Gov.-elect Sarah Palin started filling jobs Tuesday, choosing Anchorage's former police chief to run the state troopers and selecting the head of a state prison farm in the Valley to guide the Department of Corrections.
Palin also said that, at least for now, former Department of Natural Resources deputy commissioner Marty Rutherford will fill in as DNR chief.
Rutherford was one of six DNR officials who resigned last year after their boss, commissioner Tom Irwin, left his job in a much-publicized clash with Gov. Frank Murkowski over the administration's natural gas pipeline negotiations. Rutherford will join Palin next week in talks with oil and gas companies and independents interested in building a gas line from the North Slope.
"We're trying again," she said.
Walt Monegan recently retired as Anchorage police chief, at the request of Mayor Mark Begich, after 32 years on the force. He'll now be Palin's Public Safety commissioner, overseeing the troopers, state fire marshal and wildlife protection officers, among other offices. Monegan lives in Chugiak.
The new Department of Corrections commissioner, Joe Schmidt, is from Wasilla, where he and Palin attended high school together. As corrections commissioner, he'll oversee the state's prisons and the parole/probation offices.
Rutherford lives in Anchorage. The DNR head oversees a broad range of agencies, from the Oil and Gas Division to the forestry and mining offices to state parks.
Palin, who expects to announce more members of her cabinet Thursday, said she wouldn't force any of the commissioners to move to Juneau.
MONEGAN
Palin said one of the first things she wants Monegan to do is work on separating Alaska State Troopers back into two different flavors -- brown shirts and blue shirts.
Before 2003, "blue shirts" were the troopers who pulled you over for speeding or raced off to far-flung villages to investigate crimes. The brown shirts enforced hunting and fishing rules as part of the state's Division of Fish and Wildlife Protection.
Murkowski's public safety commissioner, Bill Tandeske, blended the two divisions. One reason was to save money. But critics -- including Murkowski's boards of fisheries and game, in an unusual public criticism of the administration -- say it led to weaker wildlife enforcement.
Palin couldn't say Tuesday how much separating the two jobs again would cost the state.
Monegan, 55, grew up in the village of Nyac, about 60 miles outside Bethel and is a facilitator for the Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission.
Palin described his familiarity with rural Alaska and experience running a large department as reasons he's right for the job.
Monegan was Anchorage police chief for about five-and-a-half years. He retired in September, though Begich spokeswoman Julie Hasquet said Monegan had originally planned to leave a year later.
Monegan explained it like this: "The mayor decided to make a change, and that's his prerogative and I respect that. So I retired."
Hasquet said Monegan did an "excellent" job as police chief and that the move to replace Monegan was about timing, not performance.
As for the city's reputation for growing violence and gang activity, Monegan said the image isn't necessarily earned. Take this past summer, for example.
"We actually had a higher number of instances, violent instances, the previous summer, but they were not as well publicized because they weren't in very public places like Mulcahy (Stadium), or during the campaign," Monegan said, referring to gunfire at a football game and outside Murkowski's re-election headquarters.
RUTHERFORD
Rutherford, 55, worked as the deputy DNR commissioner for more than a decade before resigning alongside Irwin last year.
Palin said it was Rutherford's idea to take the job on a temporary basis. Starting Monday, Rutherford will be on leave from her job as director of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office, she said. "I'm excited to do this and help while I can, and we'll see how things evolve."
Irwin, Murkowski's former Natural Resources chief and a Palin supporter during the election, is leading Palin's DNR transition team. Asked if he'll play a permanent role in the new administration, Palin spokesman Curtis Smith said it's no secret Palin wants Irwin on the team.
"At what level, and what kind of time frame that we're talking about, is still undetermined."
Reached on his cell phone Tuesday, Irwin said he didn't want to speculate about his future, but praised the appointment of Rutherford. He said that after leaving DNR, he went to work as vice president of government and public affairs for Golden Valley Electric Association, which provides power to Fairbanks.
SCHMIDT
Schmidt began his career in corrections nearly 20 years ago, and for the past year and a half has run the Point MacKenzie Correctional Farm, a 115-bed minimum security facility about 25 miles outside Wasilla.
At the farm, prisoners grow vegetables such as cabbage, squash and Brussels sprouts for the Department of Corrections. Schmidt, 41, said he started a program requiring every man who works there to be on his way to earning a GED.
From 2003 to 2005, Schmidt's resume says he was the superintendent in charge of merging the Cook Inlet Pre-Trial and the Anchorage Jail into what's now known as the Anchorage Correctional Complex.
There's an ongoing debate in the Valley about where a new prison should go, and while Schmidt says he has his preference, he wasn't ready to name it until locals have their say at public meetings.
He did say he wouldn't try to put the prison outside Palmer -- where residents don't want it -- because the prisoners won't be headed to court every day, so there's no need to put them close to the Palmer courthouse.
Schmidt may be an unfamiliar name statewide, but he's known Palin for years. Both attended Wasilla High School -- Schmidt graduated in 1984, Palin in 1982 -- and worked at the same local restaurant.
"She was making ice cream cones and I was making hamburgers."
Daily News reporter Kyle Hopkins can be reached at khopkins@adn.com.
• WALT MONEGAN, Department of Public Safety: Recently retired as police chief after a 32-year career with the Anchorage Police Department.
• joe schmidt, Department of Corrections: Superintendent of the Point MacKenzie Correctional Farm.
• MARTY RUTHERFORD, Department of Natural Resources: Former deputy commissioner of the department. Commissioners
