Reggie Joule

Reggie Joule is an Alaskan politician born on 14 July 1952 who held elected office at two levels of government in the Northwest Arctic region. He sat in the Alaska House of Representatives for the 40th District from 1997 to 2012, first as a Democrat and, from the start of the 26th Legislature in January 2008, as one of the rural Democrats who caucused with the Republican-led House majority. In the House he served on the Finance Committee and chaired finance subcommittees covering health and social services, environmental conservation and the University of Alaska, and he sat on committees for economic development and for education funding. He then served one three-year term as mayor of the Northwest Arctic Borough from 2012 to 2015, during which President Obama appointed him to a federal task force of state, local and tribal leaders on climate preparedness and resilience, and he hosted the first presidential visit to the Alaskan Arctic. He announced that he would retire from public service when that term ended, and he was succeeded as mayor by Clement Richards Sr. Outside politics he is known as a blanket toss champion at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics and was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.