Campaign season for elected office in Alaska is officially underway with some political hopefuls lobbying for support across the Kenai Peninsula. One of the seats up for election on the ballots this year is for Alaska’s governor, a seat currently held by Mike Dunleavy. One of the candidates intending to unseat Governor Dunleavy is Christopher Kurka, who spent part of last week on the Kenai Peninsula. Kurka also has been a State House Representative since being elected in November 2020. He appeared on KSRM’s “The Bird’s Eye View” with host Bob Bird.
Kurka spoke on the PFD:
“I have consistently campaigned for the full statutory PFD, and I’ve fought for it in the legislature. I have voted every time and every opportunity for the full statutory PFD. In fact, I sponsored the budget amendment to pay back PFDs for last year or for, I guess, 2019 in this case. You know, I come from two perspectives. One is I believe in the rule of law. The legislature needs to follow the statutory formula or change it, but I also oppose changing the formula and oppose what some of the political establishment, the Democrats, are supporting this idea of having a sovereign wealth fund that pays for government. That’s a dangerous idea. The concept of having a private pool of wealth that pays for government is kind of a nice idea, but when you do that, and you disconnect the government from the people, you grow government to an enormous size and it becomes uncontrollable.”
Kurka also addressed his age, considering he is in his mid-30s:
“I’ve been doing political organizing for quite a few years, and I think there’s three differences between myself and Governor Dunleavy that are very stark. They are on more effectiveness. So, the first one is that, in politics, personnel is policy. You can have the perfect vision, be the perfect negotiator on policy, but if you hire the wrong people to run your administration, nothing is going to change. When you come into office and you hire the swamp, you will get swamp. The second part is that you have to be tough as nails. Politics is war.”
According to the Alaska Division of Elections, three candidates have announced intentions to run for Alaska’s governor, however Kurka has not yet filed the required documents and isn’t among the current candidates. The final day to file as a candidate for the Primary Election in Alaska is on or before 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, June 1, 2022.
