13.0°

Sue McClure and Mako Haggerty replaced 18 years of Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly experience with victories for two vacant seats -- one in District 6 and 9 -- Tuesday night.

McClure replaces Ron Long, of Seward, and Haggerty will take over for current Assembly President Milli Martin. Both Long and Martin have served on the governing body since 2000. Assemblyman Gary Knopp ran unopposed and will again represent District 1.

Martin and Long were ineligible to seek re-election due to term limits passed in 2007. The issue, which was on the ballot again this year, passed with nearly 53 percent of the vote, according to the unofficial results.

McClure received naerly 60 percent of District 6's vote, besting opponent Edgar Blatchford's 39-percent showing.

"I'm just overwhelmed," McClure said. "I just didn't expect this. This is -- wow."

"Sue's a good person," Blatchford said. "I think she'll make a fine assembly person."

For both McClure and Blatchford, the budget was the most crucial issue for the borough, in particular, funding education.

McClure, who's in favor of funding education to the cap, wants to eliminate the contention that surrounded the issue last year by relaxed, open-minded discussions. Last year, prior to approving the budget, several school district employees regularly packed the assembly meetings, emotionally arguing for full funding.

Hoping to have a calming influence over the assembly, McClure said she's going to advocate for sanity and fairness.

"I'm a listener," she said. "I'm totally prepared. I know what I want to do, I'm ready to jump in."

Haggerty won with 57 percent of the vote, defeating Tom Clark and Jesse Clutts.

Borough finances were of utmost importance to the three Homer candidates vying for Martin's seat.

For Haggerty, the borough must maintain its current services without raising taxes.

The borough and businesses have to work together to develop and preserve traditional industries like fishing and tourism, he said. An affordable, abundant energy source, too, should be provided to borough citizens, Haggerty said. The borough must anticipate and rectify shortfalls in the budget, instead of reacting to deficits later, he added.

Creating job opportunities and economic growth was paramount for Clutts.

Encouraging development and investment in the area will attract more people to the peninsula and help to share the tax burden among residents, he said.

Clark's platform was concise and clear: control spending.

With declining tax revenue, it's important to promote the borough, instead of increasing taxes, he said. Essential needs should be defined and prioritized, Clark added.

Unchallenged for his seat, Knopp, of Kalifornsky, also places the economy high on his list of priorities for the borough.

Several issues such as loss of jobs, energy and the financial impact on small businesses were among Knopp's major concerns facing the borough.

Knopp said he was looking forward to having different voices on the assembly. With a fairly new administration and two new assembly members, Knopp said he's interested to see what direction the assembly moves as a governing body.

On the industry front, Knopp supports allowing the Chuitna Coal and Pebble Mine projects to go through the permitting process. Though he's not necessarily in favor of green lighting those ventures, the feasibility of each should be studied, he said.

With Proposition 1 passing, term limits on assembly members will remain valid. The assembly won't be able to repeal or adjust term length for two years. State statue prevents assembly changes to the initiative for two years following voter approval.

The Alliance of Concerned Taxpayers, advocating in favor of term limits, claimed incumbency is too strong an asset to run against. Term limits give an equal opportunity for candidates and ensure fresh ideas on the assembly, according to ACT.

Kenai resident Valerie White agreed.

"I think sometimes people are fearful to run because it's tough to run against a name everyone knows, but sometimes we need change," she said exiting the polls on election night.

"The voters have again spoken loud and clear," said ACT member Ruby Denison via e-mail. "Maybe this time the new assembly will get the message. Even though the turnout was not high and ACT was substantially outspent, the voters were not persuaded."

Freedom to Vote, a group against Prop 1, said term limits are unnecessary and arbitrarily limit voters' choice. Assembly members are public servants, not politicians, and those that are elected time and time again are so because the voting public wants that person's continued representation, the group argued.

"I voted 'no' because every election is a term limit," said Justin Broyles, of Kenai. "It's already hard enough finding qualified candidates."

Mike Nesper can be reached at mike.nesper@peninsulaclarion.com.