Democratic Challenger Planning Kodiak Visit

Jay Barrett/KMXT
The last time we heard from Senate District R candidate Robert Henrich, he was just starting the summer fishing season out of his home of Cordova. Turns out it was a pretty good season for him, and he’s done a little campaigning since fishing wrapped up. The Democrat is hoping to make his way to Kodiak this week, though the snow in Cordova is hampering his travel plans

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— (Henrich 1 26 sec “I really haven’t been around that much, although I met with a lot of people from the regions at AFN. I know a lot of people from the district – it’s one of the reasons I’m running. I know people from Yakutat all the way up to Bristol Bay. And I fished out of Kodiak before. I fished halibut and I fished crab out of Kodiak, and when I had tenders in the bay, we’d stop in Kodiak, and when I fished crab in the Bering Sea I’d stop at Kodiak.”)

Henrich is running as a Democrat, challenging Kodiak’s Gary Stevens, a Republican and the current president of the State Senate and leader of the Bi-Partisan Working Group:

— (Henrich 2 27 sec “I am a conservative Democrat. I want to cut back on state spending and I want to increase the dividend. And one of the things that working people and people in rural Alaska are very concerned with is the dividend, and it has gone down. And they depend on that to buy winter groceries and winter fuel, and they are very concerned about the fact that it has gone down.”)

Though Governor Sean Parnell and other conservatives in the state have targeted the Senate Bi-Partisan Working Group for defeat this year, they won’t find an ally in Henrich:

— (Henrich 3 15 sec “Well you know when you got a 10-10 split, if you can’t work together, we’re in trouble. But am I ready to give the farm to the oil companies? Not on your life. I think they’re attempting to steal millions of dollars from our young people’s future.”)

He went on to say that the oil companies need to put something on the table in return for the billions in tax breaks the governor wants to give them:

— (Henrich 4 20 sec “But they want us to just write them a blank check, and I won’t go for that. The history of Alaska is resource extraction, and salmon, all of them extract the resources and leave as little as possible. And that oil ain’t going nowhere.”)

Henrich is the long-time president of the Native Village of Eyak, and has served on the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Board – at times with Senator Steven’s wife. He says he has helped lead the village’s SB-8a subsidiaries to profits of $60-million last year.

— (Henrich 5 11 sec “My record the last 20 years has been public service. I’ve been on the Cordova City Council; I’ve been on all kinds of different boards and stuff. And then I fish to support myself.”)

Henrich, whose friends call him “Moose,” will be on the General Election ballot next Tuesday running against incumbent Gary Stevens for Senate Seat R, which extends from Yakutat to Nelson Island. ###