Kevin Gerald Meyer (born May 9, 1956 in Beatrice,

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

) is an American politician who served as the 14th

lieutenant governor of Alaska The lieutenant governor of Alaska is the deputy elected official to the governor of the U.S. state of Alaska. Unlike most lieutenant governors in the U.S., the office also maintains the duties of a secretary of state, and indeed was named suc ...

from 2018 to 2022. He was 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 ...

member of the Alaska Senate from January 20, 2009 to December 3, 2018, representing District M. He was president of the Alaska Senate, leading a caucus of 14 Republicans and 1 Democrat from 2015 to 2017. Meyer served in the

Alaska Legislature The Alaska Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution consisting of the 40-member Alaska House of Representatives (lower house) and the 20-member Alaska Senate (upper house). There are 40 Ho ...

continuously from 2003 to 2018, in both 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 ...

and Senate, previously representing the district when it was District O. He works as an investment recovery coordinator for ConocoPhillips. On December 29, 2021, Meyer announced that he would not be seeking a second term.

Education

Meyer earned his BS in business administration from the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Univers ...

, his

MPA MPA or mPa may refer to: Academia Academic degrees * Master of Performing Arts * Master of Professional Accountancy * Master of Public Administration * Master of Public Affairs Schools * Mesa Preparatory Academy * Morgan Park Academy * Mou ...

from the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

, and his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from Alaska Pacific University.

Elections

*2000: Challenging incumbent Republican Representative Jerry Sanders for the District 19 seat, Meyer won the August 22, 2000 primary with 706 votes (54.94%) and won the November 7, 2000 General election with 4,502 votes (64.67%) against Democratic nominee Patti Higgins, who had previously run for the seat in 1996 and 1998. *2002: Meyer was unopposed for the August 27, 2002 Republican primary, winning with 1,664 votes, and was unopposed for the November 5, 2002 General election, winning with 4,891 votes (96.41%) against

write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

s. *2004: Meyer was unopposed for the August 24, 2004 Republican primary, winning with 1,664 votes, and won the November 2, 2004 General election with 5,407 votes (70.96%), against Democratic nominee Rachael Higgins. *2006: Meyer was unopposed for the August 22, 2006 Republican primary, winning with 2,530 votes, and was unopposed for the November 7, 2006 General election with 4,893 votes (94.55%), against write-in candidates. *2008: When Republican Senator John Cowdery retired and left the District O seat open, Meyer was unopposed for the August 26, 2008 Republican Primary, winning with 4,515 votes, Meyer won the November 4, 2008 General election with 9,874 votes (68.88%) against Democratic nominee Doug Van Etten. *2012: With Democratic Senator

Johnny Ellis Johnny Ellis (March 13, 1960 – February 9, 2022) was an American politician who served as a member of the Alaska Senate from 1992 to 2017. He was previously a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from 1986 through 1992. Early life a ...

redistricted to District I, Meyer was unopposed for the District L August 28, 2012 Republican Primary winning with 3,110 votes, and won the November 6, 2012 General election with 10,304 votes (72.41%) against Democratic nominee Jake Hale.

Controversies

In 2013, Meyer voted with the Alaska Senate Majority to pass Senate Bill 21, restructuring the state of Alaska's tax code for oil companies and reducing their tax burden. This vote benefited Meyer's full-time employer, ConocoPhillips. (Membership in the Alaska state legislature is not a full-time position, and Meyer, like many of his fellow members, maintain full-time employment elsewhere, taking leave when the legislature is in session.) When the bill came to the Senate floor, Meyer asked to be recused from voting. Under legislative rules, however, a member of the legislature must vote if any other members object, and several did. In 2015, Meyer announced he had offered a contract for communications consulting to McHugh Pierre. Pierre formerly served as the civilian second in command for the Alaska State Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, but was forced to resign in 2014 after investigation revealed he had exerted inappropriate and undue influence to derail an investigation of a high school friend of his then serving in the National Guard and suspected of sexually assaulting another member of the Alaska National Guard. Investigation also revealed Pierre attempted to coerce whistle-blowers into signing non-disclosure agreements prohibiting them from speaking to the media or outsiders about ongoing problems with multiple sexual assaults and other misconduct in the Alaska National Guard. Meyer described the allegations against Pierre, including those contained in the report prepared by the National Guard Bureau's Office of Complex Investigations as "hearsay." In 2020, Meyer decided to mail absentee ballot applications to voters 65 and older, but not to younger voters. The Disability Law Center of Alaska and other plaintiffs are suing Lieutenant Governor Meyer and the State of Alaska on the grounds that this constitutes unconstitutional discrimination. The plaintiffs want absentee ballot applications mailed to all voters.

References

External links

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Kevin Meyer
at ''100 Years of Alaska's Legislature'' , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Kevin 1956 births 21st-century American politicians Alaska Pacific University alumni Republican Party Alaska state senators Anchorage Assembly members Lieutenant Governors of Alaska Living people Republican Party members of the Alaska House of Representatives People from Beatrice, Nebraska Presidents of the Alaska Senate University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni University of New Mexico alumni