Changes Afoot Changes Afoot November 25, 2022 Dear Friends and Neighbors, I get to spend this holiday weekend with a whole lot of family. I hope you do the same—no matter if it’s blood relatives or the family you choose. The Thanksgiving holiday itself has troubling roots. Like most people, my family doesn’t use it the way I got taught in grade school: with the myth of happy, sharing Pilgrims and generous, gently colonized Native Americans. Instead, Thursday was about gratitude for the people and projects that make our lives good. (Well, that and food. A lot of the day was about the food.) I am truly, deeply grateful I get to work for you. Thank you for trusting me with the work of representing you in the Alaska State Senate. In October I got to walk the hydro road to Gustavus’ run-of-river Falls Creek hydro project. I’m trying to collect a hoodie with the logo of every high school in our district. No luck on Gustavus yet, but a friend found these great Foxes gloves at the Community Chest for me! Getting Organized With Open Primaries & Ranked Choice Just a few minutes before I pressed ‘send’ on this newsletter I was in a press conference announcing a bipartisan Senate organization. Nine Democrats and eight Republicans will lead the Senate side of the Legislature for the next two years. We’ve agreed we’ll keep team sports to baseball and football. Instead, we’ll work not as Rs and Ds, but together as Alaskans on improving our state’s future. I think we’ll get better results this way than by toeing party lines. Several things made this majority possible. Two of the biggest are open primaries and ranked-choice voting. The primaries meant most Alaskans had more choices on November 8 than just one R and one D. Many districts had several flavors of progressive or conservative to choose from. And ranked-choice meant voters with three or more options no longer get stuck with lawmakers acceptable to a mere plurality. No more winners with 38% of the vote. Together those things mean more influence for the majority of Alaska voters and less for the fringe right or left. For example: it turns out most Alaska voters don’t mind their electeds working across party lines as much as party hardliners do. Unless I missed one, every Republican sanctioned by their party organizations for organizing or working with Democrats got re-elected. That doesn’t mean my preferred candidates won all the time. In fact, when the rankings came out Wednesday evening a few of my preferred legislative candidates made it over the hump, while others went from leading to losing. The voters in those districts made the call, pundits and politicos notwithstanding. The other thing that helped was a fairer set of district lines. The Redistricting Board made fewer ‘safe seats’ and more competitive ones this time than ten years ago. While this map had its issues, the incoming legislature looks more like most Alaskans’ political values than the last few. I expect we’ll see a lot of proposals to tweak our election system over the next two years. As I look at the bills my colleagues file, the most important question I’ll ask is whether they would shift the power to pick legislators toward the majority of Alaskans, or the few. I got to give a Capitol tour to a group of DNR staff as part of their Future Leaders program. It’s always fun to share insights on the legislative process! Monopolies Are No Game The week before last, there was news about two Alaska legislators asking the Federal Trade Commission to block a proposed merger of Safeway and Albertsons (including Fred Meyer.) They’re not the only ones. Two weeks before that, Reps. Story, Hannan, and I sent a joint letter of our own. We pointed out that the merger would let the #1 & #2 grocery retailers in the northern panhandle become the super-mega #1. If approved, there would be just two IGA stores under a single owner to compete with them in the supermarket space. Lack of competition like that wouldn’t just raise prices for Juneau residents. As the hub for northern southeast, our neighbors in small towns and villages would feel the bite out of their grocery budgets, too. I’m sure the merger would be good for the owners of a new grocery megachain. But without meaningful competition, a whole lot of that shareholder value would come out of working Alaskans’ pockets—or for Alaskans who struggle, off their tables altogether. We need the FTC to stop that from happening. All my best, Did someone forward you this newsletter? Did you fall into it through the series of tubes? Want more? SUBSCRIBE Events & Happenings Around District Q Juneau Delegation Open House Come meet your state legislators (and snag some free food) at our Holiday Open House! Swing by the Capitol Building on December 22, 11:30-1pm. We hope to see you there! Haines Holiday Open House Visit the library from 3 - 5pm on November 26 for holiday music, kids crafts, and holiday music, kids crafts, and general cheer! Juneau Stress-Free Art The Juneau Arts & Humanities Council is hosting a stress-free art night at the JACC on November 30, 5:30-7:30pm. Suggested donation is $5 for individuals, $10 for families. Gustavus Kids’ Night The twice-monthly event is coming up fast! Fun for kids K-5 this Wednesday, November 30th at the Community Center, 4-6pm. (p.s.: Snack donations are always helpful, if you can.) Juneau Anti-War Poetry UAS is hosting an anti-war poetry event, featuring veteran poets and their works. Free to the public December 1, 1:30-4pm. Skagway Tree Lighting Want to meet Santa and experience some Christmas cheer? Head to 5th & Broadway at 5:30pm on December 2! Skagway Reindeer Crafts Stop by the library during the month of December and get a free crafting kit—make your own reindeer out of wine corks! Is there an event in our district I should know about? Please call or email! Snail Mail? Alaska State Capitol Room 419 Juneau, AK 99801 Call: 800 550 4947 907 465 4947 Email Me! ‌ ‌ ‌ Contact My Staff, the people who power the work: Ella Adkison 907 465 6419 [email protected] Cathy Schlingheyde 907 465 6827 [email protected] Senator Jesse Kiehl | Alaska State Capitol, Rm. 419, 4th Avenue & Main Street, Juneau, AK 99801 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected]