One of the candidates for District 2 on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly is withdrawing from the race.
Jill Schaefer, who currently represents District 2 on the assembly, said in an interview Wednesday that she plans to withdraw her candidacy, although her name will still appear on the ballot. Although she said she has enjoyed serving on the assembly, she and her husband are looking at moving to a house that would no longer be within the boundaries of District 2, making her ineligible for the seat.
She said she felt it would be disingenuous to campaign for the seat if she planned to move out of the district, thus requiring her to resign. Her house has been listed for sale since May, she said, but she only filed for the seat because no one else had. After she filed, candidates Duane Bannock and Hal Smalley submitted their names for the seat.
“If I had known they were going to file, I wouldn’t have filed,” she said.
She said she wanted people to know that she wanted to withdraw from the race, although her name will still technically appear on the ballot.
Schaefer has served on the assembly since January, when the assembly selected her to replace former assembly member Blaine Gilman after he resigned his seat. She was one of three appointees who the assembly members selected to replace members who resigned this spring. The two other appointees, Kenn Carpenter of District 6 and Brent Hibbert of District 1, both filed their candidacy for the assembly as well. Carpenter is unopposed.
She’s the second assembly candidate to withdraw whose name will still appear on the ballot. Kate Veh, who originally filed her candidacy for District 1, announced her withdrawal from the assembly race last week.
Reach Elizabeth Earl at elizabeth.earl@peninsulaclarion.com.
