KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Jay Barrett/KMXT
For two sessions, or four years, Kodiak Senator Gary Stevens was the Alaska Senate President. Before that he served as majority leader and rules chair under Senator Lyda Green. During both of those periods the Senate was a coalition of moderates, with all of the Democrats and most of the Republicans joining in.
After re-apportionment redrew the election map, the 10-10 tie between the parties shifted Republican and the coalition fell apart under more conservative leadership – for two years under Senate President Charlie Huggins and this current session under President Kevin Meyers.
In that time Stevens was first given chairmanship of the Education Committee for two years, but had no committee assignments this year, instead being appointed to lead the Legislative Council, which tends to the House and Senate’s business while out of session.
During a conversation recorded for Tuesday’s Talk of the Rock, KMXT’s Jay Barrett asked Senator Stevens if he felt he was being shuffled aside by the more conservative leadership in the Senate.
