Kenneth James Fanning (born April 28, 1947) is an American hunting and fishing guide and former politician. In 1980, Fanning was elected to the

Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska 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 per ...

as a

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

, becoming the second person elected to a U.S. state legislature under that party, following his political mentor

Dick Randolph Richard L. Randolph (born April 10, 1936) is a longtime insurance agency owner in Fairbanks, Alaska who is best known as the first person to be elected to partisan office under the banner of the Libertarian Party with his election to the Alaska ...

. Fanning served a single term, losing reelection. He later joined the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

and was appointed to fill out a vacancy in the

Alaska Senate The Alaska State Senate is the upper house in the Alaska 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 rejecting gub ...

in 1987, serving in that body for a little over a year.

Early life

Kenneth James Fanning was born on April 28, 1947 in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. He studied at

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

from 1966 to 1967, then moved to

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., ...

. He settled in

Fairbanks Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

in 1969, where he studied wildlife management at the

University of Alaska The University of Alaska System is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Alaska. It was created in 1917 and comprises three separately accredited universities on 19 campuses. The system serves nearly 30,000 full- and part-time stud ...

(UA) and built a home in the Fairbanks-area suburbs southwest of the university's campus. He studied at UA through 1970. He worked as a hunting and fishing guide, a trapper, and was also employed at one point by the

Alaska Department of Fish and Game The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) is a department within the government of Alaska. ADF&G's mission is to protect, maintain, and improve the fish, game, and aquatic plant resources of the state, and manage their use and development in ...

. Fanning became involved in politics during the late 1970s, through additional work as a consultant and lobbyist on natural resource and wildlife issues. Fanning joined the

Libertarian Party Active parties by country Defunct parties by country Organizations associated with Libertarian parties See also * Liberal parties by country * List of libertarian organizations * Lists of political parties * Outline of libertarianism ...

(LP) around this same time. The visits made to Alaska during the 1976 campaign by Libertarian presidential nominee

Roger MacBride Roger Lea MacBride (August 6, 1929 – March 5, 1995) was an American lawyer, political figure, writer, and television producer. He was the presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party in the 1976 election. MacBride became the first presidenti ...

and running mate

David Bergland David Peter Bergland (June 4, 1935 – June 3, 2019) was an American politician who was the United States Libertarian Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1984 presidential election,the state's LP chapter. Fanning became a protege of

, a Fairbanks insurance agent who served as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

in the Alaska House from 1971 to 1974, who himself had joined the LP after meeting MacBride in 1976.

State representative

Fanning was elected in 1980 to a single term in the

as a Libertarian. He followed Randolph, who won election to the House as a Libertarian in 1978 and was reelected alongside Fanning. Fanning and Randolph represented the

Fairbanks North Star Borough The Fairbanks North Star Borough is a borough located in the state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 95,665, down from 97,581 in 2010. The borough seat is Fairbanks. The borough's land area is slightly smaller than that o ...

as a whole as part of the 20th District, a six-member district without designated seats, alongside Democrats Fred Brown, Brian Rogers and Sally Smith, and Republican

Bob Bettisworth Robert H. "Bob" Bettisworth (August 23, 1926 – February 13, 2015) was an American businessman and politician. Born in Coffeyville, Kansas, Bettisworth went to Fairbanks, Alaska Territory, in 1948, to look for gold. Later he started a masonry b ...

. Fanning originally served as a member of the House's minority, and was given a lone committee assignment on the House's

Transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

Committee. During his term in office,

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

eliminated the system of multi-member, at-large districts. Running for reelection in 1982, his constituency had been drastically altered. Fanning was placed in the single-member 21st District, containing the liberal-leaning western portions of the borough. He lost reelection to the late Democratic challenger

Niilo Koponen Niilo Emil Koponen (March 6, 1928 – December 3, 2013) was an American educator and politician. Early life Born in New York City to Finnish parents, he lived with them in a housing cooperative in a Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx. Koponen ...

by a nearly two-to-one margin, in a contest with no Republican nominee.

Party switch and state senator

Fanning was one of a number of Alaska Libertarians who left the party in the wake of the schism revealed during its 1983 national convention, joining the Republican Party. In 1987, Alaska governor

Steve Cowper Stephen Cambreleng Cowper (born August 21, 1938) is an American Democratic politician who was the sixth governor of Alaska from 1986–90. He was governor during the 1989 ''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill. Cowper is the CEO of Steve Cowper & Associa ...

appointed Fanning to a vacancy in the

. Republican incumbent

Don Bennett Air Vice Marshal Donald Clifford Tyndall Bennett, (14 September 1910 – 15 September 1986) was an Australian aviation pioneer and bomber pilot who rose to be the youngest air vice marshal in the Royal Air Force. He led the "Pathfinder Fo ...

died suddenly at home at age 56. Fanning was a compromise choice, as a feud developed between Randolph and Bev Bennett, Don Bennett's widow, over which one should be appointed to the seat, splitting Fairbanks-area Republicans. Fanning filled out the remainder of Bennett's term and was not a candidate for election to a full term.

Life after politics

Fanning assumed the management of a hunting and fishing lodge in

Yakutat, Alaska The City and Borough of Yakutat (, ; Tlingit: ''Yaakwdáat''; russian: Якутат) is a borough in the U.S. state of Alaska and the name of a former city within it. The name in Tlingit is ''Yaakwdáat'' (meaning "the place where canoes r ...

prior to his election to the House. Following his Senate tenure, he moved to Yakutat permanently. He eventually became the owner of the business, which his family continues to run today. Most of the lodge's business has centered on fishing excursions in the Situk River. He later began spending winters in

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadalaja ...

, where he was involved in the management of a bar.

Personal life

Ken Fanning was married to Jill Kathleen Fanning (1948–2006), who was involved in the real estate business in Fairbanks and was an accomplished amateur singer. They had one child, son Kip Jason Fanning. They belonged to the First United Methodist Church in Fairbanks.

Quote

* "One of the great things about hunting and fishing and trapping, particularly in Alaska, is that you are frequently in areas that are beyond the reach of the law. There's a moral judgment to be made between you and the animal and God."

Bibliography

* (with John Manly) ''Behind The Scenes in the Alaska Legislature'', 1982

References

External links

Ken Fanning
at ''100 Years of Alaska's Legislature''
Kenneth J. Fanning
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fanning, Ken 1947 births Living people 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Methodists 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century Methodists Alaska Libertarians Republican Party Alaska state senators American expatriates in Mexico Methodists from Alaska Businesspeople from Fairbanks, Alaska Businesspeople from Tampa, Florida Colorado State University alumni Libertarian Party (United States) officeholders Republican Party members of the Alaska House of Representatives Politicians from Fairbanks, Alaska University of Alaska Fairbanks alumni Writers from Fairbanks, Alaska