Stephen Alan "Steve" McAlpine (born May 23, 1949) is an American lawyer and politician. McAlpine served as the fifth
lieutenant governor of
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
from 1982 until 1990.
Early life
Stephen Alan McAlpine was born in
Yakima, Washington
Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uninc ...
on May 23, 1949, the fourth child of Robert E. and Myrtle B. (née Loomis) McAlpine. He attended school in Yakima, as well as two years at
Maryknoll Seminary in
Mountain View, California
Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376.
Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...
. He attended the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...
, graduating with a degree in history and political science. He later graduated from the
University of Puget Sound
The University of Puget Sound (UPS or Puget Sound) is a private university in Tacoma, Washington. The university draws approximately 2,600 students from 44 states and 16 countries. It offers 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 traditional an ...
School of Law in 1976 with a
J.D. degree.
McAlpine originally came to Alaska in 1970 accompanied by a friend from college, Mano Frey. The two visited Alaska while taking a break from studies and decided to stay, settling in
Valdez. They worked construction during the
building of the trans-Alaska pipeline. McAlpine continued law school until he graduated, while Frey would go on to become a major labor union figure in Alaska, serving as head of Alaska's
AFL-CIO from 1984 to 2002.
Law career
In 1977, McAlpine partnered with James D. Ginotti in the Law Firm of Ginotti & McAlpine, PC.
Following the end of his tenure in elected office (see below), McAlpine moved to
Anchorage, Alaska and resumed the practice of law, which he continues to the present day.
Political career
Local politics
During the late 1970s, McAlpine was elected to the Valdez city council and went on to serve two terms as mayor of Valdez.
Lieutenant governor
In 1982, he was elected as lieutenant governor of Alaska, serving with Governor
Bill Sheffield, an Anchorage hotelier. Sheffield, plagued by various scandals in his administration during his term as governor, lost renomination in the 1986
primary election to
Steve Cowper, a Fairbanks lawyer and former
state representative. McAlpine won renomination as lieutenant governor, however, and
in the general election, was reelected alongside Cowper.
As his tenure as lieutenant governor occurred during the
''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill, McAlpine found himself the subject of national media attention, particularly given his ties to Valdez.
McAlpine later ran for governor, but lost in the primary election to
Tony Knowles.
Legacy
McAlpine holds a number of distinctions resulting from his tenure as lieutenant governor. When elected in 1982, McAlpine was the first
baby boomer
Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. ...
elected to statewide office in Alaska. His election at age 33 made him the youngest person elected to statewide office in Alaska, which still stands today. He is also the only two-term lieutenant governor in the state's history to have served under different governors.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McAlpine, Stephen
1949 births
Alaska city council members
Alaska Democrats
Alaska lawyers
Lieutenant Governors of Alaska
Living people
Maryknoll Seminary alumni
Mayors of Valdez, Alaska
Politicians from Anchorage, Alaska
Politicians from Yakima, Washington
Seattle University School of Law alumni
University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Lawyers from Anchorage, Alaska