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.[1]

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

Founding and early history

In early 1973, Vogler founded Alaskans for Independence (AFI), originally to label a petition drive.[2] 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.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

In 1978, Vogler merged the AFI into the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP), a political party.[2]

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.[3] The party has maintained its recognized status since, first by maintaining thresholds in gubernatorial elections, then through same with voter registration.[4]

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.[5]

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."[5] 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."[2] 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.[5]

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.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". 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.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Late 20th-century

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.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

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.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

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).Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Post-Vogler

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."[6]

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.[7]

The AIP has embraced a "traditional family" message in the 21st-century.[6] Chryson said the AIP is "for the traditional family -- daddy, mommy, kids."[6] The party opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage.[6]

2006 ballot initiative

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[8] 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.[9]

Registered members

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).[10]

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 as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party in 1995. He remained registered with the party until 2002.[11] 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.[12]

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Alaskan Independence Party Presidential Tickets
Year Nominee Running Mate # Votes % Votes Place Notes
1992 Howard Phillips Albion Knight 377 Template:Composition bar 8th [13]
2004 Michael Peroutka Chuck Baldwin 2,092 Template:Composition bar 4th
2008 Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 1,660 Template:Composition bar 4th

U.S. Senate elections

Alaskan Independence Party U.S. Senate Nominees
Year Nominee # Votes % Votes Place Notes
2002 Jim Dore 6,724 Template:Composition bar 4th [14]
2004 Jerry Sanders 3,785 Template:Composition bar 4th [15]
2008 Bob Bird 13,197 Template:Composition bar 3rd [16]
2020 John Wayne Howe 16,806 Template:Composition bar 3rd [17]
2022 (primary) Joe Stephens 799 Template:Composition bar 11th [18]
Dustin Darden 646 Template:Composition bar 13th [19]

U.S. House elections

Alaskan Independence Party U.S. House Nominees
Year Nominee # Votes % Votes Place Notes
1992 Michael States 15,049 Template:Composition bar 3rd [20]
1996 William Nemec II 5,017 Template:Composition bar 3rd [21]
2000 Jim Dore 10,085 Template:Composition bar 4th [22]
2008 Don Wright 14,274 Template:Composition bar 3rd [23]
2022 (special) (primary) John Wayne Howe 380 Template:Composition bar 16th [24]
2024 (primary) John Wayne Howe 621 Template:Composition bar 5th [25]
2024 (general) John Wayne Howe 13,010 Template:Composition bar 3rd [26]

Gubernatorial elections

File:Hickel.gif
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 Template:Composition bar 3rd [27]
1978 Don Wright Joe Vogler 2,463 Template:Composition bar 5th [28]
1982 Joe Vogler Roger Dee Roberts 3,235 Template:Composition bar 4th [29]
1986 Joe Vogler Al Rowe 10,013 Template:Composition bar 3rd [30]
1990 Wally Hickel Jack Coghill 75,721 Template:Composition bar 1st [31]
1994 Jack Coghill Margaret Ward 27,838 Template:Composition bar 3rd [32]
1998 Sylvia Sullivan None 4,238 Template:Composition bar 6th [33]
2002 Don Wright Daniel DeNardo 2,185 Template:Composition bar 4th [34]
2006 Don Wright Doug Welton 1,285 Template:Composition bar 4th [35]
2010 Don Wright None 4,775 Template:Composition bar 3rd [36]
2022 (primary) John Wayne Howe Shellie Wyatt 1,696 Template:Composition bar 6th [37]

State legislative

Alaskan Independence Party State Legislative Tickets
Year District Nominee # Votes % Votes Place Notes
1988 HD 24 Ernest Holmberg 1,393 Template:Composition bar 2nd [38]
1992 SD T William Kristovich 3,467 Template:Composition bar 2nd [39]
1992 HD 40 Carl E. Moses 1,829 Template:Composition bar 1st [40]
2004 HD 17 Nick Begich Jr. 2,965 Template:Composition bar 2nd [41]
2022 HD 39 Tyler L. Ivanoff 1,766 Template:Composition bar 2nd [42]
2024 HD 39 Tyler L. Ivanoff 1,670 Template:Composition bar 2nd [43]

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

File:Fairbanks13.JPG
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

References

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External links

Template:AlaskaPoliticalParties Template:United States state and local political parties Template:Alaska history footer

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  8. ↑ Kohlhaas v. State (11/17/2006) sp-6072, 147 P3d 714
  9. ↑ Kohlhaas v. State (11/17/2006), touchngo.com, retrieved October 11, 2008
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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