More of the Same, Alaska edition:
Despite obstructions and obstacles, reporters have exposed misconduct by the Attorney General of Alaska. Clarkson resigned, so we now have an acting Attorney General. (you need to know that in Alaska, the AG is not elected, just appointed by the Governor, at the Governorʼs pleasure) You can read this in a number of news sources (WA post, NYT, Yahoo) - and Iʼm writing it for you here on dKOS.
also audio
Clarkson resigned on Aug 25, after journalists exposed a steamy, seamy story. He has been acting improperly on the job too.
Project by ProPublica and Anchorage Daily News
First we learned of improper text messages. (the Department of Law said they had no records, but the reporters got the texts (not from the ivctim). First headlines I saw were about the sheer number of after hours messages. The AG obsessively texted a State emplyee in March - 558
(Note the power imbalance, he is way older and makes a lot more money and she has to interact with him on the job sometimes).
(the texts Iʼve seen are pushy, mostly cuddly, with kiss emoji, not obscene) The texts begin in early March. When she asked him to stop (mid March)
Early the next morning he wrote, “OK I won’t bother you more.” He’d enjoyed talking to her, he said, and “those hugs are always pretty darn special.”
After that apology, the attorney general sent the woman more than 200 additional texts.
from ADN Aug 25
She sent a boundary setting text near the end of March and he apparently then stopped texting her unprofessionally.
What happened then was …………...nothing out in the open
Late August, the news broke that he was on unpaid leave from his position as Attorney General.
There had been no publicity about this - people in the department were told that he would be out of the office and off email. and then he resigned.
The AG has made a mealy-mouthed apology in which he admitted errors in judgment and apologized for “placing a State employee in an uncomfortable environment in her workplace.”
The Governor managed to make it sound as if he knew nothing of the complaint nor of the unpaid leave.
“Kevin Clarkson has admitted to conduct in the workplace that did not live up to our high expectations, and this is deeply disappointing. This morning he took responsibility for the unintentional consequences of his actions and tendered his resignation to me,” Dunleavy said.
I knew Clarkson was fighting court cases unnecessarily (taking the state employee union to federal court for dues, disputes about initiatives, trying to thwart a petition to recall the governor- when he should have hired an independent counsel) and getting in the way of effective response to COVID19
Attorney General Kevin Clarkson believes that second-class boroughs, such as those in Fairbanks, Mat-Su and Kenai, have health powers.
The attorneys in those boroughs, who are the experts, know that this is not true.
If Clarkson is actually giving this bad advice, he is telling Dunleavy what the governor wants to hear.
www.dermotcole.com/…
Clarkson resigns - not terminated, not fired. As far as the public statements go, not even asked to go.