Alaska Law And Government

As with the federal government of the United States, power in Alaska is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

The executive branch is headed by the governor. The current governor is Sarah Palin, a Republican whose term began December 4, 2006. She is the first female governor of Alaska, as well as the youngest. The current Lieutenant Governor of Alaska is Sean Parnell. The offices of governor and lieutenant governor have four-year terms.

The Alaska Legislature is a bicameral body consisting of the Senate, whose 20 members serve four-year terms, and the House of Representatives, whose 40 members serve two-year terms.

Alaska's court system has four levels: the Alaska Supreme Court, the court of appeals, the superior courts and the district courts.[21] The superior and district courts are trial courts. Superior courts are courts of general jurisdiction, while district courts only hear certain types of cases, including misdemeanor criminal cases and civil cases valued up to $100,000.[21] The supreme court and the court of appeals are appellate courts. The court of appeals is required to hear appeals from certain lower-court decisions, including those regarding criminal prosecutions, juvenile delinquency, and habeas corpus.[21] The supreme court hears civil appeals and may in its discretion hear criminal appeals.[21]

Alaska's members of the U.S. Congress are almost all Republican. U.S. Senator Ted Stevens was appointed to the position following the death of U.S. Senator Bob Bartlett in December of 1968, and has never lost a re-election campaign since. As the longest-serving Republican in the Senate (sometimes nicknamed "Senator-For-Life"), Stevens has been a crucial force in gaining federal money for his state.

Until his resignation from the U.S. Senate after being elected governor in 2002, Republican Frank Murkowski held the state's other senatorial position and, as governor, appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski as his successor (under massive public pressure, the State legislature amended the constitution to eliminate gubernatorial appointments in the future). She won a full six-year term on her own in 2004.

Alaska's sole U.S. Representative, Don Young, was re-elected to his 17th consecutive term, also in 2004. His seniority in House makes him one of the most influential Republican House members.

Current Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel is a former Senator from Alaska.

Alaska is often described as a Republican-leaning state with strong libertarian tendencies. In all but the 1964 presidential election, the state's electoral college votes have been won by a Republican nominee. President George W. Bush won the state's electoral votes in 2004 by a margin of 25 percentage points with 61.1% of the vote. The Alaska Legislature has recently been dominated by conservatives, generally Republicans, and recent state governors have generally been conservative, although not always Republican. The city of Juneau stands out as a stronghold of the Democratic party. As of 2004, well over half of all registered voters choose "Non-Partisan" or "Undeclared" as their affiliation [22], despite recent attempts to close primaries.

Local political communities often work on issues related to land use development, fishing, tourism, and individual rights. Alaska Natives, while organized in and around their communities, are often active within the Native corporations which have been given ownership over large tracts of land, and thus need to deliberate resource conservation and development issues.