Nineteen state senators were sworn into office by Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who called the Senate to order at 1 pm and them up in groups of five. But when Dahlstrom called upon Sen. Mike Shower to join his group of five, he was nowhere to be found.
Must Read Alaska has learned that Shower had something come up in his personal life that made it impossible for him to come to Juneau.
The next order of business for the day was to elect a Senate President, which had already been done informally in private meetings before the session began. Sen. Gary Stevens of Kodiak returned to the podium once again in his long legislative career. He has served as Senate president from 2009 through 2012, when he led a Democrat-majority caucus of 10 Democrats and six Republicans. He now leads another Democrat-dominated caucus of nine Democrats and eight Republicans. Three Republicans were not asked to join the coalition — Shower, Sen. Shelley Hughes, and Sen. Robert Myers.
(Above, Sens. Kelly Merrick, Shelley Hughes, Bill Wielechowski, and David Wilson.)
