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 Heath Smith by clicking on the audio link.
Heath Smith: Well, my name is Heath Smith. I am a born and raised Alaskan, born in Anchorage after the 1964 earthquake. My parents like to refer to me as an aftershock, but it's been all good. We moved down to Homer in 1974, and so I've been down there ever since. I mean, I left for college, did a couple other things, but came to realize that Alaska was where my heart was and where I wanted to raise my family, and came back in short order. [I] Married a wonderful woman there that was born in Homer, have six kids, three grandkids. And by and large, I mean it's for them that I find myself doing this. I retired last September after 28 years with UPS, so I had my career and I was out there delivering. I was on people's doorsteps all the time, so this campaigning isn't really the foreign thing for me. But by and large, the direction of the state has seemed lost.
Davis Hovey, KMXT: What are some of your other top priorities if you were elected to the state Legislature?
Smith: We know, especially in this district, that we suffer from, I mean, the reality of ferries, the fisheries, and for me, it's like we already have this structural deficit that exists within our budget, and we're underfunding the types of things that make sure that those are successful. The management of the fisheries, I mean, by and large, Fish and Game keeps saying back, ‘we don't have the money to implement, monitor, enforce these kinds of things, so, no thanks.’ And you know, the ferries are shutting down for months at a time in the winter, and so you know that's critical infrastructure to coastal Alaska.
KMXT: We have a local trawl fleet that goes out in the Gulf of Alaska trawl fishery. It's been a hot button issue this election cycle, and so we're just sort of asking candidates, you know, where do you stand on the trawl industry? What's your stance on trawling in general, and how do you take that into account for a district that features a lot of local trawlers?
Smith: Yeah, there are a lot of high emotions over what is perceived to be the fishery, and this really kind of defaults really right back to my last answer, is that if the management is proper, then it eliminates the ability for people to inject hyperbole into the conversation, right? And so my focus on the legislative side is to make sure that there's proper funding there, so that the management is executed on a level that instills confidence in not just the trawl industry, but everybody else that perceives it.
KMXT: Are there any other projects that maybe you're paying attention to or excited about, maybe even new sectors or industry that we haven't set up yet in Alaska that you think would benefit the state's revenue?
Smith: By and large, I think that government needs to allow the private sector to flourish. So, kind of getting out of the way and you still have to be responsible, right? You can't just like neglect and say, ‘Hey, do whatever you want.’ But the reality is that, I think like and in this case with the LNG project, I think we're getting in the way. And so one of the things that's connected to that is the Dixon diversion project, that I think is really achievable. So, for those that don't know, I mean that diverts the runoff from the Dixon Glacier over to Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Plant there, and you know they say that it could increase it up to 50%. And Homer only gets about 12% of that. So, if it takes 18%, I mean that's that much less that we need to depend on natural gas. So it helps, kind of even the scales out a little bit, to where that reduces the pressure on Cook Inlet gas, and it makes it easier. So that's one project that I'd really be interested in making sure it gets pulled off, because a lot of it's been permitted, and it's something that I think is close enough on the horizon that we could see benefits from soon.
KMXT: Education funding, of course, has also come up in recent years, specifically focused around the base student allocation and what's the appropriate level of funding for that. Should it be kept up with inflation? Should it stay where it is, et cetera, et cetera? How would you sort of approach education funding, and what's your stance for the appropriate level of BSA, I guess?
Smith: We're facing some real challenges in the education system, period. Largely because enrollments dropping, there's been this kerfuffle over, you know, charter schools and homeschooling versus being within the brick-and-mortar system that exists through government. And for me, it's like there has to be some level of causation, and funding is a component of that. There's no doubt about it. So, you know, I think that inflation proofing on a reasonable level is something that should be explored.
You know that there was some talk that maybe reinstituting the defined benefits would be a way forward. It would take me some work to get there because I mean the last defined benefits system that we had is only $7.2 billion in unfunded liability. So, I mean, that's one of the biggest debts that the state owns, and we barely make the interest payment on that every year. So that debt's not going away anytime soon if we don't get aggressive. You know, if we could take care of that, then it would be a different discussion.
Anyway, we all want our school system to succeed, and I don't think there's any doubt about that. But with the budget problems, I mean, we've got to find a way to, you spend $1 here, it can't be spent there. And so we're underfunded in our ferries. We're underfunded in DOT, we’re underfunded in, you know, ADF&G. And so it's like, how much can we take from any particular spot to make another one look like it's succeeding more? Well, we watch that one fail more.
So it's just, it's an unfortunate spot we're in. But look, you know, the reason I'm running is because I feel like the people that have been there have helped facilitate that, and I think we just need a new set of eyes, ears, and feet on it, and somebody that's willing to take on the challenge.
