Anchorage Daily News

Anchorage is facing uncertain economic times and city finances are shaky. The new mayor's biggest job will be controlling government costs while making sure city services don't deteriorate. In Tuesday's runoff election, three-term assemblyman Dan Sullivan has the right experience and attitude for this challenging assignment.

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Sullivan

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Sullivan grew up here, so he knows the community well. His nine years on the assembly give him a solid understanding of local issues. Add his experience running a popular downtown business and his past work organizing the Arctic Winter Games, and he is intimately familiar with how local government works -- or doesn't work.

Instead of pursuing bold new initiatives, Sullivan would have the city stick to the basics. Public safety is a top priority. He's especially interested in community policing, which has paid off in past experiments here in Anchorage. He wants to focus on taking care of the facilities and parks we already have.

Yet Sullivan does not share the doctrinaire, reflexively anti-government vision of some earlier fiscally conservative mayors. Sullivan speaks enthusiastically about Anchorage's quality of life and our potential to be a great winter city. He realizes that residents must pay a reasonable level of taxes to support a civilized society.

Sullivan has matured since his early days on the Assembly. No longer is he the lone wolf, happy to be on the losing end of 10-1 Assembly votes. He listens to opposing points of view and knows how to disagree without being disagreeable.

Unlike Mayor Mark Begich, Sullivan has no enthusiasm for steering the city into dubious real estate development deals. He says he's strongly committed to open meetings, open access to public records and public involvement in city decisions.

Former state legislator Eric Croft made Tuesday's runoff by beating two other progressive candidates with more local government experience. He's smart and works hard, so it's no surprise his command of city issues has improved noticeably during the campaign. His pragmatic style is similar to former Mayor Mark Begich, but Croft is not the stick-to-the-basics budget hawk the city needs right now.

We do not agree with Sullivan on every issue. He supports the Knik Arm crossing, an extravagant expenditure of transportation dollars for a poorly conceived project that will siphon future growth from the city. We also disagree that Anchorage residents are unreasonably burdened by property taxes that should be replaced by a regressive sales tax.

But on balance, we come down in Sullivan's corner. We believe his greater experience with local government and his commitment to tight-fisted management of the city budget make him the better choice in Tuesday's runoff election.

BOTTOM LINE: Dan Sullivan is the right mayor for these back-to-basics times.

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