Jake Metcalfe is an attorney, union manager, and politician, a former chair of the Alaska Democratic Party [1] and a former Anchorage School Board President. On July 30, 2007, Metcalfe announced his intention to run for Alaska's At-large congressional district in 2008.[2] In May 2008, he dropped out of the race, after a former campaign worker was accused of establishing fake websites about one of his primary opponents, Ethan Berkowitz [3].
His biography is as follows:
James Kerr “Jake” Metcalfe is a fourth generation Alaskan, born on April 3, 1958, in Juneau, Alaska. His maternal great-grandfather, Patrick Flynn, came to Alaska at the turn of the 20th century to help build and work on the White Pass and Yukon Route from Skagway, Alaska to the Yukon Territory.
On his father’s side, the family moved from central Washington to Juneau and started Metcalfe’s Sheet Metal in 1941. After service with the U.S. Army, Vern Metcalfe, Sr. returned to Juneau where he married lifelong Juneau resident Pat McAlister in 1948. They had nine children, seven of whom still live in Alaska. Jake’s father, Vern, served in the Legislature of the Alaska Territory during the mid-1950s and later became a well known radio broadcaster, newspaper editor and pioneer TV reporter in Juneau. Two siblings, Peter and Kim Metcalfe, have written books on Alaska Native History.
Jake started work at the age of five, helping his big brothers sell newspapers, and by the age of eight, he had his own business, a shoeshine stand in a popular barber shop where he shined the shoes of most of Alaska’s leading politicians.