Editor's note: The below excerpt from this interview is not the full transcript and has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Listen to the full interview with Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins by clicking on the audio link.
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins:" Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, aka JKT, my initials; just kind of took hold in the Legislature, little shorter to spit out, and I am running to be the next governor for Alaska because I want to be the opposite of Mike Dunleavy in the governor's office. I mean, that's only slightly tongue in cheek. I think that's actually a pretty good summary of my sort of outlook on things. I spent 10 years in the Legislature. I was a part of the bipartisan coalition that formed in the House of Representatives. And I think that approach and spirit of governance, where you have Democrats and Independents and moderate Republicans kind of focusing on what you can get done, what you can agree on, is great for Alaska. And I want to see that same spirit of governance in the governor’s office. And to put it mildly, that has not been the case the last seven years and I’d like to change that.
Davis Hovey, KMXT: I'm not sure how familiar you are with the industry, but there has been a plague of issues that the commercial fishing industry as a whole, multiple sectors, you know, not just processors or one specific gear, but all sectors are struggling with. So how would you kind of help address some of these issues from the governorship?
JKT: I mean, number one, I feel like the current administration has been very hostile to com fish. Talk with anyone who's participated in the Board of Fish process, and it's eyes wide open about the lack of balance and how you know the Board of Fish right now is just dominated by one perspective. I mean, as governor, I want to restore balance on the Board of Fish, and that means appointing people from all user groups, not just one user group. That also means geographic diversity on the Board of Fish. So I think that's incredibly important. Prioritizing port and harbor infrastructure, which is what you know you've got to if you're going to home port a fleet like you've got to have a port and….you have finite dollars to invest, and in my mind, investing them in infrastructure, which in turn enables economic opportunity in the form of commercial fishing vessels, permit holders, quota owners. That is the high priority in my mind for infrastructure investment.
KMXT: Another topic that's always a big attention getter for Alaskans is education, of course. Where do you think the base student allocation should fall and how do you think the state Legislature, government in general can kind of get to the appropriate amount for the base student allocation?
JKT: I think the base student allocation should keep pace with inflation, and it's fallen behind for the last 10 years, which basically means you're cutting education. And when you cut education, you close schools which Kodiak has seen, and communities across the state are seeing, and that started while I was in the Legislature. I mean, I was voting to have education funding keep pace with cost and inflation, but partly because of this governor, that ultimately did not happen. And so we need to bring the BSA, the base student allocation, back up to par, and have it from there, keep pace with inflation. The Legislature, I'm hoping, is going to continue to make moves in that direction, and I think there's smart, reasonable approach in the Legislature. It's just a real question of the governor's veto pen coming down. I mean, for me as governor, obviously not going to veto education funding, and going to use the sort of political capital you have to support it.
KMXT: And then with cost of living on the sort of, goods and services, such as, you know, the price we pay for heating fuel or groceries at the store, or the shipping costs that go along with that, getting goods to coastal off-road communities. How would you look to help address those costs?
JKT: You know, the state should be focusing in areas where it can help contain costs for consumers. I mean, I think an area that really comes to mind for that is energy and electricity. And, you know, Kodiak and Sitka are very similar in that we're, you know, almost 100% powered by renewables, and also energy independent, and control our collective destiny because of hydro and wind. But I think, kind of, exporting that Kodiak or Sitka model to the rest of the state, where you're self-sufficient, you're controlling cost, because you're not dependent on the wildly fluctuating cost of fossil fuel, natural gas or diesel, just makes so much sense."
The primary election is Aug. 18 and the top four candidates, regardless of party affiliation, will advance from there to the general election on Nov. 3. A full list of all gubernatorial candidates running in this year's election can be found on the Alaska Beacon's website.
