Alaska News

Sullivan easily wins re-election; 4 bond measures pass

Mayor Dan Sullivan easily won re-election to a second three-year-term in Tuesday's city election, outpolling Paul Honeman with about 59 percent of the vote.

"It's very gratifying" to be returned to office by a large margin, Sullivan said.

"I think the voters agreed we've been doing a pretty good job the last few years, and that's reflected in the margins," he said. "People and businesses want to live in a city that's safe and clean and has its finances in order. City government's about those basic core issues.

"It's nice to see the bonds passing. Bond don't always pass. When they do, it's a sign that the voters feel confident that the city is going in the right direction," Sullivan said.

Honeman, an Anchorage Assembly member, said the city running out of ballots in multiple precincts concerned him.

"I'm not conceding anything," he said. "There are so many questions out there about people who didn't get to vote. If enough of that happened I'm not sure what the legal ramifications are. But as we speak, we're talking with counsel. What do you do in an election like this?

"Some of the problems were in East Anchorage, which would be typically in my favor. Does it make up for the numbers we're seeing? I don't know. We'll see," Honeman said.

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Voters also returned incumbent School Board member Kathleen Plunkett, and picked two new board members for open seats.

And they approved $59.1 million school bond proposition, that includes one project -- Service High renovation -- that voters have turned down in prior elections.

Three other bond measures for city projects passed as well.

Sullivan and Honeman were among six candidates for mayor. The others, Jacob Seth Kern, Bob Lupo, Phil Isley and Bruce J. Lemke, combined collected less than 3 percent of the vote.

Sullivan ran on his first-term record. He takes credit for improving the financial health of the city, focusing on public safety, maintaining city facilities and shoring up the local energy supply, including creating a conservation plan in case natural gas demand spikes too high in the winter.

"Financially, I think we've done a great job," Sullivan said in an interview the week before the election. "We've contained the runaway growth in spending that was going on previously."

Honeman said Sullivan has been overly interested in cutting the size of government at the expense of providing adequate services. As an example, he criticized the administration's handling of this year's near-record snowfall, saying more resources could have been put to snow hauling and plowing.

SCHOOL BOARD

The School Board races also drew six competitors, two for each of three seats on the ballot.

For Seat E, Plunkett won over challenger David Nees. For Seat F, Tam Agosti-Gisler defeated Richard Wanda, and for Seat G, Natasha von Imhof won over Starr Marsett.

All board members are elected citywide.

BOND PROPOSITIONS

Voters approved all four bond propositions. Besides the school bond proposition, they include:

• $27.5 million for roads.

• $2.8 million for parks.

• $1.6 million for public transit and an ambulance.

Mike Dunham contributed to this story. Reach Rosemary Shinohara at rshinohara@adn.com or 257-4340.

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By ROSEMARY SHINOHARA

Anchorage Daily News

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