The Alaska Senate will look a lot like it did during the past four years: Republicans Sen. Gary Stevens of Kodiak will remain Senate president, and Sen. Cathy Giessel of Anchorage will again be majority leader. Both are foes of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican. Democrat Sen. Bill Wielechowski will hold the gavel in the Rules Committee, which decides what legislation may advance.
The Senate majority organization is a mix of Democrats and Republicans. Three Republicans are not in the coalition government, which is dominated by Democrats. They are Sen. Shelley Hughes and Sen. Mike Shower of Wasilla and the MatSu, and Sen. Robert Myers of Fairbanks. It’s unclear if they will be invited to join this time.
It’s also unclear if newly elected Republican members will be invited or will join. Rep. Mike Cronk of Tok is joining the Senate, replacing Sen. Click Bishop, who was a member of the coalition. Rob Yundt of Wasilla will replace Sen. David Wilson, a Republican who also joined the Democrat-dominated coalition.
Other members of the coalition are Democrat Sens. Lyman Hoffman and Donny Olson, and Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, who all will continue as a trio to co-chair the Senate Finance Committee. Hoffman will manage the operating budget this time, Stedman will manage the capital budget, and Olson will be in charge of various legislation.
The group has not made committee assignments as some races are not decided. In Fairbanks Senate Seat P, another 3,700 votes still need to be counted, deciding whether Sen. Scott Kawasaki will retain his seat; he was challenged by Leslie Hajdukovich and that race is close, with Kawasaki in the lead.
The Carpenter v Bjorkman race and the Goecker v Merrick race could still change things along with the Kawasaki v Hajdukovich race. If there are enough Republicans that weren’t in the previous coalition then there’s the possibility of a new coalition to form. I know the power brokers will want to solidify their position as soon as possible, but we as the electorate should let our representatives know why we elected them, and it wasn’t to let the minority party run our government.
One can only hope, even if it’s a slim hope
The uniparty really sucks. Would be nice to have some combative, intelligent constitutionalist republicans in there.
Somebody is electing them again and again. This will be an NEA dream. Maybe it’s that the number of government employees is increasing (and government union power) while private sector folks are decreasing in influence. As an ex government worker (not AK) I recall many people voting their interest via union endorsements/suggestions come election time. Seeing the bigger picture in that situation is difficult. If I’m on the receiving end the tendency is do I vote for people who will give me defined benefits and other tax payer funded stuff to better my status without really caring where it comes from or do I say no, for the good of everyone, I’ll forgo those things? It’s an inherent sort of conflict of interest really. How many people are employed by the educational industrial establishment in Alaska? It’s a big number of…voters…
Seems Alaskans will continue receive the short end of the stick from those who read by the lamp of their own conceit. Those in Juneau will continue to rule by their hubris. Somethings seem to change while just remaining the same.
Alaska GOP is nonexistent, they don’t have any loyalty. Don’t expect anything good for the state and people. They coalition is a tax and spend coalition.
There’s a platform, that is a good platform, which a lot of people put time & effort into developing. Unfortunately it gets lost in Juneau. Especially by some Republicans who pay little, if any, attention to the party they affiliate with. If you try to stick to it you end up like Shower, Hughes & Meyers (Kudos to them!).
So we still have the steal peoples PFD and we need more money group.
Nothing will change until the new taxes come people better wake up as they are already stealing from us and they want more.
Why have Republicans when they are in the majority and cede the agenda to the minority? Teats on a boar. Kelly Merrick that’s you.
There are no laws they follow, there’s nothing they won’t steal, there’s no Union cronies pocket they won’t fill….
Lyman Hoffman for the second year in a row actually spent less than 90 days living in his Senate District, which only varies when he’s being challenged and has to hang around Bethel to vote for himself. He’s a full blown resident of Anchorage. Property taxes, utility billing, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years eve parties. He has been a full time resident of Anchorage since 2014.
Hoffman is not a one off oddity in Juneau. You can add Bryce Edgmon to the Anchorage Hillside voter roll list to. The list goes on, but those legislators aren’t from my District. Hint, Kodiak hasn’t smelled fresh air in decades either.
My question is, when is the Lt Governor and the State Attorney General going to do their job and clean these Legislative cheaters out of the peoples house of laws?? Calling and filing complaints is just more water off a ducks back, with these two offices.
I’m pretty much disgusted with the lawlessness allowed at the highest levels of our State.
Dont give up Willy.
Keep the pressure on the scumbags who ignore the rules.
If no one continues to point out the rule breakers they are empowered more to continue their dirty plays.
Willie, I agree with your last sentence. Alaska is only going to get worse because rinos replaced rinos or democrats and one rino is replacing a true republican, rcv is probably here to stay, our pfd is going to go away, and we’ll all be begging to have another carbon credit under king dunleavy’s rule.
This is all GREAT news!!! Considering that these clowns have been nothing but a log jam, now we get more of the same – inaction and excuses mixed with absolutely NO fiscal responsibility or budget accountability. Oh, while we are at it, let’s be sure to abdicate the Republican majority to allow for the leftist agenda in the noble name of bipartisanship.
Gary Stevens is a disgrace to Kodiak.
There’s nothing bipartisan about this committee, it’s run and ruled by Democrats and RINO’s (Democrat light). Alaska voters never seem to learn when it comes to voting for their rep.
So, the feeding at the trough will continue, unabated, by this bunch of incompetent managers of our state revenues and resources. Shortsighted, self indulgent, and totally ineffective at propelling our state forward in any way that benefits the future of our population. It is maddening.
Oh great. More feet dragging to ensure special sessions, just so they can collect as.many per diem checks as possible. More illegal taxation of man, woman and children, via the pfd scam in the name of govt.
More of the Uniparty nonsense with the same old grifters!
Voters’ November 5 message was perhaps not received by Alaska’s lobbyist-legislator team?
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Bipartisan Coalition, what’s that but Alaska’s version of a poisonous alliance among infanticidalists, kleptocrats, perverts, lobbyists, and autocrats, Alaska’s very own Mob who, for the moment at least, are accountable to -no one- outside their exclusive club for what they do.
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That’s the Club who’ll happily shut out Shelley Hughes, Mike Shower, Robert Myers, Mike Cronk, and Rob Yundt, effectively prevent them from representing non-lobbyist constituents, unless they renounce their quaint beliefs and join Alaska’s bipartisan coalition of infanticidalists, kleptocrats, etc.
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We actually believed the Corrupt Bastards Club died out 14 years ago, never to rise Phoenix-like in any form?
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Maybe best for now to batten the hatches when this bipartisan coalition gather to hate the guv, despise voters, hate children, get money, spend money, get more money, fight over roadkill which was once Alaska’s vibrant economy?
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Who knows… hard-hitting investigative journalism and a Trump Justice Department might be just what it takes to break this Mob.
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Surely if such a thing could be done with the Five Families, something like it could be done here?
Fun Fact Time: If Gary Stevens makes it to July 17, 2025, we will become the oldest-ever sitting legislator in the state’s history. Only two people have held this distinction since the advent of statehood. Bobby Sheldon, the oldest member of the 1st Legislature, was 75 when he was sworn in. He was 83 when his second non-consecutive term expired. He held that distinction until 2016, when he was surpassed by Bob Lynn in the waning days of his last term. Stevens became the oldest-ever sitting senator in 2020, surpassing John Cowdery.
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