WASILLA -- Politics on the national and state level may be sizzling, but that enthusiasm didn't trickle down to local races this year.
Fourteen city and borough seats are up for grabs on the Oct. 7 municipal ballot. Eight are uncontested -- the candidates who signed up are shoo-ins.
The Wasilla mayoral race is the hottest ticket in the Valley, with five candidates vying for the full-time job running the city. And three of four City Council races are contested in Houston, where the city is still operating with temporary employees nearly a year after a tumultuous election led to resignations of council members and employees.
But that's where the excitement ends. The two Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly races aren't races at all: Incumbent Cindy Bettine and former Wasilla Councilman Mark Ewing are each running unopposed. Two of the three seats on the Mat-Su School Board are uncontested. Two City Council seats are open and two candidates are running in Palmer. Ho hum.
Of course, there's a chance a write-in candidate could mount a campaign in any of those races and liven things up. But the question seems to be, "who?"
"I remember numerous discussions amongst friends and no name ever came up," said real estate agent and former Mat-Su mayor Darcie Salmon about the uncontested Wasilla-area Assembly seat for which Ewing is running unopposed.
"We just couldn't come up with a candidate we thought was dynamic enough," he said.
Salmon's a conservative who stays pretty involved in elections on both a local and a statewide scale. He said the people whose names did come up were either not interested or already involved in other races, namely the contest for Wasilla mayor.
As far as Bettine's race goes, Salmon spoke as a constituent. He didn't support Bettine when she first ran for the Assembly seat three years ago, but said he sees her now as one of the most "sane" members of the Assembly. No one ran against her because people are generally satisfied with her work, he said.
Tim Anderson, who served as Mat-Su mayor from 2000 to 2006, said quiet races usually indicate one of two things.
"Either everyone's apathetic and doesn't care, or they're happy. I have a theory that people go through these spells when they just don't seem to care (about local government)," he said.
On the state level, every race is contested. But people are focused on state politics these days, Anderson said.
"There's lots of stuff going on," he said, mentioning the convictions of Pete Kott, Tom Anderson and Vic Kohring as just one example.
"When there's a big issue -- I remember during (debates over) coal-bed methane, people accused you of getting money from people who support it or don't support it. But in state politics, it's always about partisan politics," he said.
Salmon said he thinks most people just don't think about local elected officials unless something goes wrong.
"I think it's a crying shame, because the real driving wheel comes locally. I truly believe they don't realize that is what pushes the day-to-day," he said.
Contested races or uncontested, here's who is racing in the Oct. 7 municipal election.
MAT-SU ASSEMBLY
District 4, representing Wasilla
• Mark Ewing
District 5, representing Knik and Big Lake
• Cindy Bettine, incumbent
MAT-SU SCHOOL BOARD
Seat D
• Patricia "Pat" Purcell, incumbent, R. "Ole" Larson
Seat E
• Brian Sullivan
Seat G
• Myrl Thompson
WASILLA MAYOR
• Mike Carson, Greg Koskela, Steve Menard, Marty Metiva, Verne Rupright
Council Seat A
• Ron Cox
Council Seat C
• Leone Harris, Gretchen O'Barr
Council Seat D
• Nancy Hall, Mary Kvalheim
PALMER, TWO AT-LARGE CITY COUNCIL SEATS
• Brad Hanson, Kevin Brown
HOUSTON
City Council Seat A
• Griz Smith, Virgie Thompson
Seat B
• Paul Stout, Ruth Blanchard
Seat C
• Ralph Buzard, Natasha Rife, Joseph Stanistreet
Seat D
• Lance Wilson
By RINDI WHITE
rwhite@adn.com