Republican candidate for governor Click Bishop and his independent running mate, Greta Schuerch, visited Kotzebue last week, as part of a statewide tour ahead of the August 18 primary.
Bishop, a former state senator from Fairbanks, said four generations of his family have worked on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. He said he wants to bring a century of six-figure resource jobs to rural Alaska.
Bishop served as Commissioner of Labor under Govs. Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell before representing Fairbanks for 12 years in the state Senate.
Resource Development
Workforce development is central to his platform, Bishop said, especially with two major projects — Alaska’s LNG pipeline and the Donlin gold mine — potentially on Alaska’s horizon.
“On either project, my goal, our goal is to make sure that all Alaskans are trained and can stay in those legacy jobs, those six-figure legacy jobs – after construction – that lasts for a century,” Bishop said.
Education
On education, Bishop said his plan is to grow the state’s Public School Trust Fund. The fund, established in 1978, allows the state to put half a percent of its oil, gas and mining revenue from rent and royalties into the fund. Bishop said he wants to raise the amount the state would contribute.
Bishop said he also wants to expand career and tech education in schools, and increase the Base Student Allocation in Alaska’s school funding formula.
Energy costs
Energy is another topic central to Bishop’s platform. Bishop said he supports developing large-scale power projects like the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project and the Bradley Lake intertie on the Kenai Peninsula. Though those projects serve the road system, Bishop said they would still help lower utility bills in rural Alaska through Power Cost Equalization, a decades-old program that reimburses rural utilities to help bring costs closer to what larger communities like Anchorage and Fairbanks pay.
Bishop said until the state is on more solid financial footing, he does not support paying out full Permanent Fund dividends. But he said he would support a separate energy rebate check if oil prices remain high.
Community Questions
Bishop said two topics came up repeatedly talking to residents around town and at a meet-and-greet event at Kotzebue’s youth center: delays in paperwork required to receive grants from the state’s Community Assistance Program and issues with the state’s Office of Children’s Services. He said he wants to work with OCS to send small teams to communities to better understand and improve the office’s work.
Schuerch, Bishop’s running mate, grew up in the Northwest Arctic community of Kiana. She serves as vice chair for NANA Regional Corp board. and senior government affairs advisor for Teck Alaska, the Canadian mining company that operates the Red Dog mine. If elected as lieutenant governor, Schuerch would be in line to become governor if the office became vacant, a role that includes overseeing the Alaska Division of Elections. Schuerch said election integrity is important, especially in rural Alaska.
“We need to be running elections that are secure and timely, making sure that we have secure and accessible voting in every village, every community in the state,” she said.
Schuerch ran for a state House seat in 2012 as a Democrat but lost the primary to Ben Nageak. She's a registered non-partisan and said she’s supported candidates across the political spectrum.
“In these types of elections, who I support for public office is based on the individual, what they represent, what their values are, what their positions are on the issues facing this region, this district, and all of Alaska,” she said.
Bishop and Schuerch are one ticket in a crowded field of 17. The primary election is Aug. 18.
Editor’s note: KOTZ news plans to produce local stories about every gubernatorial candidate that comes to campaign in Kotzebue. The campaigns of Tom Begich and Meda Dewitt have visits planned. Stories from Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Adam Crum’s earlier visits are also in the works.
