Catherine A. Giessel

Catherine A. Giessel
Alaska State Senate District N
Incumbent
In office
January 24, 2011-Present
Term ends
January 26, 2015
Years in position	2
Party	Republican
Compensation
Base salary	$50,400/year
Per diem	$238 or $253/day
Elections and appointments
Last election	November 6, 2012
First elected	November 2, 2010
Next election	November 4, 2014
Term limits	N/A
Education
Bachelor's	University of Michigan
Master's	University of Alaska-Anchorage
Personal
Profession	Business Owner
Websites
Office website
Personal website

Catherine A. Giessel is a Republican member of the Alaska State Senate, representing District N since 2011.

Giessel served as a Committee Member/Chair/Vice Chair for the Alaska Republican Party from 1997 to 2008.

Giessel earned her BS in Nursing from the University of Michigan. She went on to receive her MA in Nursing Science from the University of Alaska, Anchorage. She works as a nurse and owner of a healthcare consulting business.

Issues

Campaign themes

2012

Giessel's campaign website lists the following issues:

• Energy

Excerpt: "Our energy resources, including traditional hydrocarbon sources (like oil, gas and coal) and innovative sources (like geothermal, wind, solar, and tidal) should be developed for the maximum benefit of Alaskans. I applaud the private entrepreneurs and Native Corporations who are investing in hydroelectric and coal gassification projects."

• Economy

Excerpt: "Currently our State addresses economic planning just one year at a time. That horizon is too short to adequately address long-term constitutional mandates such as education and healthcare obligations. For budgeting and resource development we need to extend our planning vision. The Legislature also needs to take a hard look at what services are within the State's role and what are best provided by the private sector."

• Resource Development

Excerpt: "Alaska has not had unemployment rates as high as the 9.8% seen nationally... yet. But at 7.6% unemployment, Alaskans should be concerned. Resource development jobs are a critical part of our economy and job creation. North Dakota, which has very business-friendly policies, has unemployment about 3%."

• Education

Excerpt: "I am a cosponsor of SB 106 "K-12 Scholarship Program", which would allow State funding for each child's education to be managed by that child and his parents. This would permit families to choose the education format that best meets that child's educational needs. The House version of the bill is HB 145."

• Healthcare

Excerpt: "Wise consumers use insurance to help offset risks that they could not afford to bear on their own. No one can afford to be insured for every possible risk in life, but we should be free to buy whatever type of insurance we determine that we need. Rules that force us to buy insurance plans that are bloated with government mandates are unfair and costly. In fact, requirements that we purchase health insurance are also unfair."

Committee assignments

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Giessel served on the following committees:

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Giessel served on these committees:

Alaska Committee Assignments, 2011
• Labor & Commerce
• State Affairs

Elections

2012

See also: Alaska State Senate elections, 2012

Giessel won re-election in the 2012 election for Alaska State Senate District 14 (N). She defeated Joe Arness in the August 28, 2012 Republican primary and defeated Ron Devon (I) in the general election which took place on November 6, 2012.

Alaska State Senate, District 14 (N), General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Catherine Giessel Incumbent	59.1%	10,405
	Independent	Ron Devon	40.9%	7,202
Total Votes				17,607

Alaska State Senate, District 14 (N) Republican Primary, 2012
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Catherine Giessel Incumbent	67.9%	3,964
Joe Arness	32.1%	1,878
Total Votes		5,842

2010

See also: Alaska State Senate elections, 2010

Giessel defeated Jennifer B. Johnston and Mark W. Moronell in the August 24 primary. She then defeated Democrat Janet L. Reiser and Independent Philip Dziubinski in the November 2 general election.

Alaska State Senate, District P General Election (2010)
Candidates		Votes
Catherine A. Giessel (P)		9,255
Janet L. Reiser (D)		7,042
Philip Dziubinski (I)		2,072

Alaska State Senate, District P Republican Primary (2010)
Candidates		Votes
Catherine A. Giessel (R)		4,315
Mark W. Moronell (R)		2,147
Jennifer B. Johnston (R)		1,976

Campaign themes

• Energy

Excerpt: "Our energy resources, including traditional sources (like oil, gas and coal) and innovative sources (like geothermal, wind, solar, and tidal) should be developed for the maximum benefit of Alaskans."

• Economy

Excerpt: "Currently our State addresses economic planning just two years at a time. That horizon is probably too short to adequately address long-term constitutional mandates such as education and retirement obligations. For budgeting and resource development we need to extend our planning vision."

• Resource Development

Excerpt: "Resource exploration and development that protects the interests of the citizens of Alaska, through continued reasonable, common sense regulation under our existing laws."

• Education

Excerpt: "All options must continue to be available to parents, including traditional public schools, optional school programs, private schools and home school. Home school in Alaska must continue to be parent-driven."

• Healthcare

Excerpt: "Rules that force us to buy insurance plans that are bloated with government mandates are unfair and costly. In fact, requirements that we purchase health insurance are also unfair."

• Constitutional Rights

Excerpt: "I support strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and Alaska Constitution"

• Alaska State Budget

Excerpt: "We must control our state spending... I support reducing our spending to match our income AND correcting the factors that are curtailing development of our vast resources and our under-developed private sector!"

Campaign donors

2012

Campaign donor information is not yet available for this year.

2010

In 2010, Giessel raised $148,603 in contributions.

Her four largest contributors were:

Donor	Amount
Giessel, Cathy	$27,535
Giessel, Catherine A (Cathy)	$18,125
Anchorage Republican Womens Club	$7,000
Capital City Republican Women	$4,000

Personal

Giessel and her husband Richard have three children.

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a google news search for the term "Catherine + Giessel + Alaska + Senate"

Catherine Giessel News Feed

• Alaska Senate OKs oil industry tax cuts - TheNewsTribune.com

External links

Suggest a link

• Catherine Giessel's campaign website
• Senate website
• Project Vote Smart Biography
• Project Vote Legislative profile
• Campaign contributions 2010
• Cathy Giessel on Facebook

References

Political offices
Preceded by -	Alaska State Senate District N 2013–present	Succeeded by N/A

|- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align:center;" |width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
Con Bunde (R) |width="40%" style="text-align: center;" rowspan="1"|Alaska State Senate District P
2011–2013 |width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"| Succeeded by
Dennis Egan (D) |-

|}