{"id":25603,"date":"2016-06-07T19:21:28","date_gmt":"2016-06-08T02:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/this-fourth-generation-douglasite-is-running-for-an-assembly-seat\/"},"modified":"2016-06-07T19:21:28","modified_gmt":"2016-06-08T02:21:28","slug":"this-fourth-generation-douglasite-is-running-for-an-assembly-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/this-fourth-generation-douglasite-is-running-for-an-assembly-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"This ‘fourth generation Douglasite’ is running for an Assembly seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

The candidate-filing period for Juneau\u2019s next municipal election won\u2019t be open for another two months, but that hasn\u2019t stopped one resident from announcing an Assembly run. <\/span><\/p>\n

Former firefighter and Glacier Auto Parts owner Beth Weldon has declared her candidacy for an Assembly seat, but she doesn\u2019t yet know which.<\/span><\/p>\n

Come October, three seats will be open: one in District 1, another in District 2 and a third area-wide seat. Weldon lives in District 2, which means she can run for the seat in her district \u2014 currently held by Jamie Bursell \u2014 or the area-wide seat, which Kate Troll holds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am running for either Assembly seat, and Juneau residents can be assured that I bring a community-wide perspective to the position,\u201d Weldon wrote in a press release announcing her candidacy Monday. \u201cOver a lifetime in Juneau, I have lived in Auke Bay, North Douglas, Douglas, and the valley. I know our community inside and out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[First female career fire officer Beth Weldon retires after 22 years<\/span><\/a>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

Which seat she runs for depends largely on who runs for the other seats, she told the Empire in a phone interview Tuesday. She\u2019s not interested in running a contested race if nobody throws in for the other seat, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Troll told the Empire Tuesday that she isn\u2019t sure whether she will run again. Bursell, who was appointed to the Assembly in early February, did not respond to Empire inquiries regrading whether she will run this fall by day’s end.<\/span><\/p>\n

Weldon has been toying with the idea of running for the past couple years, but she\u2019s been considering it seriously for a couple months. She filed her letter of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission on April 29, allowing her to begin fundraising. <\/span><\/p>\n

On June 1, Weldon held an \u201corganizational meeting\u201d to see where she stood. About 30 people came out, which Weldon saw as a good start. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty excited,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been very. very pleased with the support I\u2019ve already gotten. It\u2019s pretty overwhelming, the support that\u2019s out there for people willing to run.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In her press release, Weldon said her top priorities are \u201cthe local economy, housing and keeping the capital in Juneau.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She expounded on those points with the Empire Tuesday, saying that she hopes to promote the growth of new businesses in town and diversify the city\u2019s economy. <\/span><\/p>\n

Weldon is a lifelong Juneau resident and a \u201cfourth generation Douglasite\u201d \u2014 though she now lives in the Mendenhall Valley. She serves on the city\u2019s Aquatics Board and volunteers at Juneau-Douglas High School, where her two children go to school. She is also an independent contractor who works with the Empire to deliver the Capital City Weekly, the Empire\u2019s sister publication.<\/span><\/p>\n

For her first official campaign event, Weldon will be holding a meet-and-greet at Louie\u2019s on June 16 from 4:30\u20136:30 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when we\u2019re really going to see how much support is out there,\u201d Weldon said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or at sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Related stories:<\/p>\n

Assembly considers making sales tax permanent, talks marijuana tax<\/a><\/p>\n

Grand SLAM: New state museum opens<\/a><\/p>\n

Senate votes to halve dividend, spend Permanent Fund earnings on state operations<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The candidate-filing period for Juneau\u2019s next municipal election won\u2019t be open for another two months, but that hasn\u2019t stopped one resident from announcing an Assembly run. Former firefighter and Glacier Auto Parts owner Beth Weldon has declared her candidacy for an Assembly seat, but she doesn\u2019t yet know which. Come October, three seats will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":25604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-25603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25603"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=25603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}