Former Alaska legislator given lifetime free pass
The Alaska School Activities Association has awarded a former Chugiak legislator a lifetime pass to high school sporting events in recognition of his contributions to high school activities.
Bill Stoltze, 59, announced he’d received the ASAA Gold Lifetime Pass via a post on his personal Facebook page earlier this week. He posted the announcement alongside a photo of Chugiak High principal Megan Hatswell presenting him with the “Gold Card” in the hallway of their shared alma mater. Hatswell is the Region 4 representative on the ASAA board of directors and a 1998 CHS grad.
The honorary award is given to “individuals who have made an extraordinary contribution to high school activities in Alaska and/or at the national level,” according to the ASAA website. Since 2001, more than 100 Alaskans have been so honored.
Stoltze is the fourth person from Chugiak to be awarded a lifetime pass, joining former Chugiak football coach Tom Huffer Sr., former CHS hockey coach Paul Brauneis and former CHS principal Rick Volk on the list of honorees.
“I’m proud to join my great friend Tom Huffer Sr in receiving this honor,” Stoltze wrote.
Stoltze is a 1979 Chugiak graduate who was a member of the school’s wrestling team. He graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1984 and has been a fixture in Alaska political circles for his entire adult life.
Stoltze began working in Juneau as a legislative aide in 1984, acording to an online biography. He served as a member of the Alaska Legislature representing Chugiak and the Mat-Su from 2003 until 2017. He announced his retirement in April of 2016, saying he was suffering complications from diabetes.
In 2018 Stoltze was appointed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy to serve as Dunleavy’s Mat-Su office director, but he resigned less than a month into the job for reasons that were never disclosed.
During his time in the Legislature, Stoltze was instrumental in securing state funding for his home district, including funds for renovations at the Chugiak-Eagle River Senior Center and the Tom Huffer Sr. Stadium at CHS. He served as chair of the House Finance Committee, helping fund countless projects in his district and earning near-unanimous acclaim from his constituents — the senior center’s dining hall was renamed in Stoltze’s honor shortly before his retirement.
He’s also served as a volunteer coach, active in Special Olympics and has served on the board of the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks baseball team.
But Stoltze’s departure from public wasn’t entirely without controversy. In March of 2016, the state senator’s name appeared in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the state by the family of Kellsie Green, a 24-year-old Wasilla woman who died in January of that year while detoxing from heroin in an Anchorage jail cell.
Stoltze’s relationship with Green became public in 2019, when the State of Alaska paid the family $400,000 to settle a lawsuit in which videos emerged showing jail staff failing to provide Green with medical care while she was in custody.
Stoltze was not named as a defendant in the case and was not called to testify. He said in a 2019 interview that he met Green through her work as a stripper sometime around 2014.
Shortly after she was arrested on Jan. 5, 2016 for an outstanding warrant, Stoltze visited Green at the Anchorage Jail. In recordings obtained through the lawsuit, Green can be heard asking Stoltze for $2,200 for bail. But he denied her request for funding in part because he was concerned with how something like that might impact his reputation.
“Well, I hate having my, you know, my name there on CourtView and everything on that stuff, you know what I mean?” he told Green, who died at the jail five days later due to what doctors said was a combination of dehydration, heart problems and kidney failure.
At the time of her death, Green weighed 80 pounds and had been addicted to heroin for several years, according to her family. When asked about the woman, Stoltze denied knowing Green was taking drugs and said his connection to her played no role in the timing of his departure from the Legislature.
In an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, Green’s mother said Stoltze once showed up outside one of her daughter’s court hearings and that Kellsie said she thought Stoltze was stalking her. Green’s mother told the paper Stoltze never introduced himself to her.
Stoltze has declined to describe the nature of his relationship with the young woman other than to say he met her at a strip club.
Stoltze remains a popular figure in Alaska political circles. Following the announcement of his lifetime pass award, numerous former colleagues weighed in with messages of congratulations.
“Cannot think of a single person who deserves it more!” wrote Sen. Shelley Hughes (R-Chugiak/Mat-Su), who succeeded Stoltze in the Senate.
“Happy for you, Bill Stoltze, but especially happy for the many, many young people you’ve encouraged along the way. You made a big difference in many student athlete lives and I’m incredibly thankful for that and for you!”
ASAA executive director Billy Strickland was among those to praise Stoltze for the former politician’s contributions.
“A well deserved recognition!!” Strickland wrote.
Stoltze lives in Chugiak and works part-time as a lobbyist on behalf of the Mat-Su Borough for the firm of fellow former legislator John Harris.
In the comments beneath his Facebook post, Stoltze said he’s looking forward to the benefits his lifetime free pass will bring.
“I have missed HS sports!”
Matt Tunseth is a former newspaper reporter who now works as a freelance writer and photographer in Alaska. Write to him at matthew.tunseth@gmail.com
