Bernadette Wilson listens as the Commonwealth North Gubernatorial Candidate Meet & Greet event gets started at Wildbirch Hotel in Anchorage on July 20. (Marc Lester / ADN)
The sons of former Gov. Wally Hickel are asking gubernatorial candidate Bernadette Wilson — Hickel’s great-niece — to cease promoting what they call “a false narrative” about her connection with the former governor.
“While neither we nor our company wish to have any involvement in this year’s governor’s race, we cannot allow Governor Hickel’s memory to be misused for political gain,” four of Wally Hickel’s sons wrote in a letter from the Hickel Investment Company addressed to Wilson and shared with news outlets on Friday.
Wilson, 42, is one of 12 Republican candidates in this year’s gubernatorial race, out of a total of 17 candidates. She has prominently emphasized her relation to Hickel, who died in 2010, on her campaign materials since entering the governor’s race last year.
Wilson did not respond to a call seeking comment on the letter.
Wilson’s connection to Hickel is through her maternal grandfather, Vernon Hickel, who was the former governor’s younger brother. Vernon Hickel, the seventh out of 10 children, followed his older brother to Alaska in 1948.
Ermalee and Walter Hickel hit the dance floor in January of 1991. (Anchorage Times archive)
Vernon Hickel had 17 children, according to his obituary. Among them was Roberta Zipay, Bernadette Wilson’s mother. At the time of Vernon’s death in 2016, his obituary stated that he had 72 grandchildren. Bernadette Wilson is among them.
Wilson has previously shared that she was born in Kenai. Her parents got divorced when she was young, she said, and she was raised by her mother in Anchorage. She has hosted a talk radio show and owns a garbage disposal company. She has not previously held public office.
Wilson has mounted a conservative campaign, criticizing centrist and left-leaning lawmakers and calling for larger cash payments to Alaskans from the Permanent Fund earnings. But the Hickels did not make clear if they found any particular policy proposal objectionable.
Wally Hickel III, one of the four sons who signed the letter, declined an interview request.
Former Gov. Wally Hickel led the state from 1966-1969 and from 1990-1994, working to promote resource development. He was a member of the Republican Party for most of his career, but was later elected as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party.
The letter accuses Wilson of pushing “the narrative that Governor Hickel would endorse your candidacy if he were still alive, and that your agenda is a continuation of Governor Hickel’s ideals and legacy.” It goes on to say that her campaign “promotes the false narrative that there is some sort of close connection between Governor Hickel and your candidacy. That has unwanted political consequences for everyone who bears his name and continues his businesses.”
“There is no connection between Governor Hickel, who died sixteen years ago, and this campaign,” the letter states.
The late governor’s sons, who hold a controlling share of the Hickel Investment Company, go on to call Wilson’s use of their father’s image and legacy “misleading and disrespectful.”
The Hickel Investment Company is a real estate development firm whose holdings include downtown Anchorage’s Hotel Captain Cook.
According to filings with the state, one of Vernon Hickel’s sons, who is also named Vernon, has contributed $1,000 to his niece’s campaign. Wally Hickel III, who signed the letter, also gave Wilson’s campaign $500 earlier this month. None of Hickel’s other sons contributed to gubernatorial campaigns this year.
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