In late 2014, the Rev. Kelly Tshibaka announced to her congregation that God had promised her she would be promoted.

She took that to mean she would be elevated from her job as acting inspector general of the Federal Trade Commission to inspector general. She was one of two finalists for the position. The other finalist was Roslyn A. Mazer, a former boss of hers who Kelly had clashed with while working in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Tshibaka did not get the job. Mazer did.

On Jan. 11, 2015, the Rev. Niki Tshibaka delivered a sermon in which he said his wife was not present in church that day because she was “working through some stuff emotionally and spiritually right now.”

Niki recounted what had happened.

“She was in line to become the inspector general of the Federal Trade Commission. She was working as the acting, as a lot of you know. She was one of two finalists for the job,” said Niki.

It had been a few weeks earlier, Niki said, that “she declared in front of the congregation. She’s like I know I’m gonna look really silly if this doesn’t come out, come through, but I’m just gonna declare it in faith anyway. God may be promoting me another way, but this is what I do know. There’s an opportunity for me to be promoted here and I’m just gonna declare in faith, this is mine.”

Tshibaka had been acting inspector general of the trade commission for six months. She had transferred to the FTC in 2013 after her tumultuous tenure at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Niki said that he and Kelly “both knew at some level there was this possibility that she might not get this promotion,” but it was still a shock to both of them.

“What was difficult was that the person got appointed to the position was a former boss of hers back when she was working in the intelligence community and this person is known to be a really bad manager. And she was a person that Kelly worked for years to try to get away from,” Niki said in his sermon.

“And so for her it wasn’t so much just the disappointment of not getting the job. It’s like ‘God, what are you doing? It’s like I’m being chased after by this lion. Like, this is not the person. Of all the people that you would have put over me, why are you putting this person over me when you know I prayed for years to get away from this person? And you helped me escape from under this person’s leadership.”

“So that’s been very difficult for her, trying to work through feeling unsafe,” Niki said.

The comment about God helping her “escape” from Roslyn Mazer’s leadership refers to Kelly Tshibaka’s experience in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the fraud investigation that clouded Tshibaka’s career.

Niki said he would not mention the name of the person hired to be the inspector general. He referred to her as “Jocelyn” and repeated that she was a bad manager who had been passed over for a number of jobs. He claimed the FTC had someone “missed” her track record and how “unhealthy and dysfunctional” it had been.

Mazer had far broader qualifications for the FTC job than Tshibaka. Mazer served in the position for three years.

Kelly Tshibaka remained at the Federal Trade Commission under Mazer until August 2015, when she transferred to the U.S. Postal Service.

What stands out in this episode is that it shows terrible judgment on the part of the Rev. Niki Tshibaka, even worse than his recent failures as human resources director for the Municipality of Anchorage.

Below is a 13-minute clip from the sermon Niki gave on Jan. 11, 2015 about how Kelly did not get the promotion that she thought the Lord had promised her and his remarks about Tshibaka’s boss.

The complete 43-minute sermon can be found at https://archive.org/details/podcast_mvff-weekly-sermons_mvff-2015-vision-part-1_1000331122745

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673