Democrat Bill Sheffield should never have been elected Governor of Alaska in ’82. The Republican, Tom Fink, split the conservative vote with Libertarian Dick Randolph. And they were personal friends.
Rep.Rick Halford, running for the State Senate, had a solution, but he couldn’t get anyone to listen to him. He wanted the Fink money people to give some money to Randolph, to be used only in Southeast, where Fink didn’t have a prayer. Randolph would have peeled votes from Sheffield, letting Fink win the election. Fink was practically a libertarian himself. The only reason Randolph ran against him was because he’d made commitments to members of the Libertarian movement, nation wide, which he had to keep. He and Ken Fanning were the only Libertarians in any state legislature in the country. Alaska was a big deal to these people.
Rick had a great idea. Too bad nobody listened.