WASILLA -- Three years ago, they were the seemingly unbeatable gang of four.

Vic Kohring, Scott Ogan, Bev Masek and Lyda Green were upstarts with little political experience when they rode a Republican wave to victory in 1994 that turned the Matanuska-Susitna Borough from a Democratic haven to a Republican stronghold.

Among the vanquished were the then-senior member of the Legislature, Sen. Jay Kerttula of Palmer, a 32-year veteran, and Rep. Ron Larson of Palmer, a 12-year incumbent.

"If you were a Republican in 1994, your name could have been Dillinger, first name John, and you probably would have been elected," said state Rep. Carl Gatto of Palmer, who served with the four after being elected in 2002.

But they proved their victories no fluke. For 10 years, they easily beat back challengers and weathered grilling on their political stands, residency and legislative attendance record.

In 2004, their fortunes turned. And when Vic Kohring six months ago resigned his House seat representing Wasilla to focus on his defense to charges of conspiracy, bribery and attempted extortion, only Green, the state Senate president, remained.

Like Kohring, who was convicted and faces sentencing in February, Masek and Ogan left under a cloud.

Ogan, of Palmer, resigned in August 2004 after constituents, angered by his work as a consultant for a resource-extraction company, launched a recall campaign.

That same month, Masek, of Willow, lost a primary election to political newcomer Mark Neuman, a Big Lake woodworker who went on to win Masek's District 15 House seat. She was dogged by a legislative inquiry into alleged use of her campaign funds for personal expenses. The Alaska Public Offices Commission later fined her $1,000.

Peter Burchell, a local educator for whom Burchell High School in Wasilla is named, ran as an independent in 2002 against Kohring. He says he sees in the departures of Ogan, Masek and Kohring ethical lapses brought on by arrogance.

"I think it's the same reason they got elected (in 1994)," he said. "Then it was the Democrats. Now they were getting too big for their britches."

But other Valley political observers say not to make much of the turnover, at least in terms of a change in the political leanings of borough citizens. All three legislators were replaced by Republicans with solidly conservative resumes -- Reps. Neuman and Wes Keller and Sen. Charlie Huggins, all of Wasilla.

"What people want from their legislators hasn't changed," said Tuckerman Babcock, a former chairman of the state Republican Party. "If you look at the issues that led to the defeat or resignation of the lawmakers, it's not related to their stands on issues; they are related to their personal conduct,"

Green, a Wasilla lawmaker, was reluctant to make any generalizations about her colleagues' departures besides saying the situation was "sad."

But she said not seeing Ogan, Masek and Kohring in the hallways in Juneau is strange. The longer one stays in office, she noted, the harder it is to keep up with constituents.

"Once you get to a certain point in this game when you're so busy with your office, it's harder to be on the street and at every borough meeting and be visible ... it's easy to lose touch," Green said.

KOHRING

Kohring arguably fell the furthest of the three.

A drywall hanger and loan manager, he literally came out of nowhere in 1994 to beat Pat Carney, a Wasilla Democrat who had served four terms in the House. Kohring wasn't even on the ballot until the general election. He was recruited to step in after the Republican primary winner -- pastor John Cummings -- withdrew.

But in the seven weeks left in which to campaign, Kohring ran hard and developed a signature style. He knocked on doors and waved signs along the Glenn Highway. He liked to show off for reporters that season's worn shoes.

"He worked his tail off," said Babcock, who helped recruit Kohring as a candidate.

Of the four, Kohring also seemed the most bulletproof. His electoral victories were the most lopsided. He won by 2-1 margins against credible, well-funded challengers, and in spite of questions about his finances and particularly his residency. His wife lived in Oregon, and Kohring sold his home in Wasilla. He claimed that he lived primarily with his parents in their mobile home, also in Wasilla.

Even word of the FBI investigation that was his eventual undoing did him little initial harm. Voters last year re-elected him easily by a 3-2 margin over Democrat Katie Hurley, a former legislator and a participant in the Alaska constitutional convention.

Burchell, whom Kohring in 2002 crushed in the polls 2-1, said Kohring had a pitch-perfect message voters in his district loved: "no tax, no tax, no tax."

The only way he could lose: "He had to take himself out," Burchell said.

OGAN

Scott Ogan was a cabinetmaker with $5,000 in campaign funds in 1994 when he challenged Larson, a 12-year incumbent with a campaign war chest of nearly $70,000. Larson was adept at bringing state projects home to the Valley and would later have an elementary school named after him.

But Ogan's "Ogan is pro-gun" slogan and his theme, time for change, caught on in a year when voters nationally ushered in a Republican sweep that handed that party control of both the U.S. House and Senate for the first time in 40 years.

John Bitney, an aide to Larson at the time and now working for Rep. John Harris of Valdez, said Larson was so certain of victory that he had already lined up the votes to become House speaker, the top leader in the House.

When results showed Ogan had won by just more than 130 votes out of some 6,400 cast, the calls started coming from other legislators, including then House Speaker Ramona Barnes.

"They were just floored," Bitney said.

Once in office, Ogan became a lightning rod on issues like gay marriage, which he opposed, and subsistence. He adamantly opposed giving a priority to rural residents for hunting and fishing access.

But his conservative beliefs played well in his Palmer-area district, where voters sent him to the Senate in 2002 even after he revoked his belief in limiting how many years someone can be in office -- a key promise by many 1994 electees.

Then came coal bed methane.

Conservatives and liberals throughout the Valley united in their opposition to Colorado-based Evergreen Resources Inc.'s plans to drill for coal bed methane in their backyards without their permission. The state owns the mineral rights to the land beneath those homes and could lease them to the company.

Ogan, hired as a consultant by Evergreen at $40,000 a year, was considered a sellout and came under fire.

Although he maintained he'd been upfront about his work and later quit the job, residents launched a recall. In August 2004, after a Superior Court judge denied a request to keep the recall off the ballot, Ogan resigned.

Ogan, now working for the state Natural Resources Department, in a recent interview said he resigned because of his health and not because of the recall. He suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 2002 and a week after he resigned underwent an angioplasty to unblock two clogged arteries in his heart.

MASEK

Masek, who arrived quietly, winning a four-way 1994 race for a vacant House seat representing Willow, also exited quietly.

She made few headlines in the Legislature, although like Ogan she stood out for her opposition to a rural preference for subsistence despite being an Athabascan from Anvik. In 2001, she compiled the second-worst attendance record in the House. Her opponents harped on that record.

Since her loss in 2004, she has dropped from public view. Attempts to contact her were unsuccessful. Calls left with Kohring's attorney were not returned.

The four used to appear in campaign ads together touting the power they brought to the Valley. Green said she still has enough pull to keep the Valley happy when it comes to state spending.

"Seniority doesn't take long to recoup," she said.

But she and Gatto said the departures of Ogan, Masek and Kohring are a reminder to lawmakers to stay in touch with constituents and steer clear of any suggestion of a conflict of interest.

"If I ever had a thought, it's even less of a thought," Gatto said.