Bruce Botelho

Bruce M. Botelho (born October 6, 1948) is an American attorney and politician in the U.S. state of Alaska.

Bruce M. Botelho was born in Juneau, Alaska, on October 6, 1948.

He was raised in that city and in Anchorage, graduating from Juneau-Douglas High School in 1966, after which he attended school in Germany as an exchange student.

He graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, with a Bachelor of Arts in German Literature in 1971.

Botelho then went to law school and graduated from Willamette's School of Law with a Juris Doctor in 1976.

He also earned a ZP (Germanistik), at Ruprecht Karl Universität in Heidelberg, Germany.

During law school, Botelho clerked for the office of Oregon Legislative Counsel, the Oregon Law Improvement Commission and Alaska Supreme Court Justice Edmond Burke.

Immediately following law school, in 1976 Botelho was appointed an assistant attorney general in the Alaska Department of Law, where he represented the departments of commerce and economic development and revenue.

In 1978 he was promoted to section supervising attorney for the human services section which provided legal services to the departments of health and social services, labor and education.

He served as counsel to the state board of education.

In 1978, under the leadership of Governor Jay Hammond, Alaska established its coastal zone management program to undertake land-use planning, permitting to regulate development and habitat restoration in coastal regions.

In 1983 he was appointed deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Revenue, a position he held until May 1986.

There he oversaw the state's tax programs, child support enforcement, permanent fund dividends, charitable gaming, and alcohol beverage control.

Botelho began his political career in 1983 when he was elected to the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly.

Botelho had returned to the Alaska Department of Law in mid-1987 as supervising attorney of the oil and gas section.

He served as the mayor of Juneau from 1988 to 1991 and from 2003 to 2012.

Born and raised in Juneau, where his father was a top official of the Alaska Highway Patrol, Botelho has pursued concurrent careers in law and politics, largely with success.

He also previously served a term as mayor from 1988 to 1991, defeating former Alaska Secretary of State Robert W. Ward in the election.

He spent most of his professional career as an employee of the Alaska Department of Law.

He was elected as mayor of Juneau in October 1988, defeating former Lieutenant Governor Robert W. Ward, serving until October 1991.

In February 1992 he was appointed as deputy attorney general for Alaska.

He rose to the top position in the department in 1994, when Governor Walter Hickel appointed him to be the Alaska Attorney General.

Retained by Hickel's successor, Tony Knowles, Botelho served as Attorney General for nearly nine years before retiring from state service.

On January 12, 1994 he was appointed by Governor Walter J. Hickel as Attorney General and confirmed by the Alaska Legislature that May.

In December 1994, Governor Hickel was succeeded by Tony Knowles, who asked Botelho to continue in office.

Alaska’s program obtained federal recognition and funding, but was substantially weakened in the mid-2000’s and ultimately abolished in 2011.

Botelho organized and led a citizen’s initiative to restore the program, collecting the requisite signatures in record time.

He served until December 2002.

As Attorney General, Botelho chaired the Criminal Justice Council and served as a trustee to the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation.

He also chaired the Children's Confidentiality Task Force, the state team on state-tribal relations, the Governors Conference on Youth and Justice, and co-chaired the Criminal Justice Assessment Commission.

He served as chief of staff for the Governor's Task Force on Civil Justice Reform and the Governor's Subsistence Task Force.

He was an initial trustee of the Alaska Children's Trust.

Major accomplishments of his tenure included oil and gas tax and royalty settlements in excess of $3 billion, settlement of the Alaska mental health lands trust litigation, lifting of the blockade of the Alaska state ferry Malaspina, Alaska's participation in the national tobacco litigation, natural resource and environmental protection actions against Tyson Seafood Group and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and reinvigorated antitrust enforcement including propane litigation and the Carrs-Safeway grocery and BP Amoco-Arco mergers.

In October 2003, he was elected to his second term as mayor of Juneau.

Botelho was re-elected in October 2006 and again in October 2009.

Botelho left office in 2012 after being term-limited.

He was succeeded by Merrill Sanford.

With 12 years served as mayor, Botelho is the longest-serving mayor in Juneau's history.

However, opposition to the initiative from the resource extraction industry led to a decisive defeat for the initiative in the August 2012 primary election.

Today, with the exception of Alaska, all 35 coastal and Great Lakes states and territories participate in the National Coastal Zone Management Program.