Gara calls on Dunleavy to refund state $50,000 for sweetheart deal with campaign worker

Gov. Mike Dunleavy is using $50,000 in state money to pay one of his campaign workers.

That’s how Democratic gubernatorial candidate Les Gara described the $50,000 no-bid contract Dunleavy approved for campaign worker and former state employee Brett Huber.

Gara is right. The claims by the Dunleavy administration that an unannounced no-bid deal was needed because of Huber’s unique talents and that no one on the state payroll is capable of talking with state attorneys to decide what lawsuits to file over state land rights are absurd.

This contract is exactly what it looks like—a sweetheart deal to get state money to a trusted campaign worker without requiring any real work.

“The governor is using public money as a personal campaign piggy bank," Gara said in a press release.

"Candidate Dunleavy should return the public money spent on this contract immediately, either personally or from his campaign. And this campaign worker should be barred from doing more work on the public's dime."

"As a former assistant attorney general, I can tell you that Mr. Huber is being hired to do what the Department of law does for free,” said Gara, notably researching laws and regulations about lands and suggesting legal action.

“This contract simply misuses public money to pay an active Dunleavy campaign worker to come up with ‘cases’ and soundbites the governor can use to get press coverage for his re-election campaign," said Gara.

One of the worst parts of this sweetheart deal is that there are no performance requirements for Huber.

The alleged scope of work lists five vague bullet points. Nothing more. This is outrageous. See the text below.

Huber is supposed to meet with some people, do some research and might prepare a final report if he is asked. The state had to include a scope of work in the contract and someone must have spent five or 10 minutes typing some generic tasks that are not worth $50, let alone $50,000.

The Anchorage Daily News published the contract Wednesday in a story that is a good start toward showing the public the Dunleavy pattern of using state money and state resources for his private campaign.

The Dunleavy $50,000 no-bid sweetheart deal with campaign worker Brett Huber has no real performance requirements, just five vague bullet points.

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