For political junkies and policy wonks the turnover of a state administration, or a national one for that matter, is fascinating to watch. The transition for new Gov. Bill Walker is even more interesting because he is unknown to most Alaskans, and what skills he brings in grappling with serious problems we face is equally unknown.
Walker has spent much of his career in law suing oil companies on behalf of the city of Valdez, sometimes winning and sometimes losing, but other than a stint as Valdez mayor he has little experience in public office.
That's not bad, of course, because it means Walker is a clean slate.
We've had other governors that have come into office with little experience. Sarah Palin comes to mind, though she's not a happy example. Other governors, like Walter Hickel and Bill Sheffield, came in without government experience although they had backgrounds in business.
Walker comes in with experience in law and municipal affairs and was wise enough to quickly recruit some seasoned hands like former Fairbanks Mayor Jim Whitaker as chief of staff and Marty Rutherford and Marcia Davis at the departments of natural resources and revenue.
Walker has also made a very good choice with Valerie Davidson, a highly regarded advocate of rural health care, at the Department of Health and Social Services, although we would note that former commissioner Bill Streur was also well respected.
There is criticism that some of his other appointments are people with short resumes and smack of purely politics (gosh, how unusual) but Walker has political debts to pay to those who supported him, and we have to give him that. The "unity" ticket, a blend of Democrats and Republicans who merged to form this ticket, is highly unusual.
I am surprised, however, that so far there's been nothing for high-profile Democrats.
Some of the people Walker is dropping has attracted criticism, too. Mike Pawlowski, a highly regarded former deputy commissioner at revenue, was dropped by Walker.
Pawlowski should have been kept on for at least a while so that his knowledge of the complex natural gas project negotiations could have been used. I understand why Walker dropped Joe Balash, the commissioner of natural resources, because of Balash's rude comments about Walker during the campaign, but dropping technocrats like Pawlowski, or even revenue commissioner Angela Rodell, a specialist in finance and bonds, may prove to be costly.
This leaves the department of revenue a little light at the top (I understand Marcia Davis, the acting commissioner, is there only temporarily) at a time when the state faces hugely serious financial problems.
However, Walker's choices at DNR of Rutherford as deputy and Mark Myers (who has not yet fully taken over) as commissioner bring continued stability and strength to that agency, which had good leadership under Balash anyway, in my opinion.
Rutherford is a bit of a lightning rod for the business community and the Republican-led Legislature because of her role, as Sarah Palin's deputy DNR commissioner, as an architect of the failed Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, or AGIA, gas pipeline deal. Legislators are bitter about AGIA given the cost of it to the state, several hundred million dollars.
However, we've all learned from that, and it's a new day. In fact, Rutherford has just finished a stint in private industry, working for Linc Energy. No one argues she is one of the most experienced and skilled managers in state government.
Less is known about Marcia Davis, who is acting head at revenue until new commissioner Randy Hoffbeck arrives, but Davis has credentials as a former revenue deputy commissioner for tax and a legal career with BP, Era Aviation and most recently Calista Corp. She is bright, competent and for those who know her, high energy.
Jim Whitaker as chief of staff is an interesting choice. He and Walker go way back as former mayors and years of working together on gas pipeline issues (often in ways that discomforted industry).
What I appreciate about Whitaker, however, is that he is an independent thinker. When Whitaker was in the state Legislature, as a Republican, he joined two other independent Republicans, now-U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and current Anchorage chamber head Andrew Halcro, in a House "fiscal policy" caucus that had the courage to urge new revenue options.
That was, and is, decidedly against the grain of traditional Republican thinking in Juneau, including for Parnell.
We still haven't rearranged our state financial affairs, but Whitaker, Murkowski and Halcro demonstrated to others in the Legislature that these ideas could be talked about without incurring voters' wrath. Whitaker is a maverick who is willing to think outside the box, and we need that.
Walker's election and some of his appointments are causing some discomfort in the petroleum industry, which pays the bills for state government, but I think Walker is realist enough to understand that he needs the industry. The oil and gas companies are stuck with him, too, so everyone is going to have to find ways to make this work.
Walker says he wants to keep the big gas pipeline project on schedule. He certainty doesn't want it to crater while he's at the helm. Bringing back AGIA is not an option the Legislature will accept.
Walker also needs the industry to keep investing on the North Slope, to sustain oil production, because to have the state finances implode while he is governor isn't good thing either. This is made much more complicated by the scary slide in oil prices. This is no joke -- our state's financial reserves, except for the Permanent Fund, could be drained by 2019.
Walker must now woo the industry to keep its checkbook open, and to keep the pipeline project going. How he does that will be interesting to watch, particularly since many Democrats supported him in the belief he would be "tough" on industry.
This is called the test of leadership.
Tim Bradner is a natural resources writer for the Alaska Journal of Commerce.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary@alaskadispatch.com.