Currently the Governor’s Henchman…
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[1] Alaska’s Mental Health Crisis Predates Statehood, DONN LISTON, May 16, 2023
Alaska’s Attorney General is expected to do too much. Every other department of AK State Government is run by a Commissioner. The Department of Law’s Attorney General (AG) is our top law-enforcement officer AND Commissioner of AKDOL—administrating over 550 attorneys and staff in 13 offices throughout the state. More significantly, the governor-appointed AK AG is also legal advisor to the governor.
Commissioner, and Legal Counsel to the governor (and all other departments of the state) are EACH more than full-time jobs anyplace but ALASKA.
[2] Duties and powers of the attorney general are found in AS 44.23.020.
The Attorney General position has existed since the early days of the Territory of Alaska, though it was an elected rather than an appointed position prior to statehood.
Somebody snuck this SOA Justice System across the Bering Strait
Why did this Change with Statehood?
Delegates to Alaska’s Constitutional Convention debated whether the AG should be elected or appointed, and made the wrong choice, according to former AG (2006-09), Dr. Talis Colberg, who wrote: Allowing the governor to appoint the attorney general and then house them in the cabinet creates an unnecessary set of problems. I think it was a mistake to make the chief law enforcement officer of the state an at-will employee of the governor.
The AK Court System has always portrayed itself as sacrosanct, but as we witness the national politicization and weaponization of courts all the way to Atlanta and New York City, Americans recognize a new reality. Alaska History will show Gov. Mike Dunleavy was the latest of many to prove why the AG should no longer serve as henchman for the governor. All who care about the future of this state must unite to change that paradigm. A Facebook Group has started to inform and organize for change. Legislation was proposed In 2020 for a referendum. It was assigned to three committees and died.
Alaskans cannot expect elected officials to go against the status quo state government based and controlled in the Seattle suburb of Backwater Juneau.
[3[ SJR021A, 31st AK Legislature, (2019-20), CONST. AM: ELECTED ATTORNEY GENERAL, SEN. GRAY-JACKSON
Appointed December 13, 2006, AG Colberg has detailed multiple reasons why the AG should be elected, a position he held before he was appointed AG by wack-job Gov. Sarah Palin.
AG Colberg’s Fate was Tied to the
Palin Family Soap Opera.
The Drama Alaskans witnessed: A complaint alleged that Palin dismissed AK Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan because he did not fire Alaskan State Trooper Mike Wooten, who was in a bitter divorce with Palin’s sister, Molly McCann.
[4] Troopergate Scandal of Gov. Sarah Palin. Wikipedia, Retrieved May 30, 2024
Colberg remains convinced the AG should be elected after his own experience: 43 states elect their attorneys general. States with elected attorneys general have far more stability in their departments of law than we have. In the 53 years that we have been a state we have had 24 attorneys general. (2012) There are actually only 23 different people who served but Norm Gorsuch served two times.
Note: Seven additional AK AGs have served under Alaska’s three poor governors since Colberg resigned.
Further:
With an average of only two year’s service for AK AGs, Colberg argues that the AG is just learning the job in that amount of time. Part of that job is running a department full of attorneys and state employees represented by multiple unions subject to the Public Employees Relations Act.
[5] Title 23 – LABOR AND WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
Colberg’s statement:
In Other Words, the AKDOL Runs Itself–With Assistant AG Middle-Managers like John Skidmore in control–colluding with AK Courts run by appointees.
This is How Alaskans are Rolled
Anyone on their Alaska Adventure in State Service need only make it to retirement and go home with a benefit package first elevated during Trans-Alaska Pipeline Construction to keep up with salary and benefits of oil rush private companies during the 1970s.
Alaska generally attracts people looking for easy money, not the best and brightest.
Alaskans further know appointed officials lately seek union protections because over the last year or so Alaska Court System’s General Counsel, Nancy Meade and Executive Branch Attorney General Treg Taylor’s boy, Skidmore, have facilitated the Alaska Supreme Court in neutering the Independent Grand Jury–apparently to protect past and future public officials from secret investigation leading to their prosecution for crimes in office. After decades of what could be a cover-up of criminal acts by Judge Margaret Murphy, these Gov. Dunleavy officials want citizens to have no right to investigate public official wrongdoing without first gaining permission from the governor-appointed AG. They want Due Process administrative hearings to determine Just Cause like any other Alaska Public Sector Union State worker, instead of objective and secret Independent Grand Jury Investigations by regular citizens such as those who have investigated Judge Murphy and found likely criminal wrongdoing.
[6] Public Officials vs. The People: Alaska’s Due Process, DONN LISTON, 01/13/2024
[7] Alaska’s Grand Jury Problem, Alaska Grand Jurors Association
Another AK attorney, Donald Craig Mitchel has publicly asked the question of why AK attorney generals are tasked with protecting the governor who appointed them from illegal acts?
Mitchel: To the surprise of no one, on Nov.4, 2019 Attorney General Kevin Clarkson, who was appointed by and who serves at the pleasure of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, issued a 25-page opinion in which he concluded that the petition requesting that an election be held to recall the governor, which 46,405 Alaska voters signed, is factually and legally inadequate.
Clarkson reasoned to his expected result, first by noting that the recall statute limits the description of the grounds for recall contained in a petition to no more than 200 words (which is 80 words less than a Don Trump tweet), and then, turning on a dime, by concluding that the 200-word description in this petition does not contain enough factual information for him to be able to determine whether Gov. Dunleavy’s actions satisfied the grounds for recall that are listed in the recall statute. The opinion also contains a footnote in which Clarkson lectures that it was perfectly proper for Gov. Dunleavy to have vetoed $334,700 from the court system’s budget because he disliked decisions in which the Alaska Supreme Court interpreted the Alaska Constitution — the same document that, when he assumed office, the governor swore an oath to uphold and defend.
Alaskans Gave Up
Not a single aborted Alaskan baby–its death paid for with public funds–was saved by Dunleavy political grandstanding. But the AK Court System was hamstrung and accepted the reduction of resources by reducing service to Alaskans–as would any department in the Executive Branch suffering such a cut. Hence, a crime epidemic after Covid Pandemic dwarfed the previous threat of SB-91, which Gov. Dunleavy ran against in his bogus initial Tough-on-Crime campaign for office.
[8] ALASKA: Crime Capital of USA DONN LISTON11/24/2023
Mitchel continues:
Had he been an elected official who had his own political career on the line, in 1966, would Attorney General Warren Colver have silently watched Gov. Bill Egan run for a third term, in violation of Section 5 of Article III of the Alaska Constitution, which provides that “No person who has been elected governor for two full successive terms shall be again eligible to hold that office until one full term has intervened?” (Ironically, Gov. Egan was also president of the AK Constitution Convention which made that rule.)
In 1980, would Attorney General Avrum Gross have signed off on Gov. Jay Hammond’s flagrantly unconstitutional scheme to calculate the amount of each Alaskan’s Permanent Fund Dividend based on the number of years each Alaskan had lived in the state?
In 1995, would Attorney General Bruce Botelho have had one legal position regarding tribal sovereignty when he served at Gov. Walter Hickel’s pleasure and the opposite position when he served at Gov. Tony Knowles’s pleasure?
And in 2019, would Attorney General Kevin Clarkson have so brazenly extracted Gov. Dunleavy’s neck from the noose into which his acts of mis- and malfeasance in office had inserted it?
[9] Time to elect Alaska’s attorney general? Donald Craig Mitchel Anchorage Daily News, November 10, 2019 B-2,
Steps in the Recall process: What caused the recall effort to be dropped after it was allowed to proceed by the AK Supreme Court? Did Alaskans see a change in efforts to reign in state spending, as was the campaign bluster of Gov. Dunleavy? State spending is now out of control.
- August 25, 2021: The recall effort was dropped against the governor.
- May 8, 2020: The state supreme court affirmed the lower courts ruling, allowing the recall to proceed
- January 10, 2020: The state’s superior court allowed the recall effort to proceed; the state Division of Elections appealed the decision
- November 5, 2019: Recall organizers appealed Clarkson’s decision
- November 4, 2019: Then-Attorney General Kevin Clarkson (R) rejected the recall petition because it did not meet one of the grounds for recall.
- September 4, 2019: Signatures submitted for consideration
- July 2019: Recall effort began
[10] Mike Dunleavy recall, Governor of Alaska (2019-2021), Ballotpedia
Any effort to mount a recall of a governor with his own state-paid attorney protector is foolhardy. AG Clarkson made it 20 months in the job, during which he rejected the recall petition against Gov. Dunleavy, but Gov. Dunleavy couldn’t save Clarkson’s sorry ass when HE had to resign from a self-inflicted wound.
An Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica investigation revealed Kevin Clarkson texted a much-younger state employee hundreds of times, often using kiss emoji and commenting on her appearance. Records obtained by the newsrooms found Clarkson sent at least 558 text messages between March 5 and March 31 to a woman whose job required she sometimes interact with the attorney general. In at least 18 messages he invited the woman to come to his home.
[11] Alaska’s Attorney General Resigns Hours After We Published “Uncomfortable” Texts He Sent to a Younger Colleague, Pro-Publica/Anchorage Daily News. Also see References for details of Gov. Dunleavy’s other politically-charged AG choices.
SCO 1993 has also Caused a Self-Inflicted Wound for the AK Supreme Court. Plenty of Alaskans are Angry.
Alaskans have no reason to expect consideration from the Lords at Court, but a record is now available on this site of what is wrong and has been done to seek justice. This writer has standing as someone who has been individually harmed by AK Courts. Changing current practice to electing the highest law enforcement official will take an organized effort, but it would also go a long way toward providing hope for the future after the political spectacle and considerable State of Alaska public safety decline, we have endured.
Any financial contributions to this effort to inform Alaskans about the decline of our state would be greatly appreciated. The court has awarded Outside Scammers an amount assuring my bankruptcy in a sham Georgia marriage by Bill, Brenda and Waneta Borden dba High Caliber Realty, Inc. (sic) who are being paid by court order from imminent sale of my Eagle River home.
I would welcome legal assistance to initiate tort action against these criminals whom I have extensively documented violating me in multiple pleadings to the biased Court and corresponding stories as a long-standing Alaska Journalist.
[12] How Alaskans are Rolled by the Alaska Court System, DONN LISTON, 01/29/2024
https://donnliston.net/2024/01/how-alaskans-are-rolled-by-the-alaska-court-system/
References:
[1] Alaska’s Mental Health Crisis Predates Statehood, DONN LISTON, May 16, 2023
https://donnliston.net/2023/05/alaskas-mental-health-crisis-predates-statehood/
[2] Alaska Statutes Title 44. State Government § 44.23.020. Duties; and powers; waiver of immunity
Current as of January 01, 2022 | Updated by FindLaw Staff
(a) The attorney general is the legal advisor of the governor and other state officers.
(b) The attorney general shall
(1) defend the Constitution of the State of Alaska and the Constitution of the United States of America;
(2) bring, prosecute, and defend all necessary and proper actions in the name of the state for the collection of revenue;
(3) represent the state in all civil actions in which the state is a party;
(4) prosecute all cases involving violation of state law, and file informations and prosecute all offenses against the revenue laws and other state laws where there is no other provision for their prosecution;
(5) administer state legal services, including the furnishing of written legal opinions to the governor, the legislature, and all state officers and departments as the governor directs; and give legal advice on a law, proposed law, or proposed legislative measure upon request by the legislature or a member of the legislature;
(6) draft legal instruments for the state;
(7) make available a report to the legislature, through the governor, at each regular legislative session
(A) of the work and expenditures of the office; and
(B) on needed legislation or amendments to existing law;
(8) prepare, publish, and revise as it becomes useful or necessary to do so an information pamphlet on landlord and tenant rights and the means of making complaints to appropriate public agencies concerning landlord and tenant rights; the contents of the pamphlet and any revision shall be approved by the Department of Law before publication; and
(9) perform all other duties required by law or which usually pertain to the office of attorney general in a state.
[3] SJR021A, 31st AK Legislature, (2019-20), CONST. AM: ELECTED ATTORNEY GENERAL, SEN. GRAY-JACKSON
https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Detail/31?Root=sjr%2021#tab6_4
[4] Troopergate Scandal of Gov. Sarah Palin, Wickipedia, May 30, 2024
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Public_Safety_Commissioner_dismissal
The Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal, also known as Troopergate involves the possibly illegal July 2008 dismissal of the Alaskan Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan by Republican Governor Sarah Palin. A complaint alleged that Palin dismissed Monegan because he did not fire Alaskan State Trooper Mike Wooten, who was in a bitter divorce with Palin’s sister, Molly McCann.
On October 10, 2008, the twelve-member bipartisan Alaska Legislative Council hired investigator Stephen Branchflower to investigate whether Palin had dismissed Monegan for not firing Wooten. The Branchflower Report found that Palin had violated the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act covering state executive employees, and released it to the public.[2][3][4]
Under Alaska law, the state’s three-member State Personnel Board, not the Legislative Council, decides whether a governor has violated the ethics laws.[3] On November 3, 2008, the bipartisan Personnel Board, all of whom had been appointed by Palin, released the findings of its own investigation which concluded that Palin did not violate any ethics laws.[5][6][7][8] No action was ever taken.
[5] Title 23 – LABOR AND WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
https://casetext.com/statute/alaska-statutes/title-23-labor-and-workers-compensation
[6] Public Officials vs. The People: Alaska’s Due Process, DONN LISTON, 01/13/2024
https://donnliston.net/2024/01/whats-wrong-with-this-process/
[7] Alaska’s Grand Jury Problem
1. Simply, this is about: (A) “Public Corruption” in the form of evidence that the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct has falsified potentially thousands of official investigations to keep corrupt judges on the bench and ruling over Alaska’s citizens; (B) how a Kenai Grand Jury, who investigated the forging evidence for nearly 2 years, is now being unconstitutionally prevented from exposing and addressing this corruption; and (C) how the Kenai Grand Jury investigated evidence that the Alaska Supreme Court is even implicated in the corruption and cover-up.
2. We must do something to help the original Kenai Grand Jury make its report and recommendations public – as one Juror has went “missing” (and still is) and without him the other Jurors do not have a quorum to overcome Judge Thomas Matthews’ refusal to let the public see their report and recommendations. (On a technicality, Judge Matthews also dismissed the Grand Jury’s indictment of Judge Margaret Murphy.)
3. The Alaska Supreme Court now claims that Grand Juries do not have the right to investigate or address corruption in public officials. The Supreme Court also made a rule (Criminal Rule 6.1) barring citizens from appealing directly to the Grand Jury. Yet here is what Alaska’s Constitution and the Delegates who wrote it say:
“The power of grand juries to investigate and make recommendations concerning the public welfare or safety shall never be suspended.” Alaska Constitution, Article 1, Section 8.
“The power of grand juries to inquire into the willful misconduct in office of public officers, and to find indictments i nconnection therewith, shall never be suspended.” Alaska Constitutional Convention, December 15, 1955.
“The grand jury is preserved,for all purposes, particularly for investigation of public officials.” Alaska Constitutional Convention Commentary on the Preamble and the Declaration of Rights, December 15, 1955.
“The grand jury can be appealed to directly, which is an invaluable right to the citizen.” Alaska Constitutional Convention transcript page 1328.
“A citizen is at liberty to apply to the Grand Jury for permission to appear before it in order to suggest or urge that a certain situation should be investigated by it… a Grand Jury may investigate how officials are conducting their public trust.” Original Alaska Grand Jury Handbook
On this Memorial Day, we ask all Alaskans to consider the above evidence that a malignant cancer is growing within Alaska’s judicial system – and to consider joining the effort to remove that cancer.
If we do nothing, Alaskan Grand Juries will lose the ability to investigate and address corruption in Alaska’s government – when, according to Alaska’s Founding Fathers, this this is the Grand Jury’s most important duty.
Alaska Grand Jurors Association
“Waking the Sleeping Giant”
PO Box 123
Soldotna, AK 99669
(907) 398-6403 text/cell
alaskagrandjurorsassocation.org and alaskastateofcorruption.com
[8] ALASKA: Crime Capital of USA DONN LISTON11/24/2023
https://donnliston.net/2023/11/alaska-crime-capital-of-usa/
[9] Time to elect Alaska’s attorney general? Donald Craig Mitchel Anchorage Daily News, November 10, 2019 B-2,
https://www.adn.com/author/donald-craig-mitchell/
[10] Mike Dunleavy recall, Governor of Alaska (2019-2021), Ballotpedia
https://ballotpedia.org/Mike_Dunleavy_recall,Governor_of_Alaska(2019-2021)#:~:text=August%2025%2C%202021%3A%20The%20recall,was%20dropped%20against%20the%20governor.&text=November%204%2C%202019%3A%20Then%2D,of%20the%20grounds%20for%20recall.
[11] Alaska’s Attorney General Resigns Hours After We Published “Uncomfortable” Texts He Sent to a Younger Colleague
ENDLESS ATTORNEY GENERAL SCANDALS UNDER GOVERNOR MIKE DUNLEAVY INCLUDING :
NOTE: KEVIN CLARKSON HAS NEVER BEEN DISCIPLINED IN ANY WAY BY ALASKA BAR ASSN. EVEN AFTER HE WAS FORCED TO RESIGN
”Alaska’s attorney general sent hundreds of ‘uncomfortable’ texts to a female colleague” https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2020/08/25/alaskas-attorney-general-on-unpaid-leave-after-sending-hundreds-of-uncomfortable-texts-to-a-young-female-colleague/
ADN 8-25-20 Below is Clarkson’s Letter of Resignation admitting his wrong doing:
After that, Governor Dunleavy appointed on 1-21-21 Mr. Ed Sniffen, First Assistant AK Attorney General to be Alaska Attorney General. Nikki Dougherty White came forward to the Alaska media 1-31-21 that she and Sniffen had had a sexual relationship in 1991 when he was an adult chaperone-coach on an Anchorage School District West High student mock trial trip. Sniffen was 27 years old and Ms. Dougherty White was 17. This was 30 years ago but there is no Statute of Limitations on felony criminal charges. Sniffen abruptly resigned as Alaska Assistent Attorney General and was prosecuted by Dougherty White. Under Alaska law, it is a felony to an adult to have sex with a person under 18 years of age if the adult is the minor’s coach. Dougherty White was represented by Caitlin Shortell The case was dismissed.
Governor Dunleavy then appointed Treggarrick R. Taylor to be Alaska Attorney General. He was confirmed by Alaska Legislature. Mrs. Jodi Taylor, Mr. Taylor’s wife, recently purchased Inlet Towers, 180 room hotel and two restaurants with a $6 million scheduled renovation at a very low interest rate from AHFC, has a 35 unit apt. complex in South Anchorage, and a 15 unit complex in Midtown (ADN 10-6-23).
Mr. Taylor has filed several Amicus Briefs in behalf of the State of Alaska that have cost literally hundreds of thousands of dollars and more. There are too many to mention but a few are below:
1.ADN “Treg Taylor hosts $15,000 fundraiser for conservative group, Alaska Policy Partners;”
2. ADN Rule Change AK Dept. of Law to defend top AK Officials 8-23-23
3. Allowed Clark Penney to make $441,000 sole source contract;
4. Has filed two U.S. Supreme Ct. cases for hundreds of thousands of dollars each or up to $1 Million each including one against collective bargaining and the other against EPA regarding Pebble Mine; he LOST both;
5. ADN “Taylor Issues Guidelines for Sex Education” 11-20-23;
6. Currently, filed Amicus Curiae Brief in U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Donald Trump.
7. Alaska State Education Funds Paying for Alaska Correspondence Schools https://alaskabeacon.com/briefs/judge-issues-final-judgment-invalidating-alaska-correspondence-legal-provisions-keeps-current-rules-through-june/#:~:text=Judge%20Adolf%20Zeman%20issued%20a,in%20effect%20through%20June%2030.
8. Alaskans can no longer get the names of Alaska Public Officers Compensation Commissioners Governor Dunleavy threw out the former members of Alaska Public Officers Compensation Commission and put his own people on it in order that he could raise his own salary and the salaries of all Alaska Legislators from $50,400 to $84,000 which began January 1, 2024. All Legislators who are not from Juneau also get a cost of living daily amount of $307.00. 33rd Alaska Legislature 2nd Session lasted 121 days or an additional $37,147. The total compensation for Alaska Legislators who do not live in Juneau is a whopping $121,147. Alaska Legislators also get “Relocation Expenses” and “Office/Expenses Allowance.” The current Alaska Salary and Business Expense Report is not online so Alaskans cannot get the CURRENT total list of the compensation of Alaska Legislators.
9. Alaska Bar Association Board of Governors is supposed to have THREE Public Members by Alaska Statute. Mr. Ricardo Castillo, appoint by the Governor and approved by Alaska Legislaure was appoint 3-1-21 and resigned in 2022. Governor Dunleavy has not appointed a THIRD Public Member for two years.
MR. TAYLOR ONLY ACTS ON BEHALF OF HIS SUPERVISOR, GOVERNOR DUNLEAVY. HE DOES NOT ACT INDEPENDENTLY AT ANY TIME. His only allegiance is to his boss, Mike Dunleavy. This will change if Alaskans insist on an elected Alaska Attorney General who will be required to be a member, Alaska Bar Association.
[12] How Alaskans are Rolled by the Alaska Court System, DONN LISTON, 01/29/2024
https://donnliston.net/2024/01/how-alaskans-are-rolled-by-the-alaska-court-system/
It Matters that Alaska is Being run by Screwballs.
DONN LISTON: 60-Year Alaskan
& Senior Journalist
in Exile in Fear for My Life
