Kim Steven Elton (born April 9, 1948) is a journalist, commercial fisherman, government official and Democratic politician in the U.S. state of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. Elton represented

Juneau Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of wha ...

in the

Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska State 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 approximately 17,756 people pe ...

for two terms, from 1995 to 1999. In 1998, he was elected to the

Alaska Senate The Alaska State Senate is the upper house in the Alaska State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It convenes in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Alaska and is responsible for making laws and confirming or reje ...

, serving until his resignation in early 2009 to accept appointment as director of Alaska Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

.CNN.com: Palin foe gets administration job
/ref> Prior to holding elected office, Elton was executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute and a salmon troller engaged in

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

Early life

Kim Steven Elton was born in

Havre, Montana Havre ( ) is the county seat of and the largest city in Hill County, Montana, United States. Havre is nicknamed the crown jewel of the Hi-Line (Montana), Hi-Line. It is said to be named after the city of Le Havre in France. As of the 2020 Unite ...

on April 9, 1948. He moved to Alaska with his family in 1961 and graduated from

Juneau-Douglas High School Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé (abbreviated JDHS and named Juneau-Douglas High School through 2019) is one of two high schools in Juneau, Alaska. It is one of two high schools for the Juneau School District, the other being Yaaḵ ...

in 1966. He attended St. Olaf College from 1966 to 1968. After serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

from 1969 to 1971 in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

and receiving an

honorable discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...

, Elton returned to college at the

University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-, National Sea Grant College Program, sea-, and National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, space-grant research university in ...

from 1972 to 1974.

Professional life

Elton began his career as a journalist. He was the editor of the ''

Juneau Empire The ''Juneau Empire'' is a newspaper in Juneau, Alaska, United States. It publishes Wednesdays and Saturdays. History The newspaper was founded on November 2, 1912, as the ''Alaska Daily Empire''. It was founded by John Franklin Alexander ...

'' from 1976 to 1978. He also worked for the ''

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner The '' Fairbanks Daily News-Miner'' is a morning daily newspaper serving the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the Denali Borough, Alaska, Denali Borough, and the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, Yukon-Koyukuk Census ...

'' and was engaged in

. Elton served in a number of staff positions in state government: he was a staff assistant to the

Legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

Ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

Committee, an assistant state

ombudsman An ombudsman ( , also ) is a government employee who investigates and tries to resolve complaints, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. They are usually appointed by the government or by parliament (often with a sign ...

, director of policy for

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Terry Miller, and as executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Political career

Elton entered electoral politics when he ran for and won a seat on the Assembly of the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska in 1990. He championed a charter amendment approved by voters in 1991 establishing

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of Term of office, terms a Incumbent, person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in Presidential system, presidential and Semi-presidential republic, semi-president ...

for Assembly members. He left the Assembly in 1994 to run for an open seat in the

, which incumbent Fran Ulmer had given up to successfully run for lieutenant governor. From 1995 to 1999, Elton represented the 3rd District, which encompasses the portion of Juneau on the mainland from

Thane Thane (; previously known as Thana, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city located on the northwestern side of the list of Indian states, state of Maharashtra in India and on ...

Juneau International Airport Juneau International Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport and seaplane base located seven nautical miles (8 mi, 13 km) northwest of the central business district of Juneau, a city and borough in the U.S. state of Alaska w ...

, in addition to

Douglas Island Douglas Island () is a tidal island in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is part of the city and borough of Juneau, just west of downtown Juneau and east of Admiralty Island. It is separated from mainland Juneau by the Gastineau Channel, and contains ...

. During his second term in the House, Elton moved from downtown Juneau to Point Louisa, at mile 15 of the Glacier Highway, located in the Mendenhall Valley-centered 4th District represented by Republican Bill Hudson. Due to a long-standing quirk of Alaska law, Elton was able to complete his term without having to resign, but was unable to run for reelection to his seat. Elton contemplated running for the Assembly again until Jim Duncan, who served six terms in the House followed by three terms in the Senate, retired from the Legislature to challenge Alaska's at-large member of the

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Don Young Donald Edwin Young (June 9, 1933 – March 18, 2022) was an American politician from Alaska. He is the List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service, longest-serving Republican Party (United States), Republican in House ...

. Elton instead filed to replace Duncan in the Senate. In 1998, he was elected to the Senate, defeating Don Abel, Jr., the owner of a Juneau hardware business established by his father, who served for fourteen years as a regent of the

University of Alaska The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-, sea-, and space-grant research university in College, Alaska, United States, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was e ...

. In 2002, Elton won reelection against Cathy Muñoz. Muñoz, whose family came to Juneau from Wrangell in 1928, became the fourth generation in her family to hold elected office in

Southeast Alaska Southeast Alaska, often abbreviated to southeast or southeastern, and sometimes called the Alaska(n) panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian provi ...

when she was appointed to replace Dennis Egan (who was appointed Juneau's mayor) on the Juneau Assembly in 1995. Muñoz would herself later move from downtown Juneau to out on the Glacier Highway, and was elected to the House from the 4th District in 2008. In 2006, Elton again won reelection against Herman "Mac" Meiners, Jr. by an approximately two-to-one margin, similar to what he had won his two House elections by.

Electoral history

References

External links

Alaska State Legislature - Senator Kim Elton
official AK Senate website
Project Vote Smart - Representative Kim S. Elton (AK)
profile * ''Follow the Money'' - Kim Elton *
200620042002199819961994
campaign contributions
Kim Elton
at ''100 Years of Alaska's Legislature'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Elton, Kim 1948 births Living people Democratic Party Alaska state senators American fishermen Borough assembly members in Alaska Editors of Alaska newspapers Democratic Party members of the Alaska House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Alaska Legislature Military personnel from Alaska Military personnel from Montana Politicians from Havre, Montana Politicians from Juneau, Alaska St. Olaf College alumni University of Alaska Fairbanks alumni Journalists from Montana United States Army soldiers