Alaska State House District 5 candidates Leighton Radner and Rep. Louise Stutes participate in a candidate forum hosted by the Peninsula Clarion and KBBI 890 AM at the Seward Community Library in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Alaska State House District 5 candidates Leighton Radner and Rep. Louise Stutes participate in a candidate forum hosted by the Peninsula Clarion and KBBI 890 AM at the Seward Community Library in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Stutes, Radner talk spending, housing, child care at Seward forum

The candidate forum was moderated by the Peninsula Clarion and KBBI 890 AM

The two candidates running to represent Seward, Cordova and Kodiak in the Alaska State House met Thursday to discuss their visions for the Alaska Legislature at a candidate forum moderated by the Peninsula Clarion and KBBI 890 AM.

Incumbent Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, is challenged by Leighton Radner, a member of the Alaska Libertarian Party from Seward. Stutes has served in the House since 2015, including as Speaker of the House from 2021 to 2023. Whoever is elected to the seat will serve a two-year term ending in January 2027.

The forum was held at the Seward Community Library, Radner participated in person and Stutes joined via Zoom.

Stutes introduced herself as “an optimist” who’s represented her communities for a decade. She lives in Kodiak and is married to a retired fisherman.

Radner said he’s lived in Seward for seven years and Big Lake before that. He said he was running to bring his Libertarian politics to government — specifically to tackle the size and scope of Alaska’s government.

Spending on service

State spending, Radner said, needs to be brought down. He said that the state needs to evaluate what is important and what isn’t.

“In order to shrink the size of the budget, you have to shrink what the government is doing,” he said. “There’s money being spent in the wrong places and money that should be being spent in the right places.”

Stutes said that the “bickering” over the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend needs to be resolved. She said the state needs a sustainable budget that provides a reasonable PFD while also still maintaining the services that Alaskans “very loudly and very clearly” say that they want. Those are roads, education and public safety, among others.

The state should increase spending on fisheries, Stutes said, which impacts so many jobs in Alaska.

“When we cut the budget in fisheries, what we’re doing is we’re not allowing the Department of Fish and Game to maximize the resource that is available,” she said. “They don’t have the science and the surveys that are necessary to appropriately manage.”

Radner said that, in fishing and in budgeting, he wanted to see the “free market approach,” pulling back government spending and favoring “the rights of the fishermen.”

Seeking stable schooling

Stutes said she wanted to see a permanent increase to the base student allocation and action taken to address retirement for public employees.

“Kids are our resource,” she said. “We have to be in a position where, at least, the districts have enough funding to say to their teachers in May, when they’re done teaching, ‘you’ve got a job in September.’ We’re losing teachers.”

Radner said that he agrees there’s a need for increased education funding but said that he wants to see the issues with education addressed. He cited low proficiency scores and attendance rates — specifically in Seward. He said he was interested in seeing restrictions removed from “other forms of education than the public system.”

Qualms about quality of life

Both candidates agreed that health care, affordable housing and child care are challenges facing families in the district. Stutes said that each community has its own needs, citing recent uncertainty around a fish processor in Kodiak and a lack of physicians in Seward. Radner said that the challenge of representing an area so large is maintaining a presence and a connection to the three distinct communities.

Loosening up state land for sale and development, especially for Alaska residents, was an idea favored by both candidates.

Radner said the government should make it easier for people to create child care businesses, but that the state shouldn’t get involved with funding them. He said he’s interested in seeing communities and volunteers get more child care off the ground.

“If you work a job and you have kids, you need to have child care,” he said. “I have four brothers, that’s something my family certainly went through.”

Stutes said that, as a parent who put her own children into day care, “it never occurred to me that anybody was going to pay for my day care other than myself.” But, she said, she recognizes that the cost of child care can be difficult to surmount even for two working parents.

During the forum, the candidates also discussed both ballot measures, discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and Alaska’s outmigration.

A full recording of the forum can be found on the “Peninsula Clarion” Facebook page. It can also be heard at kbbi.org.

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

More in News

The Kenai Peninsula College main entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Chiappone and Dunstan to speak at the KPC Showcase

Kenai Peninsula College continues its showcase with two new speakers this week and next

U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, talks about issues of concern regarding the proposed merger of supermarket chains Kroger and Albertsons during a floor speech in the House chamber on Wednesday. (Screenshot from official U.S. House of Representatives video feed)
Begich leads in early results, but Alaska’s U.S. House race won’t be immediately decided

About 245,000 ballots had been counted by 11:32 p.m., and Peltola trailed by about 5 percentage points

The Alaska governor’s mansion on Wednesday. Gov. Mike Dunleavy is considered a contender for a post in Donald Trump’s second presidential administration. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Election summary: Trump wins, GOP takes over U.S. Senate, Alaska may get new governor

Begich and repeal of ranked choice voting narrowly lead; GOP may lose control of state House.

Nesbett Courthouse in downtown Anchorage on Oct. 7, 2024. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Voters line up at the polling site at Anchorage City Hall on Nov. 4, 2024. City Hall was one of the designated early voting sites in Alaska’s largest city. It is not a designated site for Election Day voting. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska Republicans lose two seats in state House, increasing odds of leadership switch

Rural Alaska precincts had reported few results by 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night.

Donald Trump won or was leading as of Wednesday morning in all seven swing states in the 2024 presidential election. (Doug Mills / The New York Times)
Donald Trump returns to power, ushering in new era of uncertainty

He played on fears of immigrants and economic worries to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris.

A voter is handed as ballot at Woodworth School in Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. One of the most consequential presidential elections in the nation’s modern history is well underway, as voters flocked to churches, schools and community centers to shape the future of American democracy. (Nick Hagen/The New York Times)
Trump verges on victory, picking up Pennsylvania

Donald Trump has captured Pennsylvania, the biggest prize of the seven battleground… Continue reading

Signs and supporters line the Kenai Spur Highway in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Update: Unofficial results for the 2024 general election

Preliminary, unofficial election results as of 9:55 p.m.

Poll worker Carol Louthan helps voters submit ballots at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Update: Bjorkman, Ruffridge, Elam and Vance lead in election night results

Several residents said that they came out to vote because they knew this election was “a big one.”

Most Read