When Alaska Governor Jay Hammond created a state senate seat for me in 1982, he did one hell of a job. It was the most Republican district in the state, with no incumbent. This was the district that elected C. R. Lewis, a national director of the John Birch Society, to the state senate I wasn’t much of a candidate, but I should win comfortably.
Actually, I was a terrible candidate. I’ve never been social, more of a loner. In Alaska Babbie and I were totally occupied with our three boys, and had no social life to speak of. I’d been involved in a Governor’s race, and a U. S. Senate race, but I never went to meetings, of any kind. I’d only been in the state eight years, I owned part of a bar, and had an undistinguished career as a lawyer.
My looks didn’t help. I was a pretty big guy, and I looked like a bouncer. When I went door to door these housewives didn’t know what to make of me. It’s like they really didn’t believe me when I said I was running for the senate.
But my buddy Bill McConkey did a TV spot of myself, Babbie, and the three boys seated at our feet. What I said made absolutely no impression. But my family made me look good.
I won 52-48, and began an eight year career as a state legislator. Parts of it, I enjoyed.
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