Rep. Laddie Shaw is Gov. Michael Dunleavy’s choice to serve the Senate Seat M vacancy.
Shaw currently fills the House District 26 seat the was left by Sen. Chris Birch as he moved to the Senate in January after winning the Senate Seat M position in November.
Shaw won the D-26 seat with 62 percent of the vote from his district.
Shaw is a retired Navy SEAL and Vietnam veteran (two tours) who spent eight years with the SEAL Reserve component; and seven years with the Alaska Army National Guard (Airborne). In 1999 he was appointed to the position of State Director of Veterans Affairs for the State of Alaska. He has also been an instructor at the State Trooper Academy in Sitka.
Dunleavy said he thought the Senate District M process was well done and all the applicants for the position were good. He said it was a tough decision because all three names forwarded to him by the district’s Republican grassroots leaders were people who had served the state and country in important capacities.
Dave Donley, a former state senator and member of the Alaska State Defense Force, and Al Fogle, a U.S. Army combat veteran, were the other finalists.
Donley is also on the Anchorage School board and has a position in the Dunleavy Administration as deputy commissioner for the Department of Administration. Fogle is an account executive at Moda.
Shaw will have to run for the seat in 2020, since Birch had passed before having served eight months in the Senate. The Senate Seat M Republicans will need to repeat the process, filling the District 26 House seat that Shaw will leave vacant.
“Our prayers and thoughts are still with Pam (Birch) and the family,” said Alaska Republican Party Chairman Glenn Clary. “I want to thank the district committee members who put a lot of time and effort into evaluating all the candidates, and thank the governor for picking one of the three forwarded. I’m hopeful that the Republican senators will confirm him.”
Senate President Cathy Giessel issued a statement: “Due to various scheduling conflicts, Senate Republicans will not meet to consider the governor’s appointment until after Labor Day weekend.” Seven of the Republican senators in the Senate must confirm Shaw’s nomination. If they turn it down, the governor has 10 days to name a replacement nominee.
Good choice by Governor Dunleavy.
Shaw should be confirmed without controversy.
One hopes Donley or Fogle will be available to replace Peoples Imperial State Senator Giessel.
Excellent choice. We’ll see if Senator Cathy Bohms Geissel is onboard with the governor.
Probably not.
I think the PFD believers have dwindled down to you, Gov. Mike, and Tuckerman (now “retired”).
Gov. Mike painted himself into a corner wearing a new pair of shoes.
Gov. Mike should have taken my advice at last year’s State Fair.
BTW Ed, thanks for your work on the dozer saving Cooper Landing!
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