Dunleavy asks Parnell to head gas pipeline review; Tuckerman Babcock to be Chief of Staff

Governor-elect Mike Dunleavy has named former Gov. Sean Parnell to be his transition advisor on the $43 billion Alaska LNG Project.

Earlier, Dunleavy appointed the head of Alaska’s Republican Party, Tuckerman Babcock, as head of his transition team, and also that Babcock will be the new governor’s chief of staff when he takes office in December.

Brett Huber, a legislative staff veteran who worked with Dunleavy when he was a state senator representing the Mat-Su, was also named a senior policy advisor in the transition.

Dick Randolph, a Fairbanks state legislator in the 1960s and 1970s, was named to advise Dunleavy on constitutional issues.

Any plans by Dunleavy for constitutional amendments are unknown but when he was in senate he proposed a constitutional change to allow state funds to go to religious and private schools.

There are also reports, not yet confirmed, that Rep. Dan Saddler, R-Eagle River, will also help direct the transition policy team. Saddler lost his bid for the state Senate in a contest with Rep. Lora Reinbold, also of Eagle River, and will leave his seat in the state House in January.

Huber’s selection for the policy team is being met with approval because of his low-key manner and years of experience in legislative and natural resource issues. He was chief of staff and policy advisor to former state senators Rick Halford, Lesil McGuire and current Sen. Pete Kelly as well as Dunleavy. He is also a former program manager in the state Department of Fish and Game.

The choice of Babcock for chief of staff is raising eyebrows even among Republicans, however, because of Babcock’s often-combative style as the GOP’s chief political operator. However, in interviews no one has discounted Babcock’s ability in political strategy, intelligence and hard work.

Babcock also got high performance marks for one job in state government he held, as one of three commissioners on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, according to people familiar with his work.

AOGCC’s function in regulation of oil and gas development is highly technical and Babcock is credited with working hard to understand and deal with complex industry issues. He played a key role in resolving a highly contentious issue before the commission that involved a rare dispute between the two major North Slope operators, BP and ARCO Alaska (now ConocoPhillips) over the handling of natural gas liquids in the Prudhoe Bay oilfield.

Babcock was also a manager at Matanuska Electric Assoc. during a turbulent period when MEA was planning a break with Chugach Electric Association over Chugach’s former contract to supply electricity to MEA.

Controversy erupted over a plan at the time for MEA to build a coal-fired power plant.

When that plan failed MEA wound up building the natural gas-fired plant it now owns and operates at Eklutna, on the Glenn HIghway.

Aside from the announcements, the governor-elect has been busy giving talks to business and community, restating his aspirations from the campaign including a commitment to “fully fund” past Permanent Fund dividends that were partly-funded because of the state’s financial emergency.

Dunleavy was particularly upbeat in a speech to the Alaska Miners Association at that group’s annual conference in Anchorage last week.

Alaska have two great advantages in developing new mines, the governor-elect told the miners. “One is having the resources and the second is geopolitical,” as a safe place to invest that is also close to important markets in Asia, Dunleavy said.

In words straight from the campaign playbook, Dunleavy recalled his growing up in Pennsylvania coal country and arriving in Alaska with his first job in a logging camp on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska.

Now three of Dunleavy’s daughters are working in minerals, at the Red Dog Mine in northwest Alaska. “My goal is to have more Red Dogs, more Pogos (Pogo is a gold mine east of Fairbanks) and more Greens Creeks (Greens Creek is a mine near Juneau.”

“My pledge is not to politicize the (mine approval) process,” Dunleavy said, a veiled reference to current Gov. Bill Walker’s opposition to the proposed Pebble project.

“We will follow our existing policies. We have the best environmental regulations on the planet, so why send opportunities overseas where the environmental regulation is not as good?” the governor-elect asked.