Anchorage

They may be fringe candidates, but these mayoral hopefuls want to have their say

In addition to the four front-running candidates for Anchorage mayor, another seven are also seeking the job. All express hope that they can pull off the next-to-impossible and be victorious. They're putting forward a range of ideas and personalities to voters.

Four talked with Alaska Dispatch News about why they're running and the issues that concern them most. Three others didn't respond or couldn't be contacted: Jacob Seth Kern, Christopher Jamison and Samuel Joseph Speziale III.

Lance Ahern

In the 1990s, Lance Ahern founded a company to deliver Internet service to Alaska residents. It was the state's first such company and Ahern's first major business venture.

In three years, Internet Alaska grew to 75 full-time employees, 26,000 customers and $6 million in revenue. The company was eventually acquired by Alaska Communications Systems, now known as Alaska Communications.

For Ahern, it was an effort built from "ground zero" -- and that's how he sees his candidacy for mayor. He has never run for political office -- apart from student body president in college -- but he says his background in government and business experience makes him a strong candidate. He's the chief information officer for the Municipality of Anchorage.

"Don't let not having done something before stop you from doing it," Ahern said recently. "You just have to go for it. Nobody else can do that for you."

After nearly a decade working in government, Ahern said he thinks he can make city government work better and smarter. He said he wants to make data more widely available and accessible to the public and he's involved with Code for Anchorage, the local arm of a national network that focuses on civic data projects. He said one of his first steps as mayor would be to implement a 311 database to provide nonemergency information to people.

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Ahern is originally from Island Park, a small bay village on Long Island, New York, just east of Brooklyn. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a full scholarship. In 1984, he and his wife moved to Anchorage from Boston and he finished his mathematics degree at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

He spent five years as a data processing manager for the Alaska Department of Public Safety, overseeing technology projects. He said the job offered a window into policing and police technology. In 2011, Mayor Dan Sullivan appointed him Anchorage's chief information officer.

A few days after filing to run for mayor, Ahern published a lengthy document on his campaign website, ahern4anchorage.org, describing his role in the city's troubled implementation of the SAP software system, which is designed to automate payroll and other city government functions. He also held a press conference Friday to express concern about the project's future. He said the project would take years and tens of millions more dollars to complete.

Ahern said that if he's elected mayor, he would increase the level of pressure and accountability for finishing the project. He also said he'd increase communication within City Hall about the project.

He serves as chair of the University of Alaska Computer Science Department Advisory Board, in which he is working on creating a master's program in computer science.

Paul Bauer Jr.

Paul Bauer Jr. said he wants to bring more "young blood" into Anchorage government if he's elected mayor.

"There's some stagnation in the city," Bauer said of the administration of Mayor Sullivan. "It started off okay … but there has never been any follow-through."

Whether it's boosting police staffing or highlighting historical monuments in the city as tourist attractions, Bauer said he intends to get more members of the community involved with running the city.

Bauer served one term on the Anchorage Assembly, from 2005 to 2008, before losing to Mike Gutierrez. He also served as president of the University Area Community Council.

A conservative and registered Republican, Bauer says he's against more taxation and big budgets. He said he cast "no" votes on the Assembly when he thought that budget items of the city or Anchorage School District were too high.

As an Assembly member, Bauer also made headlines for his focus on illegal immigration. He proposed changing city law to allow police to ask people for proof of citizenship during traffic stops, and wanted to train local police to enforce federal immigration laws. An ordinance and a ballot measure proposed by Bauer both failed to make it to an Assembly hearing.

Bauer was born in Brooklyn and raised in the neighboring New York City borough of Queens. He joined the Army at 17 and spent more than two decades in the military as a paratrooper. He was stationed at different places around the world, including East and West Berlin, he said.

Bauer retired in Alaska, which he calls his "home by choice." He has worked with at-risk youth as a team leader and commander of the Alaska National Guard Military Youth Program.

He currently works as a general manager for a private airport security company.

Dustin Darden

Dustin Darden's name might be most familiar from the homemade signs that have popped up at intersections around town.

The dots over the "u" in Dustin are supposed to make a smiley face, not the German umlaut, which it resembles, Darden said.

"It's just a great way to get a message out there," said Darden, who said his goal is to "stand up for the working people" and show that it doesn't take a lot of money to run a race for mayor.

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Darden, 31, was born and raised in Anchorage. He lives in the Jewel Lake area.

He's a maintenance worker in the city's fleet services department. He changes the tires on police cruisers in the spring and fall and inventories parts on street sweepers and other equipment.

He graduated from East Anchorage High School and earned a carpentry certificate from the Southern Alaska Carpenters Training Center.

Darden said he's a member of two local unions, Carpenters Local 1281 and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547. He said he opposed Mayor Sullivan's rewrite of the city labor law, AO 37, which voters rejected in a referendum vote in November.

Darden has spoken out in mayoral forums about his opposition to abortion. An evangelical Christian, Darden regularly attends Sunday services at Heart of the City Church downtown, as well as Bible studies throughout the week. He said he lists his Bible studies on his resume in the "education" section.

If elected, he said he would replace property taxes with a sales tax and increase the number of recreation facilities that are open to the public 24 hours a day.

Timothy Huit

Driving a cab four days a week, 12 hours a day, Timothy Huit does a lot of talking and listening.

He talks to people in his cab about the Knik Arm bridge, a project he supports. He talks about politics and social issues. In the summer, he drives tourists, and he constantly hears and talks about homelessness.

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That's one of the biggest reasons he's running for mayor, he said -- it's one of Anchorage's most visible problems.

"We certainly don't want to be known for that," Huit said. But he hasn't seen much leadership on addressing the issues, he said.

Huit, a Los Angeles native who pronounces his last name "HEW-it," moved to Fairbanks in 1968 and lived in the North Pole area. He first moved to Anchorage in the early 1980s.

He studied anthropology, justice and philosophy at the University of Alaska Anchorage and got his undergraduate degree in 2003. He also worked at UAA's Justice Center.

He said he combined his interest in anthropology and justice when he spent a year working as a case manager for Brother Francis Shelter. He has worked as a street outreach coordinator for a nonprofit organization called the Brookside Coalition.

He said he's worried about heroin and thinks more needs to be done in community and proactive policing. He described himself as a lifelong activist. In 2011, he participated in the Occupy movement in Anchorage, he said.

"I'm not here to win," Huit said. "I'm just here to stand up and say what's going on."

Huit owns a small roofing business, Cottonwood Roofing, which he said employs about five people during the summer. He said his work on Anchorage roofs has ranged from motels to Barnes and Noble to the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

Devin Kelly

Devin Kelly was an ADN staff reporter.

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