A senior policy advisor for Gov. Mike Dunleavy has retired, effective immediately.
Tuckerman Babcock’s resignation letter went out late Friday afternoon along with a media release with a statement from Dunleavy thanking Babcock for his service.
In the letter, Babcock says he wants to focus on his wife, eight children and nine grandchildren.
Babcock was the chair of the Alaska Republican Party before he was asked to be chief of staff for Dunleavy.
He was a controversial figure before he joined the Dunleavy administration. As Republican party chair, he led a GOP push to unseat Republican legislators who joined a Democratic-led majority caucus in the state House of Representatives. As chief of staff, he maintained a Facebook page where he shared links to conservative media outlets.
And he has drawn criticism from former state workers who named him in lawsuits along with Dunleavy, alleging they were unconstitutionally fired.
The governor’s spokesperson, Matt Shuckerow, said Babcock is traveling and likely unavailable for comment.
Babcock was chief of staff for Dunleavy until July when he was replaced by Ben Stevens.
In his retirement letter, Babcock says the “ship of Alaska will sail on, and with the experienced mariner Ben Stevens as your Chief of Staff, your administration is in excellent hands.”
Stevens joined the Dunleavy administration in late 2018. He is a former Alaska Senate president who was investigated by the FBI for corruption along with five other state legislators in 2006. He was never charged.
