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Alaskan Independence Party

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The Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) is an Alaskan nationalist political party in the United States that advocates for an in-state referendum which would include the option of Alaska becoming an independent country. The party also supports gun rights, direct democracy, privatization, abolishing federal land ownership, and limited government.[3]

Alaskan Independence Party
ChairpersonJohn Wayne Howe
FounderJoe Vogler
Founded1973 (1973) (as Alaskans for Independence)
June 14, 1984; 40 years ago (1984-06-14)[1]
Membership (2023)Increase18,882[2]
IdeologyAlaska nationalism
Libertarian conservatism
Social conservatism
Colors  Blue
  Gold
Statewide Executive Offices
0 / 2
Seats in the Senate
0 / 20
Seats in the House
0 / 40
Seats in the U.S. Senate
0 / 2
Seats in the U.S. House of Representatives
0 / 1
Website
alaskanindependence.party

Wally Hickel was elected as the Governor of Alaska in 1990 under the Independence Party, making it one of the few third parties to have controlled a governor's seat; however, Hickel transferred to the Republican Party before the 1994 election.

History

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Founding and early history

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In early 1973, Vogler founded Alaskans for Independence (AFI), originally to label a petition drive.[4] Vogler wrote to local Alaskan newspapers and argued against the Alaskan statehood vote. In 1973, Vogler began circulating a petition seeking support for secession of Alaska from the United States. The Alaska magazine published a piece at that time in which Vogler claimed to have gathered 25,000 signatures in three weeks.[citation needed]

In 1978, Vogler merged the AFI into the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP), a political party.[4]

During the first decade of its existence, the Party was used exclusively by Vogler for his first two campaigns for governor and campaign for lieutenant governor. Vogler would serve as the AIP's standard-bearer for most of the party's first two decades.[5] The party has maintained its recognized status since, first by maintaining thresholds in gubernatorial elections, then through same with voter registration.[1]

Vogler, who founded the AIP described himself as a "separatist", but the AIP's platform does not explicitly call for secession. Referring to Alaska's 1959 admission to the union, the AIP's charter states that "The Alaskan Independence Party's goal is the vote we were entitled to in 1958, one choice from among the following four choices:

  1. Remain a territory.
  2. Become a separate and independent country.
  3. Accept commonwealth status.
  4. Become a state.

Members of the AIP, including Vogler, alleged that the 1958 referendum on Alaskan statehood was rigged by the federal government.[6]

On multiple occasions, Vogler called for violence against the federal government. For instance, Vogler once said, "God, I hate those sons of bitches. If I ever get a revolution going, I'm going to import a bunch of guillotines and lop off their lying heads."[6] In a 1991 interview, Vogler said "And you say the hell with [government]. And you renounce allegiance, and you pledge your efforts, your effects, your honor, your life to Alaska."[4] While the Chair of the AIP Vogler had a dispute with the Bureau of Land Management, resulting in a stand-off with BLM officers and a lawsuit against Vogler by the BLM.[6]

Vogler's running mate in 1986 was Al Rowe, a Fairbanks resident and former Alaska State Trooper. Rowe took out a series of newspaper ads, fashioning himself in the image of Sheriff Buford Pusser. These ads were a major attention getter during the race.[citation needed] Between Rowe's ads and the turmoil existing in the Republican Party over the nomination of Arliss Sturgulewski, the AIP gained 5.2 percent of the vote, becoming a recognized party in Alaska for the first time.[citation needed]

Late 20th-century

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In 1990, former Republican governor Walter Joseph Hickel won the election for governor as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, with Jack Coghill as his running mate. This was the first time since Alaska joined the union that a third-party candidate has been elected governor, until the election of Jesse Ventura in Minnesota in 1998, and then Bill Walker in Alaska in 2014. Hickel refused a vote on secession called on by a fringe group within the AIP loyal to Vogler's original vision. He rejoined the Republican Party in 1994, with eight months remaining in his term.[citation needed]

Carl E. Moses, a businessman from Unalaska who had served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1965 to 1973 as both a Republican and Democrat, was elected again to the House in 1992, running under the AIP banner. He was elected to a district comprising mostly the area between the Aleutian Islands and Bristol Bay. He switched his party affiliation back to Democrat at around the same time that Hickel switched, and continued to serve in the House until 2007.[citation needed]

The party did not get involved in presidential elections until 1992, when it endorsed Howard Phillips, the candidate of the U.S. Taxpayers Party (now the Constitution Party).[citation needed]

Post-Vogler

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Mark Chryson, the former Chair of the AIP, in 2008 said that "the Confederate states [should] have been allowed to separate and go their peaceful ways...The War of Northern Aggression, or the Civil War, or the War Between the States -- however you want to refer to it -- was not about slavery, it was about states' rights."[7]

The chairmanship of the AIP came to Lynette Clark about 2004. Also joining around 2001 was prolife activist and conservative public school teacher Bob Bird, who was a Pat Buchanan delegate at the 1996 GOP convention. Bird had run against Ted Stevens in the 1990 primary, when he first met Vogler. Bird's strong showing against Stevens, coupled with his friendship with one of statehood founders Jack Coghill, encouraged Hickel and Coghill to join the AIP.

Bird assumed the role of Acting Chairman until he was confirmed at a Wasilla convention that fall, and continued as chairman at the Kenai convention in 2022.

The Alaskan Independence Party sued the state of Alaska in 2020, seeking to overturn the results from a referendum where ranked-choice voting was implemented in Alaska's general elections.[8]

The AIP has embraced a "traditional family" message in the 21st-century.[7] Chryson said the AIP is "for the traditional family -- daddy, mommy, kids."[7] The party opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage.[7]

2006 ballot initiative

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In 2006, members of the AIP collected the one hundred signatures needed to place on the fall ballot an initiative calling for Alaska to secede from the union or, if that was found not to be legally possible, directing the state to work to make secession legal. However, in the case of Kohlhaas v. State[9] the Alaska State Supreme Court ruled any attempt at secession to be unconstitutional and the initiative was not approved to appear on the fall ballot.[10]

Registered members

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In May 2009 the party had 13,119 registered members. As of May 2021, a press release on the AIP website indicates that the number of registered members has grown to nearly 19,000, making it the state's third largest party and about a quarter the size of the state's Democratic party (Republicans had 124,892 members and the Democrats had 75,047).[11]

On September 2, 2008, the Alaska Division of Elections had records that Todd Palin, husband of Governor Sarah Palin (a Republican and vice-presidential candidate), had registered in 1995 as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party. He remained registered with the party until 2002.[12] David Niewert and Max Blumenthal wrote in Salon about the third party's influence in gaining election of Sarah Palin as mayor of Wasilla in her first political office.[13]

Electoral history

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Presidential elections

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Alaskan Independence Party Presidential Tickets
Year Nominee Running Mate # Votes % Votes Place Notes
1992 Howard Phillips Albion Knight 377
0.2 / 100
 8th [14]
2004 Michael Peroutka Chuck Baldwin 2,092
0.7 / 100
 4th
2008 Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 1,660
0.5 / 100
 4th

U.S. Senate elections

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Alaskan Independence Party U.S. Senate Nominees
Year Nominee # Votes % Votes Place Notes
2002 Jim Dore 6,724
2.9 / 100
 4th [15]
2004 Jerry Sanders 3,785
1.2 / 100
 4th [16]
2008 Bob Bird 13,197
4.2 / 100
 3rd [17]
2020 John Howe 16,806
4.7 / 100
 3rd [18]
2022 (primary) Joe Stephens 799
0.4 / 100
 11th [19]
Dustin Darden 646
0.3 / 100
 13th [20]

U.S. House elections

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Alaskan Independence Party U.S. House Nominees
Year Nominee # Votes % Votes Place Notes
1992 Michael States 15,049
6.3 / 100
 3rd [21]
1996 William Nemec II 5,017
2.2 / 100
 3rd [22]
2000 Jim Dore 10,085
3.7 / 100
 4th [23]
2008 Don Wright 14,274
4.5 / 100
 3rd [24]
2022 (special) (primary) John Wayne Howe 380
0.2 / 100
 16th [25]
2024 (primary) John Wayne Howe 621
0.6 / 100
 5th
2024 (general) John Wayne Howe >9,880
3.9 / 100
 3rd

Gubernatorial elections

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Governor Wally Hickel, the only AIP candidate to win a statewide election.
Alaskan Independence Party Gubernatorial Tickets
Year Nominee Running Mate # Votes % Votes Place Notes
1974 Joe Vogler Wayne Peppler 4,770
5.0 / 100
 3rd [26]
1978 Don Wright Joe Vogler 2,463
1.9 / 100
 5th [27]
1982 Joe Vogler Roger Dee Roberts 3,235
1.7 / 100
 4th [28]
1986 Joe Vogler Al Rowe 10,013
5.6 / 100
 3rd [29]
1990 Wally Hickel Jack Coghill 75,721
38.9 / 100
 1st [30]
1994 Jack Coghill Margaret Ward 27,838
13.0 / 100
 3rd [31]
1998 Sylvia Sullivan None 4,238
1.9 / 100
 6th [32]
2002 Don Wright Daniel DeNardo 2,185
0.9 / 100
 4th [33]
2006 Don Wright Doug Welton 1,285
0.5 / 100
 4th [34]
2010 Don Wright None 4,775
1.9 / 100
 3rd [35]
2022 (primary) John Howe Shellie Wyatt 1,696
0.9 / 100
 6th [36]

State legislative

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Alaskan Independence Party State Legislative Tickets
Year District Nominee # Votes % Votes Place Notes
1988 HD 24 Ernest Holmberg 1,393
44.9 / 100
 2nd [37]
1992 SD T William Kristovich 3,467
45.5 / 100
 2nd [38]
1992 HD 40 Carl E. Moses 1,829
53.1 / 100
 1st [39]
2004 HD 17 Nicholas J. Begich 2,965
35.9 / 100
 2nd [40]
2022 HD 39 Tyler L. Ivanoff 1,766
48.4 / 100
 2nd [41]

For other AKIP candidates who earned more than 5.0% of the vote in state legislative races, see List of third-party and independent performances in Alaska state legislative elections.

Notable party officials

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Dexter Clark, shown in May 2002 demonstrating gold panning to tourists at the El Dorado Gold Mine, is a former chairman of the AIP.

Notable past party officials include:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Alaskan Independence Party History". Alaskan Independence Party. Web Alaska. 2006. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  2. ^ "Alaska Division of Elections". www.elections.alaska.gov.
  3. ^ "Alaskan Independence Party – Issues". Alaskan Independence Party.
  4. ^ a b c Van Cleve, Margaret (1991). "Margaret Van Cleve Interviews Joe Vogler 1991". University of Alaska Fairbanks. Retrieved 2024-01-27.
  5. ^ Election Candidate Pamphlet. Juneau: Alaska Division of Elections. 1974. (This is the first official reference to the party. The pamphlet contained, amongst other information on Alaska elections in 1974, a party platform and biographical profiles of candidates for governor and lieutenant governor Joe Vogler and Wayne Peppler.)
  6. ^ a b c Williams, Marla (1993). "Missing Myth -- Alaska Buzzes With Theories On Maverick's Fate". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2024-01-27.
  7. ^ a b c d Neiwert, David (2008). "Meet Sarah Palin's radical right-wing pals". Salon. Retrieved 2024-01-27.
  8. ^ "Lawsuit challenges Alaska's new ranked-choice voting ballot measure". Anchorage Daily News. 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  9. ^ Kohlhaas v. State (11/17/2006) sp-6072, 147 P3d 714
  10. ^ Kohlhaas v. State (11/17/2006), touchngo.com, retrieved October 11, 2008
  11. ^ "Alaska Voter Registration by Party/Precinct". Archived from the original on May 15, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
  12. ^ Zernike, Kate (2008-09-03). "A Palin Joined Alaskan Third Party, Just Not Sarah Palin". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-09-09.
  13. ^ Neiwert, David; Blumenthal, Max (July 17, 2008). "Meet Sarah Palin's radical right-wing pals". Salon. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  14. ^ "State of Alaska Official Returns : November 3, 1992 General Election" (PDF). Elections.alaska.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
  15. ^ Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 5, 2002" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 2.
  16. ^ Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 2004" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.
  17. ^ Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 4, 2008" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 2.
  18. ^ "2020 General Election – Summary Report – Official Results" (PDF). Alaska Division of Elections. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  19. ^ "Alaska Primary Election Results". The New York Times. 16 August 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  20. ^ "Alaska Primary Election Results". The New York Times. 16 August 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  21. ^ "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives". Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives. 2015-01-06. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
  22. ^ "Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives - 404". Archived from the original on 2011-06-10. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
  23. ^ "2000 Election Statistics". Clerk.house.gov. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  24. ^ "Official General Election Results" (PDF). State of Alaska: Division of Elections. 2008-12-03. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
  25. ^ "2022 SPECIAL PRIMARY ELECTION OFFICIAL RESULTS" (PDF). Alaska Division of Elections. June 24, 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  26. ^ "Our Campaigns – AK Governor Race – Nov 05, 1974". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  27. ^ "Our Campaigns – AK Governor Race – Nov 07, 1978". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  28. ^ "Our Campaigns – AK Governor Race – Nov 02, 1982". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  29. ^ "Our Campaigns – AK Governor Race – Nov 04, 1986". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  30. ^ "Our Campaigns – AK Governor Race – Nov 06, 1990". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  31. ^ "Our Campaigns – AK Governor Race – Nov 08, 1994". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  32. ^ "Our Campaigns – AK Governor Race – Nov 03, 1998". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  33. ^ "Our Campaigns – AK Governor Race – Nov 05, 2002". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  34. ^ "Our Campaigns – AK Governor Race – Nov 07, 2006". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  35. ^ "Our Campaigns – AK Governor Race – Nov 02, 2010". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  36. ^ "Alaska Primary Election Results". The New York Times. 16 August 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  37. ^ "STATE OF ALASKA – OFFICIAL RETURNS – NOVEMBER 8, 1988 GENERAL ELECTION" (PDF). Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  38. ^ "STATE OF ALASKA – OFFICIAL RETURNS – NOVEMBER 3, 1992 GENERAL ELECTION" (PDF). Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  39. ^ "STATE OF ALASKA – OFFICIAL RETURNS – NOVEMBER 3, 1992 GENERAL ELECTION" (PDF). Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  40. ^ "2004 GENERAL ELECTION" (PDF). Alaska Elections. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  41. ^ "State of Alaska 2022 GENERAL ELECTION Election Summary Report November 8, 2022 OFFICIAL RESULTS" (PDF). Alaska Elections. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
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