Walker Names Kenai Watershed Form Exec to Board of Fish
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Alaska Dispatch News] by Nathaniel Herz - March 24, 2015
Gov. Bill Walker has made a second try at filling a vacant seat on the Alaska Board of Fisheries, this time picking the director of a Kenai Peninsula conservation group for a position traditionally held by members sympathetic to sportfishing interests.
Walker on Monday appointed Robert Ruffner, the executive director of the Kenai Watershed Forum, to the Fish Board seat previously held by Karl Johnstone, a retired state judge viewed as a strong sportfishing partisan. It’s Walker’s second unorthodox pick for the slot on a board that has typically included three members representing commercial fishing interests, three members representing sportfishing interests and one representing rural and subsistence fishermen.
But Maw withdrew his name last month after officials in Montana said they had opened a criminal investigation to see if he illegally held licenses in both Montana and Alaska.
Ruffner is a less polarizing figure...
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