After giving no-bid contract for $100K, state wants to give Trump's lawyer $600K more

It should come as no surprise, that the Dunleavy administration intends to give President Trump’s lawyer $500,000 to $600,000 more to pursue the anti-union crusade championed by Attorney General Kevin Clarkson.

This is in addition to the no-bid contract Clarkson directed to Consovoy McCarthy this past summer for $100,000 at the so-called “Alaska discount” of $600 per hour.

So just why was Consovoy McCarthy’s proposal deemed the “most advantageous” of the three offers received by the state? The public notice published Wednesday gives no clue.

The two other firms that the state declared as sending in “responsive bids,” Davis Wright Tremaine and Potomac Law Group, have until Dec. 28 to protest before the state proceeds.

Clarkson and Gov. Mike Dunleavy have given no credible explanation for why Consovoy McCarthy was chosen in the first place for a no-bid deal. I suspect it is an attempt by Clarkson to raise his own legal profile in right-wing circles and to get an anti-union case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Clarkson is already looking past the Alaska courts.

The contract should not be awarded. If the state wants to pursue this case, it should do so with state lawyers already on the payroll who do not charge the Alaska discount of $600 an hour.

As I wrote here in November, the request for proposals was set up so that 70 percent of the "evaluation criteria" will be experience, qualifications and the organization. That appeared to give the inside track to Consovoy McCarthy.

The price of the crusade, estimated at $50,000 in August, is now 13 to 14 times higher. Was this a miscalculation or a deliberate attempt to disguise the real cost?

The only good part about the request for proposals is this line: "Approval or continuation of a contract resulting from this is contingent upon legislative appropriation." The Legislature should ask about the no-bid deal signed in August and why the Clarkson crusade should be funded by the state.