One of Sealaska’s most vocal critics is now a member of the Southeast regional Native corporation’s board of directors.
Shareholders chose Michael Beasley, also known as Mick, as one of four winning candidates, according to results announced at Sealaska’s annual meeting Saturday in Ketchikan.
He came in behind three incumbents, each of who ran as the board slate. They are Inside Passage Electric Cooperative CEO Jodi Mitchell, Tlingit and Haida Business Corporation CEO Richard Rinehart and National Congress of American Indians Executive Director Jackie Johnson Pata.
A fourth incumbent, Patrick Anderson, ran as an independent and lost.
Beasley, a carver, authored a term-limits measure on this year’s ballot. It received a majority of the votes cast, but not the majority of all possible ballots. As a result, it will not take effect.
Beasley has put similar measures on Sealaska’s ballot in the past, along with several to eliminate discretionary voting. That allows shareholders to turn their ballot decisions over to the board.
Other approaches would change the board’s makeup and likely its policies.
Four other independent candidates also ran for the 13-member board.
They were, in order of votes received, carver Doug Chilton, former Sealaska Corporate Secretary Nicole Hallingstad, Bartlett Regional Hospital Controller Karen Taug and financial adviser Brad Fluetsch.
Sealaska has 22,000 shareholders who mostly live in Southeast, other parts of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
Ed Schoenfeld is Regional News Director for CoastAlaska, a consortium of public radio stations in Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg and Wrangell.
He primarily covers Southeast Alaska regional topics, including the state ferry system, transboundary mining, the Tongass National Forest and Native corporations and issues.
He has also worked as a manager, editor and reporter for the Juneau Empire newspaper and Juneau public radio station KTOO. He’s also reported for commercial station KINY in Juneau and public stations KPFA in Berkley, WYSO in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and WUHY in Philadelphia. He’s lived in Alaska since 1979 and is a contributor to Alaska Public Radio Network newscasts, the Northwest (Public Radio) News Network and National Native News. He is a board member of the Alaska Press Club. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, he lives in Douglas.
