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 Louise Stutes by clicking on the audio link.
Louise Stutes: Louise Stutes, and I am running for Senate District C because Gary Stevens is retiring. He's done a great job. I've had a tremendous mentor in Gary, but more than that, I've been fairly successful in representing House District 5, and there are a lot of similarities between House District 5 and House District 6. So, I feel like I've already kind of got my arms around a lot of the issues. And it's kind of like going back home. Stormy, my husband, was raised in Anchor Point. I have sisters-in-law in Anchor Point and in Homer, so it feels like a good fit.
Davis Hovey, KMXT: And just in general, I guess, what would you say are some of your top priorities if you were elected?
Stutes: I think that we need to remain, keep our fisheries sustainable. That’s a big issue. We've got a lot of issues that need to be addressed in relation to our fisheries. We need a fiscal plan for the state. Everything kind of falls downhill from a fiscal plan, and part of that fiscal plan is resolving the PFD issue. Every year, we have a big fight over the PFD, but I think that the Legislature is coming to terms with the fact that our statute is 40 years old and needs to be readdressed, and I think also that we all agree that it's time to address it and stop that argument and bickering over it each year. It just wastes our time.
KMXT: You of course mentioned fisheries, and as you said, Senate District C is a little bit different from House District 5 communities, but still coastal fishermen throughout, of course, and a lot of different gear types represented across those communities. How do you sort of approach balancing all of those needs and all of the issues plaguing the commercial fishing industry right now?
Stutes: I think that that's a matter of bringing the user groups together. The user groups, like anybody else, they are recognizing the fact everybody is trying to feed their family. And when one user group wants a bigger piece of the pie than the other, you run into problems. And I think that they're realizing the issues that are before us now need to be solved with full participation. To expect that one user group over another is going to be able to resolve any of the issues that we're facing, it’s just not going to happen. It's going to take everybody.
KMXT: In that same sort of vein, we've also been asking candidates this year about their stance on the trawl industry, because as I'm sure you've noticed, trawling has been a big point of contention, however you want to label it, in the political season this year. So, where do you stand on the trawl industry?
Stutes: The first thing I can say is we have 60 legislators. I'm the only legislator this year that passed trawl legislation, and that was House Bill 117. And what that says is if you are a trawler and you are trawling in state waters, you will turn on your electronic monitoring system, and that was not required prior to. That's a step in the right direction.
We need to have science and information in order to make the changes. To just point a finger and say it's you or you, that doesn't always work, you got to have something to back it up with. So, I think that's critical.
I think it's also important to note that most of the trawling going on in the state is in federal waters, and the other interesting part of that, most of the big catcher trawlers, which seem to be the issue, the bottom trawling, you know, certainly, I'm not a proponent of bottom trawling. I just think it's counterproductive for a multitude of reasons. But there's really kind of a conundrum because most of those big factory trawlers are not Alaskan, however, they are owned by Alaskans, by the CDQ groups. They are either owned wholly by the CDQ groups or partially, and they're fishing in federal waters. So I think that in order to address this, we need to come together with our native groups that are owners in these big trawler catcher vessels and address this.
KMXT: How do you approach those relationships if you were to move over to the Senate? And also we will have a new governor at that point as well, and a new state house representative replacing you in House District 5. So, yeah, how do you approach all those new relationships?
Stutes: Just the way I did for the last 12 years. It takes a village, you know. You have to have relationships. You have to learn how to give and take, and that's the only way you can produce for your district. And you know, I've gotten crosswise with some of the party, and I'm fully aware of it. And I was fully aware of the fact that I wasn't making everybody happy all the time. But what I am aware of, my job is to produce for my district, and then my job is to say, now that I've produced for my district, how does that fit into the big picture of the state?
