Chancy Croft

Leland Chancy Croft
Member of the University of Alaska Board of Regents
In office 1995–2003
Preceded by	Mark H. Helmericks
Succeeded by	Cynthia Henry
Chair of the University of Alaska Board of Regents
In office 2001–2002
Preceded by	Michael J. Burns
Succeeded by	Brian D. Rogers
Member of the Alaska Senate from the E district
In office January 11, 1971 – January 14, 1979
Preceded by	indeterminable (at-large)[1]
Succeeded by	Terry Stimson[2]
Member of the Alaska House of Representatives from the 8th district
In office January 27, 1969 – January 10, 1971
Preceded by	indeterminable (at-large)[1]
Succeeded by	indeterminable (at-large)[1]
Personal details
Born	August 21, 1937 Jennings, Louisiana
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Toni Croft (née Williamson)
Children	Eric, Kymberly, Lee
Residence	Anchorage, Alaska
Alma mater	University of Texas School of Law
Occupation	Attorney

Leland Chancy Croft (born August 21, 1937) is a Workers' Compensation attorney and Democratic Party politician from the U.S. state of Alaska. He is widely known by his middle name, which is also his mother's maiden name.

Croft was born in Jennings, Louisiana and graduated from high school in Odessa, Texas He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with baccalaureate degrees in government and sociology and a law degree.

A 1962 transplant from the Texas oil patch, Chancy Croft has dedicated most of his life to serving the people of Alaska and advancing the causes of higher education and vocational training.

Not long after arriving in Anchorage, Mr. Croft became a charter member of the Alaska Legal Services Corporation, serving as chairman of the Board of Governors from 1971 to 1978.

He was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 1968, serving a single term. He was then elected to the Alaska Senate in 1970, serving from 1971 until 1979. He served as Senate President from 1975 to 1977.

Chancy Croft was the Democratic Party's nominee for Governor of Alaska in 1978. He would become the first of 3 major party nominees in state history to place third in the general election, as the 1978 campaign was dominated by the extremely close and controversial Republican primary between incumbent Jay Hammond and challenger Walter Hickel. Hickel lost by 98 votes and would launch a write-in campaign.

He was a member of the University of Alaska Board of Regents from 1995 until 2003; he was chairman from 2001 to 2002. He is a tireless advocate for students, faculty, and staff and has worked to provide educational service to rural Alaska communities while guiding the university toward increased distance delivery education. He is responsible for establishing the Regents Scholarship benefiting UA junior, senior and graduate students.

In recognition of his achievements and contributions in service to the state, to learning and to humankind, the University of Alaska Anchorage conferred upon Chancy Croft the title of Honorary Doctor of Law.

Croft is a very successful workers' compensation attorney, and has worked exclusively in that field for a quarter century. He has appeared before the Alaska Supreme Court in over sixty cases, winning 2/3. In at least twelve cases, he has lost to both the Board and Superior Court only to finally succeed in the Supreme Court. He is particularly known for his excellent work and favorable results in Harp, Egemo, Ensley, Irby, Sokolowski, Grant, Stephens, Ragland, Summers, Bringmann, and Cole but mortified by the results in Crouch. He practices with the firm, The Crofts Law Office. www.workerscompak.com

In 1986, his article, Something More Important Than Money, Vocational Rehabilitation in Workers Compensation Cases, was published in the Alaska Law Review. The article lauded the Alaska statute providing injured workers with the adequate training for new careers. The legislature promptly repealed the statute. More recently he has repeatedly advised the legislature about changing to the Alaska Workers Compensation Act. The advice was uniformly ignored. In 2005, he sued the governor of Alaska challenging the constitutionality of legislation the governor pushed which created a new executive court to hear appeal from decisions of the Alaska Workers Compensation Board.

Family

He is married to Toni Williamson Croft, a graduate of Stanford University. His children are Eric, Kymberly and Lee. Eric followed him as both a legislator and gubernatorial candidate, and also ran for Mayor of Anchorage). Eric works with his father at The Crofts Law Office.

References

• "Alaskan State Legislature - list of delegates and officers" (PDF). http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/docs/pdf/ROSTERALL.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-28. 

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Alaska, from territorial days through the 1980 election and 12th Alaska State Legislature, utilized multi-member legislative districts without designated seats, which elected members at-large.
2. ^ The 1974 redistricting plan drawn by the Alaska Supreme Court split Anchorage from one to six Senate districts. The resultant District E had two members; due to the four-year term, only one seat was contested in each election cycle, so a successor can be determined in this instance.

External links

• Alaska's Digital Archives - Photo of Chancy Croft, taken September 7, 1976

Preceded by Terry Miller	President of the Alaska Senate 1975 - 1977	Succeeded by John L. Rader
Preceded by William Allen Egan	Democratic nominee for Governor of Alaska 1978 (lost)	Succeeded by Bill Sheffield

Persondata
Name	Croft, Chancy
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 21, 1937
Place of birth	Jennings, Louisiana
Date of death
Place of death