

| My name is Bill Wielechowski, and I'm running for re-election to the Alaska State Senate, to continue representing Mt. View, Muldoon and Russian Jack. It has truly been an honor to represent you these past years. During that time, I have worked hard to fulfill the promises I made, and to help improve our neighborhood and Alaska. I have pushed to ensure Alaska gets our fair share for our natural resources, for a natural gas pipeline, jobs and economic development, an improved education system, public safety, an improved infrastructure and property tax relief - all while living within our means. In fact, under a plan I pushed for, we now have the largest savings account of any state in the nation - with over $8 billion in savings. One of the most important rights we have is the right to vote. I don't believe elections should be about catchy slogans, sound bites, gimmicks or empty campaign promises. The people of Alaska want and deserve better. That's why I've laid out my positions on a number of important topics, so that you'll know where I stand on the issues. And if you'd like to know more, don't hesitate to contact me. I think elections should be about which candidate has a positive vision, the experience, energy and leadership skills to achieve that vision and who will work the hardest to get results for the community. I hope you'll take a few minutes to read about my vision for Alaska, my experience and the things I've already done to improve our community. I believe Northeast Anchorage has an exciting future. I hope we both share a positive vision for Alaska, and I hope I can work hard enough to earn your vote again. - Bill Wielechowski My Priorities... Property Tax Relief... When I talked to many of you during my last campaign, I heard your concerns loud and clear -- rising property taxes are hurting many of our families. While we can't control what the Municipality of Anchorage does, I promised to push to use surplus State funds to provide property tax relief. We passed several pieces of legislation that, according to an independent Legislative Research Analyst have saved homeowners thousands of dollars on their property taxes. Property taxes are still high, so I will continue to push for property tax relief. Natural Gas Pipeline... Alaska has been hoping for a natural gas pipeline for the last 30 years. But hope alone has never been enough. The proposed natural gas pipeline is the most important development of our generation. It will generate hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth. It will provide jobs and revenues for our grandchildren and their grandchildren. If will allow us to fund a world-class education system, grow our Permanent Fund, create entire new industries in Alaska, power our State for decades and pay for much of our State expenses. Four years ago, I promised you that this would be a top priority of mine, and that while the oil companies were working hard to negotiate a deal that was in their best interests, I would work hard to negotiate a deal that was in Alaskans' best interests, as required by the Alaska Constitution. Working across party lines, we passed the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA). Thanks to AGIA, we now have all the major North Slope oil companies competing to build a gas pipeline, and we are now closer to a gas pipeline than we have ever been in our State's history. And under AGIA, Transcanada and Exxon will be required to use Alaska hire, to provide in-state gas and to keep tariffs low - which means billions more revenue to Alaska, and more money into our Permanent Fund. Now some are trying to roll back all the forward movement we've made on building a gasline on Alaska's terms. I will continue to fight for a gasline that's in Alaskans' best interests. Fiscal Responsibility... I said four years ago that we should not spend our entire state surplus, and instead should save and invest most of that money for the future. Thanks to the passage of a new oil valuation bill, and high oil prices, we have had large surpluses. While some have wanted to spend that money, I pushed hard to save that surplus. I am glad we did that, as we now have over $8 billion in savings - the largest savings account in the United States. With all the amazing resources we have in Alaska, the last thing I want to see is government tapping into the pocketbooks or Permanent Fund Dividend checks of hard working Alaskans, so I will continue to push to keep a large savings account. Jobs and Economic Development... One of the things I heard from you was that you wanted more training opportunities. While college is great for some people, Alaska is still a blue collar state, and there are great high-paying construction jobs out there. One of my proudest achievements was to work to open a new construction training center in our neighborhood - the Alaska Works Training Center in Mt. View. I also passed legislation to raise Alaska's minimum wage for the first time in seven years. While Alaska's minimum wage is still the lowest on the West Coast, and our cost of living is among the highest in the nation, this raise will help many in our community. We must also diversify our economy. In order to attract and encourage new businesses, and keep our old ones, we have to offer a competitive business environment, improve our infrastructure, maintain our high standards of quality of life and offer a top-flight educational system, from kindergarten to university. I believe one of the best opportunities we have to diversify our economy and create thousands of new jobs is through adding value to the tremendous raw natural resources we have. I have done a lot of research and travelled literally around the world looking into building gas or coal to liquid (GTL or CTL) plants in Alaska, and am working on legislation to spur these efforts. These plants convert natural gas or coal into ultra-clean diesel, naptha, distallates, synthetic crude or waxes. A GTL plant in South Central would create over 10,000 construction jobs and 650 full-time jobs, plus provide enough "waste" heat for a 300 megawatt power plant, along with billions in state revenues. A GTL plant on the North Slope could provide tens of thousands of barrels of synthetic crude, which could be shipped down the Trans Alaska Pipeline - extending the life of the oil pipeline. I will continue to push for responsible economic development and good Alaskan jobs. Oil and Gas... In recent years, many Alaskans began to lose faith in our government because we were not getting our fair share for our oil and gas resources. Under our old tax structure, some of the largest fields in North America were paying zero severance taxes. The oil companies were making tens of billions of dollars in Alaska, and shipping those dollars to places like Libya and Venezuela, where tax rates sometimes exceeded 90%. Working across party lines, we passed Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share (ACES), which modernized our oil valuation structure, and provided world class incentives for companies to reinvest in Alaska, and to attract smaller independent explorers. Thanks to ACES, investment and jobs have increased on the North Slope and for the first time in Alaska's history we have several new explorers, like ENI and Pioneer. The state has also taken in billions in new revenue. ACES is working well, and Alaska remains a very good place to do business. According to Petroleum News, Conoco Philips has 12% of their worldwide investment in Alaska, yet in the first quarter of 2009 generated 29% of their profits from Alaska. In the second quarter of 2009, Conoco generated 55% of their worldwide profits in Alaska. Under modeling we did during ACES, BP's rate of return in Prudhoe Bay exceeds 100% at $80/ barrel oil under ACES. While we are in a worldwide recession now, and companies have slowed the pace of their exploration worldwide, some are attempting to take advantage of that and roll back the efforts we have made in getting our fair share. If tweaks are needed in ACES, I will support those, but I have yet to see any evidence that wholesale changes are needed. I have also pushed for the State to receive federal revenue sharing for offshore oil and gas development. Had Alaska had the same revenue sharing as the Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, we would have gotten nearly $1 billion in revenue from offshore lease sales in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. We must maintain a competitive environment in our oil fields, providing incentives for exploration. At the same time, we must remember that the oil and gas belongs to Alaskans, and we must obtain full and fair value for it. I will continue to make sure we meet our Constitutional mandate to maximize our natural resources, and stand up to the oil industry when their interests conflict with the best interests of Alaska. Education... I believe it all starts with education. A community that is well educated is safer, wealthier, more tolerant and better able to attract and create diverse businesses and good jobs. As a former member of the Anchorage School District Budget Review Team, and as the son of a lifelong public school teacher, I know the importance of a strong, adequately funded education system. At the same time, we must be sure we are getting the most efficient and effective school system we can get, with no waste. Most of all, we need to get more money into the classrooms. I have supported forward-funding of education funding, so that local School Districts do not have to constantly pink slip teachers because they do not know what level of funding they will receive. I have also supported increasing the overall education funding levels, and vocational education. Public Safety... One of the primary responsibilities of government is to provide for public safety. In our part of town, many people don't feel safe in their own homes. That is unacceptable. We must have zero-tolerance for those destroying our neighborhood. I have passed bills to protect our families and get tough on gang members, sex offenders and drunk drivers. I have also supported efforts to rehabilitate those who can be rehabilitated. My public safety efforts lead to my being recognized by John Walsh, of America's Most Wanted with the "Katie's Heroes" Award, and by the Public Safety Employees' Association in receiving their Public Safety Champion Award in 2008. I have also been recognized as the State Legislator of the Year by the Humane Society of the United States for my legislation increasing penalties for people who abuse animals. Public safety will continue to be a top priority for me. Protecting the Permanent Fund... The Permanent Fund belongs to all Alaskans. Many Alaskans rely on the Permanent Fund to buy food, clothes and shelter. I will continue to defend the Permanent Fund Protecting our Fishing and Hunting rights... I grew up enjoying the outdoors and am an avid fisherman who subsistence fishes every year. We must protect our fisheries and ensure access to fishing and hunting grounds. I am a supporter of our Consitutional right to bear arms and a proponent of gun safety programs for Alaska's youth. My support of our Second Amendment rights is shown by my last NRA rating of "A". Pro-Veterans... I honor those who have fought for our freedoms. I knows our veterans have given us the opportunities we are blessed to have. I also understand that the best way to show this respect is to support policies that our Veterans deserve. I have been honored these past years to have been chosen by my colleagues to be the Co-Chair of the Joint Armed Services Committee (JASC). Through this committee, I have pushed to protect Alaska's veterans, active duty members and military bases. I passed legislation that was the number one priority of numerous Alaska Veterans' groups. This legislation sought to have our veterans receive the health care benefits that they were promised and entitled to. When Alaska Territorial Guard members lost their pension benefits, I worked with my colleagues at the State and Federal levels to have those restored. I also was honored to pass legislation and be a part of the State's Decoration of Honor Ceremony - honoring all those Alaskans killed in action since statehood. Strengthening Diversity... I believe our diversity in North East Anchorage is one of our greatest assets. Several years ago, when a young woman in Muldoon was shot with paint balls and taunted with ethnic slurs, we had to show that this type of behavior would not be tolerated in our community. As President of the Northeast Community Council, I worked with the Municipality of Anchorage to co-sponsor a diversity gathering at the Northeast Community Center. Although it was -5 degrees below zero, about 75 people still turned out to say, "Not in our Neighborhood." As your State Senator, I'll continue to make our diversity a source of strength, rather than a point of division. Paid for by Alaskans for Bill Wielechowski 1300 Farrow Circle, Anchorage, Alaska 99504 333-2806 |
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