Andrew Halcro
Encyclopedia
Andrew Halcro is an American politician
from Anchorage, Alaska
. Formerly a Republican
member of the Alaska Legislature
, he ran for Governor of Alaska as an Independent
candidate in the 2006 election
, running third with 9.46% of the vote.
to the owners of a car rental
agency in Anchorage, Alaska
. He attended East Anchorage High School
and received degrees from Willamette University
and the University of Alaska Anchorage
before taking over the family business, which is now an affiliate of Avis
.
as a Republican, winning both the primary
and the general election. In 2000, he won the Republican primary by a two-to-one margin and was unopposed in the general election. During his term in office, he earned a reputation as a maverick who sometimes put his foot in his mouth, as when his comments on what he saw as Bush Alaska
's dependency on government funding earned him criticism from across the political spectrum. On another occasion, he publicly criticized other Republican legislators for taking too many junket
s at taxpayer expense, which resulted in the loss of his position as chair of the House Transportation Committee.
In 2002, he chose not to seek re-election. He returned to Anchorage to run his company and serve on Democratic
Mayor Mark Begich
's transition team.
on January 24, 2006. Although he was a registered
, lifelong Republican, he ran as an Independent because he did not believe that he could win a party nomination in the Alaska Republican Party's closed primary system given his prior demotion in the Republican Party at the national level and his closer associations with the state Democratic Party since 2002.
His platform included fiscal responsibility, cutting legislators' salaries, increasing the number of trade agreements between Alaska and foreign nations, constructing a pipeline
for natural gas
, enacting strict campaign finance reform
laws, and enacting "equitable taxation."
Although he had originally selected former Republican state legislator and Soldotna
mayor Ken Lancaster as his running mate, Lancaster left the race in mid-September, citing health issues. He was replaced with former Anchorage Assemblywoman
Fay Von Gemmingen. Halcro's slogan was "ThinkHalcroGovernor", and he aired television advertisements that used humor to emphasize what he said was the presumably nonpartisan
nature of his candidacy (although he generally [went] easier on the former Democratic governor Tony Knowles
as reported in the Anchorage Press), his availability to ordinary Alaskans, and his stances on the issues. He was, at first, widely regarded as the winner of the several debates in which he participated with Republican Sarah Palin
and Knowles.
On Election Day, Halcro received 22,443 votes, or about 10% of the total. Palin won the election with 114,697 votes, or about 48%.
site to discuss Alaska political issues including the Palin's administration, the State Legislature, Anchorage politics, State of Alaska politics and state and national election issues.
In a blog post titled "Why Walt Monegan got fired: Palin's abuse of power", Halcro criticized Palin for firing the state's Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan, after Monegan declined a position as executive director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Halcro was the first person to suggest the connection between the firing and Palin's ex-brother-in-law.
He claimed that Monegan went into the meeting with Governor Palin's Chief of Staff to discuss security for the Governor's picnic. That is putting a polite face on the issue. In reality, the Chief of Staff called him in to the meeting to terminate his services because of this issue and others.
During the previous week, on July 11, Bill Cockerell, the Security Detail Coordinator for the Governor had met with Audie Holloway to request one additional trooper to help him with security for the picnics. Holloway turned his request down because it would incur three additional hours of overtime. Branchflower Report page 161-171 Cockerell was also upset because he was now being required to go through the chain of command and not go directly to the troopers he needed.
The meeting ended on a 'sour note' according to Holloway. Cockerell complained to the Chief of Staff. Within a week Monegan's services were terminated.
At the meeting between Nizich and Monegan, there was allegedly no demand made to fire trooper Wooten.
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
from Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
. Formerly a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
member of the Alaska Legislature
Alaska Legislature
The Alaska Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution, consisting of the lower Alaska House of Representatives, with 40 members, and the upper house Alaska Senate, with 20 members...
, he ran for Governor of Alaska as an Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
candidate in the 2006 election
Alaska gubernatorial election, 2006
The 2006 Alaska gubernatorial general election took place on November 7, 2006. The former mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin, was elected governor.-Republican primary:...
, running third with 9.46% of the vote.
Early life
Halcro was born in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
to the owners of a car rental
Car rental
A car rental or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time for a fee...
agency in Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
. He attended East Anchorage High School
East Anchorage High School
East Anchorage High School is a public high school in Anchorage in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is attended by approximately 2300 students...
and received degrees from Willamette University
Willamette University
Willamette University is an American private institution of higher learning located in Salem, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest university in the Western United States. Willamette is a member of the Annapolis Group of colleges, and is made up of an undergraduate College of Liberal Arts and...
and the University of Alaska Anchorage
University of Alaska Anchorage
The University of Alaska Anchorage is the largest school of the University of Alaska System, with about 16,500 students, about 14,000 of whom attend classes at Goose Lake, its main campus in Anchorage....
before taking over the family business, which is now an affiliate of Avis
Avis Rent A Car System
Avis Rent a Car System, LLC is a car rental company headquartered in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, New Jersey, United States. Avis, Budget Rent a Car and Budget Truck Rental are all units of Avis Budget Group....
.
Political career
In 1998, he ran for the Alaska House of RepresentativesAlaska House of Representatives
The Alaska House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of about 15,673 people . Members serve two-year terms without term limits...
as a Republican, winning both the primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
and the general election. In 2000, he won the Republican primary by a two-to-one margin and was unopposed in the general election. During his term in office, he earned a reputation as a maverick who sometimes put his foot in his mouth, as when his comments on what he saw as Bush Alaska
Bush Alaska
The Bush is a term Alaskans use to describe portions of their state that are not connected to the North America road network. A majority of Alaska's native populations live in the Bush, where they make their living in similar fashion to their ancestors....
's dependency on government funding earned him criticism from across the political spectrum. On another occasion, he publicly criticized other Republican legislators for taking too many junket
Junket
Junket can refer to:*an excursion for the purpose of pleasure at public or company expense *Junket , a dessert made of flavoured, sweetened curds*Junket , a brand name of rennet tablets and dessert mixes...
s at taxpayer expense, which resulted in the loss of his position as chair of the House Transportation Committee.
In 2002, he chose not to seek re-election. He returned to Anchorage to run his company and serve on Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Mayor Mark Begich
Mark Begich
Mark Peter Begich is the junior United States Senator from Alaska and a member of the Democratic Party. A former mayor of Anchorage, he served on the Anchorage Assembly for almost ten years prior to being elected mayor in 2003...
's transition team.
Gubernatorial race
Halcro announced his candidacy for the 2006 Alaska gubernatorial electionAlaska gubernatorial election, 2006
The 2006 Alaska gubernatorial general election took place on November 7, 2006. The former mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin, was elected governor.-Republican primary:...
on January 24, 2006. Although he was a registered
Voter registration
Voter registration is the requirement in some democracies for citizens and residents to check in with some central registry specifically for the purpose of being allowed to vote in elections. An effort to get people to register is known as a voter registration drive.-Centralized/compulsory vs...
, lifelong Republican, he ran as an Independent because he did not believe that he could win a party nomination in the Alaska Republican Party's closed primary system given his prior demotion in the Republican Party at the national level and his closer associations with the state Democratic Party since 2002.
His platform included fiscal responsibility, cutting legislators' salaries, increasing the number of trade agreements between Alaska and foreign nations, constructing a pipeline
Pipeline transport
Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquids and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air are also used....
for natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
, enacting strict campaign finance reform
Campaign finance reform
Campaign finance reform is the common term for the political effort in the United States to change the involvement of money in politics, primarily in political campaigns....
laws, and enacting "equitable taxation."
Although he had originally selected former Republican state legislator and Soldotna
Soldotna, Alaska
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,759 people, 1,465 households, and 969 families residing in the city. As of 2008, the population was close to 4,200. The population density was 541.9 people per square mile . There were 1,670 housing units at an average density of 240.7 per square mile...
mayor Ken Lancaster as his running mate, Lancaster left the race in mid-September, citing health issues. He was replaced with former Anchorage Assemblywoman
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
Fay Von Gemmingen. Halcro's slogan was "ThinkHalcroGovernor", and he aired television advertisements that used humor to emphasize what he said was the presumably nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
nature of his candidacy (although he generally [went] easier on the former Democratic governor Tony Knowles
Tony Knowles (politician)
Anthony Carroll Knowles is an American Democratic politician and businessman who served as the seventh Governor of Alaska from December 1994 to December 2002. Barred from seeking a third consecutive term as governor in 2002, he ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2004 and again for governor in...
as reported in the Anchorage Press), his availability to ordinary Alaskans, and his stances on the issues. He was, at first, widely regarded as the winner of the several debates in which he participated with Republican Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
and Knowles.
On Election Day, Halcro received 22,443 votes, or about 10% of the total. Palin won the election with 114,697 votes, or about 48%.
Subsequent career
Since losing his gubernatorial bid, Halcro has used his blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
site to discuss Alaska political issues including the Palin's administration, the State Legislature, Anchorage politics, State of Alaska politics and state and national election issues.
In a blog post titled "Why Walt Monegan got fired: Palin's abuse of power", Halcro criticized Palin for firing the state's Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan, after Monegan declined a position as executive director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Halcro was the first person to suggest the connection between the firing and Palin's ex-brother-in-law.
He claimed that Monegan went into the meeting with Governor Palin's Chief of Staff to discuss security for the Governor's picnic. That is putting a polite face on the issue. In reality, the Chief of Staff called him in to the meeting to terminate his services because of this issue and others.
During the previous week, on July 11, Bill Cockerell, the Security Detail Coordinator for the Governor had met with Audie Holloway to request one additional trooper to help him with security for the picnics. Holloway turned his request down because it would incur three additional hours of overtime. Branchflower Report page 161-171 Cockerell was also upset because he was now being required to go through the chain of command and not go directly to the troopers he needed.
The meeting ended on a 'sour note' according to Holloway. Cockerell complained to the Chief of Staff. Within a week Monegan's services were terminated.
At the meeting between Nizich and Monegan, there was allegedly no demand made to fire trooper Wooten.