Sen.-elect Forrest Dunbar is off the Anchorage Assembly, which will meet in a special Friday meeting at 9:30 am to interview the five applicants for Dunbar’s seat serving the East Anchorage neighborhoods.
The meeting will take place at the Assembly Chambers on the ground floor of the Loussac Library, and then an official meeting of the Assembly will convene at noon in the same location to vote on and swear in the new temporary Assembly member, whose term will end April 25; a regular election takes place April 4, when the incumbent chosen by the Assembly will be able to defend his or her seat, if they choose. That seat will again be up for election in 2025.
Dunbar was elected to the Alaska Senate and will be sworn in in Juneau on Jan. 17.
Applications for the position closed on Jan. 4. The applicants for the District 5, Seat H temporary seat are:
- Crawford, Harry T. – Filed 1/3/2023
- Wojciehowski, Jim – Filed 1/4/2023
- Morgan, Hilary A. – Filed 1/4/2023
- Foehner, Rich – Filed 1/4/2023
- Sweet, Joey – Filed 12/30/2022
Of those who filed, Harry Crawford has the most political stroke with the liberal-controlled Assembly. He was a Democrat state legislator in the Alaska House of Representatives from 2001 to 2011, and ran against Congressman Don Young in 2010. He again ran for the Alaska House in 2016, losing to Lance Pruitt.
Jim Wojciehowski also filed on Jan. 4 before the deadline. He is a physician assistant who has become a regular observer at the Anchorage Assembly meetings and often provided public comment on Covid policies during the pandemic panic, providing his medical expertise and viewpoints on lockdowns that were somewhat contrary to the Berkowitz Administration’s mandates.
Hilary Morgan, who filed on the last day possible, has a massive resume in nonprofit work and consulting, including working as CEO for the YWCA in Anchorage, and former director of Brother Francis Shelter. She ran for Alaska Senate in 2015.
Rich Foehner is retired from the U.S. Army, has filed.
Finally, Joey Sweet was the first to officially file. Sweet is a former student regent to the University of Alaska Board of Regents and was a legislative intern.
