Dunleavy attempts to retaliate against former Permanent Fund director Rodell

In a clear attempt at political retaliation, Gov. Mike Dunleavy threatened Tuesday to release the full personnel record of Angela Rodell, the former head of the Alaska Permanent Fund.

He has no business doing so without the approval of Rodell, who told the Anchorage Daily News she opposes that move right now because she is thinking of going to court. Board members have “lied and impugned my character,” she told the Anchorage Daily News, and she wants to clear her hame.

“I need my reputation. I want that vindication. I want people who Google my name to see that I wasn’t fired for cause,” she told the newspaper.

The News said that one of Dunleavy’s public relations experts, Jeff Turner, claimed that Rodell’s personnel file “will be released Wednesday despite Rodell’s objections.”

Turner and his boss should know there is no legal or ethical justification for Dunleavy to retaliate against Rodell this way. It’s up to her to make that call.

In a letter to legislators, Rodell claims she was fired as an act of “political retribution” by Dunleavy supporters on the Permanent Fund board. The Alaska Landmine and the Daily News both had good reporting on this Tuesday.

“I believe my removal to be political retribution for successfully carrying the board’s mandate to protect the fund and advocate against any additional draws over the POMV spending rule,” Rodell wrote to legislators.

Dunleavy is the chief proponent of ignoring the spending rule.

The Alaska Landmine coverage included a copy of Rodell’s performance review, her response to the review, a survey conducted by the revenue commissioner of employees and the trustees and emails from the revenue commissioner.

Lucinda Mahoney, who serves as Dunleavy’s revenue commissioner, played a central role in Rodell’s firing, along with Craig Richards, the former attorney general under Bill Walker who is now a Dunleavy ally. Richards went on to do legal work for Dunleavy opposing the recall campaign.

Mahoney has proven herself willing to do almost anything that Dunleavy wants. Mahoney has joined with Dunleavy in saying the state should temporarily ignore the spending rule that limits withdrawals from the fund to hide future deficits. Rodell has opposed that short-sighted approach.

In September, Mahoney was elected vice chair of the trustees, the first time in 40 years that a cabinet member, a political employee of the governor, has been named a board officer.

The law has long required that the revenue commissioner and a second head of a state department must serve as trustees, a legacy of the era in which the fund was largely an appendage of the revenue department. The two commissioners are employees of the governor. The other four trustees are selected by the governor.

Mahoney announced she would conduct a performance review of Rodell, Rodell says in her review of the events that led to her termination. Mahoney had her assistant send a “Survey Monkey” to all corporation staff about Rodell’s performance and gave her 24 hours to respond Dec. 6.

There was no discussion “at any time prior, during or after the results about my performance,” Rodell said.

Rodell responded in a letter Dec. 7, “There seems to be a very real misunderstanding as to what my role and responsibilities are for APFC. Many of the comments made are flat out false and do not reflect who I am, going so far as to impugn my integrity and that of my team.”

She said the fund must focus on the long term and remain independent to serve Alaskans.

“This need for independence also puts me at odds at times with governors and legislators as they would prefer I endorse a specific agenda or specific policies and I believe this will be a source of ongoing tension,” she wrote.

On Dec. 8, the board met in a secret session for two hours to talk about Rodell. “At no time was I asked to join them,” Rodell wrote.

The board met in secret again Dec. 9. After 1.5 hours, “I was asked to come into the room and told I was being terminated and was offered the professional courtesy of resigning, effective immediately,” she wrote.

What is becoming increasing clear is that Dunleavy was lying or playing a deceptive word game when he claimed to know nothing about the removal of Rodell until it happened.

On Dec. 13, Dunleavy said it took him by surprise that Rodell was fired. “It may be hard to believe but it did,” he said.

It’s not hard to believe. It’s impossible to believe.

A statement from Dunleavy’s public relations office Tuesday quoted him as saying, “I learned of the termination just like everyone else did, following the trustees’ executive session.”

This looks like the sort of verbal gymnastics that Dunleavy thinks will fool people.

Of course he learned about the termination only after it happened. No one knew about the termination before it happened.

But with Mahoney’s track record he knew what was in the works. There is also no doubt that he knew the thinking of Richards and of Corri Feige, the other direct Dunleavy employee on the board. Perhaps the Dunleavy administration didn’t know if Ethan Schutt and Steve Reiger would go along with the termination. They did. The sixth trustee, Bill Moran, opposed it, making the vote 5-1.

The question for candidate Dunleavy is not whether he knew about the termination in advance or if his fingerprints are on the decision. The question is when the Dunleavy administration decided that Rodell had to go for political reasons, with Dunleavy cabinet members and Richards leading the charge.

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