The Alaska House of Representatives will have two new faces when lawmakers return next week for the start of the legislative session. Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed Mat-Su Republicans Steve St. Clair and Garret Nelson to fill two open seats in the state House.
So, who are these two new lawmakers, and what do they hope to accomplish in their first year as a budget crunch looms?
The newcomer: Rep. Garret Nelson, R-Sutton
Newly minted Rep. Garret Nelson says he’s doing his best to get up to speed with the session fast approaching.
"I've never been up until 2 o'clock in the morning so many days in a week in my life as I have been this week, trying to figure this stuff out," Nelson said in an interview.
Nelson grew up on a family cattle ranch in Mackay, Idaho, and has spent most of his life in the private sector. He spent some of his early career as a welder, later moving into sales at the financial services firm Gravity Payments. He, his wife and nine children moved to the Mat-Su community of Sutton in 2016, where he served as chair of the local community council.
Nelson is steeling himself for what could be a tough first year. He called the world of politics a “cesspool."
"My expectations are, like, to hold to principles as much as I can," he said. "I just expect to go down and get my teeth kicked in."
Nelson has already found himself in something of a spat with a senior Republican senator, Anchorage Sen. Cathy Giessel, who suggested in a newsletter that his large family could compromise his ability to act in the state's best interest when voting on the Permanent Fund dividend.
"At what point does a vote for a 'full dividend' comprise a conflict of interest, or even a breach of ethics? Legislators have gone to jail in the past for accepting money in payment for their votes," Giessel wrote in a newsletter to constituents.
Nelson said the comment was “grossly inappropriate" and "weird."
In a text message, Giessel stood by the comment and said she had raised a legitimate question. Giessel said any suggestion that she had insulted Nelson's family was "absurd."
Nelson calls himself an “unashamed conservative” and often references his Christian faith and devotion to family. He says he’s in favor of paying large Permanent Fund dividends in line with a formula outlined in state law, about $3,800 this year. Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget proposal would do exactly that by taking $1.8 billion from the state’s main savings account.
At the same time, though, Nelson said that drawing from savings might not be the right move. The state shouldn’t just try to live off its savings and put off harder questions for another day, he said, just as a family shouldn't spend more than it brings in.
"We could raid the Permanent Fund and pay all our bills this year, piece of cake, you know what I'm saying? We could pay all the bills and give everyone a full PFD, and everyone's going to be happy, but that's not a good long term solution."
Nelson says he hasn’t quite figured out the right approach — he says he’s still boning up on the ins and outs of the myriad issues facing the Legislature.
But Nelson says he’s planning to bring with him a built-in support system. Nelson says the whole family will join him in Juneau for the session.
"The way that we're doing it is, like, it's a family adventure," he said. "We are all in this together."
The veteran: Rep. Steve St. Clair, R-Wasilla
Joining Nelson in the House is Rep. Steve St. Clair, a longtime staffer for former House speaker and now-Sen. Cathy Tilton, a Wasilla Republican. St. Clair spent two decades as a military policeman, including a stint at Fort Wainwright in the early 2000s, before moving into conservative politics.
Like Nelson, St. Clair said in an interview that he, too, is spending long nights preparing for his first session. But with seven years of experience in the Capitol, plus an MBA, he said he thinks he’ll be able to hit the ground running.
"I'm a budget guy," he said, "but I'm also very familiar with all the other departments, their budgets. I've worked on amendments. I've worked on bills."
That means he’s coming into the session with some ideas for how to shrink the state’s budget gap — for example, freezing state workers’ pay, and gradually reducing so-called optional Medicaid services offered by the state. Those include things like dental and vision care and prescription drugs.
"They're not required by law. Basically, it's the Cadillac version instead of the (Ford) Pinto version," he said. "I think we need to pare that down."
St. Clair said he’s also concerned about proposals to restructure the Permanent Fund to function more like a university endowment, one area he expects the bipartisan House and Senate majorities to focus on this year.
But on most fronts, St. Clair acknowledged he might not get his way, given that he’s in the minority for his first year in office.
St. Clair said he's not expecting lawmakers to solve the state’s budget issues in the four months of the session, given that it’s an election year, but St. Clair says he’ll do his best to contribute.
"I'm humbled to be here and (I'm) going to do the best I can for my district and Alaskans," he said.
