The legislative session starts in just over seven weeks! Quite a bit happened this week in Alaska politics. Both Republican minorities announced their leadership and organization. Former Representative Gabrielle LeDoux’s trail for election fraud resulted in a hung jury. The recount for Ballot Measure 2 is underway. Republican Steve Menard requested a recount in his narrow loss to Republican Elexie Moore. And a lot of politicos are on the move. 

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Minorities Official Announced 

The Republican minorities in the House and Senate finally announced their organizations this week. This came several weeks after the majority coalitions in the House and Senate formed following the November 5 general election. 

First, Senate Republicans announced their six-member minority earlier this week. This is double the size of the current three-member Republican minority. Senator Mike “Dozer” Shower (R – Wasilla) will serve as minority leader. Senator Robb Myers (R – North Pole) will serve as minority whip.

There are three noteworthy things about the new Senate minority:

1. Per the Legislature’s Uniform Rules, a minority in the Senate needs at least five members to get seats on committees. The six-member Republican minority will now have that. 
2. With six members, they are allowed two seats on the seven-member finance committee.
3. With six members, they can block the 3/4 vote needed to access the Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR). With oil prices on the decline, the minority may be in a decent negotiating position if a CBR vote is needed to fund the budget. 

Second, House Republicans announced their 19-member minority yesterday. This came after they met in Anchorage. Former Senator Mia Costello – who is headed back to the House – was chosen as minority leader. Speaker Cathy Tilton (R – Wasilla) was chosen as minority whip. 

Tilton, the current Speaker of the House, normally would have been the logical person to serve as minority leader. But several Republicans wanted a change because of the fraught last two years in the House. A lack of vision, being unable to pass some majority legislation, and disagreement on key fiscal and education issues are just a few of the reasons for the shake up. 

With 19, the Republican minority is in good shape. This is because the 21-member majority has the bare minimum for a majority in the House. If just one of their members is sick, dies, or otherwise has to resign, they will have a problem. 

But things are not exactly kumbaya in the minority. Representative Julie Coulombe (R – Anchorage), who has served on the finance committee the last two years, has been replaced by Representative Jamie Allard (R – Eagle River). It’s customary for caucuses to keep their finance members on the committee. And Representative Justin Ruffridge (R – Soldotna) has been relegated to the community and regional affairs committee. 

With 19 members, the minority gets five seats on the 11-member finance committee. With Representative Mike Cronk (R – Tok) heading to the Senate, they would have one free seat if they kept their remaining four members. But they decided to boot Coulombe to make way for Allard. The other seat went to Republican Jeremy Bynum, who will now represent Ketchikan.  

It’s no secret that Allard is not a fan of Ruffridge. They co-chaired the education committee the last two years, and it was very loose. It’s also no secret that Ruffridge and Coulombe are friends and allies. It appears Coulombe is collateral damage for Allard’s move to the finance committee. Allard clearly has more influence and allies in the caucus than Coulombe and Ruffridge. 

But it’s not necessarily over. If Coulombe or Ruffridge, or both, decided to bail from the minority, the minority would lose a seat on the finance committee. One of them could negotiate with the majority to get on the finance committee. This is what former Representative Sara Rasmussen did several years ago when she bailed on the minority but did not join the majority. 

If they both bailed, the minority would also drop from three to two members on the seven-member committees (resources, judiciary, state affairs, education, etc…). So they do have a very loose move that would cause the minority a lot of problems, if they choose to go that way. After what happened, it would not surprise me if they did it. 

Politicos on the Move

Several Alaska politicos have accepted new jobs. Here is a summary: 

• Matt Shuckerow has joined Hilcorp as their new head of Alaska government and public affairs. He replaces Luke Miller, who took a job as the head of global media relations for Bechtel. Shuckerow spent ten years in D.C. working in communications for the congressional delegation before returning to Alaska in 2018 to serve as Governor Mike Dunleavy’s (R – Alaska) press secretary. He later ran Senator Dan Sullivan’s (R – Alaska) 2020 re-election campaign and currently owns a consulting and public affairs firm, Fathom Strategic Communications.

• Longtime legislative staffer Forrest Wolfe is moving to the executive branch. He’s the new legislative liaison for the Department of Administration. Wolfe has worked for Representative Stanley Wright (R – Anchorage) the last few years, but he was defeated by Democrat Ted Eischeid last month.

• Jordan Shilling, Governor Dunleavy’s director of boards and commissions, is Dunleavy’s new legislative director. He replaces Laura Stidolph, who recently resigned. Shilling worked for several years as a legislative staffer, so he knows the building well. But with two majority coalitions, he will have his work cut out for him.

• Trevor Jepsen will be going to work Mia Costello – the incoming minority leader – in January. Jepsen has worked for Representative Tom McKay (R – Anchorage) for the last few years. McKay ran for the State Senate but withdrew after the primary.

Other Happenings 

Former Representative Gabrielle LeDoux finally had her election fraud trail after years of delays. And the result – hung jury! The legend of Gabby continues. I would be shocked if the state decided to retry her.  

Governor Dunleavy’s proposed budget is due by December 15. I am hearing the press conference and budget rollout will take place in Juneau on Thursday afternoon. If you do not subscribe to the Alaska Political Report and want to get all the juicy details of Dunleavy’s budget, consider subscribing. Email me at jeff@akpoliticalreport.com for more information. 

The handwritten request for a recount is pretty loose. 

The Dunleavy administration is refusing to make public the salary study that was supposed to be finished in June. They have all kinds of reasons why they say it’s not ready. But the real reason is the report likely says state salaries are too low and need to be increased.  

This Week’s Loose Unit 

This is one of those very easy weeks. This week’s Loose Unit is North Slope Borough Mayor Josiah Patkotak. The headline of this Landmine article says it all, “NSB Mayor Josiah Patkotak traveled to Peru, New York, Seattle with family on NSB dime.”

Things got very loose this week during a meeting of the NSB Assembly. Patkotak’s father, Crawford Patkotak, who chairs the Assembly, introduced an ordinance that would change the code to allow the spouse and legal dependents of the mayor, and the spouses of Assembly members, to travel on the Borough dime for official business. 

After much public opposition, the Assembly passed it 8-3. 

The change itself is loose. But what is maximum loose is Patkotak has been having the NSB pay for the travel of his wife and kids since he took office in 2023! Classic Loose Unit behavior.

During the meeting, Patkotak actually said, “I don’t believe that I am abusing the system,” and added, “At least in my eyes, when you elect a mayor you are electing the family unit that he or she represents. That’s my opinion.”

Oh, and Patkotak’s salary as mayor is $281,000 a year – almost double that of the Anchorage mayor! 

If you have a nomination for this week’s Loose Unit, or if you have any political news, stories or gossip (or any old pics of politicians or public officials) please email me at jeff@alaskalandmine.com.