Alaska Politics Blog : Mayoral maneuvering

Alaska Politics Blog

This is the place to talk about Alaska politics -- state, local, national. Public life in the Last Frontier has probably never been more interesting than right now -- the governor as candidate for vice president, the broad and still-evolving corruption investigation, a big election, powerful members of Congress under scrutiny, and the usual hardball Alaska politics. Come here for news, tidbits and information, and join the discussion. Keep your comments civil and on point. Avoid personal attacks. Do not use profanity. Posts that violate the Terms of Use will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be banned.

Contributors

Erika Bolstad

Erika Bolstad covers Alaska issues, including the congressional delegation, from Washington, D.C., for McClatchy Newspapers. Before joining the bureau in 2007, she spent seven years as a reporter at the Miami Herald, where she covered politics, government and the state legislature. E-mail Erika at ebolstad@adn.com.

Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He spent three years based in Juneau for the ADN before joining the Tacoma News-Tribune to write about Washington state politics. He went to Iraq twice for the News Tribune, and previously wrote about Alaska government and politics for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers politics and other stories for the ADN. He covered the 2006 campaign for governor, has blogged extensively about Alaska politics, covered Anchorage city government and was a reporter based in the Mat-Su. He grew up in Southeast Alaska and previously was a reporter at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com

Features

SECTION

Alaska political corruption

The FBI raided state legislatures offices in Aug. 2006, and the fallout since has been epic in Alaska's political world.

Mayoral maneuvering

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: November 21, 2008 - 11:35 am

Comments (0) |

From Don Hunter in Anchorage:

Anchorage Assembly members have added a work session today about who runs the show at City Hall and at the Assembly table when Mayor Mark Begich resigns sometime around the first of the year. Under the city charter, the Assembly chair becomes acting mayor until a successor picked by voters next April takes office.

But both the current chair, Matt Claman, and vice-chair Sheila Selkregg have said they're interested in running, and some members, including Selkregg, say it's a bad idea for a mayoral candidate to run things in the interim.

Selkregg has filed her intent to run, but Claman says he's not decided for sure.

In a phone call a little while ago, Claman said the Assembly will hear from attorneys and municipal clerk Barbara Gruenstein about the leadership switch: How long is the temporary mayor in charge? Does the Assembly replace the acting mayor with an acting Assemblyman in his or her absence? Does the acting mayor's Assembly seat stay empty, leaving a 10-member body?

Members can talk about whether they want to pick a new chairman, but they can't actually vote on it at today's work session, which starts at 3 p.m.

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