“Sadly,” Senate candidate Rep. Mike Cronk of Tok complained on Facebook a few days back, “politics of negativity has become the norm. Voters are tired of it. Again, thank you for your support and voting positive!”

“Where there is fear, there is often desperation. Where there is desperation, integrity and character are too often compromised,” Cronk claims.

Sadly, that paean to the power of positive thinking comes from a guy who is lying about his Senate opponent, Borough Assembly member Savannah Fletcher.

In a recent ad, Cronk, 53, claimed he wants to tell people about the things he didn’t do:

“I didn’t spearhead the largest property tax in Fairbanks history.”

“I didn't get an environmental law degree so I could shut down Alaska’s resources in the courtroom.”

“And I definitely didn’t raid Fairbanks public school funding to build a $33 million animal shelter.”

The main thing here is that Cronk failed to say what he really didn’t do: He didn’t tell the truth.

Fletcher, 31, an Alaska resident for seven years, did not spearhead the largest property tax in Fairbanks history. She has a law degree from Stanford and is a civil rights attorney who specializes in Indian Child Welfare Act cases. She works for the Northern Justice Project, which does not aim to stop resource development.

And she didn’t raid public school funding to build a new animal shelter.

I would have allowed this nonsense to pass without comment, but Cronk’s crack about “I'm not saying that any candidate in this race did any of those things” followed his blatant lies about Fletcher.

This is the politics of negativity that Cronk claims to despise.

Elsewhere, he accuses Fletcher of being a “Radical environmental attorney who wants to shut down responsible resource development and make Alaska California.”

In another ad, Mr. Positive says, “If you want a state senator from California who wants to shut down resource development and raise your taxes, then you should look up my opponent. But if you want a state senator who can pack a moose, start a snow machine at 40 below and clean a fish, I’m your guy.”

None of those skills that Cronk boasts of will make a good legislator. Good judgment, consistency, a grasp of public policy and clearly held convictions are important. So is the ability to resist political pressure.

Cronk, who has a defined benefit state pension from his 25 years as a public school teacher, complained in February about the bipartisan education bill, but supported it.

He said there was a good reason for him to vote for it. It contained what the school districts had told him they wanted the most—a figure for the base student allocation increase that they could count on.

Cronk, a resident of Tok since 2007 and Northway before that, said every school district wanted to know how much money to expect so they can “get contracts out and know what they’re gonna have. And we did that, biggest increase we’ve ever seen. I’m gonna leave it at that. That’s a real positive. We came together, Republicans, Democrats, independents—nonpartisans, I’m not sure. But we all came together. We got something done.”

But when pressured by Dunleavy, Cronk flipped his vote and supported the veto, even though the bill contained what he said the school districts wanted the most. So much for “That’s a real positive” and “We got something done.”

Cronk told the Anchorage Daily News he’s been “pretty much trashed for not overriding the governor’s veto.”

He has no one to blame but himself. Cronk fell in line when Dunleavy insisted that he do so. The override failed by one vote.

Fletcher told the Anchorage paper that the battle for education is a big reason she decided to run.

“If you believed in legislation enough to vote for it the first time, why would you not stick to your convictions?” Fletcher told the Daily News. “I am disappointed, and I promise to be a legislator that will stick to my convictions.”

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