I’ve written many times about the wasteful state contract Gov. Mike Dunleavy has with Washington, D.C. publicist Mary Vought that now pays her $5,000 a month.

No one has ever justified this expenditure, which will soon top $200,000 in total since 2020 for public relations services.

Vought, like Dunleavy, claims to be a big fan of cutting wasteful government spending. Her husband, Russell, who has had various government jobs in Washington, also claims to oppose waste, fraud and abuse.

After Trump lost, Russell crowned himself president of the “Center for Renewing America.” President Vought claims to have been one of Trump’s most “competent managers.”

Russell is now a key player in Donald Trump’s plan to get revenge on political opponents if Trump is elected in 2024, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

Russell is telling Trump that the Department of Justice can be directed to follow the desires of the president, which is what Trump wants to hear.

“Trump has claimed without evidence that the criminal charges he is facing — a total of 91 across four state and federal indictments — were made up to damage him politically,” the Post reported.

“But Trump allies such as Russ Vought, his former budget director who now leads the Center for Renewing America, are actively repudiating the modern tradition of a measure of independence for the Department of Justice, arguing that such independence is not based in law or the Constitution. Vought is in regular contact with Trump and would be expected to hold a major position in a second term,” the newspaper said.

“You don’t need a statutory change at all, you need a mind-set change,” Vought said in an interview. “You need an attorney general and a White House Counsel’s Office that don’t view themselves as trying to protect the department from the president.”

Vought, who is aligned with the most right-wing extremists in Congress, claims to be battling the “woke religion.”

Working with Vought at the “Center for Renewing America” is Director of Litigation Jeffrey Clark, a former government lawyer who is facing criminal charges for racketeering in Georgia and is an unindicted co-conspirator in one of Trump’s criminal cases.

“In one conversation described in the federal indictment, a deputy White House counsel warned Clark that Trump’s refusing to leave office would lead to “riots in every major city.” Clark responded, according to the indictment, “That’s why there’s an Insurrection Act.”

The Insurrection Act, which dates from early in the nation’s history, allows the president to order the military to stop a rebellion.

In June, the New York Times said that Vought and Clark are two of the most important figures in developing plans to use the Justice Department to go after Trump opponents.

Alaska should stop subsidizing the Vought family.

Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan should make it clear that they oppose the plot now developing in Trumpworld to use the Justice Department as a weapon.

• The Anchorage Daily News editorial page is a bit too lavish with its gushing praise for Sen. Dan Sullivan’s recent awakening about Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s stupid obstruction of hundreds of military promotions. The Daily News should have mentioned that Sullivan was making apologies for Coach Tuberville for the last nine months. Until last week, Sullivan was blaming everyone except the Coach for failing to compromise with Coach.
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