Bynum is the Clear Choice for State RepBy Riley Gass
November 05, 2022
In my six years of refereeing Kayhi basketball with Jeremy Bynum, I have gotten a good clear look into his character, background, knowledge, ideas, and experiences. He has become a true friend and someone I look up to. Jeremy probably has more exciting and meaningful experiences than most people I know between his service in the U.S Air Force and Army, as well as his career in developing and maintaining clean renewable energy through his role as a Hydropower Engineer. His incredibly diverse background makes him a great choice to represent us; he has a background of working with people from all different backgrounds and ideas to get results. Despite Jeremy’s extensive military background, his accomplishments in higher education, receiving of an engineering degree and professional engineering license, his impeccable understanding of our government, and experience in local government on the Borough Assembly, he is extremely friendly and approachable to ANYONE. If you have been out and about to any event, basketball game, show, play, concert, or even grocery shopping, you will see Jeremy engaging with and hearing from the people. This ability to find common ground and engage with people, who he may not agree with on all things, will help him to get results for us. He also has put in many trips to Wrangell, Metlakatla, and Coffman Cove to hear from the people of those communities who we (in Ketchikan) share House District 1 with. He doesn’t show up for a quick event and fly back out, rather spends several days, going door-to-door to hear straight from the people. Representative Dan Ortiz has always been good at speaking to the people, and listening to his constituents, which I genuinely appreciate. One thing of many that sets Jeremy ahead is his expertise and experience is energy. We are all feeling the devastating effects of skyrocketing inflation, rising shipping costs, and the constantly increasing cost of fuel, i.e. energy. For us to have a representative who listens to the people, and has a proven record in affordable, renewable energy would be a huge advantage for us. One recent example is the Metlakatla-Ketchikan Intertie project that has been in the works for the last 57 years. In Jeremy’s time as Acting Manager for KPU Electric, he spearheaded this project in conjunction with leadership from Metlakatla, ensuring no financial risk to either community, while moving forward to provide much more affordable and reliable power to Metlakatla, and expanding KPU’s customer base. That is a great example of being able to overcome decade’s old challenges to get results and work through bureaucracy. While Representative Ortiz is a good listener and talker, I ask, has he gotten results for District 1? Our ferry service has been gutted, education test scores are down, cost of living is up, our State owned and maintained roads (Tongass Highway, North, South, and in town) have been in a dangerous and unacceptably bad condition for his 8 years in office, and every year the projects to improve our Highway seem to get pushed back another year or eliminated altogether. On top of all that Representative Ortiz has openly stated he will favor an income tax that will further hurt the working families in our District, to pay for more government in our lives. Jeremy has a record of getting results and has committed to getting things done to benefit our District starting as soon as he is elected. He has also said he does not support tax increases on the citizens. I say we already have enough government in our lives, it’s time to let the people spend our money and time for our government to start spending within their budget, just like we all do in our personal lives. Jeremy has also stated he will support legislation calling for high schools to use more of their state funding to provide vocational training and classes to students. While there are currently some programs offered, I believe it is time for a much stronger push towards the trades for our young people. I was extremely fortunate to begin an electrical apprenticeship at the age of 25, but I can’t help but to think of how much better off I would have been if I started immediately out of High School. I recall my senior year feeling very uneasy about my future, as college seemed to be the only thing being encouraged and offered to students to obtain success was a traditional four-year college degree, but like so many, I knew college wasn’t for me. Right here in Ketchikan we are seeing a huge shortage in skilled labor. These are high paying, rewarding, and very needed jobs right here in our community that are needed to provide housing, construction and maintenance of critical facilities such as the hospital and health clinics, construction of new businesses in town, maintaining our roads, sewers, and waterlines, operating the power plant, and so much more to keep our towns going. These jobs should be going to local people and for that to happen we need young people to be getting into these trades and apprenticeships, and it should be encouraged in our schools. I appreciate Representative Ortiz’s service to our community as a teacher, and his eight years serving as our representative. I believe we have an opportunity to elect someone with a fresh new perspective who can bring an upbeat, passionate fight for results for us. Someone with a proven background of results and service who will work like crazy to make things better for us! I encourage you to get out on November 8th and vote Jeremy Bynum for House District 1. Riley Gass Ketchikan, Alaska
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Received November 03, 2022 - Published November 05, 2022 Related Viewpoint:
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