BETHEL -- The Walker administration reached into the ranks of experienced prosecutors and named Fairbanks District Attorney J. Michael Gray to fill the job in Bethel.
Gray will replace June Stein, who was fired at Gov. Bill Walker's direction. He said she wasn't a good fit for the rural hub. Her last day as DA was Monday and she's considering another job with the state Department of Law in Anchorage.
Attorney General Craig Richards announced Friday that Gray, who also served as Kodiak district attorney, will take the job. Neither Richards nor Gray responded to requests for interviews Friday.
"Mike's 20 years as a prosecutor in Alaska, including his extensive experience running the Fairbanks and Kodiak DA offices, make him a great fit for the Bethel region," Richards said in a written statement. "Throughout his career, Mike has been able to build relationships between prosecutors, law enforcement and the communities he's worked in, while running an excellent office."
Gray began his career in 1983 as a legal aid attorney serving low-income people in rural southern Virginia, the Department of Law said in the written statement. He earned his law degree in 1981 from The Marshall-Wythe School of Law at The College of William and Mary. He became managing partner of a Virginia law firm but left in 1994 "to follow his dream of living in Alaska," the Department of Law said.
He landed in Kodiak and began working as a prosecutor there in 1995. He rose up to become district attorney there in 1998. Ten years later he took the top job in Fairbanks.
Gray plans to take over as Bethel district attorney on April 1 but will begin helping the office right away to ensure a smooth transition, the department said.
Chris Carpeneti, an assistant DA, is serving as acting district attorney but has announced he is resigning April 3.
Gray's new salary is still being calculated. His annual salary in Fairbanks was $162,684, according to the state Division of Personnel and Labor Relations. His pay there was frozen under legislation passed in 2013 that lowered the geographic differential for Fairbanks to 3 percent above Anchorage.
Bethel has a 50 percent boost.
Stein, a prosecutor for more than 25 years and DA in Bethel since 2011, said she is using a month of accumulated leave time to decide what to do next. She said she initially was told she was being fired. She was given a separation package and a final date of employment.
But last week John Skidmore, director of the criminal division, offered her a still-unspecified job in Anchorage with the law department, she said. After that, Richards called her and apologized for how the situation played out. She is going to think about that while she packs up her Bethel home.
"I don't know if I'm going to get past how I've been treated, or how I feel I've been treated," she said. "I don't know if I want to work for the department. I don't know if I want to work for this administration."
Deputy Attorney General Rick Svobodny emailed her last week to see if she would stay on the job another four months. She declined.
"I am not only a lame duck," she said she responded, "I am a lame duck with broken wings."
As soon as news about Gray's appointment broke Friday morning, her phone started dinging with incoming texts.
"I wish him all the best," she said. "I hope it works well for him and for Bethel."
The Department of Law now is recruiting for a new Fairbanks district attorney as well as a replacement for Carpeneti. Svobodny expects both positions to be filled in a few weeks, according to the written statement.
The attorney general appoints district attorneys, but the selections must be approved by the governor, Svobodny has said.