Bruce Botelho

Botelho began his political career in 1983 when he was elected to the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly. He was elected as mayor of Juneau in October 1988, defeating former Lieutenant Governor Robert W. Ward, serving until October 1991.[2]

Botelho had returned to the Alaska Department of Law in mid-1987 as supervising attorney of the oil and gas section. In February 1992 he was appointed as deputy attorney general for Alaska. On January 12, 1994 he was appointed by Governor Walter J. Hickel as Attorney General and confirmed by the Alaska Legislature that May. In December 1994, Governor Hickel was succeeded by Tony Knowles, who asked Botelho to continue in office. He served until December 2002. As Attorney General, Botelho chaired the Criminal Justice Council and served as a trustee to the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. He also chaired the Children's Confidentiality Task Force, the state team on state-tribal relations, the Governors Conference on Youth and Justice, and co-chaired the Criminal Justice Assessment Commission. He served as chief of staff for the Governor's Task Force on Civil Justice Reform and the Governor's Subsistence Task Force. He was an initial trustee of the Alaska Children's Trust. Major accomplishments of his tenure included oil and gas tax and royalty settlements in excess of $3 billion, settlement of the Alaska mental health lands trust litigation, lifting of the blockade of the Alaska state ferry Malaspina, Alaska's participation in the national tobacco litigation, natural resource and environmental protection actions against Tyson Seafood Group and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and reinvigorated antitrust enforcement including propane litigation and the Carrs-Safeway grocery and BP Amoco-Arco mergers.[3]

In October 2003, he was elected to his second term as mayor of Juneau. Botelho was re-elected in October 2006 and again in October 2009.[2] Botelho left office in 2012 after being term-limited. He was succeeded by Merrill Sanford. With 12 years served as mayor, Botelho is the longest-serving mayor in Juneau's history.[4]

In 1978, under the leadership of Governor Jay Hammond, Alaska established its coastal zone management program to undertake land-use planning, permitting to regulate development and habitat restoration in coastal regions. Alaska’s program obtained federal recognition and funding, but was substantially weakened in the mid-2000’s and ultimately abolished in 2011. Botelho organized and led a citizen’s initiative to restore the program, collecting the requisite signatures in record time. However, opposition to the initiative from the resource extraction industry led to a decisive defeat for the initiative in the August 2012 primary election. Today, with the exception of Alaska, all 35 coastal and Great Lakes states and territories participate in the National Coastal Zone Management Program.

Botelho was tapped to serve on Bill Walker's gubernatorial transition team in 2014. He served as temporary coordinator for the transition effort, serving into the first weeks of Walker's administration as the new governor appointed, removed, and retained a number of state government appointees.[5]

Walker's running mate, Democrat Byron Mallott, is also a former mayor of Juneau.[6]

Botelho was one of the three prime sponsors of a statewide initiative known as "Ballot Measure 2" appearing on the 2020 Alaska general election ballot. The proposition called for the implementation of open primaries, ranked choice voting and campaign finance reform. It narrowly passed, 174,032 to 170,251. Botelho, along with others, formed "Alaskans for Better Elections" to campaign for the ballot measure, and, subsequently, to promote its implementation and other election reforms. The new voting system was put to an unexpected early trial when Congressman Don Young died in March 2022 and a special primary and general election to replace him was held. Alaskans for Better Elections undertook a major educational campaign to educate the public on how the open primary and ranked choice voting would occur and continued that effort through the regular August 2022 primary and the November 2022 general election. Kelly Tshibaka and Sarah Palin, candidates who lost their respective races for U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives have undertaken efforts to repeal ranked choice voting in Alaska and elsewhere.

Under Alaska’s constitution, Alaska voters must be asked every ten years whether a constitutional convention should be called. In late 2021, Botelho organized "Defend Our Constitution", a grass roots campaign to oppose the convention. The campaign was overseen by a bipartisan and geographically diverse executive committee of eight. Opposition coalesced around proponents’ arguments to change the judiciary, embed Alaska’s Permanent Fund dividend in the constitution, and curtail abortion rights, among others. The ballot measure was defeated in the November 2022 general election by a vote of 180,529 to 75,723.