Gov. Bill Walker is downsizing Alaska's office in Washington, D.C., and will help fill in the gaps himself, with his Cabinet members and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott.
Walker announced last month he was firing the director of the Washington office, Kip Knudson, as well as associate directors Nathan Butzlaff and Thomas Crafford.
At the time, Walker's spokeswoman, Katie Marquette, said Knudson's replacement would be announced the same week. But, she said in an email this week: "Plans changed."
Now, Walker plans to give Butzlaff a 10 percent raise and leave Knudson's and Crafford's positions empty — a move that should save the state more than $400,000 each year as Alaska grapples with a $3 billion budget deficit.
"Gov. Walker, Lt. Gov. Mallott, and cabinet members, as appropriate, will take a more active role representing Alaska's interests in our nation's capital," Marquette said.
The Washington office essentially acts as Alaska's liaison and lobbyist to federal agencies and as an ally to the state's Congressional delegation.
It also operates as a kind of intelligence outpost, passing back information on political, legislative, and administrative activities to the governor's office, other state officials and sometimes to visiting Alaskans with public business in Washington.
There were five employees in the Washington office during the term of Republican Gov. Sean Parnell: Knudson, Butzlaff, and Crafford; another associate director, Kate Wolgemuth; and a researcher, Amy Dobson.
That number dropped to four when Wolgemuth left the office earlier this year for a job with Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan. Walker, a Republican-turned-independent, used that position to hire a special assistant based in Alaska, Dean Williams, who's now working on a review of the state's prison system.
Now, with the dismissal of Crafford and Knudson, who earned a $225,000 annual salary, the office will shrink to two people.
A smaller office, bolstered by an active governor and Cabinet, isn't an unusual model, said John Katz, Knudson's predecessor, who left the job in 2011 after three decades serving under Republican and Democratic bosses.
Katz, in a phone interview from his home in Washington, said there are "several different paradigms" for state offices in the capital — of which there were at least 38 when he retired.
"So, Gov. Walker is by no means alone in concluding that that's the kind of office he wants, particularly in difficult budget times," Katz said. "And the situation in D.C. is very different than it was when I was there, in terms of things getting done, or not getting done."
Walker has traveled to Washington several times since his election last year — most notably in August, when he flew to the East Coast for a trip back to Alaska with President Barack Obama aboard Air Force One.
Katz described the governor as a "disciple of personal advocacy," who would get help from a "trusty sidekick" in Mallott.
Butzlaff will keep his title as associate director, though he'll get a 10 percent raise, to $117,600, "to compensate him for his increased responsibilities," Marquette said.
Butzlaff is a former employee of U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens and U.S. Rep. Don Young, all of whom are Republicans. He's also lobbied the federal government for the cities of Cordova and Kenai, and was hired by Parnell's governor's office in 2012.
Documents released in response to a public records request last year showed Butzlaff, during Parnell's term, working with a coalition of governors focused on expanding states' access to offshore oil and gas deposits — and to the revenue derived from them.
An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity found that the coalition relied heavily on the work of a lobbying firm hired by an oil industry group.