Anchorage Daily News

An accidental, three-minute answering machine message was all it took to turn the Eagle River-Chugiak Assembly race from a walk in the park to a full-on sprint.

And while voters will only see two names on the ballot Tuesday, there are three contenders:

• Bill Starr, 46, the incumbent, who was first appointed to the Assembly in January 2007 and is finishing an elected one-year term.

• Janet Brand, 51, a write-in-candidate who entered the contest when a controversial tape of Starr and Assembly Chairman Dan Coffey surfaced on talk radio last month.

• Anthony Lemons, 34, an Eagle River bus driver and first-time candidate.

Starr and Brand are each former presidents of the Eagle River Valley Community Council. They met in last year's Assembly race too, with Brand finishing second in the three-person race.

This year, Starr's looking to win his first full three-year term. A member of the Assembly's conservative majority, he spearheaded a sometimes tense review of Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich's budget last year.

Begich appointed Brand -- with Assembly approval -- to a city budget advisory committee.

THE RECORDING

Brand announced she'd wage a write-in campaign when the audio clip of Coffey and Starr talking about campaign contributions and a police endorsement echoed in Anchorage and Eagle River.

In the clip, Starr says the union won't endorse him even though he's working on a shooting range favored by the department.

He says he told the police chief that if the rank and file police didn't think Starr was there for them, the chief needed to "correct that."

"What he said on the tape really demonstrated to me, anyway, that he does not represent everybody. He only represents people who support him," Brand said.

Starr has said he was venting to a friend -- not threatening to pull support of a project.

"If (Brand) feels like I should be responsive to the police union group, I've learned my lesson there," he said. "I don't want to be beholden to any group."

Lemons has been overshadowed in the buzz and has little to say about the recording.

"I don't consider myself running against anybody," he said.

All three are looking to join the 11-member Assembly, which writes local laws and approves city spending.

Here's more on the candidates for Seat C.

JANET BRAND

The daughter of a trucker, Brand grew up in Illinois and attended nursing school in Chicago.

After falling for Alaska while on vacation, she and her husband moved to Eagle River in 1982. A registered nurse, Brand served on the Chugiak-Eagle River parks, recreation and economic development board of supervisors, and ran unsuccessfully for Assembly in 1996 as well as last year.

As a voter, Brand is not registered with either major political party.

"Issues should be decided on whether or not they're good for the community or not ... not because the Republicans are forwarding that particular issue, or the Democrats are forwarding that particular issue," she said.

As of March 22, she had raised about $22,900. That includes max contributions from union political action committees representing police, operating engineers and public employees. Anchorage Assemblyman Allan Tesche, IBEW communications director Melinda Taylor and others paid for a poll that Brand said played a role in her decision to run.

If elected, Brand said, she'd like to find ways to prevent drunken drivers from re-offending and would likely vote for a resolution supporting publicly funded elections.

As the city searches for ways to lower property taxes, she said, she'd support a sales tax as a way to widen the tax base, as long as it exempted food and medicine.

BILL STARR

Starr grew up in an Illinois town not far from Brand, he said.

After heading to the University of Utah for a communications degree, he moved to Phoenix where he and his father started a warehousing and distribution business.

Not long after his father retired, he sold the business and came to Alaska in 1994. He bought a small air freight company, which grew into a statewide operation before he sold it more than two years ago.

Starr, a registered Republican, served on the planning and zoning commission and ran Anna Fairclough's campaign in the 2006 primary race for state House. Fairclough was on the Assembly when she won her seat in the Legislature. The Assembly appointed Starr to replace her.

Starr said he doesn't know if a publicly funded elections plan now before the Assembly is the right choice, but said the current campaign finance and fundraising system needs changing.

As of March 22, he'd raised $10,800.

Many of Starr's donors gave the maximum individual contribution allowed -- $500. Among the donors: Robert Penney, Henry and Juna Penney, L.J. and Wilma Carr, and B.J. and Rachel Gottstein. After the recording flap, Starr had said he planned to pay for his campaign himself, then began accepting donations again from people he knows when Brand entered the race.

As for last year's sometimes contentious budget battle between some Assembly members and the mayor, Starr said it was for the best.

"We did what I think executive and legislative checks and balances are supposed to do."

ANTHONY LEMONS

Lemons grew up in a small town in upstate New York and joined the Army out of high school.

Stationed in Fort Richardson, Lemons stayed in Alaska and worked for plumbing, heating and air conditioning contractors while in the reserves.

He now drives a school bus in Eagle River.

"Sometimes the younger (students) can seem more mature than the older ones," Lemons said.

He writes a political blog, often about national or global topics such as illegal immigration, debt collection and global warming.

Lemons said he's running for office because he sees elected leaders growing disconnected from their constituents.

"A lot of people don't even know who their representative is. A lot of people don't even know what the Assembly does," he said.

He wants to see tougher punishment for animal abuse and first-time drunken drivers and signed the petition for the Clean Elections Act, which would allow candidates for state office to opt for publicly funded campaigns.

He filed paperwork with the state saying he doesn't plan to spend more than $5,000 on his campaign.

"In my view, contributions are simply IOUs," he said.

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SCHEDULE

MARCH 20: School Board Seat D

MARCH 21: School Board Seat C

MARCH 23: Proposition 1 -- bonds for building roofs

MONDAY: Initiative on allowing more taxis; Proposition 2 -- bonds to upgrade schools

TUESDAY: Assembly Seat B -- Downtown; Proposition 3 -- bonds for school repairs

WEDNESDAY: Assembly Seat G -- Midtown; Proposition 4 -- bonds for swimming pools

THURSDAY: Assembly Seat E -- West Anchorage; Proposition 5 -- bonds for streets

FRIDAY: Assembly Seat I -- East Anchorage; Proposition 6 -- bonds for ambulances

TODAY: Assembly Seat C -- Eagle River/Chugiak; Assembly Seat K -- South Anchorage; Proposition 7 -- bonds for fire protection

SUNDAY: How much bonded debt the city has

Online: Stories, videos and other information about the April 1 election are posted on

adn.com/election

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Candidate bios

Janet Brand, 51

Occupation: Registered nurse

Spouse: Jeff

Political party: Nonpartisan

Neighborhood: Eagle River

Education: Graduate of Augustana School of Nursing

Public offices: None. Twice ran unsuccessfully for the Assembly.

Campaign phone: 694-3422

Anthony Lemons, 34

Occupation: School bus driver

Spouse: N/A

Political party: Republican

Neighborhood: Eagle River

Education: Some college credits

Elected public offices: This is his first time running.

Campaign Web page: anthony lemons.blogspot.com

Campaign phone: 622-1252

Bill Starr, 46

Occupation: Businessman

Spouse: Jacque

Political party: Republican

Neighborhood: Eagle River

Education: Bachelor's in communications, University of Utah, 1984

Elected public offices: Assembly since 2007

Campaign Web page: www.starrak.com

Campaign phone: 694-5060 or 350-5481

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