New senator announced

PALMER -- The governor cited two reasons for appointing Meadow Lakes resident Charlie Huggins as District H senator -- it came down to who could best keep the seat after two years in the Senate, and who would best represent the constituents of the district.

Gov. Frank Murkowski made the announcement Friday at Colony Inn in Palmer, one day before the mandatory appointment deadline.

Huggins will fill the seat vacated by Scott Ogan, who stepped down one month ago citing concerns for his health and family after an Anchorage judge said a recall of the senator should be placed on the November ballot.

Although Ogan was not present at the governor's announcement, Murkowski thanked Ogan's legislative aide Karen Sawyer in his stead for the senator's "dogged determination to fighting many of his battles for his constituents."

Huggins will serve the remaining two years of Ogan's four-year Senate term. He was chosen from a list of three candidates submitted to Murkowski last week by the Republican Party chair members of District 15 and 16.

Also on the list were Chugiak resident Rex Shattuck and Lazy Mountain resident Larry DeVilbiss.

Huggins, 57, retired in 1994 as a colonel from Fort Richardson, where he served as senior Army advisor to the Alaska National Guard.

Following his retirement, he served as the Alaska veterans affairs coordinator for the state's Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, a position from which he formally stepped down upon accepting the governor's nomination.

Huggins said he plans to do a lot of listening as a senator.

"I'm here to listen to what you have to say and to represent the people," Huggins said. "If you think I'm talking too much and should be listening, tap me on the shin with a soft-toed shoe."

In answering questions after the announcement, Huggins said he really enjoyed working with veterans around the state and vowed to continue fighting for veterans' causes in the Legislature. He said he'll be looking to his constituents to help him understand what other issues are of local import.

"I want to push what the people's concerns are," Huggins said.

When asked where he stood on coal-bed methane development, he said he wants to talk to those who have concerns about CBM development and review legislation before taking a stance.

"I think most people are pro-development, but the closer you get to their house, it becomes more of a hot-button issue," Huggins said.

He said he could understand the importance of testing an industry such as CBM development in a less-developed area first, before bringing it into a residential area.

Huggins said he was reluctant to voice any worries he had in taking over a seat that was vacated amid controversy. He said he planned to encourage dialogue with constituents, to move beyond the dispute.

"I plan on having an ongoing exchange," Huggins said. "It's going to be a long process."

And it may take some time before those issues are resolved.

Lazy Mountain resident John Vinduska, who worked on the Ogan recall effort, said he would give Huggins the benefit of the doubt, although he wished residents of the district -- rather than the governor -- had been able to make the choice of who would represent them.

"We waited nine months for this day, essentially," Vinduska said. "We were hoping people would have the opportunity to vote on this issue, but obviously, the upper leadership didn't want it that way. I'll cautiously wait and see -- I just hope he's honest and represents us."

Both DeVilbiss and Shattuck said they were confident Huggins would represent the district well, although both had concerns about the election race two years distant.

DeVilbiss said he plans to focus on his school board campaign, and is aiming at winning not only the seat, but the board's nomination for school board president. DeVilbiss faces two challengers, Stephen Fee and Beverly Erbey, in the school board race, but he has not, as yet, lost an election in the Valley.

DeVilbiss, who serves as a district chairman for Republican District 16, said he could have done more to run -- there were empty district chair seats, he said, but after filing for the appointment, he felt filling them would be seen as improper.

He said he was disappointed that he wasn't selected, after working within the party to boost support for his nomination. He doesn't plan to run against Huggins in two years, but he is concerned about the election.

"As district chairman, it's going to be my responsibility to help him get elected," DeVilbiss said. "He's not known at all over in our district -- he's not done anything on this side of the Valley."

Shattuck, who has worked on several campaigns in the past decade and has previous experience as a candidate as well, said he thought the appointment would be a good way to start out a senate seat, but said it should be up to voters to decide, after two years are up, if an appointee merited another term.

"One should look at this as an appointment for two years and if, at the end of two years, whoever is in the position is doing a good job, they should think about running," Shattuck said.

Will he run against Huggins in two years?

"Let's give Charlie a chance," Shattuck said, after smiling and considering his response. "I think he'll do a good job."

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.