Hillyer, Elam debate issues in House District 8 forum

John Hillyer and Bill Elam, the two candidates running to represent the northern Kenai Peninsula in the State House of Representatives, met Monday at the Soldotna Public Library for a candidate forum hosted by the Peninsula Clarion and KDLL 91.9 FM.

Over the course of roughly an hour, the two candidates shared their perspectives on key issues facing the state, including energy, education and state finances. Hillyer is a retired Air Force pilot. Elam currently sits on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly. Both are running for House District 8 — which represents Nikiski, Sterling and Cooper Landing. Rep. Ben Carpenter, the incumbent for the seat, is not running for reelection because he is challenging for a seat in the State Senate.

Hillyer introduced himself as an 18-year resident of Alaska and a 10-year resident of the Kenai Peninsula. He’s been married for 34 years to a retired television news reporter and they have two sons at Soldotna High School. He said he’s graduated from the United States Air Force Academy, obtained a master’s degree in aeronautical science and served 32 years in the Air Force, including in leadership positions in a “high-risk, high-intensity environment.”

It’s that “unique leadership tool kit,” he said, that he offers the district. He said he wanted to protect rights, revitalize natural resource production and institute both budget and education reform.

Elam described himself as a member of the assembly who’s served as a liaison to emergency services and to the school district. He’s married and has three sons who attend Aurora Borealis Charter School. He said he’s worked in information technology for the duration of his adult career, now managing IT operations at Central Peninsula Hospital.

Though he said he’s worked throughout the Lower 48, Elam said the Kenai Peninsula is where he’s chosen to live and raise his family.

“This is my home, this is what I love, this is why I’m running.”

Differing views on education

The repeated conversation around education funding, Elam said, “has been an issue.” He said he supports “a reasonable and responsible” permanent increase to the amount of money schools get per student, the base student allocation.

The Legislature’s reliance on one-time funding, he said, means the money isn’t as effective as it needs to be.

“You can’t hire teachers based off a one-time fund,” he said.

Hillyer said he doesn’t support any increase to the BSA. He said that the state spends above the national average on education for test scores below the national average.

“We need to address the construct first, before we throw any more money at the problem,” he said.

The solve, he said, is school choice. He wants to “relieve the administrative burden” on charter schools and promote the development of more. He also wants to see more investment in correspondence program.

Elam said he’s supportive of school choice — he was himself homeschooled and his sons are in a charter school — but wary of the conversation surrounding accountability in schools, because those conversations can end in schools being closed. Communities need their schools, he said.

“I’m not so sure that you can legislate a good teacher,” Elam said. “I think you can recruit and retain good teachers.”

Stemming the tide of outmigration

The State Department of Labor and Workforce Development in September said that the state has now gone 12 consecutive years with more residents leaving than arriving.

That trend of outmigration, Elam said, is “almost crisis level.” He said that younger folks “don’t necessarily feel like they have a lot of opportunities here.” To combat that trend, he said he wants to see increased opportunity for career and technical education, renewed resource development and more housing accessible to people in their 20s.

“If my boys leave, I don’t mind, that’s their choice — I don’t want them to feel like they have to,” he said.

Hillyer pointed to declines in Alaska’s gross domestic product as sign the state’s economy is “going downhill.” With that decline, he said, unemployment goes up and people leave the state.

“What we need to do is stimulate,” he said.

That looks like, Hillyer said, a resurgence in natural resource production driven by pared back regulations.

Peering toward a pipeline

It’s that effort, to “step back as a government and let the free market system thrive,” Hillyer said, that will best respond to a forecasted shortfall of natural gas on the Kenai Peninsula and elsewhere on Alaska’s railbelt.

Hillyer said he wants to see passed a proposed bill from last legislative session that would have provided royalty relief for Cook Inlet producers, as well as other reductions of regulatory measures. In the long term, he said, the natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to Nikiski needs support.

Elam echoed the idea that government “needs to get out of the way.” He said he wants to see resource development in Cook Inlet in addition to construction of the pipeline. The Legislature, he said, should consult with stakeholders to support development.

In any scenario, even a possibility where natural gas is imported, Elam said he wants to see the Kenai Peninsula as a key setting for any terminals, for the proposed pipeline or any other energy development.

Fiscal futures

It’s that idea, of reducing regulation and providing incentive to private industry, that Elam looked to as a part of the solve to steady Alaska’s financial future. The state, Elam said, needs to become a better business partner. Driving long-term investment, he said, “would really allow our state to be able to move forward.”

Repeated questions swirling around education and the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend “suck the air out of the room,” he said. The PFD, he said, should either be constitutionalized or otherwise significantly addressed.

Hillyer said he wants to see the PFD constitutionalized and that he wants “accountability for past, present or future spending.” That means, he said, implementing “performance-based spending” where a spending cap would be tied to the state’s gross domestic product so that when the economy isn’t roaring, the budget is smaller.

He also championed a “sunset commission” to “aggressively” evaluate government agencies and determine whether they are beneficial — if not, “they’re terminated.”

A full recording of the forum can be found on the Peninsula Clarion’s Facebook page or as “Kenai Conversation” on kdll.org or on podcast services.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.