Munoz announces race for Elton's seat
Former Juneau Assembly member Cathy Munoz announced this morning that she will be a Republican candidate for the state Senate.
Munoz, 37, co-owner of the Ad Lib store downtown, will file for the seat held by Juneau Democrat Kim Elton. The election is in November 2002.
"I think I'm good at public service," Munoz said this morning. "I'm not a fiercely partisan person. I work well with people of diverse backgrounds."
State politics run in her family. Her father, Elton Engstrom Jr., and grandfather, Elton Engstrom Sr., served in the Senate, and her grandmother, Thelma Engstrom, was one of the first women in the territorial Legislature.
Munoz said her experience as finance chairwoman for the Assembly would be useful in the Legislature but she didn't mention any specific state issues that motivated her to run, aside from protecting the collective bargaining process for state employees. Of Elton, she said: "I have no comment on his performance. I really want to focus on what I can do for the community."
Munoz was appointed to fill out an unexpired term on the Assembly in 1995 and later won two full terms. She left city office in October.
Elton, elected to the Senate in 1998, is in his first four-year term and said he will run for re-election. He previously served two terms in the House, representing downtown, Thane and Douglas, and also served on the Assembly.
Elton is a member of a six-member Democratic minority in the Senate, a position that has made it difficult for him to rack up legislative accomplishments. He was chosen by his caucus for a coveted seat on the Senate Finance Committee last session but was blocked by Republicans.
Since then, Elton has been active in the Fiscal Policy Caucus, the bipartisan, bicameral group working on a long-range fiscal plan.
"I think this is a tough time, not just for Juneau but for the state of Alaska," he said this morning. "When we look at the different issues that are out there - whether they're especially Juneau-related, like the legislative move or the new high school, or whether they're Alaska-related, like subsistence or education funding - we need people who aren't trying to divide Alaskans, hot word by hot word. ... I think there are a growing number of people in the Legislature who feel we ought not be building Alaska by tearing other people and other parts of Alaska down."
Elton, 53, is a former editor of the Juneau Empire and former executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. He and his wife have a small business distributing the Anchorage Daily News.