The Runoff Election is Tuesday, October 25th.
As we're coming down to the wire, if you are a rational individual, please ask yourself this - What IS "change" in this election?
Over the last few weeks, I have heard people who are considering (or plan on) voting for Fred Sturman for Borough Mayor proclaiming they want "CHANGE."
I have some news for those people. Fred Sturman isn't "change."
He's more of what we've had for three years... except worse.
For the last three years, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor has been Dave Carey.
Let me preface the following remarks (which could easily be misconstrued as mean-spirited) with this:
Dave Carey not an evil man. He is well-intended, and was sincere in his attempt to be a good mayor.
But Dave Carey was NOT a good mayor, and his poor performance can mostly be attributed to one thing:
A lack of experience.
Dave Carey's prior MAYORAL experience in public elected office?
(CORRECTION - SEE NOTE BELOW).
He was Mayor of the City of Soldotna.
(CORRECTION - SEE NOTE BELOW).
He was Mayor of the City of Soldotna.
On the face it it, that sounds good, right?
Well, not really.
To put it bluntly, the Mayor of Soldotna is little more than a glorified City Council member.
At Council meetings, the Mayor doesn't even vote, except in the rare case of a tie.
The City mayor's official responsibilities pretty much consist of: wielding the gold-painted shears at a ribbon-cutting photo op; presenting some visiting muckety-muck with the "Key to the City;" and waving in parades and kissing babies.
In contrast, being the Mayor of the Kenai Peninsula Borough is comparable to being the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company.
NONE of Mr. Carey's experience as Soldotna City Mayor prepared him for the enormous task to which he was elected. It's no surprise that he wasn't very good at it.
Now comes Fred Sturman.
Fred has never held ANY elected office, and his governmental experience consists of attending Borough Assembly meetings and bitching at the Assembly.
Yet, Fred and his followers somehow believe that his background as a professional malcontent is enough to give him the expertise and understanding to be the chief executive officer of an entity with an annual budget in excess of $100 million.
Mike Navarre has been Borough Mayor, and at the end of his term left our Borough in good financial shape. Prior to that, Navarre was a member of the Alaska Legislature, serving a stint as Co-Chair of the House Finance Committee.
Navarre has hands-on experience dealing with complex billion dollar budgets.
For the last 12 years, Navarre has been the CEO of his family's multimillion dollar business, which consist of 9 Arby's Restaurants and 9 Radio Shack stores plus a number of other real-estate holdings throughout Alaska.
This is a guy who has proven that he's highly capable.
Back to the original question:
What is "change?"
"Change" would be a return to qualified, competent management.
Vote for Mike Navarre on Tuesday, October 25th.
Please.
Correction: Mr. Carey did hold prior elected office other than Soldotna Mayor. He served 3 terms on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly between the years 1982-1989.
I was focusing on mayoral experience, and somehow had completely forgotten about it. I was around then, so my omission is pretty embarrassing. I apologize to readers and to Mr. Carey for the inaccuracy of my previous statement.
Thanks to a reader for pointing it out.
Correction: Mr. Carey did hold prior elected office other than Soldotna Mayor. He served 3 terms on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly between the years 1982-1989.
I was focusing on mayoral experience, and somehow had completely forgotten about it. I was around then, so my omission is pretty embarrassing. I apologize to readers and to Mr. Carey for the inaccuracy of my previous statement.
Thanks to a reader for pointing it out.
