Politics

Legislature confirms corrections head, rejects game board appointee

JUNEAU — The Alaska Legislature on Friday confirmed Dean Williams as the state corrections commissioner in spite of criticism from the corrections officers union, but lawmakers rejected one of Gov. Bill Walker's nominees for the Board of Game.

Williams' 49 to 9 approval by the full House and Senate came five months after he released a report, commissioned by Walker's administration, that found widespread dysfunction in the corrections department that may have led to deaths of inmates.

The report faced opposition from corrections officers, who said it was inaccurate and incomplete. But several lawmakers said Friday that they supported Williams because he wanted to reform the state's prison system.

Of about 80 appointees, just one was rejected: Guy Trimmingham, a 63-year-old electrical technician and former licensed hunting guide whom Walker wanted on the Game Board.

Lawmakers subjected him to a barrage of criticism before rejecting him by a 46 to 12 vote. Sen. Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, said Trimmingham appeared interested in striking a balance on the board between hunters and non-hunters.

"It's not about balance. They always want balance but they don't pay fees. I don't know of a camera fee that they pay so that you can take a photograph of a moose," Kelly said. "We hunters pay fees. We pay fees for the management of a resource so that we can use it and consume it. And that's a good thing, and I don't think Guy Trimmingham fits that."

In a phone interview from Anchorage late Friday, Trimmingham said he was "blindsided" by the criticism and had been "very, very misrepresented."

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"I guided for 20, 25 years for bear, caribou and sheep — all of them," he said. "I am in nobody's pocket. And that's my impression of what our governor was looking for: somebody who could represent all the people of Alaska."

Trimmingham, who lives in the tiny town of Hope, across Turnagain Arm from Anchorage, acknowledged that he has taken pictures of wildlife and may have "used the word 'photograph' somewhere."

But he also said he doesn't reject the idea of "intensive management," particularly in rural areas. The state's intensive management law allows wildlife managers, under certain conditions, to take actions like improving habitat or killing predator species like wolves and bears.

Sam Cotten, Walker's Fish and Game commissioner, said Trimmingham was selected as someone "who might have some balance between that of an active hunter as well as a person that might appreciate non-consumptive uses."

"Guy said, 'Sure, I can appreciate their perspective,'" Cotten said in a phone interview. But, Cotten added: "He is still a hunter."

Cotten said he heard of one hunting group lobbying against Trimmingham, but added that he'd heard a lot about opposition to another game board nominee, Nate Turner.

Turner was ultimately approved by a 45 to 13 vote.

One of the only other appointees to face significant opposition was Luke Hopkins, a Democrat and the former mayor of the Fairbanks North Star Borough.

Walker appointed Hopkins to the board of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp, which is charged with developing a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope. Hopkins, who needed to be confirmed by a majority of the Legislature's 60 members, was narrowly approved in a 31 to 27 vote.

Nathaniel Herz

Anchorage-based independent journalist Nathaniel Herz has been a reporter in Alaska for nearly a decade, with stints at the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. Read his newsletter, Northern Journal, at natherz.substack.com

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