36.0°

Age: 46

Occupation: Fund raiser, grant writer

Family: Wife, Vera; children, Ryan, Josh, Justin and Salena

Education: Class of 1979 KCHS

Organizations and special interests: Chair of Youth Restoration Corps; board member of Friendship Mission; Special Olympics basketball coach; Children and adults with special needs

Previously held elected office and experience: Alaska State representative, District 33, 2003 to 2005; Kenai/Soldotna Fish & Game Advisory Committee 1990s

Ways for voters to contact you: Cell 394-1505

1. How should Alaska position itself to ride out, or perhaps benefit from, the stark financial realities of the current economic crises, and what steps do you think the Legislature should take to help protect constituents?v

Recognizing the State's primary revenue generator in the Oil and Gas industry, continued sensible development of our resources needs to proceed, while we proceed with value added production of our resources which could create sensible industry that will relate to jobs and revenue.

This along with cautious and "sensible" government spending in my view will cushion the economic crisis impact when it slams home here in Alaska.

2. Alaska is a resource state, but relatively little in the way of processing infrastructure has been built here that would allow Alaska to add value to those raw materials. What can and should the state do to change that?

Alaska should look at industry incentives that create value added industry of our raw resources. But they should not create value added infrastructure under state government. Industry best operates these types of operation not government.

3. Surpluses from high oil prices have allowed the Legislature to increase funding to schools. What is your opinion of the current level of education funding and why?

I personally believe we need better accountably of our educational system, for example what is full funding of our educational system? As parents of children, we need to start taking responsibility for oversight of our children's education instead of blindly intrusting our educational system to teach our future leaders.

Teachers are not our children's parents they are educators asking them to parent our youth is wrong. Be going forward with blind continually funding of education we need to see accountability for what is being spent in each school district.

4. What are you prepared to do to advance alternative energy efforts in Alaska, should you be elected?

We need to be acting now! advancing alternative energy while at the same time we continue to develop our natural energy resources. Burying our heads in the sand while importing foreign energy sources only supports third world countries that rail against our way of life.

By not acting on alternative energy we are placing our youth in danger of larger problems than we are facing today, therefore I will work towards encouraging sensible development of alternative energy.