Attorney general resigns

DAWN De BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

Attorney General Gregg Renkes announced his resignation Saturday, less than a month after a former U.S. Attorney issued a much-debated report clearing Renkes of breaches of the state's executive branch ethics code stemming from his connection with a Denver coal-processing company.

Renkes cited preserving his family life as his number-one reason for stepping down from his position.

"I must now focus my time and energy on my family. I have survived on their support for many months and now I must support and protect them," Renkes said, in a statement released Saturday. "The time has come to remove my family from the vicious politics of personal destruction. I must leave this office and this privilege I have treasured and held dear. A family is priceless; a job can be done by others."

"Gregg Renkes' departure from my administration is an unfortunate loss," Gov. Frank Murkowski stated in a press release Monday. "Gregg's decision to resign was his own and I respect that decision. The vicious attacks over the last four months while the Bundy review was proceeding have been very difficult for Gregg and his family as well."

Independent investigator Robert Bundy was asked to determine whether Renkes engaged in improper and unethical activities when he took part in negotiations with Taiwanese officials about purchases of coal processed in a method patented by KFx, a company in which Renkes owned stock.

Bundy found no direct infractions of the state's ethics code, but did say Renkes had stepped close to the line. Bundy's report called for the governor to take steps to establish tighter ethics standards.

Renkes, at one point, owned $126,125 worth of KFx stock - an amount Bundy deemed "insignificant," in light of the fact that guidelines in the state of Alaska provide no specifics about when a public official's investment in a company rises to the level of being considered a conflict of interest. Renkes sold his KFx shares in October, donating profits to charity and moving his investments into a blind trust.

A recent Anchorage Daily News article stated that Democratic Rep. Eric Croft said he planned to withdraw complaints against Renkes. He and former Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin, a Republican, presented their complaints about Renkes's behavior to the state personnel board.

"We don't know if the complaint should be withdrawn," Palin said in a telephone interview Monday. "On the surface it looks like the board can only investigate state employees and not former employees."

Palin believes there are still many questions that need to be answered about Renkes's actions.

"He deleted e-mails - a day after news articles revealed his involvement in KFx. Was that tampering with evidence?" Palin said. "A very important question: Was he truthful when he said to public and press that he didn't play a pivotal role, or significant role, in putting together the billion-dollar deal? Can he pass the straight-face test? He swore under oath that he didn't know that the media was exposing his financial interests in KFx and that same day he deleted all those e-mails. He deleted two years worth of e-mail and claimed it was just a coincidence."

Bundy, in his report, stated that Renkes used poor judgment in deleting a large volume of e-mails from his office computer the same day news reports were published about his ties to KFx.

Murkowski, in a release, defended the man he had worked with for more than 18 years.

"I know him to be a man of integrity and commitment to public service," Murkowski said in his news release Monday. "Gregg's knowledge, enthusiasm and intellect have made a huge contribution to a broad array of issues important to Alaska, including rural justice."

Renkes stepped up to the post of attorney general after his confirmation by the Alaska Legislature on March 4, 2003.

Prior to serving as attorney general, Renkes served as majority staff director of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources from 1995 to 1998. Renkes also acted as chief of staff and chief counsel to Frank Murkowski, who was then U.S. senator. He presided over the Alaska Department of Law, managing a $55-million budget and 500 employees.

Murkowski will appoint an acting attorney general later this week; however, the governor hasn't released names of candidates he might have in mind for

the position.