By Suzanne Downing 
The Mat-Su might be the most conservative stronghold in Alaska, but you wouldn’t know it from the political trapdoor that just opened under its voters.
With Sen. Mike Shower resigning in October to run for lieutenant governor, and Sen. Shelley Hughes stepping down as of Friday to focus on her run for governor, the process to replace both seats has moved from routine to dangerously unpredictable – and few Alaskans even realize the storm that’s brewing.
Under the law, it should be simple: District Republicans meet, select names, and forward those nominees to the governor. The governor chooses one. That choice then goes to the Senate’s Republicans for confirmation.
But here’s the catch – half of the Republican caucus has now joined forces with Senate Democrats. And that means the “Senate Republicans” who are supposed to confirm these nominees are not really aligned with Republican voters at all.
That puts both Mat-Su seats squarely at the mercy of a group of Republicans who no longer vote with conservatives on most issues. Senate President Gary Stevens, along with Sens. Cathy Giessel, Jesse Bjorkman, Bert Stedman, and Kelly Merrick, now hold the power to block the governor’s nominee on a secret ballot. They can reject one name after another until they get the candidate they want – one who aligns with the Democrat-led coalition’s agenda.
And make no mistake: The coalition has an agenda.
Take the replacement for Mike Shower’s seat. Names expected to come up include Rep. George Rauscher of Sutton, a reliable conservative, and former Wildlife Trooper Doug Massie, who has aligned himself with the coalition’s push for a return to costly defined benefits – the very system that once crippled Alaska’s finances.
If the coalition wants Massie, they can stonewall Rauscher. They can keep rejecting nominees from District 29 Republicans until they get someone who helps them muscle through the defined-benefits revival and solidify their majority.
This isn’t hypothetical. It’s math. It’s procedure. And it’s all done by secret ballot.
That leaves Rauscher and Rep. Cathy Tilton, who is widely expected to be nominated for Shelley Hughes’ seat in an impossible squeeze. Either they hold out and risk having their districts steamrolled, or they risk having to negotiate with the very coalition that has spent years weakening the conservative cause in Alaska.
Most Alaskans have no idea this is even happening. But the stakes for the Mat-Su are enormous. Two Senate seats could be temporarily filled not by the governor’s choice, not by district Republicans’ choice, but by the bipartisan coalition’s choice — with long-term consequences on everything from spending to education to election integrity.
And there’s an irony hanging over all of this: Had Shelley Hughes waited even a few more days, she would have been the critical fifth vote needed to confirm the replacement for Mike Shower’s seat. Instead, she is now suddenly gone and the coalition’s grip on confirmations has solidified. The Republicans have been caught flat-footed.
The Senate was already a mess. With these two vacancies, it just became a minefield. And if the coalition decides to weaponize the confirmation process, the people of the Mat-Su may soon find themselves represented by senators they never chose and policies they never asked for.
Suzanne Downing is editor of The Alaska Story.
In other words, while we were working and making a living we got took out by the communists. Wow!
How very disheartening.
In other words, Stedman, Stevens, Bjorkman, Giessel, and that snake Merrick will decide who represents the Mat-Su.
Kaufman, Cronk, Yundt, Myers are left high and dry due to Shelley Hughes being selfish.
AkGoP has no leadership just a bunch of nostalgic boomers and GenXers remembering when times were “better” in the Eighties and Nineties (wishing for a Reagon America) while Millennial Gop members are afraid of becoming more independent to the loss
government jobs, benefits, contracts, and grants
Alaska being an Arctic state, considering the future, we should be The IT place of destination for all Americans for jobs of medical science, communication technology, military, education, agriculture, development and mining. But! because of a big government, Alaska is still in the stone ages. Nobody wants to develop on Alaska when the federal system wants to keep us locked up and when the local state system wants to tax millions and millions from private businesses.
Alaska doesn’t have a bright future though We should be in a golden period
How true Tina. Good reporting SD.
And if Mike Shower had waited “even a few more days he would have been the critical fifth vote needed to confirm the replacement for Shelley Hughes’ seat. Instead, he is gone…..
Either Senator Hughes and Senator Shower, both of whom I admire, could have waited until one day before session start to resign. Then the voting could begin to replace one of them. Following that vote, the other seat could have been voted on.
But the governor has the final hammer on Defined Benefits–the veto. Would he use it? Don’t know.
Suzanne, I disagree on specific comments.
1. Last I heard Stedman is no supporter of Defined Benefits. So having in the camp to block Matsu conservatives is not a done deal. I’m figuring a 5-4 at worst or a 6-3 best to vote for the districts picks.
2. As to the comments about Shelley not waiting for a few days impacting that vote for Mike replacement. Unless something has happened that I haven’t heard, the districts have not made the picks and recommendations to the Governor, much less the “Republicans” voting. As I see it, Shelley would have had to wait at least a month, a month that would harm her in her campaigning.
Under current state law it is illegal for any legislator to cast a legally binding vote in secret (AS 24.60.037).
Legislators like to ignore this law so that they can secretly vote to block Republican legislators like Laddie Shaw from being appointed to the senate (until and unless he agreed to first abandon the PFD).
This law needs to be enforced or we will continue to be saddled with the very backroom double-dealing the Ethics Act was written to prevent.
https://law.justia.com/codes/alaska/2022/title-24/chapter-60/article-2/section-24-60-037/
I was going say something along the same lines. I was unaware of AS 24.60.037 but I was viewing from common sense logic. Why would all votes in the senate be transparent and visible to the public except for these confirmations? The should be especially transparent. Furthermore, would the districts be allowed to conduct special elections?
Mike Shower announced his resignation two weeks ago, he announced he was running for Lt. Gov in September. Is there any chance that before Shower’s resignation that talks were held and in the two weeks since his resignation that someone was selected? If not, why didn’t that happen?
I wonder if Shelly Hughes thinks any conservatives will vote for her after this dumb move.
Actually, there are a lot of assumptions here. Remember who supports which gov candidate in this type of information sharing. I ask that voters to please do your own research. We have a almost a year to go and we really need honesty.
And tat’s why it is known as “The Stupid Party”.
My staying a few more days made NO difference mathematically on Shower’s Senate replacement. Why? Because both require yes votes from the Minority + 1 Majority yes vote. BOTH require one yes vote from the Majority. It’s the same either way. If I were still in the Senate it’d be 6 out of 10 votes (5 votes from the Minority and 1 vote from the Majority). Now that I’m out, it’s 5 out of 9. (4 votes from the Minority and 1 vote from the Majority.). Suzanne, I love you but you stirred up something here inaccurate and now people are condemning me as selfish, dumb, hurting the conservative cause, etc. and it’s simply not true. I respectfully request you write a new article explaining this and that you also correct the misleading information in this article. Just correcting this article won’t be enough because people who have read this article are likely to go back and read it again. I know you are trying to help your friend Bernadette with her race and that is totally your right and freedom with your new publication – and it will not interfere with my friendship with you – but I do kindly and respectfully ask that you get out the truth on this. A lot of people are upset, unnecessarily, and they need to know the truth. Thank you!
Interesting points Sen Hughes. You said, “….Because both require yes votes from the Minority + 1 Majority yes vote. BOTH require one yes vote from the Majority. It’s the same either way. If I were still in the Senate it’d be 6 out of 10 votes (5 votes from the Minority and 1 vote from the Majority). Now that I’m out, it’s 5 out of 9. (4 votes from the Minority and 1 vote from the Majority).” I get it but I fear many may not.
Let me try. …. Regardless of whether you were still in the senate, both replacements require minority votes + 1 majority vote.