A Class Act

Last Thursday, my former boss, Karleen Jackson, resigned as Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. In my opinion, it is the State of Alaska's loss. But I'm not Governor, and it is also my firmly held belief that any Governor should have the Cabinet members he or she desires. And, of course, should be held accountable for those choices.

Karleen Jackson is one of the most ethical and otherwise estimable persons with whom I worked in my 30 years of service to the State. And she did not disappoint in this regard with her resignation - the following is from the definitive AP story published in the Anchorage Daily News on May 9, 2008:

JUNEAU -- The head of the state's Department of Health and Social Services announced her resignation Thursday after a meeting this week with the governor in which they differed over the future of the department.

Commissioner Karleen Jackson gave the department's 3,500 employees one day's notice of her Friday departure.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Jackson said she came to the decision after a meeting on Monday with Gov. Sarah Palin and other staff members to talk about their "vision for the department."

"We had a little bit of a difference of opinion on how the department should move forward, so I offered my resignation after that conversation and after thinking about it for a while," Jackson said.

Jackson declined to discuss the differences.

"It's a moot point. I'm not going to be the person leading the department on from here," Jackson said.

No "pining for the private sector." No baloney about "wanting to spend more time with the family."

She disagreed with the Governor about where the department should be going and she quit.

And I think it extremely unlikely that the former Commissioner will immediately resurface as a vengeful legislative employee or lobbyist.

This sort of principled resignation is common in parliamentary systems...but quite rare in our system. Too bad for us.