Keith Johnston denied Monday that the governor or her husband, Todd, an oil-field worker, helped his son, Levi, get the apprenticeship, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Johnston is a construction engineer for ASRC Energy Services, where his son was an apprentice.

On Sunday, Anchorage talk-show host Dan Fagan wrote a newspaper column suggesting that Levi Johnston, 18, should not have received the apprenticeship because he has not graduated from high school.

"He felt it was the best thing to do to kind of calm the waters, so to speak," Keith said of his son's resignation.

Levi Johnston became a national figure last year when Palin, then the Republican vice presidential candidate, acknowledged that her daughter, Bristol, was pregnant and that he was the father. Bristol gave birth to a boy Dec. 27, and the couple plan to marry this year.

Keith Johnston said that his son worked as a roustabout for ASRC last summer and was offered the apprenticeship.