Ortiz visits Wrangell, discusses priorities if re-elected

Representative Dan Ortiz visited Wrangell last week, going door-knocking and speaking with constituents as part of his re-election campaign. He is running again for House District 36, against Leslie Becker. District 36 covers several Southeast Alaskan communities, including Ketchikan, Metlakatla, and Wrangell. This campaign has been a good competition, he said, mentioning that Becker was ahead of him on fundraising.

An Oct. 17 article in the Ketchikan Daily News reported that Becker was ahead of Ortiz in campaign revenue by about $15,000. A majority of Becker's campaign finances come from self-contributions, according to the article, while most of Ortiz's funding has come from previous campaign income, contributions from individuals, and political action committees.

Ortiz said that he was standing on his track record as the incumbent candidate, and he was optimistic.

"I feel like I'm very willing to stand on my record to date," Ortiz said. "I feel one of my strengths is to make sure that I'm in all the communities, that I'm meeting with them, not just in campaign time ... I view this election as a referendum on my six years of service to District 36, and I stand pretty firm on that record. I think I've done a pretty darn good job of representing the entire district in a nonpartisan way."

During his recent visit to Wrangell, Ortiz spoke with the Wrangell Sentinel to discuss some of his priorities should he be re-elected. The first thing he brought up was the Alaska Marine Highway System, which he said was a big concern to his constituents. He pointed out that Wrangell was not anticipating any ferry service at all this winter, which was something he said he was fighting to get changed. It was his understanding, he said, that the Alaska Department of Transportation felt tides in the Wrangell Narrows would make any schedule involving Wrangell prone to delays and would throw off their whole schedule. This would then have implications on their crews and overtime pay, he was told. Recently, Ortiz sent a letter to DOT Commissioner John MacKinnon asking him to reconsider Wrangell's winter schedule, and find a way to keep providing the community with regular service through the winter.

Another concern of his is the loss of revenue across the state. Alaska has seen a significant decline in revenue, he said, and he felt it was important to remember local community governments whenever budgets are being proposed. He wants to make sure there is state support for local programs, naming school bond debt reimbursement and revenue sharing programs in particular. He was very concerned about not letting the state shift costs down to local communities. This was a concern he had heard from some of his constituents, he said, and he wanted to assure them he agreed with their concerns. They needed to solve their problems at the state level, he said, not at the cost of local government support.

"I think that it's important that the state just doesn't cost-shift its problems down to the local area and cause a greater likelihood or a greater pressure on local bodies to increase taxes, property taxes and other types of local taxes in order to make up for the lack of support that had normally been there for the state during better times," Ortiz said.

More information about Ortiz and his campaign can be found at http://www.danortizalaska.com.

"It's always good to be in Wrangell," Ortiz said. "I appreciate the opportunity. I always feel welcome here in the community."