02/13/1995 01:35 PM Senate CRA

         SENATE COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE                         
                       February 13, 1995                                       
                           1:35 p.m.                                           
                                                                               
                                                                               
  MEMBERS PRESENT                                                              
                                                                               
 Senator John Torgerson, Chairman                                              
 Senator Randy Phillips, Vice Chairman                                         
 Senator Tim Kelly                                                             
 Senator Fred Zharoff                                                          
                                                                               
  MEMBERS ABSENT                                                               
                                                                               
 Senator Lyman Hoffman                                                         
                                                                               
  COMMITTEE CALENDAR                                                           
                                                                               
 CONFIRMATION HEARING:                                                         
                                                                               
  Mike Irwin, Commissioner Designee, Department of                             
        Community & Regional Affairs                                           
                                                                               
  Jake Lestenkof, Adjutant General Designee, Department of                     
        Military & Veterans Affairs                                            
                                                                               
  ACTION NARRATIVE                                                             
                                                                               
 TAPE 95-2, SIDE A                                                             
 Number 001                                                                    
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN TORGERSON  called the Senate Community & Regional Affairs           
 Committee meeting to order at 1:35 p.m.  He then invited Mike Irwin           
 to address the committee.                                                     
                                                                               
 MIKE IRWIN, Commissioner Designee, Department of Community &                  
 Regional Affairs, told the committee he was born in Bettles,                  
 Alaska, attended grades one through twelve in Nenana, completed               
 four semesters at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and                    
 graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington in           
 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Welfare.                        
                                                                               
 Following graduation from Pacific Lutheran, Mr. Irwin married,                
 started raising a family and returned to graduate school at the               
 University of Alaska, Juneau where he earned his Master Of Public             
 Administration degree.                                                        
                                                                               
 Mr. Irwin's employment history includes working for a number of               
 Native nonprofits and profit corporations, as well as the State of            
 Alaska as a special assistant for rural policy during the Cowper              
 Administration.  Most recently, he worked as a federal employee for           
 the Alaska Natives Commission.  In between jobs, he has worked as             
 a private consultant.                                                         
                                                                               
 Number 048                                                                    
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN TORGERSON asked if there were any questions from committee           
 members.  There being none, he thanked Mr. Irwin and then invited             
 Major General Lestenkof to address the committee.                             
                                                                               
 MAJOR GENERAL JAKE LESTENKOF, Adjutant General Designee, Department           
 of Military & Veterans Affairs, informed the committee he was born            
 on Saint George Island in the Pribolof Islands and attended high              
 school at Mt. Edgecumbe in Sitka.                                             
                                                                               
 After graduating from high school, Major General Lestenkof joined             
 the Marine Corps, serving in Korea during the war.  Upon release              
 from active duty from the Marine Corps, he returned to Sitka where            
 he joined the Alaska Army National Guard, serving primarily in the            
 operations and training field.                                                
                                                                               
 When Major General Lestenkof left active duty with the National               
 Guard in 1974, he became the executive vice president for the                 
 Alaska Federation of Natives, primarily responsible for                       
 implementing the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.                         
                                                                               
 In 1977 he went to work for the Cook Inlet Native Association as              
 its executive director and in 1981 became the area director for the           
 Bureau of Indian Affairs in Alaska, retiring from federal service             
 in 1988.                                                                      
                                                                               
 Governor Cowper appointed Major General Lestenkof as Deputy                   
 Director of the Department of Community & Regional Affairs in 1988.           
 He served in that position until June 1990.                                   
                                                                               
 In 1987, Major General Lestenkof became Assistant Adjutant General            
 for the Alaska Army National Guard,  serving in that capacity until           
 1990.                                                                         
                                                                               
 Number 150                                                                    
                                                                               
 There being no questions from committee members, CHAIRMAN TORGERSON           
 thanked Major General Lestenkof for appearing before the committee.           
                                                                               
 Number 155                                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR RANDY PHILLIPS moved that a letter be sent to Senate                  
 President Drue Pearce stating that the two individuals had appeared           
 before the committee and there were no stated objections to their             
 confirmation, but that this does not reflect the individual's right           
 to vote one way or the other while in a confirmation session.                 
 There being no objection, CHAIRMAN TORGERSON stated the motion                
 carried.                                                                      
                                                                               
 There being no further business to come before the committee, the             
 meeting was adjourned at 1:42 p.m.