Dana sez–I’m not what you could call a political animal. Mostly I just want those guys to take my taxes and fix the roads and then leave me the hell alone. I always vote, sure, but that’s as much to honor my parents as it is do my duty as a citizen.
This election feels different. Maybe it was watching Washington, D.C. get literally bulldozed in real time, or maybe it was the $62 price tag on my last tank of gas, or maybe it’s the homicidal stupidity of the anti-science crowd. So I’m going to candidate events to get a sense of who they are, and post about them on Random Saturdays between now and November 3rd.
Takeaway: This guy might be the real deal.
I attended a meet-and-greet in Homer with Bill Hill on Thursday. Bill is running to represent Alaska in Congress. It was the first time I’ve seen him in person and I was impressed.
He’s got a good website and you can read his bio and check out his platform for yourselves. In person? He began by giving a recap of his life so far, including working as a drift netter and in construction, teaching science and math, moving on up to principal and superintendent of schools, all in Bristol Bay. He spoke proudly of his wife (and business partner) and children and grandchildren (seven with one more on the way).
Then he answered questions. When asked why he was running as an Independent, he said (I’m paraphrasing his answers) that the two existing political parties haven’t served us very well of late. How, then, did he see himself succeeding in DC.? He said he would build coalitions and that even a small coalition could be very powerful in a divided House. He’s ready to work with any and everyone to produce policies that will help Alaskans. When asked where he stood on climate change, he said Alaskans had a front row seat and that he would support investing in renewable as well as traditional energy resources. He is very big on investing in education, especially in trade schools, and told a funny story about meeting a former student who was now making more money as a welder than Bill was as a school superintendent. He said his door would always be open to us and that he will always respond to constituents’ communications.
There was much more, but I hope this is enough to nudge you into finding an event at which Bill is appearing so you can go listen to him yourself and make up your own mind. I think you’ll be impressed, too.
He’s got my vote. Hill Yeah!
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Yes! The local elections are where we might be able to effect some changes. So SallyField tells us also. I haven’t been to a meet and greet but I have definitely been following write-ups, interviews, looking up track records and see who aligns with who (whom?lol). There are some MI past politicians I blame for happenings in the their times and I always see who refers back to those 2 governors. Or who references some of the current DC crowd. I really liked this Random Saturday!