Anchorage Assembly member Kevin Cross announced at the end of Tuesday night’s Assembly meeting that he’s leaving his elected post a year early to pursue non-political activities.
Few people know how much work the Assembly does, Cross said.
“My experience has been it’s mostly hours and hours of code reading, legal opinions, department comments, community emails, answering calls, deciphering graphs, and making sense of flowcharts to correct an ever-shifting sea of bureaucracy,” he said.
While he called the Assembly work is important, Cross said it’s not what God intends for him. He wants to go back to doing volunteer work that involves construction — ” DeWalt therapy,” he called it, referring to the power tool company.
“I have about 20 summers left in my life,” he said. “That’s only if my knees and hips hold up.”
Cross is a conservative who represents Eagle River and Chugiak neighborhoods. He was elected in April 2022, as an ally of Mayor Dave Bronson, at a time of high tension between the mayor and the more liberal Assembly. He said he’ll leave no later than April 1 of next year.
The timing allows the voters of his district to elect a replacement at the regular municipal election on April 2.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her atlruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Lizhere.
