Alaska’s Public Safety Commissioner, in her personal capacity, has chosen to not endorse one of her predecessors.
She made campaign endorsements while taking personal leave today.
In the House Republican Primary, Amanda Price has denied Chuck Kopp an endorsement and given her nod to Tom McKay for District 24.
Kopp was briefly the commissioner of Public Safety in 2008, but was terminated after 14 days on the job due to events that he had been involved with in Kenai, where he was a police chief for seven years. The incident had to do with a sexual harassment complaint in 2005.
Commissioner Price said she has no animosity toward Kopp, but supports McKay because she respects his support for law enforcement, and in these times, that is more important than ever.
Rep. Kopp was a strong defender of SB 91, known as the catch-and-release crime legislation that unleashed criminals all over Alaska until it was repealed. He fought the repeal, but lost.
Price also threw her endorsement to Roger Holland, running in the Republican primary against Sen. Cathy Giessel for the south Anchorage Seat N.
Giessel voted against Price’s confirmation as commissioner, but that wasn’t the problem for Price. She said she could “never forget how Senator Giessel treated Representative Laddie Shaw. She made an unsubstantiated … vacant reference to his character,” Price wrote.
Rep. Shaw is a decorated retired U.S. Navy SEAL and law enforcement professional.
[Read: Laddie Shaw gets hero’s welcome in Fairbanks]
“That behavior spoke volumes about her character, not his. And it was not the first time she exhibited such behavior,” Price wrote.
Price also said she could not support Rep. Jennifer Johnston for District 28 because she had not held true to the values that voters put her in office to stand for. Johnston is running for reelection and is challenged by conservative James Kauffman.
