Talk:William K. Boardman

Considering that this is occurring right now, I thought I would offer some fun facts in case anyone feels like making this into anything other than another database/directory entry:


 * Rather than as an insurance businessman, Boardman was better known in Ketchikan outside of politics as the manager of the local chamber of commerce.
 * Boardman was involved in the first controversial election contest for state office. In 1958, he ran for state senate against W. O. "Bo" Smith, who was Ketchikan's representative to the constitutional convention.  The election hadn't quite been resolved for this office by the time the legislature convened.  Boardman was present in the Senate chambers on the first day of the session expecting to be sworn in, but several Democrats objected to that.  What is known is that Smith was eventually certified the winner and sworn in.  Other details are scarce without looking up newspaper articles on microfilm, but I believe the results wound up in court (which happened with other legislative contests in 1976, 1986 and 1988 that I can recall offhand).
 * Boardman was the senior member of the House when he lost reelection in 1970 to Democrat and lawyer Richard "Dick" Whittaker. Whittaker only served one term in the House, losing renomination to 22 year old Terry Gardiner.  Whittaker was the father of Jed Whittaker, who in 1996 as the Green Party nominee for U.S. Senate outpolled the Democratic nominee, Theresa Obermeyer.
 * In 1971, Boardman married for the third time to Genie Chance, who served her first term in the House during the same session as his last term. That same year, she was divorced from Winston Chance, her husband of nearly a quarter century.  Chance was also a Democrat, who went on to serve several terms in the House and an abbreviated term in the Senate.

Hope this helps. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 18:35, 8 September 2014 (UTC)