PAT FORGEY
JUNEAU EMPIRE

Sen. Johnny Ellis

Sen. Johnny Ellis, an Anchorage Democrat, is the new majority leader of the Alaska Senate and the first member of his party to hold that position in a decade or more.

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Ellis is a member of the Senate Working Group, the bipartisan coalition that controls the Senate and elected Sen. Lyda Green, R-Wasilla, as president.

Ellis' move to the new position was set in place when Sen. John Cowdery, R-Anchorage, gave up his position as chairman of the powerful Rules Committee on the first day of the legislative session.

The majority leader position opened up when Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, who formerly served in that role, was appointed chairman of the Rules Committee. That committee is influential because it decides which bills make it to the Senate floor.

"I'm politically flexible, and ready for anything," Ellis said after the Committee on Committees, of which he is a member, acted Friday to appoint Stevens as chairman of the Rules Committee.

Later, the full Senate adopted the appointments, and Green said she expected the Senate Working Group's "great cooperation" would continue.

The Senate Working Group is made up of all nine Senate democrats and six of the 11 Republicans, who backed Green as president. Five other Republicans backed former Senate President Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, who serves as Senate minority leader.

Therriault's minority caucus called for Cowdery to leave his important Rules Committee chairmanship after he was implicated in the ongoing VECO Corp. corruption scandal. FBI agents in 2006 searched Cowdery's office, and a VECO executive testified last fall he'd bribed him.

Cowdery cited health concerns when he resigned as leader of the Rules Committee, as he did when he failed to attend last October's special session on oil taxes. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Ellis has served in the Legislature since 1986 and in the Senate since 1992, and previously was the Democratic leader.

Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, praised the appointment of Ellis, the new majority leader, but said few changes would be apparent in the workings of the Legislature.

"People keep asking me about the status of the majority, but I don't think this changes anything at all," he said.

Stevens said he looks forward to serving as Rules Committee chairman, where he was previously vice chairman, and facing the challenge of a shortened session.

"That means a lot of legislation is going to founder and not make it to the floor," he said.

• Contact Pat Forgey at 586-4816 or patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com