Heidemann’s path to Legislature paved with gold

Above: Sen. Heidemann at Mount Iliamna, an active volcano in Johnson River, Alaska, near the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.

Sen. Lavon Heidemann proudly admits that he spent a great deal of his life as a gold digger. In 1978, two years out of high school, he began working for a company that was drilling for gold on his Elk Creek family farm. The company hired him full time in 1983.

Soon after his hire, the drilling company announced it needed a crew foreman in Alaska – within 24 hours.

“Hey, why not?” was the senator’s response.

The next morning, Heidemann was on a plane to Sand Point, Alaska. After that, he split his time between drilling for gold in Alaska and coming home to work on the farm in Elk Creek.

“People started to say I had wanderlust,” he said. “It just gets into your blood, I guess. Some days were boring, but other days were really an adventure.”

Drilling next to an active volcano often made the work more exciting, he said. When it occasionally erupted, the crew took cover behind the drill to dodge pieces of flying rock.

Heidemann left the drilling operation in 1995 to work full time for his family farming operation.

Before he ever considered running for office, Heidemann was interested in the differences of opinions brought out by political issues. He was inspired to run for office when he became frustrated by issues that were important to him.

“I finally realized that complaining to myself about it wasn’t doing any good,” he said. “I figured I should probably do something about it.”

The idea was immediately backed by his wife, Robin. The senator says he couldn’t have won without her.

“She helped with 14 parades, five or six county fairs,” he said. “We gave out 12,000 pens for the campaign and stayed up all night beforehand making lollipops to give away. We must have made 5,000 of them.”

The fact that he was becoming a senator didn’t sink in for Heidemann until just before session began.

“When we first walked into the Warner Chamber, it first hit me—the bigness of it all,” he said.

The unexpected departure of Gov. Mike Johanns shortly after the 2004 election created confusion for some Heidemann supporters. When the media announced that then-Lt. Gov. Dave Heineman would become governor, Heidemann’s office received several calls from constituents who wondered why the newly elected senator was leaving to become governor even before taking office.

“I guess the names are pretty similar,” he joked.

His first impressions of the job?

“I never realized how much opportunity there would be to help people in the district,” he said.

“Some things are really small, but they can really help someone out.”

“It’s not all just about lawmaking,” he said. “It’s about helping people and staying in touch.”