Soldotna Board of Fish nominee Robert Ruffner will have to wait a little longer to learn whether he has the Legislature’s support; a joint confirmation session scheduled for this Friday has been cancelled by House and Senate leaders.
Ruffner said he enjoyed the opportunity to appear before the Senate State Affairs Committee yesterday, despite tough opposition, because it gave him a chance to tell his side of the story…
Ruffner: “The first claim is that I won’t represent all Alaskans including Anchorage and Mat-Su. As far as I can tell, this appears to be based solely on the fact that I do not reside in Anchorage, which is a fact I can’t deny. I don’t live in Anchorage, I live on the Kenai Peninsula, between the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers.”
The objections to Ruffner’s appointment came via a letter from the Kenai River Sportfishing Association, who wrote “Anchorage must have a strong voice on the Alaska Board of Fisheries.”
If approved, Ruffner would be the only Kenai Peninsula resident on the Board of Fish. Others hail from Talkeetna, Petersburg, Dillingham, Huslia, Kodiak, and Fairbanks.
Claim number two was that Ruffner supports commercial fishermen…
Ruffner: “I have not done a tally of who my supporters are and who my objectors are, but I don’t believe that the majority of the people that have gone on the record in support of me are in fact commercial fishermen. Nearly every governmental entity on the Kenai Peninsula has offered support either in the form of a letter or in the form of a formal resolution and that includes the Kenaitze Indian Tribe, the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the City of Kenai, the City of Homer, the City of Soldotna, and the City of Seward.”
The Committee is yet to decide on Ruffner’s appointment. You can view the KRSA objections here and read Ruffner’s full response here.