A University of Alaska regent who refused to leave his post despite being indicted on multiple federal charges has changed course and resigned from the board.

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Jim Hayes, who also is a former Fairbanks mayor, told Gov. Sarah Palin in a letter Friday that he didn't want his legal problems to distract from Alaska's universities and the regents who oversee them. He also wrote that he needed to care for his wife, who had a stroke last year, and to prepare for his defense.

Hayes said he is innocent of the charges pending against him.

"Furthermore, no one has said, even recently, that throughout my tenure as a (r)egent I have not well served the interests of the (u)niversity," Hayes wrote to the governor. "So I have long thought that I had no good reason to resign."

Hayes and his wife, Chris, are accused of misusing government grant money intended for a private agency, Love Social Services Center, that was run by Chris. The money, more than $2.7 million in all, was supposed to help low-income kids.

Instead, the indictment says, the couple siphoned off more than $450,000 toward construction of a church where Hayes is pastor and for personal expenses including a plasma TV for their home and a family wedding reception. They are charged with fraud and money laundering. The Fairbanks church is Lily of the Valley Church of God in Christ.

The grants came to the Love organization through earmarks by U.S. Sen. Ten Stevens, R-Alaska, according to reports by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Pressure on Hayes to resign has been intense in Juneau.

Palin asked Hayes to step down soon after a federal grand jury indicted him in January, but he refused. A legal opinion said she couldn't force him out "without cause."

"I feel as though a cloud over the (u)niversity has been lifted and the (r)egents can now focus on the (u)niversity's issues and move forward," the governor said in a written statement Friday.

On Wednesday, a state Senate committee held the first hearing on a resolution to impeach Hayes. If the resolution passed the Senate, the House would have held an impeachment trial.

Sen. Bettye Davis, D-Anchorage and chairwoman of the Senate Health Education and Social Services Committee, said Hayes asked for time to figure out what he was going to do so she didn't schedule a hearing on the resolution until two months after it was filed.

Sen. Tom Wagoner, R-Kenai, said he thinks the hearing alone was enough to put pressure on Hayes.

"Had it not been for that resolution and finally getting a hearing on that resolution and him understanding that we were not going to drop that resolution... had that not happened, no, I don't think Jim Hayes would have resigned," Wagoner said. The measure had wide support, Wagoner said, especially from students.

In his resignation letter, Hayes thanked Davis, Senate President Lyda Green and Sen. Joe Thomas, D-Fairbanks, for giving him time.

"Their thoughtfulness has enabled me to voluntarily choose the right path, free of statutory impeachment proceedings," Hayes wrote.

While impeachment won't happen, a related bill -- to allow the governor to suspend a regent facing criminal charges -- is moving along.

"We think the bill is good public policy whether it is Mr. Hayes or anyone else," state Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage, said Friday. House Bill 237 is being sponsored by the State Affairs Committee, which he chairs. Its first hearing is next week.

The chairwoman of the Board of Regents, Mary Hughes of Anchorage, pointed out in a written statement that the federal criminal case against Hayes doesn't involve any university money. She thanked Hayes for serving on the board. Still, according to the indictment, Hayes used his position as a regent to push for grants for his wife's agency, without revealing their relationship.

Hayes was appointed in 2003 by then- Gov. Frank Murkowski. His term would have ended in 2011. He was mayor of the City of Fairbanks from 1992-2001.

Palin's office said she would appoint a replacement soon.

Daily News reporter Lisa Demer can be reached at ldemer@adn.com and 257-4390.