There are three candidates running for State House Seat 10 in the general election on November 4th. One of them is Roger Purcell, who is not running with either major party, but rather undeclared. Purcell joined K-T-N-A’s Phillip Manning on Wednesday to talk about his priorities for the state and District 10.
Roger Purcell is a registered Republican, but did not seek the party’s nomination to represent District 10. He has run against the incumbent, Representative Wes Keller, in the past in an unsuccessful primary bid. Purcell, who was formerly the mayor of Houston, says that he and some others who are running independently chose to do so in order to be able to dissent with members of the Republican Party when they disagree.
“We can do what’s right one-hundred percent of the time because we didn’t have to go back and respond to what they said. I was taken aside by a legislator and told how it was going to be when we got to Juneau with the party, and I totally disagreed with what they were saying…”
Roger Purcell is attempting to join a state legislature that will likely continue to see lean budget years. That inevitably means cuts if more revenue is not raised. Purcell says he thinks that a different approach to those cuts could ease some of the burden.
“I believe most of your administrative sections can be cut three to six percent and not reduce services, but what happens is, if you just tell managers they have a three to six percent cut, they normally, because they don’t like their budgets cut, they cut the areas where it actually hurts the people it’s supposed to help.”
Speaking specifically about District 10, Roger Purcell says that the diverse range of population density and local concerns in the large district mean that there are a broad set of issues that the district’s representative has to consider.
“The Tanaina, the Lakes District, the Church District down toward Wasilla, they have needs that have no bearing at all on [needs] up here. They hear about a dam up here and say, ‘Well yeah, we want cheap electricity,’ but yet, on this side of the Valley, we know that a dam would be devastating for the community…”
One issue that Roger Purcell believes will affect the entire district is transportation infrastructure. Specifically, he says that continued development around Port MacKenzie will yield dividends for the Susitna Valley.
“The main thing, I think, is the corridors. We set up the rail spur, we put the trucker route right beside it, which would cut off at least thirty-five minutes of driving time going from Talkeetna into…downtown Anchorage. It also puts up the jobs at Port MacKenzie, which would be high-paying, good jobs, especially the union jobs, which would actually make it time-feasible for people in the Upper Valley to go look for those jobs on a year-round basis.”
Roger Purcell also spoke about his race’s incumbent, Representative Wes Keller. Purcell criticizes Keller for what he sees as a lack of involvement in the communities he represents. Specifically, he contrasts Reprentative Keller with State Senator Mike Dunleavy, who also represents the Upper Valley.
“This year, when we had the [HB-77], that my opponent [Rep. Wes Keller] was pushing fastly through, didn’t even show up for the town hall meeting, but you had Senator Dunleavy there to answer to the public why he was supporting or not supporting it. I remember that very well. There was a large group of people very upset about [HB-77]…I would have liked to have heard what he had to say, why he voted yes to streamline it, but he wasn’t there, which isn’t uncommon for him. He doesn’t show up for very many things ever.”
Roger Purcell did not offer any endorsements of either candidate for State Senate, and had positive things to say about both men, one of whom, Warren Keogh, is also running outside of the major parties. The same is true of the gubernatorial race and independent candidate Bill Walker in attempt to unseat Governor Sean Parnell.
