Joe Vogler

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Joseph E. Vogler (1913-1993) was the founder of the Alaskan Independence Party and active in politics, regularly running for public office in Alaska for many years.

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[edit] Early life

Vogler was born April 24, 1913, on a farm outside Barnes, Kansas. He graduated from high school in Waterville, Kansas in 1929. That year, he began studying at the University of Kansas on a scholarship. He graduated with a law degree in five years and was admitted to the Kansas State Bar. Vogler moved to Alaska in March 1942, after having ran afoul of many of his contemporaries in the Lower 48 regarding his views on then-U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After a year spent in Kodiak, he moved to Fairbanks and worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Ladd Field (now Fort Wainwright) in Fairbanks until 1951 when he began mining on Homestake Creek. He filed for 80 acres (320,000 m2) of homestead land off the Steese Highway and acquired 320 acres (1.3 km2) near Fairbanks off Farmers Loop Road, but did not farm. Vogler spent fifty years as a miner and developer in Alaska.

Vogler was well-known in Fairbanks during the 1950s for a feud with Paul Greimann, the operator of a private urban transit company, which primarily transported students between Fairbanks and the University of Alaska. Prior to the replacement of the Cushman Street Bridge in 1959, the old bridge was too narrow to accommodate both a large vehicle such as a truck or bus, and another vehicle. When the Wendell Street Bridge opened in 1953, Vogler felt that large commercial vehicles should have been accessing Fairbanks via this wider bridge. Vogler had on numerous occasions blocked Greimann's buses on the Cushman bridge, often resulting in police intervention.

[edit] Political career

Vogler arose as a political figure in 1973, where he began a petition calling for secession of Alaska from the United States. Alaska magazine reported that Vogler claimed to have gathered 25,000 signatures over a period of three weeks.

During the 1970s, Vogler founded the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) and Alaskans For Independence. He also claimed to have organized the meeting which led to the formation of the Libertarian Party in Alaska. AIP and AFI, as Vogler explained, were intended to function as strictly separate entities — AIP was primarily to explore whether the 1956 vote by Alaskans authorizing statehood was legal, and AFI was primarily to actively pursue secession for Alaska from the United States.

The Alaskan Independence Party quotes Vogler as stating "I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions."[1] [2]

In a 1991 interview currently housed at the Oral History Program in the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Vogler is recorded as saying "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government. And I won't be buried under their damn flag. I'll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home." [3]

Vogler would serve as the AIP's standard-bearer for most of the party's first two decades. He ran for governor in 1974, with Wayne Peppler (born March 26, 1942), a fellow miner from Fairbanks, as his running mate. Jay Hammond, a longtime legislator from the Bristol Bay region, was elected over incumbent governor Bill Egan by 287 votes, with Vogler trailing far behind. Many commentators described Vogler as a "spoiler" in the election, arguing that the result would have been different had he not been in the race. However, this campaign opened up the doors for non-major party candidates to run for major offices in Alaska, and generally this accusation is leveled during every election cycle.

Vogler switched to run for lieutenant governor in 1978, with Don Wright (born November 24, 1929) running for governor. Wright was also the AIP's nominee for governor in 2002 and 2006. The 1978 campaign for governor was dominated by the extremely controversial Republican primary race between moderate Hammond and former governor Walter Hickel. Hickel lost the primary by 98 votes and would launch a write-in campaign in the general election. Hammond would be reelected governor. There was also an well-financed independent candidate in the race, Tom Kelly, who was Commissioner of Natural Resources under Hickel and his successor, Keith Miller. There was little hope for the AIP ticket to gain much attention due to these factors.

Vogler also ran for governor in 1982 and 1986. Several incidents during these campaigns raised his profile as a "colorful character." In the 1982 race, Vogler was taken to task for comments made during a debate. The issue of moving Alaska's capital appeared during the election, as it has on and off since 1960. The media and political pundits took great fun over Vogler's debate remarks that Alaska should "nuke the glaciers" along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska and build a freeway to Juneau. Vogler would later contend that these comments were misinterpreted. Vogler's running mate in 1982 was Roger "Dee" Roberts (born March 27, 1937). Roberts had previously been a candidate for state Senate in 1974 under the banner of the American Independent Party. His family have continued as political activists in Fairbanks to this day.

Vogler's running mate in 1986 was Al Rowe (born May 11, 1932), a Fairbanks resident and former Alaska State Trooper. Rowe took out a series of newspaper ads, fashioning himself in the image of Sheriff Buford Pusser. These ads were a major attention getter during the race. Between Rowe's ads and the turmoil existing in the Republican Party over the nomination of Arliss Sturgulewski, the AIP ticket was able to garner 5.5 percent of the vote, gaining the AIP status in Alaska as a recognized political party for the first time.

Vogler quit running for public office after the 1986 election. However, he would play a significant role in the next gubernatorial race. In 1990, as party chair, Vogler paved the way for the vacation of the nominated party ticket of John Lindauer and Jerry Ward and their replacement with Hickel and Jack Coghill. Coghill had been nominated as the lieutenant governor candidate by the Republican Party, but was dealing with serious compatibility and philosophical issues with gubernatorial nominee Sturgulewski. The ticket of Hickel and Coghill would go on to win the election.

[edit] Disappearance and death

Vogler disappeared under suspicious circumstances in May 1993,[4] just weeks before he was scheduled to give a speech to the United Nations on Alaskan independence, sponsored by the government of Iran.[5][6] Convicted thief Manfried West confessed to having murdered Vogler the following year in what he described as an illegal plastic explosive sale gone bad.[4] West, trying to recant, later said the confession was a lie, but this was before Vogler's body had been discovered.[7] Vogler's remains were discovered in a gravel pit east of Fairbanks in October 1994 following an anonymous tip.[4] They had been wrapped in a blue tarp secured with duct tape and were identified through fingerprint analysis.[4] Manfried West was convicted of murdering Joe Vogler and is serving an 80 year sentence.[6]

In the opinion of AIP Chair Lynette Clark and other AIP leaders, however, Vogler's death reflected more than a dispute with West. Clark has stated, "He was executed."[8] She notes that Vogler was about to appear before the United Nations to address the issue of Alaskan independence: "The United States government would have been deeply embarrassed. And we can't have that, can we?"[8] There was also speculation that as an aging gold miner, he was merely viewed as an easy target for robbery. Although this theory has come up over the years, it was never validated.

As he had publicly promised on numerous occasions, Vogler was buried in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, fulfilling his wish that he not be buried under the American flag. His second wife, Doris Louise Vogler, who died of cancer in January 1992, is buried next to him.

[edit] Legacy

Using his legal training and political experience, Vogler had launched many political and secessionist efforts behind the scenes in addition to his more high profile runs for office. Perhaps the best known of these was the lawsuit Vogler v. Miller in 1982, a ballot access case. Vogler v. Miller would form the basis for other ballot access lawsuits in Alaska during the late 1980s, such as Sigler v. Alaska and Sykes v. Alaska, which would eventually lead to loosening of ballot access laws in Alaska and greater official recognition of numerous minor political parties.

Vogler was noted for an antipathy toward aspens, to the point where he installed covenants in his subdivisions requiring that all aspens be removed on a regular basis. This particular requirement would be challenged in court, with Vogler losing after a lengthy battle through the judicial system. The term "Voglerizer" has entered into the informal vernacular around the Fairbanks area to describe brush trimmers used on highway rights-of-way.

[edit] Personal life

Vogler had a daughter (Marilyn, born ca. 1945) and son (Joseph Jr., born ca. 1947) by his first wife, but by all accounts (including his own), he had become estranged from this portion of his family. Vogler met his second wife, Doris, in 1964 and remained with her until her death from cancer. His nephew, Lynn Vogler, has maintained his estate since his death.

[edit] See also

[edit] Sources

  • Election Candidate Pamphlet, State of Alaska, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, 1974
  • Official Election Pamphlet, State of Alaska, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, 1978, 1982 and 1986
  • Official Returns By Election Precinct, State of Alaska, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, 1974, 1978 and 1982
  • Official Returns, State of Alaska, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, 1986
  • "Like A Tree to the Soil": A History of Farming in the Tanana Valley, 1903 to 1940. Josephine E. Papp and Josie Phillips. UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, 2007.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Curiouser and Curiouser". CBS News. 2008-09-02. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/02/politics/animal/main4405774.shtml. Retrieved 2008-09-12. 
  2. ^ Introduction, Alaskan Independence Party.
  3. ^ http://goldmine.uaf.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi.exe/TCnzx2aDNE/UAFRAS/33620013/9
  4. ^ a b c d "Remains of Alaska Separatist Are Identified, The New York Times, published October 15, 1994
  5. ^ Talbot, David (Oct. 7, 2008). "The Palins’ un-American activities". Salon.com. http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/10/07/palins_unamerican/. Retrieved 2008-10-10. 
  6. ^ a b Coppock, Michael (Mar. 14, 2008). "On Vogler, an independent Alaska". Juneau Empire. http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/031408/nei_257857638.shtml/. Retrieved 2008-10-10. 
  7. ^ "Trail Grows Cold For Joe Vogler: Missing, No Body Found, The Seattle Times reprinted from The Chicago Tribune, published September 25, 1994
  8. ^ a b Talbot, David (Sept. 10, 2008). "Freedom fighter". Salon.com. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/10/alaska_secession/. Retrieved 2008-10-07. 
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