“This town’s in a death spiral right now that’s going to continue.” – Borough assemblyman Mark Smith, Oct. 13, 2026 “Pretty soon there’s not going to be nobody here and you’re going to have to figure it out.” -Assembly candidate Kim Rasado, Oct. 13, 2026 It would be clever to say that our town has a Doomsday Cult, a…
Politics at the pro level is broken. Turn on your television if you don’t believe me. Or answer your phone. Or check your mailbox. Tens of millions of dollars are being spent in Alaska for nothing but attack ads and telephone surveys. Given that newspapers are nearly extinct, how does the average voter sort through the damning allegations of one…
Mayor Olerud-836 Hill-272 Assembly-Top 2 win seats Anne Marie Palmieri-625 Beau Bradley-566 Lee Robinson-518 Diana Lapham-407 Planning Commission-Top 4 win seats Zeke Frank-683 Nathanael Reams-608 Erika Merklin-598 Nick Szatkowski-529 George Campbell-506 Kim Rasado-489 School Board-Top 4 win seats Carlos Jimenez-862 Jenn Walsh-713 Kevin Shove-660 Michael Wald-581 Cara Gilbert-438 Burl Sheldon-292 Initiative 1- Mayor Appointed Planning Commission…
An anonymous Facebook group calling itself Haines Front and Center posted a slam against the mayor last night, alleging my “failed policies” and “significant turnover inside the borough government.” It insinuates that our town is in decline due to my mayorship. I have worked at every turn to improve the Haines Borough while my opponents have said, posted or written…
A logging opponent I know moved to Tenakee Springs 40 years ago so angry about clearcutting in the region that she refused to use a chainsaw. She cut her firewood with a hand saw. I imagine she eventually agreed to a power saw, maybe realizing that federal logging policy was more to blame for the degradation of the forest than…
Because it’s so often steered by egos and ideologies, politics is rife with absurdities. The most notable during my term as mayor was the Battle of Jones Point Cemetery. Takshanuk Watershed Council, a group that cleans our streams and beaches, improves fish and wildlife habitat, educates our children, and provides scenic land for public use was seeking less than one…
Under our current economic and political drift, Haines seems destined to become either an industrial mine site or a seasonal recreation enclave for the wealthy. Neither of those would be an improvement over what our town is today. Haines could evolve into either extreme because we don’t take our future seriously. For a lack of common direction, we allow outside…
I’ve been around Haines politics for 40 years, for more than 30 years as a news reporter and for most of the last 10 years as an assemblyman and mayor. I’ve seen many local politicians come and go. My friend Debra Schnabel, who has served as Haines Borough manager and as a member of the Haines City Council and Haines…
We do not need to start shooting bears. Let’s think for a minute. 2026 is an even-numbered year, which means the pink salmon run is depressed. It also appears to be a bad year for several of the berries that make up a bear’s diet, which is as much as half vegetation. Combined, this means our brown bears have been…
I don’t tell people how to vote but as some folks come to me asking advice on election issues, I made this handy list for them on the various initiatives and propositions that will appear on the Oct. 6 municipal ballot. Print out this sheet and save it for Election Day. You’ll see that I’m endorsing all the tax measures.…