Neil Steininger and Connor Ulmer are making their debut in Juneau’s local political arena in hopes to secure the open District 1 seat on the Juneau Assembly this municipal election.
The two new candidates are going head to head to replace outgoing Assembly member ‘Waahlaal Gidaag Barbara Blake, who is not seeking re-election. Come October, she will have served one, three-year term in the seat.
Steininger is a consultant who has extensive experience with Alaska’s state government. He spent 11 years working for the state, including eight at the Office of Management and Budget, and he has a Bachelors in economics.
In an interview with KTOO, Steininger said his previous experience with government affairs will be an asset for the Assembly.
“I have a lot of experience in the public sector, finance and budgeting and administration,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot about what policy decisions are effective in functional government. And I think I can bring that viewpoint to the Assembly, and work with the other Assembly members to kind of bring in some of those ideas and concepts and knowledge that would help as we try and move the city forward.”
When it comes to priorities, Steininger said his biggest priority if elected on the Assembly will be to tackle the demographic changes happening in Juneau — which he thinks is intertwined with a lot of issues the Assembly is already trying to take action on.
“We really need to be thinking about how can we attract young families to town. And I think that really comes down to things like figuring out our housing issue, figuring out our child care issue, and also protecting the jobs that bring in young families,” he said. “We need to figure out how to enhance that and really try to make sure that 20 years from now, Juneau doesn’t continue to have these demographic issues.”
Ulmer is an executive assistant for the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s Office of the President.
He has served in various roles roles related to local tribal government and entities, including as a member of the Tlingit and Haida Community Council, a trustee with the Goldbelt Ancestral Trust and a youth advisor for Sealaska Corporation’s board of directors.
“I believe my experience working at Tlingit and Haida with our executive council, which is our governing body outside of our tribal assembly, and my time at Sealaska as the board youth advisor and on the Tlingit and Haida Juneau Community Council has all kind of helped push me forward to run and bring in another Native voice to the Assembly and also just a younger perspective to everything,” he said in an interview.
Ulmer said he thinks housing is one of the most important issues facing Juneau right now.
“I think that is kind of the biggest thing that the city needs to look at, is how we can open up additional land and make sure that it is affordable – not just for a small group of people, but for everybody across all different lines of work and everything,” he said.
The pair agree on a lot of issues up for debate this election. They both support the $10 million Juneau Douglas Wastewater Treatment Plant bond and the $12.7 million public safety radio bond. And, they both oppose the Ship-Free-Saturdays ballot proposition and a recall of school board members. Both have also been actively campaigning by attending forums and community events.
According to the Alaska Public Offices Commission, neither Steininger or Ulmer have raised more than $5,000 toward their respective campaigns. That means they’re exempt from filing campaign finance disclosures.
Election Day is Oct. 1, but the final outcome of all candidate races won’t be known until all of the mail-in ballots are received and the city certifies final results on Oct. 15.
Find more election coverage at ktoo.org/elections.