Politics

Alaska politics roundup: High-card draws could decide Southeast elections, while Walker makes moves

Local elections are over, the Alaska Federation of Natives' annual convention is about to begin in Anchorage and the Legislature's special session is just over a week away. Things are getting busy again in state government and politics; here's what happened this week.

Gov. Walker makes moves

Gov. Bill Walker has hired a new director of his Washington, D.C., office: John Crowther, a former special assistant and adviser at the state Department of Natural Resources.

Crowther holds a law degree from Georgetown University and once worked as an intern and aide for Sen. Lisa Murkowski. He was hired, in part, to push for new resource development opportunities under the administration of President Donald Trump, said Grace Jang, Walker's communications director.

Crowther replaces Craig Fleener, who previously had the Washington, D.C., job while also serving as Arctic policy adviser. Fleener is keeping the Arctic policy job.

Crowther will be paid $120,000 a year.

Meanwhile, Walker has also hired an initial manager for his re-election campaign: Shea Siegert, a former aide to Palmer Republican Rep. DeLena Johnson.

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Siegert works for the Anchorage-based political consulting firm Ship Creek Group, which was co-founded by John-Henry Heckendorn, who now works in the Walker administration as a special assistant to the governor.

Siegert is working from the Boardroom, the shared Anchorage work space, and coordinating a crew of 100 volunteers to get ready for next year's election, he said this week.

High-card draws could decide Southeast local elections

Three tie votes in the remote Southeast town of Pelican could be decided by high-card draws — pulled from new decks flown in by floatplane.

Pelican, with 85 residents, sits on Lisianski Inlet on the northwest part of Chichagof Island, about 100 miles west of Juneau. Its municipal election was Oct. 3.

Clint Bean and Patricia Phillips each got 30 votes for City Council, according to Sitka public radio station KCAW.

And Jim Slater and Pelican Mayor Walt Weller each got 11 votes for a city school board seat, while Weller and Danielle Chapman each got six votes for a different school board seat, KCAW said.

Pelican's municipal code calls for ties to be settled by high-card draws, said City Clerk Kelly Chapman. The mayor is supposed to shuffle, but since Weller, the mayor, is a participant in the school board elections, "I'll probably do the draw for that one," Chapman said.

The high-card draws are set for Tuesday evening's special City Council meeting. Chapman said she's having her daughter, a student at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau, pick up three new decks at the Fred Meyer there.

"I called her and asked her to buy some and send the receipt, and the cards," Chapman said.

It's possible that everyone could leave Tuesday's meeting happy: The loser of the City Council draw will still get a one-year term, filling a separate seat that was vacated partway through a three-year term, Chapman said.

And Weller, the mayor, said he may ultimately "bow out" from the school board elections, which would allow Slater and Danielle Chapman to fill those seats.

The draws will not be the first time that a game of chance has been used to determine the outcome of an Alaska election. In one notable case, Alaska House Speaker Bryce Edgmon won his seat for the first time in 2006 after a coin toss: His opponent called heads and it landed tails.

Challenges facing Pelican's new officeholders include holding Pelican's school enrollment steady at 10 — the minimum to receive full state funding — and advancing redevelopment of salmon and crab processing plants that the city has taken possession of after closing a decade ago, Weller said.

Coal company hires lobbyist for permitting

An international coal company has signed a contract with lobbyist Paul Fuhs, who will help with permitting, Fuhs said.

The contract with Nord Alaska Coal, which calls for $4,000 monthly payments to Fuhs, was signed Wednesday, according to a filing with state regulators. Nord Alaska Coal is interested in developing metallurgical coal, a key ingredient in the process of making steel, Fuhs said.

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The company registered a Juneau address with the state's Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing. But its two officials — Aleksandr Isaev and Alexander Vygolovskiy — also reported their own addresses as being in Singapore and Moscow, respectively.

The company is exploring whether there's any coal in Alaska that could meet its quality standards, and it hasn't identified any specific prospects, Fuhs said.

Former state representative starts legal work on state gas line project

Former state Rep. Lindsey Holmes, now an attorney at the Alaska Department of Law, has started working with the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., the state entity charged with developing the natural gas pipeline megaproject that would run from the North Slope to Cook Inlet.

Holmes was already an attorney at the Department of Law working with the state-run Fairbanks and Anchorage airports, she said. Last week she also became the law department's lawyer working with the gas line corporation — "keeping tabs" on the project for the department, Holmes said.

AGDC has its own in-house attorney as well, Holmes said. She'll participate in next week's gas line hearings held by the Legislature, she said.

Fundraisers, campaign filings, hearings abound

Among recent political filings and announcements:

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• Anchorage Democratic Sen. Berta Gardner announced her retirement, and former Anchorage Assemblywoman Elvi Gray-Jackson filed paperwork with state regulators that will allow her to start raising money to run for Gardner's seat. The district includes parts of Spenard, Midtown and the U-Med District.

• Marilyn Stewart, the Republican who lost a tight race last year to West Anchorage Democratic Rep. Matt Claman, has filed to run for the Legislature again, though she didn't specify House or Senate.

• Gov. Walker is holding a fundraiser Monday evening at the Anchorage headquarters of Cook Inlet Region Inc., the regional Native corporation for Southcentral Alaska. On Friday evening, House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham, and state Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, are holding their own fundraiser at the same building.

• On Tuesday, House Democrats are holding a fundraiser at Venue, a downtown Fairbanks gallery and coffee shop.

Meanwhile, with the special session on taxes and crime set to start in just over a week, the House Judiciary Committee is holding a preliminary hearing Monday morning in Anchorage, where members will hear about the legislation to revise elements of last year's criminal justice reform package, Senate Bill 91.

On Monday evening, Gardner and Anchorage Democratic Reps. Harriet Drummond and Andy Josephson are holding a Midtown town hall meeting to hear from constituents before the special session. The meeting is at 5:30 p.m. at Stellar Secondary School.

We plan to publish the roundup at the end of each week, and we'll also email it to recipients of our politics newsletter on Monday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter at tinyletter.com/herzadn and we'll get it to you this week.

Send tips and feedback to reporter Nathaniel Herz at nherz@alaskadispatch.com, or call or text him at 907-793-0312.

Nathaniel Herz

Anchorage-based independent journalist Nathaniel Herz has been a reporter in Alaska for nearly a decade, with stints at the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. Read his newsletter, Northern Journal, at natherz.substack.com

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