AK: no me cheechako I

Seven years out of law school, into the chief p.d.'s chair: a fourth - generation Alaskan has been named head of the state-wide Public Defender Agency.

Governor Murkowski announced Quinlan Steiner's four-year appointment this week. The 39-year-old Steiner has practiced law at the public defender agency for seven years. He earned his legal degree from the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College in 1998.

He's probably a fine guy, but the news item leaves the impression that you can compensate for being a cheechako in one area of life by being more sourdough than thou in another.