Rural lawmakers wield power without recent precedent

DOT Commissioner Marc Luiken, Aleknagik Mayor Jane Gottschalk, Sen. Lyman Hoffman and Rep. Bryce Edgmon cut the ribbon on the Aleknagik Wood River Bridge in October 2015. In 2017, Hoffman will be the Senate Finance Committee co-chairman and Edgmon will be House speaker. (Photo by Misty Nielson)
Dillingham Democrat Bryce Edgmon will be the first speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives from off the road system or outside of Southeast Alaska since Nome’s Howard Lyng in the Territo