North Anchorage candidates Rob Forbes and Tasha Hotch make their case to the voters

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - There are six candidates running for Anchorage’s 12th assembly seat. The Special Municipal Election is a little less than a month away. In continuing coverage of all the candidates, on Friday Alaska’s News Source had the opportunity to talk to North Anchorage candidates Rob Forbes and Tasha Hotch.

Forbes and Hotch both feel they possess a quality that separates them apart from the other candidates in their race. Hotch said she has lived in Mountain View for more than 20 years, and even though she has never run for an assembly seat before, she has been an elected member of her tribe.

“I was the 4th vice president for Central Council Tlingit & Haida, and they are the largest tribe in Alaska,” Hotch said,

Hotch feels that she is the best candidate In the North Anchorage race.

”I’m Alaska Native, there has not an Alaska Native ever been on the assembly,” Hotch said. “I live in Mountain View, a longtime Mountain View resident. I have not seen a Mountain View resident be elected to the assembly.”

However, developer and entrepreneur Rob Forbes counters by saying that he is the best candidate in the race because he is not a politician, or “a rubber stamp” to someone’s agenda.

Forbes said that his allegiance is to the voters.

”I want to bring a common sense productive approach to the assembly,” Forbes said. “That isn’t what the other candidates are bringing to the table, which is just more of the same infighting we have been dealing with for years.”

If elected, Forbes said that he would like to be a bridge between the assembly and Mayor Dave Bronson’s administration.

”I certainly do not agree with every tactic, aspect, or approach that the Bronson administration takes,” Forbes said. “I definitely think the wrong path is to just fight them on everything.”

Hotch works for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, and said that if elected, one issue she would like to address is building better relationships with tribes in Anchorage.

“There is 229 tribes in the state of Alaska,” Hotch said. “A lot of them have their tribal citizens live here in Anchorage and I think that me serving on the assembly would help bridge that gap and increase communication in that area.”

Forbes, who considers himself a libertarian, just wants to make sure a 12th assembly seat doesn’t increase the size or role of government in Anchorage.

”I think we can accomplish more and greater things if we work together, the government stays out of our way, and just provides guardrails to how we live our lives instead of mandates on how we live our lives,” Forbes said.

The Special Municipal Election is on June 21, and mail-in ballots will be mailed to qualified North Anchorage voters, no later than 21 days before Election Day.

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