Alaska Politics Blog : North Pole Republicans pick possible Coghill replacements

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Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He's worked for the ADN in Anchorage and Juneau, covered the legislature for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and covered Washington state politics for the Tacoma News Tribune. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers rural affairs, general assignments and politics 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 wrote for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com and also find him on our rural Alaska blog, The Village.

David Hulen

David Hulen, the ADN's state and local news editor, is responsible for political coverage. He has been an editor and reporter at the ADN for more than 20 years. E-mail David at dhulen@adn.com

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When the FBI raided state legislature offices in Aug. 2006, it publicly launched an investigation that ultimately reached the highest levels of Alaska politics, and continues to this day.

North Pole Republicans pick possible Coghill replacements

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Anchorage Daily News

Posted: November 7, 2009 - 8:05 pm

From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

North Pole Republicans today selected a list of three candidates to replace Rep. John Coghill, who has moved to the state Senate.

State party chairman Randy Ruedrich says the candidates are:

-- Doug Isaacson, the newly re-elected mayor of North Pole.

-- Tammie Wilson, who is trailing in a runoff election for the Fairbanks North Star Borough mayor. (If she wins, the Republicans will have to pull her from the list, Ruedrich says.)

-- Michael Prax, who the News-Miner has described as a former borough Assembly member and a current district vice chairman for the Republican party.

The state party is forwarding the names to Gov. Sean Parnell, who has until late this month to choose, Ruedrich said.

The announcement comes during a game of musical chairs for Republican leaders in the Interior. Senate Republicans confirmed Coghill on Oct. 22 to replace Sen. Gene Therriault, who in turn retired to take a job as energy advisory to the governor.

The House District represents roughly 15,000 registered voters, Ruedrich said.