Wes Keller
Wes Keller (b. April 24, 1946) is a former Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives, representing District 10 from 2007 to 2017.
Biography
Keller's professional experience includes serving as Chief of Staff for Senator Fred Dyson from 1999 to 2007, and working as a residential building contractor, oilfield worker and director of the Alaska Teamster Training Center.
Committee assignments
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Keller served on the following committees:
| Alaska committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Education, Chair |
| • Judiciary, Vice chair |
| • State Affairs, Vice chair |
| • Armed Services |
2013-2014
At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Keller served on the following committees:
| Alaska committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Health & Social Services, Vice chair |
| • Judiciary, Chair |
| • Rules |
| • State Affairs, Vice chair |
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Keller served on these committees:[1]
| Alaska committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Economic Development, Trade & Tourism |
| • Health & Social Services, Chair |
| • Judiciary |
| • State Affairs, Vice Chair |
2009-2010
In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Keller served on these committees:
| Alaska committee assignments, 2009 |
|---|
| • Administrative Regulation Review, Chair |
| • Community & Regional Affairs |
| • Education |
| • Health & Social Services, Co-Chair |
Campaign themes
2016
Keller's campaign website highlighted the following issues:
| “ |
What will Wes support? Less Government:
Smarter Spending:
Citizen Ownership & Freedom:
Stronger Families:
Representation & Integrity:
|
” |
| —Wes Keller, [3] | ||
Policy positions
Debt negotiations
Keller was one of the members of a bipartisan group organized by the National Conference of Legislatures called the Task Force on Federal Deficit Reduction (TFFDR). Consisting of 23 state lawmakers from 17 states,[4] the group went to Capitol Hill on September 21, 2011, to urge the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to cut the nation's debt but not impose severe budget cuts on the states.
TFFDR urged the Committee to consider new revenue as a possibility, instead of just focusing on budget cuts as House Speaker John Boehner has proposed. The group specifically proposed passage of the "Main Street Fairness Act," which would allow states to tax online retailers.[5]
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2016
Elections for the Alaska House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on August 16, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was June 1, 2016.
David Eastman defeated Patricia Faye-Brazel in the Alaska House of Representatives District 10 general election.[6][7]
| Alaska House of Representatives, District 10 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  David Eastman |
74.49% | 5,901 | |
| Democratic | Patricia Faye-Brazel | 25.51% | 2,021 | |
| Total Votes | 7,922 | |||
| Source: Alaska Secretary of State | ||||
Christian M. Hartley ran unopposed in the Alaska House of Representatives District 10 Democratic Primary.[8][9]
| Alaska House of Representatives, District 10 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | Christian M. Hartley (unopposed) | |
David Eastman defeated incumbent Wes Keller, Steve Menard and Andrew P. Wright in the Alaska House of Representatives District 10 Republican Primary.[8][9]
| Alaska House of Representatives, District 10 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | David Eastman |
45.11% | 812 | |
| Republican | Wes Keller Incumbent | 34.22% | 616 | |
| Republican | Steve Menard | 16.06% | 289 | |
| Republican | Andrew P. Wright | 4.61% | 83 | |
| Total Votes | 1,800 | |||
Eastman raised significantly more money than Keller, having reported over $21,000 in funds raised to Keller's approximately $5,500. Keller was one of several incumbents defeated in the Alaska primary election.
2014
Elections for the Alaska House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on August 19, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 2, 2014. Neal T. Lacy was unopposed in the Democratic primary, while District 7 incumbent Wes Keller was unopposed in the Republican primary. Keller defeated Lacy and Roger Purcell (nonpartisan) in the general election.[10][11][12][13]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Wes Keller Incumbent |
64.4% | 4,475 | |
| Democratic | Neal T. Lacy | 21.2% | 1,475 | |
| Nonpartisan | Roger Purcell | 14.4% | 998 | |
| Total Votes | 6,948 | |||
2012
Keller ran for re-election in the 2012 election for Alaska House of Representatives District 7. He defeated Roger Purcell in the Republican primary on August 28, 2012. The general election took place on November 6, 2012.[14][15] Keller won re-election in the general election.[16]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Wes Keller Incumbent |
95.4% | 5,517 | |
| Write in | Write-in | 4.6% | 265 | |
| Total Votes | 5,782 | |||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Wes Keller Incumbent |
68.2% | 1,468 |
| Roger Purcell | 31.8% | 686 |
| Total Votes | 2,154 | |
2010
Keller won re-election to the 14th District seat in 2010. He had no opposition in the primary or the general election.[17][18]
2008
In 2008, Keller was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives District 14. Keller (R) finished with 7,127 votes while his opponent Rose Smith (D) finished with 2,002.[19]
| Alaska House of Representatives District 14 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Wes Keller (R)
|
7,127 | |||
| Rose Smith (D) | 2,002 | |||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Alaska scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2016
In 2016, the Alaska State Legislature was in session from January 19 through May 18 (extended session). The Legislature held a special session from May 23, 2016, to June 19, 2016. The Legislature held a second special session from July 11 to July 18.
- Legislators are scored by the Alaska Business Report Card on "how supportive they are of Alaska’s private business sector."[20]
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the Alaska State Legislature was in session from January 20 through April 27 (Session extended). The first special session was held from April 28 to May 21. The second special session was held from May 21 to June 11. A third special session was held from October 24 to November 5.
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2014
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
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In 2014, the 28th Alaska State Legislature was in session from January 21 to April 20.
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2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
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In 2013, the Alaska State Legislature was in session from January 15 to April 14. Ballotpedia staff did not find any state legislative scorecards published for this state in 2013. If you are aware of one, please contact editor@ballotpedia.org to let us know. |
2012
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2012, click [show]. |
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In 2012, the 27th Alaska State Legislature was in session from January 17 to April 15. It was in special session from April 15 to April 30.
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Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Keller and his wife Gayle have three children.
Keller is a member of the Education Technology Partnership.[21] Keller is a member of Drop Out Prevention Task Force with NCSL (National Conference State Legislators) and is on the Education Task Force of the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Wes + Keller + Alaska + House"
See also
- Alaska State Legislature
- Alaska House of Representatives
- Alaska House Committees
- Alaska House of Representatives District 10
External links
- Wes Keller's campaign website
- Alaska State Legislature - Representative Wes Keller
- Profile from Open States
- Legislative Profile from Project Vote Smart
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Campaign contributions via Follow the Money
- Alaska's House Majority - Wes Keller profile
- Facebook page
Footnotes
- ↑ Alaska House of Representatives, "House Majority Members," accessed September 18, 2012 (dead link)
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Wes Keller, "Wes Supports," accessed July 26, 2016
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Task Force on Federal Deficit Reduction," accessed May 15, 2014
- ↑ Stateline, "State legislators want revenue on table in debt talks," September 22, 2011
- ↑ State of Alaska Division of Elections, "November 8, 2016 General Election Candidate List," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ Alaska Secretary of State, "General Election Official Results 2016," accessed December 2, 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 State of Alaska Division of Elections, "August 16, 2016 Primary Candidate List," accessed June 8, 2016
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 State of Alaska Division of Elections, "2016 Primary Election results," accessed September 12, 2016
- ↑ Alaska Secretary of State, "Official primary candidate list," accessed June 4, 2014
- ↑ Alaska Secretary of State, "Official primary election results," accessed January 1, 2015
- ↑ Alaska Secretary of State, "Official general election candidate list," accessed September 11, 2014
- ↑ Alaska Secretary of State, "Official General Election Results," accessed November 25, 2014
- ↑ Alaska Division of Elections, "2012 Primary Candidate List," accessed March 12, 2014
- ↑ Alaska Division of Elections, "Official 2012 Primary Results," accessed March 12, 2014
- ↑ Alaska Election Division, "Official 2012 General election results," accessed November 16, 2012
- ↑ Alaska Division of Elections, "Official 2010 Primary election results," accessed March 12, 2014
- ↑ Alaska Division of Elections, "Official 2010 General election results," accessed March 12, 2014
- ↑ Alaska Division of Elections, "Official 2008 General election results," accessed July 2, 2015
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Alaska Business Report Card, "About ABRC," accessed September 11, 2014 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "abrc" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Project Vote Smart, "Biography," accessed March 12, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mark Neuman (R) |
Alaska House of Representatives District 10 2015-2017 |
Succeeded by David Eastman (R) |
| Preceded by - |
Alaska House of Representatives District 7 2013–2015 |
Succeeded by Lynn Gattis (R) |
| Preceded by Vic Khoring |
Alaska House of Representatives District 14 2007–2013 |
Succeeded by Max Gruenberg (D) |
