Someone is lying about the DigitalBridge $50 million investment

We’re not getting the full story on the decision by the Dunleavy administration and former Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum to put $50 million of short-term money into a long-term investment days before Crum quit to run for governor.

The Anchorage Daily News has advanced the coverage with this solid piece by Iris Samuels, but the governor and his employees are not being straightforward with the Legislature or the public.

Someone is lying about the details.

“The whole claim that no one knew this was coming is a complete and utter lie,” Crum told the newspaper.

Dunleavy was invited to a meeting last November with Crum and representatives of DigitalBridge. There is no chance that Dunleavy was in the dark about this.

As to Crum, he is dead wrong in claiming that part of the $3 billion in the reserve should be invested in long-term investments that cannot be turned into cash quickly.

He tells the Daily News that “simply leaving all of the money in the Constitutional Budget Reserve was actually irresponsible.”

This excuse doesn’t work. The Dunleavy administration has a 10-year plan that shows all of the $3 billion being spent to run state government and pay for dividends in two years—that’s irresponsible.

“Crum said he committed $50 million to DigitalBridge with an intention of expanding the subaccount investments up to 10% of the value of the Constitutional Budget Reserve — which would amount to roughly $300 million — but that didn’t happen before he left the department,” the Daily News reported.

We need to see the contract Crum signed and to hear directly from Dunleavy. House Speaker Bryce Edgmon said what he heard from Dunleavy in a recent phone call was that the DigitalBridge investment was a surprise. Edgmon said he is confused by Crum’s claim that the attorney general and the governor’s office knew all about it.

“It’s my understanding that the governor’s office is saying otherwise, and it’s troubling that we don’t know what took place,” Edgmon told the Daily News.