Eric Croft

Eric Croft (born November 6, 1964) was a Democratic State Representative from Anchorage, Alaska and was a candidate in the August 2006 Democratic gubernatorial primary election in Alaska. He received 23.1% of the vote, losing to 68.6% achieved by former governor Tony Knowles (D).

Personal

Eric Croft was born in Anchorage in 1964 and is the son of former State Representative, State Senator, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chancy Croft of West Texas and of Toni Williamson Croft of Midland, Texas. He grew up in Anchorage, attending West Anchorage High School, and went on to Stanford University earning an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering; his mother Toni, his uncle Ralph Ervin Williamson, and his sister Kymberly Croft Miller all also graduated from Stanford University.

Croft then received a law degree from the University of California's Hastings College of Law. His maternal grandfather, JC (John Conwell) Williamson, 1912-2001, was a wildcatter in West Texas whose geology found more oil in Texas and New Mexico than any contemporary. [Midland, Texas, Reporter-Telegram, 2 Aug. 2001, page one.}]

Croft is an attorney in Alaska. He and his wife, Joanna Burke Croft, own Alaska Professional Testing, Inc. Joanna Croft is a Stanford University-trained architect.

Political

Eric Croft was first elected to the Alaska House in 1996, just four years out of law school, and he been re-elected four times, facing generally nominal opposition in his Democratic Anchorage district. He is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and received both the 2003 NRA Defender of Freedom and Gun Rights Legislator of the Year awards. He is a strong supporter in Alaska's initiative processfact|date=October 2008 as well as a strong proponent of the prospective Alaska natural gas pipeline. A strong supporter of gender parity, he is "pro-choice," supporting a woman's right to privacy regarding her procreative rights but subject to the right to life of a viable fetus.huh

He announced his candidacy for Governor in 2006 focusing on natural resource issues and that Alaskans get their "fair share" of the state's resource wealth.

He joined with future Governor Sarah Palin to lodge an ethics complaint against cite news|url=http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/851orcjq.asp?pg=1|title=The Most Popular Governor|date=2007-07-16|publisher="The Weekly Standard"|accessdate=2008-10-07] Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who was later fined for the ethics violations and resigned from his office.

Electoral history

*2006 race for Governor, primary
**Tony Knowles (D), 68.6%
**Eric Croft (D), 23.1%

References

External links

* [http://www.ericcroft.com Gubernatoiral campaign site]
* [http://www.akdemocrats.org/index.php?con_id=4 AKDemocrats.org page]