There’s less than a week to go until Kenai Peninsula voters head to the polls to cast ballots for new state lawmakers, U.S. president and vice president, on ballot measures and more. This week, KDLL is bringing you a series of stories spotlighting local races as we enter the homestretch of election season. Today, we’re dialing in on House District 8 using highlights from our 2024 candidate forum series.
Two newcomers are facing off in the race for state House District 8. The district covers the Kenai Peninsula north of Tustumena Lake, excluding Kenai and Soldotna. It includes Nikiski, Hope, Cooper Landing, Moose Pass and Bear Creek.
Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly member Bill Elam is running against Brig. Gen. John Hillyer. Both are Republicans from the Soldotna area.
Elam’s served on the assembly since 2020 and is Central Peninsula Hospital’s manager of information technology and cybersecurity.
“I’m Bill Elam. I've been the borough assemblyman for the two terms now here on the Kenai Peninsula, I've been the school district liaison during that time,” he said. “I've been the CES liaison as well for our emergency services across the eastern peninsula, northern peninsula and right here in the central peninsula.”
Hillyer is a retired U.S. Air Force general and fighter pilot.
“I'm John Hillyer,” he said. “I've lived in Alaska for 18 years, 10 on the Kenai Peninsula. I'm a current resident of Mackey Lake. I've been married to my wife, Beth, for 34 years. She's a retired television news reporter, and we have twin boys attending Soldotna High School.”
Education and education funding
Hillyer and Elam diverge on their approach to funding for K-12 schools; Elam supports an increase to the base amount of money school districts get per student. Hillyer doesn’t support an increase to that amount.
Hillyer supports unfettered school choice for families, relieving administrative burdens for charter schools and empowering parents through school groups. He wants to see more accountability by school districts before increasing state funding.
“We need, like I said, that type of analysis in depth to make sure that – back to those measures of effectiveness – that the monies that are being allocated and spent in the school system are actually effective,” he said. “The test scores indicate that they are not. So, throwing more money at the problem is not the issue.”
Elam says school accountability isn’t as simple a concept as it sounds. He says he also supports school choice – his three kids go to Aurora Borealis Charter School in Kenai. But he says school districts need stable funding to make decisions that will most positively impact things like staffing.
“When it comes to accountability, I think one of the biggest issues that we run into is we hear that word flung around a lot, but I'm not so sure that you can legislate a good teacher,” he said. “I think you can recruit and retain good teachers. I think you can try to get them, and you can be competitive in the market with them, but I don't think that you're going to wind up actually legislating them.”
Economy
Elam and Hillyer have similar philosophies when it comes to state finances. They both support constitutionalizing the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend program and a state spending limit.
Hillyer wants that limit tied to the state’s gross domestic product. He also wants to create a sunshine commission tasked with phasing out agencies that don’t help Alaskans.
“There's no long-term fiscal plan in the state,” he said. “There are no strategic goals set. There are no measures of performance or measures of merit that are associated with legislative spending. There's no accountability for past, present or future spending. There's no plan. There needs to be a plan.”
Elam says the state needs to be a better business partner with private industry that wants to develop state resources. He also says the state shouldn’t take on new construction projects it won’t be able to support in the future.
“The Alaska economy tends to be boom or bust, right?” he said. “You know, it's very up and down with a lot of stuff. So we build on these high peaks, but we build stuff that we can't maintain in those low troughs. And so I want to make sure that we're being good stewards of the resources that we've been entrusted to manage and maintain.”
Energy
Both Elam and Hillyer support building a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to Nikiski as a way to address a looming shortage of natural gas in Cook Inlet. They also both think less government intervention will enable private industry to rise to the challenge. And both are wary about importing natural gas from overseas.
Hillyer says it’s been state lawmakers who’ve held up needed action in the inlet, particularly royalty relief for developers and reserve-based lending.
“We just need to step back as a government and let the free market system thrive,” he said. “That's what's going to serve us well in the Cook Inlet. We got to this problem because of government overreach and regulatory measures on pricing. Okay, let the free market system work, and it is.”
Elam says he’d focus on ensuring any new infrastructure or development undertaken to address the shortage happens on the peninsula.
“If we're doing import/export — here. If we're going to be doing a pipeline — here,” he said. “I don't want to see it up in Point MacKenzie or over in Valdez or wherever. I mean, we need to be doing that here. We need to make sure that we have a strong voice for the Kenai Peninsula and make sure that that is heard while we're down there.”
Campaign fundraising
Elam and Hillyer have raised comparable sums of money over the course of their campaign. To date, Elam’s raised about $19,000. Of that, about $1,500 has come in the form of non-monetary contributions. Hillyer’s raised a little bit more — over $25,000. Of that, roughly a third is from non-monetary donations.
The occupation most represented among Elam’s contributors are retirees – 29.1% – and homemakers – 23.6%. Elam’s backed by three political action committees and one political group, from which he’s received a total of $3,000.
Elam received $1,000 from the Associated General Contractors PAC which supports legislation in favor of construction and development, the Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association PAC, which supports candidates who want to improve access to healthcare in Alaska and the ConocoPhillips Employee PAC. Elam also received $500 from the Republican Women of the Kenai group.
Hillyer’s biggest campaign contributor is himself. Since launching his campaign, he’s chipped in about $9,000, representing over a third of all contributions. Homer Electric Association board member and geologist Robert Wall is Hillyer’s second-highest donor and has contributed just over $3,000, about 12% of Hillyer’s total campaign income.
Early voting is underway. On the central peninsula, voters can cast ballots at the Alaska Division of Elections office in Kenai and at Soldotna Prep School. Both locations have ballots for House Districts 5-8 and 37.
The Kenai location is at 11312 Kenai Spur Rd., Ste. 48. It’s open Monday through Friday until Nov. 4 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. It’s also open tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The Soldotna location is at 426 W. Redoubt Ave. It’s open Monday through Friday until Nov. 4 from 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
