Dave Donaldson, APRN – Juneau
Governor Parnell will replace nearly half of the cabinet-level people that met him when Sarah Palin resigned last year. Parnell announced last week that he had asked for resignations from all commissioners and other high-level appointed officials. And so far he has accepted those resignations from Revenue Commissioner Pat Galvin, Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin, Administration Commissioner Annette Kreitzer, Health and Social Services Commissioner Bill Hogan, Education Commissioner Larry LeDoux and Transportation Commissioner Leo Von Scheben. The resignation of Deputy Natural Resources Commissioner Marty Rutherford was also accepted.
His spokesperson Sharon Leighow says the commissioners will all remain in office until the Governor his own administration next month.
Leighow says the rest of the cabinet will remain in place for his administration. He plans to have jobs filled by his inauguration – however if any position is still vacant, he will appoint someone to temporarily fill it.
Leighow also says the governor will have letters of resignation by the end of the week from agency heads and sub-cabinet appointees. However there is no indication of which of those individuals will be replaced.
The governor will take the oath of office in Juneau on Dec. 6.
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