Alaska Governor Rejected; Hickel Loses GOP Primary

Alaska voters turned Gov. Bill Sheffield out of office in a Democratic primary and rejected former Gov. Walter J. Hickel’s comeback bid in a Republican contest.

Sheffield, his image bruised by impeachment proceedings last year, lost the nomination Tuesday to Steve Cowper, 48, a Fairbanks attorney who came within 260 votes of beating Sheffield in a 1982 primary.

In the nine-way Republican gubernatorial race, Hickel lost to state Sen. Arliss Sturgulewski. With all but 15 of 442 precincts reporting, Sturgulewski held a 1,969-vote lead. A few thousand absentee ballots were still to be counted, but both sides agreed they would not change the outcome.

‘Didn’t See It Our Way’

“It appears the majority of Alaskans didn’t see it our way,” said the 66-year-old Hickel, who was elected governor in 1966 and resigned three years later to become Interior secretary under President Richard M. Nixon. He quit after several disagreements with Nixon.

First-term Republican Sen. Frank H. Murkowski, unopposed in the primary, will face Glenn Olds, president of Alaska Pacific University who won a five-way Democratic race, in the Nov. 4 general election.

Rep. Don Young whipped three Republican political unknowns and will run against Democrat Pegge Begich, unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

In Oklahoma, the other state that held a primary Tuesday, political newcomer David Walters finished first in the Democratic gubernatorial primary but fell short of the majority needed to avoid a Sept. 16 runoff with Atty. Gen. Mike Turpen, who came in second.

Faces Former Governor

The winner of the runoff will face Republican Henry L. Bellmon, a former governor and U.S. senator who has been out of politics since 1981.

Oklahoma’s seven-term Rep. James R. Jones handily won the Democratic nomination for Senate to challenge Republican Sen. Don Nickles, who had no primary opposition in his bid for a second term.

With 427 of Alaska’s 442 precincts reported, Cowper led Sheffield 32,125 to 23,632, or 57% to 42%, in a four-way race.

On the GOP side, Sturgulewski led the nine-candidate field with 23,211 votes, or 31%, while Hickel had 21,242, or 28%.

Nuclear Freeze Passes

Voters also passed a non-binding resolution supporting the effort to freeze and reduce the world’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

A grand jury last summer accused Sheffield of steering a lucrative state building lease in Fairbanks toward a friend and political supporter, then lying about it while under oath.

The Alaska Legislature began impeachment proceedings, during which Sheffield, 58, testified several times that he was unable to remember details of a meeting in his office about the lease. The Senate concluded the monthlong televised hearings by voting 12 to 8 that there was not enough evidence to impeach.

Sheffield is the first governor to lose in a primary since 1982, when Massachusetts Gov. Edward King was defeated by Michael S. Dukakis in a Democratic primary. Dukakis had in turn been defeated by King in the primary in 1978.