Dunleavy administration has no excuses for dodging Penney contract questions

Here is a simple question that deserves a simple answer: Who in the governor’s office directed the state commerce department last year to give a no-bid contract to the grandson of a major Dunleavy donor?

John Springsteen, the deputy commissioner of commerce, ought to provide that information Tuesday at 11 a.m. when he is to present information on the so-called Alaska Development Team to a House budget subcommittee.

The ADT is the state’s economic development office under a new name. One of the alleged differences is that the agency won’t subsidize “desirable but unprofitable activities.”

“The economic development initiatives of the past failed to produce the desired results, largely, because they placed the focus on government dependence rather than collaboration and partnership with the private sector,” the Dunleavy administration claims.

Failures occur for many other reasons, but we’ll see. First, however, there is this matter of the no-bid contract to clear up.

If Gov. Mike Dunleavy ever wants to get past the questions about why Bob Penney’s grandson received a four-year deal worth up to $441,000, the first step is to have his staff start answering and stop stonewalling.

Julie Anderson, the commerce commissioner, more or less pleaded ignorance about the Clark Penney contract last week. She said legislators should ask Tom Boutin, executive director of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority.

Anderson said, “That contract is funded by AIDEA.” She said Penney is a “good asset” and he provides “consulting advice to AIDEA, to our economic development team, Alaska Development Team and through the governor.”

Rep. Zack Fields asked Anderson last week, “Did you, commissioner, choose Clark Penney for this contract and if not, do you know who did and how he was chosen?”

“So, on contract matters, I would have to defer to Tom Boutin on that,” she said.

Boutin is also to speak to the subcommittee Tuesday. He should be able to say who in the governor’s office called for the no-bid deal, which Anderson laundered through AIDEA.

Anderson helped negotiate the contract with Penney last year, was one of three people who were supposed to oversee his activities, along with Boutin, and she worked with Boutin to set the whole thing up.

In May, Boutin wrote to Anderson and the others on his board that the Penney contract was not for work with AIDEA. In late June he said it was not up to him to decide whether Penney’s contract would be extended for the current fiscal year. It was up to the commerce department, headed by Anderson.

“The contract pertains to Mr. Penney’s work as Managing Director, of the New Industry Development Team, which is not part of AIDEA,” Boutin told his board last May.

In the presentation prepared by Springsteen for the subcommittee hearing today, Penney is not identified by name as a key player.

One reason this is odd is that the monthly $8,000 invoices that Penney submits to AIDEA under the no-bid deal identify Penney as “managing director” of the Alaska Development Team. If he is not managing director, why is the state using that title? If he is managing director, why is the state hiding that title?

The Springsteen presentation includes this staff chart in which the “managing director” appears to be referred to as a “contractor” for AIDEA. Rememer it was the AIDEA director who wrote last year he wasn’t in charge of Penney and hadn’t been briefed on what Penney was doing.

The “front line members” of the team are Springsteen, Matthew Fagnani, Keith Comstock and Greg Samorajski. Penney is not on the list.

When the justification for the no-bid deal was created last March, Boutin and state officials claimed that they had to avoid competitive bids because the combination of Penney’s “experience, background and networks is difficult to find within Alaska.” They also claimed that competitive bids would delay implementation of the governor’s Open for Business strategy.

If all of that is true, the state should be highlighting the individual who decided this had to happen, instead of hiding the information.

Simple question for Springsteen and Boutin Tuesday: Who in state government decided that the contract should go to the grandson of a man who invested $350,000 in getting Dunleavy elected?

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