East Anchorage Book Club with Andrew Gray
The East Anchorage Book Club is an interview podcast where Alaskan leaders discuss politics and community issues.
Episodes
The Alaska State House Representative for East Fairbanks is Will Stapp. This is his second appearance on the podcast. To learn more about Will's early life and military service (including his Purple Heart), check out his first appearance. Today, Will and I talk about the chance for increased public education funding this year, Alaska's therapeutic court system, and the elections bill (Senate Bill 64) that ...
Wil Courtney is a Political Reporter and Multimedia Journalist for KTUU Channel 2 Alaska's News Source and host of the station's Political Pipeline podcast. This interview is part of the Alaska Media series. Wil never planned to work in Alaska but in less than a year's time our state has had a profound impact on him, particularly his reporting from Kipnuk and Kwigillingok shortly after Typhoon Halong.
Nebraska State Senator John Fredrickson was first elected in 2022 by a margin of only 82 votes. He is the first openly gay man to be elected to the Nebraska state legislature. We discuss Nebraska's unicameral non-partisan legislature and its term limits. We also talk about John's youth, how he and his husband adopted their son, and his journey into politics.
This conversation was recorded in Chicago at the...
The Alaska State House Representative for Ketchikan is Jeremy Bynum. We discuss his childhood growing up in a devout Pentecostal household, his escape to the Air Force, and his struggles being accepted as a newcomer to Ketchikan. We also talk about the drama of the Juneau Capitol, specifically his fraught relationship with my chief of staff Kyle Johansen (a previous Representative of Ketchikan) and the heated rhetoric ar...
Laura Booch and Dr. Ingrid Johnson both appeared at the Alaska State House Judiciary Committee's informational hearing on Civil Protective Orders that happened on Monday, March 9th. Civil protective orders are also called restraining orders and there are several types, but the most common type is the Domestic Violence Protective Order, and that's what today's episode is about. Right now a long term domesti...
Representative Zack Fields of downtown Anchorage explains the Alaska State House's failed vote to draw from our legislative savings account yesterday. In order to receive a 9 to 1 match from the federal government for our state transportation projects -- a potential investment of almost $700 million -- we needed to fully fund the match yesterday. The Alaska State Senate had earlier this week voted unanimously t...
Edgar Ruiz is the Director of the Council of State Governments West. The Council of State Governments (CSG), is a nonpartisan national organization that connects and informs all three branches of state government to help bring forth best practices. CSG is divided into four regions, and Alaska is part of the Western region. Edgar Ruiz has been the director of CSG west since 2011. He grew up in southern California on ...
Eric Croft is the Chair of the Alaska Democratic Party. Erik was born to Chancey and Toni Croft in Anchorage, but he grew up with his two siblings traveling back and forth to Juneau where their father started in the House and later served in the Senate eventually serving as president. Chancey Croft was the Democratic candidate for governor in 1978. Eric would serve in the Alaska House representing west Anchorage fro...
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Landen Ryan is a senior at Service High School in Anchorage. Madison Brewer is a sophomore at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Both Landen and Madison have had extensive experience in Alaska's foster system. This interview happened while they were in Juneau with the non-profit organization Facing Foster Care in Alaska (FFCA). Madison reference my House...
2024 Alaska Teacher of the Year Catherine Walker teaches high school engineering and marine biology at Dimond High School. 2018 Alaska Teacher of the Year Ben Walker teaches 7th grade science at Romig Middle School. Both are in their 20th years teaching with the Anchorage School District, but this year will be their last. Due to the perpetual budget cuts in ASD, Ben, Cat, & their two high school-aged children ar...
The Executive Director of the Alaska Pharmacy Association is Dr. Brandy Seignemartin. After a somewhat circuitous route, Brandy found herself in Doctor of Pharmacy program at Washington State University in her early thirties. Upon completion of that degree she did an executive fellowship in administration and in 2022 came to Alaska to take on the ED role at the Alaska Pharmacy Association and to become an assistant ...
Clara Baldwin is the assistant special education director for the Anchorage School District and she oversees the Alaska State School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She was born in northern California and moved to Anchorage 14 years ago. She has been a lifelong advocate for the rights of the deaf and hard of hearing community and has found her place leading that struggle here in Alaska. Clara is the 2026 Fur Rende...
Pat Pitney is the President of the University of Alaska System. Growing up in Montana, she started shooting guns at an early age. At age 18 she won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles becoming the first Olympic champion in air rifle for women. She competed on the international riflery circuit until 1988 when she married an Alaskan, relocated to Fairbanks, and started a family. She began work at the Uni...
Long-time legislative staffer Buddy Whitt spent his childhood moving frequently thanks to his Air Force father. After high school he joined the Marines. Eight years later he left the military, went to college at Texas A&M, and then landed a job in the hotel industry which ultimately brought him to Anchorage over 20 years ago. He began working in the capitol in 2017 as Chief of Staff for Senator Shelley Hughes of...
Without additional funding, the Anchorage School District is facing a $90 million shortfall for the 2026-2027 school year. The pupil-to-teacher ratio is expected to increase by 4. Multiple positions will be cut all over the district, from vice-principals to teachers, from counselors to nurses, from clerks to custodians. Many sports will also be completely eliminated, including swimming, tennis, volleyball, and hocke...
Former US Senator Mark Begich was born in Anchorage in 1962 to, at the time, Alaska State Senator Nick Begich who would go on to become US House Representative in 1970 and whose plane would disappear in 1972. Mark opened the Mother Lode night club when he was 16, was appointed to the youth commission by Mayor George Sullivan in 1980 and served in Mayor Tony Knowles' administration, all that before being elected...
Brian Fechter was the Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Revenue for the state of Alaska from 2021-2023. Brian grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Alaska in 2012. He worked various financial positions in the state government before becoming Deputy Commissioner of Revenue. In 2023 he became the budget advisor for then Washington Governor Jay Inslee. Last year he moved to Idaho where he currently serves as the...
Immigration attorney Nicolas Olano was born and raised in Colombia. He moved to Florida for high school, but went back to Colombia for law school. After a short practice there, he decided to return to America where, due to Colombia's different legal education system, he had to attend law school a second time in Florida. He has been practicing immigration law for 24 years. He and his wife Lara Nations own Nation...
Bolts Magazine Journalist Alex Burness discusses his article from January 8, 2026, “Americans by Name, Punished for Believing it.” The story is an in-depth look at the case of Tupe Smith, an American Samoan woman living in Whittier who was persuaded to run for school board in 2023 and was elected only to learn afterwards that she was unqualified and had actually committed a crime. Then, ten other American Samoans in...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration in December 2025 revealed a Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) that omitted nearly $19 million that Anchorage officials expected to use for projects that would make our city's most dangerous roads safer.
The Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT) allocated just $9 million for Anchorage projects out of the $77 million total for the state's program. On the show t...
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