On any given weekend all year long, Sen. Lyman Hoffman can be seen filling up his cart at the Dimond Blvd Costco in Anchorage. He is known to spend most of his time in Anchorage, even though he represents Senate District S, the Bethel-to-Adak area. That is something that has irked fur trapper Willie Keppel of Quinhagak. Keppel has lived in rural Alaska for over 40 years and is often heard on KRUP radio out of Dillingham, and KEDI radio out of Bethel during the morning talk show hosted by Stevie Ray.
Keppel wants to start a recall petition to get rid of the Hoffman reign in Western Alaska. However, he has a challenge on his hands: Senate Seat S is huge, with a coastline that stretches from the Yukon River to the tip of the Aleutian island and back to the western part of Cook Inlet. And Keppel lives in a remote town of 776 people south of Bethel.
“Lyman Hoffman has been misrepresenting his residency for years. The Division of Elections didn’t do due diligence when we requested he be removed from the ballot in 2022,” Keppel said. But with a new Division of Elections direction, Keppel is hoping he can get access to his cell phone location records, credit card spending location, and Alaska Airlines mileage records.
The letter that Keppel received from the Division of Elections in 2022:
Keppel says that the U.S. Census uses “intent” as a qualifying factor.
“We’re calling malarkey,” Keppel said. He pointed out that for Anchorage homeless people, the Census rules that their residence is “where they lay their heads, most commonly.”
Hoffman, Keppel has reminded radio listeners often, lays his head on a pillow in a home on Snowline Drive on the Anchorage hillside. He also has a place in Bethel. He says Hoffman only uses his Bethel house as a fish camp.
“Lyman never shows up until the king salmon shows up in June,” Keppel said.
“We’re intent on having the final say in Senate S, as the Legislature refuses to tighten up the rules and force legislators to live in their district, and worse yet, the Division of Elections has fully embraced the ‘if you lie, we sure ain’t checking’ policy for incumbents,” Keppel said.
“You would never get away with living in Sand Lake and running for a seat out in the Valley,” Keppel said.
Keppel, if he goes ahead with his recall efforts, would need 744 signatures from the district.
“So if you are living in-between the Yukon River and the tip of the Aleutian Islands, are a registered voter of Senate District S, we’re asking interested parties to DM me if you would like to be part of a recall Lyman Hoffman committee. Or, email me at [email protected]. The corruption has to end,” Keppel said on social media.
He’s a Democrat and native. He’s not going anywhere until the Democrats are done with him.
Yep. The villages will vote for whomever their Corporation tells them to. Absolutely.
Yes we need to be able to find him when the crisis comes.
He needs to answer for his part of this mess.
Does “intention” work for the PFD?
Does this jacket make me look fat?
Yes.
Thank you for working to put an end to the Hoffman dynasty that has grown out of control. I know that there are others out in that area that are not happy with Lyman’s (lie man) lack of true representation. People need to quit being afraid of possible repercussions, stand up and help put a stop to false representation out in the Bethel Region.
I saw Lyman Hoffman in Bethel during Halloween two years ago. And again when Jill Biden visited Bethel. That said, this doesn’t mean that he doesn’t sleep in Anchorage most days of the year. It does not pass the bulletin board test. Nothing will happen. It’s (D)ifferent when they do it. The left gloats about this while the right is condemned for similar lies of commission. Hoffman delivers for his constituents like the big indoor public pool in Bethel. Why wouldn’t they keep re-electing him?
Prior to Covid, I was in Whitehorse for much of the summer. Didn’t mean I became Canadian.
Your example is excellent
Sen Hoffman is probably the most effective legislator in Alaska. Doesn’t make sense for his constituents throw him out.
What’s the problem?
.
Trapper Willie knows you follow your fur-bearing species, or in Peoples Imperial State Senator Hoffman’s case, you follow your money-bearing animals.
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Gotta spend time away to make it pay, no?
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Trapper Willie knows messing with someone else’s trapline doesn’t end well for the messer.
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Now Trapper Willie’s gonna poach Peoples Imperial State Senator Hoffman’s trapline?
Shhhh. He isn’t the right democrat supposed to be going after. Sweep this under the rug and go after someone else worser to the Republican Party and the state conservatives than him.
He a whole lot better to Senate Republicans and more reasonable than other Senate Democrats
Thanks for the article.
We want the records that the Director said would be considered 😂…. Yeah right, go ahead and bite the hands of those that keep your Union fed decade after decade after decade…..
We the residents will decide and considering that we had lymans closest family wanting to testify that he’s not a Delta resident…. The Director didn’t interview a single one….
Juneau is corrupt. Protect the hand that feeds your department…. simply status quo ….
It is BS that Rep don’t have to live in their districts. You think Pelosi wants to live in an area that her policies have created havoc? That rule needs to change.
I’d say Willie Keppel is correct. I did a quick online search and see that Lyman Hoffman lived previously in Bethel but now lives in a four bedroom, three bathroom house in the 99507 zip code.
Upon further research, I found that Lyman Hoffman is shown as living at one 99507 residence while his wife Lillian Hoffman is shown as living at a different, more expensive 99507 residence. I wonder if they financed mortgages for both homes as “owner occupied” when, in fact, they both live in the same 99507 house. It looks to me as if “something is rotten in the state of [Hoffman’s] Denmark”.
Interestingly enough, the residence question was a big issue that got Jerry ward booted from the senate by the voters.
The latest ruling from AKSC about Rep Armstrong supports Hoffman’s “intends to return” position.
In a nutshell, this article lends itself to the notion that the center of state government needs to be readily accessible to the citizenry, not in a remote hub like Juneau.
Also, not Anchorage or anywhere near there to respect the reality that far too much power already resides there.
Won’t matter as long as Anchorage keeps electing the people Anchorage elects. The location is a convenient distraction from the overall poor quality of representation.
Hoffman is a better democrat friend to Republicans than who usually comes out of Southwest district. Natives we tend not see the bigger picture nit-picking at the little things or they get jealous. Senator Hoffman has been a good ally to Senate Republicans. We are to take care of our friends not beat, shame, expose them. Compared to the infiltration of radical leftists such as Dunbar and Loki, Sen Hoffmon is reasonable and moderate Republicans can work with if the Senate and House can move in the direction to a more fiscal conservative legislature with a like-minded Executive branch.
Migration is a thingy. There’s thing where white people think they can marginalize anybody they choose. Live in two places at once. I don’t care. My Mom lived near a volcano nine months of the year trapping and where she never saw another kid her age and lived three months in the village for summer school. Anchorage white people believe natives have to go through a grace period before a native can live with dignity wherever with rights in tact. This Is America. Some whites live in five places at once. The Hague, Switzerland, France, Thailand, NYC, Idaho, and Anchorage creeeeeech. Go fly a kite.
This is America. Get used to it. People are not compelled to live up or down to your prejudgements for them. It’s called freedom even in Anch.
“Trapper Willie,” eh? He’s out to puff himself up as the Davey Crockett of the last frontier. Realistically, he’s a wannabe power broker who apparently has grown tired of bickering over beaver hides and fox skins. He has already tried to weasel his way into doing the people’s business by running for public office; look, he’s just another “just another” who has developed a “rustic taste” for more revenue. “Muskrat Willie” is in “business” for himself, but there is nothing sinister about that–read your Rex Beach!
As for myself, I’d stick with Hoffman: he can add and subtract. “Muskrat Willie” has yet to learn how how fill a cigar box with fives and ones, and the word “millions” has his eyes spinning like a Las Vegas five-cent slot machine.
Edit: “Muskrat Willie” has yet to learn how fill a cigar box with fives and ones, and the word “millions” has his eyes spinning with sugar plums like a Las Vegas five-cent slot machine.
He was my rep for 15yrs. The most self grandizing oppurtunist in AK. Used nepotism to get his family state contracts and self enrichment.He will sell out to any Democrat platform, even to the destruction if his own folks.
Anyone who thinks he is honest or has a moral compass doesn’t pay attention to the obvious.
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