Anchorage Daily News

Alaskans have argued for generations over the location of the state capital, about access and power and the weather in Juneau. But in just two years, and with hardly any debate, Gov. Sarah Palin has shifted the center of state government to Anchorage.

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Where Palin’s commissioners are based

Juneau

• Annette Kreitzer, Department of Administration

• Larry LeDoux, Education and Early Development

• Denby Lloyd, Fish and Game

Anchorage

• Craig Campbell, Military and Veterans Affairs (Fort Richardson)

• Talis Colberg, Attorney General

• Patrick Galvin, Revenue

• Larry Hartig, Environmental Conservation

• William Hogan, Health and Social Services

• Joseph Masters, Public Safety

• Emil Notti, Commerce, Community and Economic Development

• Joe Schmidt, Corrections

• Leo von Scheben, Transportation

Fairbanks

• Click Bishop, Labor

• Tom Irwin, Natural Resources

Source: Department of Administration

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Juneau still gets the state Legislature -- at least during the 90 days a year when lawmakers are in regular session. But the governor's mansion in Juneau sits empty for most of the year, as Palin chooses to govern from the Atwood Building in downtown Anchorage and commute to her home in Wasilla. Only three of her 14 commissioners live in Juneau, a huge change from previous governors who insisted cabinet members live and work in the capital city.

Juneau's legislators say they are glumly counting up the number of state jobs shipped from their town.

"This administration has had the biggest pull of people out of Juneau we've seen," said state Rep Beth Kerttula, a Juneau Democrat. "As one of Juneau's representatives, it's been extremely difficult because we have constituents call us in almost a panic."

But Anchorage and Southcentral Alaska is Alaska's business and population center, a city that is growing while Juneau is not. It is a familiar argument that it just makes sense for government to be there, rather than out in the Southeast panhandle.

Palmer Republican Rep. Carl Gatto, who has tried to move the Legislature from Juneau, said Palin made the right choice in not following the tradition of living in the capital.

"She's got an office right there in Anchorage. That's where the commissioners are, that's where the business people are, that's where the largest community in the state is, that's where her staff is," he said.

Of course, it's because of Palin that her staff and commissioners are there. She's the first governor in the history of Alaska to run the state mostly from Anchorage. It's a major shift that's happened quietly, with no grand pronouncement and not a lot of discussion.

The location of the state capital has been one of Alaska's most emotional issues over the years. Ten times in the past 47 years voters wrestled with the issue of moving the seat of government, or the Legislature. The most recent statewide vote was in 2002, when two-thirds of Alaskans voted against a proposition to move legislative sessions to the Mat-Su Borough. But what's happening now is much more subtle. Palin said this month that she is proud to support Juneau continuing as the state capital. But she's clearly voting with her feet.

GOVERNOR LEADS THE WAY

When Palin held the traditional Christmas open house at the Alaska Governor's Mansion in Juneau on Dec. 9, it was her first trip to the capital city since August.

The most obvious reason for her absence was because she was out of the state most of that time running as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

But it's deeper than that.

Even before she joined the ticket of Sen. John McCain, Palin spent more than 300 days during her first 19 months as governor -- more than half the days -- living in her Wasilla home rather than the capital. Palin said she and her family plan to live in the governor's mansion during the upcoming session of the state Legislature, which runs from the end of January through the middle of April.

But after that she'll go back to mostly working out of Anchorage, said her spokesman, Bill McAllister.

Palin elaborated to top aides about her plan to shift government work to Anchorage in e-mails sent to staff members in March 2007, recently obtained through a public records request.

"Come end of legislative session i'm joining YOU, and the majority of the people of AK, by conducting the state's business where the people are -- where I can access them, and they can access me ... We're going to have to fundamentally change some perceptions of WHERE the admin needs to conduct its business in order to stay connected w/the world outside of Juneau," the governor wrote.

That is a different reason than Palin's deputy press secretary, Sharon Leighow, gave last month in a letter to the editor. Leighow, responding to a previous letter writer's complaint about Palin's refusal to live in Juneau, pointed to a "massive plumbing project" under way at the mansion.

Palin press secretary McAllister said the plumbing work, which is almost completed, is just one of the reasons that Palin chooses not to primarily live in Juneau.

"The point with the plumbing was that, even if she were inclined to be a year-round Juneau resident, there's a problem," McAllister said. "And there would have had to have been additional expenditures for lodging in Juneau."

When Palin resumes governing mostly from Anchorage after the legislative session, she plans to continue her practice of collecting per diem for time spent at her home in Wasilla.

Like other state officials, the governor is entitled to $60 a day per diem for food and incidentals, such as tips, while traveling on state business. That became an issue during her campaign for vice president, with critics saying she shouldn't get the money while based at home. Palin in recent interviews characterized it as a cost savings for the state, because she is not staying at a hotel or having the state rent an apartment in Anchorage, as her predecessor, Frank Murkowski, did.

"We said no, we just won't sell our house, knowing that we're going to spend quite a bit of time here ... and we would disclose my per diem, we wouldn't try to hide it," she said. "Trying to follow the rules and do what is legal and ethical and full disclosure."

But former Gov. Tony Knowles, who leased out his Anchorage home while in office and raised a family in the Juneau governor's mansion, argues it's inappropriate for Palin to charge the state per diem for time she chooses to spend in her home.

The purpose of the per diem is to cover expenses when away from home, he said

"If you live at home and you get up in the morning and have a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal, you don't charge the state $16 for breakfast," Knowles said.

SIGN OF THINGS TO COME?

Knowles said he encouraged his commissioners to live in Juneau and most did. Murkowski, the governor in between Knowles and Palin, was particularly adamant that his commissioners live in Juneau. His former press secretaries, John Manly and Becky Hultberg, recalled that only the commissioner of Military and Veterans Affairs got a pass because his department was based outside of Juneau, at the Alaska National Guard headquarters at Fort Richardson. Just three commissioners now have primary residence in the capital city under the Palin administration.

One is Annette Kreitzer of the Department of Administration. The others are Fish and Game commissioner Denby Lloyd, and the newly appointed education commissioner , Larry LeDoux.

The other 11 commissioners live outside Juneau, mostly Anchorage. Palin's position is that, as long as they are doing their jobs, place of residence is up to them. The majority of state employees work out of Anchorage, as has been the case for many years, and the commissioners are expected to go to Juneau when needed, the governor's office said.

Other high profile officials now based in Anchorage include Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, Attorney General Talis Colberg, Palin's legislative director and her press secretary, deputy press secretary and director of external communications. The director of the Anchorage office, Kris Perry, is said to be Palin's closest confidante and went with her on the vice presidential campaign trail as liaison to state government.

The state spent $25,000 this year to expand the size of the governor's offices on the 17th floor of the Atwood Building in downtown Anchorage, according to state records.

The state says there are still more governor's office employees working in Juneau than Anchorage, including Palin's chief of staff, Mike Nizich, and his deputy.

But not requiring commissioners to relocate to Juneau can help in recruiting to make sure the best people are in the job, say supporters of Palin's approach

Anchorage Republican Rep. Bob Lynn said the location isn't really an issue.

"I think this is the year 2008, we've got phones, cell phones, we've got fax, we've got especially computer. A lot of people in the private sector are working out of their homes. I think that it's a sign of things to come," Lynn said.

House Speaker John Harris said that if the governor can get people who will live in Juneau, she should.

"But you need to get the best people you can and if they won't live in Juneau you have to try and work around that," said Harris, a Republican from Valdez.

A big reason formal capital move attempts have lost at the polls is fear over the potential cost of relocating the Legislature and administrative facilities. Palin, while not pushing for such a sweeping change, has avoided that debate.

But the trend of government increasingly being run from Anchorage has Juneau legislators alarmed, especially because there's little uproar heard, even from the business community in Juneau. "This is Alaska, we shouldn't be centralizing everything, we shouldn't be having everything moving into one big city," said Kerttula.

Kerttula said it's more efficient for all the commissioners to be in the capital city rather than being scattered across the state. She's also worried about the Juneau economy, which is dependent on state government.

Southeast Alaska leaders say having the capital in Juneau is important for the regional economy as well, and Interior lawmakers prefer the capital be there than further concentration of power in Anchorage. State department of labor figures show Juneau has been steadily losing state jobs since 2003 -- three years before Palin was elected. Anchorage, meanwhile, has been gaining state jobs, a trend that's accelerated since Palin took office.

Juneau Democratic Sen. Kim Elton said he's counted about 200 state positions transferred from Juneau since Palin took office. He conceded other state jobs have been sent to Juneau, but not nearly as many, and said what's being lost is the higher paying and supervisory positions. "That's money not being spent on Juneau car lots, on Juneau restaurants, on Juneau real estate," he said.

Palin spokesman McAllister said he doesn't know if Elton's numbers are correct, and the governor doesn't micro-manage personnel activity. "There was no goal to move 200 jobs out of Juneau or whatever the real number is," McAllister said. "That would have just been the outcome of filling positions and the best place to have them."

Palin, a former mayor of Wasilla, once signed a petition to move the state legislative sessions from Juneau to her home area of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Shortly after Palin was elected governor in 2006, her husband, Todd, called Harris, the House speaker, to advocate moving government from Juneau.

"He was encouraging me to be supportive of moving either the Legislature or the capital, I can't remember which one," Harris said.

McAllister said Todd Palin was just expressing his own opinion. Sarah Palin has publicly stayed out of the contentious debate over where the Legislature should meet -- while doing her work in Anchorage.

"She did say during the campaign, and I believe has repeated since, that if the Legislature chose to do its business elsewhere, then she would not stand in their way," McAllister said.

Find Sean Cockerham online at adn.com/contact/scockerham or call him at 257-4344.