Senator steps down before recall goes to vote

MAT-SU -- Valley Senator Scott Ogan has resigned one day after an Anchorage Superior Court opinion upheld a citizen recall effort organized against the senator.

In a letter faxed to Senate President Gene Therriault and Gov. Frank Murkowski's office Wednesday, Ogan cited the "on-going controversy surrounding the recall process," which he said distracted his attention and the attention of his constituents from his senatorial duties.

Ogan refused to comment on the Anchorage Superior Court decision handed down by Judge Sharon Gleason denying a request to stop the recall process, or on his decision to resign, according to staff from his Wasilla office. In the faxed letter, Ogan wrote that his resignation was effective 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Therriault said he spoke with Ogan several times over the past two weeks about what the recall effort could mean to his legislative career and to his personal life.

"I counseled him to weigh the struggle that they faced, as far as a recall, and whether his family and personal health could support that," Therriault said. He said he believed the stress on Ogan's family and health factored heavily into the senator's decision. Therriault said he never suggested that Ogan resign to avoid the publicity that would surround a recall campaign.

Ogan, in his faxed letter, said he planned to move on, and did not hold grudges against those who had been vocal in opposing his association with Evergreen Resources, Alaska or with his stance on coal-bed methane development.

"I have, to the best of my limited human ability, attempted to represent my district honorably. My only motivation has been to steadfastly work to provide as many private sector opportunities to the next generation of Alaskans as I had when I moved to this great state," Ogan wrote. "However, I can not and will not hold any animosity against those who have questioned my motives or spoken unkind and sometimes untruthful things against me. It is their unalienable right to criticize their elected leaders."

Mat-Su Sen. Lyda Green said she was disappointed that the situation, which she saw as a difference of opinion, worked itself out this way.

"There were just parts of it that made me very sad, to think that there couldn't be differences of opinion," Green said.

Green said she was worried about what the court's ruling, upholding the recall committee's efforts to place the recall on the ballot, would mean for other legislators.

"My concern is, in the process of voting, I have, on a few occasions, asked to be excused from voting because of a conflict … and I have been denied," Green said. "If you've done all those things and you're cleared, and it's appropriate, then we have no other course to take. This concerns me, what this process going forward has done."

She said she worried that the court's decision may affect the ability of the Legislature to remain a citizen legislature, as it was crafted to be. Green stopped short of saying the Legislature's Uniform Rules should be re-examined, or that the state should revise its ethics laws.

"I don't think we need to go there," Green said. "A rewrite of the ethics [code], it's very difficult."

Therriault said he was not sure a revision of the ethics codes or Uniform Rules was necessary.

"I don't know that there'll be a change," Therriault said. He pointed out that Ogan had asked the Legislative Ethics Committee to review his decision to act as a consultant with Evergreen, and the committee found there had been no breach of statute in Ogan's actions.

"That's a deliberative body, and they decided he had taken the right steps," Therriault said. "That doesn't gloss over the fact that the people happened to disagree."

Therriault said he was concerned that the grounds for recall can be drawn in what he perceived as a loose manner. He said there may be a need to consider whether a more deliberative process should be put in place.

"It may cause people to review this," Therriault said.

Mike Chambers, deputy press spokesman for Murkowski's office, said the governor will be in contact with Republican party district officials from Ogan's district, and will likely follow his past pattern of appointments by asking the party officials to submit three names for consideration. Therriault said he planned to contact party officials about potential submissions, but was reticent to guess who would be on the list. Although Rep. Beverly Masek has been mentioned as a possible choice by area politicos, Therriault said it's not likely her name will be on the list.

In the meantime, Therriault said, he will continue to pay Ogan's staff and keep the legislative office open for constituent business until the new appointment comes on board, which could happen as soon as 30 days from now.

Bill Marks, a sponsor of the Ogan is So Gone recall committee, said the news came as a surprise to committee members. He said the committee had hoped to allow voters to weigh in on the matter.

"We just wanted the voters to decide whether or not they thought it was a conflict," Marks said. "Now they can take satisfaction that it was."

Marks expressed concern about Ogan's and his family's health, and said neither he nor other committee sponsors bore ill will toward the senator.

"It's not like we're sitting around celebrating because of it," Marks said. "It was always just to determine whether or not it was a conflict."

A Republican, Marks said he was concerned about the outcome of the primary election and what it, and recent controversy within the party, means for the party's future.

"I've got mixed emotions, as a Republican, to see this happening to my party," Marks said. He said he believes Murkowski now has a great opportunity at hand.

"People in the Valley have been disenfranchised," Marks said. "We listened -- let's see if the governor listens now."

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