Peggy's Corner of the House

Hello and welcome to Peggy’s Corner of the House. I’m excited to be back in Juneau representing our new District 33 in the State House.

This is my third year serving as House Majority Whip. Through this leadership position, I assist the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader to coordinate ideas and garner support for proposed legislation, and whatever other help they may need. If the majority leader is absent I fill in for him in the House Chambers – I once even filled in for the Speaker of the House. I will be working closely with other House leadership members, the Senate leadership and the Governor to make our session a productive one. Those of us in leadership work very hard keeping the lines of communication open between the Senate, House and the Governor.

I’m looking forward to another exciting year with a dynamic and capable staff. Rebecca Rooney, from Wrangell, continues as my Chief of Staff, and has been with me for eight years. Becky is very familiar with all the issues that have been before the legislature in the past several years, and really helps me advance the issues that are important to District 33. She is the Committee Aide for the Transportation Committee and oversees all office operations. Becky will be the primary contact for Wrangell & Hyder constituents’.

Arthur Martin is a recent Political Science graduate from Prince of Wales and is the first person you will speak with when you call or visit our office. Arthur worked in my office last year and in addition to keeping my schedule and appointments, will follow Fisheries, Military & Veteran Affairs related issues and handle Prince of Wales constituents.

Chere Klein-Enright, (born and raised in Ketchikan) will follow Resource, Community & Regional Affairs related issues, may assist in carrying some of my legislation and is responsible for a majority of our office communications. Chere will handle constituent issues for Ketchikan & Saxman.

I’m very pleased to have Elijah Verhagen (from Nenana) as an Intern this year. It is an honor to have an intern from the University of Alaska. Elijah is a student at the University of Fairbanks, majoring in Political Science. He will be following Education, Economic Development and Tourism and Energy related issues. Elijah was a House page in the past two legislative sessions and his experience will be invaluable to my office.

I have hit the ground running this year with a joint House and Senate Transportation hearing regarding the change in direction of the Alaska Marine Highway new vessel acquisition. It is very important that we all understand this change and determining if this plan will work for SE Alaska and Alaska as a whole.

My goals are Economic Development, Affordable energy & access to good Medical Care in our district. My statewide priority is to establish a dedicated Transportation Infrastructure Fund within our constitution. This fund will ensure that transportation revenues are spent on transportation infrastructure projects like our ferry system, state and municipal roads, harbors, and airports. I will also be focused on bringing jobs and revenue to the state by encouraging increased oil and gas exploration and production.

Again this year, in addition to hearing from me in Peggy’s Corner of the House, you can find more information about what’s going on up here in Juneau on my website http://www.peggywilson.com . If you would like to be the first to know what’s going on you can follow me on Facebook or Twitter.

That’s all for now from Peggy’s Corner of the House; I look forward to keeping you informed on what’s happening in Juneau on a weekly basis.