Rondy chairman Hall aims for Assembly seat held by Claman

The two main candidates share many traits -- they each have survived tests as city leaders, they've done civic boards, they want to boost business.

But they come with at least one big difference: their views on where Mayor Dan Sullivan is leading the city.

Sullivan's budget cutting has been "very prudent," said Hall, who has been endorsed by Sullivan.

"Bringing the budget in $10 million under the tax cap was very good. Maintaining what we have is critical to us. We've got things other communities would die for."

Hall describes the mayor's approach as "times are lean, hunker down, don't let ourselves fall back."

Claman has a track-record as a budget cutter himself, and he worries that Sullivan might be slicing too deep.

"My concerns continue to be whether his cuts are so severe that it's going to hurt the city's future, its economic strength and ability to deliver public safety," said Claman. He is especially concerned that Anchorage is not keeping pace with replacements as police officers and firefighters leave.

Claman, as acting Anchorage mayor the first half of 2009, chopped city spending by $17 million after the 2008 stock market crash dramatically shrank city investments and revenue. Claman was interim mayor from January through June, after former Mayor Begich left office early to become a U.S. senator.

A third candidate, Bill Sigler, is also running for the seat that represents West Anchorage on the Assembly, the city's budget-writing, lawmaking body.

HALL: I CAN UNITE

Hall is a furniture manufacturer who has chaired many civic causes, from Rondy to the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce to the Food Bank.

Early on he won conservative Mayor Sullivan's endorsement. Even so, he sees himself as non-partisan. "I am not an ultra-conservative. I don't know if I even fall into the conservative category."

Hall, 66, said he is running, in fact, to end partisanship on the Assembly, whose past year has been marked by sniping and outright rancor over the performances of Sullivan and Begich.

Some Assembly members question whether Begich was upfront in his handling of financial information in the waning months of his administration; and now, others are raising issues over whether Sullivan acted properly in representing his father's estate in a life insurance claim against the city.

"I've always been blessed by having the ability to bring people together and create a common vision," said Hall.

His view of Sullivan's role as his father's trustee, and as mayor: "Nothing about this if you were designing perfect government would happen. It's a sticky wicket no matter how you look at it."

But Hall said he doesn't favor the city spending $10,000 to examine the deal, as is proposed.

Nor does he agree with an earlier Assembly decision to spend $50,000 auditing the Begich administration end-of-term finances. "You'll have a document and be out $50,000," he said.

REVIVING FUR RONDY

Hall and his late wife, Gina, started Alaska Furniture in Anchorage in the early 1970s. The company custom manufactures furniture and cabinets for businesses and residential kitchens. Now it is mostly run by his children.

His wife died last July.

"Gina was everything in my life," said Hall. "When I would go out to give speeches I would give her a few key sentences. She would sit down and write the most amazing speeches you've ever seen."

Hall points to his recent years' work restoring Anchorage's foundering winter festival to an even financial keel as an example of what he can do to resolve conflicts in Anchorage.

Three years ago, Rondy was in trouble, $100,000 in debt with a staff of one.

Hall said he and the group's executive director talked to service clubs, nonprofit groups and sponsors of Fur Rendezvous, and learned many felt they'd been left behind as Rondy upped fees so as to be unaffordable. "We came back three years ago, we had 66 groups that had been excluded come back and be part of it -- woodcarvers, quilters, the miniature railroad."

Hall has not been elected to office, but ran years ago for School Board, and in 2002 as a lieutenant governor candidate. For that race he changed his voter registration from non-partisan to Democrat.

HANDED A BUDGET CRISIS

Claman said he has unique experience to contribute on the Assembly as the only member who has also worked on the other side -- as mayor.

On the Assembly, he is part of the generally pro-Begich majority of six, and is a registered Democrat.

Claman, 50, is a lawyer with the firm of Lane, Powell, a Seattle-Portland firm with half a dozen lawyers in Anchorage. He describes his practice as diverse, and said he does mostly trials. He is past president of the Alaska Bar Association, and is active in the Unitarian Universalist Church, where he sometimes plays the trumpet in a combo with his children. He has also played taps at veteran's events.

Claman was elected Assembly chairman in 2008 during the second year of his term, and as chairman he automatically became acting mayor when Begich left in January 2009. It was a mixed blessing. He was immediately faced with a staggering budget shortfall, but got major city labor unions to agree to forgo raises for the year or take unpaid furloughs to help recoup.

Claman also took heat for instituting "rolling closures" of fire stations around the city to reduce fire department overtime during the first part of 2009. That has ended under Sullivan's tenure. Claman told the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce this month that it was the only way to keep overtime under control at the time.

CLAMAN: MORE POLICE NEEDED

Claman said his priority now is making sure Anchorage police and fire departments are staffed up to maintain public safety. He is pushing to re-instate police and fire training academies that didn't make it into Sullivan's 2010 budget proposal.

The city last ran academies in 2008, and loses one police office and firefighter a month on average, Claman said. The last administration's goal of getting more cops on the street is falling by the wayside, Claman said.

"We're not at the point of getting more on the street. We're at the point of losing so we can't keep up with attrition."

Claman had raised more money than any other candidate as of the most recent report, a month before the election. He collected more than $73,000 in campaign donations, including $1,500 from the police union and $2,000 from the firefighter union. Among other contributors are fellow lawyers, other professional and business people, Assembly member Harriet Drummond, and perennial political contributors Larry Carr and B.J. Gottstein.

Hall started fundraising later than Claman. He reported $48,000 in funding.

Among his contributors: Sullivan and Assemblyman Dan Coffey, businessmen, engineers, contractors, builders and real estate brokers.

---

Find Rosemary Shinohara online at adn.com/contact/rshinohara or call her at 257-4340.