Since Murkowski was elected two weeks ago, his staff has declined to say who is working with the outgoing administration. Murkowski will hold a news conference Wednesday to discuss the transition, said spokesman John Manly.

Current commissioners say they have been busy briefing Murkowski's helpers, passing over documents and laying out timelines by which key business must be completed. The transition, so far, appears relatively smooth.

"They haven't asked me any questions that have stumped me yet," said Del Smith, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.

Smith said he has spoken with Portia Parker, a Murkowski campaign worker, and lobbyist Rick Urion about the public safety issues.

A sampling of people and issues by department:

• Department of Environmental Conservation: Commissioner Michele Brown said she has been working with Ernesta Ballard, a former timber industry consultant from Ketchikan, and Mead Treadwell, former deputy commissioner under Hickel, and other people. Brown lists pending decisions on the timing of small-cruise-ship regulations and the use of herbicide to control alder growth in clearcut areas of Southeast as important issues.

• Department of Law: Attorney General Bruce Botelho said former Republican state Sen. Sean Parnell of Anchorage is working on the transition. The incoming attorney general needs to devise a strategy on litigation and brief the new administration on ethics, among other things, Botelho said.

• Department of Natural Resources: Commissioner Pat Pourchot said he has been dealing with former Hickel Natural Resources Commissioner Harry Noah, former Knowles Natural Resources Commissioner John Shively, former executive director of the Alaska Forest Association Jack Phelps, and Bob Stinson, the owner of Conam, an Anchorage construction firm.

One question facing the new administration, Pourchot said, is whether a proposed road to the Pogo mine, near Delta Junction, will be public or private during mine operations.

• Department of Community and Economic Development: Commissioner Debbie Sedwick said she has worked with former Hickel commissioner and university professor Edgar Blatchford, Anchorage attorney Ron Miller, and Mike Burns, former president of KeyBank's Alaska operations.

• Department of Administration: Commissioner Jim Duncan said he has worked with former Fairbanks School Board member Andy Warwick, outgoing state Rep. Bill Hudson, a Juneau Republican and former commissioner, and former commissioner Joe Henri.

The department's priority is negotiating new labor contracts with state employee unions by June 30, Duncan said. Terms of the proposed contract are due to the Legislature by mid-March, he said.

• Department of Revenue: Commissioner Wilson Condon said his department is working with Bill Corbus, the former head of Juneau utility Alaska Electric Light and Power, former Republican state senator and Murkowski campaign treasurer Steve Frank of Fairbanks, KeyBank official Win Gruening of Juneau and Joe Beedle, the former chief executive of Goldbelt, Juneau's urban Native corporation.

The Murkowski team has not asked Condon's opinion about Alaska's biggest revenue question: How to pay for the state services with dwindling oil revenues and shrinking budget reserves.