In December 2019, Governor Dunleavy allowed the Alaska GOP to auction off breakfast with the governor at a fundraising event. The breakfast would take place in the Governor’s mansion, which of course, is not the Governor’s at all, but belongs to the people of the state of Alaska. Alaska law prohibits the use of public property for partisan purposes.
In February of this year, Ben Stevens left his job as chief of staff for Governor Dunleavy to become Vice President, External Affairs & Transportation at ConocoPhillips. Because of the obvious revolving-door problem of high level government officials, with insider knowledge and high-level connections, coming back to influence the State in favor of private interests, Alaska law calls for a year-long waiting period. This did not happen.
Fortunately, Alaska has a system for adjudicating ethically questionable activities such as these. Citizens can report concerns to the Alaska Attorney General. The Alaska Public Interest Research Group (AKPIRG) did just that. In early May 2020, AKPIRG filed a complaint with the Attorney General citing the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act (AEBEA) that prohibits the use of state assets and resources for partisan political purposes. Then, in March of this year, we filed another ethics complaint under the same act because of Stevens’ jump from the Governor’s office to ConocoPhillips.
The AEBEA calls for the creation of a Personnel Board whose job it is to fairly administer the code of ethics, without bias or favoritism “in order for the rules governing conduct to be respected both during and after leaving public service.” AS 39.52(a)(5). If a member of the public submits a complaint to the Attorney General about the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Attorney General, the AG hands the complaint to the Personnel Board, who has independent investigators to investigate the complaint.
The Ethics Act exists to bring about accountability and to promote and strengthen the faith and confidence of Alaskans in their public officials. The Personnel Board is charged with making sure AEBEA rules are being followed.
As of mid-July, AKPIRG hasn’t received official notification of the status of either of the ethics complaints. However, we learned from a media source that the complaint on the Stevens matter had been dismissed, and a summary written.
Even though that summary was statutorily supposed to have been provided to us, we had to submit a public records request so that we could read it. Were we ever surprised.
The independent investigator, an attorney named John J. Teimessen said that our complaint was a political strategy that was “weaponized” because we informed the public about it. We did this, of course, to ensure transparency and accountability in the highest levels of state government. The public deserves to hear about ethical lapses from those who are stewarding our state’s resources.
In his report Mr. Teimessen went on to say that people or groups who file ethics complaints and make them public should face criminal charges. That’s right, the investigator suggested criminalizing those who would publicly question public officials.
Strikingly, the Personnel Board approved this summary report and thereby endorsed the criminalization of public oversight. If the Personnel Board believes the public should not meddle in government affairs, perhaps they have lost touch with the reason they exist.
The Alaska Personnel Board needs to do better than this. Alaskans deserve to have faith and confidence that their public officers work for the public’s interest and not their own personal interests. Existing ethics standards need to be upheld by the Board and periodically reviewed to make sure that they are strong enough to protect the public interest.
Veri di Suvero, Executive Director
Alaska Public Interest Research Group
Thank you AFN for filing suit to protect PCE
PCE benefits are critical to the well-being of remote communities in Alaska and need to be preserved.
In response to the announcement that the Alaska Federation of Natives and several other groups are suing the Dunleavy Administration over the current lack of funding for the Power Cost Equalization Fund, the Alaska House Bush Caucus released the following statement:
“Since the creation of the Power Cost Equalization program in 1984, the Alaska Bush Caucus has had to fight virtually every year to get it funded. When oil prices dipped in the nineties, the program did not get funded. In 2000, as surplus monies began to flow back into the treasury, the PCE Endowment was created to provide a separate source of funding and one that could be independent of the annual pressures on the budget.
Now that the endowment has grown to over a billion dollars and has been expanded to fund community assistance and energy programs, a new problem has arisen, a problem called the reverse sweep that requires a 3/4 majority each from the House and Senate before funding can be appropriated annually from the endowment. Normally the vote occurs each year as a matter of routine. This year the vote failed as legislators attempted to leverage PCE and other statewide accounts for their own purposes.
With so much at stake with PCE, we are grateful that the Alaska Federation of Natives and other litigants filed litigation asking the Court to intervene and declare that PCE should not be subjected to the sweep-ability provision and should be appropriated like other standard budget items. The PCE benefits are critical to the well-being of remote communities in Alaska and need to be preserved just as the legislature has fought for natural gas tax credits, hydro funding, and other energy infrastructure items that have lowered the cost of residential energy bills in many communities throughout the state.
Meanwhile, as the Court takes action and the Dunleavy administration reconsiders whether PCE should have been swept in the first place, please be assured that rural legislators and others will continue to fight to get the program funding reinstated and strive for higher measures of protection for the PCE Endowment so we don’t have to go through this fight every year.
As a closing statement, the Bush Caucus once again expresses its appreciation for the organizations who took the bold step of seeking injunctive relief through the Court system to make sure that thousands of Alaskans won’t see their electricity bill double or triple as cold weather approaches in the not too distant future.
House Bush Caucus: Representatives Bryce Edgmon (I-Dillingham), Neal Foster (D-Nome), Josiah Patkotak (I-Utqiaġvik), and Tiffany Zulkosky (D-Bethel)
