June 14, 2024 — In May, the Alaska Legislature narrowly rejected a conservative talk radio host’s appointment to a highly paid position regulating the state’s commercial fisheries.
Now, after the failure of that pick, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has chosen a new appointee with a similar — though not identical — background for the six-figure job at the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission, or CFEC.
In an unannounced decision, Dunleavy selected Rick Green last month, according to a letter to Green that the governor’s office released Wednesday as part of a response to a Northern Journal public records request.
Green’s first day on the job is July 1, according to the commission’s chair, Glenn Haight; Green will serve at least through the Alaska Legislature’s next round of confirmation votes in the spring of 2025.
On the airwaves for more than 15 years, Green was known as Rick Rydell during a colorful career as a talk host. His on-air character was that of an “unabashed redneck,” according to one of the books he wrote.
One of those books also chronicled how, with two other hunting enthusiasts, Rydell once attempted to shoot, legally, 30 bears in a single long weekend.