Dunleavy claims secrecy for DigitalBridge $50 million deal
The $50 million limited partnership contract that former Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum signed before he quit to run for governor is a secret document, according to the Dunleavy administration.
I requested a copy of the contract, as did Jeff Landfield, who broke the story about Crum’s questionable conduct.
The Department of Revenue refused to release the contract, employing a standard excuse that twists the Alaska Public Records Act to make it the Alaska Public Secrets Act. It deserves a court challenge.
The governor and his employees claim that Alaskans have no right to know what happened to the $50 million and what the contract requires. It’s none of our business, they say.
“DOR declines to respond to your first request because it falls outside the APRA’s ambit under AS 37.10.071(b)(9) (providing that ‘the fiduciary of a state fund or the fiduciary’s designee may . . . declare records to be confidential and exempt from AS 40.25.110 and 40.25.120 if the records contain information that discloses the particulars of the business or the affairs of a private enterprise, investor, borrower, advisor, consultant, counsel, or manager’),” the revenue department claimed.
Any document that moves from the state to a private entity can be deemed a state secret under this interpretation of the law, regardless of the millions involved.
I also asked the Dunleavy administration for “the analysis from the state on the merits of this investment and why it was deemed acceptable.” That is a reasonable request.
But the Dunleavy administration claims that this information is also secret. The governor and his henchmen say that Alaskans have no right to know what analysis took place, if any, and that it is not easy to find.
The revenue department said the public records law “does not require DOR to search for all its records regarding the subject investment and review those records to determine which—if any—constitute an ‘analysis from the state of the merits of this investment and why it was deemed acceptable.’”
“Second, undertaking such work would involve providing electronic services and products because it would involve electronically searching for records and would, in violation of AS 40.25.115(a), ‘take priority over the [agency’s] primary responsibilities’ because reviewing the records would be time-consuming.”
“DOR also denies your request because if DOR undertook the work for you, it would need to undertake such work for any other requester, and doing so would take priority over DOR’s primary responsibilities.”
I have asked Senate President Gary Stevens and House Speaker Bryce Edgmon if they have heard anything back from the busy bees working for Dunleavy.
Perhaps the Dunleavy administration is too busy to deal with the Legislature and is also trying to con legislators into thinking the $50 million contract should be secret.
The Dunleavy administration wants nothing about this contract to be made public. Dunleavy told legislators the contract was a surprise to him. Crum says that Dunleavy knew about it.
ATTORNEY JOHN WOOD, 79, is eligible to serve as a non-attorney on the Alaska Judicial Council because he was suspended 25 years ago for not paying his dues and is not eligible to practice law at the moment, Anchorage Superiour Court Judge Yvonne Lamoureux ruled Wednesday.
Lamoureux wrote that Wood “is not a member of the Alaska Bar,” relying on a statement from Wood. In fact, he is a suspended member of the Alaska Bar, still listed on its directory, and has been an attorney for 53 years. He says “my license remains in suspended status,” an admission overlooked by the judge.
When attorney Wood applied to serve on the fish board in 2019 and was appointed by Dunleavy, he did not claim to be a non-attorney. He said he had been a member of the Alaska Bar since 1972.
Lamoureux also wrote that Wood does not hold a position of profit with the state, which would make him ineligible to serve, as there is a constitutional ban on that sort of thing.
Suspended attorney Wood, a former Dunleavy legislative employee, has been the recipient of a series of no-bid state contracts that have kept him steadily employed throughout the Dunleavy administration, handling duties often performed by attorneys.
Wood, who is currently is getting $300 an hour from the state, has been a strident critic of government spending for decades. His total compensation during the Dunleavy years will be near $1 million.
The judge said the series of no-bid contracts are not permanent and thus Wood does not hold a position of profit.
On Feb. 10, 1995, the Alaska Supreme Court publicly censured Wood, following his 1993 conviction in federal court for failing to file his federal taxes in 1987. He said he closed his office in 1995.
“Wood agreed to discipline by consent under Bar Rule 22(h) for engaging in conduct that adversely reflected on his fitness to practice law,” the bar association says in its account of the censure. He was suspended in 2000 for not paying his dues.
Attorney Wood will face a confirmation vote in the Legislature next year.
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