Remembering U.S. Senator Bob Bartlett - Joe Josephson, former State Senator, and Bartlett Aide, with Andy Josephson

Joe Josephson has a long political and public service history in Alaska, beginning in 1957 when he served as legislative assistant to Alaska Delegate in Congress, E. L. (Bob) Bartlett. In 1959, When Bartlett became Alaska's first United States Senator in 1959, Josephson continued as his legislative assistant until 1960. Josephson earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Chicago in 1953 and attended Columbia University Law School from 1953 to 1955, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He finished his law degree at the Catholic University of America in 1960. He was appointed that year by President John F. Kennedy as the Chair of the Alaska Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He was admitted to the Alaska Bar Association in 1961 and 1962 and was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives. He held that position until 1966, when he became a member of the Anchorage City Council, later of the Borough Assembly. Following the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Josephson also served as State Co-Chair of the Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission, appointed by Alaska Governor Bill Egan. Josephson served his first term in the Alaska State Senate from 1968 to 1972. In 1975, he was vice-chair of the Anchorage Charter Commission, which unified the Anchorage Borough and City of Anchorage. Between 1982 and 1988, he served again in the Alaska State Senate. He has served as president of the boards of Southcentral Alaska Red Cross, Congregation Beth Sholom, and Out North Theatre, and as a board member for Alaska Civil Liberties Union, Child Care Connection, Cook Inlet Historical Society, and Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship was also an adjunct instructor at UAA. Josephson, a husband and father of five, continues to practice law in Anchorage.

After a career as a teacher and prosecutor,  Andy Josephson was elected to the Alaska State House of Representatives in 2013 and has continued to serve there since. His father came to Alaska in the 50s to work for Bob Bartlett in his quest to achieve statehood, and his grandfather founded the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in the 1930s. Andy is a West High graduate with a BA in History from Whitman College, a Master’s in Teaching from UAA, and a law degree from Penn State, and has lived and worked in six communities across Alaska.  He has worked as an intern with U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, a legislative aide, a public school teacher, an assistant district attorney, a lawyer in private practice, and an adjunct professor at UAA. Andy and his wife, Donna, live in Anchorage and enjoy kayaking, backpacking, tennis, swimming, and baseball.

The podcast has been edited to eliminate “dead spots” and  maintain a semblance of order. Each "dead spot" is filled with two seconds of static.