Ketchikan Republicans plan petition to recall Johansen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Ketchikan Republicans are planning a petition to recall their district’s only state House member, Rep. Kyle Johansen.

Johansen was re-elected and again named House speaker last fall. Shortly afterward, however, he walked out of the House Majority Caucus along with Anchorage Rep. Charisse Millett. Majority members say the two left after a dispute over committee assignments.

Johansen promised his constituents he would return to the majority caucus, but his colleagues decided last Sunday they would not let him or Millett return.

Some Ketchikan constituents, as well as a November editorial in the Ketchikan Daily News, have called on Johansen to resign, but he has refused.

The Republican district chair for Ketchikan, Dick Coose, says that the law does not allow a recall application within 120 days of the start of the legislative session. As a result the application will be turned in after mid-May, about a month after this year’s session ends.

Contact Lori Tipton at ltipton@ktuu.com