Palin picks former police chief for Alaska Alcoholic Beverage Control Board

ANCHORAGE - The job once offered by Gov. Sarah Palin to her dismissed Public Safety commissioner will be filled by a former Soldotna police chief.

Shirley Gifford will begin work Jan. 12 as director of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

The ABC Board grants and revokes liquor licenses and inspects all who sell alcohol in Alaska.

Palin in July fired Walt Monegan as Public Safety commissioner but offered him the ABC Board director's job. Monegan's removal as commissioner prompted investigations to find out whether the firing was tied to his refusal to fire an Alaska State trooper who had been married to Palin's sister.

Palin denied there was a connection. She told reporters in July that Monegan was not a team player on budget issues and was not filling vacant trooper jobs. She also said there was not enough being done on alcohol abuse issues, including bootlegging in rural Alaska.

Monegan has said he believes he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire Palin's former brother-in-law as a state trooper.

Monegan turned the ABC Board job down but Gifford said she's glad to have it.

"I don't think it's a consolation prize ... I feel honored," Gifford said.

She has not talked directly to Palin about the new job and has not received word from the governor's office on any goals or changes Palin wants.

As director, Gifford will run agency day-to-day operations and answer to the quasi-judicial, five-member board.

She's been a board member herself for the past three years.

"We know her. The industry knows her. This is a very good selection," said Bob Beasley, ABC Board enforcement supervisor and acting director.

Former ABC Board director Doug Griffin retired in May.

Former Gov. Tony Knowles appointed Griffin in 1996. During his tenure, Griffin said, the board began regularly conducting undercover stings using teenage buyers to catch and prevent bars from selling to minors.

The agency conducted roughly 550 compliance checks last year and expects to do about the same number this year, Beasley said.

Two ABC Board members come from the liquor industry and three are appointed to represent the general public, creating a built-in tension, Griffin said.

Former Gov. Frank Murkowski chose Gifford as a public member in 2005.

"Shirley Gifford, when she was put on the board, sort of led the charge to really increase enforcement," Griffin said.

Gifford says she gets the sense Alaskans want the state to check up on bars more often.

Gifford is a former sergeant, lieutenant and captain in the Anchorage Police Department.

One of her first jobs as an Anchorage police captain was to meet with local bar owners. Those businesses generally wanted to work with police, not against them, she said.