Canada about transboundary mining and the risks that mining infrastructure failures pose to downstream fisheries.
EchoHawk said he supports investment in the ferry system and would like to see the Alaska Marine Highway System fleet be replaced or modernized. He said critical infrastructure needs have languished in the state. “Transportation is a critical pillar of a robust and stable economy. We need reliable transportation,” he said.
Moran said that to boost the Alaska Marine Highway System, the state needs to do better with hiring and supporting affordable housing for incoming workers.
Moran said she wants to see funding for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute to support fishermen and the fishing industry. “We can’t be having their budget cut right when we need them to be promoting and developing national and international markets for Alaska seafood,” she said.

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