Chris Dimond is running for the state House of Representatives seat being vacated by Sam Kito III.
House District 33 represents Skagway, Haines, Klukwan, Excursion Inlet, Gustavus, downtown Juneau and Douglas.
Dimond and his family have deep roots in Alaska. Juneau residents may recognize the family name from Dimond Courthouse, Dimond Park and other locations around the city.
After high school, he found college wasn’t for him and tried a few different jobs — but nothing really clicked until he started working in construction.
“I started doing it on and off and it fit,” he said. “It was a comfortable fit for my personality type and who I am.”
He joined the regional carpenters’ union for work, but wasn’t actively involved until a few years ago, when the Juneau local merged with the Anchorage branch, causing a lot of frustration among Juneau members.
“Everybody saw it as our identity was being stripped away and everything was being taken away from us,” Dimond said.
He doesn’t feel the same way about the merger now, but at the time, his frustration prompted him to get involved. He was elected to a position in the local union, which led to part-time work as an instructor and eventually his current job as an organizer.
As one of just two employees in Juneau, he does a little bit of everything — he coordinates with state and local governments, checks compliance with union requirements and shares information with members.
He also spends time visiting job sites; sometimes to look into tips or complaints, sometimes just to stay connected to workers.
He said advocating for those workers is part of his run.
“I’ve seen some movement in the last two years to better support workers and their rights,” he said. “I think we can do better. So, I decided this was the year to do it – kind of put my money where my mouth is.”
Dimond also hopes to shift the atmosphere in the Legislature. He said he’s seen a lot of dysfunction in the legislative process. As an independent, he wants to bring more compromise and collaboration to the process.
As a father, he’s also concerned about education. He feels school funding has stagnated and views education beyond the traditional core subjects as critical.
“If we’re not educating our children, we’re not building a very strong future for ourselves,” he said. “I’d like to see more vo-tech classes and art classes, those type of classes that keep kids engaged. They’re expensive classes but they’re vital to helping create well-rounded adults.”
To pay for government, Dimond supports looking closely at agency budgets to find more targeted cuts and efficiencies.
He knows it’s unpopular, but he also thinks using money from the Alaska Permanent Fund for state government was necessary — although he is concerned about its effects.
“It does have some negative impacts on lower income folks,” he said. “For that portion of it I would like to see if there’s a way that we could address that maybe there wouldn’t be an impact to those communities and those people that really heavily depend on the permanent fund. But then there’s plenty of other people in this state that don’t need that income.”
Dimond thinks making ends meet might also require some tough decisions on new revenue.
“I’m also not entirely opposed to an income tax,” he said, adding that Alaska residents “enjoy road systems and our ferry system, airports and schools. All of those things need funding, and if we want to have a society that functions well and is inviting to investment dollars from startup businesses and outside corporations, then we need to make sure that we have a top-notch running state. We all have to have skin in this game.”
Dimond supports the Juneau access road and believes that it should complement a strong ferry system.
He likes the plan developed by the Southeast Conference to turn the ferry system into a publicly owned corporation. But he believes that the state will likely have a continuing role in subsidizing its operations.
Dimond, an independent, won’t be on a ballot in the on Aug. 21 primary election. He’ll face off in November against whoever wins the Democratic primary.
For more candidate profiles and election information, visit ktoo.org/elections.
