Issues

On the Issues
Energy

Alaska has abundant natural resources. Our state is the envy of many other states because we have the extraordinary opportunity to develop our oil and gas resources to benefit the citizens of Alaska for generations to come. We must be smart about our development. I would like to see:
- Further exploration in the Cook Inlet for natural gas.
- The State of Alaska work to provide its citizen owners their fair share of revenue from oil and gas discovered on land and offshore. For this reason we need outer continental shelf (OCS) revenue sharing just as Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma have.
- Research and development into renewable energy sources such as wind, geothermal and tidal power.
- Storage for Cook Inlet natural gas to avoid supply and delivery problems in the winter, ensuring natural gas is available to heat homes and businesses.
Gas Pipeline

The state of Alaska should be proactive in considering all proposals to find a market for our gas and get the pipeline built. The citizen owners of Alaska are entitled to the best return for our investment and a secure supply of natural gas with reasonable prices here in Alaska.

Education

Public education is the great equalizer in this country. It is imperative that we provide all our citizens a chance to have a quality education regardless of socioeconomic class. I raised two daughters who attended Anchorage public schools, and I worked in the public school system for three years as a school nurse. As a mother and as an employer, I know firsthand how important it is to have a well-educated workforce. The students of today will be our leaders tomorrow. Therefore we must:
- Support our teachers by paying them a decent salary and protecting their benefits. Great teachers produce great students, and we owe it to the community to ensure that Alaska's teachers are adequately compensated for their hard work.
- Support Pre-K education as an essential tool for Alaska's children. Studies have shown that Head Start and similar programs improve graduation rates and save between $7.00 and $9.00 for each $1.00 spent.
- Support our university, attracting top level students and professors. Our state should be training the best scientists and leading in renewable energy technology development.
- Encourage innovation in education. Charter schools and alternative learning environments are proven successes. We should support parents who choose to home school their children with materials and opportunities to participate in sports and music.
Tourism

Alaska is a top tourist destination. According to the Alaska State Department of Commerce, over 1.7 million people visited Alaska in 2008, spending an estimated $1.8 billion in communities across Alaska. There is so much more the State of Alaska can do to encourage tourism. For instance, we can:
- Become a top winter destination by highlighting our miles and miles of groomed (and free) cross country ski trails.
- Showcase our other winter activities such as watching the Northern Lights, dog sled riding, snowshoeing, ice skating, winter ice fishing, and downhill skiing.
- Encourage eco-tourism. We have thousands of miles of untouched grandeur. We have pristine rivers and streams and incredible hiking and mountain biking opportunities all over Alaska.
- Ensure adequate resources for marketing Alaska as a premiere, year-round visitor destination.
Health Care

The inequities in our health care system need to be fixed. We are the only industrialized country in which people are forced to declare bankruptcy because of the medical costs from an illness or accident. Illness and medical bills contribute to 62% of all bankruptcies, and 75% of those families had insurance at the time of the accident or illness. Almost 20% of Alaskans are without insurance. According to a 2009 CDC study, 38% of working, uninsured Alaskans have gone without needed care in the past year, and 73% of those individuals didn't fill their prescriptions due to cost. As a health care provider for 32 years, and the owner of two small privately owned medical practices, I have the experience and knowledge to lead on this issue. I believe:
- Ensuring quality health care for everyone is essential; It ensures businesses can be competitive, children will grow up to be healthy, and quality health care will help our country build a strong, healthy workforce.
- Families should not lose their businesses, homes and livelihoods due to an illness. The current system of disease management, that ignores the "proven best practices" and health promotion, is costly, ineffective and driving up costs for individuals and businesses and is unsustainable.
- Promotion of health care should be a shared responsibility. Individual workers, businesses, government, providers and insurers are all responsible to cooperatively develop a system that covers everyone, is cost effective and is fair to all.
- We must find a reasonable solution to our shortage of medical providers who will see Medicare clients. We need to explore all options before us.
Alaska ranks 34th in affordable, accessible healthcare for its residents. We must get to work on finding a solution to our health care dilemma.

Church and State

Founders, in all their wisdom, wrote the constitution with the intention of protecting the church from the state. I support this separation.

Taxes

The burden of taxation falls disproportionately on property owners. Many people come here to work and play, use our services and leave without helping pay for upkeep of our roads and amenities. To help relieve the burden of taxation, cities need revenue sharing with the state.

Subsistence

It is too bad the legislature was unable to resolve the conflict about subsistence a few years back. This impasse gives the Feds control of Alaska's fish and game on most of our lands. It will be imperative for the legislature to solve this problem so Alaskan's can take back control of this important issue.

Guns

I support the second amendment and the right of the people to keep and bear arms