Healthy exchange of ideas, snacks among Juneau’s legislators, constituents at annual holiday open house
- Mark Sabbatini
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Worker shortages, health, economic diversity on minds of residents visiting the area’s three Democratic legislators at the Alaska State Capitol
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Erin Walker-Tolles has plenty of chances to talk to Juneau’s legislative delegation about plenty of issues they're likely at least somewhat familiar with. But she said showing up at their annual holiday open house at the Alaska State Capitol is about more than just getting their attention — and some free snacks.
"I think that number one it’s an opportunity to network with other people," she said in a hallway on the Capitol’s fifth floor, where two of the three delegation members’ offices are located. "I run into people I know here, and ask how they're doing and what's up with them. And often it leads to, ‘Oh, we should talk later.’ In fact, I was here last year and ended up finding a potential partnership with another social service agency that I ran into in a hallway. So it's an opportunity for those of us who are interested in connecting with the process to both connect with one another."
The 90-minute open house at midday last Thursday lured dozens of people — some frequent visitors, some setting foot inside the Capitol for the first time — for discussions with the three Democratic lawmakers ranging from specific points on a pending bill regulating artificial intelligence to general pleas to improve schools.
Walker-Tolles, executive director of Catholic Community Service in Juneau, started her discussion with state Sen. Jesse Kiehl by reciting what she said is the most urgent number currently on her mind: A 30% workforce reduction among social service providers in Southeast Alaska during the past decade.
"I know there’s no money," she told Kiehl, acknowledging a grim fiscal forecast by state officials for at least the short-term future due largely to low oil prices. Instead, she said, the hope is legislators can consider recommendations to simplify administrative rules and relieve agencies of the burden of unfunded mandates.
During the hallway interview after meeting the senator, Walker-Tolles said she has been coming to the open houses for years and achieving some of the goals she’s pursuing is a multi-stage effort.
"Last year, after multiple years of trying with the Alaska Geriatric (Exchange) Network, Alaska Commission on Aging and others, we were successful in the Legislature approving an increase in social services grants, and the governor actually signed that," she said.
Another social services concern — the state’s Adult Protective Services is underfunded and its employees overworked — was expressed to the delegation by Glenn Ojard, a recently promoted official at AWARE, which provides services and shelter to people experiencing domestic and sexual violence.
"I'm just hoping that we could have at least a caseworker in Juneau…just more of a presence," he said after talking with Rep. Sara Hannan. "It seems like Children’s Protective Services, they're on the ball, but Adult Protective Services just seems stretched."
Addressing the state’s ongoing workforce issues by diversifying industries, including more technology-driven ventures such as AI, was suggested by Adam Gungurstein, a local entrepreneur discussing specific legislation already introduced with Rep. Andi Story.
"Why not make this a site where tech companies want to start off and everything like that," he said in an interview after talking to her. "You could have tax incentives. Wyoming did this recently where they had kind of an innovative way to bring companies to start and New Mexico has done it, so we should do it."
Gungurstein said he’s come to the delegation’s open houses for the past three or four years and — like Walker-Tolles — said they serve a purpose beyond just showing up for an appointment or discussion at other points throughout the year.
"It's a lot more fruitful, I think," he said. "We are inherently social creatures, right? We like to be in groups and when you have the masses saying an idea it's like a seed in the minds of our politicians, right? And I think it's always good to have a discussion like that."
Those impacts can also include the local delegation influencing issues decided at the community level, said Antoinette Schwinghammer, a paraeducator for the Juneau School District. She said a concern she’s expressed to delegation members in the past is a halt to a free universal student breakfast program, which local school board members reversed themselves on after an increase in per-student education funding was approved by the Legislature earlier this year.
"They follow up with the school district with whatever the problem is when it occurs, and help out with communications and help our kids," she said when asked how interactions with legislators have made a difference in district-level decisions.
All three legislators had tables with food outside their offices, with the nibbles tending more toward cracker items rather than cookies. Quiche and smoked salmon were outside Hannon’s door, meats and cheeses outside Story’s, and olives and more spreads outside Kiehl’s. Other trinkets such as seafood stickers and state lapel pins were also free for the taking.
People seeking more sugar with their political socializing will get an opportunity during the annual holiday open house at the Governor’s Residence from 3-6 p.m. on Tuesday. About 26,000 cookies and more than 100 pounds of confections are planned, along with music by local student ensembles and the adult Vox Borealis vocal group.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
