2021 Juneau Municipal Elections
Working together
What’s your approach for dealing with colleagues you disagree with on policy matters?
What’s your approach for dealing with colleagues you disagree with on policy matters?
District 1 Assembly
Troy Wuyts-Smith
Candidate for District 1 Assembly
First of all, there’s going to be a lot of disagreements. But it’s not about the disagreements. It’s about working together and coming up with a solution that is most suitable for everyone. We can’t all agree on every single issue that there is, that’s a given. But my approach, I believe that listening to the other side, and the opposing views of what I have is going to give me a brighter insight on where I stand as well. Because you have to understand the other side completely before you can take action with your own view. And I think that the goal is to listen to the other side.
Barbara 'Wáahlaal Gíidaak Blake
Candidate for District 1 Assembly
I worked in the governor’s administration, Gov. Walker, and he came to the table priorly being a Republican and then Lt. Gov. Mallott was a Democrat. And not everybody I worked with had the same view of the world that I did or what policy fix needed to be made. But we found an opportunity to work together. I think, listening deeply, listening to really understand a different perspective. And also talking in a way to help people understand is very helpful.
Paul Kelly
Candidate for District 1 Assembly
My approach is to have a frank and fair debate in the public view, so that way the public has the opportunity to see all sides. And then once the votes are cast, just go back to continuing to do the work of the people and expect that in a healthy democracy you are going to have disagreements and you should, and that’s how good policy is made.
District 2 Assembly
Kelly Fishler
Candidate for District 2 Assembly
I really love working together, I absolutely love all the other people who are running for Assembly, I love the people that are on the Assembly. So to me, it’s really important to connect with other people, especially ones that you don’t agree with, and to find compromises and ways to work together. Because ultimately the goal is the same. We want to help our city, we want to, you know, address and resolve all these problems. We just have to find a way to do it together.
Michelle Bonnet Hale
Candidate for District 2 Assembly
I think we had a really good example of that in the Assembly meeting on Sept. 13, I guess it was. We were talking about repealing the coastal management provisions in city code. And we had quite a debate. We went back and forth with amendments, and I appealed to my colleagues to take the step to repeal it and move forward. I did so in a respectful way and really hoped that they would, and they did.
Mayor
Beth Weldon
Candidate for Mayor
Since many of our votes on the Assembly are not 9-0, we often are dealing with colleagues that disagree with us. So I try to maintain a respectful environment on the Assembly, which is one of the reasons we use formal titles. And we just need to listen to each other, and try and see if we can come up to some kind of compromise. But sometimes we can’t and we just need to be respectful and realize we’re not always going to agree. But once the body makes a decision, that is the decision of the Assembly.