Support a level-headed and civic-minded Assembly candidate this fall

By Emily Mesch

I had the incredible honor to run for Juneau Assembly in 2023, and again in 2024. Which means that this upcoming municipal election is the first time in three years where I'm not a candidate. And with that given, I figure I should maybe have something to say about the people who are. Greg Smith and Ella Adkison are running unopposed, and I think the both of them are level-headed and civic-minded, and deserve re-election. But because they're running unopposed, they're almost certainly retaining their seats with or without my approval.

The last race is the competitive one: Wade Bryson is looking to sit for a third term, and Nano Brooks is challenging him.

The short story is that I am endorsing Wade Bryson to retain his seat.

For the long story, if you will bear with me, I'm going to talk about my philosophy on politics for a bit.

I think it's important to have different perspectives in government. Whether or not I agree with everything you say or do is certainly a consideration, but it's not everything. Whether or not you're willing to listen, willing to evolve your positions, willing to learn and absorb new information to create better-informed positions, is more important.

And Wade has done that for as long as he's sat on Assembly. He still comes to the table with his experience as a local business owner, but he's expanded that experience to include what it takes to run a city. Because these are two different things.

When you're running a business, you're able to make whatever risky moves you want, and most of the consequences simply fall on you if your risk doesn't pan out. Government doesn't have that luxury. You have to take every one of your constituents into account. You can't leave anyone behind. The assets that you're managing are not your own, they are the community's. And you're responsible to each and every community member.

This is why I'm disappointed that Nano's core platform promise, for the third year in a row, appears to be a land raffle. It's an idea that makes sense from a business owner's perspective, but is simply a non-starter for a local government entity. There are simply too many questions throughout the process, and the risk to the community is simply too high for rewards that don't appear very likely to manifest, in my opinion. It would be effectively selling off community assets at rock-bottom prices to people who may or may not have the community's best interests in mind.

At a time when there's already controversy over how Goldbelt is utilizing the land that they own on North Douglas, the pitfalls of a land raffle should be clear. And it's disappointing that, since the first time we ran against one another in 2023, Nano has not sought out opinions from stakeholders to expand his knowledge base and come up with a better solution for the problems he wants to solve. I think that Nano has good intentions, and good energy. I think he can do great things for the community from the private sector. But he hasn't demonstrated to me that he really understands how a local government needs to function.

Contrast that with, for example, Wade's crusade to find Juneau's landfill replacement. If you had asked him what the best solution was at the start of this endeavor, and asked him again three years in, he'd have a completely different answer, because the second one would be informed by three years of research and experience. If you ask him today, Wade would give you not simply his own favorite solution, but every possible viable solution for Juneau, and every pro and every con that comes with each option.

I believe Wade understands that, even if it's technically privately-owned, Juneau's landfill is a community asset. Waste disposal is a community project. And we need to make it work for everyone.

I'm going to circle back to how I started. In all honesty, I think I come from a fundamentally different background and point of view from Wade Bryson. I think we look at the world in different ways. But I think, with one caveat, that this is a good thing. And the caveat is that you're willing to listen, and work with, and come to compromises with, people who disagree with you.  

Wade does this. I have every confidence that if he disagrees with me about something I am knowledgeable on, that he will value and consider any information that I can give him on the subject, and that he will probably evolve his opinion based on the new information that I provide. It may not be to a position that I 100% agree with. But my input will be a part of his mental equation.  Every person's input will be a part of his equation.

Like Greg and Ella, Wade Bryson is level-headed and civic-minded. And I believe that he deserves re-election.

• Emily Mesch is a former Juneau Assembly candidate.