• Age

    61

  • Family

    Mike Story, spouse; Ryan Story, son

  • Occupation

    State Representative

  • Previous government experience or community involvement

    Alaska House of Representatives, 2018 to present; Co-Chair, House Education; Committee member, House Transportation, Labor & Commerce, State Affairs; House liaison to Alaska Native Language Preservation Advisory Council; Juneau Board of Education, 2003 to 2018

  • Highest level of education

    Masters of Social Work

  • Do you support ballot proposition 1?

    Yes

  • Do you support ballot proposition 2?

    Still deciding. In favor of open primaries and increased transparency, yet undecided still about supporting rank choice voting.

  • What new quarantine skill or hobby have you acquired over the last few months?

    No new skills or hobbies. I have been busy helping people and businesses get the coronavirus relief assistance. And it is still busy dealing with the health and economic effects for Alaskans.

  • Why are you running?

    I am passionate about working to create the best life here for everyone in Juneau. I think what’s critical to that is that we have a stable fiscal plan that prioritizes good jobs, education including early learning, health care, public safety and access to good transportation. I’ve got two young adult children here. I want to make their lives well — all children, young adults, seniors. We have so much going for us here in Juneau. Our city assembly’s working really well with the state. We’re working well with the federal government getting aid through helping with the coronavirus recovery. I want to be a part of the post-coronavirus recovery and get families flourishing again, and businesses.

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  • COVID-19

    Has the Alaska Legislature done enough to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic? Why or why not?

    Nothing is more important than getting us back to post-COVID days. We really worked hard to get the federal assistance coming in. We passed some laws to make sure tele-health was available for insurance coverage, to stop evictions, help with electrical with utility bills, working really hard to urge credit union One and urge the Governor to release funds as quickly as possible through the RPL process. We’ve been advocating diligently for another federal stimulus package, because we know we need some more monies on the ground here. We’ve lost so much revenue, and we’re glad to hear that many people across the country realize that. So we’ve been trying to work and advocate for our constituents who were not getting the aid in a timely manner. So that felt good to help more.

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  • State budget shortfalls

    How do you think the Alaska Legislature should address state budget shortfalls in the upcoming legislative session?

    The first thing we have to do is really work together. It’s a team effort to pull this budget over the line. We’re going to need to have a lot of compromise. We have to always look for efficiencies first. We strategically cut out $200 million from the state budget in my first year of serving. I really think there’s four principles I’ll be looking for. One of them is to protect the Permanent Fund and the dividend. From the permanent fund, that is our biggest revenue source of $3 billion. I don’t want to go over the sustainable draw. Every $1 billion over we will lose $100 million in interest forever. I really want to seek savings while we’re sustaining our essential services. I believe savings can be found in energy and healthcare expenditures. I’m going to keep an open mind on all revenue sources. We have an outdated tax structure, we can maximize receipt of federal revenues, and there are some other creative ideas out there, and I want to put people to work. I support asking voters to support a general obligation bond to repair and build infrastructure.

     

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  • Education

    How can Alaska hope to improve education for students amid ongoing budget cuts?

    I’m passionate about protecting public education. We are not overfunding education at all. It’s a reasonable level. We want to make sure we are funding our career and technical supports for students, there is nothing more important than making sure our students are ready for Alaskan jobs when they’re done. We have to start with early learning, that’s the best way to have equity is to have kindergarteners start in kindergarten ready to go. And we really have to make sure that our teachers and our staff is supported because they are the biggest in-school reason for how kids do well. And of course, our families are a huge part of our school success. So all of us working together, our partners, we have to stay strong and public education. This is not one area to cut back.

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  • Most critical district issue?

    What do you believe is the most critical issue facing your district and how do you plan to address it if elected?

    Right now, the most important issue for my district is how we’re going to have post-coronavirus recovery. We need to keep everyone safe and healthy. That’s part of it, so we can get back to in-person learning and back to work. And when I say there’s two things, really, it’s our health measures — we have to follow good safety protocols — and it’s also is tied to the recovery, which is our state budget plan. We have been kicking the can down the road for that. It’s now more important than ever that we get that together to help businesses and tribal governments and (the) public to provide certainty in this time of great uncertainty. So, it’s protect our health, let’s get our people back to work, let’s get federal assistance to our municipalities, to unemployment insurance and, and I’ve been so impressed with how the community is supporting one another. We’re going to get through this, and Juneau is such a wonderful place to live.
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