Permanent Fund stuns Alaska with firing of Angela Rodell

The Alaska Permanent Fund Board of Trustees owe Alaskans an explanation for why they fired Angela Rodell as CEO of the corporation Thursday with no public discussion.

Various legislators quoted by Alaska news organizations said the decision took them by surprise. Noting the strong gain in the size of the fund under Rodell’s leadership, Fairbanks Sen. Click Bishop told the Anchorage Daily News, “To me, it’s the equivalent of trading Michael Jordan after you’ve won five NBA championships.”

It was a 5-1 vote, with Bill Moran of Ketchikan casting the only vote backing Rodell.

Near the end of a two-day meeting, the trustees went into a secret session for “executive director review.”

Returning to a public session, Trustees Chair Craig Richards said, "While in executive session, the trustees considered only the matters mentioned in the motion and took no action. Is there a motion before the board?”

It was clear that the trustees had already decided what to do.

Member Ethan Schutt, moved to fire Rodell immediately, a motion seconded five seconds later by Revenue Commissioner Lucinda Mahoney.

There was no public discussion.

Richards, Schutt, Mahoney, Natural Resources Commissioner Corri Feige and Steve Rieger voted to fire her.

“With that our meeting is concluded. Thank you,” said Richards.

The Permanent Fund, the largest source of state revenue, owes Alaskans a real explanation of what’s going on here. Richards, Mahoney and the rest of the trustees are hiding behind the standard, “We don’t comment on personnel” dodge.

Richards, Shutt and Rieger are Dunleavy appointees, while Mahoney and Feige are Dunleavy employees.

Richards, former attorney general under Bill Walker, did legal work for Dunleavy to oppose the recall campaign, and he co-hosted a campaign kickoff fundraiser for Dunleavy, joining Mahoney, Feige and others.

The lack of transparency by the board about the leadership of Alaska’s most important financial institution led to immediate speculation that this was a result of Rodell resisting efforts by Dunleavy to overdraw the Permanent Fund.

Rodell told the Anchorage Daily News, which had the best coverage of this story, that she was not ready to talk about this just yet.

“It has been an honor and privilege to serve Alaskans and their fund, which is our most important resource both for Alaska today and future generations,” she told the newspaper. “I am especially thankful for the incredible employees of APFC and the community of Juneau.”

It may be up to Rodell to clarify the situation. Legislative hearings are in order. Alaskans need to know if this was a political move by Dunleavy’s backers to help his campaign. If the firing occurred for some other reason, that needs to be explained as well.

Before going into their secret session, the trustees offered their wrap-up comments on the meeting.

Schutt complained about the practice of staff members and consultants repeating at the meetings the contents of detailed reports given to the trustees. “I’d be more interested in getting perspectives and forward looks, having staff, ‘what keeps you up at night’” insights, he said.

Mahoney said she wanted to thank the staff and consultants for “a really great meeting.” Rieger said he wanted “to congratulate the staff on a great quarterly performance, again.” He said, “I can’t say congratulations enough.”

After the news broke, Dunleavy challenger Les Gara said the firing of Rodell “was almost surely wrong.”

“Angela & I didn’t always agree. But you can trust her. She’s smart. She cares about Alaska. I don’t know the board’s reasons. I doubt they can be good,” Gara said on Twitter.

Dunleavy challenger Bill Walker, speaking at a Fairbanks online campaign event, said he did not know why the trustees fired Rodell, but he said he thought Rodell had done an excellent job for Alaska. The former governor said the firing adds more turmoil to a fragile situation regarding state finances and the Permanent Fund must be protected against political interference.

When asked for comment by the Daily News about what Dunleavy thinks about the firing, the governor’s office refused to answer, but replied to a question that was not asked: “Gov. Dunleavy has no involvement in the board of trustees’ actions or decisions. The governor does not request personnel actions for any independent state corporation. The Alaska Constitution and state statutes give management of the APFC to the trustees.”

The Permanent Fund did not delay in updating its website and erasing Rodell’s name from the “leadership” page, but retained this claim, which contradicted the action taken Thursday: “APFC’s executive team is unified in their commitment to promoting and adhering to the principles of transparency, accountability and prudent investment practices in the management of the Alaska Permanent Fund.”

The six fund trustees signed off on a press release printed as a column in most of the state’s newspapers in which they endorsed the “known and manageable withdrawal structure that protects the fund’s long-term value.”

If Dunleavy’s attempt to exceed the “manageable withdrawal structure” had anything to do with Rodell’s firing, the Permanent Fund is at risk.