Dunleavy hikes monthly payments to Washington, D.C. image polisher who has collected nearly $185,000

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has increased the monthly payments he is making to Washington, D.C. publicist Mary Vought, under what started as a no-bid state contract at the height of the recall drive nearly four years ago. The total cost is nearing $185,000.

In August alone, Dunleavy paid Vought’s company $5,000 on Aug. 23 and $5,000 on Aug. 24, according to the state’s online checkbook. On July 17, she received $5,000.

In the four preceding fiscal years, starting in early 2020, she collected nearly $170,000. The second no-bid deal with Vought was supposed to end in May 2022.

Vought, who crusades against government waste, is married to Russ Vought, a fellow crusader who headed the Office of Management and Budget during the latter part of the Trump administration. Russ wants to eliminate nearly every federal program.

Mary is also executive director of the Senate Conservatives Fund, a right-wing entity that clamors for lower government spending.

Dunleavy had been paying Vought $4,000 a month to improve his image for more than three years, while never justifying why his publicity squad in Juneau or Anchorage couldn’t do the work for which they are paid.

A year ago, Dunleavy’s press secretary refused to tell the Anchorage Daily News what Vought was doing to deserve her monthly stipend.

It appears that she helps him get interviews with right-wing media outlets willing to entertain his complaints about the Biden administration, while never asking hard questions.

There has been one substantial news story on Vought’s deal with Dunleavy, this Feb. 11, 2020 piece by Alaska Public Media. Dunleavy had hired Vought at $4,000 a month, not long after she signed a GOP chain letter defending Dunleavy against the recall.

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