It seems to be the year of the young’uns when it comes to local politics. 23-year-old Republican Jason Cline is running for the state house of representatives, while, as we reported a couple weeks ago (“Assembly required,” January 21), two conservative guys in their early 30s, Adam Trombley and Andy Clary, are vying for seats on the Anchorage Assembly in April’s election.

We also reported that Chugiak/Eagle River’s Debbie Ossiander and South Anchorage’s Jennifer Johnston, both of the five-member conservative minority on the assembly, didn’t have any challengers. But, with the filing date about to close on February 12, the incumbents aren’t running unopposed any longer.

In South Anchorage, 19-year-old Keli Booher, a recent Dimond High graduate and president of Alaska Young Democrats, has entered the fray. Although she has a history of volunteering and interning for Democratic causes, Booher says, “For me it isn’t really a partisan race. Our representatives are thinking about the next step in their political career, and that’s not what being an Anchorage Assemblyperson is about.” Along with property tax relief and protecting funding for public safety, Booher says she can bring an insider’s perspective to issues concerning the Anchorage School District; after all, she just graduated from it last year.

And, unsurprisingly, Booher brings a youthful idealism to the race. “The one thing that hasn’t occurred is open, honest dialogue about what we’re dealing with,” she says. “I hope to bring a different approach. I might disagree with people, but I want to sit down and talk about the issues, because I’m not right 100 percent of the time, and they’re not right 100 percent of the time, and governance is about finding a solution that works for everybody. This tit-for-tat that’s going on isn’t helping anybody.”

Booher is also dissatisfied with South Anchorage’s sitting assembly members, Johnston and fellow conservative Chris Birch. “We don’t have good representation. It shouldn’t take five phone calls or more to get a response from our elected officials. We need someone who cares about us, who is a part of this community.” Booher says she’s been attending local community council meetings (and not seeing her assembly representatives there) and listening to the concerns of people active in the community. “Whether or not I’m the representative they choose, I hope it makes them recognize that they deserve better.”

On the opposite end of Anchorage, a 23-year-old Starbucks employee and roller derby athlete named Joelle Brown is challenging Ossiander. Armed with a political science degree from UAA, Brown says she’s looking to improve the quality of life in Eagle River and Chugiak, and she’s particularly concerned with recent changes to public transportation. Two of three People Mover bus routes in Eagle River will end in March. “It seems like our current leadership doesn’t realize poor people live in Eagle River, or doesn’t care,” Brown says, adding that while she’s lucky enough to have a car, she’s on food stamps.

The Eagle River/Chugiak area is well known as a conservative bastion (Ossiander, a conservative, has been described as “a liberal for that part of town”). Brown leans to the left, but she says, “It’s easy to say Eagle River is made up of one perspective, and for the most part that may be true, but what I’m interested in is community building, more opportunities for people living here to have more resources. I really want Eagle River to capitalize on this relationship we have with each other, and either side, we all know each other and we all really love each other. Bottom line, we all just want each other to have better lives.”

While it’s unlikely all four under-40 candidates will win in April’s election (currently Assembly Chair Patrick Flynn is the only member under 40), it’s fun to imagine how a crop of young politicians from both ends of the ideological scale would mold our city. And if the trend of enthusiastic young aspiring politicians continues, one day we won’t have to imagine.

bjk@anchoragepress.com